She Spent Her Night With 'The Gay Communist'

I am approached by a young blonde (she later tells me she's 30). She first says that I look familiar & did she know me from somewhere? Of course, this was just a function of her semi-awkward attempt to try to introduce herself. She said that her friend bet her that she wouldn't come over to me and talk to me. I answered very plainly. As I believe I am somewhat reserved when it comes to random drunk strangers. But we are talking, & she asks me what I am doing. Often this question comes up; I am alone at a sportsbar with a computer, listening to something, surrounded by books & papers.I tell her I was listening to a podcast. It was nothing profound: simply  a video game podcast, one of the multiplicity of choices out there. I don't even play them, but I listen still. (I like to stay abreast of all the trends) She genuinely does seem interested in me, why I am here, & what I am doing, so I decide to be candid. I venture to tell her I have actually produced some. I explain "Memory Lane", my former film review show, & then of course "The Word". I intentionally don't use the word 'politics', I say "current events", as the idea for that show was to keep my eye on the larger world, within a historical context (though at 22 my direction was naturally not quite as refined , and this is shown by the work.)

"So what do you think about this election??" comes out in her drunken drawl. I tense up. I have found the election & the attendant circus stressful for how contentious things have become, how mean people can be online etc...But my particular standpoint (voting for a third party) is *not* something I bring up unless someone explicitly asks me. And this is because of the attacks that Democratic partisans -- in their efforts to make people feel like this election is the equivalent of September 11th, Pearl Harbor, & a mass tarring-&-feathering if Hilary Clinton doesn't win. It is a particular phenomenon that I am only attacked by the ostensible 'Left'. Because of some people, harsh Liberal criticism, I am reticent to talk openly about my position on The Reality Show. Well, she said some things about how she 'hated trump', how she felt about him etc...& I nodded, giving minimal input & she asked me again.

"Well...I'm a Communist." She looked confused. "Isn't that a bad thing?" I told her that, in my opinion, (because she specifically asked) I saw this election as a meaningless exercise of the ruling class, the media, & entertainment firms, an illegitimate competition between two elites -- a billionaire Reality star & the exemplar of white privilege, both widely unlikable, neither representatives of the working class, that neither would destroy the fundamental slaughter-machinery of American Empire, that when it came to the issues that mattered to me (Capitalism, Empire, drones) neither would change a thing. "Well, I agree with you" stammered out of her mouth, surprised. "So did you like Bernie Sanders" "I supported some of his policies, but I am not a Democrat." "What is the difference between Socialism & Communism?", she asked. I explained to her that the different names were neither here nor there -- Socialism & Communism were different stages in the same path, in the same movement toward the New Society, a society where the leaders are not determined by the size of their pocket book. "You cannot become president without having enormous sums of money & being extremely well-connected. They both are elites. They represent the wealthy , & neither will fundamentally change the structure of American life." She looked at me...aghast. She just stared...and then..."I...I can't believe...I can't believe...I'm a Communist!" She covered her face. "I agree with everything you are saying" (That the transition into Socialism should begin by throwing off the yoke of parasitic financial capital)

We talked for hours. It was the first time I had a conversation about the Reality Show where I felt comfortable, & despite the fact that it kind of had to be wrenched from me, (I never expect people just desire to hear my opinion) I discovered that I am not bad at Agitational-Propaganda activities. It actually felt good to be able to be liberated from The Question ('Hilary or Trump?') that the beautiful American Democracy has given us, (hah!)) take a step back, leave the pressure-nonsense espoused by the DNC & just talk from a macro, historical perspective. We apologized for our ideologies where bad had been done in their name (Communism of the past 100 years for I, Christianity for the past 2000 years for her)

I biked home feeling like a little Lenin. We had both talked about our lives. I suggested she not tell her Navy, Trump-supporting husband that she spent her night, until 4 in the morning, out with 'The Gay Communist'.