Journal 2- Dani Gallo

The name of the piece I saw was “How to Shave in Six Easy Steps”. The final moment of the play was Collin cleaning up after shaving, the sixth step. They cleaned up all of the mess that came from shaving, this seemed pretty symbolic as well. The final few minutes also included a bit of a tribute to their father, Paul. They explained how Paul’s 3rd grandson was born 2 weeks after he died and he was named Paul and how a year after their father’s death, Collin changed their middle name to Paul. If I could ascribe a moral to this piece it would be to love yourself for who you are. It seems that Collin is still struggling with this idea, but after they found their place in the queer world, Collin finally knew who he was. This is a strong message for anyone who is not very confident. Many people try to be like someone else, but in the long run it is most important to be yourself because no one can ever replace you. One element I really enjoyed was how dramatic Collin was. It was like I could feel how they were feeling through the computer screen.They displayed their emotions very well. I really enjoyed being able to feel what Collin was feeling because I like to be able to connect with what I am watching. If I am unable to connect with the speaker, the act would have been extremely boring. This dramatization made it very easy to stay focused on what was going on. One element of the piece that confused me was the time period directly after Collin’s father’s death. When they stated that there was no celebration of life for their father did they mean that there was no funeral or Collin was just unable to celebrate Paul’s life because they were so upset? I am also a bit confused about Collin’s relationship with the rest of their family, especially their mother. Collin stated that they called their mother by her first name because it takes power away from her, and this just had me wondering about their relationship. I think a way that this could have been improved would be if Collin would have talked more about their family. I do understand that maybe the reason they did not talk about their family is because it was a very sensitive topic to them.

Collin wanted to be understood and accepted and love themselves for who they are. The verbs that I saw to be most prevalent in this piece were describe, demonstrate, plead, and explain. I enjoyed the performance. I thought it was very informative and gave me a different perspective on how queer/non-binary people go about their lives. I was also very entertained and felt connected to the story. The moment in the piece that I connected the most to was when their father brought them to bring your child to work day. Collin was a very scared child and felt very comforted by their father. I definitely connected with this because as a child I was always very nervous and afraid and always wanted to be around my parents to feel safe, especially my dad. I think that the reason I connect to this so well is because Collin and I both had/have a very close relationship/bond with our fathers. Although on the surface it did not seem clear that their bond was very strong with their father and I have a clear good relationship with my father, we were both able to be comforted by our fathers.