You got a big sign, now speak softly

Like a bad rash, headlines finally said, “War broke out,” last week. I saw junior-high students getting arrested in downtown because they were exercising their American-bred right to civil disobedience. At one point, Main Street had people lined on either side. The western side had big signs that read, “America, love it or leave it.” The eastern side also had signs, though theirs read, “Don’t kill babies for oil.”

The odd thing is that I recognized many on the west side as people who had marched outside the women’s center with signs that said, “Abortion is Murder!” Can it be that some people believe killing babies becomes OK when done in the name of patriotic duty? Have we become a city (country) that is so divided that we cannot sit down and talk things through rather than yell at each other across the street? How about a debate? How about mud wrestling? How about anything rather than the mindless idiocy I have witnessed recently?

Many people I know who are prone to the highs and lows of life have become unhinged in the last few weeks. If you feel too close to the edge, find someone to talk too. For the rest of you, listen to what those around you are saying; they are probably reaching out for help. We have a duty to help our fellow wo(man). Yeah, it’s not “cool” to be confused and cry and hack up goobers in front of your peers, so find someone older or younger, because while it may not be cool, it is very real to be blown out of the water emotionally. Tell your stories.

In these times of chaos, laughing is one of the most cathartic things you can do. The Blue Room, the last bastion of unadulterated content and form, presents this weekend only the late-night play, The Civilized and the Discontent. Bitchin’ Betty Burns has written a perverse farce that director Samantha Perry contorts in her own charming distorted ways. Duffy’s Tavern’s big man, Matthew Brown, is brilliantly delirious and proving himself to be one of Chico’s best funny men. Repertory member and Thunder DJ Jeremy Votava creates the kind of character that SNL was once famous for. You can’t buy this kind of talent. Well, actually you can, and it’s this Friday and Saturday at 11 p.m. sharp!