So this past Friday I went to go see "Debutante Balls" by Scott Turner Schofield which was hosted by my school in our little “Black Box” theater. Here’s the description to a few of his clips online:
"Debutante Balls" is a theatrical stand-up comedy dance through the fascinating culture of the Southern Debutante Ball. Schofield's wicked sense of self-aware humor and poetic sensibility guide us gently (or is that genteel-ly?) through the many ways he "came out" into Southern Society (as a lesbian, radical feminist, and finally, as a transgender man), poking fun at gender roles and sniffing the vapors of nostalgia gone-with-the-wind in these modern times. Applauded by Judith (Jack) Halberstam and the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity alike, this is a generous, insightful, not-to-be-missed solo show.”
Having known a transgender man, a handful of lesbians and two bisexuals (oh the irony of pre-fixes) I found the show to be an amazing, supportive display that hopefully helped some of the students here with questions about their gender AND their identity.
I suppose the identity part of the performance is the real reason I’m writing tonight (being that I’m exhausted from writing a killer paper for my Global Studies class and being sick ALL. DAY. … no fun) and I hope that maybe in some small way you’ll feel the power of relationship as you relate to me (^_^)
So my biggest problem of identity, I would say, is my identification as a conservation biology major, outdoorsy personality, loves to hike and go on camping trips (real ones, with tents and fires you have to start by hand – none of that camper trailer shit) and my computer science, gamer, general geek and technology side. The problem being that they always find the most inconvenient times to clash and it makes me a bit of an outsider to my friends who are solely a nature child or solely a techie because I’m not hugely one or the other – I would venture to say I’m the equivalent share of both.
I didn’t realize to the full extent of how much this had been bugging me until I went to this show, culminated an ‘identity’ as a conservation biology computer geek, and then looked back over every social issue I’ve had in the past few months. I found, en review, that almost 95% of the clashes I’ve had with friends or people I know (not terrifying all out brawls but times where I’ve been ignored, shunned, etc) are because I cannot wholly relate to any one group or another – nor can I dedicate all of my time and energy to one group or another. So I’m not in on every joke, I haven’t been to every party and I can be in the dark on events I’m suppose to support or attend because I’m simply (physically) not always able to be there.
So I’ve discovered a new test for Australia. I’m going to tone my geekdom down to low and see what happens when I let my adventurous side take over (to some rational degree) … I guess I’m kinda curious to see if this is a true issue of identity or if I’m just strange … because you know, it’s totally possible.
And speaking of being a geek … “Still Alive” from the Portal credits is fun (^_^)
~ Sienna
No comments:
Post a Comment