This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, May 5, 2013 - For the Beacon's fifth birthday, we've asked people to share five favorite things from over the years.
- That the Beacon allowed me to pursue the Beyond the Gender Box series. I love bringing invisible people into visibility, and showing that gender difference (or any difference) isn't about "them." It's about "us."
- The Barbie-like figure pushing the lawnmower in the snow pic in Kristen Hare's Images of Seasons Past. The image is so wrong, so misogynist, for so many reasons, that you have to laugh. A woman in high heels and a bathing suit, for starters. That she's wearing it in the snow, for seconds. That she's mowing in the snow. Her pointy built-in bra. The painfully placed stick that keeps her upright -- is that a metaphor for the patriarchy? And why is her right hand forever forming a peace sign? (At least there's one positive message in the waging of peace.)
- The entire Art of Fatherhood series. I loved being part of an effort that spotlighted an artist with a social justice mission and a topic worthy of deep exploration.
My super-chocolate brownie birthday cake by Beacon office manager Marty Kaplan in February 2013. I absolutely love chocolate, and Marty took that seriously. Very seriously.
- Immersion in the first St. Lou Fringe Festival. Enjoying and reviewing a half-dozen plays and performances, much of it new work, in three days, felt like sinking into a deliciously deep vat of alternative culture.
Oh, wait I have to add the comment in Dale Singer's story about Tom Keefe, in which Keefe said: "Life’s a bitch. If it was easy, they would call it a slut." Gotta love it when someone defends himself from charges of being inappropriate ... by being inappropriate.
