rodger

I love to paint, Draw, Design, Socialize, Party, Watch Movies, Workout, Shop, Karaoke, Go to Bubble Island, Eat, Hug, Cuddle ish, Vintage Memorabilia, And have articles about my projects in the news paper CITY PULSE : Today’s teenagers are callously labeled as the MySpace generation, but some of them are proving that mass communication technology can write history.Check out 17-year-old high school senior Robert Van Kirk. Along with the rest of the state-spanning LGBT Community Coalition prom planning committee, he decided that gays deserved their own prom. Not exclusively gay, of course, but a place where a girl could feel comfortable bringing her special lady. With the help of a MySpace account with over 1,100 friends, Robert spread the news of Michigan’s first ever statewide gay prom in mere moments.I had heard previously about the prom from Teri Yale, the owner of Davey’s Basement, a record store in Mason. Davey’s closed a few months ago after its assistance with Mason High’s Gay Straight Alliance’s Homecoming float preceded a drastic reduction in sales, an event that did not bode well for Michigan’s LGBT tolerance level. When I spoke with her about the store’s troubles, she said that this upcoming gay prom she’d heard about was one silver lining in Michigan’s otherwise bleak future for gays, and gay youth especially.It’s a lot to ask of a group of high school kids to create a potentially revolutionary tradition, but they managed to pull it off. When I arrived at the Lansing Center Saturday night, the expansive Exhibit Hall A looked a good deal more like Oz than it had mere hours ago (the theme of the evening was “Carnival in Oz”). Each of the 40-some circle tables was covered in cloth matching either Dorothy’s checkered jumper or red shoes, topped with a sparkly red shoe on a yellow-brick base as a centerpiece. The DJ stand by the dance floor was surrounded by glittery green pillars of paper mache serving as the Emerald City, and 120 feet of glitter-topped yellow brick road carpets connected the city with the entrance, adorned with a rainbow-balloon arch. While constructing the Emerald City at committee member Rodger Giessman’s house, the crew joked that after they’d emptied Lansing’s stores of glitter, they had to call in a special order from San Francisco.Inevitably, there were some setbacks. The sound equipment arrived a few hours later than expected, causing one high profile drag queen, Sabin, to leave prematurely to keep an appointment, and attendance fell well short of the thousand-plus MySpace friends. But it didn’t detract even a little from the event’s importance. The fact that it happened at all is a testament to Van Kirk and Co.’s non-wavering willpower.For the hundred or so kids that made it, the prom was a blast. From what I could tell, the amount of gay couples narrowly edged out the straight ones, but no one felt uncomfortable dancing with whom they wanted, which was exactly the point of the prom. Gay or straight, friend or partner, people mingled freely. And the response of these kids to the drag queens was unreal. I had seen a few drag shows at Pride fests and gay bars, but the audience never seemed into it. Some of these kids, however, were crying as Cicily Allure, draped in a colorless gown with flowing sleeves, ripped off her wig in the throes of a furiously desperate performance of “And I Am Telling You I Am Not Going” from the “Dreamgirls” soundtrack. The audience pounded the stage with fists during Aaliyah Martinez’s snarling rendition of Pink’s punk anthem turned showstopper “U + Ur Hand,” proving that even a lip-synched performance can work with raw emotion.The rest of the night can be described as something between a high school prom and a night out at the club. The younger crowd, the alcohol-free setting and the club-friendly beats created a cleaner, classier dance bar atmosphere, and the respectfully dressed patrons only added to the elegance. I would have liked seeing a few more groaner party songs that DJs usually pull out (c’mon, no “Cha Cha Slide?”), but maybe that’s just me.If anything, the gay prom was a powerful symbol of hope for students struggling with their sexuality. As someone who went through high school closeted, I know how hard it can be to see all your friends awkwardly flirting and learning about love when you’re afraid to honestly admit whom you’d like to approach for the slow dance. I came to a realization seeing so many same-sex high school couples (you could be as young as 15 to attend): kids are coming out at younger and younger ages. The sooner teenagers can openly admit and discuss their sexuality, the better the chances of creating a stable environment for the gay community at large, not just at specialized proms. Like I said, it’s a promising generation.Bottom line: even if the event didn’t play out just like the committee hoped, it got off to a great start. Think of it as those first steps spiraling out from the beginning of the yellow brick road.(Clay Taylor, an MSU junior majoring in journalism, is a City Pulse intern.)