Thursday, March 28, 2024

Event offers variety

February 22, 2001

MSU students can live a little loca Friday night and experience a Latin Explosion.

The theme for the event, in its sixth year, is “A Fuego” - on fire. The event will be held at 7 p.m. Friday in the Auditorium and is free to the public.

Misty Staunton, a pre-med junior, has helped coordinate the event since August.

“Last year, we had 600 people and we are shooting for more,” she said. “There will be break-dancing, other dancing, singing, poetry - really, all sorts of variety.”

This year to spice up the event, the show will feature a popular DJ, Staunton said.

“We are bringing DJ Laz from Miami and he is (well-) known in the Latino community,” she said. “I hope this brings a better response and a bigger crowd.”

Although the recent popularity of artists such as Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez and Enrique Iglesias have drawn attention to Latin music, Staunton said the Latin Explosion will offer more.

“I think it will help get more people to come, but I hope they don’t expect Jennifer Lopez-type things,” she said. “We are going to focus on what the media doesn’t show.

“We will show the Jennifer Lopez side, and the culture side of where it originally came from.”

Donations were given to fund the show from various departments, including the College of Human Ecology.

“I have a practice in the College of Human Ecology that I make donations to all student groups and faculty groups that are working on issues related to ethnic and cultural diversity,” said Julia Miller, dean of the College of Human Ecology. “That is what prompted me to support this group because it is consistent with the practice with my ideology of the importance of diversity.”

Miller said future demographics of the American population will be much more culturally diverse in the 21st century than they have been.

“As the university moves more toward being a global society, we have to make sure students have as many experiences as possible to be engaged in activities that really provide a framework to understand, accept and respect diverse cultures,” she said.

While Miller hopes to attend the event if her schedule permits, Diego Romero, a CRU member, will go for the second year in a row.

“It was a really nice show last year,” said Romero, a journalism sophomore. “It gives us an opportunity to show different heritages to the MSU population.

“I hope people take more from it this year, and learn more about our various cultures.”

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