Brooklyn Bound Again
Spring break is over, I've left Helen's and I've moved to another location in Brooklyn. This one is at Cornelia's place. She is going to Chicago this week for a Fulbright thing. Her roommate left yesterday for two weeks for a yoga thing. The reason I'm staying there is because they have a little kitten who is now on his fourth name: Scooter. They didn't go for my suggestion: Antoinette. So it will be me and a three-week old little thing who hopefully won't make me sneeze. I spent most of last week stressing over this conference paper I'm going to deliver next week. I've written eight pages of stuff that came directly from my head in some form or another. My plan is to fix what I've got, put some theory in to back up my points and then stand up in front of an audience that hopefully won't toss vegetables. Have I mentioned that I got John Cameron Mitchell's autograph? If I did, oh well. I don't remember. So here it is again. I was in a cafe with Jen and I was in the middle of a sentence when I looked to my right. Standing just outside leaning up against the wall was Hedwig, himself, talking on a cell phone. "Oh my god, that's John Cameron Mitchell," I said. He eventually came in and sat two tables to my left, still talking on the phone. Jen told me I better get an autograph, but I wasn't sure I wanted to (of course I did). I wasn't sure I wanted to be one of those people -- one of those autograph seekers. He finally got off the phone and went to the register. As he did this, Jen got a pen and a piece of paper from her bag for me. Still not wanting to be one of those people, I got up, walked toward him, then stopped dead in my tracks. Turning around, I looked at Jen and told her I couldn't do it. She pointed out the fact that he was about to leave and that's when I stopped him. Me: Mr. Mitchell? Hedwig: Yes? Me: Can I get your autograph? Hedwig: (Smiling pleasantly, hopefully not too annoyed): Sure. Me: I just had a Hedwig screening at my house a few weeks ago.This put him more at ease. I then told him that I saw Ally Sheedy in the stage version here. He wasn't thrilled about that. "How was that?" We went back and forth like this while he took great care to spell my name correctly and draw a set of lips around the word "love."
He told me to take care and he touched my left shoulder as he departed the cafe. All in all, it was a great moment. See the movie (Hedwig and the Angry Inch) if you haven't already. Not much else to report. I have to read Marx tonight and some stupid stuff for my "gender" class about wage labor. Have I mentioned my utter hatred for this class? I'm going to try to smile tomorrow so she doesn't think I'm being hostile. I just can't help myself. I'll have more interesting things to report later, I'm sure. Let's hope.
