I just did an interview for the RU Sirius podcast. We talked geekery, dolls and, kink in the midwest. Oh how we laughed, we reminisced. We talked comedy too. Of course that means Sarah Silverman. Everyone always wants to talk to me about Sarah Silverman.

“US democracy is an illusion only made possible by the luxury we live in which would not be possible in there were economic justice in the world.”
Just a throw away line in the excellent documentary about Kushner I saw last night: Wrestling With Angels. Kushner’s Angles in America is one of the reasons I remembered that I had to write plays (which I’d forgotten after my first two when I was 10). I’m still thinking about this comment.
At this point the average person feels they get more responsiveness as a consumer (from the companies that work hard to understand their buying interests and possibilities) than it does from their government.

It’s an ecology of mutual convenience. Media coverage of politics and world events? Where’s the good feeling? What can we do? It’s you or me kid. Ford Bronco or Cadillac Escalade? There’s a real choice I can feel in my hand.
The upside? My generation (X), the first to not do better than our parents this American century, and those that follow may find that with less comes more of ourselves and a chance to see what is truly needed (not wanted) for a just and fulfilling life. Tag us: DIY, ReadyMade, Burning Man, board games, knitting, barbeques, personal spirituality, roommates, blogs etc. With less money and with crisis we find that all we really have, in the end, is each other.

Yesterday afternoon I met a man named Ken Burrows at a BrainJam session. He’s no longer Mormon but quoted a Mormon prayer for me that he likes: “Lord, give me what I want and if not, give me something better.”

I just couldn’t stand being miserable.

– my response to the many questions about how I left law, corporate climbing, got on stage etc. My talk show will dig into this question on Friday with Caterina Fake (Flickr co-founder), W.Kamau Bell (Comedy Central, Dave Chappelle opener) and Dr. Lillian Rubin (The Transcendent Child). What motivates you/allows you to change and become the self you want to be? Come to the show Friday or tell me what you’d like to ask or say right here.

Jill Soloway + Julie Hermelin have a great show/service they do in LA called Heaping Portion.

It’s a variety show based on the Torah portion that week. I’ve been a huge fan of Jill’s stuff for ages. While I was in law school in Chicago, she was putting on great shows like the Miss Vagina Pageant and The Real Live Brady Bunch with her sister Faith. I watched with my nose pressed to the glass, assuming it was a life I could only watch (though I did get one of my law school classmates to say pussy at the Madonna debat I put on at school). Julie I met playing kickball when I worked at New Line. In those days, the closest I thought I’d get to making stuff was learning how to predict the grosses accurately before they came out in The Reporter on Tuesday.

Life has changed since then, and I’ve been doing Shabbat Salons that turned into my own Jewish-y, soul-infused talk show. Jill will be my guest on July 21st. It will rock. Get your tickets now as the show will likely sell out.
To prep for my piece at Heaping Portion, I actually read a Torah portion in English for the first time since my Bat Mitzvah. It’s hard to believe this is what I’ve been listening to in shul all these years. Jill did a hilarious “real-time” Torah reading in which she explained all the crap in there about “spell” a husband can put on his wife if she’s committed adultery or if he’s just jealous. I subverted a big hunk of the portion which was about (no surprise) who gave exactly how much money to the communal meeting. This is one of my pet peeves about Jewish organizational meetings and family dynamics. I like the giving and dessert part best, so I gave out cake. I don’t like financial demands being a condition of belonging. I know that there are basic needs to run any group blah blah blah but I agree with one of the great Jewish drag ladies who hosted the show: “cake makes everything better.”

Index cards from Meshforum 2006

Originally uploaded by dgray_xplane.

like other fellow geeks in a non-performance setting, I found I need to explain first that I’ll be showing what I’m talking about, then explaining.

Tech and business crowds are only used to feeling safe enough to have direct experience at these gatherings when it’s safely sandwiched between analysis.