"Justice"

I am trying to calm down, I'm trying not to respond in anger - but I am disgusted. This video was sent to me a couple of days ago. It's a bunch of teenagers asking that we vote "to uphold the constitution". To do it for them because they don't have a voice (sounds awesome, yeah?). Separation of church and state? Great! Protection of freedom and liberty? Great! Maintaining history? Great!!

Sounds awesome, yeah? Not like you don't know something bad is coming:

Please take note at about the 1:50 mark, where a TEENAGER implores us to vote for politicians who will protect his right to own a gun. I'm sorry, but how is it possibly good and just and okay to film a video wherein a CHILD speaks for gun rights!? Rarely do I have such visceral reactions to things like this. If it hadn't been for Columbine, or Virginia Tech, or any of the other multitude of school shootings, I probably wouldn't have had such a reaction. But those things happened, and they happened because a CHILD got their hands on a GUN.

Yeah, I get it - the kid in this video can't legally buy a gun at his age. Didn't stop those other kids, did it? I'm not even saying that I disagree with the 2nd Amendment (okay, I do). Point is, no child should be a part of selling gun rights. Not a 5-year old, not an 18-year old. NO.

(And I'm not going to into the way in which he said it, as if he were picturing the military flag of his army flying high even as he spoke. Or later as he expressed the need for "a strong military.")

So that's the initial reaction. Then I found their website, im2moro and the fun really began (intentionally un-capitalized; apparently the "one US language" they speak of in the video doesn't include proper grammar). Anyway, take a look: http://im2moro.org/ (Go ahead, look. I'll wait)

And you're back! Confused!? Seemed pretty clear from the video that they had a distinct political lean, yeah? Yet strangely, nowhere on im2moro.org does it self-identify as Right-leaning, or conservative, or even Tea Party. Nothing. In fact, it specifically claims to be none of the above. Just a bunch of harmless ol' independent thinkers... nothing to see... unless you're an impressionable teen! In that case come here little girl I've got some racist, elitist candy just for you.

Visitors are presented with this jumbled mix of "Liberty and Freedom for all - yeah!" and "Let's talk about how politicians are misbehaving and not getting along". During my first reading, I found myself questioning my initial reaction; after all, they were talking about freedom and liberty and shady politicians - that's stuff I can get behind. But then, I found this supposedly unbiased coverage of the ruling in Pennsylvania regarding voter ID laws or this refreshingly "unbiased" blog post about the first presidential debate.

Pretty clearly a conservative machine; an organization targeting teens and young people in not-quite truthful ways, using confusing messages of freedom and justice to pass off conservative beliefs as moderate, as independent. Not okay, even if it was started by a teen. Because the bottom line is this: If you can't tell your perspective members that you have a clear slant, you are lying. Plain and simple.

"We don't think of ourselves as "Republicans," "Democrats" or "Libertarians." We're Americans, independent thinkers who believe in the framework of ideals that have formed and guided this great nation for over 200 years."

(http://im2moro.org/what-is-im2moro, emphasis mine)

Independent thinkers... as long as that thinking is pro-life, pro-religion, pro-gun. They're playing on our base fears, exploiting children to persuade other children to support their cause and lying about the whole thing by calling themselves "independent thinkers".

But wait! There's still more!! Let's discuss, just for a minute, their section on "Justice," in which they link to King's Letter from Birmingham Jail. (They've read that document, right!? They actually know what he stood for, right? Religious or not, the man fought for equality, the man fought against poverty - he did not fight for GUN RIGHTS).

The thing is, having a slant is fine - great even. Conservative youth organization? Great! You go kids! Fight the fight! But be honest about what you are. Don't create some professionally produced website with "hip" graphics and a text message name and quote Martin Luther King without being honest about what you really stand for.

What they're doing isn't fighting the good fight, it isn't bringing awareness to important issues of today - it's building an army through deceit and lies, and playing on the fears of CHILDREN. The only consolation is that they only have 614 Facebook likes - which for a youth based organization isn't great. However, the video is being emailed around, they're reaching people. And making some of them, like me, cry in the process.

Embryo OR Homo!

Let's play a new game! It's called Embryo or Homo! I'll post a quote and you guess if it refers to the rights of an embryo or a homo! Here goes:

"Yet, identifying who “qualifies” as a human being has historically proved to be more difficult than the above examples suggest. Twice in the past the U.S. Supreme Court—charged with being the guardian of rights—has failed so drastically in making this crucial determination that it “disqualified” a whole category of human beings, with profoundly tragic results." 

(He goes on to say that Roe v. Wade was an "identical mistake" to Dred Scott v. Sandford, which ruled that the constitution didn't apply to African Americans). 

Or this one:

"All conservatives should find it easy to agree that government must uphold every person’s right to make choices regarding their lives and that every person’s right to live must be secured before he or she can exercise that right of choice."

Or how about this one:
"Conservatives can bridge the gap on issues of life and choice by building on the solid rock of natural rights, which belong, not just to some, but to all human beings."

All quotes from:
The Cause of Life Can’t be Severed from the Cause of Freedom

40 WORDS FOR SNOW
THE PANOPTICON
THE TEXTURE OF VERBS
DIGGING DITCHES ON MARS
FISTICUFFS AND PARASOLS

The best you can hope for is to be chased backstage by your audience.

Bolero (classical music riots)

Last Night the Moon Came (poem and song)

Do something with: Unpredictable behavior of electrons

This is something I want to remember: Calutron Girls in Happy Valley

The Stranger doesn't like theater

I'm sick of The Stranger and their 'negativity makes you cool' attitude. I'm sick of dreading a Stranger review while simultaneously lusting after one. I'm sick of anxiously refreshing the page on Wednesdays, eyes squinted as if that could keep out the venom I'm sure is about to spew forth. I've been sick of it for a long time. Why do we continue to give them power? What would happen if we just stopped inviting The Stranger to see our work? Would the world end? Would lost theatergoers wander the post-Stranger streets aimlessly searching for something to see, hopeless without the snark-infested map they were once provided?

We all know that a Stranger review makes a difference. An actual, money-in-the-bank difference. Yet I'm willing to bet my favorite pair of skinny jeans that not one director or theater administrator has had this conversation: "I love having The Stranger review us! They write such thoughtful, thorough and topical reviews - I always know that when they write about my work it's going to be well deserved and honest, even if it's bad."

[Note: some of the preceding actually taken from a conversation I had with a director about another reviewer.]

Instead, what we've all said many times is something more akin to: "Why do they even bother reviewing theater? They don't write reviews - they write reviews of their experience seeing the show or how much they hate the topic the play was focused on or they write about themselves. Even if they DO bother to actually review the show, you have to wonder if they get paid by the bitchy remark."

We continue to empower The Stranger to criticize us for the sake of snark. We're the nerdy kid on the playground running up to the bully who's beaten us every day for the past week to show them our new comic - hoping he'll tell everyone how cool we are and getting beaten yet again. You know what, I don't need The Stranger to tell me how cool we are - and what's more, what do they know from cool, anyway?

I've written this post before in my head several times - always getting distracted before getting around to posting it. The review today of Hardball brought it all back again. (No, this isn't a petty response to a negative review that hurt my feelings. I can take it. Besides, the Hardball review wasn't even all that bad - I've absolutely read (and had) worse.) My behavior leading up to it and reaction now that it's out are a reminder of a silent understanding that we all just seem to put up with. The Stranger doesn't like theater - yet everyone listens to The Stranger's opinion about theater. How much sense does that make? It's like turning to Ann Coulter for advice on how to be a good feminist.

Please note, I'm not advocating the extinction of reviewers, we NEED them. For gods sake, call us on our bullshit. If we get overindulgent or analyze all meaning out of a story, if we waste two hours of your time masturbating on stage - call us on it!!! A "bad" review that's relevant to the work, that's well thought out and based on fact is a wonder to behold. We need more of those! We need reviewers who can react to what they're seeing intelligently and help us sort through what's out there. I just don't understand why we continue to lend credibility to an organization that mocks us because that's the popular thing to do.

So friends, seriously - let's stop empowering them. Don't invite them to your shows. Don't give them comps, or press packets. Don't ask Brendan to host your talk-back. Don't refresh the page every Wednesday, anxiously waiting for their opinion. Just stop. Their power comes from us, so let's take it back. I'd rather have a conversation with a well-informed, intelligent contemporary than a curmudgeonly Stranger any day.

Unfinished Story

She had not meant to break the world. Of course that's what anyone would say after finding out that they'd been responsible for such a thing - but she really hadn't. She hadn't even realized it was her fault until much, much later - when the pieces were floating happenstance about the universe, making that lovely little tinkling sound when they bounced together. At least that's how she imagined they sounded - everyone knows you can't hear anything in space.

At any rate - the world broke. It broke because as she was arguing, about what she couldn't even remember any longer, she made a gesture. Yes, a simple gesture broke the world. A gesture toward nothing specific, except maybe her girlfriend's stupid habit of rolling her eyes all the time. She gestured out of frustration and her ring, her shiny little inexpensive silver plated ring flew off of her finger. She didn't even notice. Neither of them did they were so busy spitting and gnashing and being just generally angry.

There they stood, arguing and pulling each others' emotional hair out as her sparkly little ring caught a tail wind and flew right up to the moon. Past a lost red balloon destined for Skenectady, a couple of birds destined for a new nest in warmer climates, past a couple of wishes floating their way to the stars and past the stars themselves to the moon.