a boring title for a first post

my inaugural post was to be a review of my experience getting a brazilian wax, but i decided that i wanted to skip my friday appointments and enjoy my half-day off of work. instead, i offer a slightly less interesting post regarding a very interesting thing that i do and love doing (since, in reality, no one loves getting a brazilian).

i owe outrageous a proper explanation.

a dear ex-boyfriend once told me that i have “too many ideas.” the anxious self-hating me wondered (feared) at length if there could there be such a thing as “too many ideas.” does this propensity for indulging in every whim i feel like jumping into signify something (not a “someone;” you become not-human when you have “too many ideas”) unworthy of human interaction?

after much of everything in the past year and a half, i have come to an ultimate conclusion: there is no such thing as “too many ideas.”

the fiction of “too many” is an oppressive construction. there is splendor in multiplicity and one should not be held to one or three or fifteen or a hundred ideas. for any amount of time they exist, they are real and alive, and whatever you choose to curate or ignore is beautiful to a degree only limited by how you feel about it.

not only was outrageous an idea, but it was something i needed to action immediately, or else i would never get around to doing it. so, with this idea, two weeks of barely planning, almost catching pneumonia, and a very random offer for a venue, i threw some people in the freezing upper room of the central and outrageous happened.

i’ve been to open mics around the city and the amount of discomfort is outrageous. poetry is not a limit concept – it is an object or body that can take and manipulate any form. the problem with other places is that they perpetuate the limit concept with a mentality of, “nobody wants to hear that.” i sought to provide a space where (as i say every show) people can do whatever they want, think what they want, and say what they want. now, i can speak freely of my vagina feeling more masculine than feminine and tell horrible stories of my brother’s childhood, and whoever wants to do the same (or worse), can.

the name is (and nobody knows this) inspired by my incredibly witty friend matt, who often describes himself as “outrageous.” i took the word he uses for himself because i think the way he says it is fantastic/hilarious, and relevant to the ideal of the show. it’s sad to me that some people would get upset over a bar menu being screamed into a microphone, considering people watch “girls” on a regular basis, but it happens and it’s a real thing that i want to let happen and not happen, you feel me?

even if you don’t, which i don’t think many do, the event has grown into this exciting community experience. i’m proud to say that i have curated the best group to operate the whole thing (glenn, theresa, jay) and have also drawn an incredible audience that makes the performers feel welcome, confident, and appreciated. people have broken their open mic and featuring virginities here, which is flattering to an unfathomable degree. the event will always be a work in progress because it’s been blessed with so much to work with. the deliberate decision to let it fall together however it wants was the most exciting creative thing i’ve done thus far and will continue to let it happen.

outrageous will last as long as it needs to and may grow or shrink in size, but never in ideas or ambition.