lixx‘ » 30 - OlTM october 2001 The nosuy llnialiulous social me of Ethan men site uentziyof Ethan’s sexy airplane seatmafe remains her (3 efhanereemcom But 2 don‘r Icnowwhore lg: ' '-":..'::.°:..'*:*.:.-'- even me In Yea. I nion'r aecosniznhe " dude either ,*R Kerin continued from page eleven hand that he did not subscribe to the better ideals of equality and faimess, which we all want from our elected leaders. If he had run as an independent, he- would likely have won re-elec- tion without rancor. He chose to not risk loosing the support of the people who trusted him. Less than six months later he flew his true colors. Under the law of the sea, that defines a pirate. In‘ government, that defines something else, equally unsavory. I choose to be hon- est and forthright because it allows me to lay my head on my pillow at night and sleep the untroubled sleep of an hon- est person. I am not a shill of the Republican Party and Jeffords certainly was not either. If any- thing, the party was a shill for Jade continued from page eighteen that has a right to fool you. How would you have ever known his skill level? Where does he get off being so open and engaging? Must be one of those weirdos who ‘crash’ pri- vate gatherings. Well, no dam- age done. From now on, you can restrict your attendance to ‘invitation only’ affairs. That gnawing feeling of having mis- judged someone can be so annoying. What would a perpetuated pathology of mistrust be with- out the targeted person ‘not behaving as expected’ by self- appointed judges? How many of us have discovered that we have ‘fallen into disfavor’ with another because we did not act in line with ‘our categories’? Exclusiveness is one of our earliest social lessons. It is a tricky one. There is a fine line between openly judging and reacting with self—righteous indignation. What is unac- ceptable to some is ok for oth- ers. There is a basic level where labels begin to be very useful. And the worst offense of all often occurs when some- one dares to veer from their Box continued from page twenty-one You ARE NOTORIOUS FOR GETTING NAKED IN YOUR snows. WHAT ROLE DOES NUDITY PLAY IN PERFORM- ANCE? In my own work I am more interested in exploring the most vulnerable and fucked up parts of myself in a naked performance section. In GLORY BOX I get naked in a sweet section about how I used to take off all my clothes when I was a little kid, climb in my mom’s wooden hope chest and snuggle into the fake chinchilla jacket to breathe - in that ' cedar- drenched world. My adult naked body in the perform- ance becomes sweetly redo- lent of childhood longing and memories and invites all the metaphors that we can cram in that hope chest with me naked! Now, I’ve written this naked-in-the-hope chest stuff as a short story for the page, but there is something about my naked body in real time in the theater crammed into that hope chest on the stage that totally changes, deepens the text. It gets the words sweaty! As long as I don’t get splin- ters in my butt, that’s what I although the prospect of sharing an evening with Charlotte tn the pizza gin is enticing, Ethan decides to go home 81¢ drafta personat ad. :33“ ‘K ts ea” 1°“ Jeffords because they nominat- ed him, raised money for him, campaigned for him and worked tirelessly to support his campaign. He did not stand up for anything other than what he perceived to be his own politi- cal advantage by changing the Senatecontrol without benefit of the ballot. If that had been an honest achievement, very few Republicans would have ‘assigned label’ criteria. Public school comes to mind for me. There were so many cliques, instances of ostraciz- ing should a clique member stray from the acceptable set of behaviors. Cheerleaders could not socialize with the nerds. The nerds were not supposed to respect the athletes. “I wouldn’t go through that again” is a popular response when adults think back on some of the more embarrassing moments in school. If you recall one of those times, did it have to do with being labelled want to do! Get those words to become FLESH!” WHAT WILL YOU AND ALISTAIR DO TO STAY TOGETHER? Right now, couples like Alistair and I are offered three scenarios: your partner is deported, you break up, or you both leave the country and make a life in a more civ- ilized nation than America. Not very pleasant options. Fortunately Alistair.has pass- ports from two countries (Australia and the UK) that wagging W12. \\\\“ \\\\\\\\\ \‘ ‘a;;i\ 4°‘ «.135 a<5"’.‘“' \\“ ““\\\\\\\\\‘ * been upset. But it wasn’t. If Mr. Stowell chooses to think I refuse to understand, Iinvite him to present facts that contra- dict anything I have presented. Truth has always been the first victim of socialism and totali- tarianism, because the harsh glare of truth shows such sys- tems for what they are, before it is too late. I hope Mr. Stowell will remove the shroud or failing to ‘fit in’? My bet is that for the majority of us reflecting back, most of the sit- uations provice a lasting mem- ory of embarrassment because someone decided a label had been breached. Trying not to tie in these words with the most recent national tragedy is not working for me. It will have been a few weeks when this publication reaches you. However, for many of us, those days will not have decreased the anxiety and deep feelings of anguish. May we all strive to feel more con- give gay people and their partners immigration rights. I have this completely roman- tic thought that art can change the world and that something is going tochange. The unfairness of this situa- tion is so outrageous, even President Clinton had come out last year in favor of immi- gration rights for lesbian and gay couples. Meanwhile, I’m going to work my little per- formance art booty off to raise awareness, money and trouble with GLORY BOX. I want the piece to conjure for the audience a new glory box, a new kind of hope chest, that Gating nowhere with Bucky's assistance. Ethan seeks out the practical advice of his neighbor Charlotte. from the -light of truth, lest he follow some pied piper into the darkness of liberty lost. We live in a great country, unwor- thy of many of the criticisms leveled against it. The U.S. may not be perfect, but it is far ahead of whatever is in second place. nected from our losses. safety enjoyed by our nation has been fractured and we have been shaken. It is our ability to feel united in grief which can strengthen us individually and collectively. This is not a time for cliques or label criteria. Being an American is _a respon- sibility not merely a right. Being a member of the GLBT community within America is an opportunity to remember how connected we are, how much more all of us are than any label. can be an alternative site for the placing of memories, hopes and dreams of gay peo- ple’s extraordinary potential for love. William J Mann is the award-winning author of “The Men from The Boys” and “ Wisecracker ”. Tim Miller can be reached through his website at http://hometown. aol. com/mill ertale/timmiller. html The ’