Bus Ride

Today was overcast, in that depressing way that winter days sometimes are.

I got on the bus at 4 o'clock or so, because it's always late. Really it should pick us up at 3:30. It sucks.

Anyway, I got on the bus, and there were three of us - my friends and I - so I sat alone while they sat in a seat farther in front. Two guys were sitting across from me, one in front, and one diagonal-front.

I was looking out the window when I heard Diagonal-Front say -

"You only have one friend, you need to get a life, and you're a faggot."

Across #1 said, "Who, me?"

"Yeah, you."

"No, I - I have more than one friend. You know J?" (I'm not putting his full name in.)

"Yeah, yeah. I know him. He's - he's in my history class. And he hates you and he thinks you only have one friend, you need to get a life, and you're a faggot."

"No...no, he doesn't."

"Yeah, he does."

"Who do you have for history?"

"Uhh...Ms. L."

"Oh, she's the worst," said Front.

"He hesitated," said Across #2. "He had to think about it."

"He's in my history class. Isn't he in my history class?" Diagonal-Front asked Front.

"Yeah," said Front.

"He thinks you're a homophobic gay. You're afraid of gays and you are a gay." (Seriously. GRAMMAR. Okay, sorry.)

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," said Across #1, but he didn't sound certain.

"You should convert to Judaism. They'd let you be gay."

It went on like that for a while. And I didn't say anything. I should have said, "Fuck off." Or "You're an idiot if you think 'gay' is an insult." Or "You don't have to be such a dick." Or something. There was so much I could have said.

But I didn't, and Diagonal-Front got off the bus, and it passed. But I could see, in my furtive glances across the aisle, that Across #1 was still hurting. And I should have said something.

Mayumana

I went to this show called Mayumana Momentum today.

It was in Jaffa, and we had to drive there because it's Shavuot (a holiday) and there aren't any buses. May I just say that driving in Tel Aviv/Yafo is the worst? I mean, firstly I'm not so used to sitting around in cars anymore and secondly, it's all so complicated. Plus, you can never find parking. We were lucky in that respect.

Mayumana is a group that does something sort of similar to Stomp. Except not. It's a cross between dancing and singing and acrobatics and acting and drumming and playing music and audience participation. And it's really cool. But loud, too.

This particular show had a theme of time. There were clocks everywhere and quotes about time that were projected onto a screen before each act. And then that screen lifted up to reveal this grid-thing where the dancers/actors/musicians could climb up and each person had their own box where they danced and sang, backlit by lights, and they also performed on the stage. They had this really cool recording thing which they could press and it would play back the music they'd already created and they could record another part over it, which they also did with cameras: they would film something and project it onto the screen, sometimes filming something else and adding it. Oh, it was all brilliant.

They made the show mostly in English and movements, so most people would be able to understand. Even if you didn't speak English, you could get it from the actors' gestures, and in any case it was more about the music and dance.

All the performers were insanely adept at guitar, drumming, and singing, as well as being extremely strong and flexible. At first I thought, "Oh, I could do that," but it soon became apparent that there was no way at all.

In any case, Mayumana was really great. If you find yourself in Jaffa, I encourage you to go.