amazon_syren (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
amazon_syren) wrote2009-08-15 08:51 pm
amazon_syren) wrote2009-08-15 08:51 pm
Radical Vulvas Redux - Part Three (This is Where Things Get Possitive)
And this is where things get a little more possitive.
In addition to the awesome gal who read the poem about love triangles and her ex-boyfriend's now-ex-girlfriend (ten tonnes of awesome, I really, really liked it), another highlight of the night for me was the monologue done during the open mic by a guy from Montreal. It was gorgeous. Buckets of emotion.
The first lines are: "Yes, I am a drag queen, and yes, I am dying of AIDS. But[...]"
And it was all about having the guts to be yourself despite the weight of every rule you ever learned telling you not to be.
I just about cried.
It was fantastic.
I kind of hope someone got it video-taped and is posting it to you-tube or something because WOW.
Phenomenal.
Let's see...
The amazing Fait Dormi (the cool chickie who's friends with Sara) did a song she'd written about the first stages of exploring promiscuity and polyamoury and trying to deal with reconciling what she wanted to do with all the stuff she'd been taught about being slutty and what the said about her.
Good conversations with that gal, too. I want to continue them. (May or may not start inviting her to the WW parties. But I think coffee is definitely in the future. At least I hope it is). Also: She has cool hair and was one of the few other gals there wearing dramatic makeup. (Three cheers for punk chicks! Woohoo! ;-)
Oh. Yes.
:-D
Getting called upon to stall.
See, the final act of the night (right after mine) was a performance art piece about makeup, and this idea that friendships between women are "always" slightly competitive.
At least that's a big chunk of what I got out of it.
Though that may just be my trust issues showing or something. ;-)
But it took them a while to get ready and do set-up. So, while everyone was waiting, on of the MCs asked me to explain the difference between legalization and decriminalization in terms of how that applies to sex-work.
[EDIT: Randomly: This bug that's been crawling around on my ceiling? Just totally did a suicide dive into my lamp. Bugs are weird. Seriously. /EDIT]
So I got up and talked off-the-cuff (and coherently, and articulately, and accurately and in ways that were easy to understand!) about the differences between the two forms of de-illegalization, as they apply in Canada.
I didn't touch on the "controlled substance" aspect of legalization (see: Nevada and, IIRC, New Zealand, among other places) which is too bad, 'cause I would have liked to add that.
But I think I covered most of the salient points, and people got it and asked questions and I was able to answer them, and I'm really, really happy about how well that went. :-)
I am *also* really happy about how well my piece went!
Fait Dormi video-taped it (including my into, which involved my plugging VoV -- which a few people asked me about afterwords, so YAY), though she ran out of batteries about half-way through. (So it's a teaser. ;-)
I'll have to find another venue to perform it at.
It went over really well. People paid attention. I had a couple of people come up afterwards and tell me that I'm a good story-teller and that, the way I read it and the expresiveness I bring to it, made my story so visible that it was almost like a movie.
Now that? That is high praise for this long-trained singer, let me tell you!
So I'm totally thrilled with how well it went over. More's the pity more people weren't there, but still. It was a full house, and it went well.
Also: There were samosas, brownies, and vegan chocolate cake. :-)
And: I had a white (chocolate) russian (vodka, khalua, Godiva white chocolate liqueur, and milk), which the gal at the bar cooked up for me when I said "I want something that is not comprised of 100% alcohol, and that also involves chocolate in some capacity".
She rocks.
Anyway. So, yes. Rant-induction aside, the evening was awesome, I made a new friend, I got to do a little bit of teachery activism, and I got to show off my unexpected story-telling chops.
So YAY. :-D
I totally want to do this again next year. :-D
In addition to the awesome gal who read the poem about love triangles and her ex-boyfriend's now-ex-girlfriend (ten tonnes of awesome, I really, really liked it), another highlight of the night for me was the monologue done during the open mic by a guy from Montreal. It was gorgeous. Buckets of emotion.
The first lines are: "Yes, I am a drag queen, and yes, I am dying of AIDS. But[...]"
And it was all about having the guts to be yourself despite the weight of every rule you ever learned telling you not to be.
I just about cried.
It was fantastic.
I kind of hope someone got it video-taped and is posting it to you-tube or something because WOW.
Phenomenal.
Let's see...
The amazing Fait Dormi (the cool chickie who's friends with Sara) did a song she'd written about the first stages of exploring promiscuity and polyamoury and trying to deal with reconciling what she wanted to do with all the stuff she'd been taught about being slutty and what the said about her.
Good conversations with that gal, too. I want to continue them. (May or may not start inviting her to the WW parties. But I think coffee is definitely in the future. At least I hope it is). Also: She has cool hair and was one of the few other gals there wearing dramatic makeup. (Three cheers for punk chicks! Woohoo! ;-)
Oh. Yes.
:-D
Getting called upon to stall.
See, the final act of the night (right after mine) was a performance art piece about makeup, and this idea that friendships between women are "always" slightly competitive.
At least that's a big chunk of what I got out of it.
Though that may just be my trust issues showing or something. ;-)
But it took them a while to get ready and do set-up. So, while everyone was waiting, on of the MCs asked me to explain the difference between legalization and decriminalization in terms of how that applies to sex-work.
[EDIT: Randomly: This bug that's been crawling around on my ceiling? Just totally did a suicide dive into my lamp. Bugs are weird. Seriously. /EDIT]
So I got up and talked off-the-cuff (and coherently, and articulately, and accurately and in ways that were easy to understand!) about the differences between the two forms of de-illegalization, as they apply in Canada.
I didn't touch on the "controlled substance" aspect of legalization (see: Nevada and, IIRC, New Zealand, among other places) which is too bad, 'cause I would have liked to add that.
But I think I covered most of the salient points, and people got it and asked questions and I was able to answer them, and I'm really, really happy about how well that went. :-)
I am *also* really happy about how well my piece went!
Fait Dormi video-taped it (including my into, which involved my plugging VoV -- which a few people asked me about afterwords, so YAY), though she ran out of batteries about half-way through. (So it's a teaser. ;-)
I'll have to find another venue to perform it at.
It went over really well. People paid attention. I had a couple of people come up afterwards and tell me that I'm a good story-teller and that, the way I read it and the expresiveness I bring to it, made my story so visible that it was almost like a movie.
Now that? That is high praise for this long-trained singer, let me tell you!
So I'm totally thrilled with how well it went over. More's the pity more people weren't there, but still. It was a full house, and it went well.
Also: There were samosas, brownies, and vegan chocolate cake. :-)
And: I had a white (chocolate) russian (vodka, khalua, Godiva white chocolate liqueur, and milk), which the gal at the bar cooked up for me when I said "I want something that is not comprised of 100% alcohol, and that also involves chocolate in some capacity".
She rocks.
Anyway. So, yes. Rant-induction aside, the evening was awesome, I made a new friend, I got to do a little bit of teachery activism, and I got to show off my unexpected story-telling chops.
So YAY. :-D
I totally want to do this again next year. :-D