Playwright Edward Ulzen’s Play Man 2 Man Opens On June 18th 2010 At The Buddies & Bad Times Theatre In Toronto!
My friend Edward Ulzen’s play “Man 2 Man” will open at the Buddies & Bad Times Theatre on June 18th 2010.
I remember numerous conversations I have had with gay black men in Toronto complaining that we need more representation in the arts.
Edward’s play is very important, it is a play about gay black men loving each other.
Man 2 Man is political because black gay male love tends to be hidden from the public sphere.
Edward decided instead of just “complaining” about our lack of representation he “wrote” his play!
We are usually invisible in the Canadian arts and the white gay men tend to receive the majority of the media attention.
The racist message is, “gay culture” equals “white culture” and this is dangerous and deleterious.
Gay black men we have been displaced for far too long. Homosexuality is still a taboo subject in African and Caribbean communities in Toronto and across Canada.
Why is the black Toronto community still reticent to discussing homosexuality?
In the black community, the silence, the shame, the homophobia is a serious problem that needs to be addressed.
I also want to point out, this play is not an interracial play either. I know some gay black men are sick of seeing interracial romance between a black gay man and a white gay guy.
The play Man 2 Man is specifically about the cultural differences between an African gay man and a Caribbean gay man.
The black community in Toronto is a not a monolithic group we are very diverse.
This play focuses on the issue, how can a black gay male couple navigates and negotiates love and relationships?
There is a paucity of art representing the gay black Canadian male experience. In less than two weeks, Edward Ulzen’s play will run for two days at Buddies & Bad Times Theatre.
Here is the info to purchase tickets the price is only $15 dollars! Tell all your friends and spread the word!
You can purchase tickets at Yonge & Dundas Square in Toronto TO Tix.
Here is the information about the performances for Edward’s play:
1) First performance on June 18th at 8:00pm the doors open at 7:30pm at Buddies & Bad Times Theatre.
2) Second performance is on June 19th at 2:30pm doors open at 2:00pm at Buddies & Bad Times Theatre.
3) The third performance is on June 19th at 8:00pm doors open at 7:30pm at Buddies & Bad Times Theatre.
Here is more info to purchase tickets to see Edward`s play:
http://www.ticketweb.ca/snl/Search.action?query=man+2+man+by+kwame+stephens
CNN Article: The Misogyny In Pop Culture Is Created By The Media.
Diva drama clichéd? Yes, but it sells
(CNN) — Get four successful women together on a movie set and you’d think it’s all claws, all the time.
Some rumors would insinuate that “Sex and the City’s” Kim Cattrall doesn’t get along with her co-star Kristin Davis, while another would allege there were catfights on the set of the sequel, as the stars revealed in the June issue of Marie Claire magazine.
Last week there was a similar tiff making headlines, although the spat seemed to be a bit one-sided. In an interview with Out magazine, pop star Christina Aguilera referred to fellow superstar Lady Gaga as a “newcomer” who was “fun to look at,” but Aguilera posted a statement on her website claiming that there wasn’t any malice behind those words.
“It is very easy for comments to be taken out of context and create unnecessary drama — especially between us women,” Aguilera said in the statement. “So I would like to tell you all directly so my words cannot be misconstrued to sell someone else’s story. … I have absolutely nothing against Lady Gaga or any other female artist in this business.”
As Aguilera noted in her statement, this isn’t the first time she’s “been unfairly pitted against another female artist.”
If Aguilera or the “Sex and the City” stars really are estranged from other famous women, so be it — but why no mention of their relationship with co-stars Chris Noth or John Corbett? For that matter, where are the stories about how the male actors got along on the set?
“There are hardly ever any stories about male celebrities fighting,” said celebrity blogger Vera Sweeney, who runs IAmNotObsessed.com. “Even when Shia LaBeouf got into that car accident while on a date with Isabel Lucas — even though she was dating Adrian Grenier at the time — nothing happened. Adrian said they weren’t serious, and the story was dropped.”
Obviously, this doesn’t mean that male celebrities are never pitted against one another in the media — take a look at earlier beefs between Kid Rock and Tommy Lee, Eminem and Moby or Nas and Jay-Z.
The difference, said Robert Thompson, director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University, is that those battles are often steeped with violent overtones, and they’re treated with more severity than the disputes female celebrities are rumored to have.
Or, Sweeney said, the “celebrity men in conflict” angle will be given a different spin.
“Instead of there being a power struggle or an emotional issue, different work ethics will most likely be cited,” she said. “For example, when Christian Bale and Johnny Depp filmed ‘Public Enemy’ it was said that both men wanted to stay in character even when they weren’t shooting. So it was understood why they weren’t friendly with one another in between takes — because they were ‘in character.’ If two women did that, it would be pitched as a cover-up for a more deep[ly] rooted reason.”
The actresses themselves seem to accept it as just another part of an oft-dirty business. “The chemistry among the four of us is very strong, [but] … the press has to put women in these boxes, rather than show them as the movie portrays them: working together and being powerful,” Cattrall said in the Marie Claire interview. “Things just have to be explosive for no other reason than for people’s imaginations.”
A likely reason for the media coverage, explained pop culture expert and “The Cult of Celebrity” author Cooper Lawrence, is because “it’s much easier to believe that women don’t like each other. It’s one of the few bastions of sexism that’s left in our culture, and we can’t imagine that powerful, successful women could ever get along.”
It all boils down to the gender norms many of us are raised with, Thompson said.
“One theory we can reject is that the women are fighting with each other more than the men are. … Anyone who’s been in a workplace knows that it’s not an inherently gender-specific sort of thing,” Thompson said. But “with the gender norms that we’ve all grown up with, men manifest their ‘cattiness’ differently than women; we’re OK with the idea that women are emotional, and we expect them to be.”
But said Ian Drew, senior editor of celebrity magazine Us Weekly, you can’t discount the reality of the entertainment industry — and that’s to sell albums and rack up box-office numbers.
“Obviously, this is a competition,” Drew said. “People need to be responsible for their own actions — [Aguilera] did say those words, and she said those things for a reason. Lady Gaga, for example, never says anything negative about anybody.”
If these stars wouldn’t send the media smoke signals with their words or actions, Drew said, the media wouldn’t start yelling fire. “No one is a victim in the celebrity world,” he added. “Very few of those rumors end up not being true.”
Regardless of whether they’re true or not, Sweeney said she’s willing to bet the stories of this starlet being angry at that one aren’t likely to let up anytime soon.
“The question isn’t why are these stories about women catfights being created,” she said. “Unfortunately, the question is why not? People enjoy the drama, and drama and divalike behavior sells.”
Critics Slam Christina Aguilera’s New Album Bionic! Do You Agree Or Disagree With The Critics?
Christina Aguilera’s new album “Bionic” will be released tomorrow. However, Christina should avoid reading the reviews of her album because the world media have slammed Bionic. The consensus is, the critics believe Bionic is not a cohesive album and Christina spreads herself all over the place.
Is anyone surprised that most of the negative reviews of Bionic are written by male writers?
Some men seem to be fearful of a woman expressing her sexuality. What is wrong with a twenty nine year old woman declaring that she loves sex? I don’t see a problem here!
I don’t think Christina is being desperate or trying to copy Lady Gaga either. Christina is a confident woman and an incredible singer. Lady Gaga is hot because she is new but Christina has been in the music business for over a decade. Why are the reviews of Bionic so cruel and mean spirited?
Some of the reviews are extremely misogynist.
For instance, one male reviewer Andy Gill he writes for the UK newspaper the Independent and he says:
“However, this apparent diversity simply disguises her lack of any original approach. Much of the album is taken up with the kind of android-themed electro-R&B schtick that was done to death years ago by Janet Jackson and more recently by Britney Spears: cue robotic beats, cyborg vocals and the like, combined with Aguilera’s tawdry super-slut persona in tracks like “Sex for Breakfast”, “Desnudate” and “Woohoo”, the latter a pet name for her privates.”
Christina Aguilera is twenty nine years old! Does Andy Gill live in a time warp? It isn’t 1999 anymore it is the year 2010! Christina is a grown ass woman and if she wants to sing about sex I say good for her! Why is there this double standard when women express their sexuality?
My favourite song is “Elastic Love” this song is a collaboration with British singer M.I.A.
One ballad I love is the sensual “sex for breakfast” this song is very sexy.
The intro “morning dessert” to bionic is very clever and erotic.
Here is a sample of some of the negativity.
The Wall Street Journal says :
“The 29-year-old singer seems intent on proving to fans and foes alike that she’s still got it. But first she has to figure out just what “it” is. Is she an old-school song stylist, an avant garde dance diva, or some mix of both?”
Brad Wheeler is not impressed with Bionic he writes for the the Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail.
“Oh, please. Glam is straight from the pages of Madonna, and Bionic uses the rigidly grooved style of Lady Gaga and the aforementioned M.I.A.”
The British music magazine New Music Express slams Bionic as well.
“Neither is the endless sexytalk convincing anymore. Where Madonna and Gaga use sex as a weapon, they also employ a humour that’s lacking on songs such as ‘Woowoo’ and ‘Des Nudites’. Bionic? It’s as if the mighty Xtina has been reanimated as a slightly confused cyborg with levers and LEDs where the leather chaps used to be.”
However, not all the news about Bionic is negative. The Houston Chronicle praises Christina Aguilera.
“Aguilera is best when she’s not trying to maneuver around so many ideas. She nails the dreamy, pillow-talk vibe of Sex for Breakfast; and Lift Me Up the requisite Linda Perry ballad, is accented with interesting electronic twitches.”
CNN Article: Study Finds That Lesbian Parents Are Better Than Straight Parents!
Kids of lesbians have fewer behavioral problems, study suggests
(CNN) — A nearly 25-year study concluded that children raised in lesbian households were psychologically well-adjusted and had fewer behavioral problems than their peers.
The study, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, followed 78 lesbian couples who conceived through sperm donations and assessed their children’s well-being through a series of questionnaires and interviews.
Funding for the research came from several lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender advocacy groups, such as the Gill Foundation and the Lesbian Health Fund from the Gay Lesbian Medical Association.
Dr. Nanette Gartrell, the author of the study, wrote that the “funding sources played no role in the design or conduct of the study.”
“My personal investment is in doing reputable research,” said Gartrell. “This is a straightforward statistical analysis. It will stand and it has withstood very rigorous peer review by the people who make the decision whether or not to publish it.”
Gay parenting remains a controversial issue, with debates about topics including the children’s psychological adjustment, their parents’ sexual orientation and adoption restrictions.
Wendy Wright, president of the Concerned Women for America, a group that supports biblical values, questioned the legitimacy of the findings from a study funded by gay advocacy groups.
“That proves the prejudice and bias of the study,” she said. “This study was clearly designed to come out with one outcome — to attempt to sway people that children are not detrimentally affected in a homosexual household.”
Gartrell started the study in 1986. She recruited subjects through announcements in bookstores, lesbian events and newspapers throughout metro Boston, Massachusetts; San Francisco, California, and Washington.
The mothers were interviewed during pregnancy or the insemination process, and additionally when the children were 2, 5, 10 and 17 years old. Those children are now 18 to 23 years old.
They were interviewed four times as they matured and also completed an online questionnaire at age 17, focusing on their psychological adjustment, peer and family relationships and academic progress.
To assess their well-being, Gartrell used the Child Behavior Checklist, a commonly used standard to measure children’s behavioral and social problems, such as anxiety, depression, aggressive behavior and social competence.
The answers were coded into a computer and then analyzed. This data was compared with data from children of nonlesbian families.
The results surprised Gartrell.
“I would have anticipated the kids would be doing as well as the normative sample,” she said. “I didn’t expect better.”
Children from lesbian families rated higher in social, academic and total competence. They also showed lower rates in social, rule-breaking, aggressive problem behavior.
The involvement of mothers may be a contributing factor, in addition to the fact that the pregnancies were planned, Gartrell said.
Tell iReport: Growing up with gay parents
The children “didn’t arrive by accident,” she said. “The mothers were older… they were waiting for an opportunity to have children and age brings maturity and better parenting.”
This also could have occurred because “growing up in households with less power assertion and more parental involvement has been shown to be associated with healthier psychological adjustment,” Gartrell wrote in the study.
Some of the teenagers reported being stigmatized by peers because of their parents’ sexuality. Researchers compared the figures in terms of the psychological adjustment between children who had experienced stigma versus those who did not.
“We found no differences,” Gartrell said. “That leads us to asking why and how are young people managing discrimination? That will be the topic of future papers. We’ll look into what the ingredients are to allow them to cope despite adversity.”
Gartrell studied only lesbian families, because circumstances surrounding gay male families are different. Gay men becoming fathers is newer in comparison with lesbians, because their options have been limited to adoption or surrogacy. Lesbians often conceive through donor insemination.
“This study shows that the 17-year-old adolescents who have been reared by lesbian families are psychologically happy and high functioning,” said Gartrell, a Williams distinguished scholar at the UCLA School of Law. Restrictions of child custody and reproductive technologies based on sexual orientation are not justified, she said.
Wright questioned the objectivity of Gartrell’s research, saying the author can “cherry pick people who are involved and the info they release.”
“In essence, this study claims to purport that children do better when raised by lesbians,” she said.
Studies have shown that children thrive having both a mother and a father, Wright said.
“You have to be a little suspicious of any study that says children being raised by same-sex couples do better or have superior outcomes to children raised with a mother and father,” she said. “It just defies common sense and reality.”
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