"Confessions of a Former Disco Maniac"

Fashion, Lights and Confessions

As a twinkling disco ball spins on the third floor of Old Main, a stylish pair of silver, snakeskin imprinted shoes walk into a room of flip-flops. They belong to a world traveler, a man that has written stories from the everyday lives of human beings to the latest fashions on the runways of Paris.

Michael Quintanilla, a current fashion and pop culture writer at the San Antonio Express-News, gave his presentation on Monday night called Confessions of a Former Disco Maniac: The Write Moves. While playing a modern version of the disco song “I Will Survive” covered by Cake, he said “I love music… Everyone should have a theme song.”

Before working at Express-News, the native Texan had feature and lifestyle sections in the Los Angeles Times where he won the Breaking News Award in 2001 for his coverage of the attacks on Sept. 11. He was covering fashion week, and attended a party at Pier54 held by designer Marc Jacobs the night before.

He claims that “just hanging out” is the best way to get surprises for the story. Quintanilla also covered red carpet events like the Grammy’s, Golden Globes and the Oscars, where he also had to play photographer. His claim to photography fame is his picture of Gwyneth Paltrow at one of these star-studded events.

Although he has an exciting career of fashion, lights and nightlife, first and foremost he began as a crime and feature story reporter. Besides his coverage of Sept. 11, he followed a man named Raphael Cordero who was dying of aids. The room gets quiet as he becomes more serious, and shows pictures of his friend in his last days while lighting three candles on what he calls a “Friendship Altar.” Amanda Martinez said that she liked that he “makes a human connection with the people he covers as well as the audience.”

“Don’t give up!” he says while tearing up. “Just keep trying… When you stop the passion stops.”

Quintanilla’s message to the young audience is to write from the heart, and he definitely had an impact on the hearts of the Texas State students that night. “He writes from the heart,” said Claudia Mickle. “There wasn’t a dry eye in the room.” Kaycee Toller added that the presentation was “very intimate… It was like talking to someone one on one.”

Indeed, this disco maniac is full of the life and passion of the music he loves so dearly, and everyone should live their lives with the same rhythm and zest.




“It’s fun to write fun, and fun to read fun.” -Michael Quintanilla


Story and Photography By Jenelle Madrid


http://www.americanpressinstitute.org/content/852.cfm

http://articles.latimes.com/writers/michael-quintanilla

http://blogs.mysanantonio.com/weblogs/fiesta/2006/04/cluck_around_the_clock.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGPbp4qDcT8

http://leinco.magnify.net/video/Fashion-Week-With-Michael-Qui

http://articles.latimes.com/2002/feb/24/news/lv-zero24