Homewood Studios, part 2

Monday, 15 October 2012

 This morning, I brought my son to school, and here’s a picture of a Honda Odyssey parked a few cars in front of mine:

The writing might be tough to see, so I’ll spell it out for you:

On the left side of the torture device, it reads “Living within Loving Boundaries is NOT LIMITING it’s LIBERATING VOTE YES for Marriage” [sic].

On the torture device itself, it reads: “Not of this World JESUS”.

And to the right, it says: “If U leave it blank it counts as a No vote.”

And here’s what I have to say:

First of all, living within any sort of boundaries is limiting. That’s what boundaries do: they limit things. The boundary isn’t necessarily bad, but it’s limiting nonetheless. For example, I have to live within the boundaries of Earth’s atmosphere. That’s not liberating, it’s limiting. But that’s okay.

Second, by denying same-sex couples the right to vote, this person is explicitly denying them a liberating boundary. So…I’m not sure their first sentence is even coherent.

Third, I totally agree: Jesus is not of this world. This world is reality, and Jesus is fantasy. So, like zombies and leprechauns, Jesus is, of course, not of this world.

Fourth, since we can all agree that Jesus is not real, then it forms no real argument for or against same-sex marriage. At least Witnesses have the good sense to keep out of government: they live in a magical world where things like Smurfs and Michael Jackson can kill you and where birhtday parties are evil and shunning family members is good. They wisely realize their pretend play should have no voice in the real world. And it doesn’t. Take a lesson, Odyssey.

Fifth: I agree. If “U” leave it blank, it does count as a no vote. So, if you’re like many disenchanted voters, and can’t stand the sight of either major-party Presidential candidate, please go vote anyway. Leave the president choice blank, if you must, and just vote no on the amendment proposals. Or vote on the 6th district judge and leave everything else blank. Or write in my name for county commissioner. Go on, do it.

In other news…

Here’s an article about a Boy Scout denied his badge because he’s gay.

And here’s a very Funny post about cats and how they are nothing but murders.

Tuesday, 16 October 2012

This evening, I returned to Homewood Studios in Minneapolis for an author reading event. I read my short story “Bad Air,” which is on display at their gallery until Saturday, the 20th. So, if you can peel your butt off your couch, go take a look at it. There’s a guest book there where you can leave comments, and all the comments get forwarded to the authors, so I’ll read what you wrote.

Anyway, there was a small crowd, and only four readers. I was the third reader. After each piece, the audience asked questions. I like this part the best. At all the other readings I’ve done recently (Fresh Grounds Coffee Shop and the UU Church, to name a couple), I simply read my piece, accepted the applause, and sat down. This was much better.

Sometimes they asked questions about me – like, “Have you written any other fiction?” and sometimes they commented on the story – like, “Wow, I could really feel like I was there.”

Speaking of that, I guess the two parts of my story people liked best were the descriptions of Africa – my story told of “telephone lines receding in the distance” as a man walked out of town, and of two brothers “sitting in the shadow of their stalled car” to stay cool. They asked me how I came up with this imagery of Ugandan Africa, and I said, “Google Images.”

The curator asked if I had any other pieces to read. He asked all the participants this, but they all read short poems, so I was a little surprised that, after reading a 3-page story, they still wanted to hear more. I told him I had brought a copy of Hamline’s 2012 Fulcrum to read a short story from that, but that I’d had second thoughts and left in the Little Free Library right outside the door. The audience told me to retrieve it, so I did.

So then I read my essay “Andy,” which I chose over my other story in The Fulcum (the story “The Third”) because I had never read this one aloud to a group before. After reading this piece, one man said that it reminded him of his friend, who had died. He said, “My friend had everything I didn’t have, except time,” which I thought was quite sad. Then he said, “I’m sure Andy still thinks of you.”

It turns out, about hald the people in attendance were related to Witnesses, and they’re all disgusted by the coldness they receive from those family members. One audience member asked if I thought of sending Andy a copy of the story I wrote. I said, “Yes, but I never have.” Then another guy said, “Put the book back in the Little Free Library, and who knows? – Maybe Andy will pull it out and read it one day.” I was going to mention the pervading illiteracy in the Witness religion, but I didn’t.

After the reading, a few of the visual artists took us around to their pieces and discussed them. Pretty fascinating, really, and it helped me appreciate each piece even more.

All in all, a great evening.

I finally left just after 9:00. I deposited The Fulcrum in the Little Free Library.