New York, Hi.
A story that involves me is coming to a magazine near you.
It’s fun to do big things from this little place sometimes. I have bursts of doing big things, just to shake life up. Personality type: introvert/firework-extrovert.
My husband’s first encounter with that quirk was when I tried to start a Mortified chapter in Nebraska, four years into our marriage. I had watched Mortified Nation, the documentary, and it had literally saved me from this odd sobering state.
I was full on survival mode, with a preschooler. Forging ahead valiantly folding clothes, but exhausted, hormonally imbalanced, and mourning the indulgent fantasy of taking our delayed honeymoon cruise over my fortieth birthday. My fortieth present instead, would be a precocious second child obsessed with ships.
I clicked on a movie with a fun cover and bang, this firecracker got sparked. The whole second child thing had wrapped me up in my own little world. But grownups reading from their youthful diaries lighted me up, inspired me to want to share, too. It’s just powerful stuff.
Mortified live is like readers theatre. It’s all pretty captivating. You can catch a show in a handful of cities. But not here in the middle of the great plains. I thought Lincoln or Omaha would be great locations to host a chapter. So, I decided to try to start one.
I called somewhere in California and got in touch with one of the Mortified fellas. It was a rewarding experience. It didn’t result in a chapter starting here, but as a tester test of a burst of doing something big, it sure beat folding clothes and waiting out all the what-nots of another geriatric pregnancy.
Before settling down, a burst of doing something big usually meant picking up and moving, usually to another state, with only my Monty Python mantra; and now for something completely different. Can’t do that now with kiddos and Mr. Parton. (Mr. Parton, Dolly’s husband, is whom my husband aspires to be when confronted with his betrothed’s limelight, a support, but rarely seen.)
I think if I were to shrink this moment of my life, I needed to give my mind it’s own baby so I didn’t fear the pregnancy, so this other big thing was conceived. We, meaning Mr. Parton and I, along with the long distance help and support of the Mortified fella, hosted a movie premiere in Lincoln.
An 80’s vibe was a must of the occasion. I dug through some old family stuff excellent for props in these extreme times - sunglasses, Sassy magazine, headphones, my piccolo. We hit up a couple of thrift shops, too. A nice guy of a photographer donated his time to take laser background school photos during the premiere. I was excited and it was a great place to put that pregnant lady energy. Others call it nesting.
I rented a really cool, old, needs-a-lot-of-help movie theatre for a couple hundred bucks in Lincoln. It even had the old school glass bubble a person sat in for you to buy a ticket from. The theatre’s seats were so worn I worried a person might get a spring in their ass, so I cut a bunch of butt sized squares out of red corduroy fabric for movie goers to buffer themselves.
I had met a barista who was willing to do a reading from her diary at the premiere. This helped to drum up additional interest for a feature in the Lincoln Journal Star. I love free advertisement.
While people were arriving into the theatre, an original cassette tape I recorded in the 80s played. It was the local radio station during late night dedications. Dedications were the ultimate way in the 80s to tell a boy or girl you loved them without telling them. With bated breath you’d wait for your message to be read by the on air DJ. …to Aaron, from your secret admirer, here’s a little uhhh Shake Your Love by Debbie Gibson…
I wanted to get a liquor license but a raffle had to do, for a Swatch watch. And the candy counter and popcorn was stocked. Long story short, I feared I lost my ass on the investment, which was a great place to put my pregnant tears and rage, but luckily we broke even.
Anyway New York, the story that’s going to be in that magazine near you isn’t about that. But it’s a real firecracker and I’ll let you know when it’s gone to print.
Just for shits and giggles, here’s some photos from that movie premiere.
