This is a love letter…
Thank you to all the cast, crew and volunteers who are helping with this batshit crazy show this weekend. Nerdiversary was a bad idea gone too far. It’s a vanity project of epic proportions. I just realized I actually sent my first email about this party/show in September of 2012. This is lunacy. But there is something behind all this as well.
I’ve cried so many tears for nerds and boobs that I fear I may have a problem. For an almost 35-year-old, this seems rather childish. Truthfully, it’s the occasional holdng back of emotions that is starting to seem even more unhealthy or strange. I’m going to release more of them now.
I’ve been lucky enough to spend the last six months of my life focusing on a dream endeavour, a nerdlesque history project (aka Big Damn Book), and thus have been researching, interviewing and seeing as many “nerdlesque” shows as possible. I’ve traveled to Chicago, New York, Las Vegas, Vancouver, and many places in between. There are countless pages full of scribbles and hours of interviews on my hard drive. My brain put up a “gone fishing” sign many weeks ago. I feel I’ve barely started.
Every single person I sat down with or didn’t sit down with has changed me for the better. I mean that most sincerely. I laughed with the “impresario” of New York nerdlesque in his hospital room while he received his final chemotherapy treatment. I confirmed an interview with a woman then, the following day, heard the devastating news of her death in a car accident. Learning her story, told to me by almost every single person I met at the Burlesque Hall of Fame weekend, was an echo of a life spent building friendships and tearing down walls. At that same event and in many other interviews, I heard endless tales of childhood bullying, of finding burlesque, of finding a community and a home.
I carry this card in my wallet that says, “I need friends from the burlesque community.” I didn’t write it. A stranger wrote it. It was passed to me in an eye-rolling woo-woo closing ceremony at BurlyCon. I cherish it. It’s my reminder to try harder, to say hello to strangers, to strive to make everyone feel welcome. I can always do better.
These last six months have reminded me of how important community is and how important friendships are. There is nothing wrong with me. There is nothing wrong with us. I feel no shame for these tears.
Thank you for your friendship. Thank you for continuing to help me celebrate nerds and boobs and extreme obsession and art. FUCK YEAH! 
