Pride fever hit sunny Victoria this past weekend. Parades, dances, the festival at Fisherman’s Wharf. If you’ve never been, it’s worth checking out next year. And as with every Pride (doesn’t matter which city I’m in it seems), I managed to loose a broad assortment of things: five dollars, my irrational fear of gold lamé, a sock, and (as usual) my dignity.
For the second year running, I was invited to read at Pride in the Word.
Yes, yes. Not only am I a blogger and columnist, but also a poet and capitalized on this opportunity to unveil my new fashion poems. Throngs of rabid literary queers showed up in packs, ravenous for queer content and ribald stories. Fans even lined up before the doors opened at 7pm. I’d like to give a shout out to Billeh, Amber Dawn, Mette, Hiromi, Steven and Arleen. They delivered by rocking the mic, then rocking the mic right.
This is Chris (left) and Arleen (right). Arleen (as I just mentioned) was one of the featured authors. From the looks of this photo, I imagine these two spend their weekends frolicking in wild flowers with golden retriever puppies. Aren’t they the cutest thing ever?? I LOVE them.
Now for the bad news/loss of dignity: I was heckled. Me. Heckled. HECKLED AT A PRIDE EVENT! What is this world coming to? And guess what it was over? The name of this blog. A female member in the front row of the audience decided to tell me I was a misogynist. Apparently the delicious double entendre that is Right Up Your Alley is not as obvious or mirth-inducing as I initially assumed. And while I was apologizing for making gender assumptions, she told me to “quit while I was ahead.”
Okay I take that back. I cannot confirm (or deny) that the woman in question was Laurie Metcalf/Jackie from Roseanne, but if it was you, Laurie – here is a Mister Manners tip about literary readings:
If you have a problem with a performer, talk to them when the reading is over. It’s the polite thing to do.
And to paraphrase the words of the MC for our event: “Everyone has an asshole. It’s the one thing we all have in common.”
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