Author (#18)December 2006 Archives
My name is Christopher. I am an Uncle to 21 nieces and nephews. I first became an Uncle when I was 5 years old. I can recall being in the second grade and all of my friends looking at me strangely as my 2 year old nephew Kevin ran across the playground shouting “Uncle Chris! Uncle Chris!” I guess that is the first way I might be a Funny Uncle.
But as this piece explores the idea that being a Funny Uncle is more than just familial relationships, there are so many other ways I might qualify. I am a mixed race Mutt: part Hawaiian, part Japanese, part Chinese, part German and part Irish. People usually don’t know what to make of the light brown color of my skin and my ethnically ambiguous features. I have been the object of racism. I am bisexual – another thing that sometimes confuses people. Looking a little androgynous has often raised eyebrows – I have been called queer (and that is putting it nicely). I am a professional dancer and have not held a job outside of the arts in 12 years – which has placed me in a social circle that I am sometimes reminded is rather unique. Are these the things that make me a Funny Uncle?
The first performances of “Funny Uncles” are now finished and I am finally finding the time to write about the work. It has been a challenging process, and as Ben said in his entry, the subject of families during the holidays can often lead to dark places of loneliness and isolation. Having known Peter for 8 years now (beginning when I was a core company member of the Dance Exchange back in 1998 and 1999) I felt comfortable to open myself up fully to this work and explore how family in my life has at times carried me, and at other times left me feeling alone and abandoned. Now that we are away from the work, I sense question marks left in its void. A part of me has been left a little raw and vulnerable by the ideas we explored to create the work. The term Funny Uncle implies a sense of humor, some levity. But in fact being the odd man out is mostly just sad. As the holidays ensue, and I finally have a little more time to simply be – I miss my funny family that is the cast of this piece. I hope that we all can celebrate the unique attributes that make each of us “Funny”…that we all can find the love and humor in who we are and our respective families – both found families and birthright families – and have a Happy Holiday.
