Yesterday I didn't post because it was great but EXHAUSTING. Topaz and I got up early (shockingly) and ran errands and then went to a park (which we left pretty quickly because it was the hottest part of a hot day and we were getting eaten by bugs) and to a bakery where I had a bubble tea for the first time in FOREVER but felt unaccountably ill and couldn't finish it. Then we went to see Michael Jackson's IMMORTAL with Cirque du Soleil, which was amaaaaazing (yet with some problematic bits). They did almost all of my favorite songs! They Don't Care About Us, Earth Song, Beat It, Black or White, Heal The World, Man In The Mirror. They didn't include Threatened which disappointed but didn't surprise me. I really loved the electric cello player and the contortionist (and the way they set the stage for the contortionist!) and the lights and costumes (I kinda want to have 8 pairs of hammer pants made and make them one of my style staples). I loved the videos they played. Unfortunately they had a white male dancer as the centerpoint -- WTF. When there was a black dancer who didn't get the spotlight who had WAY MORE of the essence of MJ, for crying out loud. That's some racist bullshit. Also I was deeply annoyed by the ratio of male to female dancers (like 80 to 20) and how the females had to wear the most ridic femme and/or naked outfits and did more 'delicate' routines. I really expected better. And then there was this group of white 20-somethings that were two rows in front, who were standing for a while, with the people behind them sitting. One of the sitting people asked them to sit, and they gave attitude and didn't do it. It was profoundly discourteous and I was so irritated with them that I couldn't calm down for like two songs (and then they finally sat), seeing the person in front of me completely unable to see because these rude poopsicles wouldn't inconvenience themselves a tiny bit. It just seemed like the ultimate in privileged selfishness and I felt it so much harder because it was like, you people clearly didn't listen ONE BIT to these songs you're so determined to gyrate to.

Also. Michael Jackson is amazing. Before Topaz I knew very little about MJ: I knew MJ was a pop artist who sang about love and monsters, who had vitiligo and was accused of child molestation. I always respond pretty defensively to suspected child molesters, so that I remember looking up and reading what MJ had to say about it. I felt the truth in zir words and felt that this was an accusation leveled because MJ was rich and vulnerable (looking different, being black, actually giving a shit about kids unlike most adult cis men). That's no proof but the facts about this kids' dad drugging him to get the initial 'confession' and later attacking the kid to the point that the kid pressed charges make me feel even more sure (and pretty suspicious of the dad). There's an unsubstantiated report of the kid apologizing and confessing that it was a lie that his dad made him tell. And all of the other allegations which don't actually focus on taking care of any child. It's more of the same myth of the black male rapist racist shit.

Anyway, Topaz introduced me to the fact that MJ was a radical social justice activist. A lot of celebrities pick a cause and herald it: it's good for business. However, only paying attention to one cause is a glaring sign of Missing The Point. But MJ cared about children, about environmental destruction, about racial hatred, about domestic violence, about rape, about sex workers, really about anyone who suffered, and was extraordinarily good at packaging meaning in pop-y songs to reach so many people. I weep because we don't have anyone like that now, no one with that much reach who actually cares.