User:ChristopherLM/sandbox

Article Update for Christopher, Maud and Tiffany for the page Willi Ninja. The changes/additions we are making are in BOLD. Primarily we are adding the "House of Ninja" subtopic.

Early life[edit]

Born William Roscoe Leake at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, New York, Willi was a self-taught dancer and was perfecting his voguing style by his twenties. Willi was born to a Black mother, and was of mixed racial heritage, claiming to have Irish, Cherokee, and Asian ancestry in his family.(10) It was from fellow voguers in Washington Square Park that Jennie Livingston first heard his name. While he didn't create the form, he worked at refining it with clean, sharp movements to "an amazing level". His influences included Kemetic hieroglyphics, young Michael Jackson, Fred Astaire, olympic gymnasts, and Asian culture.

Career[edit]

He participated in Harlem's drag balls with "children" from his House of Ninja. Like other ball "houses", HoN was a combination of extended social family and dance troupe, with Ninja as its Mother. He taught his "children" late into the night on the old Christopher Street pier and at the underground clubs.^[3]

Ninja was a featured dancer in many music videos including Malcolm McLaren's "Deep in Vogue" and "I Can't Get No Sleep" by Masters At Work featuring India. In 1994, he released his single "Hot" (another Masters At Work production) on Nervous Records. Ninja's later career included runway modeling for Jean-Paul Gaultier, performing with dance companies under Karole Armitage, and providing instruction to Paris Hilton on perfecting her walk. He opened a modeling agency, Elements of Ninja, in 2004, and made an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Ninja was also prominently featured in the 1990 documentary Paris is Burning and the 2006 documentary release How Do I Look directed by Wolfgang Busch.

Ninja also danced in two of Janet Jackson's videos from her Album Rhythm Nation 1814, one of which was "Alright", whose remix featured late rap star Heavy D and cameo appearances by Cab Calloway, Cyd Charisse, and The Nicholas Brothers. He also was featured in "Escapade".

Ninja worked hard to care for his mother, Esther Leake, who had Parkinson's and used a wheelchair. Her trips with Ninja to the ballet and the Apollo were inspiration for his later endeavors in dance.^[4]

House of Ninja

Willi Ninja started the House of Ninja in 1982[8][9] despite not having been part of a house previously or winning three grand prizes, which was generally seen as a requirement to start a house [10]. The name Ninja came from the house’s Asian and martial arts influences coupled with the fact that people in the ballroom scene did not know who they were and they “seemed to come out of nowhere” [10]. The House of Ninja had a reputation for being multiracial; most houses at the time were African-American, with the notable exception of the Latinx House of Xtravaganza.(Citation needed; 10). The House of Ninja notably included white men in their competitions. The House of Ninja disbanded in 1988, and despite an attempt by Ninja to reform in 1989, remains a defunct house of Ball Culture.

Death[edit]

Ninja died of AIDS-related heart failure in New York City on September 2, 2006 at age 45. After his death, he has continued to inspire many artists and music DJs.^[5][6][7] Ninja is a central figure in scholarship in LGBTQ studies, gender studies, and performance studies for his nonconforming and transgressive gender expression as an artist. His presence is articulated in the book Black Sexualities by Juan Battle and Sandra L. Barnes as one example.^[1]

References[edit]

1. ^ Jump up to:^{a b c} Juan Battle, Sandra L. Barnes, Black sexualities: probing powers, passions, practices, and policies, pp. 26-9.
2. Jump up^ Associated Press. "Willi Ninja, godfather of 'voguing,' dies at 45".
3. Jump up^ Upadheye, Janet. "Vogue: Not Madonna's Dance". Huffington Post.
4. Jump up^ Tricia, Romano. "Eulogies for Fabulousness". Retrieved 5 September 2006.
5. Jump up^ Limnander, Armand. "Is Beyoncé the New Willi Ninja?". Retrieved February 18, 2009.
6. Jump up^ Allaire, Christian. "Strictly ballroom: The vampy, campy voguing scene is having a reviva". National Post. Retrieved February 8, 2014.
7. Jump up^ Opperman, Derek. "Exploring Polysexual Partying With Kim Ann Foxman at Isis". SFWeekly. Retrieved January 13, 2014.

8. Regnault, Chantal, Tim Lawrence, Voguing and the House and Ballroom Scene of New York City 1989-92, pp. 5.

9. http://outhistory.org/exhibits/show/tgi-bios/willi-ninja

10. Ross, Andrew, Tricia Rose, Microphone Fiends: Youth Music & Youth Culture, pp. 163-175.

Article evaluation

The article I chose is about a gay identified comic book character, the Hulkling. The article link is Hulkling

Evaluating content

• Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?
  • The article discusses the overall history of the character with a section dedicated to "Relationships" which discloses his identification as gay.
• Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?
  • I don't think any information is missing or out of date. I am not that well versed in comic books to know for sure.
• What else could be improved?
  • The article could talk more about reader's reactions to the character coming out, and his relationship with his boyfriend, Wiccan.

Evaluating tone

• Is the article neutral? Are there any claims that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
  • The article has a very neutral tone and does not present a bias or opinionated view of the character.
• Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
  • No

Evaluating sources

• Check a few citations. Do the links work? Does the source support the claims in the article?
  • Most of the citations are of comic books and therefore do not contain actual links. However there is a link to an article that works, but the first citation links to a website but not to the specific it is referencing.
• Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference? Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?
  • Yes each point is cited with accurate and neutral sources.

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Now take a look at how others are talking about this article on the talk page.

• What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?
  • Most of the conversations are about the cited links, but also someone brought up a theory about the character creation but another user responds that this is not related to the article.
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  • The article is related to Wikiproject LGBT Studies
• How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?
  • It talks from a straightforward and factual point of view, where in class we add social and individual context