Monthly Update: "You Have That Strength In You"

Hello All!

Welcome to my last fall, monthly update! The trees have turned, and so’s the weather, and with each coming day, I’m turning too!

Last month I talked about how social media can feel like an exercise in futility, and I have been exploring that ideal all month…leading me to the common thread of this month and this season: change is a pot; if while watching it, you scrutinize it, your pot will never boil. If while watching it, you neglect it, your pot will make a mess.

Here’s the deal with change and growth: they are inevitable. We can attempt to deny this reality, but no amount of conservative effort is going to cease the earth being changed by the scorching of the sun as it, itself, changes, grows, and matures into a death that will, one day, engulf and continue to change our solar system. In this same way we, as humans, are continually changing and growing, changing those around us with our scorching words and actions, developing into masses that have the potential to engulf all those around us in light and/or destruction.

But, with that inevitability of change, we, as humans, also have to privilege of deciding upon what changes we let effect us. Are we to be products of our environments, allowing the basest of impulses and effects guide our lives, finding ourselves at death’s door with nothing but regret for decisions unmade? Are we to be white-knuckled drivers of our destinies, demanding that every choice that is made in relation to us goes through our own private filter of approval, slowly growing ever more frustrated and jaded when things just won’t go my way!?! Or, are we to understand the delicate and entrancing dance that we must make with the machinations of life, seeking control where we might exert it, and conceding and interacting with that which we may not control?

Not gunna lie, I’m finding that the former is much more preferable.

So, with this understanding of taking control where I may, and interacting with my lack of control, I have taken the next step in my career and I have accepted the role of Carla in the comedic play “The Housewives of Secaucus: a Suburban Travesty.“ More details will be coming as I know them, but I do know that I am so very excited and ready to return to my love of drag and comedy (not to mention, to do a show where I can have clothes on!).

Stay tuned for more details regarding how you can see V and I tear this show up!

I also want to take a moment to acknowledge the wonderful opportunity that I had this past month with the showcase production of “Hello Again.” Getting the opportunity to explore The Young Thing and connect with my fellow artists in raw vulnerability and deep exploration was such a treat. I would like to encourage everyone and anyone to take the chances they’re provided to take a stretch their skills in a direction that they may be afraid of exploring; it’s worth the risk, y’all.

You can see pictures from this production in my Gallery.

Unfortunately, change refers not only to “in with the new,” but also “out with the old.” I am officially stepping off of my project “Sing Your Song.” Through my continued attempts to continue with this project I have found, again and again, that there are no songs that I should not sing, that any performance is simply made by its sincerity and its context, and that I don’t need to give into the mindset of performing songs that “I shouldn’t sing” in order to provide fodder for my performances.
That being said, I will continue my daily vocal practice, continue to create performances that I will share with you all, and continue to strive to cultivate my artistic greatness, as I encourage you to do the same.

Change is scary, y’all. We don’t always know what newness it will bring, and we may not believe that we are capable of handling what change will bring us, but I would like to end with this bit of understanding: our world has been around for millennia, humans have been facing changes for centuries, and in those thousands of years individuals have come to face every kind of struggle that we can understand; if not the same in detail, then in the same generic understanding of struggle. There have been others who have faced thoughts of self-hatred, who have faced seemingly unsurmountable odds, who have faced dreams that appear impossible, and who have faced the darkness of loneliness…and they all found ways to win against those foes.
You have that strength in you, too.

xxx