The thoughts, creations, and bizarre adventures of an Actor/Composer/Playwright/Activist

Dear Fellow Liberals: Knock it Off. You’re Embarrassing Us.

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I am seeing such disgusting and vitriolic rhetoric from dozens of people whom I consider to be my political allies that I am compelled to say something.

In the fight against the Trump administration and everything it stands for, there are factors which, if lost, will render us liberals just as guilty and unworthy as the other side. Those factors are Truth and Decency.

If you write some ridiculous claim or post some ludicrous “article” without thinking it through and properly fact-checking, congratulations: now you know what it’s like to be a Breitbarter. (Seriously: I’ve spent a LOT of time on that website, and what some of you are saying and doing is no different in terms of ignorance and falsehood.)

And if you banish an entire group of people to a decree of sub-humanity without recognizing that there is nuance and individuality in every single person, then maybe you should think more carefully about your daily use of Nazi comparisons (which are merited sometimes, but not always), and reflect on how you yourself are turning into everything you hate.

Even if acting this way were to help us win elections (it won’t), we will have done so at the cost of our moral integrity and the actual values we claim to be fighting for. And then what are we?

And on a more practical note: these kind of despicable tactics WON’T help us win. This may surprise you, but people’s minds are not generally changed by shutting them up or kicking them out of restaurants. It will only convince them – perhaps rightfully so – that your ideas exist only to victimize and shame. Change is made by engaging with people as human beings, recognizing our commonality, and then making a logical argument to support what you stand for rather than releasing a tirade of vitriol to banish what you’re against, and becoming it in the process.

So everyone, please: calm the fuck down. You’re making us look bad, and you’re hurting the cause. Be kind, be responsible, and then get to work.

Politics, Recent Leave a Comment

Thank You, Stephen Hawking – Mind of the Century, and Hero to the Disabled

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Today we lost not just one of the greats: we lost one of the greatEST, in all human history.
 
I’ve spoken to many people who dislike praising Stephen Hawking because of certain political positions he held, some of which I disagreed with myself. But I ask you to put that aside for a moment, and recognize that a person is not defined by particular idiosyncrasies, but rather by the sum of their parts. And Stephen Hawking was a man whose physical parts were broken by ALS in ways that even I and most chronically ill people can barely comprehend. What he did within the confines of those limitations is beyond extraordinary – and today, I hope you will celebrate the life of a uniquely powerful and determined mind trapped in the physical destruction of a vicious and unrelenting disease.
 
Hawking’s contributions to the fields of cosmology and quantum mechanics are essentially unparalleled. His book “A Brief History of Time” is a wonderful window into these contributions as expressed by one of the deepest of thinkers and most powerful of educators. As Hawking’s muscle control continued to decay, he wrote entire books using just the muscle of his cheek to get the right letter, sometimes only faring as well as one or two words per minute. To anyone who has used an Apple TV remote, you know how wildly infuriating it is to even type out an entire YouTube title by scrolling through individual letters- now imagine writing an entire original book about astrophysics. Using your cheek. It honestly puts me to shame, as I struggle to challenge my old ways of writing music to find new ways to create. But Hawking showed that it is possible, through the heroic task of staring disability and obscurity in the face and typing out a loud and stunningly clear: “No.”
 
Stephen Hawking showed people like me, and the entire world, that even the most profoundly disabled can change the world in unimaginable ways – even if it’s done one cheek muscle twitch at a time. I am more grateful than I can express for his many lessons, in science and in life, and will always strive to follow his example.
Advocacy, Science Leave a Comment

The War on the War on Christmas

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Let me tell you what my policy is, as a Jew, on whether you wish me “Happy Holidays,” “Merry Christmas,” or even “Happy Hanukkah.”

I truly don’t care.

If you wish me Happy ANYTHING, the only way I will react is to be grateful that you sent me good wishes at all instead of telling me to go fuck myself. Much appreciated.

There is no war on Christmas. Unless I’m a total anomaly, my strong impression is that most people just don’t give a shit. Wish people a happy whatever-THEY-celebrate if you can, or else just do what you want. If you wish people a happy opposite-of-what-they-celebrate just to make a point, you’re a dick. But beyond that, it literally couldn’t possibly matter less.

Can we please go back to worrying about nuclear war and global warming now?

Comedy Leave a Comment

When Your Heroes Surpass Expectations (Amy Lee of Evanescence)

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Over the years, I’ve been extremely lucky that I’ve gotten to meet a great many of my heroes. But for twelve years now, there’s one woman who has stayed at the very top of the list of people I wanted to meet: and finally, last Thursday night, I got my chance.

Despite her stadium-filling fame and success, Amy Lee (frontwoman and songwriter for the band Evanescence) is one of the most sincere, gracious, kind, and down-to-earth people (let alone celebrities) I have ever met. There was not one moment where I felt she was “phoning it in” as I told her what she and her music have meant to me over the years. Here was a snippet of our conversation:

Me: I know it may not look like it, but I actually have a pretty serious disability. And ever since I was 18, your music has been one of the only ways that I’ve been able to feel the pain in my own body, but also to be okay with it, and to feel a little less alone. So I just wanted to say thank you.
Amy: (tears in her eyes) Wow. Really? I – I don’t even know what to say. Can I just-
(She gives me a long, warm hug)
Amy: I’m so sorry you’re going through this. But I can’t tell you how grateful I feel that we’ve been able to help in any way. That’s really incredible. Thank you so much for saying that.

We then went on to talk a little shop (along with the rest of the band, who were equally friendly and engaged) about her music and my own show, Safe in Sound, which was inspired by her writing. I turned to go, trying to be respectful of their time, but before I could, Amy reached out to me and brought me in for another hug, resting her head on my shoulder brace, and letting me rest my head on her shoulder. For ten seconds that seemed like a peaceful eternity, she held onto me, and held the space alongside me.

I know I’m just a stranger, and I’m sure I’m not the first stranger to tell her something like this. But in her words, in her eyes, and in her multiple hugs, I really got the sense that she cared. And it meant more to me than I can say. I will never forget that feeling of being not just hugged, but held, by someone I so deeply admire – someone who has changed my life, personally and artistically, in ways that she can only begin to be aware of.

And then I got to watch from eight feet away as this beautiful human transformed into a goddess the moment she walked onstage, and delivered a performance so heartbreakingly raw and honest that I was moved to tears again and again. Watching Amy sing is like watching someone in a trance – she is fully enveloped and invested in every note that comes out of her mouth, every word that comes out of her heart and soul. There is simply no one else like her.

Evanescence’s new album is called “Synthesis,” and while it contains a few new songs, mostly it is composed of her old gothic-rock classics re-imagined to include a live symphony orchestra. As a composer, listening to this album is like listening to my own process of writing a song – different instruments come in and out briefly in the form of ideas, a mild drum beat is established, until finally all the instruments come together as one and blow you out of your seat. I think that this is what Amy was going for, and the reason the album is called “Synthesis.” This album is an artistic representation of the process of writing the song as you go. It is a fantastic and beautiful achievement, and I am so grateful to have been one of the first people to hear it. The album comes out this Friday, and I can’t recommend it enough.

Amy, should you magically ever come across this post: thank you so much for a truly perfect night that I will keep with me for the rest of my life. And for my own fans out there (and Amy?? ;-), feel free to check out the page for my own musical Safe in Sound, which was first inspired by Evanescence’s music.

Adventures, Entertainment, Favorites Leave a Comment

An Open Response to Pat Toomey (on Healthcare)

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Senator Toomey,

Today I received a form response from your office reacting to a letter I wrote you several months ago in opposition of your plans to strip tens of millions of people from their health insurance. I just replied to that response, but since I got an autoreply that your mailbox “is not monitored,” I guess this will have to do.

You wrote that, “Despite inaccurate reports to the contrary, these proposals would have all permitted federal funding for Obamacare’s expansion of Medicaid, the joint state-federal program for very low-income and disabled Americans.” You added that the legislation you supported “would have required a state to pay the same share – on average 43 percent – as the state pays for every other traditional Medicaid enrollee (the disabled, blind, aged, etc.). The federal government would have paid the lion’s share of cost (57 percent) for working-age, able-bodied, childless adults,” and implied that this would have been sufficient to meet the healthcare needs of the American people.

You, sir, are a liar.

You know perfectly well that states are incapable of funding health insurance subsidies in the same way that the federal government does (if for no other reason than that states are not legally permitted to go into debt), and that any attempt to do so will bankrupt our very own state. I will do everything in my power to unseat you in your next election, and will be sure to use my blessing of a widescale audience to enlist others to do the same.

I’d offer to sit down and have an actual conversation about this, man to man. But considering your notoriety for hiding from your own constituents, I have a feeling you won’t take me up on my offer. And clearly, anything I say will fall on deaf ears. Speaking of which, if you ever do go deaf, I hope you enjoy the hearing aids that your own government insurance will provide you with. The better to hear the news reports of all the people who will have their lives destroyed or ended because you took their insurance away. I hope you hear every one of those voices, and I hope they haunt you to your soul, if you even have one anymore.

PS: Thanks for your vote today to prevent consumers like me from waging class-action suits against banks and credit companies when they commit negligence or outright fraud; it’s not like we’ve had problems with that recently or anything.

You truly are despicable.

Most sincerely,
Michael Bihovsky

Advocacy, Healthcare, Politics Leave a Comment

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