Better Than Me

People amaze me with their ignorance sometimes.

I experienced something interesting yesterday, and sadly, something all too common where I live. I was in theatre, with the same girl who thinks people have a homosexual/heterosexual switch, with heterosexual as the default. Apparently, with the flick of a finger, one can turn gay. Hmm. I never said in what way that's possible ;).

This young woman, who apparently had not read her script, has to drop to her knees in fear, hug her friend and look terrified. Both she and her friend kneeled and sat there without embracing. When asked by the teacher why they didn't hug, and to do it again with the hug, one girl turned to the other and stated, "But I'm not a dyke!"

You can imagine the look of disgust on my face, can you not?

However, I was a good girl and sat there on my assigned bench. I was livid. After practice was over, I walked outside and spoke with another student who was also pretty mad about the comment. I don't think the professor heard it, but I was seriously thinking about writing her an email. I think I'll just pull the girls aside on Monday and let them know that hey, there are lesbians everywhere and you never know whether or not you are in their company.

The best thing to do is to keep one's distasteful offensive names to oneself, and get educated about things that are misunderstood.

I really thought these types of people were outdated and were just raised in a different way. I thought my generation, and the generations to come, would be educated in the ways of the world and accepting. I guess I was wrong.

Theatre Geek Sighting

Hey! I know it's been awhile (that damn phrase!) but I'm going to start making this a regular thing. I would like to discuss two topics today, one of them being assumption. A classmate in my theatre class assumed that one of the characters in the play 'turned' lesbian after returning from Vietnam. Her assumption was based on the facts that the character had all female friends and she was fed up with men. She then stated she didn't want to play the character that was a "lesbian."

I tried to explain to her that it doesn't mean she is gay, but she argued that she might be. I don't think she realizes that she was arguing with a lesbian about what makes a woman gay. I thought it was somewhat obvious, since I was wearing a rainbow bracelet that stated "Love Not Hate." Why do people think being gay is a phase, or a way to rebel against the opposite sex? I have never understood how people can talk about race issues and yet not connect the two in some way.

Also, I wanted to talk about the upcoming Day of Silence! I want to know what everyone's doing for it. Take pictures, write poems, be creative! Obviously, we won't be getting voicemails on that day. This is something that should be more widespread than it is.

As a note, I would like to encourage you to comment and leave ideas for something you would like me to discuss. This includes a topic you'd like to know more about or something you would like me to share about the journey of podcasting. Sorry about not podcasting this weekend, but as you know, it just doesn't happen some weekends. However, we will be posting a new episode this weekend!