9 / I Fell Down/Over
Hi everyone,
Hope your Sunday is cozy :) hope you're watching a movie or reading or having fun with friends, recharging, finding an amazing piece of furniture on Craigslist. I am of course (say it with me) watching chiropractors on YouTube. JUST like the prophesy foretold.
Sharing some #shows below, as well a place to #donate if you want, and then also a little """humor""" piece I'm working on at the end.
SHOWS
Wednesdays All Month / 8pm – August Exploration (Jones Beach Bushwick)
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 the most fun day of the week <3 <3 come any week, hang out, have fun, it's always a blast.
Monday, October 7 / 6pm – A Slice Of Funny (Otto’s Shrunken Head)
fun lil show this Monday! in Manhattan if you can even believe it.
Tuesday, October 8 / 9:00pm – We Go Way Back (C’Mon Everybody)
this show is gonna be so hot. allison o'conor hosts, and not only has it historically sold out but she is also such a funny person and a wonderful host. this lineup is also NUTS and i'm honored to be a part of it – Megan Stalter, Rebecca O'Neal, Mila Myles, Rachel Sennott. Literally iconic.....
Thursday, October 10 / 8:00pm – Stacy: She Lost All Her Fabric (Rebecca’s Bar)
Stacy!!!!! We have an amazing show this month, with, also, an absolutely insane/legendary lineup. Featuring: Conner O'Malley (pretty famous.....), Jes Tom, Carmen Christopher, Arti Gollapudi, Rachel Coster, and Taylor Garron.
Friday, October 11 / 10:00pm – Raisin Man Arena (110 Troutman)
this show is like going to turn into a party after and it's also legit on a friday so you can only imagine the energy.
Thursday, October 24 / 9:30pm – Curly (Pinebox Rock Shop)
this show will be fun and cute! ana who hosts is so funny and sweet :3
Sunday, October 27 / 7:00pm – Misstressbate (BCC)
We’re doing another reading of Sophie Zucker’s hit musical. the last one literally sold out which is psycho for a reading, and the songs are actually soooooo catchy.
SHOWS I'M DEFINITELY GOING TO
Friday, October 18 / 7:00pm – I Love You Forever (Union Hall)
Francesca D’Uva’s legendary one person show. I am so, so excited to see it. She really is one of the most original performers working today. You’d be dumb to miss out, and I think it’s gonna sell out, so buy tickets!!
DONATION
Because a few of the people who read this newsletter are (no offense) rich, I thought every month I could include a place or two I've donated to that month.
Never Again Action – Like probably other Jews, the United States' slip into fascism and return to genocide has, ironically, connected me with my Jewish heritage more deeply than ever before. My grandmother, a German Jew, and her family narrowly escaped Germany, having gone into hiding for over a year before coming to America, just before such an escape was no longer possible. Growing up Jewish, especially with a Holocaust narrative, means you know that genocide is a thing that can actually happen, and that governments destroy their people, and that fascism is real. Probably also has to do with the whole leftovers thing. Anyway: Never Again Action is a group that works to close the concentration camps refugees are being held in at the border. Everyone should be appalled, but I do think Jews have a particular responsibility to fight! If you don't wanna spend the time, at least spend the money. I donated $36 – you should too!
MY MOST GENEROUS INTERPRETATION OF WHY YOU MAY BE HONKING
Living in New York City, as I have for my whole life, I often feel deeply frustrated by the inescapability of senseless and disruptive noise, disturbing my peace of mind and shooting needless cortisone through hearts across the city. While the sources of this noise are many—construction, the revving of motorcycles, sirens when it’s not honestly that urgent—I’m particularly galled by the honking that fills the streets, without end and often without purpose. Honking is often unexpected, frightening, an expression of rage and anger, and often feels purposeless.
But the agitation and rage I feel at these drivers has now become inconvenient and disruptive. As the ceramic tray printed with the Serenity Prayer I purchased at Housing Works for $6 has taught me, I need to find the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the Courage to change the things I can etc. According to a YouTube video I watched called “Ridding your life of unnecessary conflict,” this means I must assume people have good intentions — or at least reasons that feel valid to them — when they do things that frustrate you.
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Perhaps your honk is actually powerfully pragmatic. This bumper to bumper traffic on a street where thousands of people are walking and living and working could be solved if all the cars just went very fast at once. That way, all the cars could arrive at their destination, and the streets would actually then be free for full pedestrian use.
Maybe, when you honk, it’s because there is so much going on in the world. It sometimes feels like we’re all just going on about our days as if there is not unimaginable incalculable violence and devastation being enacted in our names and maybe I would be an absolute moron not to think that your choice of blaring your horn despite really clear evidence that it does nothing to speed along the delivery truck in front of you is a sort of wail of angst and sadness to a higher power ultimately indifferent to your suffering, but who would you be if you didn’t even try.
New York City is famously a difficult place to live vis a vis emotions. But perhaps it is harder for some than others, and so you are honking to balance out the inequality, and while obviously the ideal situation would be to ameliorate the lives of everyone so no one is hungry and education and health and enriching lives are available to all, until that happens you might as well make me more miserable because my life is certainly among the easiest here all things considered and your honk has given me more anxiety and in a way that is perhaps justice.
Maybe you’re honking because, at the end of the day, it is always a safe bet to assume that there is a child who has for the first time accomplished something momentous. A young girl has just absolutely crushed her guitar recital. A young boy did a difficult flip in gymnastics. A group of girls won an impromptu soccer game against a group of boys. They worked hard and achieved something that at one point felt impossible. THAT is worth celebrating. THAT is worth honking for. THANK you for your service.
Did you honk because you were scared you were about to hit a child? Did you get the idea of hitting a child and your own nearly endless capacity for violence frightened you? Did you think about the awesome power of the machine you operate? Did you think about the frighteningly flimsy bureaucracy that gives you the legal and social right to drive a 3,000 pound motorized, polluting machine at great speeds, for as long as you may live? Is that why you put your hand on the horn of your car at 6:21pm and left it there until 6:23pm – two full minutes where all you could do was leave your hand on your horn until the fear of your own capacity for violence abated? Is that why you honked?
While killing is bad, I will say that not everyone gets to say they’ve taken a human life and there is a value in experiencing something that so many people across human history have experienced regardless of time or social position. Killing someone is actually arguably one of the great commonalities in humanity’s short history and in fact many people who have become famous for being prolific at it, so if you run over a pedestrian on the street in that sense at least you are like Alexander the Great, a man very famous for how many people he directly and indirectly killed. He was also probably queer, if that helps at all.
Perhaps when you honk for minutes on end in standstill traffic, your honk is not for the cars ahead of you, each of which is surrounded on all sides by other cars. Perhaps instead you seek to express your displeasure to the government of the City of New York for creating car infrastructure that necessitates gridlock. Unfortunately, it’s hard to guarantee that the municipal government will read such a level of nuance into your honking. Again, assuming this is why you honked for a minute, I’d be happy to connect you with my friend Omar who works for the city. He works in the Department of Education, but may be able to connect you with a local representative or city planner who can hear out your needs. Hope this helps.