“Anyone But Me” Makes Me Happy

For the past few days I have been screwing myself into the ceiling with long-winded rants about global warming, healthcare reform, and the spineless, Money Party progressives bending over at the pleasure of Joe, the obstructer.  Just when I was preparing myself for  today’s idiotic onslaught of deniers, tenth-ers, and tea partiers, I opened my email.  And there it was, with the friendly command, “enjoy”, the link to the second season premiere of Anyone But Me.  Enjoy I did.  Anyone But Me makes me smile.  There is something about this coming of identity drama that leaves me contented, but at the same time anxious and wanting more.  Perhaps it’s the wonderful, home-hitting writing of Susan Miller or the overall direction and guided alignment of Tina Cesa Ward.  Perhaps it’s the lead actors, Rachael Hip-Flores and Nicole Pacent, bringing the written word to life…or is it the supporting cast making up the ensemble?  I don’t really care what it is; I just want them all to keep doing it.

This morning I clicked “play” and escaped for a few minutes into the continuation of characters, Vivian and Aster, and the geographic and social distance Vivian’s move from the city to the suburbs places on their budding romance.  Season two begins with a very nice retrospective of season one that segues into fantasy/reality sequences of fear and acceptance.  Season one ended with Vivian confronting her conflicting emotions regarding public affection with Aster, by kissing her good-bye in front of her conservative classmates. Vivian begins season two with her identity stripped bare, that all too familiar alternate reality and sweat-inducing incubus of being at school naked.  This time, however, the raw vulnerability is metaphorically epitomized by wearing a phonetically correct “Nobody knows I am a Lezbian” t-shirt.  Connectedly, each character of the series provides a humorous glimpse into their personal anxieties as they leap from fantasy to reality, providing foreshadowing into the progression of the series’ new season.  With Episode 1 jumping right into such topics as sex, love, identity-questioning, and gay marriage, I can’t wait to see what episode two has to offer!

By the way, Susan and Tina, I sent the link for Season Two Episode One of Anyone But Me to the White House.  I thought the resident in chief there needed to reacquaint himself with “Yes, we can!”