Show time!

  Here is my latest Claremont Courier column, appearing today.

                                         GETTING MORE THEATRICAL IN CLAREMONT

   Krista Elhai has done it again. She got her Claremont High School students to do some amazing, crazy, wonderful magic. Or maybe it was the students who, once again, got Ms. Elhai to do some amazing, crazy, wonderful magic.

   Either way, seeing this got me all the more excited that we=ll be seeing more of this magic here in Claremont. 

   Before I get too excited and ahead of myself, let me get back to Ms. Elhai and her students. When I first heard last year that the big end-of-the-year musical at big-time Bridges Auditorium was to be Shrek, I was less than impressed. Why would Ms. Elhai, the beloved theater director at the high school who has put on awesome, challenging shows such as Tommy, Cats, The Laramie Project, West Side Story and, just this year, Avenue Q (Jr.), do a commercial DreamWorks product based on a cartoon (as good as that movie was)? I was nonplused and confused and thought about not going. 

   No, I wouldn=t not go, and luckily I did go to the performance late last month, although with some trepidation and a friend raising his eyebrows and saying Awhatever@ going into the theater. It was a real lesson in having low or mistaken expectations, for we were both pleasantly surprised and delighted. 

   The story, with words and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abarie and music by Jeanine Tesori and based on the book by William Steig, may have been feather-light, but it was lots of fun, with plenty of laughs. What was wonderful, in addition to all the great singing and dancing (choreography was by Dylan Pass and Daniel Smith, with musical direction by C.H.S choral director Joel Wilson, who appeared in a surprise role and was assisted by Rachel Umansky, although I again wished that the music was played live as in the past) was how physical and theatrical the production was and how the students had definitely learned to deal with it.

   As with Cats a few years ago, there were lots of fantastic costumes and make-up, starting with the fat, green Shrek (an unrecognizable David Cumpston) right down to, yes, cute tails. If nothing else, the cast members were troopers dancing and running around bundled in fur and vinyl in the warm theater. There also were some nifty stunts and tricks, such as when the donkey (Raylon Bivans with a powerful voice) made his entrance by falling from a tree and Princess Fiona aging from a young girl to a young adult (Emmalyn Spruce) mid-song before our eyes. And, of course, the dragon, held aloft by four boys and singing with Annika Ellwanger-Chavez=s soaring voice. 

   It was a joy to see the students pull all this and more off. Seeing Evan Spruce and James Bradford strut their stuff as, respectively, rosy-cheeked, long-nosed, dangling Pinocchio and the surprisingly sexy, cross-dressing, big bad wolf was particularly fun.

   And then there was Emerson Dauwalder, a scream as he performed on his knees as the famously short and arrogant Lord Farquaad and conveying oh-so much with his arms and face. This performance was a great capper to his other C.H.S performances I=ve enjoyed, starting with the stunning 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and including The Drowsy Chaperone and Avenue Q, and I can only say, wistfully, that I hope the audiences wherever he goes get to enjoy the warm, comedic talent of this now-graduate. 

   Making this production even more exciting for me was seeing it the day after seeing a breathtaking play, again right here in Claremont. The work was Eurydice, playwright Sarah Ruhl=s bittersweet take on the Greek myth wherein Eurydice dies and reunites with her dead father and is pursued by her left-behind lover in the underworld. 

   The production was a real treat in several ways. It was the latest by Opelia=s Jump Productions, a Claremont-based professional theater company that has been putting on shows in the last year or two at various venues in the area and is looking for a theater the of its own. In this case, director Doug Oliphant made fantastic use of Pomona College=s Seaver Theater, creating an ethereal atmosphere with sounds and light and magical, surreal touches, including a rain-filled elevator, as well as all-too human touches and emotions. 

   It was also great to see the college theater being used after the end of the school year, just as it is nice to see the high school use Big Bridges for its big, end-of-the-year musical. In the same way, I enjoyed seeing the fine production of the biting Clybourne Park, an acclaimed sharp rift on Lorraine Hansberry=s A Raisin in the Sun, put on by Ophelia=s Jump at the high school=s nice, new theater last summer, while school was out. And, yes, the kids at Claremont High, who clearly work hard, deserve both Big Bridges and their new theater. 

   Perhaps I shouldn=t be surprised that Krista Elhai is on Ophelia=s Jump Production=s Board of Directors, as is Betty Bernhard from the Pomona College theater department, by the way. Not only is it just like her to add another commitment to her famously busy schedule, it=s a cool example of different parts of the community coming together with their shared passion and resources on an exciting, new endeavor. 

   What=s more, Ophelia=s Jump is putting on two Shakespeare plays - Merry Wives of Windsor and Othello, I think - next month at the Greek Theater on the Pomona College campus. I have long thought that this lovely outdoor venue should be put to such a use, especially on warm summer evenings. 

   And more theater being done in Claremont during the summer. Wow! I can=t wait! 

v

Not married to society

   It was a good question. 
   He was going to a same-sex wedding at a Quaker meetinghouse in Pennsylvania. “Of course, I will go,” he said; after all, the two men getting married are good friends of his, and he is delighted for them, for their happiness. 
   But he felt bitter and resentful, angry that Pennsylvania has just recently legalized same-sex marriage at long, long last and angry that he is supposed to celebrate this. It pisses him off that he is supposed to be grateful to a society that has finally, after considerable hesitation, deigned to accept, if not see, him and his gay friends as equals. And all the more so when the couple, as with many same-sex couples, has been “married” for years, whether in their hearts or in religious ceremonies (one of my earliest posts here was about the powerful experience of attending a gay Quaker wedding while Proposition 8 was still in effect here in California).
   What, he asked, is he to do with this anger? 
   I have been thinking about gay marriage and what its legalization means for years. I totally get that having the right to marry is huge to gay men and lesbians. Not only is it about their love and commitment being legitimate; it is also, perhaps more importantly, about having the myriad of rights and legal privileges that heterosexual married couples have. I also hear the jokes about same-sex couples wanting all the headaches and hassles of married life (and divorce!), and I hear about some gay men wanting nothing to do with marriage, not wanting to be tied to a monogamous relationship. 
   Then there are those who argue that they aren’t interested in marriage or legal marriage, that it isn’t necessary. This isn’t about wanting to be free from commitment - some are in longtime committed relationships - but wanting not to be part of the wider society and its capitalistic, war-mongering norms. I see this as the queer position, as opposed to gay men and lesbians fighting to be like and assimilate with the rest of society, and, while I fantasize about having a wedding and would love to have a husband who is recognized as such, I find myself drawn to it. Or at least I can relate to it. 
   I deal with being disabled in the same way. For years and years, I tried to be not disabled. I tried and tried to be like everyone else, to assimilate. But it was too hard. It was a losing proposition, and I wasn’t getting anywhere. 
   But giving up trying to assimilate wasn’t a defeat. It was liberating. It was empowering. People were always looking at me and always would, so why not give them something interesting and fun to look at? I try to do this, at least in part, not only in my writing and in the performances that I’ve done but also in the variety of the overalls I wear everyday and my hats, in whether or not I have hair and what I do with it and in the rainbow laces in my Doc Martens and my mismatched high-tops. I also do it by getting out a lot and often on my own. I used to say that I want people to see me and not my disability, but I think it’s more like I’m using my disability to make or help people see and think about other things. 
   I’m not saying that this is easy. It isn’t any easier than trying to assimilate, but at least I’m in control. At least I feel I’m going somewhere and getting something done. I’m showing people I’m comfortable being who I am with my disability - not despite my disability - and I hope I’m helping people feel   comfortable with who they are.     

Coming and going in Claremont

   This is my latest Claremont Courier column, published May 16.

        CHANGING AS THEY STAY THE SAME

       It wasn’t there. The building. It wasn’t there anymore. 
   The building had been there a few days earlier. Or was it the day before? Now, suddenly, all there was was a wall or two and a huge pile of rubble. It looked like there had been a catastrophic earthquake right at that spot. Or an instant, if messy, Greco-Roman ruin.
   There had been a fence around Ducey Gym - or what used to be called Ducey Gym - at Claremont McKenna College for quite some time, but it was still a shock a few weeks ago when, turning onto Sixth Street, I saw that the large gymnasium that had been there for decades was gone. Poof!
       No more. 
       History. A memory. A picture. 
   I knew that the lovely swimming pool at Scripps College where I spent hundreds of happy summer afternoons was also a memory and had been for many years, but it was still weird, if not a shock, when, not long before Ducey Gym disappeared, I ventured onto the northeast portion of the Scripps campus, made my way to where the pool used to be and found myself surrounded by attractive residential units. There was a small water fall, lending to a nice, resort-like vibe, but there was definitely no swimming pool there.     
   Not only did I know that the pool was long gone, I knew that another swimming pool had been built not far from the site, as part of an impressive athletic facility, with well-groomed fields and a handsome building. Still, seeing this all up close and that the old pool really wasn’t there was a jolt. 
   It was even more of a jolt when, a few years ago, I saw that the pool at Harvey Mudd College, where I also spent a fair amount of time (especially after the old Scripps pool was closed), was no longer there, replaced by a large building. I’m not even sure when it was gone - it seemed to happen overnight - and I still have a hard time not picturing it, rather than the building, there standing out along Twelfth (now Platt) Street. (Maybe this is because I grew up hearing my father talk about swimming there every day at noon, rain or shine, when he taught there.)
   Now the really remarkable thing is that, when I was a very young child, before going to the Harvey Mudd and old Scripps pools, my family would go swimming at a pool at C.M.C - which used to be where Ducey Gym (now) was. 
   On the same visit when I saw what was where the Scripps pool used to be, it was nice to see that, in another area of the campus, there is still the garden with the wall on which departing graduates have painted messages over the years. Some date back to the 1920's and 1930's.
   And it is nice to see that, even with the old pool not there and with the new housing units and the new athletic facilities, Scripps is still arguably the loveliest of the colleges in Claremont, with its gardens and courtyards and Mediterranean architecture. This isn’t to say that, as it is also nice to see, there are plenty of very pleasant spots on the other campuses. 
   The wall at Scripps with the class messages from the last 80 or so years is a reminder that the colleges are still here, still carrying out their noble mission, still a vital, integral part of Claremont. This weekend, with all the commencement exercises and speeches and proud parents and friends, with another group of students writing on the wall and leaving after spending a critical, enriching part of their lives here in Claremont, is likewise a reminder of this. 
   As the wall and the graduations show quite eloquently, this is the case even as Ducey Gym has been torn down, even as a major new science building (or complex?) is going up at Pomona College, even as much of the Harvey Mudd College campus is different. Even as dorms change, even as swimming pools and buildings disappear, even as there are areas of the campuses that are unrecognizable or are becoming unrecognizable, whether eventually or over a weekend, students keep coming, and students keep going, with their lives shaped and forever changed by their years here. 
   These changes tend to be for the better, as with nicer housing or with improved laboratories. No doubt they are a big part of why the students keep coming. No doubt they are a critical factor in the colleges’ mission and renown. 
   Whether or not they are for the best, these changes are sometimes not easy. I still miss the old Scripps pool with its cozy garden-like setting and mosaics and, as I said, can’t quite believe that the Harvey Mudd pool where my dad swam for decades is gone.
   Another change at the colleges which isn’t easy is the retirement of Leonard Pronko after teaching for an incredible 57 years - longer than my life - mostly in the theater department, at Pomona College. This surely isn’t a change for the better, but, as was noted at an event two weeks ago, there is great gratitude that he will still be in Claremont and still with an interest in the theater program at the colleges. 
   I wrote here in the fall that Mr. Pronko is all but a legend at Pomona College, if not in Claremont. He is best-known for his expertise in and direction of Kabuki productions. For most of my life here in Claremont, I have been aware of his work in the theater department, which began a few years after his arrival at Pomona and which also included many works by European playwrights such as Ibsen and Faydeau. That he will no longer be doing this is, I find, something of a jolt, strange and sad.
   But the celebration earlier this month was entirely appropriate, with Mr. Pronko, elegant and eloquent even as he said that demonstrating Kabuki “is too hard on my knees,” in joyful conversation with Thomas Leabhart, another longtime faculty member of the theater department, and Sam Gold, a 2011 Pomona College graduate who was taught and directed by Mr. Pronko and Mr. Leabhart and who has gone on to do theater work all over the world. It was another reminder of the comings and goings that are very much a part of the colleges’ ongoing, vital work. 

God help us

   Just because something is a tradition doesn’t make it good. After all, slavery was a tradition. It has been a tradition to not let same-sex couples marry.
   Traditions can be downright bad, or they can at least hold us back. Unfortunately, the recent U.S Supreme Court ruling that government meetings can include specifically Christian prayers invoking not only God but “Our Lord Jesus Christ” allows such a tradition to continue. Indeed, in defending this position, Anthony M. Kennedy, writing for the 5-4 majority, stated that such legislative prayer is deeply rooted in our history.
   The problem is that, as Justice Elena Kagan pointed out in her dissent, “our public institutions belongs no less to the Buddhist and Hindu than to the Methodist or Episcopalian. And as the Los Angeles Times editorializes, although Kennedy insisted that the ruling doesn’t authorize prayers that “denigrate nonbelievers or religious minorities,” a “guest chaplain who prays in Jesus’ name at a town meeting doesn’t have to threaten non-Christians with hellfire to make them feel like outsiders.” Things get all the more tricky when a Hindu or a nonbeliever comes to a meeting to seek the aid of their elected representatives.
   Here’s another reason why the tradition of legislative prayers aren’t for the best: With a prayer being offered to seek “the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ,” conservatives can say that they don’t need to help the poor and disenfranchised because Jesus and God will.

Culture of crime

   Richard White Piquette was a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy who worked in the Twin County Correctional Facility, the jail in downtown L.A.
   Then why did he, according to the Los Angeles Times recently, build an automatic assault rifle? In addition to manufacturing the Noveske Rifleworks N–4 .223-caliber rifle with an eight-inch barrel (never mind that federal law requires that the barrel be at least 16 inches), he possessed a shotgun that had been stolen from the Sheriff’s Department and three assault weapons banned in California. He has plead guilty to all of these.
   Excuse me if I’m being terribly naive, but I thought law enforcement officers were supposed to discourage and stop crime, not engage in crime. I thought peace officers were supposed to keep the peace, not disturb it.
   The L.A County Sheriff’s Department is well-known for such behavior by its officers and is under investigation by various agencies. Officers have been found to form tattooed cliques or gangs in the jails and beat inmates, harass and intimidate African-American and other minority tenants during Section 8 housing inspections in Lancaster and injure each other in a fight at the department’s Christmas party a few years ago. Piquette’s was the first plea agreement by one of 20 sheriff’s officials charged or indicted since December.
   Again, at the risk of being terribly naive, I ask, why is this even an issue? Why are police officers criminals? Police corruption is nothing new, for sure, but it is no less disturbing, no less alarming.
   Piquette’s attorney, Ronald Hedding, describes his client as “a good man” and, interestingly enough, adds that he believes that it is common practice for sheriff’s deputies to have weapons like the ones Piquette had. As if by way of explanation, he said, “A lot of these criminals are carrying these types of weapons on the streets.”
   Like that makes it all okay. Or are “these criminals” the officers?
    I once knew a guy who did a brief stint working for campus security at the colleges here in Claremont, and what he told me about the job really fits here. He said that the people working for the department, even though they were only pseudo officers, “really like putting on their black boots and acting tough.” He said they liked being tough, if not bad, and getting away with it.

Church and state

   The Israeli/Palestinian conflict is bad enough.
   “It’s an opportunity to find other normal people here.”
   I suppose it’s nice to think that Mazya, quoted in the Los Angeles Times while at a folk concert, might consider a guy like me, out shirtless in bib overalls and wearing mismatched high-tops with rainbow laces, to be “normal.” But it isn’t so nice that she is implying some of her fellow Jewish citizens in Israel aren’t “normal” because of their beliefs.
   As the article explains, Mazya is one of many secular Jewish Israelis who are not happy with ultra-Orthodox laws and regulations. These laws strictly regulate what, if any, theaters, shops and other public places can be open on the Sabbath, the Jewish day of rest. They are enforced especially in such places as Jerusalem, where there are more religious people.
   Mazya was speaking in Tel Aviv, where there are far fewer religious people and more bars and clubs. But many people are tired of having to drive there for some fun on Friday evening. At a protest on a recent Friday evening at a shuttered Jerusalem cinema, people chanted, “Wake up, Jerusalem! Nonreligious people are equal too!”
   On the other hand, there are people like Daniel Katzenstein, an ultra-Orthodox father of nine who moved to Jerusalem from Brooklyn and who says, “When I see a Jewish person in a car on the Sabbath, it hurts me. Any threat to my lifestyle I am going to protest.”
   No doubt Mazya would say he isn’t “normal.” And as the Times continues, “In recent years, crowds of ultra-Orthodox men have burned down bus shelters featuring images of scantily clad women and have sought to stop construction of a mixed-gender swimming pool. When the owners of Café Bezalel, famous for its mimosas, decided to open for Saturday brunch this year, diners were confronted by ultra-Orthodoxy protesters chanting, ‘Shabbat’ - ‘Sabbath.’”
   What a mess! It is sad and alarming that Daniel is “hurt” and feels threatened by his fellow Jewish citizens going out drinking and dancing on Friday nights. I feel bad that, if I was a Jewish Israeli, he would probably be seriously offended by my clothing or lack thereof. But it is all the worse when laws not only encourages but enforces his beliefs.
   This is the great wisdom of the system of government we have in this country, separating church and state. It always surprises me to hear that America is one of the most religious countries, with many more people attending services than in, say, Europe, where there are magnificent churches everywhere you look. And we do have our spats - sometimes quite bitter ones - over abortion, same-sex marriage and the like, with people being offended, hurt and sometimes worse. But because of the First Amendment, government can’t get involved in religion, and no one belief can be favored or enforced.
   Yes, there are people who would love and are trying hard to see this changed, but, God willing, it won’t be.

God save us from the NRA - if it isn't too late

   Guns in churches are “dangerous, and it’s bad theology.”
   This isn’t a line from Mamet or Voltaire or Sartre. It isn’t from Dr. Seuss. This isn’t from a sharp satire of the nature of organized religion or absurdist tale warning of the proliferation of guns.
   If only it was.
   This is a statement from a spokesman from for Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta, quoted in the Los Angeles Times last week, in reaction to a bill passed by the Georgia legislator that would, among other things, allow licensed gun owners to take weapons into houses of worship if the church allows it, into bars unless the owner objects, into airports up to screening areas and into government buildings except past security checkpoints, as wall as permit schools to arm staff members.
   Critics call the bill, officially named the Safe Carry Protection Act, the “guns everywhere bill,” and the National Rifle Association is just fine with that, crowing that its passage is a “historic victory for the Second Amendment.” Governor Nathan Deal, who has an A rating from the NRA and is up for reelection, is expected to sign it, making it go into effect July 1. The bill was also supported by his Democratic opponent, state Senator Jason Carter, who is, of all things, former President Carter’s grandson.
   Never mind that police are concerned, with Garden City Police Chief David Lyons saying, “We’re going to go to Hooters now expecting that everybody in there has a gun.” Never mind that “opponents say they shudder at the thought of armed citizens attending city council meetings, at which emotions run high.” (Not to mention bars.)
   Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action, points out that this bill would make Georgia the 27th state to allow licensed gun owners to take bring weapons into bars. Moreover, after the Connecticut school massacre and other high profile shootings, many states, instead of clamping down on guns, are taking the NRA’s advice and expanding their gun laws. Public support for stricter gun laws dropped to 31% from 38% a year earlier, shortly after the Connecticut school shooting, and Adam Winkler, a UCLA law professor who has written extensively about the politics surrounding guns, points out that the Georgia legislation “shows how strong the NRA is in some parts of the country. They’ve defeated so many gun laws that ending bans on guns in bars and churches is all that left.”
   (It is interesting to note that, while Catholic and Episcopalian bishops appear to be against allowing guns in their churches, “Georgia Baptists,” according to Georgia Baptist Convention public affairs representative Mike Griffin, “are not saying they’re for or against weapons being in churches. What they’re saying is churches should have the right to determine if they choose to have weapons.”)
   Meanwhile, there was an article in the Times late last year about how the Columbine High School shootings still cast a shadow 15 years later, with many schools having drills, like those for earthquakes and nuclear attacks, to prepare for gunfire. One mother, Kay Cates, was quoted as saying, “It struck me that this is now just a part of him life. I think about how my children are going to grow up and think this is a normal part of school.” She said this after her 10-year-old son answered her question about what he had done at school one day by answering with a shrug, “We did math. We did reading. We did a lock-down.”
   God help us. That is, if God hasn’t been taken in - bought out - by the NRA.