If you're in Tucson, you simply must go see Arizona Theatre Company's new production of a classic of the American musical theatre: The Pajama Game.

Originally opened in 1954, the story about a labor dispute (this one at the Sleep Tite pajama factory in Iowa) still resonates today as images of striking workers still permeate the news.

The original production marked Bob Fosse's Broadway debut and launched a legendary choreography and directorial career. The 1957 movie adaptation (which I just ordered on DVD from Amazon) featured Doris Day and John Raitt (Bonnie's dad, a legend of the stage). Day replaced Janis Paige, who starred opposite Raitt in the original Broadway production.

There was a limited engagement revival on Broadway (actually Lincoln Center, I believe) last year, starring Harry Connick, Jr. It won the Tony for best revival of a musical.

The show is personally significant. As a confused, lonely freshman at Ithaca College, I enrolled my first semester in a 1-credit course called "Theatre Practice", which I thought would involve a lot of improv. Boy was I wrong. Theatre Practice is actually the Theatre Department's way of filling production crews for the mainstage productions, and I was assigned to the carpentry crew.

Mind you, I'd never held a power tool before in my life and was scared of hammers (heck, I was scared of my own shadow back then). But somehow being a part of that crew (and getting to serve as an extra in full costume during the run) helped bring me out of my shell, build self-confidence and self-esteem, and led me to realize that I wanted to change my major from film to theatre.

So you may not have the same emotional connection to this show that I do, but I promise you'll enjoy it just the same.

Labels: musicals, personal

These guys said so.

Labels: anti-violence, awards, personal

...and replaced by Ikea.

Fortunately, the closest store is in Tempe, which is about an hour and a half drive from here.

I've been on a home organization kick. Well, I've been on an I-should-get-organized-and-live-a-more-grownup-life kick. So I was looking on the Ikea website on Friday night for some quality inexpensive modern Scandinavian furniture, which is the style (and price!) I like. I found a couple of pieces but didn't do anything with that information.

The next morning, I received a text message from Jason inviting me to join him on a trip to the Ikea store that day. Creepy coincidence or kismet?

For a variety of reasons, I decided to forgo my three-hour Saturday yoga practice in favor of joining Jason on a jaunt to what I now call the Promised Land.

That place is magic!

I ended up only buying a lamp and some storage boxes because the flat-packed furniture I was eying wouldn't fit in Jason's Prius. I figured I'd just order it online and have it shipped, but that almost doubles the price!

Fortunately for me, I have a friend with a minivan who offered to take a road trip with me. Thanks Hillz!

Inspired by all this chic furniture, I finally cleaned out my walk-in closet last night, which was long overdue for a solid cleaning/reorganizing.

Now I have an old dresser with two of five drawers broken that I was tempted to "repurpose" into a secretary desk. Upon further consideration, and remembering that I'm not really very good at that kind of thing, I may just trash it when Ikea has much better furniture at affordable prices.

So thanks to Jason for popping my Ikea cherry.

And fear not, Target may no longer be #1, but it's still near and dear to my heart: Hillary and I spent a good two hours there yesterday!

Labels: Hillary, Ikea, Jason, not really newsworthy, personal, Target

The House of Representatives passed a non-inclusive version of ENDA today. This is shameful in itself. There were three amendments that could have been debated today under the rules for debate passed by the Rules Committee on Monday, including the Baldwin amendment to restore gender identity protections. (In general, every bill that is considered by the House in Committee of the Whole has to have special rules approved by the Rules Committee for the bill to be considered by COW)

Congresswoman Baldwin amendment was introduced and was approved by voice vote. Congressman George Miller, who chairs the Labor Committee and controlled the debate for the Democrats, demanded a recorded vote (which would have been awesome to see by name who really supports full equality). At that point, the Chair, Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher, postponed further proceeding on whether or not to adopt the amendment, as she had done for the previous two amendments. 11 minutes later, the Baldwin amendment was unceremoniously withdrawn. The other two amendments were subsequently approved by recorded vote.

The bill passed the Committee of the Whole House by a vote of 235-184 at 6:35 PM Eastern. What I find perhaps most disappointing is the roll call vote. Congressman Grijalva, who just two weeks ago told me he would vote against the final bill if it did not include gender identity protections, voted with the majority. Congresswoman Giffords did not vote, and I actually prefer that action to the Congressman going back on his word.

In responding to the vast majority of the LGBT community who opposed the non-inclusive bill, Congressman Barney Frank had this to say:

"When people who are opposed to the basic bill and opposed to the amendment, lament the chance not to vote on an amendment which would undermine the bill, people should understand where we are. I filed the bill that included people who are transgendered. Earlier this year, I was very proud when this House passed a Hate Crimes bill that included transgender... The question we have is this: if we do not have the votes to go forward with as much as we would like to do, do we then abandon any effort, and do we allow those who are opposed to any progress at all in the anti-discrimination fight in this area to use a particular group as a way to prevent progress?"

Allow me to respond.

Ahem.

I fully understand "where we are", Congressman. Don't you dare patronize me. A spineless majority unwilling to stand up and do the right thing for a marginalized group instead looks out for the least threatening segment of that marginalized group. If you don't have the votes to go forward with an inclusive bill (I'd like to see your actual whip count, because I don't believe you lacked the votes you needed for a majority), you don't go forward at all. You don't throw the most vulnerable among us under the bus so you can get yours. This is not abandoning any effort. You offer a false dichotomy. There are plenty of other efforts to pursue on the path to full equality for all. Shame on you for oversimplifying and for being so damn selfish that you forget that you never would have received the privilege of running for Congress were it not for the seismic shift in public perception of LGBT Americans that was initiated by transgender individuals at Stonewall. Sylvia Rivera is spinning in her grave tonight. Standing together for our entire community, in solidarity, would have done a lot more in the name of progress than today's shameful vote.

The battle now moves to the Senate, where Ted Kennedy will introduce a version there. It's still not clear whether Senator Kennedy will introduce a similarly milquetoast bill, or one that actually gets the job done by protecting gender variant individuals.

Write to Congressman Frank and tell him he should be ashamed for sacrificing an entire segment of HIS community and for promoting a false dichotomy of progress.

Write to Congressman Grijalva and tell him you're disappointed in his decision to go back on his word to vote against a non-inclusive bill.

Write to Congresswoman Giffords and thank her for not voting for a bad bill.

Write to Senator Kennedy and urge him to introduce a version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that includes protections for gender identity and expression.

Labels: civil rights, ENDA, House of Representatives, human rights, LGBT, social justice

One quick correction: SONDA was signed into law in New York in 2002, not 2001. My bad. I was still part of a statewide coalition that lobbied hard for passage of that law, even though it didn't cover transgender individuals. I wasn't outspoken about my concerns then, a fact I regret to this day.

The coalition was led by the Empire State Pride Agenda, which in 2002 was headed by Matt Foreman. Foreman was a divisive leader back then, insisting that ESPA advocate for an incremental approach. He cut our transgender brothers and sisters out of the SONDA process so he and his fellow queers in khakis could get ahead. I remember sitting in awe in front of my work computer one day, staring at an e-mail he sent to the ESPA list talking about how cutting gender identity protections out of SONDA was no big deal because at least the gays would get rights (that's a very rough paraphrase, but the gist of how his e-mail came across).

I'm pleased to say that Foreman has since learned the error of his ways and, as Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has openly discussed his change of heart. His mea culpa completely rehabilitated my perception of him. And I've never been more proud to support the Task Force.

This makes HRC's betrayal of our community all the more nauseating. What other principles would those spineless weasels be willing to sacrifice? I can't even find the words for the bile I feel for those Judases right now. If Matt-fucking-Foreman can come to realize that we all deserve equality and justice, why can't they?

Labels: ENDA, LGBT

The U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote tomorrow on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would ban employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. While this may sound like great news, there's more to the story.

Earlier this year, HR 2015 was introduced. Also called the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, this version of ENDA also included protections based on gender identity and expression. Believing this version would never pass (think of the male bank tellers in dresses and waitresses with beards! the horror! the horror!), Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA), our longest-serving open 'mo, introduced HR 3685, which is the same bill with the tranny protections stripped.

HR 3685 is a bad bill. We should not compromise on basic human rights. The Human Rights Campaign, which likes to bill itself as the nation's leading LGBT rights organization, just endorsed the tranny-free bill. Shame on them. You should never give them money or time again. You should remove those stupid equal sign decals from your car (they look silly anyway). You should support only the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force from now on, which has taken the correct, principled stand to support only a fully-inclusive ENDA.

Look, we're all in this together and we can never throw any members of our community under the bus so that others in our community can ride that bus. Lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans owe the freedoms we've won over the past 40 years to those transgender freedom fighters who stood up and fought back against injustice when the rest of the community wouldn't. We owe our trans brothers and sisters an inclusive ENDA, and both Arizona and our community will be stronger for it. We must demonstrate to the agents of injustice that we will stand united for freedom for all of us, not just the least threatening.

The incremental approach has not worked in other states like New York, where I lived when they passed their Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act in 2001. To the best of my knowledge, they still have not extended the same protections to transgender New Yorkers more than 6 years later.

There's talk that Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI, the House's only out lesbian member and all around-awesome legislator) will propose an amendment that will restore the gender identity protections. Congressman Grijalva has stated he will support the amendment and oppose the final bill if the amendment fails. This is the kind of strong leadership I look for.

And as a side note, both Congressman Grijalva and Congresswoman Giffords were co-sponsors of the original, inclusive ENDA, and neither has signed onto the sham replacement bill being voted on tomorrow. Good on both of them.

Labels: civil rights, ENDA, House of Representatives, LGBT

I'm about to go out and vote. I forgot to remind my faithful readers that today is election day in many parts of the country, and there are a couple of contested races here in the Old Pueblo. If you live in the City of Tucson, be sure to make it to your polling location before it closes (7 PM, I believe).

In the City Council races, I'm voting for Romero, Glassman, and Scott. No surprises there. I know all three and believe they're the best candidates in each of their respective races. And even though I'm voting FOR all three Dems, I'm almost equally voting AGAINST their respective challengers. Baker (running against Romero) and Spahr (opposing Scott) seem hopelessly out of touch with reality.

Oien (Rodney's opponent) seems not to have much substance to run on by how often she's attacked him and his family. Rodney's a smart, decent guy who's tried to focus on issues during the campaign. It's a shame Lori Oien had nothing better to talk about than the success of the Glassman family and environmental issues that had little to do with Rodney or Tucson. Also, she sent out that misleading mailer a couple of weeks ago that falsely implied that she had been endorsed by the Gov.

I can't vote for either candidate in the Mayoral race. How can Bob Walkup, developers' best friend, have made so little headway in Rio Nuevo during his already 8-year tenure? And Dave Croteau means well, but I just can't picture him leading a marching band, much less a city of more than one million residents. So without a viable candidate to vote for, I'll do what I always do in this situation: write in Sam Schwartz.

Finally, Proposition 200. I like the intent of the proposition to try and limit growth and ensure a healthy water supply. The problem is that it is so poorly written there are several easily-conceivable unintended consequences that could come about if it were to pass. Rather than working with a diverse cross-section of the community (not to mention even a single lawyer versed in writing law), the people pushing this proposition seem to have cobbled it together with words that made them feel good about themselves, with little to no consideration of those unintended consequences.

Every now and then I cover a class for a friend who teaches a social policy class at the ASU School of Social Work and the number one point I try to instill in those students is to beware the unintended consequences of any policy, to anticipate how the words can be misread or misinterpreted if they're not crystal clear with their language. It's a lesson we all could benefit from if the authors of Proposition 200 would only learn it.

There's also another proposition on the ballot which has received virtually no attention, to raise the annual salaries of Mayor and Council. Vote yes on that one. You get what you pay for. We have a pretty good Council right now (Mayor notwithstanding), but they won't all last forever.

So go vote: Romero, Glassman, Scott, write-in Schwartz, yes on salary increases for Mayor and Council, no on Prop 200.

Labels: 2007 City Elections, City Council, Mayor, Tucson

I feel selfish posting this, but here's a wishlist of what you can get me to help me further enjoy my birthday trip to NYC:

1. The Big Apple Helicopter Flight
2. New York, New York Helicopter Flight
3. The New York Pass
4. New York CityPass
5. NYC Soul Food and Jazz in Harlem
6. Monty Python's Spamalot On Broadway
7. Legally Blonde On Broadway
8. A Chorus Line On Broadway
9. Curtains On Broadway
10. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee On Broadway
11. Spring Awakening On Broadway
12. New York Dinner in Style with Broadway Show - Private Tour
13. Xanadu On Broadway
14. Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament in Lyndhurst
15. New York MealTicket™

Labels: New York, personal

Spectacular Room

Be seduced by the view exclusive to floors 31 to 57. Feeling like a mini ruler of the big apple, take in the sensuous details, like the luminous amber colored tables and provocative lighting. Toast your realm with cocktails from the minibar. Establish a soft back beat with a CD from the library. Link in with High-Speed Internet Access, put your feet up on the floating glass desk, and phone home with the dual line phone (one is cordless). Then delight in the sexy touches, like the sleek plasma TV, glass-enclosed voyeur shower and floating sinks. Invigorate with the legendary Bliss lemon + sage Sinkside Six. Then sink into the comfort of soft terry robes and the W signature king or two double beds, wrapped in silky 350-thread count linens, our custom pillow-top mattress, featherbed, down-filled duvet and goose down pillows.

I'll be staying there for four nights.

Labels: birthday, New York, personal