At a Purim-themed burlesque show last night, I felt a definite sense that something progressive was unfolding around me. People of many ethnicities, faiths, and orientations were gathered at the gay bar to celebrate a classic tale of speaking truth to power. The energy at the bar was suffused with the spirit of something, but was it progress? Can dressing in drag actually move anything forward? How do belly dancers bring about change? It was not your standard Purim spiel, but burlesque does lend itself nicely to the Purim festival, as costumes and revelry factor heavily into the observance.
The rabbi took the stage after the belly dance act. He was dressed as a bad seventies comedian, with ruffled pink tux and a bicycle horn. After a few really bad jokes, he became very serious, and there, on stage at the gay bar, surrounded by drag kings and fire eaters, he delivered a sermon that succinctly confirmed my personal definition of progressivism.
Purim commemorates the story of Queen Esther, who became a Babylonian queen by hiding her ethnicity from King Achashverosh. Achashverosh's evil prime minister, Haman, decreed that all Jews must bow before him, but Esther's uncle, Mordecai, refused. Haman then decreed that all Jews must be killed as punishment for Mordecai's slight. Esther devised a plan that revealed Haman's vanity and her ethnicity to Achashverosh. Up until this point in the story, Achaverosh had been a selfish and tyrannical ruler over the Jews, but when he learns that the woman he loves is a Jew, he changes opinion of her people. He allowed the Jews to defend themselves against the Persians and the Jews prevailed.
Most Purim spiels laud Esther and Mordecai as the underdog heroes, but the rabbi at the burlesque show offered a different perspective. While it is always heroic to speak truth to power, he asserted, it is more heroic to awaken to injustice and to use the power that we have, wherever we have it, on whatever scale, to overturn those injustices. That, in my mind, is the definition of progress.
Drag kings and belly dancers ushered this thought into the minds of several hundred people. Did they change any governmental policies last night? No, but in trying on the role of another personality, they offered the audience insight into the ways we restrict ourselves to acceptable roles, roles that seldom help us tap into our real power as forward thinking individuals.
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It's up there on the list of progressive definitions, because your writing really pushes along the fascinating, unique story. Sounds very English-teacher, i know, but i really liked reading this post.
Every organism's heartbeat holds a universe of beauty at http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/green-underbelly
By the way, here's my personal definition of progress... http://www.progressiveu.org/191355-progress-mind-yer-ps-and-qs
Every organism's heartbeat holds a universe of beauty at http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/green-underbelly
And thanks for the link to yours. I missed it somehow. I'll check it out right now!
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
You can edit previous comments using the link at the bottom of the comment so you dont have to do it one after another
But I've had the edit button disappear after navigating away from the page. It doesn't happen every time, but a couple of times I've noticed a typo in a comment made a few days prior, and I just have to leave it there to taunt me. Has that happened to anyone else?
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
I think you can only edit as long as no one has already responded to the comment. That may be why.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/sawaboof
"...There is a crushing guilt that comes with being a Catholic. Whether things are good or bad or you're simply... eating tacos in the park, there is always the crushing guilt."
-30 Rock-
It's true!
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
I like the ideals of melding many beliefs for the betterment of all. If more people worked their outreach in a progressive format they might find many more followers interested in learning more about the group the represent.
I used to bartend and DJ at an alt. lifestyles club in El Paso. Because of that experience I became a MUCH better person. I learned core values there that have served me well throughout my life. (I also discovered a love for Will and Grace, but thats another blog).
Theres a sense of community one garners when working there. You can almost feel the shared love, because theres not alot of places in a small metropolitan area where a man in a dress can feel safe. (Unless you're in England, but that may only be because Monty Python skewed my opinion).
Personnally, I think that every straight person needs to work in a gay bar for five years. If I hadnt then I would never have progressed either...
OK. I know I was sitting at the same show, right next to you, in fact, but I was so not on the same page. I think I was more concerned about what his bad jokes were supposed to mean: "Are you with me Shofar?" I don't get it. Thanks for your well defined and eloquent post. I'll go back and think more deeply about what his sermon meant to me.
OK. I know I was sitting at the same show, right next to you, in fact, but I was so not on the same page. I think I was more concerned about what his bad jokes were supposed to mean: "Are you with me Shofar?" I don't get it. Thanks for your well defined and eloquent post. I'll go back and think more deeply about what his sermon meant to me.
The shofar is the curved rams horn that is blown at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. He said that while beeping his bicycle horn. I said it was a bad joke.
But when he got serious, I shifted gears with him. You, apparently, did not. Maybe your mask was distracting? Or was it the lovely hostess of the show? Hmmm?
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
Very well written! I will be reading your work while I'm sitting here at a bank answering calls like Mimi from Office Space....Thank you for calling intertech..just a moment. Thanks for putting some pep in my step with your illustrious comparisons and laissez-faire views!
And thanks! I look forward to reading more of your posts as well!
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman