Hope wins out

   The colleges closed down in May, but, as seen in my recent column in the Claremont Courier, Claremont still has more than its share of interesting people and activity. 

                A HUGE BUILDING FULL OF HOPE

   No, I haven’t seen the Hall of Fame.  I have never been downstairs.  And I didn’t know that Winston Churchill had been there. 

   My friend had returned from using the restroom at Bridges Auditorium, and, although I thought “Wow!” when he told me that a picture of Winston Churchill is among the pictures of those who have appeared on its stage that are on the wall in the basement, I wasn’t surprised.  From the time I grew up here in Claremont, I have heard about famous performers and speakers who have appeared on this stage, and I have enjoyed seeing a good number of them.

   I have always felt, in fact, that it’s too bad that more performers and speakers don’t appear there. It’s a shame that this great theater, the biggest collegiate auditorium on the west coast with something like 2400 seats, doesn’t have performances and presentations (as opposed to graduations and other such semi-private events) every week, if not every evening.  Big Bridges closed for weeks or months,  including during the school year, is a terrible waste. 

   So I was glad to go there a few weeks ago – all the more so with the colleges not in session for the summer – with my friend. We were there to see the Claremont High School production of The Addams Family. 

   It is always a treat to see the big, end-of-the-year, musical production in the big theater, even if I still wish there was live musical accompaniment as in the past. This is big-time stuff – Winston Churchill, after all, was once on this stage - and the hard-working kids, working under the direction of the even harder-working Krista Elhai, deserve it. Once again, they didn’t disappoint. 

   The Addams Family may not be My Fair Lady, and it’s definitely no Carousel, but it is a lot of fun.  Based on the old popular television sitcom, which was inspired by the cartoons of Charles Addams, the musical is about what happens when Wednesday, the daughter in this family of ghouls, falls in love with a “normal” boy, and her parents, Morticia and Gomez, host a get-acquainted dinner for the boy’s parents.  On this simple plot hangs lots of silly puns and gags, including a troupe of zombie dancers, and the students had fun and did their best to let fly with them. 

   Like I said, it was a treat – and an inspiring one – to see these young people doing what they clearly love so well.  Jason Acosta was extra fun in his make-up-laden role as Uncle Fester, who serves as a narrator of sorts while having his own private adventure.  And Xavier Reynoso, playing Wednesday’s younger brat brother Pugsley who loves nothing more than being tortured and miserable, was a pint-sized revelation.  The real treat is that this kid, who my friend said “has chops,” is only a freshman, so we’ll hopefully be seeing much more of him. 

   Yes, hooray for the C.H.S kids and Ms. Elhai once again, but I have to say that, as bright-eyed and brightening they were, they still didn’t prepare me for what I saw a days later.  Not only was there another presentation at Big Bridges, in the quiet (or relatively quiet) month of June, there was Pete Seeger greeting the audience that had gathered and singing “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” for the occasion. 

   This was on video, of course, but it was nevertheless breath-taking.  I could hear gasps in the audience, as the renowned folk-singer and activist, filmed at his rural home nearly a year and a half ago, explaining that he had been invited but, because of advancing age and decreasing energy, wasn’t sure where he would be at this time.  He died months later, the tape now a whallop-packing reminder that hope and energy live on. 

   This was a message that was most appropriate for this audience that had gathered.  It was a huge, eager audience, almost filling the cavernous hall, and it was gathered for the four-day Tenth International Whitehead Conference, held in conjunction with several other international conferences and including a significant contingent from Asia, with the theme,  “Seizing the Alternative: Towards an Ecological Future.”

  The Seeger video was shown during the first of several free, open-to-the-public plenary sessions held in Big Bridges over the long weekend of numerous presentations and discussions exploring how people from all walks and faiths can work together to fight global warming and develop a sustainable, thriving world community.  There were numerous other greetings, including from Claremont Mayor Corey Calaycay, who confessed to being nervous about speaking in front of such a large audience as he touted Claremont’s efforts in being an ecologically friendly town (including by him and his fellow councilmembers in their own homes and lives). Also featured in this and one other plenary session I attended were the Pilgrim Pickers, Pilgrim Place’s resident string band and perhaps Claremont’s unofficial go-to house band. 

    Following the Seeger video on the first evening, Bill McKibbon, the famed climate change activist, spoke.  While he essentially gave the same talk that he gave when he was here a few years ago, it was an important message: yes, the planet is in dire shape due to warming which we humans have caused – indeed, it could be that it is too late to reverse the effects of the warming – but there is hope in the activism that he has inspired and evident in the weekend’s gathering. 

   This activism, with a diversity of people coming together, is what the conference was all about.  An important aspect, and a key image, was the kick-off to a new organization and website called Pandopolus, bringing together research and information about climate change and the efforts to stop it.  As explained in another plenary session and illustrated in another video, this undertaking is inspired by the Pando, the aspen grove in Utah which is the largest living organism on earth sharing a root system and which is now endangered. 

   It is hoped that these four days in Claremont were the beginning of a movement, a movement based in shared roots and a common passion.  At least that’s how John Cobb, a retired noted theologian and philosopher who lives at Pilgrim Place, sees it.  This conclave, it seemed, was his baby, something of a life-culminating achievement. 

   And, as he explained during extended remarks during the second plenary session, the passion that is shared for caring for our planet is the key.  As Mr.  Cobb outlined, we need to have a new outlook, based more in our hearts and on caring, different from the outlook developed in the 1700’s, when the world came to be seen as a clock, a mechanism to be observed and also used objectively.  When we see the planet as a machine, he maintains, it is too easy not to be concerned when it is used too much or is even breaking down (after all, a machine can always be repaired).

   Putting on a musical takes a lot of passion and working together.  So does saving our planet.  That’s what a great building like Big Bridges is for and why it needs to keep being used. 

   Also, a couple notes:

   With the confederate flag going down and the rainbow flag going up in the aftermath of the massacre at the historic black church in Charleston, S.C, and the Supreme Court declaring that same-sex marriage bans are unconstitutional, the last two weeks or so have been breath-taking.  While many, including me, are quite pleased, plenty of others are unhappy, to say the least.  Especially in the gay marriage situation, many people, including officials like county clerks who grant marriage licenses, are digging in, fighting back and refusing to go with the plan.  I think that, as with the Supreme Court Brown decision outlawing school segregation, it will take a while – perhaps years - for the whole country to buy in, and, as with the menacing racism in recent years, evidenced most sharply in police killing unarmed black men and boys and the incident in the Charleston church, it certainly won’t mean there will no longer be anti-gay rhetoric and violence. It will be a long, hot summer at least.  I take some hope and comfort in this quote by Juli Luke, the clerk in Denton Countyin Texas who is against same-sex marriage but will issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, because she “took an oath on my family Bible to uphold the law”: “[M]y faith in Christ ensures I have comparison and respect for those who feel differently.”

   Finally, as I did last year, I’ll be taking some time off.  Because I’ll be traveling in the next few weeks, I may or likely won’t post for the rest of this month.  I’ll be back with regular posts sometime in August. 

Happy triggers and gun crazies

   There was recently an article in the Los Angeles Times about guns being used by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies frequently going off by accident.  Among other incidents, a deputy shot himself in the leg while pulling his gun out to confront a suspect, another shot a bullet through a wall when he stumbled over a stroller and another

was paralyzed when his 3-year-old son was playing with his father’s gun and accidently shot him. 

   These accidental shootings have more doubled in 2 years.  In this time, the department has begun using a new gun, a Smith $ Wesson M&P, which doesn’t have a safety lock and requires less pressure to pull the trigger.  Officials argue that not only does this save time when a deputy needs to act immediately but also that having these guns that are easier to shoot will help the department get more women on the force.  There have been complaints that there aren’t enough female deputies, and it has been noted that many female recruits fail, because they have a hard time pulling the trigger.

   Look, if a woman has difficulty handling a gun, maybe she shouldn’t be a cop.  This may be an impolitic, sexist thing to say, but guns shouldn’t be super easy to shoot.  They shouldn’t be so easy to shoot that a 3-year-old can shoot one, even if it does help women. 

   The next day in the Times, there was an article in the Times about “smart” guns, like the German-made Armatix iP1 which can be fired only if its user is wearing a wireless wristband that broadcasts on a specific frequency.  Another such gun will only fire if it recognizes specific thumb prints.   These guns, which incorporate technology, can’t be used, for example, by someone who steals them or by a child who comes across them in the house – a good thing. 

   But guess what?  These guns aren’t available in the U.S. Why?  Because, although many American gun owners back such technological safety measures, hard-core gun enthusiasts have fought against them, including by boycotting American companies when they put out such guns.  What these folks, backed by the all-powerful N.R.A, argue is that these technological safety measures are another way for the government to control and ultimately take away their guns.

      This is crazy, yes, but is it any crazier than gun control laws being loosened instead of increased after the elementary school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut – and people then buying more guns in case gun control laws became popular again (or, as was argued, the government decided to “take our guns away”)? And I really wonder if anything will be done in terms of gun control after the Bible study shooting at the church in Charleston, S.C, this week.  We cry out for safety, but we really rather be able to shoot. 

Springing into new life (out of the cold)

   A few months ago, I wrote about going to New Jersey for a weekend in February and about how being in a place that was so different than sunny So. Cal., with snow having a significant impact on life and with the river down the street frozen, really shook me up and woke me up.  I saw how my life could be so different, not to mention considerably more difficult, and I also got a sense that I can make my life different. 

   It has turned out that this was a powerful motivator.  The trip really did kick my butt – in the best way.  This Spring, there has been several significant changes in my life or several changes I have made in my life.

   1.  After about twenty years, I am writing poetry again.  I used to write poetry all the time but stopped when I got into playwrighting and performing, as is I couldn’t do both. I have been wanting to start writing poetry again for a while – I have always felt comfortable doing so, and it takes much less time than playwrighting and doesn’t take other people and money for production – but, as I came to realize, the fact that I lost hundreds of poems when my computer crashed about 10 years ago was somehow holding me back.  Did I feel that writing something wasn’t worthwhile if I could lose it?  Writing poetry again has been thrilling and liberating.  A few of my poems can be seen on the Cripple Creek magazine page on the Pixleyproject website, and, yes, I now know it’s important to back up my files!  

  
  2.  I had my nipple rings removed.  When I had them put in – super ouch! – 14 years ago, not long after I came out, I thought they were hot, and it was a celebration of my newfound sexuality.  It turned out I just thought they are hot on other guys.  Not that they weren’t hot on me, but they were a pain, literally, when they caught or rubbed on things and when guys thought they were hot on me and played with them – very annoying! I had been wanting to have them taken out, but I was afraid it would hurt like when they were put in.  When I went to a tattoo parlor in April to have them removed, it really didn’t hurt.  I wish I had done this years ago, but it’s done now.  I am much more comfortable, and I have the rings on a tight necklace that is always on me.  After all, they were a part of me – they were in me – for 14 years, and they still are a celebration of (at least) my sexuality.  Plus, it looks hot!  

  3.  I went through my closets and got rid of bags of clothes.  Again, this is something I should of done years ago.  I was able to get some cash for some of the clothes, and I plan to take most if not all of the rest to an Out of the Closet thrift store supporting AIDS research.  Among the clothes were lots of overalls – some were quite cool and unique, but they didn’t fit or I have others like them or whatever.  It was cool to say that I have 100 pairs of overalls – I have seen other guys say this online – but, really, do I need 100 pairs of overalls or whatever?  Don’t worry, I still have plenty – probably too many!  

  4.  After years of having a shaved head or a mohawk, I’ve been growing my hair.  This actually started last Fall, but it has really come out, so to speak, in the last month or so.  What’s more, whereas it was always straight like my mom’s, my hair is now really curly, more than my dad’s or my brother’s, almost like my sister’s, with lots of body, almost a loose fro.  I am very excited about this and am thinking I may wait to see what happens and explore my options rather than braiding and dreading it as I did years ago and thought I might.  

  5.  Last but definitely not least, I have had the opportunity to get more sexual experience, not unlike in The Sessions, the film about a severely disabled man working with a sex therapist. Without going into detail, I’ll say this has been both wonderfully eye-opening and challenging, as well as fun and hot.  I have learned that I can do things that I really thought I couldn’t and also that, as in other areas of my life, it is often best if I don’t try too hard.  This latter is a difficult lesson for me, as someone with takes pride in doing my best, not being lazy and relying on others as little as possible, but, for example and to put it very bluntly and crudely, it is probably best for my partner and me if I let my partner get off by getting me off rather than if I actively try to get him off.  This experience actually started before my trip in February, but it has fit in with my different or new life this Spring, and I hope it leads to new adventures and wonders. 

Commencing to different beats

   This past weekend was Commencement Weekend at the Claremont Colleges. There were seven graduations, and I went to three of them to hear the speakers.  This is easier to do now that they are spread out over Saturday and Sunday instead of all on Sunday afternoon, as they were until about five years ago.  Also, I leave right after the speaker is done, before the reading of all those names, as rude as this may be.  Here are a few brief observations from this year’s venture. 

  Pitzer College, where the graduates wear white robes with bright orange sashes, was, as always, pretty out there – or even more out there.  In a new twist, the graduates entered accompanied by a raucous marching band that featured men on very high stilts and at least one sporting a mohawk. Quite a Saturday morning wake-up!  In the tradition of student-chosen speakers who are provocative if not flat-out controversial, a la Angela Davis a few years ago, the speaker was Janet Mock, the outspoken trans-woman author, television host and activist.  Her speech was a bit canned, but commencement addresses are so tricky with all those folks just itching to get out, and she did encourage the grads to be their true, perhaps challenging selves. 

   The Saturday afternoon commencement at Claremont McKenna College couldn’t have been more different, starting off with a prayer and the singing of the alma mater.  There was also, as always, a Latin salutation, given by a co-ed pair of students, although it was presented with much humor and sense of fun.  The speaker, who received an honorary degree, was Azar Nafisi, the Iranian author of Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books. She had lots of interesting insights – perhaps too many.  There was the sense that the officials were not happy with how long she went on and that the proverbial hook was waiting in the wings.  Did she perhaps drink a bit too much at lunch?  (I was reminded of when Paul Conrad, the late, very liberal Los Angeles Times editorial cartoonist, spoke at this conservative, formerly men’s college’s commencement years ago, and there was considerable grumbling.  Then again, Ken Kesey was the speaker a few years later.)

   Then there was Pomona College graduation on Sunday morning.  Pomona is the oldest college in Claremont and arguably the most prestigious, and it’s not shy about it (there are t-shirts that say “Harvard: the other Pomona”). There were four speakers, in addition to the student speakers, and all got honorary degrees, including the “keynote speaker,” France Cordova, the head of the National Science Foundation. Plus he excellent Glee Club performed two songs. This all took more than an hour and a half, before the parade of several hundred graduates, one at a time, across the stage. 

   But it still made for quite a uniquely pleasant Sunday morning, especially with the clouds burning off, as was the case this year.  Unlike the other ceremonies, held under giant tents, Pomona’s is held under great, old sycamore trees in a picaresque quadrangle, and there were people sitting and laying on the lawn. And, in a super-nice touch, free coffee was available.  Like I said, quite a pleasant Sunday morning.