It’s about time for one of those posts, lovely lurkers. One of those posts where I tell you all about all the cool (and otherwise? Hot?) things I’m involved with these recent days. I realize my Shakespearean working vacay posts were mostly this, but. Eh. What else is a blog for, amirite?
In no particular order, and not in any sort of category organization:
Tomorrow I’m all over the stage at our latest Blue Dime Cabaret show, since our emcee has a pinup competition to go do. So good on her, and Come to the Cabaret! This one, we’ve got a Cap America boylesque, our own poet laureate, some stellar classic burlesque and drag, and I’ll be bringing my Two Ladies friends for our closing number from the musical Cabaret. I always like doing Fun Facts whilst emceeing, so it ought to be a heck of a lot of fun. For everyone but our sound god, who tends to get plunged into stress whenever they have to give this rambling actor a microphone…
At DU, I’m closing in on the middle of the quarter. This session, I’m teaching a Literary Genres course for the grad students, which has some occasional live Zoom meetings interspersed in there, which I’m having a surprisingly good time with. The other course right now is an all-online Visual and Physical Communication for the BA continuation folks. Both are classes I enjoy teaching very much, and so far it seems as though my students are liking it, too.
As you know if you’ve been reading this blog for longer than a few weeks, I have left Metro, and am beginning my foray into freelance work in the business world anew, to attempt to make up some of that lost (albeit tiny) income. I’m doing some writing and some research work, and am looking into pursuing bringing my magic-of-body-language program into the business world again. Since the pandemic shut down most live human interactions, a lot of that work went fallow, except for one fascinating and fun “body language for Zoom” seminar for Boulder Startup Week once during lockdown. Now I’m ready to come back and share this awesome expertise with them non-academic, non-theatrical peeps. So that’s the job search front. A bit chaotic at the mo, but hey. And that’s why I still keep my writing sample post stuck to the top of this blog, too.
I’m still having trouble reading, an issue that began during the deep stress of pandemic lockdown, but the brain fog of which hasn’t really gone completely away. I’m doing a little bit of self-trickery to get me reading again, one of which is a two-person book club which I have been doing with Friend Harold for quite some time now. Right now, we’re (re)reading Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash. It’s a fascinating read, seeing how he’s attempting to imagine virtual spaces, way back in 1992 before we really even had easy internet. Though all the characters are pretty big assholes, it’s still an intellectually interesting read. I’m fascinated both by its problematic bits (and how my attitude towards same has changed since I read it last more than 20 years ago), and the earnest sci fi practice of technological and cultural prediction.
I’m also reading two memoirs, to jumpstart the (re)finishing of my own memoir: Nickel and Dimed and Glory Guitars. The former I actually have just stopped reading—I honestly couldn’t get past the insufferable condescension of the premise, though I do see how it was a beneficial book when it initially came out. The latter is a grungy, crunchy, smelly, beautiful and lyrically written memoir by a local woman about her punk rock girl- and teenhood in Fort Collins.
I’m also reading or at least skimming a bunch of stuff each month to prep for recording Friend Jason’s podcast, The Outrider. It’s getting a reboot, and I’m now the co host. I’m going to barrage you with demands to follow it once it comes out, once it does, so I’ll leave it at that. But our readings have so far included Anne Waldman’s work of the same name, stuff by Ursula K. LeGuin and Joseph Campbell, and my own published musings about the hero’s journey. We recorded our first episode recently and it was supes fun as usual. I’m gonna enjoy this.
Speaking of podcasts, I’m listening to a few, in lieu of other types of brain food like books. Most often in my earbuds you’ll hear Witch, Please and 2 Psychologists 4 Beers. Also emanating from my little Bluetooth speaker are such shows as Fresh Hell and Trenchcoat, Cigar, Peugeot. The first is a series of academic-adjacent discourses surrounding and criticizing the Harry Potter series. The second is new to me, though they’ve been around for a while, so I’m doing the whole process of catching up with their whole library. It’s two psychology profs who, often with guest speakers, expound over varying psychology-centered topics and/or new papers or studies. Each episode is divided in two, and one beer is drunk by each of them in each half. The third is an award-winning show that centers on “Murder, Mystery, and the Macabre.” What sets them apart from other true crime pods hosted by white women is that mix. Sometimes they describe a murder, sometimes a ghost story or an urban legend. Sometimes it’s cryptozoology and sometimes a famous cult. That last podcast is the latest in my panoply of Columbo podcasts—they make their mark by having plenty of Hollywood location and actor facts, as well as having a snack and drink to the theme of each episode they describe. Oh, and I discovered Kill James Bond whilst in Washington, which I still listen to every so often. They’re a trio of trans folx who summarize and criticize James Bond flicks (and, now they’ve finished those, other spy and etc. flicks), with their “scientific formula” of SCUM (Smarm, Cultural Insensitivity, Unprovoked Violence, and Misogny).
Okay, lovely lurkers, I’ve got to tritz on over to the pub across the street and get some more of this last chapter of my memoir finished. Back soon with more musings and such.
Daily Cross-Swords 