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  1. "Stay In," said the mayor

    Tuesday, January 26, 2016


     
     
     
     
    When I was 9, my buddy Igor and I stared out his front facing window cheering on the blizzard, so we could get the day off from school and play in the snow. I remember us both getting so happy when it was announced that the schools would be closed.
    When my son was two and three, our science experiments meant taking snow in from the kitchen window and putting it in a dish. We’d see that it melted into water. He couldn’t pronounce the “sn” so he called it “tow.” It thrilled him so much. He would get so mad at the plows and the supers who shoveled the snow.
    When the snow started falling this January 23rd, I thought how much our dog Luigi would have enjoyed it.

    He couldn’t live forever. He was sent off to Heaven in late March 2015. He sure did love the snow. I sure did love him.

    The threat of this blizzard of 2016 scared away audience from my comedy show last Friday night. The snow wasn’t expected until Saturday morning, but the threat of it made its impact. Still, it was a good time but with a small audience.
    On Saturday, going to the store felt like a workout. I am grateful I didn’t fall. It was nice to be told by those governing to stay home. No guilt for not getting to the Laundromat.
    I watched “How Stella Got Her Groove Back” for the second time. I have a deep appreciation for her new boyfriend who loved her. He loved her enough to leave her alone when she couldn’t see a future with him and didn’t accept his marriage proposal. He told her that a real man would make her life easier and not harder. So he didn’t continue to insist or guilt her, pressure her, or impregnate her; rather he accepted her feelings with love for her and even for her son.
    I stuck two slices of bread in the oven to heat it, but I forgot about the bread and it became too hard. Later I took both slices out and crumbled them up for the birds. I tossed the toast crumbs onto the snow by a tree in front of my house. I hope the birds had a meal.

    A long-time friend of mine used to know a Jewish cocaine dealer. She called him "Rabbi Snow."  
     




  2. I got an email notification that someone shared some photos of mine on Facebook.  I recognized the last name from the NYC poetry circles. We run into each other at poetry readings a couple of times a year.  He’s known for often having a partially naked woman on stage enacting lines of his poems.  He’s been banned from a number of places.  I think he’s proud of that. 

    I went to his FB wall. My jaw dropped when I saw it was filled with photos of almost naked women.  I wasn’t surprised that his wall would look like that; I just wondered how I fit in with that scene.  I’ve been penis-free for so long.  But in the minds of others, I must be very busy.  (I am busy, but with healing and working and decluttering and creating and staying away from penile involvement.)

    After many cleavages and bare butts with a masturbation photo sprinkled in here and there, there was one of a woman in a g-string with cash tucked in everywhere.  Below that were a couple of poetry event announcements. Then came several photos of me and a couple of artist creations not of me but shared from my Facebook photo albums.  Below that was an about-to-begin blow job photo. 

    Frames matter.  I felt disgusted.  I tried to see if I could take my photos off his page since they were shared from my photos, but that option didn’t exist.   I thought of asking him to remove my photos from his wall, but I didn’t think that would go smoothly.  I felt he’d enjoy the power too much.  I went to my photos.  I figured if I remove them, they will disappear from his wall too as ‘no longer available.’

    I looked at each photo, and wondered why I’d be removing them.  There’s nothing negative or embarrassing about the photos.  One of them is a favorite of mine.  I showed my buddy.  He said about my pictures, “Those are nice photos.”  Then I showed them to him on the guy’s wall.  He agreed that my photos surrounded by those other photos seemed to be making a statement.  The statement might have simply been: ‘I jerk off to all of these.’

    I choose not to think about who is jerking off to thoughts of me.  It’s their private activity, and as long as it remains private, it’s none of my business.  Now it felt different.  Ugh.

    I feel uncomfortable because in our patriarchy, people will come to a conclusion about me instead of about him.  Then again, the truth is what matters though deception can be powerful for the short-term.  This brings me back to the years when what others thought mattered way too much.

    There is no shortage of those who will take something nice and make it icky.  I am trying to promote myself as an actress and comic.  I can’t be removing good pictures of me.

     

     

     

    Come join The Divorced Divas of Comedy for some hilarity this Friday!


     

  3. Blatant Promotion By Rhonda Hansome

    Thursday, January 14, 2016



    Did Kim Kardashian get you here?
    Good! 


    Soon I'll be directing rehearsals for a play to open 
    Mar. 25th, so I want you to see my stand-up ASAP.

    Pick the date that works for you and bring a friend! 









    #NotYourGrandmasComic But #YourCrazyAuntLovesMe

    See you soon enjoying the laughter! 

    XO


  4. Different Kinds of Revolutions

    Tuesday, January 12, 2016


    Both jobs are in full swing this week. I have to remember to take my vitamins.

    Last term, my class read The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano by Sonia Manzano (the actress we know from Sesame Street). It takes place in Spanish Harlem (El Barrio) in 1969. I learned so much along with my students. We went to the Bronx Museum of the Arts to see the Young Lords exhibit. We went to the computer lab in the school to watch a video of Pedro Pietri reading his poem, “Puerto Rican Obituary.” It was a stimulating learning adventure. I was proud of us. Though we don’t have classrooms that are exclusively our own, I find wall space in the office to display a sampling of our term’s work together.
     


     
    
     
    

     
     
    One of the most profound moments was when an African-American student of mine shared with the class after hearing Pedro Pietri (whose work is still helping though he has passed over), “I feel like I felt when we were at the museum. That it’s not only us.”

    I wish everyone had such a life-changing effect from our learning together. Maybe more did, but this woman was able to put it into words.

    At my evening job, we had a smaller version of this experience (no trips; no drawings; not as many writings). Still a woman declared, “I do not like to read, and I bought this book! I read it when waiting in the clinic. I was laughing. This is the neighborhood I grew up in!”

    I hope to inspire as well this term. It’ll be a combo of some former students and some brand new students. When I’m on break, I find it hard to believe that I do this and will do this again. But I will.

    This Friday, January 15th, I am one of a number of featured readers at the 4 Horse Poetry Reading (a Bob Quatrone production) at Cornelia Street Café in the village. $9 includes a drink. 6pm. Always an enjoyable reading.

    Next Friday, January 22nd, is the Divorced Divas of Comedy show at the Starving Artists Café on City Island.



     

     

     

     

  5. Bringin' It To The Bronx!

    Tuesday, January 5, 2016


     
    I am happy to announce that there will be a Divorced Divas of Comedy show on Friday, January 22, 2016, 8pm at the Starving Artists Café on City Island, 249 City Island Ave. (bet. Schofield and Carroll Sts.) Bronx, NY 10464  718-885-3779.
     

    The place is run by lovely people, Elliot and Monica Glick, and it’s a favorite place of many Bronxites and others.

    It is not a theatre or a comedy club. It is a place on City Island that normally has live music, a monthly open mic for poets, prose writers, comics, instrumentalists, singers, and they also have special events. It is a gallery where the work on display is for viewing and purchasing. Their food is scrumptious. It is a place where one can get guitar lessons, and sometimes jewelry making classes are offered.

    The Divorced Divas of Comedy are thrilled to be performing at the Starving Artists Café. Though the place does not sell alcohol, they welcome you to bring your wine, beer, whatever. They graciously serve up a corkscrew, glasses, and ice. Their food is wonderful (did I mention that?). Their waitresses are hardworking and lovely too.

    City Island was/is a boating community and a tourist spot in the Bronx. Mainly busy in the summer months, you can find parking rather easily now.

    I proudly present our line-up for January 22, 2016.

       Debbie Bazza

     Rhonda Hansome 
                                                                                                                 Sassi
     
     
     
     
     
          Robert Field                                                          Mindy Matijasevic


                   

     
     
    Join us for laughter. It would just make me feel so good to see you there. 
     1/22/2016 @ 8pm