MN Monday #7 - "Goodtime" Softball

I was _never_ good at baseball.  I played T-Ball and Little League for years as a kid and it was just not ever going to work out.  I never swung at the ball when I was up to bat because it was going so fast (!) and I was convinced that if I did swing, the ball would hit me.  And I always played in a boring part of the outfield, so I was more likely to be looking down at a dandelion or bee than looking up to see the infrequent, random pop fly headed my way.  Not a good fit.

But long about middle school, I forget precisely when, softball became an option.  A larger, slower that wasn't nearly so threatening?  Sign me up!  :)  So I played several years of that league and then when I was in high school, I started playing in the church league on my parish team.  Well "playing" is probably a strong word.  I would be at the games and _maybe_ see some field time in Right Field where not much ever happened.  But it was still fun to be on the team and I learned a lot.

Fast forward several years and I arrive in MN in the summer of 1997.  By way of a very random and happy coincidence (another story for another time), I connected with a friend of a friend who played in a softball league here - The Twin Cities Goodtime Softball League (TCGSL) - and joined up for some informal fall-ball which was a lot of fun.  Minneapolis is home to one of the nation's oldest and largest gay softball leagues.  The story is that a team of firefighters and cops challenged a team of the gays to a softball game, only the those wonderful homos won.  So some of them figured, why not start our own league and so they did.  It started in 1979 with just a handful of teams.  Now there are almost 40 teams spread across multiple divisions.  And more than just an athletic outlet.  For all of us it has been the source of support, friendship, love, chosen family, activism, pride and many other intangibles.

I played my first full summer season in 1998.  I put my name on the league's list of players looking for teams and got "picked up" by the Lonestars, but since there were only 3 returning players on that team it was more like reconstitution than anything.  I played on the Lonestars for 10 seasons.  I specialized in Left Field and learned how to be a good one.  I coached the team for a season and didn't enjoy it much so I was happy to let someone else do it.  I put a lot of time into that team and made a few really great friends, but then it dissolved out from under me.

When the Lonestars went under, one of those great friends who had moved on to another team threw me a lifeline.  Larry introduced me to the Slammers and they became more than a new team - a new family.  Because that's the team's specialty - family.  It's a team that's been around for a long time and the motto is "Once a Slammer, Always a Slammer."  Folks all over the league have been part of the team at some point and everyone has a special place in their heart for the team and the love.  Coach TiTi and all the people associated with that team set a high bar for being good to each other.  I adore everyone that I played with.  They come to play fun ball.  And don't let the wigs or heels fool you, they place serious ball.  Dirt in the Skirt.

A couple years ago, the Slammers family had grown to the point that some dividing was necessary.  So one large team and extended family became three - The Slammers, The Flight, and my new team Scorgasm.  Many of the same people plus new friends.  We're having fun and doing our best to play better and harder.  But now I have to get used to being one of if not the oldest person on the team...  :\

So as I get ready to start my 20th season as a member of this league, I can't help but think how much emptier my life would be without the people and experiences I've had as a part of this wonder group of people.  Gay, straight, bi, trans - everyone is represented and welcomed and has a place.  Rank novice to seasoned veteran, teenager still living at home to retired person wanting to be active - there's a spot for you on a team.  The Sunshine Fund to help those going through difficult places in their lives.  And so much much more.

I've been enriched by the efforts of generations of dedicated people who worked to build the rich organization that exists today and I'm proud to be counted a part of it.

MN "Monday" #6 - The Rose

(Aside: So maybe starting something that I have to remember to do every Monday wasn't the brightest idea, knowing my brain as well as I do...  Oh well.  Onward we go.)

As I said, the reason I started working at the Y after grad school was so that I could turn all of my attention toward music.  I was good, had a vocal performance minor and lots of experience and I thought that I'd be able to find a combination of opportunities for singing that would allow that to be my life. (i.e. I was young and stupid and still had TONS to learn...)

So as I was finishing up my Masters degree, I started auditioning for groups around town.

• Minnesota Chorale - Led by the wonderful Kathy Romey who I had sung with in the Men's Choir at the U of MN while in grad school.  I made it into the volunteer chorus, but not into the ranks of the paid singers who got the best gigs.
• The Dale Warland Singers - This was few years before Dale retired and I don't remember if we knew he was going to.  I was really nervous because DALE WARLAND!  Totally bungled the sight reading part of the audition. (I know now that he liked to choose particularly obtuse things for those exercises as a weed out.)  When I finished making a hash out of it, he said "You haven't had much music theory, have you."  So 1) I knew the audition was over and 2) his condescension ensured that I never had any interest in auditioning for him again.
• Cantus - I was really excited to audition for Cantus.  Listening to them made me long for my days at NCSU with the Grains of Time a capella group.  And they were changing their model so that the singers would be salaried as half-time employees or some such so there would be a lot of travel but also a lot of stability.  I think I acquitted myself well during the audition, but I didn't make the cut and I was inconsolably bummed.

Finally I hit on one group that was willing to take a chance on me - The Rose Ensemble. Rose had only been around since 1996 but they were already making big waves in the early music world.  I auditioned for Jordan and he was very sweet and down to Earth.  When I heard back, they could only guarantee needing me for the first show of the next season, but it was something.

So I worked my butt off getting ready over the summer.  They had recorded a CD that included much of the music I needed to learn (Slavic Holiday - go get it!) and I listened to it on repeat at my desk at the Y.  By the time the first rehearsal rolled around that fall, I knew everything on that CD by heart.  So as we were milling about before rehearsal (in the robing room "backstage" at the Basilica of St. Mary where we rehearsed in those days), Jordan walks in and spouts off the opening cantor line of Svaty Vaclave, the Pavlovian response took over and I sang back the response.  I wasn't alone, mind you, but the new guy wasn't supposed to know what to do.  This was commented on approvingly.  :)

Thus began two seasons of making music with the most talented and dedicated collection of musicians I have ever had the honor to be a part of.  I learned many things about my voice because I had to step up my game so that I wasn't always the weakest link.  I made dear friends and continue to see in my musical endeavors around town, always to my pleasure.  The Road to Compostella show and CD are still the highlight of my musical life (I hear Eric's clear countertenor opening to Beata Viscera in my head often).  Those two seasons weren't all positive, but in terms of learning and growing I couldn't have asked for more supportive or magical company than I received.

I sing with amazing people today and I've done many things since then, but that time with Rose is still the bar against which every other musical experience is measured.   

MN Monday #5 - The Y Way

When I left grad school, I was completely burned out on academics.  I'd been in school for 21 years straight and, combined with my frustrating experience getting my masters degree, I was well and truly DONE.

So done, in fact, that I decided that my brain had gotten too much of my attention so far and I needed to switch directions completely and go whole hog into music (more on the implications of that some other time...).   But I knew that I'd need to be able to pay bills and such while I made a go of music. So I started looking around for something to do as a "day job."

Thus began my 3+ years at the YMCA of Metropolitan Minneapolis.  I applied for an landed a job as an administrative assistant at the Downtown Minneapolis branch supporting the Executive Director.  It was a decent job that paid a decent salary.  We were still living in Loring Park at the time and it was only a 15 minute walk to work (gods above and below, I miss that commute...). And best of all, when I left work I left everything at work.  It wasn't particularly difficult work but learning new things about the non-profit sector made it interesting.

Only a few months into my position, the Director of Administrative Services (DAS), moved away.  And she wasn't replaced right away.  So, the relatively cushy admin asst. job I'd been in suddenly expanded to include all of the other administrative functions that needed to continue at the branch.  I learned how to do all the things that needed doing and, though not the DAS, functioned as one for the better part of a year.

When Robin came on board as DAS, it was almost immediately clear to me that she was going to be one of my favorite people in the world.  I still call her BossLady because 1) she's awesome and 2) she knows what she's doing.  :)  Since she and I both came from "outside" the Y, we had perspectives on how to get stuff done that no one there had given much thought to.  Together we made big strides at dragging the Downtown branch into the 21st century kicking and screaming.  Since I knew how to do everything we were able to redistribute the administrative work between the two of us so that it happened better, faster, and more efficiently.  I had a lot of fun working with her.

Robin is the reason I stayed at the Y as long as I did.  I had many friends who passed through the organization but people tended to burn brightly and the burn out around that place.  It's the nature of "mission driven" work as far as I'm concerned.  I had started realizing about a two years in that I wasn't going to be happy at the Y long-term.  With time and distance, I knew that I belonged in academia.  How to get back in was the question.

I eventually made it and have been happily ensconced ever since.  But I value all the things I learned and so many of the people that I met working at the Y.  It was a good thing and I'm grateful for the it.  But I'm so happy not to have to answer the phone like this anymore.

"Thanks for calling the Downtown Minneapolis YMCA, where we build strong kids, strong families, and strong communities.  This is John, how can I help you."

MN Monday #4 - The Grand Oak Grove

When I came up to visit the University of MN campus, it was really the only option I had for grad school at that time.  So we had scheduled time with an apartment hunter to show me some places quickly while I was in town.  I looked at several places, the correct choice was pretty obvious as soon as I walked into the lobby.  230 Oak Grove St. - The Grand Oak Grove Hotel - just a few blocks off of Loring Park south of Downtown Minneapolis.

With it's history as an actual hotel, it has this very impressive marble clad lobby with a long entryway.  It was reasonably well-managed and the rooms were quite nice, by-and-large.  Plus it was right in the heart of an exciting (but not _too_ exciting) city that I was eager to go exploring.

But more importantly, when I lived in that building there developed a community of people who cared about each other.  Many of us were dog owners (at the high point there were 40 dogs in a building with just over 100 units).  So many of us got to know each other through them on the dog lot across the street from the building.  At the time it was a grassy area beside the parking lot and sometimes we would just sit out there for a could hours with the dogs and socializing.  The big lobby also became a place where we could build a community.  At one point, Jacob started rolling his upright piano down to the lobby during the holiday and people would carol beside the gigantic Christmas tree we convinced the manager to spring for.

It was only a few years -- Jonathon and I moved in July 1, 1997 and Jacob and I moved out when we bought our first house in October 2001.  But it was a good chosen family with lots and lots of good memories.  (Plenty of bad ones too, but this is supposed to be a fun retrospective.)  We've all split to the four winds now but I'm really grateful that my first home in this new place was one that gave me the support I needed to thrive here.