Sunday Blog post

 On Wednesday, I saw A Real Piece of Work at the Minnesota Fringe, and later I saw FAST Death of a Salesman. Both of these plays really stuck with me. There was something about the way they approached theater, performance, and the process of putting a play together that I kept thinking about afterward.

Then, on Friday, I went to see a one-man play. I brought a friend with me, and the play was very personal to me because it had to do with little people. One of the things that really stayed with me was the way the performer talked about being the only person in their family with a disability, and what that experience was like for them.

There was another part of the story that was particularly difficult for me to hear. The performer talked about going to a professional acting workshop where the instructor asked the performers to depict a little person, and described little people as being among the lowest people in society, alongside people with other disabilities. Hearing that really stung.

I think it hit me so hard because I am a little person, and I have experienced moments when I felt that other people were treating me as though ideas like that were actually true. I've experienced disrespect, and I've had moments where I've wondered whether people saw me as somehow less than them. So hearing that story in the context of an acting workshop brought up something very personal for me.

Afterward, I had a conversation with my brother about what it's like to be the only person in your family with a disability, and how complex that can be when you are adopted and are able to see your other siblings with disabilities. In my family, my mother was a little person, so was my grandmother, and so was my brother.But in my adopted family everyone was quite athletic and I was the only little person and often I distanced from my disability .My brother and I talked about how that can affect us and what it means to grow up within that kind of family structure.

Later that evening, my friend and I went to Whitey's to see the open mic night. Since she's a stand-up comedian, I feel like I'm really starting to get inducted into the stand-up comedy environment. I'm getting to know the spaces, the people, the conversations, and what it feels like to be around comedians. There's something exciting about being brought into that world through someone who is already part of it.

After a week like that, I've been taking some time to slow down and let everything settle. Right now, I'm sitting at the aquatic park called Lorraine Park, where they have an outdoor pool, and my son seems to be enjoying it.

Looking back at the week, I think I'm still processing everything I saw and experienced. The theater, my family, and the comedy world are all giving me different things to think about, and I'm interested in seeing where all of it takes me