“If you want to tell people the truth,make them laugh,
otherwise, they’ll kill you.” (George Bernard Shaw)
Vampyra is my other half, my more outrageous, violent, and sexy half, who keeps me out of prison. Everyone needs an alter-ego to process the darkness with and through. After years as a direct-action enemy of the state, after all the jail time and radiation exposure and fury, it was delightful to scream “Fuck Patriarchy/Capitalism/The Rich/The president” into a dark theater and have the response be applause and laughter rather than arrests and beatings. Vampyra’s schtick was announcing the news as satire as she rage-coached the audience.
She was the one constant character in all Vox shows, a stand-up goth-style barbarian in a dominatrix costume. I found out the hard way that lying down in the street or shouting at people, arguing or guilting them shuts their hearts down, while laughter loosens their hearts. Laughter as truth-lube. Comedy as stealth weapon to illuminate evils with a dose of candy, and to help explain complex systemic and political patterns. I’m so glad to have discovered this soft pathway through the sharp mazes of activism.
Vampyra waits forever in the Green Room for her cue to go on.
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She was the one constant character in all Vox shows, a stand-up goth-style barbarian in a dominatrix costume. I found out the hard way that lying down in the street or shouting at people, arguing or guilting them shuts their hearts down, while laughter loosens their hearts. Laughter as truth-lube. Comedy as stealth weapon to illuminate evils with a dose of candy, and to help explain complex systemic and political patterns. I’m so glad to have discovered this soft pathway through the sharp mazes of activism.
Vampyra waits forever in the Green Room for her cue to go on.
back to list