These girls did a really great job. They had their lines down. The show was entertaining and very humorous. Supposedly based on most true experiences some of the vignettes were priceless. The smiling kid on the bus just cracked me up. I can highly recommend this show.

All dressed up and let down. Yes they were at times funny. Yes they had their lines down. But we’d have to give it a “meh.” They could have been talking about anywhere. A few references to Kerman was it. It was more about growing up anywhere. They really didn’t hit on things that make living here the unique experience that it is.

I did love the fact that their boys named Jesus comments caused a group which included a notable Valley Public Radio / Fresno Bee contributer to get up and leave. (OK, that’s pretty Central Valley typical.)

Racism and other harmful performance approaches

I write this as a fellow Central Valley resident and lover of live performance. Please read my comment earnestly, for I share it out of a desire to dialogue & grow.

I was deeply offended by this performance. The cultural caricatures, such as so called “Low-rider bike gangs” performed by the actresses only reinforce harmful stereotypes about people (particularly males) who dress in baggy clothes and ride low-rider bicycles. No room was left for other more complex representations/stories/realities — the performance made it seem like ALL people who wear baggy clothes and ride low-rider bikes are stupid and threaten students and teachers.

If this performance is based on reality - i abhor that a group identified in the performance as a “low-rider bike gang” threw water on one of the actresses. That behavior is definitely not acceptable.

However, performance is powerful. When anyone represents a whole sub-culture of people in a singular negative way the performance thus teaches us to think of the particular group of people in the same negative manner (in this case we are taught that baggy clothes wearing males who ride low-rider bicycles are ignorant, cannot speak English, and mean).

Several skits depict particular groups of males as stupid and violent. I do not believe the actresses intended to create this type of performance; i imagine the artists wrote this out of innocent ethnocentrism in an attempt to “make light & laughter” of past experiences in the Valley. Regardless of intent, the performance disturbed me.

It may seem the performers are simply making “harmless” jokes about people who were not particularly nice to them; however, the performance is implicitly poking fun at specific groups that are already often marginalized in our society.

Specifically, there is one joke making fun of the fact that multiple people in these alleged “low-rider bike gangs” often ride on one bike together. This joke ignores the reality that not everyone can afford cars nor even their own bicycles. This joke humiliates people who ride on bikes together when they may be doing so out of necessity and/or kindness.

Furthermore, I found the jokes about people who are named “Jesus” very ill-informed and quite frankly racist. I sat in shock imagining if I had been named Jesus (a name which is culturally full of pride and honor in many Latino households). I don’t think the performers stopped to think about how their joke was implicitly poking fun of Latinos and Spanish names.

This skit harmfully represented a cultural naming practice outside of what seemed to be the performers’ Western/Anglo cultural point of view - therefore repeating the type of cultural ethnocentrism that places non-western/non-white/non-anglo cultures and people below those of the “normal” (and hence implicitly superior) Western/white/Anglo culture and people.

I do not think the performers meant to do any harm, but intention does not erase hurt. I would urge the performers to re-examine the representational politics of their performance before stepping on stage again.

Here are some resources.

Check out:
Peggy McIntosh “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” (available online)
book: This Bridge Called my Back (compliation)
works by Angela Davis, Audre Lorde (especially essay “master’s tools”, Sister Outsider), bell hooks
Gloria Anzaldua (La frontera/Borderlands, especially the chapter 5 “How to tame a wild tongue”)

We must interrogate our own assumptions.

thank you for reading,
-N

Ok, so I gotta defend these kids a little bit.

All of these skits are based on reality. I know, because I am the basis for a few of them. This is not a broad statement about “cholos”(oh my god, I used a non politically correct word!) or misogynistic men. It is simply a retelling of memories of a young girl who grew up in Kermin. “N” speaks of the joke of”Low-rider biker Gangs” biking on a single bike. He or She states that it is making fun of a group of people whose economic situation makes it impossible for them to ride their own bikes in a biker gang, so they ride on a single bike. I believe that “N” is taking the skit a little too seriously. The author is not describing horribly disadvantaged people who have no means of transportation. The author is not describing Bangledesh. She is describing adolescents doing ridiculous things. Also, the image of more than one person on a single bike is humorous, no matter what the race.
“N” also describes the apparent poking fun of a “particular groups of males as stupid and violent.”
Do you mean to say “Gangsters?” Or is that too much of a bad word? Anything that the author talks about is case specific, and should not in anyway being applied to all peoples. These are experiences.
I applaud the author for telling the stories without any censorship, and with a blatant disregard for political correctness. If somebody on a bike dressed in baggy pants named Tito dumped water on me, I’d want the story to be told.
Defensivley,
Mkron

I just realized that these kids are in fact kids. High school aged kids. I am so going to hit them up on myspace now.

HEY! LAST CHANCE TO SEE OUR SHOW! WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT DIANNA’S SOUTH!!!!!!!!!!!! 8:30!!!!!!!!! COME ONE COME ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These were high school kids, and they had the guts to write about their world. Yes, it may not have been PC at times, but when you’re young, your knowledge of the world is limited.

As far as the little biker gangs, as far as I’m concerned, they were dead on to their portrayals. Yes, the older members of those gangs can afford cars (heaven forbid that they take the bus). If N worked and/or lived in the areas of town that are socio-economically depressed, they’d see that there are tons of cars, but that the bikes have bars for a second rider to stand on.

I thought their vignettes were cute, and as the parent of teens, the sarcasm was accurate. This isn’t Broadway…it’s more like off-off-off-wayoff-Broadway. You’re taking a risk with what you see at the Rogue, and that’s the fun of this celebration. If you’re easily offended, stick to watching reviewed movies.