Saturday, November 22, 2008

Last night's Wing It! concert was extraordinarily deep, poignant and joyous, with themes of death and loss in several of the stories, an incredible fake Italian opera by Beth, and at the very end, a surprise proposal. As Theron and Elizabeth danced a duet, Elizabeth vocalizing a wordless chant, and Theron wrapping her in a long red cloth, he began to sing, "I have a question..." She continued chanting. Again, he sang, "A question I've been wanting to ask for a while..." He fished a ring out of his pocket and put it on her finger. "Will you marry me?"

She was so overcome she lifted him up--E is amazingly strong, she can even lift Leo--and whirled him through the air, then he lifted her as the room exploded. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I could see by the look on Elizabeth's face that she hadn't expected this at all, had no clue in fact, that he had been plotting. In doing it publicly he allowed all of us to share the moment. So much of their lives and destiny together is tied up with this work, this shared mission, inseparable from it.

I also got to hold a gorgeous 7-month-old baby last night, a warm fragrant bundle snuggled against my chest. Delicious.

After the show a bunch of us went to VIBE, a new lesbian bar across the street where we danced for a while. It was full of younger hipper gay people, mostly black, but there were a few other middle-aged folks besides us. It was enthusiastic and friendly and the music was LOUD and throbbing hip hop. It was fun dancing with my Wing It! friends, not performing, just shaking it the way people do on weekend nights, even though I felt not-young, not-hip, white, and like an audiologist's daughter, which is what I am, i.e. somewhat of a wuss when it comes to bone-shakingly loud music. On the other hand there's times and places to get your bones shook up, and this seemed like the night for it.

2 comments:

Thera N. Kalmijn said...

Hi Alison,

I just thought I’d drop a note to keep in touch. I tried sending to your aol email account, but maybe that is out of date as my email bounced back.

I visited your blog as you had once suggested I set one up for myself. I’ve just gotten it started and need to post some more, but the bones are there at http://bubblesintheglass.blogspot.com/ .

I read on your blog that you are working on publishing a book of essays. That is FANTASTIC! Congratulations! Something for me to aspire to.

I’ve sent a few (and I do mean only a few) things out, but nothing published yet.

That’s all for now. I hope that you are well and enjoying the holidays.

Take care,

Thera

Thera N. Kalmijn
tkalmijn@sbcglobal.net

Alison said...

How great to hear from you, Thera! Thanks so much for writing. I still have my same aol account. People often forget to put in the numeral "1" after my last name--do you think you might have done that?

I will check out your blog. I'm glad you started one. And congratulations on sending stuff out. That's the first big hurdle. Something will get taken--I'm betting sooner rather than later.

All best to you and your family,
Alison