We had yet another missed celebrity encounter on Friday night. We were at the Chelsea movie theater on line for “The Queen,” (YAAAAY!!! PUNS!!!) when we looked ahead of us and spotted Jessie Spano herself (Ms. Elizabeth Berkley) taking photos with some overbearing gays. We have seen her out and about before, but not since we got our Bayside Tigers T-shirt. Ever since we got it, we have dreamed about running into her again and getting her to sign it and perhaps pose for a camera-phone picture.The G*ds must have been on our side that night, because we suddenly realized that under our long-sleeve Gap Kids T-shirt and Marmot Fleece, we had thrown on said Bayside Tigers shirt!!! We quickly dumped our bags on our companion, and started chasing Ms. Berkley who had already finished with the “too old to have really been into Saved By The Bell” Queens (YAAAY!!!! PUNS!!!), and was on her way up the escalator.
As we said before, we sometimes lose all sense of self-control around celebrities, and so we starting yelling her name on the escalator as we were pulling off our top two layers. Obvi, our Bayside Tigers shirt got caught in the fray and it appeared to everyone around us that we were chasing her while ripping off our clothes. She ran. We ran. We lost our vision as the shirts came over our head, fell, and by the time we got up, not only were we shirtless and scrawny looking, surrounded by gym freaks, but we had lost one of the greatest opportunities of our life.
This was especially painful to us, as we know all the words and dance moves to Hot Sundae’s “Put Your Mind To It,” and have been known to recreate the pivotal “I’m So Excited” scene of her career at dinner parties.
But we’ll live. At least The Queen was good. Ms. Berkley wasn’t inside though. She would have been easy to spot, as had she been there, she would have been the ONLY female in the ENTIRE THEATER. Seriously. When HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh said “Elton John,” the ground literally shook.
In other news, the JAG protests went well – we were personally chosen to lead the “DOOO ask DOOOO tell” chant as the recruiters left the interview rooms and walked past us. A fellow OUTLaw noticed that they kept going to the bathroom together.
We were struck, however, by our non-OUTLaw classmates who were reluctant to wear rainbow ribbons when we were passing them out, our guess being because they thought it would lead people to believe they were gay. We suffered from this back in college before Bigmouth dragged us out of the closet, but we were curious if actual straight people who go to school in the West Village with oodles of ‘mos really worry about being perceived as gay. We’re not talking about people who support Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, but people who clearly oppose discrimination, and probably have a gay friend or two, but still would feel “weird” wearing a rainbow ribbon. Is the symbol of “pride” too tied to “coming out” and “identity” to be worn by allies? When we still had ours on later that evening, even we thought that people would see it and automatically think that we were gay, not question whether we were actually gay or just an ally. Or maybe we felt that way because we were seeing The Queen...in Chelsea...wearing a Bayside Tigers shirt.
8 comments:
Couple of thoughts on the rainbow pins- one, people may agree with you in spirit and politics, but aren't as eager as you to advertise it; for example, there are a lot of people who won't join the Republican or Democrat (or Federalist or Constitutionalist) clubs, not because they aren't one or the other, but because they want to avoid being labelled as such.
Second, though people may be excited about supporting Outlaw in general, they may not be as excited about supporting a protest of military recruiters. While I personally feel, as I am sure you do, that the DA/DT policy is ridiculous and a tacit approval by our own government of discrimination, I also know that protesting military recruiters (or barring ROTC from campus, as at a lot of schools), while most often done in the name of DA/DT, actually has historic roots in the Vietnam War and college's desire to keep the military off their campuses- ideals that many people may not be comfortable with.
In short, there are a lot of straight people who support you, and not all of them want to wear pins- probably for a mix of reasons, not all of them bad.
That's really the difference between Yale and Fordham, isn't it, the former of which provides a more, for lack of a better word, "liberal" environment where people, regardless of sexual orientation, aren't so afraid to declare their allegiance and stand against discrimination of any sorts?
not such an issue at dartmouth. people put little rainbow stickers on his/her mailboxes. and i KNOW there were NOT that many gays up at school. funny thing one day though was two football guys walking through the mail center:
FB1: dude, look at all the mailboxes...
FB2: yeah, whats your point?
FB1: i didnt know there were this many gays in our school
FB2: no, it doesnt mean you ARE gay, it means you like them, or some shit.
as for wearing a rainbow ribbon--sure, if it doesnt clash with what i've got on. priorities.
In response to anonymous- rather than the difference between Yale and Fordham, perhaps it more properly represents the difference between undergraduate liberal arts colleges, and graduate schools- where students have been liberated from the world of idealism and utopianism and injected into the real world, where proudly announcing political activism can have side effects, particularly in job searches, an area of utmost importance to most law students.
Disclosure, not a Yale student, not a Fordham student, but a 1L at another institution.
rainbow pins are so gay.
You guys -- I was right there with you as I read your post--chasing your quarry, yelling and stripping--I was loving it every step of the way. Unlike too many others your refreshing style--that you don't take yourselves too seriously-- brings me to look forward to your blog every day. Thanks so much.
To the guys who post those somber, intellectual comments: Unlax, dude, none of this is real.
I'll be signing from now on as MyMyMichl, but it's still me: Michael S.
bowdoin meatheads were bad. FYI.
You are confusing NYU's protest with Fordham's (which takes place tomorrow)!
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