Bay Area History Junkie

This past weekend I performed my one-woman show “Born Again in Berkeley” for the last time (for a while at least, I mean never say never). I had two shows – an evening and a matinee. I felt better about the matinee, I had more energy I think, but both performances were pretty good.

The audiences were great. It was so nice to be able to just show up to the theatre and not have to worry if anyone else would show up as well. Brian Copeland, the promoter (and fellow solo performer) does a wonderful job filling the seats, so the actor can relax and actually focus on their performance. That way we don’t end up like this painfully accurate scene from the movie, La La Land. I feel this in my bones:

I’ve performed for even less people! I think it’s a rite of passage for performers (whether you’re an actor, stand-up comedian, or in a band) to push past the pain of a less than responsive audience. It builds character, right?

Now I turn my full attention to my latest project: doing research on my San Francisco Bay Area roots. I am clearing my 2025 calendar and making room for Bay Area history walking tours, learning how to navigate my family tree on Ancestry.com, and getting caught up on Liam O’Donoghue’s podcast, “East Bay Yesterday”. I am going to become a full-blown Bay Area history junkie.

My family tree of course isn’t just limited to the Bay Area, but I’m starting local. Eventually I will branch out and perhaps take a trip to “Zanesville, Ohio” where one of my grandfathers grew up. Perhaps I will head back east to Pennsylvania, where the Donahoe clan settled in the U.S. And of course….. Ireland.

But for now, I will focus on my father’s maternal’s side of the family- The Connolly’s. From Ireland to San Francisco, they came. And the rest is history.

A Republican in Berkeley

My one-woman-show “Born Again in Berkeley” was not my idea. I was in the middle of writing another solo show “Confessions of a White Mexican“, when my solo performance teacher started asking me questions about my Christian faith. It was 2018, the midterm elections were coming up, and Donald Trump had been president for almost two years. (As I type this, I can’t believe it is happening AGAIN). Anyway….

My teacher was putting together a festival called “Times Unseen” and wanted to know if I would write a piece about how my Christian faith ties into my politics.

Times Unseen chronicles the effect of political change. Because we are in new political territory and because politics, for better or worse, are about promises of a changed future. Times are as yet unseen.

So, I put a pin in “Confessions of a White Mexican” and with fear and in trepidation, agreed to write about what it was like to be a born-again Christian in Berkeley, if and only if my teacher would keep the audience members from throwing tomatoes at me.

Being a born-again Christian in the San Francisco Bay Area is not popular. It’s not mainstream, it’s not cultural, and it’s painted with the most negative of brushes. People hear “born-again” and assume the worst stereotype. Unrelatable, unintellectual, religious extremist, judgmental, close-minded and worst of all……..Republican.

Yes, that’s right. It’s practically against the law to be a Republican in the San Francisco/Berkeley/Oakland area. I call this area the Bay Area trifecta- they are sister cities with the most liberal of politics. But as you travel to the outskirts and into suburbia, (Marin, the Peninsula, Contra Costa County, etc.,) the politics become more conservative. Although not too much more, you will still be in the minority, but you won’t be arrested. Although you may be pulled over, questioned, then let off with a warning. They may just write you a ticket and tell you to keep your conservative views to yourself. In the name of tolerance and all.

But I get it. Especially in the rise of Trump, how extreme and polarized politics have gotten. When I was a teenager, I remember that “being a Republican” simply meant you wanted smaller government and lower taxes. I don’t recall much talk about what side of the abortion issue you were on. In fact, one Baby Boomer told me that back in her youth, being an evangelical Christian didn’t mean you were by default, a Republican. The merging of faith and conservatism rose up with Ronald Regan and up to that point, Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, was the one known Christian in politics. But everything changed in the 1980s, and in the white conservative American Christian church’s quest for power through dominionism, true and authentic evangelism has been bypassed. Why love your neighbor when you can pursue a seat of power instead? Some will say they are showing love for their neighbor by running for office, but I would argue it’s easier for some to pursue political gain than it is to actually feed the poor.

Hey, I am no saint. Yes, I may contribute financially once a month to certain charities, but am I doing the groundwork? I mean that’s just so uncomfortable, isn’t it? Can’t I just write a check? (Although, does anyone write checks anymore?) We are so distracted with capitalism in this country.

So why on earth would I agree to write a solo show that makes people in the SF Bay Area uncomfortable? This goes against my phlegmatic nature. I want everyone to get along and controversy does not energize me. All I can say is I prayed about it and as long as I sensed God’s favor was in it, I would do it. But it hasn’t been easy. I spent a lot of time doing research on some old political campaigns of my past. I used to attend a church that was involved in city politics; it got pretty ugly, and I had tucked those memories away. But then, all of a sudden, there I was, at the GLBT Historical Society Archives Building in San Francisco, in pursuit of historical accuracy, digging through boxes trying to recall what exactly my old church had gotten mixed up in. It was so many years ago and I needed to jog my memory. I put together a 45-minute script for the 2018 Times Unseen Festival at the Marsh Theatre in San Francisco, and the show went alright. But I could tell after the initial performance, the story wasn’t done. So, I continued to work on the script and came up with a 60-minute version which I performed at a few SF Bay Area suburban churches followed by the Rogue Fringe Festival in Fresno in 2022. I got one decent review at the festival, but still, it felt like it wasn’t done. I applied for the San Francisco Fringe Festival five years in a row, but never got in. So, I kept tweaking the script and then made my official Berkeley debut last year. Performance wise, I think it went well, but what I was not banking on were all the feedback emails I received afterwards. Now mind you, I did not ask for feedback from the Berkeley crowd, but I took it as a good sign.

“I will be thinking about your show for days.”

“That kind of discussion is precious, and I feel the need for it in my life, so I imagine others might too.”

“I was very touched by the underlying message in your show that Christianity is about love and that is what you are striving for.“

And yet, I have not performed the entire show since November 2023.

As scary as writing and performing the show has been, the hardest part has been getting people to come out and see the show in the first place. It used to be that whatever theatre you performed at; the venues were the ones who were in charge of getting an audience and had a loyal following of subscribers. There wasn’t so much pressure on the actors to do promotional work, but with social media- the expectations have shifted. I am not famous, or an influencer. I have never gone viral and only have a modest following. I still work a full-time job so my energy level in regard to promotion is limited. I send out emails and tell my friends and post on all the socials, but I can’t force people to care. So, now, on November 23rd & 24th I will be performing “Born Again in Berkeley” one last time (actually twice, one evening show and one matinee), before putting it away for a while. Solo Performance is a lonely business and unless you have a draw, it’s just not worth the work if no one will see what you have done. Don’t worry, I will continue to perform solo pieces in 2025, but on less controversial and more lighthearted topics. That is unless someone sees one of my upcoming final shows and invites me to perform it again at a venue that will help me promote. Then I will resurrect the show! Pun intended.

But for now, please join me one last time for the 2024 grand finale of “Born Again in Berkeley” on November 23rd & 24th in San Leandro. Come out and see the show that one reviewer in Fresno called “an intimate look at one woman’s journey of widening one’s mindset and acceptance as walls of intolerance and ignorance are torn down.“

Shows will be held at the San Leandro Main Library, 300 Estudillo Ave., San Leandro.
Shows are Saturdays at 7 PM and Sundays at 2 PM. Schedule is subject to change.
Seating is General Admission.
Questions? Contact info@bestofsfsolo.com

Tickets: $40 at the door only. (let me know if this causes a financial hardship for you- we can work something out).

Taxicab Confessions

Facebook post of the day:

So, there it is. They should have polled the cab drivers. They get the real story. Lockeroom talk.

I am glad that Kamala ran though. We need to normalize women running for president. And maybe someday, they will actually win.

And then Bernie wrote:

Ya see that. “Show me the money“.

Except for black women. They SHOWED UP.

Look at those Hispanic/Latino men. I forgot how machismo the culture is. Hey, I’m half Mexican, I can say that.

Then John Dickerson did an interview with Stephen Colbert. The phrase that jumped out to me was “non-college white voters.” Non-college? Is that what I am because I don’t have a degree? Why not just say “blue collar” or “working class”?

It’s those little things that cause the “non-college white voters” to feel overlooked. Shoot, JD Vance wrote a book about it. They must have felt seen by him.

But with all those missteps that the Democratic party has taken, Donald Trump is never the answer. My two cents, my blog. I’m not looking for a debate. This is my safe space.

Thursday, November 7, 2024

The Day After

This is what the day after the 2024 Presidential Election looks like. I wanted to keep a record of it, so I don’t forget. FYI – I did not vote for Donald Trump, but I think it’s important to remember history- the good and the ugly.

From one Trump voter:

I think that comment on social media sums it up. At the end of the day, after all of the issues, the American people still vote with their pocketbook (outdated terms, but you get it). Women’s rights, the war in Gaza- those are “fringe issues” at best, to a lot of voters. And even with Trump’s lack of a moral compass – voters can’t think past the money part. It doesn’t matter if the economy was worse during Trump’s first term- in their minds, whoever is in office now, – that’s who you vote out.

I think in 2028, if inflation is even worse, whoever runs against Trump will win. Money talks. If memory serves, that’s what happened to Jimmy Carter. I was just a kid, but all I heard was the word “inflation” – then Reagan got elected. It didn’t matter that Jimmy Carter was a good Christian human being.

I did notice that the price of toilet paper went up at the grocery store this past year, so I’ve had to stick with the Walgreen brand (very affordable). But what if people don’t live near a Walgreen’s?

Also, milk products at Trader Joe’s are very reasonable, but what if you don’t live near a Trader Joe’s? People start to feel helpless.

BTW- I don’t own a home. I live in a rent-controlled studio apartment. Sure, I would like to have more room someday, but not at the expense of a Donald Trump presidency- and I don’t think he can help me anyway. All of my needs are met. God provides for me. I don’t consider myself poor, but also- the American dream has never been my dream, and I don’t equate owning a home with security or stability. Even before I became a Christian – I knew my calling in life would not be a conventional one.

I am also not a fan of pushing conservative Christian values through politics. Been there, done that. One of the churches I used to attend, had gotten a taste of what political power was like and power is intoxicating. But it was also short-sighted, and God gave us a warning – Zechariah 4:6. “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord Almighty.” – It was as if God was saying to us: “No more political power grabs in the name of Christ.” I will never forget that election night back in 1993.

But that was years ago, and with each new church movement, there are always people in the church who want to sit at the head of the table and wear the finest of robes. Now I’m not saying that God can’t anoint certain people to leadership positions- I believe He does. But I suspect that there are way more people who pursue power, than there are those who are actually anointed and called to that position. Again, power is intoxicating.

I am thinking I am going to start blogging every night again, like I used to during the height of Covid. I think I need to remember these times. The good and the bad.

Wednesday, November 6, 2024