The Us's
November 21, 2008
From the ever lovin' Elaine:A speech from Harvey Milk, who was shot to death in 1978, after being the first openly gay man to run for public office in the United States.
Gus Van Sant has made a movie about his life, which also looks fascinating:
(An aside, Milk's killer is the reason people use the phrase "maybe he ate too many Twinkies.")
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There's Only Yes
November 20, 2008
I went to go see a blackbox theatre production of Rent last night in London. I've been in love with that show since I was 15, it imprinted on my bones. Mad creatures of various sexualities living on the razor edge of life, loving and dying and making art. Little hungry baby Olga ate it up.I always walk away from it with a huge heart. Then I came home and watched this:
And it feels like one continuous thread. Not being afraid of being over-sentimental, or too earnest, and acknowledging the basic impulse to love. Like Maya Angelou said, America is growing up. And seeing this commentator from MSNBC almost in tears over the parts of the country that are still holding back is insanely heartening.
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Overjoyed
November 5, 2008
I'm a continent away from the soil in which change is being fostered. But I still woke up today with my heart like Christmas morning, giddy and girlish and full of love.Last night I walked to the corner store in my London neighborhood, and right at the counter was a little old English woman asking the young Indian man behind the counter, "Who do you want to win? Obama, right?" They both agree, with hope and instant camaraderie in their eyes. I chime in.
"You two are making me so happy right now!" I say in my unmistakable American accent.
The woman looks at me and tells me that all of Europe, if certainly not the entire world, wants Obama to be president.
And now it is November 5th, and the world is a different place than it was the day before. I am so happy to be alive for it.
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VOTE.
November 4, 2008
That's the main thing, really. If you're reading this, vote.I am holding my breath, and I have everything crossed.
Posted by Olga at 8:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Wildlife Preserve For Fledgling Songs
November 3, 2008
I've been writing snatches of songs that never make it into the wild.I've been working too much.
BUT.
I had an AMAZING gig.
I've been making wondrous long-lost new friends.
AND I bought shiny new super-cheap thrift store amazing gloves.
(Overwhelming Super-Gloves Of Cuteness.)
Bonus pictured: Elaine and me from our trip to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Pictured elsewhere: other things I've been doing in the last great while. And here.
Not pictured: beautiful Halloween costume given to me by dear friends where I was a harem girl. Or a lamp genie, according to a nice English stranger who stopped me in the street. Oh yes. I rode the London Underground half-naked decked in shiny jeweled material in the freezing cold. Awesome.
Super bonus: the lo-fi taping of Feather for the London gig, reincarnated into a folk song that should be played on a porch to an audience of fireflies.
Download: Feather (Live)
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