Bit by bit, Putting it together

Oh, hey there! Remember the good ol' days when I used to update this blog in a timely fashion? Remember that? Whoa, what happened?

So yes, I apologize for not posting anything in the past few weeks. I've been INSANELY busy, so I'm going to do a very rambling rapid fire update of all the things that have kept me distracted from this blog. Deep breath, and....

1) Parents weekend! Well, for me, only Parent Weekend, singular, since my dad was busy with (insert-work-related-thingy-that-I-don't-remember-here). But my Mom came to campus for about four days to frolic about the town with me and see how wonderful this happy-go-lucky college lifestyle is. I took her to some of the wonderful restaurants in town, showed her more of the campus than she got to see during orientation, took her to the Obertones and Acapelicans Parents Weekend Concerts (the latter of which I performed in), and, most importantly, introduced her to the wonder that is the Slow Train Cafe. Over the course of 4 days, she spent approximately 32 hours there, I believe. The next time she visits, she's signing up for a loyalty card so she can earn herself some free drinks :)

2) I saw several on campus productions, some of which I was required to see for my Theater Class, and some I just wanted to see. (You know, for fun. Theater folks think that kind of stuff is fun.) First, on the same weekend as the "Godot" that I wrote about a gazillion years ago, I also saw the T&D production of Topdog/Underdog. A few weeks later, I had another double-show weekend, which included the T&D production of a student written play called "Hypnosis for Salesmen" and the music conservatory's production of the opera A Wedding (of which you can find a formal review here.) All three of these were absolutely amazing, and I would really love to write full length posts about each of them. But I would just die, so I'm not doing that. Sorry. Feel free to blame my laziness.

3) Acapelicans news! We are currently preparing for our end of semester final concert. New pieces will include a medley of PBS children's show theme songs (Reading Rainbow, Wishbone, Arthur, Sesame Street and Bill Nye), and Starland Vocal Band's "Afternoon Delight." Yup. It's gonna be a hell of a concert...

4) Other performing news! I was recently cast in two Winter Term Theater projects: A production of Eugene Ionesco's "The Bald Soprano" and a workshop of a student written play called "The Deep." They rehearse all through January, and go up in February. I'm so excited to be participating in both of these, so once we get started in January, I will most definitely be updating regularly about both of them. Stay tuned!

5) Thanksgiving break! I returned to Binghamton yet again to celebrate Thanksgiving with my Mom, her girlfriend, my brother, and my grandfather, and it was absolutely wonderful. In addition to all of the amazing food and the opportunity to see my family again, this was also the first time that I was home at the same time as my high school friends, so I was able to see many of them. I also drank a lot of bubble tea, and had some spontaneous guitar/ukulele serenading sessions with my brother. So between all of those things, I basically crammed everything I had missed about home into five days. Success.

6) I did my scheduling for next semester and lots of essay writing/revising, and had another midterm. But if I think about any of those for too long, I'll probably turn into a giant squid of anger, so I'm just not going to.

Now, what's up next on the horizon, you may ask?

1) Auditioning for the Acting I class! I'm actually doing that later today! Gahhh!

2) Theater 101 showcase: Everyone in our class participates in a final showcase in December, which will feature several small 10 minute plays. The one in which I will be performing is called "Duet for Bear and Dog." It's about a bear and a dog. And some humans. Yeah.....

3) Final exams and papers. See entry number 6, above.

4) Winter break is only about three weeks away! Huzzah!!!

5) Winter term, which means spending a month on campus doing absolutely nothing but those two plays I mentioned. Ummm, AWESOME. I'm pretty darn excited.

6) In addition, I'm considering possibly starting a vlog during winter term. I figured that since I spend so much freakin' time watching other people's youtube videos, and I've always had a super secret fantasy of becoming a famous vlogger, and people generally think I'm a fairly witty person, I could start up a channel on which I would discuss some current events, give my opinions on various movies/books/music etc. complain about college problems, get more involved in the Nerdfighter community, throw in a lot of cheesy jokes, and maybe even post some of my original songs that I've been dying to record. Plus, this would be a great way to learn about video editing and things like that. However, it might be something I should save for an official Winter Term project, because I could really make it more of a learning experience for myself, and actually earn J-Term credit for it. (On the other hand, if I decided to start it up before January, then I could participate in this year's Project for Awesome, which I've always wanted to do!) Thoughts?

Well, that's all for now. Time to do some audition preparation. Seacrest, OUT!

Ze play is ze - how you say? - Is ze thing, yes?: A Review of OSTA's production of Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot."

Okay, so those of you who are not familiar with Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot," are probably going to be confused by this post. So I recommend that you either see a production/recording of the play before reading this, or (if you're the type of person who doesn't mind spoilers) read this description of the play, just to get some background info. Or read the play itself, if you're feeling ambitious. (NOTE: THIS POST CONTAINS INFORMATION ABOUT A SHOW THAT CONTAINS ADULT THEMES, NUDITY, VIOLENCE, AND LATEX. READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED)

Go ahead. I'll wait.... Done? Okay now that we're all caught up, let's talk about the production of "Waiting for Godot" that I saw this weekend.

Before seeing this play, the buzz I had heard about it had me extremely confused and I had no idea what to expect. I kept hearing people refer to it as "Gaydot" and descriptions of the show usually unvolved phrases like drag queen, lesbians, naked people, and sex-slave. And my reaction was something along the lines of "Ummm....what? We're talking about the same play, right?" At the time, the way that people had described this production to me made me set my expectations pretty low, because it led me to believe that the show was being completely "gayed up" solely for the purpose of....well, making it gayer. I mean, beforehand I had been aware that there are some vague homoerotic themes in the script that are sometimes addressed very subtly in some productions, but saying that they were of central importance in the play would probably be a stretch. So, I went into the play readily equipped with a gigantic sack full of salt grains with which to take this interpretation.

However, upon seeing the play itself and reading the program notes by the director (coincidentally also the teacher of my "Gender and Sexuality in Disney Films" class), I felt quite differently. Allow me to briefly paint you a mental portrait of the characters: Vladimir and Estragon are portrayed as a bickering lesbian/trans couple, dressed in somewhat ill-fitting brown suits, and accessorized with black bowler hats (Estragon with a pair of dark rubber boots while Vladimir goes shoeless); Pozzo is depicted as an flashy, short tempered uber-diva in drag (shimmery turquoise ballgown, small leopard-print pill box hat with a black veil, fabulously colorful eye make-up. That's right, I said drag.); Pozzo's servant, Lucky is portrayed as a sex slave, with a long leash around his neck and dressed leather pants, with several chains hanging off of his body. (Tobias Funke's unfortunately accidental "leather-daddy" ensemble comes to mind....) Finally, remember the tree? The only specified set piece in the script? The tree is made up of five people, wearing flesh-colored underwear and covered in body paint symbols, standing in a very close huddle, performing what appeared to be a form of contact improvisation.

This certainly made for a very interesting theater experience. Those of you who have seen a production of this play know that ANY production of it is certainly a very interesting experience, but this was SO far beyond that. Instead of the typical silent, colorless environment created for most productions, in this one, lighting and music were used many times throughout the play to heighten the mood of each interaction. There were two moments in which I found this to be particularly effective:
•The first of these, was Pozzo and Lucky's first entrance: In the middle of a conversation between Vladimir and Estragon, all of a sudden, the stage lights went out and the room was filled with the multicolored disco-style spotlights one would see at a drag show, and the intro to the Scissor Sisters' Laura began to blast throughout the room as Lucky (followed at leash-length by Pozzo) proceeded to strut across the performance space. Most epic entrance ever? I think so.
•The second amazing moment with incredibly powerful use of lighting and sound was Lucky's famous monologue in the first act (full text of which can be found here). During this speech, the lights remained black and white, but flashed on and off, with spotlights running over the entire stage. As Lucky spoke, running all over the space, there was noise underneath him, created both the moans of pain and chaos coming from the other three characters, who eventually tackled him to the ground and subdued him into silence. Definitely one of the most powerful moments in the play for me.

However, you may still be wondering what the exact point was of all of these interpretational decisions (especially considering the fact that Samuel Beckett plays are NEVER done professionally in this manner, thanks to the uptight members of the Beckett Estate who forbid interpretations other than the one envisioned by the playwright). Well, the director's primary aim with this play was to use the conflicts and themes already present in the script as a vehicle for portraying social issues for the queer community. This direct quote from his program notes explains his interpretation pretty clearly:

"I have used the existential crises that occur naturally within the play to be acted out by stereotypes in the queer community. With this production, I have attempted to "hold the mirror up" to heteronormative society in order to show them the cookie cutter shapes they have placed on us: a squabbling lesbian/trans/genderfucked couple, a trashy fabulous drag queen, and BDSM slave, even reducing the world where we live into naked bodies."

Now, the director also admits in his program notes that he was intentionally "queering" the play, meaning that he was "deliberately reading LGBTQ (QIAPPLSWXYZ) issues onto a play that does not have them explicitly stated in order to reclaim in for myself and for the queer community." However, in my opinion, after having seen the ways in which he analyzed the script and the impact it had on the production as a whole, I do not think (as some others do) that this belittles the production or interpretation in any way. I do not believe that elaborating upon themes that are not explicitly spelled out in the script makes them any less real or any less meaningful. It is true that, with any directorial project, one has to take into account the question of "Is what I am doing really serving the play?" which is why many people think that such outlandish interpretations are just gratuitous and absurd. However, I felt that this director's interpretation did serve the play, in the sense that it forced me, as an audience member, to think about the themes of the play more deeply and, subsequently, question what the play says about the human condition. Because, after all, isn't that the point of theater?

And a little sidenote to the members of the Beckett Estate and anyone else who thinks that radically different interpretations such as this are unacceptable in the theater: Pick. A. Different. Medium. If you honestly think that a script written by one person and interpreted by one person cannot possibly be interpreted in any other way, then theater is not for you. If every production of every play were an exact carbon copy of the original production, as interpreted by the playwright and ONLY the playwright, why would anyone bother going to the theater? People don't go to see revivals of old plays because they want to see a carbon copy. They want to see something new. They want to see what another person saw when they analyzed the script. They want to be presented with another way to think about the play. They may think it was a bad interpretation, or they may disagree with the director's concept, but at least they will come out of the theater thinking about it in a different way than they were before they went in.

All of the actors gave great performances that made me truly care about each and every character. One effect that the gender-bending and character re-interpretations had for me, as an audience member, was that every relationship seemed to have much higher stakes than those in the original production, and I became much more invested in what they said and how they interacted. In addition, I must give an entire bucket of props to the five most focused, physically impressive people on the stage: The "Treeple." They were onstage for three hours straight, standing in a huddle, moving very slowly as one cohesive living being, supporting each other's weight as they leaned on one another, using their arms to represent branches, without losing focus OR stealing attention from the action. #extremelyimpressedwithyourmadskillz. I was also very fascinated by the ways in which the tree actually reacted to the action going on with the other characters, making the tree much more than just a part of the scenery.

Overall, I thought this production was very powerful, and I enjoyed it a lot. I came out of the production with an entirely new view on the play, and a renewed appreciation for directors who can pull off controversial productions like this one without losing focus on the play and truly make their audience think more about the work. Because of these, I would say that the production was definitely success.

And you're back again, Only different than before

Welcome back Obies!

So, I had intended to just take a break from blog posting for the week that I was away for fall break and then pick it up once I got back. Well, I inadvertently let two whole weeks go by without writing anything, so, here I am! I'm back! Huzzah! Oh joy, oh rapture unforseen!

Here's a brief recap of the various things I did during fall break:
•Ate all of my favorite foods. Literally. I don't know how, but my parents did an EXCELLENT job planning this, so that all of the meals I had missed the most were incorporated into the week. For that, I give both of them extensive gratitude.
•Celebrated my mother's half birthday (umm, totally normal, right?) Six months ago, when her actual birthday happened, she was so busy and overwhelmed with things to do that her birthday celebration got put off and it was in general a not-so-enjoyable birthday experience. So we decided to give her a redo birthday, with a special dinner and some "half" gifts.
•Spent some time with two of my closest friends from home, who I had missed very much. We went out to dinner at The Lost Dog Cafe (i.e. the greatest restaurant in existence, famous for it's Rigatoni a la Vodka), watched the DVD of Rogers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella" (the epically amazing one starring Brandy, Whitney Houston, Bernadetta Peters, etc.) and bought some wonderful/tacky sweaters at the Salvation Army. Pretty much the three standard activities necessary for spending time with friends in Binghamton.
•Watched "Waiting For Godot" for the first time (an excellent film version of the Samuel Beckett play). I did this in preparation for the upcoming Oberlin production of the play (stay tuned, I will most likely be reviewing it after I see it). It was a fascinating piece, although for the first hour or so after watching it, all I could think was "Wow. So that's 'Waiting for Godot.' Whooooaaaa...." It was certainly an experience.
•Did some epic catching up on laundry, sleep and episodes of "How I Met Your Mother," all of which have been seriously neglected since I arrive at Oberlin.
•Spent a night in New York City with my older brother, who I hadn't seen in quite a while and missed like crazy. (Thanks for being such a great traveling assistant, Ned!)

So, after a wonderful relaxed week in Binghamton and then an incredibly hellish traveling weekend (two completely separate awful bus experiences in one weekend...stupid snow...) I finally arrived back in Oberlin. I've been here for about a week, and I must say, it feels absolutely amazing to be back. Even though I loved my week in Binghamton and definitely needed the break, stepping off the bus and walking back to my dorm filled me with an extremely intense feeling of "Ahhhhh, at last. I'm finally home." I guess that's probably a sign that I'm at the right college, right?

And now, a recap of the busy week I've had since I've been back in Oberlin:
•On Monday, I had a really fun (albeit somewhat odd) Halloween night with a bunch of my friends. Costumes included Snooki, a flapper, a fairy, a "cat" (I use quotations because he really didn't look much like a cat...), a cowgirl, Mimi (from "Rent"), and several other wacky outfits that I randomly saw on campus. I was Bellatrix Lestrange. I know, totally badass, right? (If you don't know who that is, you clearly have not been making efficient use of the past 14 years, and have some serious reading to do.)
•I discovered on Tuesday that I had, indeed, caught the cold that my brother had warned me he was dealing with. As a result, my trash can is completely full to the brim with used tissues, cough drop wrappers, and wet tea bags. Yep...
•On Wednesday, I auditioned for the Winter Term productions. In January (aka, Winter Term or J-term), classes are not in session because all Oberlin students are required to do an independent project of their choice. It can be anything from an internship, to a research project, to a trip abroad, to learning a new language, etc. Basically anything that you can prove has some sort of educational merit. During this year's Winter Term, there will be three student-directed plays in rehearsal, which can count for J-term credit for all cast/crew members, so I decided to audition for all three of them. This would require staying on campus for the whole month (most people decide to go off campus for J-term) but I think it would be a really fun, interesting process, so I decided to go for it. And I discovered this morning that I got a callback for one of the shows, so I will keep you posted on how that goes!
•Also on Wednesday night, I participated in the Acapella Study Break Concert, a concert by all five student acapella groups in the middle of midterms week, intended to give people an hour of stress relief from their insane, hectic study/homework schedules. It was such an amazing concert, and I had an absolute blast. I sang with my all-female group, the Acapelicans (not full voice though, because of my cold) and we did a fabulous job with both of our pieces ("Java Jive" by Manhattan Transfer, and "Walking On Broken Glass" by Annie Lennox). This was also my first opportunity to hear the other groups perform, and they all did amazingly as well (other groups included the male barbershop quartet "3 Dudes and a Guy," another female group called "Nothing But Treble," a co-ed group that does primarily jazz and folk called "Round Midnight," and the ever popular all-male group, "The Obertones.")
•Yesterday, I spent a great deal of time looking through the online course catalog, trying to decide what classes I want to register for next semester...Wait, next semester? Already? WHAAAAT??? Yep, that's right, registration starts in a couple of weeks. Yikes! Since I have a several distribution requirements to fulfill (3 natural science course, 3 social science courses and 3 humanities courses, not to mention the requirements for Quantitative Proficiency, Writing Proficiency, and Cultural Diversity), I really want to try to balance my schedule out well, so I made enormous lists of classes in each area that I was interested in, making sure I have plenty of backups prepared (since many of the classes I wanted to take this semester filled up really quickly and I didn't get to take them). I won't tell you what any of them are, because I don't want to jinx it. But don't worry, you'll find out once I'm registered.
•Next up: this weekend, I'm going to be seeing two Oberlin productions, the aforementioned "Waiting for Godot" and Suszan-Lori Parks' "Topdog/Underdog" (the second of which I am required to see as a part of my Theater 101 class). More on those later. In addition, my callback for the J-term show is on Sunday night. Wishes for broken legs would be much appreicated.

So there you have it. I'm already pretty much back in the full-swing of Oberlin work. And I'm kinda loving it. Busy, yes. But still so amazing. God, I missed Oberlin so much!

Remember...?

Well, the first module of my first semester of my first year at Oberlin is now finished. Midterm papers: All completed. Midterm exams: All taken (with the exception of the "take-home-open-notes" midterm for my Theater class. Not exactly worried about that though...) There are no classes for the next week, and then after that the fall semester continues. So what, you may ask, will be happening for this week? I'M GOING BACK TO BINGHAMTON, THAT'S WHAT'S HAPPENING!

I must say, even though I absolutely love, adore, cherish and worship the ground walked upon by this wonderful school and all the wonderful people I have met here, I must admit something: I do miss Binghamton. I know, I KNOW, it seems crazy. I'm having the absolute time of my life in college, and I truly do feel at home here. But I also miss my Binghamton home. My house, my family, my friends, my ADORABLE dog, things like that.

In addition, here are some WONDERFUL things about my home that I have missed very very much at Oberlin and have definitely taken for granted in the past:
•The feeling of showering without shoes on
•Meals that don't require waiting in lines
•Being able to measure time in actual minutes, as opposed to "laundry machine minutes"
•While we're on that topic: Doing laundry. FOR. FREE.
•Constantly wondering whether or not I have enough quarters (again, the laundry thing)
•Bathroom privacy
•Privacy in general (Everything you say in every hall and every room of this dorm can be heard. By everyone.)
•To mention a totally obvious college cliché, food cooked by my wonderful parents
•While we're on the subject of food, The Lost Dog Cafe, Cyber Cafe, Java Joes, Foliage, and J. Michael's.
•BUBBLE TEA (I still haven't made peace with the fact that a school that is home to so many hipsters can possibly not have a place to get bubble tea on or near campus....)
•Being able to go places that are beyond walking distance of home (I don't have a car at Oberlin and don't have any close friends who do, so we don't leave the immediate surrounding town of Oberlin very much...well, ever.)
•Toasters
•All the books/DVDs I left behind (not that we have free time in college or anything...)
•Not having to worry about violating quiet hours
•Not having to deal with sleepless nights caused by other people violating quiet hours
•Being around people who know what a spiedie is

So yes even though I am going to miss Oberlin and my Oberlin friends quite terribly for the next week, I am most definitely looking forward to reaquainting myself with these aspects of Binghamton (and the non-college environment in general). I'll be leaving Oberlin tomorrow afternoon, and returning next weekend. So until then, Happy Fall Break, Obies! :)

Do I hear a waltz?

Okay, so I'm just going to do an EXTREMELY brief post about the OMTA showcase, which went up this past weekend. And I'm pretty sure the entire experience can be basically summarized in one word: OHMYGODITWASSOMUCHFUN!!! (Okay, almost one word...)

It was an extremely brief showcase, consisting of only seven pieces total (one of which was unfortunately cut from the program on Saturday, due to an unfortunate illness). And it took place in the Slow Train Cafe, which is a wonderful place that serves really great coffee, but unfortunately presents some predicaments when it comes to performing (i.e. awkward coffee-grinding noises and baristas loudly trying to figure out which customer isn't claiming his/her pumpkin spice latte in the middle of songs). But it was still a fun place to be for the show. And even though there wasn't a whole lot of seating, we got great audiences for all three shows.

Of course, each piece went very well. The opening piece, "Aquarius" from the show Hair sadly only got one performance because of the lead singer's sudden sickness. However, I was of the opinion (as were many people) that they should have tried to figure out another solution, rather than just cutting the piece altogether. After all, the ensemble members put in so much work and they shouldn't have had their piece cut simply because one person couldn't be there. And the truth is, any one of them could have sung the solo...

However, once that was cut, the piece that was second on the program got moved to the opening spot. This piece, incidentally, turned out to be "A Little Priest" from the show Sweeney Todd. Which was the piece I was in. Yikes! Overall I felt very good about how our song went for all three shows. Having an audience for it definitely had an enormous impact on our performance, since there were now people to laugh at all of the highly amusing cannibalistic puns (which, I must say, got much bigger laughs than I anticipated in one of the performances.) We had so much fun every time we did it, and I think it went very well.

The rest of the acts went very well also. The other pieces featured in the showcase were "At The Ballet" (from A Chorus Line), "Unworthy of Your Love" (Assassins), "Every Day A Little Death" (A Little Night Music), "Take Me Or Leave Me" (Rent), and "Gonna Wash That Man Right Out Of My Hair" (South Pacific). In particular, two of my favorites were the Assassins piece and the A Little Night Music piece. Two of my close friends were in those songs (playing Squeaky Fromme and Charlotte) and they both did absolutely gorgeously. (Is that a word? "Gorgeously?" It doesn't really sound right. Quick dictionary.com break...Yes. Yes, it is a word. Huh...)

As a whole, the showcase was so much fun, and even though it was a logistical nightmare much of the time, I still had the time of my life and I'm actually a little sad that it's over. However, I'm still participating in the workshop of Vessel, and there are more auditions coming up down the road, and rumors of certain musicals that may or may not be put up at Oberlin (more details to come). So I'm not in any way short of theater opportunities for the time being.

I now leave you with a link to a video my piece. (Since sadly none of my family members or friends from Binghamton could make it here for the show, I made sure someone got a video of it. Snaps to my roommate, who put it on Youtube!) In addition, once you see that video, on the same channel you'll find recordings of my friends' pieces as well, which are amazing. Enjoy! Note: This post was brought to you by the wacky musical theater people of Oberlin College. They sing choruses in public. That's mad enough for you, old man. (A gold star goes to anyone who can name one or both of the things I just referenced. Hint: One is an operetta, the other is a movie...)

In the heart and in the head

Okay, so first of all, don't get used to this, because this is probably the ONLY time I will ever post two days in a row. I just wanted to comment on something that I inadvertently neglected to talk about yesterday.

As many of you may (or may not) know, yesterday was National Coming Out Day. While many people immediately associate this with simply "a time for all the gay people to just tell the world how gay they are, it is my understanding that NCOD is actually about much more than that. It's about people being proud of who they are, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, or pretty much anything else that may influence a person's identity. 

Yesterday, in honor of NCOD, my friends and I attended an event at the Cat in the Cream coffeehouse called "Coming Out Stories: An Open Mic Event." I must say, it was possibly the most inspirational thing I have witnessed since arriving at Oberlin. So many people eagerly jumped up on stage in the Cat to tell the story of how they came out: students who identify in dozens of different ways (gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, gender queer, an ally, or even something as basic as a slash fiction writer) coming out to dozens of different people (parents, siblings, friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, professors, therapists). Every story was so intensely unique, and yet at the same time managed to communicate a unified message: Regardless of what anyone says, we are who we are and we deserve to be proud of that.

Several people's stories have stuck with me, but I'm only going to share one of them here. One notably brave female student named H told the audience about how she realized she was bisexual in highschool when she fell in love with one of her female friends. The two briefly dated, but it ultimately didn't work out because she was so uncomfortable telling people about their relationship, particularly her conservative Catholic parents. "I still haven't come out to my parents" she said, pulling her cellphone out of her pocket. "However, I thought tonight that could change." She dialed her mother's phone number and it went to voicemail. Within a minute, though, her mom called her back, and we listened to the entire conversation on speakerphone. H told her mom that she is attracted to girls and identifies as bi, and without hesitation, her mother responded "Honey, that's great!" Thunderous applause filled the Cat, and H started to tear up (as did most of the audience). When she expressed how happy and relieved she was at this reaction, her mother actually said "Honey, you're my daughter! I love you no matter what! How could you think, even for a second, that anything would change that?" More thunderous applause. 

Eventually H left the stage to have a more private conversation with her parents, and the night continued. Person after person revealing extremely touching stories of how they realized that they were somehow "different," some telling their loved ones, some not. Some getting enthusiastic, loving responses, some not. Some who didn't even come out at all, but rather had a loved one who came out to them. Several people, while the didn't all make the phone call ONSTAGE like H, announced that they are planning to come out when they return home for fall break (these announcements were met with even more thunderous applause.)

Inspired by all of the truly moving stories, I decided to add my name to the list. I told the story of how my mother came out as a lesbian. She told me when I was in eighth grade that she was in a romantic relationship with an absolutely wonderful woman who, up to this point, I had just assumed was a close friend of hers. She also told me, however, that this needed to be kept quiet because it could complicate her job as a Presbyterian Minister and her role in the local religious community.

Fast forward. Approximately 2 or 3 years later. (I think I was in tenth grade at this point?) My mom had just begun working at a wonderful church near our hometown which she absolutely loves. And everyone there absolutely loves her, of course. However, she'd been working there in a temporary position, and soon her contract will be up for renewal, possibly to make her position permanent (to be voted upon by the congregation). On the way to church one day, she asked me about what I would think about the idea of her coming out to the congregation before they vote on her contract. I essentially told her that, while it is totally her choice, I would definitely be in support of her doing it, because ultimately, whether they decide to accept her or not, she would probably prefer to go through the process as honestly and openly as possible and not feel as though she was hiding anything from them. A few months later, she told the members of the session about it. The first response was from a fairly new member who said something along the lines of "Well, regardless of that, I think I speak for everyone when I say that we absolutely love having you as our pastor, and learning this about you certainly doesn't change that." Almost everyone else on the session said variations on the same idea. She had also sent a letter out to every member of the congregation telling them about it, which was met with several phone calls and emails from people telling her how much they love her and how wonderful of a person she is. There were some people who were less than thrilled about the news. However, when the time came to vote on her contract, there was an overwhelming majority that decided to keep her in the church for several more years (and she is still happily working there today). The ultimate bottom line was that, whether or not they were in support of her sexual orientation, or her relationship, collectively as a group they still loved who she was as a person and as a pastor. And nothing could change that.

From that point on, now that everyone in the church knew, news began to spread gradually to all of the other people to whom she had not yet come out. One of the people on this list was my mothers 89 year old, Republican, Fox News watching, UberCatholic dad. His only reaction: "I surmised as much." I still am not entirely sure exactly how he feels about the whole thing, but he has met my mom's girlfriend several times, and always seems thrilled to see both of them.

At a certain point, as I was telling this story to the audience in the Cat, I realized that I needed to figure out a way to wrap the story up in a way that would get my overall feelings across. This was the point when I began to tear up. "So, that is how my mother came out. And every single day I am completely in awe of how brave she was in doing that. Because when she told everyone, she didn't know what would happen. For all she knew, she might have lost her job, she might never have been able to work in the Presbyterian church again, she might not have been on speaking terms with her dad, anything could have happened, and she had no idea how it would turn out. But she just did it anyways. And because of that, she is the bravest, strongest, most incredible person I know. I truly admire her every day for having the strength to step forward and tell the world, 'This is who I am.' And I hope that one day, when it's the right time, everyone of us has the courage to do the same thing." Thunderous applause.

In the words of Tyler Oakley, a source of endless wisdom and inspiration, "National Coming Out Day signifies a moment when we can take some time to appreciate the courage and the braveness that it takes to truly be yourself, no matter what 'yourself' may be." I couldn't have said it better any other way. That is exactly what coming out means to me. And I know that it's a terrifying, difficult, thing for a lot of people to do. And no one should be pressured into doing it before they are ready. But I truly do hope that one day everyone has the strength and support to do it, because it is such an empowering thing to do. It will be a truly wonderful day when everyone in the world feels confident and supported enough to proudly tell the world who they are without being afraid of the ramifications, because everyone has the right to be proud of who they are, and no one can take that right away from another person. Ever.

No more questions, Please, No more tests...

Okay folks, I've got a truly amazing story to share with you. Just two hours ago, I experienced something completely unexpected in my college experience. Something that you always hear rumors and urban legends about, but can never truly be sure exists. Something that is never associated with college life, but terrifies every college student to their very core. That's right. I took my very first college exam.

Economics midterm exam, to be exact. I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty nervous. I mean, I generally feel like I've been doing well in the class, and for the past few nights I have been reviewing my notes and doing practice problems, so I was definitely well prepared. But there's something about the idea of your first ever college exam that just makes your mind do what is demonstrated in the helpful diagram to the right.

 But overall, I felt okay about the exam. It was made up of 20 multiple choice questions worth one point each and 5 multi-part short answer questions worth between 15 and 20 points each. Overall I felt better about the short answers than the multiple choice questions. (SURPRISE TANGENT: I've never understood why so many people find multiple choice to be so much easier! I mean, with a short answer, since there's a lot of explanation and calculation involved, you can get partial credit for your work even if the final answer is incorrect. With multiple choice, it's a 25% chance and if you're wrong, that's it. Nothing. I don't get it...)

Anyways, so that's that. In addition to that, last Thursday I had my first late-night-cramming-to-finish-multiple-assignments-library-session. Which was just honey bunches of fun (I'm experiencing so many wonderful college things, aren't I?) Assignment #1: 5(ish) page paper defending or refuting the statement that "In strict Darwinian terms, there is a selective advantage to creating art" (for my Psychobiological Perspective on the Arts class). Assignment #2: 1,200-1,500 word paper explaining what the John Keats poem "To Autumn" is truly about (for my "Beyond Disbelief" poetry seminar class). So essentially, after spending a total of 6 (or was it 7?) hours in the library, my brain was doing essentially what is depicted in the lovely picture to the left. To the left, to the left, Everything you own in the box to the left. (Oh yeah, I sometimes spontaneously burst into song. Just so ya know...)

But now the papers are completed and have been handed in, so I don't need to worry about those anymore. In fact, I just had a meeting with my Psych professor today to discuss my paper (most intense, stressful meeting ever) and he pointed out a few things for me to work on in my writing. It wasn't that bad. The main issue was that a couple of my arguments were unclear. When he asked me to specify what I meant and I explained, he said "Now, the way you said it just now made much more sense than it did in the paper." So I guess I'll have to work on that (also, because I was proofreading at 11:00 at night, I failed to notice that in the introduction paragraph, I accidentally used the word "illicit" when I meant "elicit." #vocabularyfail...) I have yet to hear anything about my poetry paper, but I imagine I will be hearing about it soon. So, now that those papers are done and my midterm is done, the next big work thing I have to keep an eye on is a Theater paper about a character from the play "All My Sons" (which we read a few weeks ago). But that actually seems really enjoyable, so I'll probably have fun writing that one. Because I am SUCH a FRAKKING NERD.

Last but certainly not least, IT'S HELL WEEK ONCE AGAIN! (That was put in all caps to demonstrate both excitement and anxiety at the same time. Either way, it's meant to be screamed....) Yes, ladies and gents, the OMTA showcase is this weekend! And BOY has it been exciting! And by "exciting" I mean "oh-my-god-this-is-so-freaking-hectic-and-crazy-what-the-hell-are-we-doing-what-is-the-meaning-of-life-anymore-expletive-expletive-expletive." Seriously. We just found out yesterday what dates and times our performances. YESTERDAY. Yeah....And tomorrow is our first tech rehearsal. By the way, funny story: The performances are going to be in a great little coffeehouse in the town of Oberlin called the Slow Train Cafe. And since they are open for business that evening, we have to wait until they close before we can rehearse. Meaning our rehearsal is going to START at 10:00pm. It's gonna be a lonnnnnnnnng night.

But really, who am I kidding? I'm complaining about the disorganization and the late rehearsals and how exhausting it's going to be, but guess what? I'm still loving every minute of it. I always love every minute of it. That's the thing about theater people. They put up with the long hours and the backstage drama and the crazy directors/producers/designers/actors/etc. because deep down they love it too much to give it up. That's why they audition for so many things at once even though they know it'll eat up their entire schedule. That's why they push through all of the pointless busywork during the day looking forward to their 10pm rehearsal. That's why they write long blog posts about their theater experiences and title every post with a Stephen Sondheim lyric. (Betcha didn't notice that, didya? Eh? Eh? Well, let's see how long I can keep that up before I run out of ideas...) So, as I sally forth into the dark depths of tech week, I am ultimately looking forward to the final product, which will be a fantastic, amazingly fun showcase of musical theater songs. I'll let you know how it goes!

This post was brought to you by RANDOM CAPITALIZATION and the ShoelessObiesFoundation, whose members challenge you to count how many people you see around campus without shoes. You may be surprised at how many you find...