Local notes, mostly commercial

The Harvard Book Store is having its annual frequent buyer sale Sunday, November 7. Anyone who already has a frequent buyer card gets an additional 20% off everything in the store (I don't know about combining it with a 20%-off purchase when a card hits $100, though.). They also have a lot of readings and other author events.

The Garment District is open late until Halloween.

If anyone hasn't heard yet, Wordsworth (in Harvard Square) is closing. I don't know how long they'll be open, nor what kind of sale is going on. Note: Curious George is staying open.

Second and last day of the Head of the Charles today. This means I'll be able to cut through Harvard Yard again soon; they've closed it to anyone without a Harvard ID, Friday through Sunday. I don't know if this is the first time they've done this, but it seems odd that the Head of the Charles would trigger such security.

The Boston Jewish Film Festival is starting soon, November 3-14. Mostly movies, plus a concert, and a free discussion of Jewish identity around the world.

The new book store in Porter Square is having a number of readings, one of which is Gregory Maguire, Saturday, November 13, 4 pm. He'll be reading and signing "Mirror, Mirror". The store's web site is supposedly www.portersquarebooks.com, but I can't get that to work. Phone: 617 491 2220.

Another American Asking and Telling

Last night I saw Another American Asking and Telling, written and performed by Marc Wolf, put on by Boston Theatre Works. It's an intense show, as he portrays at least twenty different people he interviewed about gays in the military, mostly current and former military people (gay and straight, closeted and out), some others (parents, etc), using their words and their mannerisms as he talked.

The stage is mostly bare, just a table and chair and a white screen on a dark wall, a couple of hand props (a tiny cassette recorder, a glass of water), the changes between people coming through light changes and changes in his stance and voice. It was particularly impressive when he was showing a pair of older women, doing both parts almost at once.

I hadn't realized just how much no one liked "don't ask, don't tell". And some of the stories were heart-rending (the mother identifying her son's body by the tattoos she hadn't wanted him to get, the man assaulted by another soldier while being held in protective custody by MPs... by someone he later found out had AIDS, the woman who fought to get her job back. And so on.). Some weren't as heavy (a woman discovering she was not unique, and the power of her first kiss; a man who kept his unit together in Vietnam). Together, he weaves a whole, shimmering with different experiences, shining darkly.

It's an intense show, and well worth seeing if it comes by again (this was the last performance in this run).