Hey, everybody! It's that time again. Time to meet the Angry Reader of the Week, spotlighting you, the very special readers of this website. Over the years, I've been able to connect with a lot of cool folks, and this is a way of showing some appreciation and attention to the people who help make this blog what it is. This week's Angry Reader is Erin Quill.
Who are you?
Erin Quill, Actor, Writer, Blogger, User of too many gifs.
What are you?
I always thought I was a typical Hapa, with a simple mix, but I did my DNA and it is a little more complicated than that. Basically, I am Irish, Chinese, and Welsh. I also have Pacific Islander (likely Maori), Iberian Penninsula, and 1% Viking -- which makes sense if you know the history of Britain.
Where are you?
I am right now, in Washington, D. C. I am in the new musical, Dave. Directed by Tina Landau, book by Thomas Meehan and Nell Benjamin, lyrics by Nell Benjamin, and music by Tom Kitt. The entire creative team was nominated for Tony Awards this past season, and it is a glorious thing to be involved in this production. It is, without a doubt, one of my proudest moments, being associated with this production.
Lemme tell you, if we ever needed a musical about a POTUS who has a traumatic event and somehow changes, it is now.
Where are you from?
I am a dual citizen of Australia and the United States. When I am not in D.C. for work, I am generally in NYC.
What do you do?
By training, I am a singer. I have a BFA from CMU. I was in the original Broadway cast of Avenue Q, the 50th anniversary production of Flower Drum Song, toured with The King and I, you know... etc etc etc. By dint of being in the business of show, I have done guest spots on TV, acted in commercials, I am a screenwriter, I have worked in casting, I have PA'd... but I suppose one of the things I am chiefly known for -- the thing that they invite me to do panels at BroadwayCon for -- would be my blog.
I write The Fairy Princess Diaries, which concerns itself with representation in entertainment in regards to AAPIs, but I don't JUST write about AAPI issues, I write for anyone and about anything I find, personally, to be full of injustice. I do write in a comedic way, to show how ludicrous it is to be in 2018 and still tilting at these windmills.
What are you all about?
I am about accountability. I want authenticity. My father was an attorney, and I write my blogs to decimate -- just the way he wrote his legal briefs. I frame the argument, I make my points, I try to leave no room for rebuttal. I am for honesty, and kindness, and for people to stop being sh*ts to people who do not look exactly like them. I am also about 'the funny.' I love funny. I love that Randall Park and Ali Wong and Kristina Wong and all are bringing their POVs to the comedy world and people are eating them up with spoons. Damn, I love funny.
What makes you angry?
Archaic theater practices like yellowface or whitewashing make me angry. The point of diversity, which some people prefer 'inclusion,' ok fine -- inclusion -- is that it is so simple. It is not complicated, you do not have to overthink it. What we see in entertainment is tilted world where light skin rules -- and this has had a terrible effect on this country.
Not seeing the world around us clearly, makes it easy to label people as "other" or "foreign." When you buy into this trope, that you are superior because of no actual reason other than pigment, horrific things start to happen to the balance of power. We see this all over our nation like a plague.
People think I write about entertainment and representation and that it is frivolous. It isn't. Because when people see other people as human beings, they begin to have empathy. They begin to consider other people's feelings, their wants, their needs. We have in this country, been 'othered' literally to DEATH. To literal death. AAPIs are not the only ones who this has happened to -- which is why all people of color need to come together.
There is a famous story that Lucille Ball told, which has been oft repeated. he was flying over the country and she told someone that she could walk into any home in America and be welcomed. That was because the people of America thought they knew Lucy. She was their neighbor. She was their friend. She was in their living room on their television every week.
This is why familiarity with other skin tones, body types, gender diversity, gender equality, love is love is love -- these are necessary in front and behind the camera. This is why they are important -- because one of us is not better than the other, we all bleed red. We all need far more empathy and kindness for one another, and we need bravery now more than ever, because Gilead is a heartbeat away.
The GOP-controlled government is giving a first class example in how to make sure that the tactics they employ to their base honors one thing: the superiority of Caucasians. There is no reward for scholarship or accomplishments -- you do not have to think in their environs, you do not have to be held accountable for missing children or colluding with a foreign government in their world. You do not have to get good grades, because your dad will buy you a college education. You do not have to work hard, because everything will be given to you so you can, like Doritos, make more of you.
The state of this country makes me furious right now, it is beyond anger, it is beyond a bad elimination night on RuPaul's Drag Race -- it is every day a new low, and that has me angered and sad.
