A Drag Queen Beauty Pageant in Mazatlan

Los Angeles Times reporter Sam Quinones‘ story about a drag
queen beauty pageant in Mazatlan, Mexico was one of the 10 stories
selected to mark the 50th issue of Creative
Nonfiction magazine and its 20-year literary history.

Reason TV interviewed Quinones about drag queens, cults, and
corruption in Mexico back in January, 2011.

Here’s the original writeup.

Sam Quinones covers immigration, drug trafficking and gangs as a
reporter for the Los Angeles Times.

Quinones is also the award winning author of two books: True
Tales from another Mexico and Antonio’s Gun & Delfino’s Dream.
The books are collections of nonfiction stories Quinones wrote
while living and working as a freelance writer in Mexico.

Instead of writing stories about the official and bureaucratic
Mexico we see on TV, Quinones focuses on “another Mexico,” the
regular people without influence on the fringes of Mexico’s
paternalistic political system. These are the independently minded
people who dare to live their own lives, start businesses and risk
everything to pursue their dreams in the US.

Reason.tv’s Paul Feine sat down with Quinones to talk about
popsicle kings, drag queens, cults, corruption, migration and the
future of Mexico.

To purchase the books and learn more about the author, go to:
http://ift.tt/OihTsg

Approximately 13 minutes. Produced by Paul Feine and Alex
Manning. Still photography by Sam Quinones.