7 / re: yale (sorry)
ok so here's what happened: i wanted to write something funny but accidentally instead i wrote about the ways that elite spaces launder, embolden, and vaunt white/male violence :/ :/ :/ :/ :/ that is ultimately on me for having done that :/ :/ :/ :/ :/ hard to say how it happened but it did in fact happen so if you want to read about that it is below :/ :/ :/ awkward turtle......
if you’re not interested in reading that (which, ok fair lol) my shows this month are at the bottom. before that, though, some very exciting news for me
some really exciting news
ok..... the news is this: natalie rotter-laitman and i are exploring the idea of hosting a new weekly show in june, and to do so we’ll be hosting a weekly show in june.
JUNE EXPLORATION will be every saturday at 7pm at Jones Beach Bar in Bushwick. it’s an insanely cute space, with cheap drinks, and we’re aiming to make it a great casual fun way to start your saturdays. the first three lineups are below, and they're incredible:
June 1: Edy Modica, Rachel Kaly, Francesca D'Uva, Walter Kelly, Jessy Morner-Ritt
June 8: Fareeha Kahn, Lucyana Randall, Dash Turner, Sara Hennessey, Marissa Goldman
June 15: Devon Walker, Tim Platt, Caroline Doyle, Lorelei Ramirez
the show is going to be so fun, loose, silly, casual, relaxed, etc etc. it's a bar with cheap drinks which i love (vis a vis alcohol) and we aim to make it the perfect launch into your saturday. come through!
something less fun that i have been thinking about
there’s been a lot of upsetting news this past week about the ways women’s bodies (disproportionally those of poor women and black women) are being legislated violently. it’s been making me think a lot about my collegiate experience. i went to yale (sorry), which, despite having some good people (my friends, all funny and cool and smart and at a minimum 8 out of 10 looks wise), is a pretty systematically horrible place. i’ve always thought it was funny that yale and other elite liberal arts schools are painted as bastions of leftist SJW discontent, when yale has always been an engine to launch the wealthy white men into positions of power in politics, culture, business, and finance. while yale students are maybe more liberal than average (though do you even get to call yourself liberal if you work in finance……..) structurally it functions as a network of support for wealthy white children to be in positions to make decisions for everyone else.
more than anything else, yale taught me how power works. i did get to also take a bunch of classes i liked, but i wish i’d actually invested more in them. instead i saw how violent men were protected by their fraternities and other yale institutions, and then rewarded with money and power. i know at least 5 violent men who assaulted women who now make over 6 figures a year. slay.
this has obviously been going on forever. both george bush presidents (both famous for killing lots of muslim people across the world and curtailing muslim civil liberties in the US, among other things) went to yale, as did john yoo (architect of the use of waterboarding and other torture methods to guantanamo bay detainees). brett kavanaugh was in the same fraternity as both George Bushes, and later served on H.W.’s administration, before he became a supreme court judge who will get to make decisions about the bodies of millions of people in the US and beyond.
that so much violence has been committed and laundered by fraternities, which house and encourage so much stupidity, is darkly funny. frat boys think playing mr. brightside at every party is insane and hilarious. the fact that they end up running the US—though only 2% of the country are members of fraternities, 80 percent of Fortune 500 executives, 76 percent of U.S. senators and congressmen, 85 percent of Supreme Court justices, and all but two presidents since 1825 were in frats—well all you can do is laugh.
maybe all of this is obvious—like, yeah, duh, yale university is like a pretty systematically bad place. at 18 i didn’t really know that, and i suspect a lot of people don’t quite get the scope of the ways that it’s bad. i think i don’t even get the scope to be honest. anyway
shows
Tuesday, May 21 / 10pm – The Shake Up (The Broken Shaker) (TONIGHT)
doing comedy at a fancy rooftop bar at a hotel in lower Manhattan. this bar is apparently known for it’s cocktails. the twist??? i will probably get paid in a drink ticket that can only be exchanged for well drinks and beers. please come and buy a cocktail and let me try it
Wednesday, May 22 / 7pm – Jokes Engineered (Caveat) ($10)
doing caroline doyle’s wacky show at Caveat, wherein a comedian (in this case me) does a set and brings up a common problem that could be solved by inventive engineering solutions. caroline hosts this show because she is an engineer and welds for work which is actually not only cool but sexually hot to me.
Sunday, May 26 / 7:30pm – Delish (Bedlam)
little variety show in east village. i think cat cohen and cole escola are on the lineup, which is actually so cool to me.
Tuesday, May 28 / 8pm – Stevie (Union Hall) ($10)
i love performing at union hall, and i’m performing with some of the all-time greats: rachel kaly, ana fabrega, cat cohen, etc etc etc.
Saturday, June 1 / 7pm – JUNE EXPLORATION (Jones Beach Bar)
OK SO THIS IS ACTUALLY THE HUGE NEWS I’M REALLY EXCITED TO SHARE.
Sunday, June 2 / 8pm – Now That’s What I Call A Dumbass (Good Good Comedy Theater) (In Philadelphia) ($10)
rachel kaly (“rogue genius” – time out new york; profiled by Humans of New York) is doing an hour in Philadelphia and asked me to open for her :3 pls come if ur in philly.
Tuesday, June 4 / 9pm – Artiste (Club Cumming)
fun cute variety show
Thursday, June 6 / 9:30pm – Send In The Clowns (Friends and Lovers)
my friends eytan and liam do this wonderful show. i love them and i love this
Saturday, June 8 / 7pm – JUNE EXPLORATION (Jones Beach Bar)
our second installment. my guess is that this show will get better every week
Thursday, June 13 / 8pm – Stacy (Rebecca’s Bar)
my beloved <3 another show i host, my steadfast monthly. this month w: Pat Regan, Jolie Darrow, Rufat Agayev, Rachel Pegram, Tim Platt, and drag by Chola Spears. icons all around
Saturday, June 15 / 7pm – JUNE EXPLORATION (Jones Beach Bar)
the weeks……. they keep going
Saturday, June 22 / 7pm – JUNE EXPLORATION (Jones Beach Bar)
time feels like it moves by so fast
Wednesday, June 26 / 8pm – Side Ponytail (Friends and Lovers)
fun lil bar show!
Saturday, June 29 / 7pm – JUNE EXPLORATION (Jones Beach Bar)
and nevertheless time keeps moving. soon it won’t be summer any more and that is the only thing worth living for.
something i recommend
do you guys know Tierra Whack? she's so good, and this music video for her song Unemployed is so, so good
ok to be honest i would also love if people could open their mind and accept that this Glee Cover of Ike and Tina Turner's "River Deep, Mountain High" is as good a vocal performance as anything could really be. every month i fight the urge to put my favorite Glee covers in this newsletter and month after month i fail. alas.