On October 26, “ColdMilkTea.com + Alolos” had our first Coffee House. It was a full house, with about 42 people who attended the event. I appreciate folks for coming, and especially thank the various volunteers for executing with the food and drinks.
The idea for the coffee house was sparked a year ago, at the December 30 AFC Vancouver Coffee House “暗戀”. Alolos and I heard that AFC will not hold Coffee House in the year 2008 – and since most of AFC’s events are intended for the purpose of teaching – we decided to organize one ourselves, as a creative outlet and to demonstrate our ability to hold one.
Alolos’ idea was to continue the theme of “暗戀”, a sort of part 2, about attitudes toward relationship. On the other hand, I noticed that I have a lot of weddings to attend to in 2008, and I can capture some video about marriage.
And that’s how we arrived at the topic: 未分男女. It’s a pun on 分 and 婚.
I found the creative process to be very satisfying. Alolos’ style is energetic, quick, impromptu, youthful, whereas I am obsessed with emotional weight and plot. During the planning, we were able to kick each other’s butts and edit each others’ thoughts. And in the end we stitched our improv theatre and video together for something that’s fun and thoughtful. At times, I was not sure if the juxtaposition would work, but the end product melted into a variety platter. We heard different sorts of feedback from the students, working, male, and female.
In the end, the questions raised in this coffee house – Why date? Why marry? – are questions that we (and I) need to ask ourselves. Are we just emotional, physical, sexual creatures? Do we do all of this complicated, hurtful stuff because we are afraid of being alone? What is this mysterious drive toward relationships, toward sacrificing ourselves to our companions and our children?
What do you think? Let us know by commenting below, and leave us some feedback about the event, that we can improve.
Leave a Reply