Posts

When Woke Muthaf***as Ain't

A Monologue in Three Acts, in which I tell a single tale of misogyny within the Rhode Island theatre scene. ACT I, scene 1 Several years ago, I was introduced to a local theatre practitioner that we’ll call Mr. Magic.  Mr. Magic and I got along fabulously, saying we should work together at some point.  Interestingly enough, I did work with his theatre.  For free.  Unpaid.  A friendly favor.  Women are often asked to do work for free; the same work for which men are paid.  In this case, I was asked to use my education and expertise to help them with an administrative issue they were having. I was more than happy to do so based on what I perceived as a jovial friendship.  Mr. Magic would give me friendly relationship advice and make comments about my body, even going so far as to mention making babies with me at one time.  I laughed it off because A) that sort of behavior from men was a normalized part of my existence because it happe...
2 comments
Read more

The Trouble with a Name Change

For many years, I’ve wanted a passport.  Over the last few years, I’ve missed a couple of opportunities to travel because I haven’t had a passport.  I decided that I would no longer miss out on those opportunities. On September 30, I applied for a passport for the first time in my life.  And I was told I didn’t have enough proof of my name change to complete the application process. Let’s walk through this.   My given name is Cristen Leann Heath.  That’s the name on my birth certificate.  That’s what my parents named me, but they never called me Cristen.  Ever.  On the first day of Kindergarten, I didn’t raise my hand during roll call because the teacher called out “Cristen.”  I didn’t know who that was.   When I got married, I took my marriage certificate over to the Social Security Office to change my name.  I asked if was possible to drop “Cristen” and use Heath as my middle name.  The person at the counter said...
Post a Comment
Read more

Reflections on a Break-up

I decided to start this blog last year when I had a lot of life happening, and a lot running through my head.  I felt like I had no solid ground under my feet.  Hence the title that’s been sitting unused for a year.  I had so much going on up there, I wasn’t sure where to start this blog.  The first post kind of sets the tone, and I wasn’t sure what I wanted this to be.   Well.  Here we go… June 2016, my best friend walked across the room, took the ring off of my finger, and said he was leaving.  While the relationship hadn’t been good for months, I was still taken by surprise.  I was still devastated.  I spent months in mourning and in solitude.  September 3, 2017 would have been my first wedding aniversary.  It passed me by without much thought.  A week later, when I realized the date had passed, I was elated that I hadn’t remembered and that I’d had no feelings about it.  The realization of forgetting the date ma...
Post a Comment
Read more