Marcus Gonzalez's Questionnaire

I live in West Palm Beach, Florida with my husband Vincenzo. We live there because it's a pretty queer friendly place for the state that we live in and my Abuela needs to be somewhere warm. We're her caretakers and it would be cruel to force her up north to freeze to death or to leave her in a nursing home somewhere to rot until she dies. She's a fabulous woman and a huge inspiration to me. She's always encouraged me to nurture my creativity and she has always inspired me to be proud of who I am no matter what anyone else says. Honestly, she's more my parent than my own parents are. And she has adopted my sweet Vincenzo too! She has always treated him like family, and he deserves that after all he's been through. We're going to be wherever she needs us to be.

West Palm beach is a cool and creative area. There is so much art and music and love in these streets. We live in a lovely little one story row house filled filled with tropical plants- we have orchids, monstera, aloe, and in front of our house we have a mango tree and oranges growing and in the back we have an avocado tree and guava, figs, pineapples and birds of paradise. My Vincenzo is gifted with a green thumb, and we're all thankful for that. He's very into permaculturing so we don't have a lawn but I don't mind because we have so many beautiful fruits to eat instead We donate some to the local schools so the local kids can have fresh fruit too. 

I won't get too much into the furniture and interior design because I could talk about it for HOURS. We have precious antiques, local artist's art, my own art, some sculptures Vincenzo's made, but I think my favorite thing is that we have this pink couch and Vincenzo made a matching one for our girl Murphy! She loves the dog bed so much and I like that we can all sit in the living room on our pink couches as a family

Right now, I get most of my money being a makeup artist. I do makeup for fashion photo-shoots, runways, TV shows, movies, music videos, red carpets, all that sort of thing. Right now, I'm saving up with my husband so that we can make sure that Abuela has everything she needs as she's getting older (she never made enough to save too much for herself) and to welcome a child into our home. Oh, it's wonderful to even imagine having a child of our own! We want to make sure that our little girl will have everything she needs to succeed in life. Well, I suppose we might have a boy but I'm not going to lie, I have been praying to Santa Maria for a girl and manifesting has never steered me wrong before! Besides that, we are still paying down the mortgage on the house and we've been working on updating Vincenzo's workshop because he's started getting bigger clients for his carpentry and sculpture work and he's gotten some more gear to produce for other musical artists. My husband is so adorable and talented, he insisted on working alongside the contract workers to build our future child's room. He was a construction worker for many years, you now. Is he not the most perfect husband you could dream of? I must tell you a secret... I have been putting money away for high quality protective headphones because my poor Vincenzo's ears will suffer if he doesn't start taking preventive actions soon! That and while couples screaming into each others ears when they're old might be funny to watch, I doubt it would be fun to experience. We really believe in investing for the future so we can look forward to our future.  

I want to be a sun-king like Louis XIV. Well, I want to be a more responsible than him, of course, because I do think it would be cruel for so few to get to experience artistic ingenuity in this world. But I don't believe in beauty just based on aesthetics. That would just be putting icing on a shit cake, right? So let me tell you what I am envisioning here- all the children are fed. All the people are educated. And there is art art art everywhere and not a starving artist in sight! Isn't that a beautiful dream? That is what I want for the world, joy and peace and prosperity like that. I want to make a world where people are always looking forward to the next day because the world is designed for EVERYONE to enjoy life. The stories that come out about Venezuela, the Congo...oh they break my heart. No more, no more I say! 

How far would I go? That's an interesting question... well, I would not allow for my family to be endangered or our standard of living to be compromised because that would be against the point now, wouldn't it? And it'd be irresponsible of me to not make sure they're taken care of. They both said that support my dream but I really couldn't do that. I would almost do anything up until that, because I think the dream is worth it, I believe that the people of the world are worth it. 

Oh I could not kill, why would I do that? Absolutely not. Vincenzo taught me how to shoot because "Americans are crazy, especially Florida Americans" so I do know how to do some violence as self-defense but I'd only do that as a last resort. 

I would also prefer not to die, please. I think maybe a few months in the hospital is all my Abuela and my Vincenzo could handle so I think I'd have to stop there. "No dying" for me they said 

Oh my goodness, I have been blessed enough to have good fortune in my life. For a lot of people I know that defining moment can be an awful thing. I think the most defining moment of my life was when I first did makeup on a drag queen when I was 15 years old, I still talk to her daily "Miss Creamsicle" is her name. I did her makeup before she went on stage and she told me, really looked into my eyes and she said "Stunning, darling. Absolutely drop dead gorgeous." And when her act was over she called me on stage and she said "This is Marcusl Gonzalez, remember his name, he is the one who made me so beautiful tonight." She kissed me on the cheek and then she said "Remember him because this young man is going to be a star, he's already a star." My grandmother was of course always supportive of me as I've told you before and she praised me but there hadn't been a person outside of my family who had been proud of me like that. And you have no idea how much it meant to me, that woman is one of my heroes til this day, she is the fiercest most fearless bitch this side of the globe and I'd bet my life on that. Maybe that's why I've hoped that our baby might be a girl, because the women in my life have been the coolest people I've ever known. 

Three people in my life? I am so lucky so blessed to have a loving community in the art scene, at my church, in my neighborhood. Life is scrumptious right now, praise God! Obviously there is my wonderful husband Vincenzo and my darling Abuela. Vincenzo is so strong. He's a man of integrity, he always makes sure everyone around him has enough, he'd do anything to help you. You might assume he's the strong silent type because he does woodwork and he grills and knows about construction work and all those outdoorsy things...Ok I admit he is kind of like that but secretly, he's pretty shy and when he's getting cuddles he's the most adorable little cub you've ever set eyes on. He came to this country all on his own all the way from Italy when he was just 14!!! He told me that one day he just knew his future was there so he just left where he was and came over here. He told me that where he lived was mostly a ghost town, he was the only person left living there and his parents left him for dead. His spirit is so strong, you would expect living through something like that would make a person bitter and suspicious of others but no, ever since I've known him he's had love in his heart for everyone. So he's not brave to face the unknown he also has courage in his heart to trust others. I've never met a person less judgmental. He's so creative, there was one time he recorded the sound of our leaky sink before he fixed it and he made an entire album inspired by that sound! It even got great critical acclaim. Vincenzo's like that and on top of all of it, when we wake up in the morning he always smiles and kisses me and tells me with his little smile "Good morning, my sunshine."  I love him to bits. 

I cannot begin to even start talking to you about my grandmother, oh my lord. She worked at a fashion house in Paris for 6 months could you believe it? She only left because she was pregnant with my mother, she was organizing for labor rights and she met Cesar Chavez and she was a stripper in Miami for a little while! I'm telling you that woman has done EVERYTHING. And she just tells you all that like she has a normal regular life, what an amazing person I get to love and have in my home and my family. Every time I think I've learned everything, she loves to add just a little more mystery. That woman has mastered the art of mystique, what an incredible and wholly unique person. 

That brings us to Miss Cream. She is a natural born leader and I don't know how to even talk about her really, just that she's the Revolution, and she's bringing everyone she loves along with her. She taught me that art is for the people. It's to heal the people, to inspire the people, to ignite the people. Honestly, she's the reason I even considered this Contract gig at all. But for all she's done for me, I had to work up the nerve to try and really change the world for the better in her name. I owe it to my daughter, to my Abuela, to my husband that all they've fought for was not in vain.