More... La Dolce Vita

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Here are a few more pic's with Joe Oppedisano and a trailer to the movie La Dolce Vita

Naked fun
Jonathan Vargas

more of bill shoot

Here are two new pics from the shoot with BIll. I havent taken time to write much. Have been meeting interesting people and hanging out. I was at club 20 this week and i must say I have been able to get my confendence up a whole lot. All the guys were there and it was nice. Me and ken werent doing so well lately but it has been getting alot better now. relationships take alot of work and its like almost having a job. Buts its a job I love and hope never to retire or get fired. He is the best guy in the whole wide world. Cant ask for anything better. Well I hope something good comes up so i can tell you about it.
Jonathan Vargas

Shoot with Bill

I had a shoot with a photgrapher named Bill and he did some amazing work. I will be posting some of the pics from the shoot through out the week. Thanks Bill a million for such great shoots. And joe this is for you :o) Happy Thanksgiving everyone Jonathan Vargas

Black New york

I have been working my butt off this week trying to finish up my project for my black studies class. I had spend a total of 20 hours doing the whole project. One of the parts of the projects was constructing a tour of lower manhattan with sites that had African American Culture. I persoanlly went down with ken who came with me as a favor and did the tour. it was actually fun and I felt like I did learn alot
want to take the tour this is how you get there
African Grove

Location: Corner of Mercer and Bleeker

Direction: Take the 6 train to Bleeker and Lafayette. Once on bleeker head west 2 blocks over to Mercer.

Significance: The African Grove was a theater where black actors and producers put on shows. Henry Brown was the artistic director who directed Shakespearean plays including Othello and Hamlet.

David Ruggles Home

Location: 36 Lispenard Street between Church Street and Broadway

Directions: Walk straight down mercer street about 9 blocks till you hit canal street. On canal you will turn right and then hit Church Street. Go south one block to Lispenard Street. Then make a left and look for building number 36.

Significance: David Ruggles was an abolitionist during 1820-1849. He was involved with the Underground Railroad and helped enslaved African to Canada. He also owned a bookstore on 67 Lispenard Street. Where black men and women would be allowed to read, He also helped Fredrick Douglass.

Freedom’s Journal

Location: 152 Church Street on the corner of Leonard Street

Directions: From Lispenard Street walk over to Church Street and head south 4 blocks to Leonard Street.

Significance: This was the first black owned newspaper published in the entire United States. It was founded by John Russwurm and Rev. Samuel Cornish in the year 1829. Freedom’s Journal was only open for 2 years but lead to other black publication.

Mother AME Zion church
Location: 156 Church Street between Leonard Street and Worth Street

Direction: From the Freedom’s Journal walk down the street to Worth Street.

Significance: This was the first African American church in New York City. The church was founded in 1796 and later moved up to 137 Street in Harlem.

Abyssinian Baptist Church

Location: On Worth Street between Church Street and West Broadway

Direction: From Mother AME Zion church walk down to worth street and make a right.

Significance: This is the original location of Abyssinian Baptist Church. It was founded in 1808 by Black members of the first Baptist church who were accompanied by a group of Ethiopian merchants. It was created because they were tired of racially segregated seating in church. Its name was inspired by the ancient name of from which the merchant came from Abyssinia.


African burial ground

Location: 290 Broadway on Duane Street

Directions: From the Abyssinian Baptist Church on Worth Street walk east 2 blocks to Broadway. Then you walk south 3 blocks to Duane Street.

Significance: This is where approximately 15-20 thousand of African men, women, and children were buried. It runs about 5 city blocks. It was used from 1712 to 1794. General Service administration broke ground to build a 34 story building. Construction was halted and 408 intact bodies were taken to Howard University in Washington to be examined. They continued to build but protestors were able to halt construction to an adjacent project and later decided to make this an historical landmark.

Dr James McCune Smith

Location: 55 West Broadway between Murray Street and Park Place.

Direction: From the burial ground walk west to West Broadway which is two blocks away. Then walk south 4 blocks. It is between Murray Street and Park Place.

Significance: Dr James McCune Smith was the first Black American to get a medical degree. He was considered a tender doctor and was also an abolitionist, writer, and teacher. He opened a pharmacy in 1837 in the same location he practiced medicine. He was joined by Fredrick Douglass, John Brown, and Garret smith to fight for the rights of Black Americans.

African Freedom School

Location: 245 William Street between Ann Street and Fulton Street

Directions: From Dr James McCune Smith site head over to West Broadway. Go south on West Broadway 2 block and you will hit Vesey Street. On Vesey Street turn left going east 5 blocks till you hit William Street. Turn right on William Street.

Significance: The African Freedom School was founded in 1787 in order to educate free black children. The school taught reading, writing, and arithmetic for boys and girls in one room. Some of the founding members were John Jay and Alexander Hamilton. The original school was destroyed by a fire in 1814 but the second school was built in 1815
wish me luck
Jonathan Vargas

testosterone

testosterone
Joe Oppedisano booking signing party was held yesterday at rizzi book
store. Joe had sent me an invitation to go and it was actually a lot of
fun. I with my buddy Cornell and ken was supposed to come but he had to
stay at work a lot longer then expected. Me and Cornell say a few of the
guys in the book like Manuel Torres and Joseph Sayers, Erik Rhodes and
few other people. Kinga was there too. He was the one who did my makeup
for the photo shoot with Joe actually. So it was nice to see him again.
Over all it was a fun experience I had a great time. That same day my
cousin flew in with his friend Bill. I got to take them out and had
dinner at a Colombian restaurant with my mom sister and brother.

love Jonathan Vargas

a couple days late but here it is

I swear there isn't enough hours in the day. That is why I have to constantly multi task. Right now at the gym on the elliptical trying to burns the calories from all the liquor and food I ate this weekend. So I was back at club 20 dancing again and this time the experience wasn't as awkward. If anything it almost felt normal. Unfortunately I didn't make anywhere near what I made the first night. And I know why. Its because I am not aggressive enough and I still have to learn how to talk to the guys and make them feel great and comfortable with me. I still have a lot to learn but I am willing to put in the hours. Or should I say put out ( just joking) some of the guys from last week were there and they were being supportive. Thanks you guys. I feel like club 20 is really going to help me out with being comfortable and confident. Because I must admit that the reason why I don't go up to the guys is because I am afraid of rejection. I have always been afraid of rejection for some odd reason. I never ever had gone up to a guy in my personal life to go out on dates or to tell the guy at the club that I think he was hot. Even my boyfriend. When I met him I could see that he was looking at me and giving me the signal that he was interested in me and I still didn't go up to him. Luckily I was there with my great buddy Cornell and he went up to ken and dragged him over to me. I was embarrassed but I am so happy he did. Cornell your the best. So going back to club 20. I have decided that I am not leaving that establishment were all these amazing guys go and have fun with out learning how to be confident with who I am and if I am rejected so what. I am not everyone's cup of tea but I won't know that till I test it out and try for my own. This won't be an over night thing so don't expect me to do this the next time I am there. But little by little ill start working on it till I have it. Ill create some alto ego who is confident and outgoing. Ill still keep my personality and all but just add a few things to the mix. Hopefully I have it done packed before I leave to Colombia. professor was telling me the same thing that I should create an act but still keep the essence of me. I am going to keep the advise. So now you can keep expecting me every Sunday at club 20. Well I think I am done now with blogging. I better get started at looking over my notes for my test tomorrow. Night

Jonathan Vargas

Oh what a night

Oh what a nightCan we say liquored up. I don't remember the last time I had drunk so much liquor in one night. I barely drink but yesterday you would have thought I did it everyday. It started with two martini drinks that I mixed at home because drinking in bars and clubs get expensive. Then my little buddy Cornell who I love came over to pick me up. Being the great friend that he is he brought a tiny bottle of vodka that we shared and poured it into his tai lemonade. We took a cab over to our first pit stop which was misshapes. We paid 10 dollars to get in and it was sooo boring that we left after 20 minutes and headed over to Mr blacks. Norah was supposed to come up out with us. So I gave her a call and she was with 2 friends who came from Germany and Tampa. And that she wanted to party and that she had vodka lol. So we came back to my house and onto my roof top and drank some more. We yelled we laughed we cried. Good time good times and Norah looked amazing. Before you know it the bottles gone and we are out the door going back downtown to Mr blacks. I remember going in and Norah already ordering drinks. She so cute because she is so supportive with me. She kept telling everyone that I am in la dolce vita. The place was jammed back. I saw Damon Demarco there he is the really sweet guy who made me the dlister of the week on fleshbot. I must have been ass drunk when I said hi to him so I am sorry if your reading this. I don't remember much after but I do remember being super happy. Miguel ended up there too and he was looking fierce as always. I got home around 430 crawled into bed with my hot bf and past out. What's even funnier is that my head was still spinning the next morning and had been 8 hours already. Oh what a night.

Till next time
Jonathan Vargas

Hey I forgot to mention that I went to tarry town a few weeks ago with ken. Its a cute little town with its little shops. We went because we wanted to take a tour at the Rockefeller estate. You get a tour around the massive mansion and the huge estate. The garden is to die for. Its gorgeous. But we only got to see it in pictures. We had bought our tickets from grand central. We got to tarry town and stopped at a small coffee house that was really cute and then we went past sleep hallow the place where the headless ghost rode his horse and massacred civilians. We get to our destination. Its a pit stop where you take a bus to the estate and it turned out that the tickets were sold out. We made that huge trip for nothing. It turns out the grand central station ticket machine isn't synchronized with the sell tickets from the pick up spot. We then just randomly walked around town and headed home. At least it wasn't far.
oh something great about NYC is that there is crazy random stuff all the time. There was a women with a parrot on the subway. it was cute

Hope all is well
Jonathan Vargas