My Friend met Kate Bornstein !!!
Jan. 30th, 2008 11:33 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
christinemax.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
transso I just found out my friend met Kate Bornstein and I thought I'd share this post from his LJ:
The first thing i noticed about Kate Bornstein is that Kate is tall, taller than i am, and i think about as tall as Jessie, who was also with us at the airport and who single-handedly organized Kate's visit. I was surprised that hir voice was a little lower than i had expected, both in pitch and volume, soft and husky. I helped Kate with hir luggage and we all went back to the car. We got lost on the way to Easton so we drove on to Mt Vernon instead. On the way, we talked about life at Kenyon: demographics, sex, drugs, politics, social life, town/gown relations. Kate is very polite, very nice, and very awesome. Ze is excited to be here. We had dinner at Fiesta Mexicana. The food was very tasty. Ze was excited about the guacamole dip. We all chatted and had dinner. Kate told us that ze had just come from hir girlfriend's mother's funeral. Ze had never been to an open-casket service before and ze found it rather unnerving. Kate also told us that the funeral director was an 'outrageous fag. He was flaming. He was a beautiful man.' The food was tasty. I ate some of Kate's burrito. Mmmm. After dinner, we dropped hir off at the Kenyon Inn, a small hotel on campus.
The first thing i noticed about Kate Bornstein is that Kate is tall, taller than i am, and i think about as tall as Jessie, who was also with us at the airport and who single-handedly organized Kate's visit. I was surprised that hir voice was a little lower than i had expected, both in pitch and volume, soft and husky. I helped Kate with hir luggage and we all went back to the car. We got lost on the way to Easton so we drove on to Mt Vernon instead. On the way, we talked about life at Kenyon: demographics, sex, drugs, politics, social life, town/gown relations. Kate is very polite, very nice, and very awesome. Ze is excited to be here. We had dinner at Fiesta Mexicana. The food was very tasty. Ze was excited about the guacamole dip. We all chatted and had dinner. Kate told us that ze had just come from hir girlfriend's mother's funeral. Ze had never been to an open-casket service before and ze found it rather unnerving. Kate also told us that the funeral director was an 'outrageous fag. He was flaming. He was a beautiful man.' The food was tasty. I ate some of Kate's burrito. Mmmm. After dinner, we dropped hir off at the Kenyon Inn, a small hotel on campus.
On the next day, i had dinner with hir again, along with a few other students, most of which from organizations which sponsored Kate's visit. I was invited to dinner by virtue of being Kate's chauffeur. I was the only straight guy of the bunch. Kate talked about hir book, Hello Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks, and Other Outlaws. Kate's general position is that one should do whatever it takes, whether it's illegal, immoral, or unethical, to stay alive, as long as you're not mean. Ze talked about being a masochist, about doing drugs in college, about being a cutter, and about being anorexic for 40+ years. Whatever it takes to give yourself a reason to live. Ze says that people shouldn't commit suicide but to commit selective serial suicide: kill the parts of yourself that need to be killed. Keep the rest. Maybe find something new to replace to bad parts you get rid of.
I went to Kate's lecture, in which ze talked about sex, gender, and identity in a sex-negative society. There was a lot of sex in the talk. Ze had us raise our hands if we enjoyed sex. Ze thinks that we can unite the political radical left under the banner of sex. The right-wing extremists have the Lord Almighty, right? Well, Kate wants the left-wingers to have enjoyable sex. Ze thinks that people who enjoy sex would make for an interesting voting bloc. Kate also talked briefly about how wonderful it feels when hir slightly-swollen labia rub against each other the day after a good fucking. Too much information, Kate.
Kate describes hirself as a 'transgendered polyamorous sadomasochistic dyke pornographer.' Ze says that for hir, sex is like Pokemon: gotta catch 'em all! Kate wore some sort of grungy auto mechanic's coveralls and some kickass boots. Kate repeatedly said throughout the lecture, 'I'm giving myself permission to feel sexy.' Kate also talked about some of the same things ze discussed at dinner a few hours before. At the end of the lecture, ze gave us all a 'get out of hell free card.' It says: 'Do whatever you need or want to do in order to make life worth living. Love who and how you want to love. Just don't be mean. Should you get sent to Hell for doing something that isn't mean to someone, I'll do your time in hell for you. kiss, kiss -- Kate'. Ze told us that ze would love to do our time in hell for us: 'I'm a piggy masochist, so it's a win-win for everyone.'
The next day, i went to Kate's Intro to Gender Play workshop. Ze talked at length about the social construction of gender and about certain physical clues which are often gendered. Kate talked about the way people walk, personal space boundaries, the gaze, things like that. To demonstrate boundaries, ze tried to violate Yana's personal space. Ze got closer and closer to her. Yana was sitting on the couch and even with Kate standing very close to her, she said that she really didn't have boundary issues. Kate crawled into Yana's lap, leering closer and closer, saying, 'Is this close enough? Is this close enough?' Yana only felt unnerved when Kate and her were standing close together and Kate looked down at Yana, making the size difference quite clear.
For demonstrating the concept of being comfortable with gazing and being gazed at, Kate gazed at me. Stared at me. Kept looking at me. Kate was checking me out and looking me over. I was clearly uncomfortable, glancing from side to side nervously. Ze bit hir lip coquettishly, lifted hir eyebrows, and continued to mentally undress me, hir gaze traveling slowly over my body. It is an unusual experience to be checked out by a transgendered polyamourous sadomasochistic dyke pornographer.
To introduce us to the idea of tweaking some of these ways we carry ourselves, whether it's the way we gaze, how we walk, etc., we did a theatre exercise based on a zen buddhist exercise. We spent 20 minutes crossing the Horn Gallery. The shorter distance. It's maybe 20 feet. 20 feet in 20 minutes. For the first half, we were supposed to drop behind whatever characteristics we wanted to. For the second, we picked up a new one. We also had to be in constant forward motion for this 20 minutes. It was interesting.
Yana wanted to come on the car ride back to the airport, so she did. She talked with Kate about all sorts of things on the way to Columbus. I pretty much just drove the car. I didn't know what to talk about. My family is boring as white bread compared to Yana's and Kate's. I could've talked about my online adventures, i guess - Kate's 3rd book, the one ze doesn't really talk about, is a collaborative work about two people who swap genders and identities online. I didn't say anything, though. I pretty much just drove the car. Kate wanted to stop at CVS so we did. Yana and i made fun of fashion magazines. Kate bought some Tussin, of which ze downed a capful of on the way to the car. Ze made a face for about a minute and kept muttering about how vile it was. More chatter on the way to the airport, and then we were there. We helped Kate with hir luggage and then we hugged and left for Gambier again.
.I went to Kate's lecture, in which ze talked about sex, gender, and identity in a sex-negative society. There was a lot of sex in the talk. Ze had us raise our hands if we enjoyed sex. Ze thinks that we can unite the political radical left under the banner of sex. The right-wing extremists have the Lord Almighty, right? Well, Kate wants the left-wingers to have enjoyable sex. Ze thinks that people who enjoy sex would make for an interesting voting bloc. Kate also talked briefly about how wonderful it feels when hir slightly-swollen labia rub against each other the day after a good fucking. Too much information, Kate.
Kate describes hirself as a 'transgendered polyamorous sadomasochistic dyke pornographer.' Ze says that for hir, sex is like Pokemon: gotta catch 'em all! Kate wore some sort of grungy auto mechanic's coveralls and some kickass boots. Kate repeatedly said throughout the lecture, 'I'm giving myself permission to feel sexy.' Kate also talked about some of the same things ze discussed at dinner a few hours before. At the end of the lecture, ze gave us all a 'get out of hell free card.' It says: 'Do whatever you need or want to do in order to make life worth living. Love who and how you want to love. Just don't be mean. Should you get sent to Hell for doing something that isn't mean to someone, I'll do your time in hell for you. kiss, kiss -- Kate'. Ze told us that ze would love to do our time in hell for us: 'I'm a piggy masochist, so it's a win-win for everyone.'
The next day, i went to Kate's Intro to Gender Play workshop. Ze talked at length about the social construction of gender and about certain physical clues which are often gendered. Kate talked about the way people walk, personal space boundaries, the gaze, things like that. To demonstrate boundaries, ze tried to violate Yana's personal space. Ze got closer and closer to her. Yana was sitting on the couch and even with Kate standing very close to her, she said that she really didn't have boundary issues. Kate crawled into Yana's lap, leering closer and closer, saying, 'Is this close enough? Is this close enough?' Yana only felt unnerved when Kate and her were standing close together and Kate looked down at Yana, making the size difference quite clear.
For demonstrating the concept of being comfortable with gazing and being gazed at, Kate gazed at me. Stared at me. Kept looking at me. Kate was checking me out and looking me over. I was clearly uncomfortable, glancing from side to side nervously. Ze bit hir lip coquettishly, lifted hir eyebrows, and continued to mentally undress me, hir gaze traveling slowly over my body. It is an unusual experience to be checked out by a transgendered polyamourous sadomasochistic dyke pornographer.
To introduce us to the idea of tweaking some of these ways we carry ourselves, whether it's the way we gaze, how we walk, etc., we did a theatre exercise based on a zen buddhist exercise. We spent 20 minutes crossing the Horn Gallery. The shorter distance. It's maybe 20 feet. 20 feet in 20 minutes. For the first half, we were supposed to drop behind whatever characteristics we wanted to. For the second, we picked up a new one. We also had to be in constant forward motion for this 20 minutes. It was interesting.
Yana wanted to come on the car ride back to the airport, so she did. She talked with Kate about all sorts of things on the way to Columbus. I pretty much just drove the car. I didn't know what to talk about. My family is boring as white bread compared to Yana's and Kate's. I could've talked about my online adventures, i guess - Kate's 3rd book, the one ze doesn't really talk about, is a collaborative work about two people who swap genders and identities online. I didn't say anything, though. I pretty much just drove the car. Kate wanted to stop at CVS so we did. Yana and i made fun of fashion magazines. Kate bought some Tussin, of which ze downed a capful of on the way to the car. Ze made a face for about a minute and kept muttering about how vile it was. More chatter on the way to the airport, and then we were there. We helped Kate with hir luggage and then we hugged and left for Gambier again.