Broadway Flea Market, interesting article, etc.

Today was the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Broadway Flea Market on W. 44th Street. Broadway Cares is an excellent organization. I did a day of volunteering for them last year and hope to do so again in the spring. I went to the flea market last year and returned again this year. They sell mostly a bunch of old Broadway junk at really cheap prices ($1-2) in addition to some more expensive memorabilia, a silent auction, and celebrity appearances. I saw Anthony Rapp on 45th Street walking to the celebrity entrance, which was cool, because I also saw him at least year's flea market. I picked up a few things:

1. A Mario Cantone Laugh Whore poster ($1).
2. A patriotic Ragtime T-shirt ($2).
3. A Martin Guerre coffee mug and Miss Saigon button ($1 for both).
4. A free Blue Man Group poster.
AND 5. A free Drowsy Chaperone frisbee.

Susan Watts, my drum teacher's daughter, is playing in Washington Square Park today, but I'm not sure I'm in the mood to leave my room again quite so soon.

Last night Austin and I went back to Yaffa, which is fast becoming my favorite place. We tried to get some other people to join us, but they were being shut-ins. Perhaps another time.

Today there was a very interesting article called "What if It's (Sort of) a Boy and (Sort of) a Girl?" in The New York Times by Elizabeth Weil about intersex people. It can be found here. After going to the first meeting of T-Party, the transgender social group at NYU, mostly just to support David Bussard and Lauren Lydiard in their attempt to bridge the gap between different communities at NYU -- though I did enjoy "constructing my gender" out of construction and tissue papers--, I'm growing more and more interested in gender and sexuality issues, and this article really addressed some interesting questions about gender assignment surgery. I'm mostly ignorant to the issues, but I enjoyed Transamerica and read about the plight of Brandon Teena. I can't imagine the confusion that some intersex people must go through, but I have to say that I see Cheryl Chase's side of the argument much more sympathetically -- that a psychological sex may be a wise thing to bestow upon a child for his or her early psychological stability, but that gender assignment surgery, especially if jeapordizing the sexual sensitivity of a child, should be left alone until that individual can decide for him- or herself. We as a nation have such problems with things that aren't "normal." It's a very sad situation, but it's listening and having compassion that will affect change.