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Nine Snowboots
Personal writings of Bronwyn Douwsma
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Existentialist Weightlifting
Grumblings on the arts and pop culture
I’m on the bus. It’s too early to be human and I haven’t had my coffee yet so I don’t really want to do much; maybe read or listen to music, things that help tune out the other people or the monotony of the commute. When I leave the suburbs, it's usually dark. I sometimes look out the windows, but more to see how far I’ve traveled than at anything interesting. By the time I arrive downtown, I can see the sun coming up over the harbour.
The year is winding down. I’m preparing to go to New Brunswick for my regular Christmas visit with the family; my travel arrangements up there have all been taken care of. I haven’t bothered with Christmas shopping yet; my cash flow was a little tight until my last paycheque came in, and my tolerance for the malls has dropped over the years. Everything costs too much money now.
Last year, I was randomly working on setting up some galleries for my SNL reviews when I realized that the settings for my photography portfolios were wrong.
I’ve been on hormones for one year now; I took my first dose of spironolactone on May 27, 2021, and started on estradiol a little less than three months later.
I’m in the office most of the week now, and that means it’s back to waking up early, rushing to get ready, and catching the 7:10 bus downtown.
It’s now a few weeks into the new year, and I’m back at work. Technically, I’m working from home most of the week thanks to Omicron, and going into the office one day a week to take care of matters that aren’t as easily arranged from my apartment.
I’ve been having a little trouble coming up with things to talk about, so if you’re reading this, I want you to fill out this form. Only the questions with asterisks (*) are required. I’ve decided to keep this anonymous with as little identifying information as possible (It shows up in my e-mail as just a “form submission” from Squarespace) because I want the anonymity of the form to allow you to open up.
If you have recordings of any of the specified broadcasts of these shows, please send me an e-mail through the contact page or the e-mail icon at the bottom.
Sketches include “Church Lady”, “First Guardian Metrocard”, “Miss Self-Esteem USA Pageant”, “Office Party”, “Sweeney Sisters”, “Love Is A Dream”, “Lip Balm”, “Unrequited Businessman”, and “Seasons Greetings”. Little Feat perform “Let It Roll” and “Hate To Lose Your Lovin’”
Sketches include “A Trump Christmas”, “Game Breakers”, “Plug Away”, “The Big Chill”, “Executive Island”, and “Breakfast Table”. Bobby McFerrin performs “Drive” and “The Star-Spangled Banner”.
Sketches include “Pumping Up With Hans & Franz”, “Big Red”, “Sex Tonight”, “Scrooge II”, “Mexican Bandit”, “The Bastard Battalion”, "Buddy Precisely” and “Guardian Angels”. The Bangles perform “In Your Room” and “Hazy Shade of Winter”.
Sketches include “The Oprah Winfrey Show”, “Long White Beard”, “Animal Confession”, “Master Thespian”, “The Pat Stevens Show”, “The Alamo”, “Thanksgiving” and “Skeleton”. Tracy Chapman performs “Mountains O’ Things”, “Freedom Now”, and “Baby, Can I Hold You”.
Sketches include “Negative Ad”, “Neuberg’s Bleu Cheese Cooler”, “Beauty and the Beast”, “Camping Trip”, “The World of Dr. Know-It-All”, “One Man’s Demons”, “Don’t Move”, “Card Game”, “Travel Agents” and “Businessman’s Chatter Line”. Johnny Clegg & Savuka perform “I Call Your Name” and “Take My Heart Away”.
Sketches include “Drill Sergeant”, “The Republican Party”, “The Liberal”, “Church Chat”, “Dukakis After Dark”, “Win, Lose, Or Tie”, “Dukakis” and “Two Sammies”. Edie Brickell & New Bohemians perform “What I Am” and “Little Miss S”.
Sketches include “Alien Dukakis”, “Carbon Paper”, “Dan Quayle: President”, “Portrait Of The Artist”, “The Crests And Troughs Of Vernon Hawley Jr.”, “Bush I”, “Forbidden Fruit”, “Bush II”, “Intimacy”, “This Old House”, “Bush III” and “Gay Communist Gun Club”. Randy Newman performs “It’s Money That Matters” and “Dixie Flyer” with Mark Knopfler.
Sketches include “Seduction”, “McDonnell-Rand”, “The Five Beatles”, “Cooking With Monkey”, “Nude Beach”, “The Thumper Family”, “Learning To Feel”, “Laurie Has A Story”, “Hollywood Salute”, and “Baby”. The Sugarcubes perform “Birthday” and “Motorcrash”.
Sketches include “Pumping Up With Hans & Franz”, “First Citywide Change Bank I”, “ABC Campaign 88”, “Mr. Short Term Memory”, “Girl Watchers”, “Jew, Not A Jew”, “Big” and “The Pat Stevens Show”. Keith Richards performs “Take It So Hard” and “Struggle”.
There’s a podcast called The Loudest Girl In The World, hosted by Lauren Ober. The show concerns Ober’s autism diagnosis at 42, as well as her experience dealing with this information and opening up to others about it. When I listened to it last summer, I related pretty heavily to what she was talking about. I’ve also started to make peace with how my own brain works in the last few years. It’s been a rough road, though.