Author: Becky Sarwate

Homos, or Everyone in America

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“Playing with traditional, linear, and narrative conventions, Homos leaps back and forth between past, present and everything between to take a look at two young, bookish, Big Apple men falling (and trying to remain) in love as massive cultural shifts swirl around them. Scenes boast Sorkinesque rapid-fire dialogue, impacted by events such as 9/11, President Obama’s 2011 repudiation of the Defense of Marriage Act and rising public consciousness of insidious hate crimes.

The play also shines a light on the heterogeneity of the LGBTQ ‘community,’ despite American culture’s seeming preference for pouring all members into one rainbow-hued bucket. The Academic is presented as the traditionalist: a monogamist conscientious about moving through orderly stages (love, cohabitation, and then marriage) with a desire to live in the ‘right’ neighborhood. Conversely, The Writer abhors convention. Uncertain about committing beyond the moment, eager to smash cisgender norms and vocabulary, besotted with the chaos, noise and mood swings of New York’s creative circle, The Writer exhibits a self-pitying and destructive streak that stands apart from The Academic’s more earnest approach to intimacy.”

Read the full post at The Broadway Blog.

Edwards’ Erratic Performances Point to Huge Post-Season Bullpen Challenges

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Carl Edwards Jr.

“Somehow, according to MLB.com, Carl Edwards Jr.’s ERA is a mere 1.80 in his last seven appearances. This, assuredly, does not tell the story of the lanky young right hander’s recent awfulness. I’ve been playing closer attention to the reliever these last two weeks, and he’s a strong example of the sometimes misleading nature of statistics.

It is a running joke at home between my husband Bob and I that Edwards is only bad when I’m looking. My spouse, a rabid Cubs fan and huge proponent of numeric measurement, believes that a career ERA under 3.00 points to looming greatness. However, that confidence has been mightily tested over the last fortnight. Edwards has put 10 extra men on the bases in 15 games. Most egregiously, he has done so with the bags somewhat to almost full, giving the lie to that old Earned Run Average. Most of the runs that have followed from Edwards belong to the dude who came before. He’s been undependable at home vs. the Mets, in Milwaukee, and as of last night’s very disappointing loss, Washington D.C.”

Read the full post at Wrigleyville Nation.

McCain’s Eulogizers Remind Us Democratic Norms Are Living Ghosts

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McCain

“John McCain will be missed dearly. He was unpredictable. He was a man who loved his country and had enough character to shut down racist white voters pliant to Republican dog whistling. I was watching live in October 2008 as McCain appeared at a Town Hall event in Lakeville, Minnesota. I don’t remember much that was said, but I will never forget these words in defense of then-Democratic candidate Barack Obama, who has just been disparaged as an untrustworthy ‘Arab:’

‘No, ma’am. He’s a decent family man [and] citizen that just I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues, and that’s what the campaign’s all about. He’s not [an Arab].’

From the vantage point of September 2018, that kind of character seems lamentably noble and quaint.

And I suppose that sense underpinned the double consciousness experienced as I watched coverage of McCain’s State funeral this long weekend. The country and its leaders were not just coming together to mourn the loss of an American icon. As we listened to the passionate and powerful words of those who eulogized the deceased -Vice President Joe Biden, President Barack Obama, and hell, even Dubya – it was hard to escape the feeling that something more than the Arizona Senator had endured a slow and painful death.”

Read the full post at Contemptor.

Defacing Michael Jackson

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DMJ_1600x1200

“The play is an odd choice for Flying Elephant Productions’ inaugural theater season conclusion. The theatre describes itself as ‘a company dedicated to presenting the musicals and plays of marginalized communities and then helping them market for future productions.’

What then to say about a choice of source material that features an overly casual storyline about pedophilia? Are abused children not the most marginalized voices of all? Child sexual abuse featured prominently in the prurient headlines generated by the King of Pop in his later years. It’s impossible that anyone who followed Jackson’s career has forgotten the allegations.

Defacing Michael Jackson desires to keep the focus on the historical challenges of racial experience and disharmony, and Michael Jackson is undoubtedly an important cipher for that discussion. By attempting to normalize pedophilia in the play’s script and staging, however, a disturbing piece of Jackson’s legacy becomes inconsequential. It was so jarring to see such a nonchalant exploration of child abuse within the context of Squire’s play that this reviewer found it hard to think of anything else. The work’s intermittent and erratic approach becomes an unfortunate and morally aimless distraction.”

Read the full post at The Broadway Blog.

As Trump Continues to Move NFL Patriotism Goal Post, Football Enthusiasm Takes a Knee

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NFL

“Last week at one of his authoritarian parties in Montana, POTUS 45 reminded us all that old adages become repeated truths for good reason. If you give a selfish bully an inch, he will take a mile (or more). The party’s chain, once successfully yanked, shall be perpetually pulled.

So it is with the NFL’s terrible late-May ‘compromise policy’ toward players kneeling during the National Anthem. Come this fall, men are ordered to adjourn to the locker room to spare team owners the unattractive TV visuals of black people engaging in peaceful protest. This rule change was also a thinly disguised Hail Mary pass at appeasing the Human Cheeto.

Suckers! The league’s free speech suppressive capitulation only led Trump to opine (to much rural, white Montana hooting) in typical, erudite style: ‘Isn’t that worse than not standing? You know? I think that’s worse.'”

Read the full post at Contemptor.