Mahogany Browne in the TIMES!

so i was in the New York Times last week. pic and all

who knew?
once i get mista to scan this for me - i will show ya'll the pic. until then - enjoy article

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Life as a Runaway; Do These Pants Rhyme?


TEXT BY RUTH LA FERLA (NYT) 264 wordsPublished: May 25, 2006AT the mike the vibe is earnest; the succession of performers at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in Manhattan lob verbal grenades at targets as disparate as the R&B star R. Kelly and the war in Iraq.
But the crowd is something else. Jamming the long, narrow barroom on East Third Street on Friday nights for regular poetry slams is a colorful gathering of seminary students, artists, actors, scholars and exuberant gawkers. Most are dressed to the nines in a playful pastiche, their get-ups a vibrant riposte to the moody rants on stage.
They watch their host, Nathan P. (below) tip his fedora and urge an effusive welcome for marquee attractions like the poet Mahogany Brown (large photo, top).

''I'm an English teacher, so obviously I dig this. I love the diversity,'' said one audience member, Carlton Powell of North Carolina, who had pinned a Malcolm X button to the lapel of his coat.
Kiandra Parks, (center, far right) signaled her enthusiasm by jumping up to show off her raspberry-pink dress and parrot green bolero designed by Luella Bartley for Target. Priscilla de Jesus, (bottom row, second from right) a bartender from the Bronx, had methodically worked out her look: oversize Planet Earth men's jacket and baggy trousers held in place by a Superman belt.

In contrast, Alexei Zagdansky (bottom, far right), affected a Sinatra-like nonchalance. ''What, this?'' Mr. Zagdansky, an art director from Fort Lee, N.J., asked as he touched the brim of his checkered hat. ''I picked it up from a street vendor just before I walked in.''
Photos (Photographs by ELIZABETH LIPPMAN)