She Said / She Said

So there is a play coming up at The Catholic University of America that may be of interest to folks in the area:

She Said/She Said
When love between two women dies, who decides what's best for their son? When even the courts can't agree on who the parents are, and there are questions about the very definition of family, whose justice prevails?
Written by Rebecca Gingrich-Jones
Directed by Kasi Campbell

This play is based on the true story of Janet Jenkins and Lisa Miller http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/01/04/national/main6055437.shtml

Performances:
Fri. Feb 18 - 7:30 PM
Sat. Feb 19 - 7:30 PM
Thurs. Feb 24 - 7:30 PM
Sat. Feb 26 - 2:00 PM
Sun. Feb 27 - 2:00 PM

Tickets may be purchased here: http://drama.cua.edu/hartke-season.cfm  I would advise that you purchase them online.  For this show, CUA's drama department has set up an "intimate audience" staging, so the seats are up on bleachers on the stage itself, where one can get up close with watching the show.  However, it does mean that seats are limited.  If anyone saw "Another Part of the Forest" or "Whales" last fall, then you already know where the audience will be sitting.

To get to the Hartke theater by car, there is some limited street parking, the address is:
3801 Harewood Road, N.E.
Washington, DC 20017

You can also take Metro from Greenbelt, switch to the Red Line at Ft. Totten going towards Shady Grove (or Grosvenor or Medical Center) and then get off at Brookland/CUA station.  From there it is about a 10 minute walk across the campus.  The theater is behind the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on Harewood Road.

It looks like it should be a good show from what I have been hearing.  I will be attending the Feb 26 performance so perhaps I will see you there.

And in the interests of full disclosure, I know some of the actors who are performing in this play, hence why I am putting it up here.

Holiday Cookie Orders!

Hey all, this is from my friend Stephanie and she makes some awesome cookies, so I wanted to put the word out there that she's taking orders.  She'd love to get a baking business going and this would help put her on her way.

It's once again that time of year where we scramble around trying to figure out what to give our loved ones.  And as much as we'd all love to be able to hand out new luxury sedans with red bows tied around it, we all know that's not a wallet-friendly option.  Do you want to know what is a budget friendly and oh so thoughtful option? Fresh, homemade cookies! 

I know, I know. You're thinking: "Who has time to bake cookies? I have shopping to do, lights to string up and holiday parties galore! And I can't bake those pre-packaged Pillsbury cookies, let alone real cookies!"  Well, take a deep breath and relax because I'm here to help!  For the low price of $15, you can give your loved ones, co-workers and random strangers a festive, holiday tube filled with a dozen fresh, homemade cookies! These aren't just your every day, run-of-the-mill cookies either.  It's an assortment of four different flavors, all made from scratch from the woman behind Adventures in Shaw!  I've always made homemade goodies as gifts and now you can too...without the resulting mound of dirty dishes. 

Each cookie tube comes with three cookies of each flavor.  The flavors include: chocolate dipped coconut cookies, salty oatmeal cookies, chocolate chunk cookies (with or without walnuts) and buttery cherry jam cookies.  The tubes are a holiday red and come festooned with a bright, holiday ribbon! And a personal holiday message can be included! 

I accept Pay Pal as payment and all tubes can be picked up at designated times in Columbia Heights (a convenient one block from the metro).  For more information and to place an order, click here!  I will be taking orders until December 20th!

If you have any questions, email me at adventuresinshaw at gmail dot com and I'll be more than happy to work with you.  Feel free to pass this along to others who might delight in cookie goodness during this festive time of year!

Happy holidays and thank you for ordering from Shaw Girl's Kitchen!

I Don't Forget...

 A Grim Anniversary 

RIP Tenny, and I hope your family is well, wherever they are now.

Location : 2916-3154 Nicholson St, Hyattsville, MD 20782,

Another Part of the Forest, Oct 14, 15, 16, 17

Giving a heads-up because this sounds interesting and I'll be seeing it on Friday night.

Another Part of the Forest, by classic American playwright Lillian Hellman. "A ruthless Civil War profiteer's fortune is endangered when his dysfunctional family turns on him."

Dates: October 14: 7:30 PM
15: 7:30 PM
16: 2:00 PM and 7:30PM
17: 2:00 PM

Location: Catholic University of America's Hartke Theatre. It is metro accessible off of the Red Line at Brookland/CUA station.  As I remember you walk across part of the campus and around the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and go walk up Harewood Road (Google maps shows it to be around 4120 Harewood Rd, NE)

Cost: $15. 

Buy your tickets in advance because this is not in the main theater, this is in a more intimate setting with the audience on the stage area itself, so space is limited.  Buy them here http://drama.cua.edu/hartke-season.cfm

On Privacy, Pain, and Trust, Part 2 of 2: Reflections

After writing out my own experiences last night (and still feeling a bit sick at having to recall those memories) I continued with the thoughts and reflections I had been having over the past few days in regards to Tyler's situation.  I could remember the pure fear and panic I had going through my own head and I could easily imagine that similar thoughts and emotions were going through his.  However, there was always one point I would reach where I would stop and have to say "Wait, this is the part I don't understand."  Despite the fact that I was on an extreme emotional edge, I didn't quite snap and feel like I was falling and about to hit rock bottom and be done for.  Why didn't I snap, but Tyler did?

On Privacy, Pain, and Trust, Part 1 of 2: My Story

I've been reading a lot lately on the recent suicide of Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi and the rather horrible circumstances that brought him to that tipping point.  It reminds me a lot of a similar experience that I had while in college of being outed by folks I thought I could trust and the pain and suffering I experienced.  I understand and empathize with what Tyler must have felt when he found out just what had happened to him.  Here is my story:

Playing By Your Rules

I am currently filling out my drivers license renewal paperwork and one of the questions is asking if I wish to be an organ donor.  Five years ago I immediately checked "Yes" to this question. This time around, I am checking "No."

It is not that I don't believe that my organs could help someone, rather I am playing by the rules that have been handed to me.  Since I am a man who loves another man and not a woman, the FDA and other rulemakers automatically assume that I am a walking disease factory who is hell bent on infecting others.  It is too bad since my behaviors and testing proves otherwise.  However, this assumption means that I am  banned for life from donating blood or bone marrow.

Since I am already banned for life from being allowed to donate and help others, fine, you can't have my organs either, you probably do not want them anyway. Just remember that under the current rules, a promiscuous straight person can happily give all the blood and bone marrowthey want, but a monogamous gay person cannot. You had better pray the promiscuous ones always practiced safe sex.

Perhaps if the rules change I will go back to checking "Yes" to organ donation; but I am not holding my breath that it will happen in my lifetime.

Location : 2-34 Parkway, Greenbelt, MD 20770,

Here We Go Again

So Monday was designated as a day to run errands.  One of my stops was to hit the local laundromat to get change for the washer and dryer at my apartment.  As I left from there, I started to hear a noise from the engine of my car.  I couldn't figure out what it was at first so I let it go for a moment to see if it would come to me.  As I am down the road a mile later, I realize the noise only happens when I push down on the clutch.  I now know what this means, the clutch is going bad.

Building Self

A few weeks ago, I received the news that the EFN Lounge in DC had closed..  I wasn't surprised by it because on my previous excursions, the bar was basically dead except for Fri nights and the occasional Saturday night.  Not too many businesses can survive on that.  When I got the news, my next thought was "Freak out from a sub-group of the folks I know on Facebook and Twitter in 3...2...1..."  Sure enough, it happened, I watched as the "Oh my God it's closed, what do we do?!" status updates began.  A friend of mine and I talked about the situation, and yes, we started to make fun of it and the collective reaction.  As I predicted, for many of these folks it seemed like going out to "Bear Happy Hour" at the EFN Lounge was their only Friday night activity, and it had just been taken away from them.  With the way they acted, it was like the only thing they could do now was sit at home and stare at the wall.  For me, I was just laughing and shaking my head at them.

Busy Busy Busy

Ahhhh my poor neglected blog, it is starving for some content.  That's what I get for not making the time to write.  I've been hearing a lot about that lately from a writing related podcast I have been listening to.  I will make the time for it soon enough.  Now that summer is winding down, that means less time being spent outside on activities.

Of course, another good distraction as of late has been the return of CW to DC.  If you haven't heard it already, it's official now in that we are together as a couple.  He's already started to meet my friends and they seem to like him, plus I've started to meet some of his friends as well, and they seem to like me, so it's a good sign of things to come.