I've been out of sorts lately and I'm wondering if its because my activities--Geegsters, writing group, reunion committee--have been on hiatus for a while. I love feeling like I'm part of something and without my beloved activities (all of which, save for GGG, are all-female, which is weird because you'd thing GGG was all-female but it isn't) I'm like that fish in that early '90s Faith No more video, flopping around out of water to a slow, leading-into-death piano arrangement. I am also prone to seasonal depression this time of year, so there you go. I'm not such a happy Mo these days.
I was reading the bio of a writer/comedian more famous and successful than myself, and in her bio it read that she once did a comedy act at the MICHIGAN WOMYN'S MUSIC FESTIVAL?!?!?!? For those of you who don't understand exactly what that is and why I had to write it out in all caps, the MICHIGAN WOMYN'S MUSIC FESTIVAL is the world's largest convergence of female hippie earth mother touchy-feely lesbian spell-it-with-a-Y feminist-type ladies. I myself have never been and only know it through Alison Bechdel's comic about how much she hates it, its ongoing controversy over their "womyn-born womyn only" policy (meaning NO MTF TRANNIES ALLOWED!), and a few first-person anecdotes that usually end with someone coming down with Hep C. It sounds, at least to my regularly-exposed-to-penis, I-guess-I'm-straight-yawn, Seven-Sister-School-grad ass, fucking ridiculous.
I want to go.
It then occurred to me that the Geegsters could apply to be part of the comedy showcase at the MICHIGAN WOMYN'S MUSIC FESTIVAL!!! Holy SHIT that would make for a story! Exposure to such sexually-charged, down-with-dudes energy would probably split up the troupe. I mean, there would be a lot of boobs to grab. Exposed. I don't think privacy is such a big thing there--open-air public showers, sex au naturel. And we wouldn't be able to bring Brock-tune, owing to his manhood. Maybe we could get Melissa Ferrick to cover?
We could teach a workshop alongside such courses as "breast-casting for womyn of color" and "confronting internalized misogyny." Somehow, our happy-go-lucky approach to girldom, with our pink-and-black couture and string of defunct opening theme songs with lyrics like "snorting cocaine off prostitutes" would have us met with reproach by the dominant paradigm. The Geegsters are in no way enemies of feminist/queer thought, but one could argue that we don't really have Michigan-goers in mind when we do our shows. However, as someone who has spent a lot of time in all-female environments, it seems that I haven't really come full circle on that until I've spent a week in Michigan (which, is conveniently near my in-laws' house--how I'd explain this to them is beyond me, but they don't ask a lot of questions, so...).
Oh, I still want to go! Being there would be as close as I'll ever get to feeling like a Republican!
Sadly, the performer application deadline has passed, so no MICHIGAN WOMYN'S MUSIC FESTIVAL for us this year. I could still go as an attendee, shower in front of other womyn and possibly contract Hep C. Sounds like a good time.
Posted by Zerd at January 6, 2008 02:46 PM