Is it a sign?=p

The other day I was playing around on the time-sucker that is MySpace and I decided to put in a request for Anthony Rapp to add me to his "friends." He didn't, because he has a life unlike the rest of us MySpace frequenters=p. Well, that is to say he didn't add me until yesterday. I just discovered so a few minutes ago and so was able to read his latest post:

My Email Address:

Hey everyone, I have been extremely busy and I dont Have time to always check my myspace, but I do check my email. So instead of posting comments and messages. Could you please email me at anthonyrapp111@yahoo.com And if you email me I will add you to my contact list, so when Ever I get a new acting job or a new gig I can email you. And if you emial me I will anwser any questions that you want

Sincerly Anthony

Well the question I want to know is if he will do an interview with me for my piece. I *probably* should just follow his booking agent's advice and ask him for a few minutes in person but hey, having him practically hand me his contact info has got to be a sign right? I figured I'd save us both a little anxiety and just go ahead and make my request in advance. It's sent! So here goes nuthin...

New York City Baby!

Next week is reading week and despite my looming deadlines, I'm taking off to NYC for five days. I was planning to go for my birthday at the end of January but that didn't work out. However...I'm leaving on Saturday--woot! I found out at the last minute that my friends Chris, Jill and Gella are hosting a We're About 9 http://www.circanine.com/ house concert at their apartment in Brooklyn and so I'm going to go to that and then spend the night there with many of my favourite Fruheads. Frucon NYC this year people! Unfortunately I'll be missing Frucon here (if it actually happens) but I can't say I'm all that crushed. If last year is any indication it's probably going to be uneventful to say the least. This is going to be SO much more fun yay!

My most exciting plans are on the 21st though. Anthony Rapp, Mark in the Original Broadway cast of Rent and the Rent Movie, and author of Without You: AMemoir of Love, Loss and the Musical Rent is doing a book signing and apparently will read an excerpt from his book and then sing TWO songs from Rent.-- I gotta tell ya, this is pretty much this little Renthead's dream come true. The book is INCREDIBLE. It's one of the most honest and revealing memoirs I've ever read. At the risk of sounding cliche- It'll make you laugh, it'll make you cry! I found out from my friend Dyan that Anthony is also playing a show after the signing with his band Albino Kid at the Cutting Roomhttp://www.thecuttingroomnyc.com/...SO excited!!! EEEEE!!! But that's not all. Since I've got my final feature due for my magazine class soon I've decided to do a piece on the cultural phenomenon of Rent i.e. Rentheads etc. So, I'm going to inteview some of the people in the line at the signing, maybe some of the people in the Rush line at the Nederlander Theatre, AND I *might* even get to interview Anthony himself! I E-mailed his booking agent and he said that I'll have to ask him for a few minutes when I'm there at the signing because he's too busy for requests in advance. Oy, cross your fingers that I can pull off my professional journalist hat and leave the fangirl one at home=p. I hope it all goes well. It's the perfect time to be doing it--It's the 10th anniversary of Rent on Broadway, the movie comes out on DVD on the 21st and Anthony's just put out his book.

Otherwise I'm probably going to take in a few museums see a few more friends. I want to maybe see Sweeny Todd, and or Stomp and, of course I can't be in New York without seeing Rent. Especially since it's probably not coming to Toronto in May afterall=(. Apparently some genius put the date up on the site without checking to see if the Canon Theatre was free first=p. They're rumored to be shopping around for another venue...I hope so!

Lots of stories and pics when I get back!

It's "Warren's World"...we're just living in it

For those of you who don't know, this is Warren Rupnarain. He's a 4th year social work student at Ryerson University and he's taken on an initiative that's TOTALLY AWESOME--he's a complete inspiration. After securing a placement position at The March of Dimes, Warren began a project, which has come to be called "Warren's World". Basically before the Federal Election he went to all of the candidates campaign offices to see how accessible they were to people with disabilities, and to find out what their position on a Canadians with Disabilities Act. He was met with a lot of "interesting" obstacles...and of course a bunch of lame excuses, but also a lot of people who were willing to support his cause. Warren found that about 95% of the candidates offices had some way of getting in in a wheelchair...pretty good, but not perfect! Warren is an amazing activist who is still tirelessly working to create a more accessible Canada--to break down both physical and attitudinal barriers. His journey has been video documented all the way and can be viewed on his website http://www.warrensworld.ca/ along with all of the other publicity and praise that Warren has been recieving lately. I highly recommend you check it out!

Warren was good enough to join us at RyeACCESS yesterday for a post-election review. He took us all the way through his adventure and showed us clips from his new Warren's World DVD. Getting to hear him speak was a great experience and once again RyeACCESS has scored another victory in the successful event department. Not only did we bring in members of the Ryerson Access Centre staff, I think a lot of eyes were opened to the world of disability issues. Journalism professor Peter Bakeogeorge brought his first-year newsreporting class (about 30 students) to cover the event for an assignment. So, not only did they get an interesting thing to cover, I think they were exposed to issues that they might not have been exposed to otherwise. I was really excited that RyeACCESS was able to raise awareness on such a large scale....Thanks Warren!

There will also be a podcast of the event on Warren's site featuring short interviews from myself, my coworker Aaron Broverman and RSU VP of Education Nora Loreto. Check it out!