Guy In A Dress

Guy In A Dress

I'm sitting in an auditorium, well a theater.
It's a student film festival.
For a university I once attended and dropped out of many years ago.
But here I am in the present sitting and waiting.
Surrounded by a much younger crowd.
I came to see a friend's film.
I look at the time.
I know I'm not going to make it. I'm old and I'm tired.
And I know if I try to stay for the whole show I'm going to be death tomorrow.
But, I wait and I watch.
And I learn.
An MC takes the stage to start the show.
She announces the two students who also come on the stage.
They have their backs to us.
One dressed in a suit.
The other is wearing some sort of overcoat.
The one in the suit turns around.
It's a girl. She strikes a manly poise.
The other one wriggles out of the overcoat which drops to the stage floor.
This one turns around and
it's a guy in a dress. A low cut black tight fitting one.
The other students in the theater cheer and applaud.
I watch and wonder.
The dress wearer seems proud and effeminate.
Smiling, almost a little afraid, but still triumphant.
He lisps and makes announcements. A land acknowledgment.
He tells us we are on unceded stolen land.
Stolen from the Indigenous.
Afterward he feels he didn't do his announcements well enough.
So he does them again.
He really emphasizes the stolen land part.
He loves this part.
He's really got his back teeth into it.
I find myself shaking my head.
Rolling my eyes.
Face palming even.
I don't think anyone notices this old guy, me.
And his reaction.
They're too busy nodding in agreement.
Too busy grooving on his gayness?
Or is it his desire to be a woman?
Even though he's just--
A guy in a dress.
My generation got rejection for rock music, Vietnam war protest,
wearing long hair and smoking pot.
Now I am shaking my head over this generation.
I guess I am just like my parents.
I wonder if these young people will do the same one day.
When they are much older.
When they see a much younger generation,
doing something they find strange or outrageous.
Maybe.
Maybe it's something all generations do to one another.
React.
Shake their heads.
And say “What's the world coming to?”
The festival begins.
I watch the first film.
Doesn't seem to have much of a plot. It's about a couple of guys.
At least I think they are guys.
It's hard to tell these days.
They decide to enter a talent show dressed as clowns.
The talent they exhibit is primarily about hitting themselves over the head.
Repeatedly.
Until the judge of the show starts to laugh.
Again I find myself shaking my head.
Rolling my eyes.
Yeah the other thing too.
Later this film is elected the winner of the festival.
My friend's film: tender, heartfelt, insightful, doesn't stand a chance.
A story about a young Thai student who graduates from film school.
She works in a theater.
The theater closes down.
Now she must decide what she's going to do.
Go back to Thailand or stay and struggle in the new world.
Her mother is visiting her.
She so wants her mother to be proud of her.
It turns out her mother is proud of her.
She is surprised.
Her mother has wisdom.
Her mother helps her decide to stay and struggle.
To try to achieve her dream of being a filmmaker.
Two generations.
But this time they communicate.
And what happens is growth.
Growth in a real and important direction.
I can't help but wonder about
the guy in a dress.
Maybe he should have a conversation with his mother.