BY KENDRA HENSON-STROUD

‘ ‘ ussy crack corn  and l don’t
Pcare.“ Uni\'ersit_\' ot'Vermont's
Patrick Gymnasium had to plug its
virgin ears on October 9th when comedian
Margaret Cho paid our lovely Green Mountain
state a visit. The show was a stop on the Cl It)
Revolution tour. coincided with UVM"s cele-
bration ol‘National Coming Out I)ay. and was
sponsored by the Department ol'Student Life
and the First Year lixperience Diversity
Committee. Cho attracted a packed g_\'mnasium
ot'heter_os and homos of all shapes. colors. eth-
nieities and abilities. Margaret had a little bit of
something for everyone and then some!

The “pussy” line recurred throughout
the show with dilTerent actions — something
Cho said she picked up from a visit to
Southeast Asia. walking past a brothel with a
pitehman calling out what the prostitutes inside
would do (“Pussy eat banana!“). As alwa_\'s.
Cho took something ol‘l‘ensi\e and crass and
made it uniquely hers. sending it up in her
inimitable wa}.

Comedian Bruce Daniels. who stars
in the shon “Grocery Store“ on lVlargaret‘s
Notorious C.l l.O. video. was the show opener.
telling tales ol‘ his well-meaning |'riendsC'
racism. He has. he said. a whole lot ol‘At‘ro-
centric art. all of it given to him by white
friends. ()ne guy approached him sa_\ ing.
“Yo. dude! Yo. du-ti-ude!" Daniels"
response: "l’irst of all. _\ou're o\‘er 30
and }ou don't get to say ‘dude’ any
more."

Cho. sporting short shorts
topped with a 6-inch-wide blue and
white belt. said she had spent the
day before the show‘ shopping in
town. hitting stores like the Sox Market
in the mall and Old Gold (which she raved
about — the source of the belt ~ and said she
would actually consider moving here for that

alone). She and Bruce had also spent part ol‘ the

day at Dean‘s campaign headquarters where

as airways. mm was aamattiaéag
afiaméaa aad mass aafi maria és aaéaaaégr tears. madam §% am as firms fiaémfiaaata way.

they bloggcd in support ot' Dean. lvlargaret was
clear that out olithe Democratic choices. she
liked [)ean the best and \\ as especially unim-
pressed with Kerr_\‘ whom she had met pre\ i-
ousl_\' and considered boring (loud snorcs from
both Cho and Daniels). 
l)ressed in a red UVM 2003 t-shirt.

Cho took hold ot‘ the audiences‘ minds and
stretched them like silly p_utt_\ into the realm oi‘
the perverse. disgustingl_\' bi/.arre world that we
all know about. but are too polite to discuss.
Not at all sh_\‘ about discussing topics like sex.
queer culture. eating disorders. bodily lunc-
tions. separation ot‘ church and state. and cultur-
al scnsiti\‘it_\ gone awr_\. (‘ho

rocked the audience with the

kinds ol‘ stories one cannot

easil_\ forget (the >,;
Pretenders‘ "Brass in

Pocket" w ill ne\ er be

heard quite the same
again).

   

 

   
   
   
 
  

  

Members ol'l|VM"s l~'rce to Be

l.(ilS l'QlA group were a \cr_\ \isiblc presence
at the show. (‘ho noticed them right aw a_\' wear-
ing militar} latigues sitting in the front row. and
thanked them for" being so out and w onderliil.
(‘ho l11t)\ ed smoothly bct\\een queer culture

jokes noting that lesbians haxe such a keen

sense ot'dircction since their \aginas are
equipped with built in (’)n-Star s_\ stems. to
ph}sicall_\‘ and \erbal|_\ illustrating a llight
attendants worst nightmare while serving the
Asian American (‘ho the airline‘s xcrsion ol‘
"Asian" chicken salad ("M3 people use
lvlandarin orange slices and crisp) \\onton
crunchies! This is not the salad ol‘ m_\ peo-
plel"). "
(‘ho was passionate about
encouraging people to speak tip to
injustices. She exclaimed that the
countr} is so fucked up because
ol'the people running it. and not
because ol"thc people in it. She
declared that the l)t)MA act
denies lesbian and ga_\

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 
  
   
    
     
 
  
  
    

   

Americans 1.04‘) ci\ il rights. and that _\es she is
atraid ol‘ terrorism. but she is more alraitl ol' the
Patriot Act. and that silence equals uon-e\is-
tence.

('ho's website \\\\\\.margaretcho.com
is home to her dai|_\ blogs. charged with her
insights into topics such as the Vatican discour-
aging people from wearing condoms. ps_\ cho-
logical terrorism. Queer l-',_\e tor the Straight
(iu_\. ga_\ marriage. the end o|‘the world. etc.

(‘ho and Daniels held a quick Q.& A
session at the end ol'the show and linished with
a rap about the crapp} state of health care and
health insurance in our countr) it was dillicult
to undcrstand'the l_\rics to it. but I rcall_\ w antcd
to.

I asked (‘ho a couple otiqucstions
immediatel_\ following the pertornianee. (‘ho
had mentioned during the show how wonder|'ul
it is that Vermont lrecogni/.es and allows ga_\
marriage and how it's complctcl_\ ridiculous
that it‘s the on|_\ state in the nation that does I
asked what she thought otmarriage as an insti-
tution and she said she thinks marriage is
"beautiful in that it represents equalit_\ for the
communit). It is equalit} on paper and too
cairt legislate moralit). but _\ou can equa|it_\."

I asked her how she would continue
to support Dean. and she said she had blogged
for him earlier and that she would possib|_\ con-
tinue support that w a_\. ("ho said she blogs now
on a dull} basis —- her blogs are what comes to
her in the moment ~ and she considers it "a dit-
lerent 1) pc of performance."

(‘ho is taping the ''('I It) Retolution"
tour and hopes to ha\c a new \ ideo out some-
time nc.\t _\ear. V

Keml/‘u /lwI.von-.S'Imm/ is (III (I\‘/(/ ('/in or//n//‘e/'
(Inn 110! .\'tu//as/v uml /1/.s‘(t't/ q/{er her red I 'l ill
I-.\‘/Ill‘/, tr/'//mul ma‘ /llL'/\'. S/Ia umlpc/rl/Io/' .\/u.\'
IIwmo/1—.\'//‘()1/t/. u/)/mlogru/2/ie/1 live in

/ii//‘Ii/Iglu/1.

 
 
  
       
 

Margaret Cho performing at UVM’s
Patrick Gym in October