taming women

Having seen Kiss Me Kate, both the movie and the musical performed on stage, I was ill-prepared for the un-watered down Shakespeare Theater Company's "the Taming of the Shrew." I was sitting with three other women, all of us (or at least most of us) self-proclaimed feminists and we often looked aghastly at each other at the rather physical 'courtship' scenes between Petruchio and Katherina. And let's not get into her monologue. In any case, before I walked into the theater, I wish I had read director Rebecca Bayla Taichman's comments, namely

"Instead of ironing out the play’s contradictions, I want to open and stretch them out. Kate and Petruchio truly love each other, and yet Petruchio may really have damaged Kate. He can save her while also stealing something sacred from her ... And Kate can mean what she says in that gorgeous and very complicated speech, while also being bitterly aware of how she is performing a male fantasy for a patriarchal world."

"The play should make you swoon and want to scream with rage. It should make you uncomfortable and impossibly entertained. It should make you ask questions about what marriage is, about how we love each other, how we collude to create an economy of love and a marriage market. It should make you question how we often prize financial reward and stellar reputation over deep human connection, and why we desire power. "

In the end, it makes me wonder about how much people expect to be changed and change their loved ones. Maybe I've always kept the philosophy those that are meant for us, understand us and love us for who we are, and not what they have made us become ... and one can't change unless they themselves really want to.

an idea for our cabbies

In the 3+ years I've lived in this city and taken a cab just so I could avoid losing a precious parking spot on the street, I've heard cab drivers increase the fare by a dollar twice. When confronted by my accusation they're trying to rip me off again, they usually cite high gas prices. Recently D.C. cabbies were considering strikes to protest the decision to go to a fare system. Maybe, if gas prices are such an issue, they should replace their old Marquis and Buicks with a car that guzzles less gas. Like they are doing in N.Y.

M5

Not the car but the band. What a great rocker Adam Levine of Maroon 5 is. My sister and I had the pleasure of seeing the hybrid pop/rock/R&B band perform at the Verizon center. The arena was packed ... mostly with women I was sure. We were seated next to a young boy and his father ... we saw many parents with the their children. Levine tried to get D.C. to sing, and clap, but we are a lazy audience indeed. But its cute to see how the 'cigarette-lighter-song' has become more eco-health friendly with the 'cell-phone illuminated glow song.' D.C. responded well to Levine's declaration of love for its denizens. An hour and 15 minute show, done by 10:30 PM, ensured most of the teenagers in the crowd were home and not too sleep deprived for school the next morning.

i'm back

Coming home from Iraq is a strange thing. My employer had given me at least three copies of pamphlets describing expectations when coming home, from feeling depression, to feeling anxiety, etc. We even had a powerpoint lecture on it. I was not really prepared for what I felt when I came back. I wanted to return to Baghdad! I felt a little bit like Jack on the season finale of Lost, although not that desparate. For a while I moped to my best friends how much I disliked D.C. and how I wanted to move somewhere else. I didn't bother having any welcome back festivities, but naturally friends of mine figured out I was home and would coax me out. I continued with work, but more of a miser than usual. I considered a long-distance relationship, which was completely out of the ordinary for me. But thankfully, soon realized (well after about almost three months), that I missed living in D.C., and I was glad and happy with my life. Woohoo! Now to only see how Chopingal is ...