2004 - Vol. 1, Issue 7

Lying In It is a comedy/drama that centers on a few weeks in the lives of Dan, a butch dyke, and JB, a femme fag. An alternative family of two, Dan and JB live in a one-bedroom Greenwich Village apartment and sleep in the same bed.

Dan is an incest survivor and JB is HIV positive. Throughout the story Dan and JB struggle to maintain the intimacy they have created living in such close quarters, while they come to terms with the realities of their lives.

Lying In It combines traditional dialogue with narrative monologues spoken directly to the audience. Edgy and funny at unexpected times, the play's characters use humor to avoid their own pain, as well as each other's. The use of adult language, limited nudity, and graphic sexual reference reflect both contemporary times and queer culture.

I've just celebrated the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, which has me in a reflective mood. I also have about 3,285,696,472 sticky notes worth of ideas for humor columns based on things I've seen or heard since last fall. So, I've decided to gather this precious "foliage of folly" to take a humorous, retrospective look at the past year.

But, I'll level with you: I'm afraid to poke fun of truly hideous concepts because, if the past year has taught me one thing, it's that ridiculously implausible events keep coming to pass. The question is, what forces are driving these bizarre realities? My theory is that major policy makers, advertisers, TV execs, etc., are reading humor columns and thinking, "Gee, that might work..."

I was sick for a month
and once I stepped outside again,
the month became a romantic period.

Rain had turned white and gotten thick.