Funeral for the Fall

     I always have tremendous respect for people who put on public events for groups, especially creatives. It takes a sort of commitment to strangers that I frankly don't have the patience for, particularly because it is a thankless job that often ends up stressing people out too much. However, whenever I do see people putting on these sorts of events, I always make an effort to show up and support them, since I feel like most other people will ignore their hard work, and I like helping people put on their shows and events, if only so I could vicariously feel accomplished through them.

    One such event was the "Funeral for the Fall," an open-mic night that was being headed by some members of the Kudzu Review, along with some other literary organizations. As a loyal member of Kudzu, I was honor-bound to attend, even though I would've gone regardless. So, I rounded up a few friends from work, and went to the event, sitting in the center of the very front row, eager to listen to some performances from writers my age :)

    Of course, these things never work out the way they should. The very first guy went on for about fifteen minutes about roleplaying as Doctor Doom in explicit, painstaking detail. And not very tastefully, as he essentially read out his sexually depraved fanfiction to a small audience that was frozen in horror, as none of the people running the show did anything to stop him. What had started as an extreme try not to laugh challenge for me had quickly become a simple task of surviving through the set with my sanity intact. And just when we believed he was done, he presented a second piece, which, to everyone's dismay, was just as depraved and focused on sex and semen as the first piece. After an agonizing twenty minutes, we were finally released from this hostage situation, and as the audience awkwardly gave a smattering of applause, I turned to look back into the audience and lock eyes with my boss, who was one of the showrunners, to mouth the words: Never Again.

    Fortunately, every performance that followed was more normal: just a few love poems, odes about loss, and one scathing condemnation of the FSU tour guides and the stress they feel. Overall, everything else went to plan! There isn't a whole lot to discuss, beyond acknowledging what happened at the beginning of the show, as well as participating in the book swap that had been set up earlier. At the end of the day, as strange as it was, I still believe in attending every public event I can, since people deserve to have their efforts noticed and rewarded, and at the very least, I can always get a story out of any strange experiences that happen!