Improv, Art-Making, @#$% Occupation: doing the thing and sometimes not
It's bad and also worse.
I’ve lived in Minneapolis since December 1998.
And honestly, Chicago probably would have been a better fit. I am Midwestern. Chicago is the Midwest: people talk to each other in grocery lines and bars in Chicago. It’s a comfort.
NOT MINNESOTA.
It takes only a few months to recognize just how odd and insular Minnesota is. (And I’m so grateful to improv and theater for forcing nice smart and funny people to hang out with me.)
Insular combined with a righteousness hardened by living in a place most people shouldn’t.
Stubborn.
No, they won’t invite you over for dinner, but they’ll dig you out of an avalanche. And, per the last (how long has it been?), THEY WILL FUCKING TAKE TO THE STREETS.
People are Nice. Not kind. NICE.
Right now, you might have heard, thousands of poorly-dressed, pedo-protecting money-driven-fascist-thugs have descended on our weird beautiful cities. They literally kidnap kids. They snatch aunties out of ICUs. They shoot women in the face and call them a bitch.
They circle around our schools like wolves. And get paid by the government for anyone they can snag, beat up, and release just fucking anywhere. Without the right clothing. Without their phone. Hurt.
They don’t care about your ID or your status.
Yesterday, they used a 5 year old as bait. And sent him and his father to Texas; are they still together? WE DON’T KNOW.
That’s the horribleness of it.
It’s that bad and also worse.
How can we hold each other up in the face of this cruelty. How can we not get tired? This marathon sucks.
We are loyal. We are stubborn. We are smart. We are tired. We are free. We will be free. Signal chats with neighbors and vigilant strangers, head on a swivel, move like water. Midterms are in November. How long, how much more trauma? How can we protect? How do we fill the tank of everyone when we can?
How do we take time and space for joy?
Jeremy Messersmith did it. EVERY ICE FALLING VIDEO DID IT. (I’ve heard yackitysacks more times in the last week…)
We are lucky enough to still make the silly and the stupid.
AND, the goddamned whimsy.
Fascists hate fucking whimsy. They hate us, making each other smile for no other reason than that. They hate us connecting. They hate the grace.
Whimsy is in the Twin Cities blood. You’ve maybe seen videos: the giant pencil. The giant cherry. Rubber ducks in the creek. The Art Shanties stand again. The Powderhorn Park art sled rally still delighted.
We are still meeting in basements, playing stupid games, making each other laugh. And there’s a commitment to it. An affirmation.
We’re all we got. We only have this collection of folks here, in this moment, for this moment.
Let’s try and get everyone through.
Think of the State Fair Seed Art.
MAY DAY IS GONNA BE WILD.
Our future is more than a seed, it’s straight up fruit.
So pleasepleaseplease: give when and where you can. Here’s a Stand With Minnesota Donation Directory. Rent relief, mutual aid, diaper drives. We’d be so grateful.
Keep your head on a swivel, America. Hope, that weird bird*, still flies around.
We’re all we got.
*Loon. Today, hope’s a loon.
P.S. My friend, the incredible Jill, posted a video just saying, “You need a warrant.” Literally, the only words to the whole video. And a stranger popped up in her comments accusing her of falling for propaganda.
JesusChristOnACrutch, if you don’t want to listen to my experience and the experience of the community I live in, don’t try to argue. Just leave. Let go and let god.
And if you chose to try and argue this lived experience, such blocking will happen.
But, given the 50 or so beautiful folks who read this, I’m not too worried.
Thanks, friends.