This week I hired a male receptionist and you'd have thought I'd resurrected Sodom and Gomorah.
My new job is for a company that is predominantely male focused. Better than 90 percent of our clients are men, and the old-guard management team believes that these clients would only be comfortable being greeted by a woman receptionist. One of the partners actually told me he wanted me to hire a model. Have you ever hired a receptionist? Do you know the kind of person who works for $12 an hour? It isn't Heidi Klum. The kid we hired is a struggling actor. He's a little rough around the edges, but he's clean, competent and conscious. At that salary level you really can't ask for more.
But the temper tantrums from the middle managers, complete with electronic snide comments have just begun. The first hit my e-mail box just before I left work this afternoon. The first temper tantrum, complete with stomping off and slamming doors, happened yesterday. This morning I went in and spoke to the new CEO. He told me to ignore them. He didn't come right out and say that these little babies were breathing their last company air, but he that was the message. He gave me a glimpse of his plans and told me to "gird" myself for the fall out.
Before our conversation, I was prepared to resign. Of course, behind all of this is some archaic homophobia. Who knows what the new receptionist does in the wee hours of the morning? And who cares, but I wrote the job description, and there was nothing in there about performing sexual favors.
As a rule, I hate seeing employees being fired, but when that doo doo hits the fan, I'm going to be front row, center to see the splat.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Let There Be Light
The job progresses. I'm no longer a temp, having been absorbed into the company last Monday. I've hired one employee and been through the ringer hiring a second, but the hiring manager owes me a decision on Monday, so that will be finished.
There is a lot of work to be done, but I like the job. I struggle not to make this blog all work all the time. I've gotten sucked into jobs that have taken over my life, and this job could do that. But school and the chorus should help to keep me grounded. And the condo.
Yesterday I installed a new chandelier in my dining room. I have to take it out and do it over. It's adjustable, but the cable inside the post is too big and inflexible, so I have to take the whole thing apart and cut the cable down and reinstall it. Right now, when you sit at the table, the lights are at eye level. But the good news is that I installed the thing and lived to tell the tale!
As a kid growing up, my father feared for my abilities. We had a gas stove and I was forbidden to try to light the oven for fear I'd blow the house up. To this day I break out in a cold sweat if I have to manually light my oven. I think I mowed the lawn twice, and again was forbidden to ever touch the mower because I'd cut off my feet. I was a mess during driver's ed because I just knew I'd wrap the car around a tree. My instructor actually told me that in the sixteen years of teaching, I was his worst student. I've never owned a car. In college, I nearly failed my scene design class because I was afraid of the power tools.
The irony in all of this is that after I'd grown up and moved away, my father actually did saw his thumb off with a table saw and nearly died.
But when I flipped the switch and the single test bulb in the chandelier lit -- and there was no fire -- I knew I was a big boy!
There is a lot of work to be done, but I like the job. I struggle not to make this blog all work all the time. I've gotten sucked into jobs that have taken over my life, and this job could do that. But school and the chorus should help to keep me grounded. And the condo.
Yesterday I installed a new chandelier in my dining room. I have to take it out and do it over. It's adjustable, but the cable inside the post is too big and inflexible, so I have to take the whole thing apart and cut the cable down and reinstall it. Right now, when you sit at the table, the lights are at eye level. But the good news is that I installed the thing and lived to tell the tale!
As a kid growing up, my father feared for my abilities. We had a gas stove and I was forbidden to try to light the oven for fear I'd blow the house up. To this day I break out in a cold sweat if I have to manually light my oven. I think I mowed the lawn twice, and again was forbidden to ever touch the mower because I'd cut off my feet. I was a mess during driver's ed because I just knew I'd wrap the car around a tree. My instructor actually told me that in the sixteen years of teaching, I was his worst student. I've never owned a car. In college, I nearly failed my scene design class because I was afraid of the power tools.
The irony in all of this is that after I'd grown up and moved away, my father actually did saw his thumb off with a table saw and nearly died.
But when I flipped the switch and the single test bulb in the chandelier lit -- and there was no fire -- I knew I was a big boy!
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Everything's Coming Up Moses!
The Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus presents The Ten Commandments: The Musical!
Come for the commandments—stay for the plagues! We’ve taken the story of Moses, thrown in some Monty Python, added a bit of Gilbert and Sullivan, wrapped it in the pageantry of Les Misérables and created an original musical you’re going to love for 40 years.
And it has something for everyone: high drama (it’s quite faithful to the stories in Exodus), clever writing, half-naked men and songs with titles like “A Bad Day to be the First Born.”
See my immortal portrayal of thirty-seventh Egyptian from the left!
We’ve pulled out all the stops to promote this show (look for our ads on the buses that go through Boystown!) so you’ll want to get your tickets early. They went on sale this week—visit The Chicago Gay Men's Chorus for more info and a direct link to the Ticketmaster site.
Hope to see you there!
Performances: Friday, April 21, 8:00 pm Saturday, April 22, 5:00 pm (your best bet for great seats!) Saturday, April 22, 8:30 pm The Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport
Tickets are available here: The Chicago Gay Men's Chorus 312-902-1500 in person at the Athenaeum Theater Box Office: 773-935-6860
Come for the commandments—stay for the plagues! We’ve taken the story of Moses, thrown in some Monty Python, added a bit of Gilbert and Sullivan, wrapped it in the pageantry of Les Misérables and created an original musical you’re going to love for 40 years.
And it has something for everyone: high drama (it’s quite faithful to the stories in Exodus), clever writing, half-naked men and songs with titles like “A Bad Day to be the First Born.”
See my immortal portrayal of thirty-seventh Egyptian from the left!
We’ve pulled out all the stops to promote this show (look for our ads on the buses that go through Boystown!) so you’ll want to get your tickets early. They went on sale this week—visit The Chicago Gay Men's Chorus for more info and a direct link to the Ticketmaster site.
Hope to see you there!
Performances: Friday, April 21, 8:00 pm Saturday, April 22, 5:00 pm (your best bet for great seats!) Saturday, April 22, 8:30 pm The Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport
Tickets are available here: The Chicago Gay Men's Chorus 312-902-1500 in person at the Athenaeum Theater Box Office: 773-935-6860
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Brokeback Backlash
It's been a while since I've written, and a vertible ballet of topics is prancing in my head: gender in the workplace, the decline of the American work ethic, the decline of my GPA, the first blush of spring... the list is nearly endless. But today, I've decided to comment on the alleged Brokeback Backlash.
Yes, I dutifully watched the Oscars. While I've not seen it, I have a hard time believing Reese Witherspoon turned in a better performance than Felicity Huffman -- a performance I did see -- but, sadly, I believe that the best actress category really comes down to a rating of the female most likely to get a boner from a fifteen year old boy. On very rare exceptions has this criteria been broken. I think the last one was Susan Sarandon -- and not because the woman isn't gorgeous, but because she played a nun.
However, I did see both Crash and Brokeback Mountain, and I have to agree with the academy's decision on this one. First, and foremost, Crash is a superior film. Even the supporting characters are vividly drawn. The leading characters have dynamic and unexpected archs. The audience takes a journey with that film that extends past the rolling of the final credits.
Brokeback Mountain is an exquisitely filmed work. The cinematography is breathtaking. While Crash can receive a satisfactory viewing in a video presentation, Brokeback will not. But more importantly, the story of Brokeback Mountain is trite by almost any standard. Forbidden love is a very old theme, and gay forbidden love is not new to Hollywood. The lovers are misunderstood and miserable and one of them ends up dead. Seen it all before. And, frankly, the performances are undergraduate-earnest at best.
Still, Brokeback is an important film for the gay community. Homosexuality is still the love that dare not speak its name and anything that raises the topic for discussion, no matter how crudely, should be commended.
In my own experience, the majority of my personal friends are straight. I go to see a lot of movies with them. Whenever the topic of movie selection comes up and Brokeback is suggested, almost to the person, the suggestion is discarded in favor of another film. Never mind the significance of the film to the gay culture, or the fact that it might be significant for me as their gay friend to see the film. What's more, I can't name a single straight friend of mine who has seen the film to even offer a discussion of it. When the topic comes up -- and I've consciously not been the one to mention the title, or suggest it as a movie-going option -- the comment is always a brusque, 'haven't seen it,' and we move on. I saw it alone, and the most extensive discussion I've had about it has been here.
Still, I think Crash is a more important film. If homosexuality is the taboo subject of conversation, racism is a concept that can't even be thought through. Crash is a brave film, and a very important one because it dares to take racism on in all of its permutations and discuss it, not only as an individual character flaw, but as a social sickness. The characters are not wholly good or bad and the performances are beautiful reflections of human beings, not pastel versions of Hollywood myth.
It was more than thirty-five years between Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and Crash. The film that frankly examines the fear of homosexuality in the same way that Crash looks at racism is the one that I ache to see. It will be made. But, if that film is snubbed by Oscar, then we'll have something to talk about.
Yes, I dutifully watched the Oscars. While I've not seen it, I have a hard time believing Reese Witherspoon turned in a better performance than Felicity Huffman -- a performance I did see -- but, sadly, I believe that the best actress category really comes down to a rating of the female most likely to get a boner from a fifteen year old boy. On very rare exceptions has this criteria been broken. I think the last one was Susan Sarandon -- and not because the woman isn't gorgeous, but because she played a nun.
However, I did see both Crash and Brokeback Mountain, and I have to agree with the academy's decision on this one. First, and foremost, Crash is a superior film. Even the supporting characters are vividly drawn. The leading characters have dynamic and unexpected archs. The audience takes a journey with that film that extends past the rolling of the final credits.
Brokeback Mountain is an exquisitely filmed work. The cinematography is breathtaking. While Crash can receive a satisfactory viewing in a video presentation, Brokeback will not. But more importantly, the story of Brokeback Mountain is trite by almost any standard. Forbidden love is a very old theme, and gay forbidden love is not new to Hollywood. The lovers are misunderstood and miserable and one of them ends up dead. Seen it all before. And, frankly, the performances are undergraduate-earnest at best.
Still, Brokeback is an important film for the gay community. Homosexuality is still the love that dare not speak its name and anything that raises the topic for discussion, no matter how crudely, should be commended.
In my own experience, the majority of my personal friends are straight. I go to see a lot of movies with them. Whenever the topic of movie selection comes up and Brokeback is suggested, almost to the person, the suggestion is discarded in favor of another film. Never mind the significance of the film to the gay culture, or the fact that it might be significant for me as their gay friend to see the film. What's more, I can't name a single straight friend of mine who has seen the film to even offer a discussion of it. When the topic comes up -- and I've consciously not been the one to mention the title, or suggest it as a movie-going option -- the comment is always a brusque, 'haven't seen it,' and we move on. I saw it alone, and the most extensive discussion I've had about it has been here.
Still, I think Crash is a more important film. If homosexuality is the taboo subject of conversation, racism is a concept that can't even be thought through. Crash is a brave film, and a very important one because it dares to take racism on in all of its permutations and discuss it, not only as an individual character flaw, but as a social sickness. The characters are not wholly good or bad and the performances are beautiful reflections of human beings, not pastel versions of Hollywood myth.
It was more than thirty-five years between Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and Crash. The film that frankly examines the fear of homosexuality in the same way that Crash looks at racism is the one that I ache to see. It will be made. But, if that film is snubbed by Oscar, then we'll have something to talk about.
Sunday, March 12, 2006
The Adelphi No More
During my first complete summer in Chicago, in July, I quit my job because it conflicted with my first play. I was not financially prepared for such a move. My father had died the January before and I was going to need a new apartment in October. I had no skills of any kind, and no money.
Worse, I had no air conditioning, and that summer was one of the hottest ever. If I recall, Fridays, Mondays and Tuesdays were my days for pounding the pavement, to fill in applications. that left the weekends and Wednesdays and Thursdays with nothing to do. As I do now, I was living in Rogers Park at the time, and on Clark Street there was the Adelphi Theater.
The Adelphi was a second-run theater that had seen better days. It was cavernous, with at least one balcony and enormous ceiling fans. On the weekends it was swarming with kids, but during the week it was blessedly empty and for two dollars you could duck in there and see the double feature. On occasion, when it was particularly hot, I'd sit through the double feature twice, until the sun went down. I think I saw Lethal Weapon there, and maybe The Adventures in Babysitting. Usually the movies were teen-sex romps, and I don't remember too much about them. I do remember considering the Adelphi a blessing, and in years since, everytime I passed it I'd say a quick prayer of thanks.
Probably two years after that broiling summer, the Adelphi closed. Three years ago, when I moved back to Rogers Park, there was a sign saying it was reopening soon. I was genuinely looking forward to it. Today, I rode past and discovered the building has been torn down, no doubt in preparation for a luxury condo monstrosity. If they name the building The Adelphi, I swear here and now to don a black veil and scatter rose petals across its threshold.
Worse, I had no air conditioning, and that summer was one of the hottest ever. If I recall, Fridays, Mondays and Tuesdays were my days for pounding the pavement, to fill in applications. that left the weekends and Wednesdays and Thursdays with nothing to do. As I do now, I was living in Rogers Park at the time, and on Clark Street there was the Adelphi Theater.
The Adelphi was a second-run theater that had seen better days. It was cavernous, with at least one balcony and enormous ceiling fans. On the weekends it was swarming with kids, but during the week it was blessedly empty and for two dollars you could duck in there and see the double feature. On occasion, when it was particularly hot, I'd sit through the double feature twice, until the sun went down. I think I saw Lethal Weapon there, and maybe The Adventures in Babysitting. Usually the movies were teen-sex romps, and I don't remember too much about them. I do remember considering the Adelphi a blessing, and in years since, everytime I passed it I'd say a quick prayer of thanks.
Probably two years after that broiling summer, the Adelphi closed. Three years ago, when I moved back to Rogers Park, there was a sign saying it was reopening soon. I was genuinely looking forward to it. Today, I rode past and discovered the building has been torn down, no doubt in preparation for a luxury condo monstrosity. If they name the building The Adelphi, I swear here and now to don a black veil and scatter rose petals across its threshold.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Political Rant 4
Tom DeLay easily carries the Replican primary. The president rolls out the red carpet to foreign management of American ports. Congress approves the institutionalization of the Patriot Act. I'm telling you, we deserve what we get.
Tendonitis will set in so fast from all the finger pointing that will go on when the next 9/11 happens. There won't be time for grief or reflection. It will be all about assigning blame to the Republicans/Democrats/President/Congress and everyone who ever waved a flag screaming about how the government left us for dead.
The fact, plain and simple, is that we are the government. The people in office are still put there by us. And instead of taking a reasonable stab at understanding even a single issue, the overwhelming majority of Americans vote with their dicks or their hearts. They send a prayer out to Jesus and wait for a voice from the great black void to tell them that the candidate who looks most like them is God's candidate.
It occurred to me today that I try to be a liberal. I think that a liberal point of view is the only American point of view. This country was founded upon the most liberal thinking of the day. We banished a divinely appointed king. That is radical stuff. And in return we demanded freedom. But with freedom comes responsibility and sacrifice. If 'liberal' is a dirty word today, then 'sacrifice' is outright blasphemy. Americans made their sacrifice during World War II by cutting down on chocolate and nylons and we owe the world nothing else. The world owes us whatever price we choose to exact.
And now the world is standing up and saying no. Don't get me wrong. I do not in any way support Al-Quaida or the Taliban, or any movement that curtails freedom. I respect the right to disagree with me and hold sacred my right to disagree with the world. And I'm willing to pay a price for that freedom. If I sleep a little less safely tonight because there is a law protecting all of my civil liberties, then that's a price I am comfortable paying. We've asked hundreds of thousands of Americans to go to the other side of the planet to die for those rights. More than two thousand Americans have died in what I consider a completely unnecessary war. What right do I have to be any safer than they are?
Rescind the Patriot Act.
Impeach George W. Bush.
Tendonitis will set in so fast from all the finger pointing that will go on when the next 9/11 happens. There won't be time for grief or reflection. It will be all about assigning blame to the Republicans/Democrats/President/Congress and everyone who ever waved a flag screaming about how the government left us for dead.
The fact, plain and simple, is that we are the government. The people in office are still put there by us. And instead of taking a reasonable stab at understanding even a single issue, the overwhelming majority of Americans vote with their dicks or their hearts. They send a prayer out to Jesus and wait for a voice from the great black void to tell them that the candidate who looks most like them is God's candidate.
It occurred to me today that I try to be a liberal. I think that a liberal point of view is the only American point of view. This country was founded upon the most liberal thinking of the day. We banished a divinely appointed king. That is radical stuff. And in return we demanded freedom. But with freedom comes responsibility and sacrifice. If 'liberal' is a dirty word today, then 'sacrifice' is outright blasphemy. Americans made their sacrifice during World War II by cutting down on chocolate and nylons and we owe the world nothing else. The world owes us whatever price we choose to exact.
And now the world is standing up and saying no. Don't get me wrong. I do not in any way support Al-Quaida or the Taliban, or any movement that curtails freedom. I respect the right to disagree with me and hold sacred my right to disagree with the world. And I'm willing to pay a price for that freedom. If I sleep a little less safely tonight because there is a law protecting all of my civil liberties, then that's a price I am comfortable paying. We've asked hundreds of thousands of Americans to go to the other side of the planet to die for those rights. More than two thousand Americans have died in what I consider a completely unnecessary war. What right do I have to be any safer than they are?
Rescind the Patriot Act.
Impeach George W. Bush.
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Political Rant 3
I'll ask the question in as plain terms as possible: When are we going to fire George W. Bush?
I have dear friends who dearly hated Bill Clinton. While, in my political innocence at the time I took the opposing view, I was able to have short rational political discussions with them about the direction of the country. My political views have matured somewhat and I no longer think of Bill Clinton as an American political messiah. I think that not a few of the problems attributed to George Bush are the fruit of seed spilled by Bill Clinton. I'll also go so far as to concede that some (but not all) of the glory lauded upon Clinton was fading light of the dot com boom, which, I believe, was an economic aberration that would have benefitted any sitting president.
However, the worst that can be said about Clinton is that he didn't fuck up a good thing. The proof is in the bottom line, and when he left office we had cash. We don't now. Haliburton has it. When Clinton made his State of the Union address and talked about personal responsibility, I took that message to heart and literally changed my life. I stopped acting, took on a responsible job and began developing a marketable skill set. It was a painful process that came with some heavy personal prices, but in the long run I'm glad I did it. It was the right thing. It was Mr. Clinton's speech that made me make the change, and for that I will be personally greatful. Not only am I better off economically, I'm better off personally. Today, no matter what the economic climate, I have a set of skills I can take into any marketplace, and I'll be able to feed myself.
Mr. Bush couldn't say anything to make me defrost my refrigerator. Smirk and smarm is all I see. Even before he first took office, my mother adopted the policy of turning off the volume on anything that included Mr. Bush's voice; and I think that is a fine policy. I used to try to listen to him and give him the benefit of the doubt, but I can't. I believe every syllable out of his mouth is a pre-programmed lie. Whether that is the truth or not is beside the point. I believe it to be true, and I've stopped looking for evidence to disprove that belief. I'm not to the point where I'm ready to crawl under the bed and pray that there is a world left in two and a half years when we will have to replace Mr. Bush, but let's just say I've swept the dust bunnies from under the bed and thought about where I'm going to put my supply of Ho-Ho's.
I have fired people who have displayed a higher level of competence, so I repeat my question: When will we fire Mr. Bush?
Or better: Name one thing -- ONE -- that Mr. Bush has improved in this country to justify his continued employment. Give me one objective metric by which we can clearly see Mr. Bush's positive contribution. The removal of Saddam Hussein doesn't count, because we are not safer than when he was in power. Democracy isn't on the march. It looks very much like a goose step to me. Like a waft of fresh lilac on a spring day, Mr. Bush was supposed to remove the stench of decaying ethics from the White House. Turns out the alleged ethical fragrance was a spritz of Glade Air Freshener. And just like the canned deodorizer, the masking scent of Mr. Bush has worn thin and the stench has matured and ripened.
I have dear friends who dearly hated Bill Clinton. While, in my political innocence at the time I took the opposing view, I was able to have short rational political discussions with them about the direction of the country. My political views have matured somewhat and I no longer think of Bill Clinton as an American political messiah. I think that not a few of the problems attributed to George Bush are the fruit of seed spilled by Bill Clinton. I'll also go so far as to concede that some (but not all) of the glory lauded upon Clinton was fading light of the dot com boom, which, I believe, was an economic aberration that would have benefitted any sitting president.
However, the worst that can be said about Clinton is that he didn't fuck up a good thing. The proof is in the bottom line, and when he left office we had cash. We don't now. Haliburton has it. When Clinton made his State of the Union address and talked about personal responsibility, I took that message to heart and literally changed my life. I stopped acting, took on a responsible job and began developing a marketable skill set. It was a painful process that came with some heavy personal prices, but in the long run I'm glad I did it. It was the right thing. It was Mr. Clinton's speech that made me make the change, and for that I will be personally greatful. Not only am I better off economically, I'm better off personally. Today, no matter what the economic climate, I have a set of skills I can take into any marketplace, and I'll be able to feed myself.
Mr. Bush couldn't say anything to make me defrost my refrigerator. Smirk and smarm is all I see. Even before he first took office, my mother adopted the policy of turning off the volume on anything that included Mr. Bush's voice; and I think that is a fine policy. I used to try to listen to him and give him the benefit of the doubt, but I can't. I believe every syllable out of his mouth is a pre-programmed lie. Whether that is the truth or not is beside the point. I believe it to be true, and I've stopped looking for evidence to disprove that belief. I'm not to the point where I'm ready to crawl under the bed and pray that there is a world left in two and a half years when we will have to replace Mr. Bush, but let's just say I've swept the dust bunnies from under the bed and thought about where I'm going to put my supply of Ho-Ho's.
I have fired people who have displayed a higher level of competence, so I repeat my question: When will we fire Mr. Bush?
Or better: Name one thing -- ONE -- that Mr. Bush has improved in this country to justify his continued employment. Give me one objective metric by which we can clearly see Mr. Bush's positive contribution. The removal of Saddam Hussein doesn't count, because we are not safer than when he was in power. Democracy isn't on the march. It looks very much like a goose step to me. Like a waft of fresh lilac on a spring day, Mr. Bush was supposed to remove the stench of decaying ethics from the White House. Turns out the alleged ethical fragrance was a spritz of Glade Air Freshener. And just like the canned deodorizer, the masking scent of Mr. Bush has worn thin and the stench has matured and ripened.
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