That is the opening line of a piece from my one woman show that I performed at the January Story Jam series in Wimette, Illinois. Wilmette is a mostly affluent, predominantly White suburb of Chicago. I entitled the story "nigger," which tells the story of the first time I was called such by a White person. I have to admit that I had some reservations about presenting a story about being called a nigger to a mostly White audience - for about a minute. Hell, I told the world that I weigh 300 …
My Words for the New Year 2016 and for 2015: Verklempt & Gratitude!
Verklempt. Definition: Verklempt is a Yiddish word that means "overcome with emotion." Pronounced "fer-klempt," people use it when they are so emotional that they're on the verge of tears or at a loss for words due to their emotional state. I am Verklempt. I've been trying to compose a New Year's message but I am just so grateful for the love that I have received, the response to my Gofundme campaign and my recent sold-out show at City Winery (for starters) that I just end up sitting at my …
The Adventures of Permanent Lifestyle Change Girl: Performing the Fat Piece
It's been a couple of weeks since the evening in which I performed a reading of the Fat piece from my solo show. I was nervous, I was uncertain. It had only been a fantasy for so long, a work in progress, my biggest obstacle in the long running marathon to complete my solo show. The writing is the hard part - until you think of performing it live in front of people. The many drafts have been edited, critiqued, undone, reconstructed within an inch of its life and still it seemed "not ready," but …
The Adventures of Permanent Lifestyle Change Girl: Straight from the Woodshed -The Fat Monologue
Tonight's the night! I'm going to do my first ever reading of the "Fat Piece" in front of a live audience - ever. I am reading as part of "Story Jam", a story-telling live music show produced by singer, performer, writer Stephanie Rogers and held at The Wilmette Theater. I'm a bit frightened in an excited way. I've been working on this particular piece off and on for decades, steadily for months. I have had invaluable guidance from solo show writer and scholar Arlene Malinowski who has been …