Chicago!! Day 1

Jamila and I are back from a fabulous weekend in Chicago, with pictures to follow!

We began and ended the trip with an eight-hour Megabus ride. Although the ride did not feel too long or too unbearable, I must say I felt some nostalgia for the buses in South America. Megabus might have WiFi (sporadically) but the fully reclining seats, the service, the food, the wine and the movies of my South American bus rides were definitely missed.

We arrived late at night to my cousin Joe's apartment, a gracious host. Joe lives in the trendy neighborhood of Wicker Park, right near Bucktown. He lives on top of a Middle Eastern Restaurant, a block from the El Train and from the "Six Corners," where North Avenue intersects with Milwaukee and Damen.

We slept in a bit and then Joe took us for a walk around the neighborhood to see the people, the shops, the architecture. We wandered into The Bongo Room, a delicious breakfast/brunch place on Milwaukee. I ordered Red Velvet Hotcakes (Yes!!!) and they literally tasted like a yummy cupcake. Perhaps a little too decadent for breakfast, but it was a vacation. Joe ordered lemon and blueberry ricotta pancakes, where were delicious and buttery. And Jamila got a more savory red pepper and chicken sausage and mozzarella omelet with some awesome dill potatoes on the side. It was super delicious, and we continued to wander through the neighborhood. There were fancy boutiques, thrift stores, hole-in-the-wall coffee shops and large bars. Many people were on bicycles (though I didn't see many helmets). For dinner we grabbed Vietnamese sandwiches at a store nearby, which were delicious. It was only four when we ate them, and I asked Joe whether these sandwiches were a snack or a meal. He wisely replied: "I don't like to put time labels on my food."

Later that evening, Joe took us to a local art show nearby, where artists open up their studios and sell their work. It was very trendy and we saw some great art work, and Joe even bought me a little piece for my birthday! It was so sweet but I was having trouble deciding between two different pieces, and the artist generously let me take both. I'm a lucky duck.

We then decompressed at Joe's place and watched "Kung Fu Hustle," a Stephen Chow film. I'd never seen a Kung Fu movie before and I was very enthralled. Afterwards, we headed out to Danny's, a local bar right off Damen, and one of Joe's favorite hot spots.

It was a very chill day, filled with yummy food and excitement in a new area. I immediately fell asleep.

Art Reflects Life

In other news, I knew it!

Here is an article from Jezebel.com, and a sketch written/directed by me about GPSs. This sketch was part of Fresh Concepts' 2010 Sketch show and features Walker Bell and Meg O'Halloran. The article is a little ridiculous and offensive, and I hope Gwendolyn is way less one-dimensional than the men in the article seem to think.

http://jezebel.com/5572946/how-the-gps-lady-destroys-dudes-relationships

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0BQL8hknnY

Reflections on the Weekend Past and the One to Come

So, last weekend came and went so quickly!

I had a very interesting improv workshop with Jet Eveleth, a hilarious woman from Chicago. She focused a lot on the body, on natural reactions and removing the performativity from performance. I learned a lot, met some cool people, and Jet even gave me some comp tickets to her group, The Reckoning's, show in Chicago! One discomfort I had with the workshop was that every single one of the 20 participants were White. I know that improv is often a bunch of goofy White dudes, but when it comes to performance, I think it is so important that many perspectives be represented and many voices be heard. I hope that more people of color, more women, more queer people and differently-abled people begin to see that improv is a craft for everyone; an empowering, radical teaching tool about knowing oneself and body, as well as trusting others. It's something I still struggle with, being in improv spaces, but I hope it is improving.
Although I just joined the Quest cast and the Twin Cities improv scene, I am beginning to make friends and feel more comfortable in the scene. I had the incredible opportunity to improvise on Brave New Workshop's stage, one of the oldest satirical theaters in the country!

On Saturday night I began my Pride celebrating by attending the Dyke March, a smaller meeting of people, a more radical convergence than Pride. I had a really good time marching with so many strong people (not just women attended). Sunday's Pride parade was a beautiful day and a lot of fun, but could not have been more different than the night before. Pride was filled with people and families, which is awesome, but also filled with big companies and consumer-driven culture. Target was giving out rainbow flag (temporary) tattoos with a target/bullseye in the middle. While on the one hand it is great that target is reaching out to the LGBTQ community, but the corporate branding was so intense and blatant. I heard that the tattoos had a bit of sunscreen in them so that when the tattoo faded, the special tan mark of the Target symbol would remain intact. One of the chants that stuck out to me at the Dyke March was "We're here. We're queer. We're not going shopping!" While it was a little extreme, it definitely captured the reaction to a treating of LGBTQ as a consumer block. People sometimes ask me what I feel/do if/when I see religious Right protesters at a Pride Parade. While it is uncomfortable, I think it is important to remember that while there is oppression from the Right, there can also be oppression from the Left. A lot of the Gay Rights movement is sexist, classist/capitalist and downright racist. That seems to be rarely discussed, as gays are all lumped together as having common backgrounds and interests. I had a great time at both Pride events, but I am reflecting on the importance of each space in the fight for LGBTQ rights.



This weekend is a big weekend too. Jamila and I are headed to Chicago for July 4th weekend! We are staying with my cousin Joe, meeting up with my dad's college roommate Doug, hoping to eat a lot of Deep Dish pizza, see some comedy at Second City and iO, and enjoy ourselves in a new city! I am very excited. I've been to Chicago a few times with Fresh Concepts, but I have been wanting to explore it longer and more in depth. I'm taking a Megabus tonight. Pictures to come!

This Weekend: Two Awesome Extravaganzas!

This weekend marks two amazing events:

Twin Cities Improv Festival! I will be taking a workshop called "Being A Human - An Improv Workshop for Honest Play" with Jet Eveleth, a member of iO's The Reckoning, and I might try to see a show or two. All shows and workshops are at the historic Brave New Workshop in Minneapolis, where I actually performed last Sunday!

Gay Pride Weekend! I celebrated by going to a bar last night and will march in the Parade on Sunday. The Twin Cities apparently have a huge parade! I'm excited to celebrate with Jamila and friends.

More updates/pictures on the weekend, but there is so much excitement in store!

Blogging Live from the Rosedale Mall!

This morning, June 24, 2010, was the launch of the iPhone 4, the newest generation iPhone and a huge change from the iPhone 3GS. Jamila, who has had the same phone for three years, was eligible for an upgrade and was eager to get a new iPhone that was faster and had better memory (I don't exactly know the terms).

We arrived at the Rosedale Mall at 6:30AM. The Apple Store opened at 7AM, the mall at 6. By the time we arrived, there were hundreds of people waiting in line for the launch of this new product. Some people had pre-ordered the phone before the Apple website went crazy; Jamila tried multiple times to pre-order online but was unsuccessful, unfortunately. As we slowly moved down the line, I got crankier, but I also would consider this a very interesting experience. Having never waited for concert/game/movie tickets or to enter an amazing ride at Disney or something, this was my first experience with die hards. One man had a tattoo of the old school rainbow Apple logo! The Apple staff were extremely chipper, like camp counselors, and there were free bagels, coffee and water while we waited. The staff answered our nervous questions, hoarded us into lines and spaces, and must have been working for hours!

While waiting, it seemed like almost everyone in line was tinkering around on another Apple product (iPhone, iPad, or MacBook). We also made friends with the people around us, two men: an outrageous banker at Wells Fargo and a nurse (soon to be nurse anesthetist) with an awesome tattoo. We also met a woman named Nikki Blaze, whose name alone inspired me.

Unfortunately, inspiration did not go far enough, as we spent 4.5 hours making very little progress. At that point, we were told we had about 2 hours left, and, already a little late to work, we left. Jamila will hopefully get her iPhone this weekend or next week. Although she is disappointed that she left empty-handed and that we wasted precious sleeping hours, it was interesting, amusing and blog-worthy.

If anyone got the new iPhone, I am curious to hear if it lives up to its hype.

New Approach to Hate Crimes

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/23/nyregion/23hate.html?hp

The NY Times featured a story today about a new perspective on hate crimes; a person need not "hate" a certain group, merely have certain ideas about them. They use the targeting of the elderly with fraud because of stereotypes of older people being vulnerable or senile as an example. One could say that the targeting of tourists who do not speak the language of a country for scams could then be a hate crime.

I find this perspective very interesting and not entirely wrong. After all, hate can often arise from (mis)perceptions. Ageism IS a form of oppression. Young people and older people are targeted or discriminated against because of their age, and it seems as though the scamming of the elderly is rampant. I am interested to see what other legal precedents come from this new approach to hate crimes.

Flying Back & Forth

I'm back from New York! I had a wonderful time with family, but what I keep thinking about is the plane ride.

It feels as though I have been flying a lot lately, MSP, New York, Kentucky....
And I am beginning to see a trend on the planes. I have only flown first class twice in my life (once was an international flight, the other was an accidental standby placement from Chicago to Seattle). But as I board a plane after the Zone 1 Elite Gold and First Class passengers, I look at the people sitting in the first few rows. Regardless of the day or time, the people in First Class are almost exclusively White males. Many don business suits and hold Blackberries as they try to squeeze in a few more minutes of email time before the plane takes off. And even if there are both male and female flight attendants, the First Class passengers always seem to be attended to by women.

While respect for women in the workplace and wage equality are increasing, it is hard not to look at the passengers on First Class and wonder why the elite seem to look exactly the same as they did 30 years ago (except for the Blackberry). Small indicators like these and the "re-affirmation" of dominant masculinity (see: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/event.php?eid=39581454903&ref=mf) remind me of the continued pervasiveness of male social and political power.

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Thank you to Natalie Clifford for sharing the Man Day link with me and Delta Airlines for spending so much time with me.