What do you love about your life?
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No essay this week, just a video I want to share.
Last August, after one of my Feed Wolf Ice Cream shows in Edinburgh, I talked to an audience member named Fionn and his dad, Jonathan. Fionn asked to interview me for their web series, and I agreed. He had just one question. Jonathan started rolling, and you can watch Fionn reduce me almost to tears in my literal cave of a venue eight seconds into the 56-second video.
What do you love about your life, Dave Maher?
There's generosity in that question, in the assumption I do love my life. That's a gift to a person like me with depressive tendencies. The question caught me so off-guard that I trust my answers fully. I'm grateful Fionn and Jonathan gave me that moment and that I have it on video to watch as often as I need to remind myself.
If no one's asked you recently, I will. What do you love about your life?
Well-Read for Filth
I reread W.E.B. Du Bois' Souls of Black Folk this week. Instead of linking things written by or about me in this space, I've been bragging about the books I'm reading because I desperately need validation to keep it up. Before a few weeks ago, it had been months since I read a whole book. Forgive me the self-indulgence.
Here's a particularly affirming passage from Souls of Black Folk.
Again, we may decry the color-prejudice of the South, yet it remains a heavy fact. Such curious kinks of the human mind exist and must be reckoned with soberly. They cannot be laughed away, nor always successfully stormed at, nor easily abolished by act of legislature. And yet they must not be encouraged by being let alone. They must be recognized as facts, but unpleasant facts; things that stand in the way of civilization and religion and common decency. They can be met in but one way,—by the breadth and broadening of human reason, by catholicity of taste and culture.
Shining light on and reckoning with heavy facts, not just in society but within ourselves, are among my top priorities for the work I do on stage and in writing.
What It Do
An update on Drkmttr Collective, the model DIY venue in Nashville. Through Patreon, they made their rent! Now, they can use the space as a community classroom to support local organizations that need cheap or free meeting space. I'm inspired by their work. If you joined their Patreon after reading Hella Immaculate last week, thank you!
I'm teaching through the Annoyance, and you still can custom-schedule Individual Storytelling sessions.
I'm also tweeting daily at iO Theater owner Charna Halpern. She's refusing to refund students who signed up for iO's summer intensive program, even though her theater closed. I don't think I'm changing the world, but it's a cathartic way to exorcise my feelings toward people who abuse the word "community" for (attempted) profit. These tweets are becoming their own little body of work, so if you want a 30-second distraction, check 'em out.
I Want to Make a Mix for You
I didn't make this mix. It's a montage of one of the violin vigils for Elijah McClain, the one in Aurora, CO, his hometown. I made breakfast to it the past couple days, and it felt good to start my day that way. It's mournful but soothing and inspiring, with renditions of "Hallelujah," "Killing Me Softly," and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow".
If you've read Hella Immaculate the past several weeks, you know I've been following Elijah's story. A couple notes:
Elijah was clearly a sensitive, gentle, spectacular human being. It's important I say this: BLACK PEOPLE DO NOT HAVE TO BE GENTLE FOR US TO MOURN AND DEMAND JUSTICE WHEN THEY ARE KILLED. Hasan Minhaj makes a great point. "I really think if you're a black person in America, you are not allowed to be flawed."
There's still horrific shit going on in the unfolding narrative of justice for Elijah: police attacking peaceful protestors, subhuman sentiments from Aurora D.A. Dave Young, the only repercussions for the police who killed him being their reassignment to administrative work, and Aurora's mayor not contacting Elijah's mother after claiming the case would be a top priority before his election in November. Despite these things, I think it's important we celebrate Elijah's life as part of our fight for justice. His spirit is so much more important than the shit being done to defile it. That's why this montage is this week's mix.
Elijah McClain Violin Vigil Montage
Here are links to actions you can take to demand justice for Elijah, and you can still donate to his mother's GoFundMe.
R.I.P. Elijah
Talk to you next week.