Peg Kerr's Journal

It's been a long time since I made a hundred things entry, but I'm trying to resume having a life. For those of you who remember, my goal was to try 100 new things. Last night I went to the Tapestry Folk Dance Center and joined the English Country Dance group. It meets on Sunday nights from 7 - 9 pm. Fiona has been going to the contra dancing on Saturday night for quite a long time, and I've always thought some of the classes offered at the Center would be fun to try.

There were perhaps thirty people there, most my age or older. Everyone was extremely friendly. A number of them who spoke with me said they had been coming for years.

English country dances are elegant social dances from the 17th and 18th century, set to Baroque and Early music. It is somewhat slower than contra dancing, but more technically precise. It suited my purpose to try something to 1) get me out of the house 2) get me interacting with people and 3) get me exercising. This neatly fulfills all three goals. I had a great deal of fun. Although it was my first time there, the experienced dancers were kind enough to say that I acquitted myself very well. I used to do folk dance in gym in high school, and I liked it quite well, and I think that experience helped. So did my ballet and karate experience, as it taught me how to quickly learn a form, a routine. I think I'm reasonably graceful, despite the fact that I'm carrying a few extra pounds.

The leader led us through four or five dances. One, I remember, was called Dover Beach. Most originated centuries ago, but one, called Angels...something...was choreographed in 2011.

I hope I'll have the opportunity to learn "Mr. Beveridge's Maggot" which was used in the 1995 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice. (Yes, that's really the dance's name--in the 18th century "Maggot" was a word that was used to describe a fanciful or whimsical thing.)



Verdict: it was definitely fun, and I certainly plan to go again. Next time, I'll bring water and wear a long skirt.




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I've never volunteered with a political campaign before (I know, I know. The shame). But the election is coming up, and I really want the Minnesota marriage amendment to be defeated. I've pledged money to Minnesotans United for All Families and been to several of their events, and the block party we helped put on raised $12,000.

But I got another call, this time asking me to come in and work a phone bank. Outside my comfort zone, definitely. But I believe in the cause, so yes, sign me up.

So I went in tonight, for volunteer recruitment. This is a little easier, since everyone we were calling had already said they supported the amendment. There was about a half an hour of training, and they gave us a script to follow. We were requesting three 'asks': to help on Election Day with calls and door knocking, to come in to do phone work to get volunteers (as I was doing, how meta) and to come in to do phone work for persuasion calls. Our goal was to dial at least forty-five numbers in the time allotted to us, to have at least eight conversations, and to get volunteers to agree to sign up for at least three shifts.

I went a little slower than was needed to meet the goal, as it was my first time and I was nervous. One of the coaches listened in and said I sounded warm and natural, but I needed to press a little harder. Most of the phone numbers I called didn't answer, but that was expected.

I dialed about thirty-five numbers in the hour and a half and had five conversations and got three volunteers signed up. And I'm coming back to do another shift in two weeks.

And there's a sign now out on my lawn: Vote No on the Anti-Marriage Amendment.




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It was a gorgeous weekend. Delia struggled a fair amount with the decision when we asked her, 'What do you want to do for your birthday?' We suggested movies, and there were some she wanted to see, but that didn't seem special enough for a birthday. Yesterday, she decided she wanted to devote a day to art, and so we came up with an itinerary of various places we could visit: the Northern Clay Center, Wet Paint, an independent art store, and a place where people go to sketch the fourth Sunday of every month.

Today, she decided to throw all those plans out the window, and we went instead to the annual Pride Festival at Loring Park. It's attended by about 100,000 people in the Twin Cities. This year was the 40th anniversary.

Now, I've been to the Gay Pride Parade a couple times before, which is part of the weekend events, and even taken the girls (it's held on Sunday morning). But I've never been to the Minneapolis Pride Festival at Loring Park before.

I hear your gasp of surprise. I know, I know! I wrote The Wild Swans. How is it POSSIBLE that I have NEVER been to Loring Park on Pride Weekend?

I haven't. It certainly not that I'm not interested in the subject, as all the research I did for The Wild Swans triggered my interest in the topic of gay civil rights, an interest that has never diminished. It's not as close and convenient as the May Day Festival, and the crowd is much huger. But this year, yes, we went.

Delia's interest in these topics has certainly grown this year. The GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance) at her high school is extremely active (in fact, at her school the bathrooms turn unisex for a block of time every day to accommodate the transgender students). She also appeared in her school's production of '8,' which has also made her think about these things.

So what did I think of it? My base of comparison was, undoubtedly, May Day. Both are held in a Minneapolis park, with a lake, and booths for the event circle the lake. Both are colorful, both are a beloved ritual for many in the city, both are shot through with a certain feeling of the removal of restraint, an opening, a flowering. For May Day, it's winter that we're shaking off, for Pride, it's the closet. Both offer (expensive) food and bands on stages. At Pride, there is an extra layer of bureaucracy: none of the food booths accept cash. You have to purchase food and beverage tickets. If you neglected to bring cash, they have ATMS, but this means waiting in THREE lines: for the ATM, for the food and beverage ticket booth, and then for the food.

More naked skin: Pride, but the weather is much warmer by then, too, which is probably a factor.
More dreadlocks: May Day.
More glitter: Pride.
More corporate: Pride
More environmental: May Day, by far (May Day sold no bottled water at all this year. Instead, they had water stations set up all over the park, and people were encouraged to bring their own containers. They also recycle everything; even the food is separated out to be composted. It was certainly startling to me to see all the plastic bottles in the trash at Pride.)
More nonprofit: I'd say May Day is more nonprofit oriented. But Pride has probably a bigger nonprofit presence, simply because of its bigger size.

We parked at Uptown and then bused there, which worked well, and then the girls cheerfully informed me that they were ditching me. We checked in by phone every hour or so. I wandered by myself. Although it was my first time there, I didn't find much that surprised me; I've very familiar with many of the gay-oriented businesses and nonprofits in the city. (One thing that did was a whole avenue of booths, at least ten or so, all devoted to pets, mostly dogs. I guess they figure that gays luuuurrrrve their pets.)

It was hot. I debated between bringing a hat and something I purchased at the last Renaissance Festival: a big, sturdy Japanese paper parasol. I chose the parasol, and I'm very glad I did. This worked splendidly as a sunshade, and I was very glad I had it. I think it kept me much cooler than a hat alone would have done.

One nice thing: the girls encountered the Gaylaxicon 2012 booth where they saw some local SF/Fantasy fans that they knew. There was a white board up with trivia questions: and MY NAME was the answer to one of the trivia questions. (Fiona, they said, was the only person, however, who knew the answer to the question, which was a little lowering). Anyway, when the girls ran into me again, they told me this, so I stopped by the booth, and was very graciously told that if I wished to attend the convention, they would be delighted to comp my membership. So I will probably attend the Gaylaxicon in October of this year.

So: a very fun day, albeit exhausting. Happy Pride, everyone!




{Take the 100 Things challenge!}

I have not been reading enought on LJ or DW enough lately, but I went to read tonight and ran across on dreamflower02's journal here, for the first time, the 100 Things challenge. Here's the explanation/rules, and here is a list of possible topics (100 (Hopefully Alternate) Things You Could Do A 100 Things List About, if inspiration is needed. I am intrigued.

What would I choose? In a way, I HAVE been doing this for awhile. Laptop lunchbox lunches. The Little Black Dress. Soul Collage cards. Entries about the Heart of Flesh versus the Heart of Stone. I could make one of these an official 100 things project, or start something new.

Hmmm.....probably a good idea to start something new. But what?