A little culture

A friend emailed the other day saying the girlfriend of a friend of his was in a play and did we want to go see it. He reckoned it was likely to be “a bit amateurish”, but cheap. It was in the Soho Theatre at 6:30, which would make it very convenient for me on my way home from work.
The play was called Preacherosity and the friend’s friend’s girlfriend – Kristen Alexander was playing a character called Angela whom she described as “equally interested in happy hour and Bible study”. Well, that sounded just the ticket. It reminded me of a girl I knew at UT… although her name was…well, let’s call her Cally. Cally was the roommate of a friend from my hometown and we all lived in the same dorm. Cally used to go to Monday night Bible study at the Baptist student union (I believe they were Baptists, but forgive me Baptists if I’m wrong) and then she used to head straight down from there to the Monday night beer bust at the Annex (a fine establishment no longer in existence). Now because we were living in Massey Hall, (which I see is now an air conditioned sorority dorm!!, it was not so well appointed in my day) and Cally didn’t want to have to walk all the way back, she used to carry her personalized large plastic beer cup decorated with paint pens down to the Bible study. I don’t know how she used to explain it, or if nobody asked, but that’s what she did every Monday night.

Cally later came down with a dose of the clap for which she received a bunch of anti-biotics from the student health center. About the same time she was seeking treatment for this condition, she took up with a new steady boyfriend whom she was quite serious about. My friend (her roommate) and I suggested she refrain from sex until the course of anti-biotics was complete (too late) and then begged and pleaded with her to tell him and thus avoid the risk of continual cross-infection. Cally didn’t want to tell him, but when she finally did, according to her in the midst of cross-infection, his response was “I’on’t care” and he continued about his business.

I have seriously digressed. Anyway, it wasn’t a play but a reading. It was directed and acted and the actors moved around but they read from their script and needless to say it was a little rough, but really very well done. The play was basically about a search committee at a Baptist Church in Texas trying to find a new preacher to replace one who left under a bit of a cloud. And a strange Palidin like person arrives to show them all the error of their ways and the play ends with a bit of uplifting casting off of sins and moral renewal. It was actually pretty funny. The playwright was there and he was looking for financial backing to stage this play in London.
Now I really enjoyed the play, and Kristen was great (if she wasn’t I wouldn’t have mentioned her name), really funny and her Southern accent was very good. I imagined that this play might go down very well at the Dinner Theatre run in the summer time at the state park just outside the town where I went to high school. (My cousin sometimes acts there and she is so funny. I mean gut-bustingly funny. She would have been ideal as the hard-nosed Texas businesswoman character). But I’m not sure Preacherosity is just the thing for London, where we like our religion cynical and in small doses. (For example, the last “religious” play I went to was Jerry Springer, the Opera which was amazing, but even a heathern like myself was surprised by the level and creativity of the blasphemy this production contained.) I did not share this view with the play’s author, but good luck to him.

I didn’t know it until I got there, but the play was part of a festival put on by the North American Actors’ Association, basically to showcase NAAA talent, and it was the next to last reading they were putting on. I went back the next night with the Vol-in-Law to see one written by Amy and David Sedaris. ‘Cause I’d heard of David Sedaris, of course. Anyway, that reading of a play called The Book of Liz was also really funny, but incredibly silly, just the right kind of silly. It’s a shame it didn’t get more publicity, because as far as I could tell the Vol-in-Law and I were the only people there who weren’t friends of the cast.

Deportation special

It’s oh-so interesting talking politics at work these days. The person who sits across from me wears hijab (the head scarf) and is a pretty devout Muslim – the person who sits next to her is white English, has a regular potty mouth and some pretty illiberal attitudes.

Today, for example, we were talking about Omar Bakri Mohammed, a generally unsavoury character who has been living in North London since 1985 and has the cute nickname of “the ayatollah of Tottenham”. (an area in North London). He recently said that although the denounced the London Bombings – if he were aware of anyone planning a terrorist act – say a suicide bombing of the London Underground – he would not report them to the police. However, he would do everything in his power to stop them, even laying down his life. Since this guy has been on disability benefit for over a decade, is more than a bit portly and hobbles with a stick, I’m not sure exactly what that ‘everything in his power’ would amount to exactly, since anyone who could walk briskly in the other direction would soon be out of his physical influence.

Anyway, the white English gal (WEG), was saying that Mr Mohammed should be tried for treason. Well, Mr Mohammed isn’t a British citizen, I pointed out. Doesn’t matter, says WEG, he should still be tried for treason. He hasn’t sworn any oaths to this country, I say. No matter, says WEG, Treason! He owes this country.

Well, he probably does owe the UK. After all, he’s been on benefit here for many years – and though he works for jihad – in whatever form that takes, he hasn’t had a job in ages. But a charge of treason isn’t the right thing for Mr. Mohammed. I can understand WEG’s confusion though, the British government has recently suggested that those British citizens who engage in or support acts of terrorism might be charged under the Acts of Treason – dating from around 1438, I think. But for those who aren’t British citizens (or technically subjects), there’s another, quicker solution — deportation.

I explain this to WEG. And then I explain that I’m currently residing in the UK on the sufferance of the British people and have the exact same legal status as Bakri Mohammed. She tries to explain that I’m different, that I’m not doing the things he’s doing — which frankly, is pretty bloody obvious. But I also explain I haven’t sworn any oaths to Britain, and in no way should I be open to a charge of treason to the UK.

I leave for lunch after this and start thinking about it. Although I haven’t formalised my relationship with the UK, we do have a little something going. If you think about it in terms of a personal relationship, we’ve been going steady for a long time, we’re not just dating anymore, I’ve moved in with the UK, but we’re not married yet. So, if I weren’t married but did have a boyfriend and then had a little fling on the side, that’s not adultery, but heck, it is cheating. So, I do feel some sense of loyalty to the UK, but if I do something bad, well it’s the deportation special for me, not a charge of treason.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to us, Omar is getting hauled in by the police in Lebanon (where he’s on holiday), and ten other “preachers of hate” are being detained after getting awakened pre-dawn by a friendly assortment of cops and immigration officials. These folks are not UK citizens and they’re about to get sent back to wherever it is they came from.

They won’t be going quickly, however, they do have a right of appeal. And the way that the UK interprets the European Convention of Human Rights, means that the Government can’t deport anyone to a country where they may be tortured or executed. (In practice this means that if a US murderer manages to get to say France, they won’t be deported back to the US until the authorities there agree that they won’t seek the death penalty), so it’s going to be a bit sticky sending them to places like Algeria. (Although somehow France manages to send people there).
Fortunately, in the case of the notorious Abu Qatada, “Al Qaeda’s ambassador in Europe” who may be going back to Jordan shortly, the UK has just agreed a Memorandum of Understanding with Jordan, whereby they agree not to torture or kill anyone deported from the UK. Human rights lawyer groups like Liberty are, understandably, sceptical.

I imagine that the ten “preachers of hate” are little a perplexed. Many of them were guests of Her Majesty until relatively recently, when the Law Lords (like the Supreme Court) decreed that they couldn’t be held indefinitely any longer. These guys were all non-UK nationals and were being detained at Belmarsh Prison. They were free to go at any time, to return to their countries of citizenship, but weren’t free to be at large among the UK public. They had a coterie of human rights lawyers complaining about how the Belmarsh detainees, as they became known, were being treated and how they were all being driven mad. The Government brought in a hastily wrought “control order” just before they were released which meant were basically under house arrest.

Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, says the rules of the game have changed and out they go. He says their presence here does not contribute to the “public good”. As someone who’s also here under sufferance and has been known to be a little disorderly from time to time (really sorry about that street sign, BTW), that worries me. Do I contribute to the public good? But on balance… Good riddance and good speed!

Tennessee Fugitives

Last night – after the play– the Vol-in-Law and I were watching Fox News, my new favorite past time. (There’s a whole post about that – hanging around in draft, I’ll publish it someday). Anyway, the steady stream of right-wing propaganda was interrupted by breaking news of the murder of a Tennessee deputy and the gettaway of the prisoner and his wife George and Jennifer Hyatte – (see the cool TBI flyer here in pdf) Lots of blood had been found in the floorboard of their abandoned vehicle, and most people reckoned Jennifer had been injured in the shoot-out.
Fox News had on Dwayne “Dog” Chapman, self-promoting bounty hunter extroidinaire, to provide commentary and speculation about what the fugitives were up to. He suggested all kinds of possible activities they and even believed that when the going got tough George would likely abandon the wounded, possibly dying Jennifer.
When I got home, the Vol-in-Law said: You know, they caught those fugitives.
Me: Yeah, I read it in the Tennessean online today, apparently they gave up without fuss.
ViL: They were found together. That Dwayne Chapman said the husband would leave the wife, but you know… the family that slays together stays together.