Open Letter to the NHL

Dear NHL,

I tend to be quiet during the season, just happily watching or listening to games and okay cheering or cursing, so quiet is in the eye of the beholder. 

So, I didn't comment on y'all letting a few players mouth off about Pride Nights last year, or teams happening to change planned warm up jerseys the day of the game night so it wasn't as obvious who was refusing to participate in said event. But it sucked. 

Hockey seasons are long and the theme nights are a thing. I know there are players who are from countries where freely acknowledging being LBGTQIA+ is, shall we say, punishable. 

But look, there are also players from countries that have clashed with the US militarily, and I assume they are expected to play along with military nights. I know they are expected to listen to a national anthem and sometimes two, regardless of their country of origin. 

But now, I hear the NHL is not only not doing Pride nights, but forbidding things like rainbow tape? Rainbow tape?

Hockey is not the only sport with a diversity problem, and I am well aware that half assed Pride nights do not make things more inclusive. But this choice is regressive. Hockey cannot claim to be for everyone if players are not allowed to express solidarity or allyship. 

And meanwhile, the Washington Capitals have a Hawaiian shirt night on the schedule, and the NHL has yet* to have a Hawaiian player.

So hockey can celebrate cultures it won't invite in. But apparently players cannot be or express solidarity with LGBTQIA+ folks, and somehow hockey expects to expand the fanbase this way? Because right now, I am thinking hard about my commitment to hockey fandom. 

*Happy to be proven wrong on this.

Delightful Memories

I was reading a book (TJ Alexander's Chef's Choice) and one of the characters lives in Paris, so they end up in Paris, and for their first meal the Parisien character goes and buys fruit, and bread, and cheese, and wine, and meat, and they go sit on a spot along the Seine and eat. 

Because I was in college in Scotland, heading to Paris for spring break was comparatively easy and cheap. And so I went with two friends who had both lived in Paris for a time. And for our first meal we went to a small grocer, and bought bread and cheese and strawberries and then sat alongside the Seine and ate the food while staring at the river. 

It was a delightful way to start the trip. And while we did and ate other delightful things, it stuck in my memory as a standout moment. 

Of course I live in a city with a river (and also a channel, and another river). And I do try to make sure to go see it. To remind myself of the waterways. 

And while I eat less dairy during peak allergy times, bread and cheese and fruit is always a great choice. 

And so in addition to a fun food centric romance, I got to ponder a really great memory. 

Three Interesting Things

1. Them spoke with 5 trans students about their thoughts on this fall at school.  

2. NPR had an article about making cities spongier to help with flooding.  

3. Atlanta magazine spoke about romance authors in and near Atlanta.  

New Story in CommuterLit

Hey Hungry Readers, 

I've got a story appearing in CommuterLit this week. It's an ezine that focuses on fiction or poetry that is commute sized. (Your commute may vary.) My story is about a mermaid with a little grudge. So not so much a romance this time, but there is some emotional closure to be found: https://commuterlit.com/2023/10/monday-called-to-the-water/

"Monumental Travesties" at Mosaic Theater

Content note: reference to recent parental death, onstage urination, references to COVID, reference to police brutality, imprisonment, gunshots

I talk a lot about conversation plays, plays where the idea is to stimulate conversation, to ask more questions than it answers. "Monumental Travesties" I think falls firmly into this category. 

Chase is a performance artist and in his most recent act, he has severed Lincoln's head from the statue in Lincoln Park. The action takes place entirely in Chase and his wife Angela's living room. Their neighbor Adam appears having discovered a Lincoln head in his rosebushes. The action takes place over a single evening. There are discussions of grief, allyship, treaties, a moment where Chase uses Adam to recreate the poses found in the statue to discuss if the statue is demoralizing or embarrassing. There is talk about code switching, and so, so, many lies that the three have or choose to tell. 

The performances are wonderful.  I had seen Louis E. Davis and Jonathan Feuer previously at Mosaic in "Charm". (Renee Elizabeth Wilson grew up here, and has been in several local performance, so me not having seen her before is a failure on my part.) The set design was amazing. 

There is no intermission which I think suits the bonkers pace of things. 

Also, worth noting, because I love it in all it's forms, there is amnesia. Yup, they make time for amnesia and it's not even the wildest thing that happens.