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Queery: Imani Woody Macko

The MCC-DC board member and Kwanzaa organizer answers 20 gay questions

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Imani Woody Macko, Washington Blade, gay news, Queery
Imani Woody Macko, Washington Blade, gay news, Queery

Imani Woody Macko (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Imani Woody Macko says even though Kwanzaa isnā€™t a religious holiday per se, itā€™s important for it to be acknowledged at her church, Metropolitan Community Church of Washington, because itā€™s an inclusive place.

ā€œItā€™s an acknowledgement of othersā€™ cultures and that these principles are important,ā€ she says. ā€œThey help us all live our lives and, as we say here at MCC, this is our little mantra now ā€” they help us grow from the inside out.ā€

MCC-D.C., the Districtā€™s largest mostly LGBT church (474 Ridge Street, N.W.) has its annual Kwanzaa celebration slated for Dec. 29 at 5 p.m. Nearly 100 attended last year. Macko says several African-American LGBT leaders, such as Phil Pannell and Rev. Rainey Cheeks, will be present. And itā€™s not just for the black community ā€” Woody Macko says all ages and races will participate as in previous years. Singing, drumming, dancing, candle lighting, a kidsā€™ performance and more will be included. Visit mccdc.com for details.

Woody Macko has been attending MCC for about 15 years. Sheā€™s on the board and co-chairs an older adults program for the denomination. Providing services for older LGBT people is one of her passions. When her father died two years ago, she inherited his house, which she hopes to convert into an affordable center of studio units for older LGBT adults. Find the group on Facebook at Maryā€™s House for Older Adults.

ā€œI want to make sure people donā€™t feel they have to go back in the closet when they move into a retirement community,ā€ Woody Macko says. ā€œIā€™ve seen instances where you see these big gay boys or really big dykes or maybe somebody who came out later in life and theyā€™re in a vulnerable position anyway because theyā€™re older. Nobody should have to go back in the closet. We need affordable housing for older LGBT adults where they can live as their whole person.ā€

Woody Macko, a native Washingtonian, has also had stints in Hawaii, Pennsylvania and North Carolina but says she ā€œalways ends up back home in Washington.ā€ She and her partner of 12 years, Andrea, had a commitment ceremony seven years ago and got married two years ago. They live in D.C.ā€™s Brookland neighborhood.

Woody Macko enjoys swimming and reading in her free time.

How long have you been out and who was the hardest person to tell?

For many years. My son, who at the time was 16.

Who’s your LGBT hero?

Barbara Smith. Sheā€™s one of the first women whose activism and writings as a black lesbian feminist resonated with me.

What’s Washington’s best nightspot, past or present?Ā 

Hill Haven, a gathering spot particularly for lesbians of color. I danced many a night there.

Describe your dream wedding.

(It was) a room filled with people who love and care about me and my (now) wife, with candles and the song ā€œI need you to surviveā€ by Kirk Franklin.

What non-LGBT issue are you most passionate about?

Arenā€™t LGBT people in all issues? I am passionate about eliminating racism, classism and ageism.

What historical outcome would you change?

The assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

What’s been the most memorable pop culture moment of your lifetime?

Memorableā€¦ hmmā€¦

On what do you insist?

Authenticity.

What was your last Facebook post or Tweet?

ā€œYou can still donate to Maryā€™s House by sending a check to P.O. Box 29561, WDC 20017!ā€

If your life were a book, what would the title be?

ā€œThe Amazing Lives of Imani Freewomanā€

If science discovered a way to change sexual orientation, what would you do?

Nothing.

What do you believe in beyond the physical world?Ā 

Energy forces.

What’s your advice for LGBT movement leaders?

To work with other communities on their issues andlisten to and be inclusive of the voices of people who are often disenfranchised and oppressed including people who are young and old adults, people living in poverty, people who immigrated here, people of color, people with physical and mental disabilities.

What would you walk across hot coals for?

The elimination of poverty and global peace

What LGBT stereotype annoys you most?

That butch women are trying to be men.

What’s your favorite LGBT movie?

Donā€™t have a favorite LGBT movie but would watch ā€œBlack is ā€¦ Black Ainā€™tā€ over and over again.

What’s the most overrated social custom?

If you are talking about manners and social graces, we need more kindness and acceptance in the world. Words to express that one is thankful, pleased or apologetic aid in this effort.

What trophy or prize do you most covet?

The love and support of my biological and logical family.

What do you wish you’d known at 18?

That getting married (to a man) was not the only path.

Why Washington?

It is my home, my city. I grew up with the Frederick Douglas House, the Smithsonian Museum and the National Zoo. More importantly, it has some of the strongest human rights laws in the country.

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Movies

A cat and its comrades ride to adventure in breathtaking ‘Flow’

Latvian filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis directs animated fantasy adventure

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(Image courtesy of Janus Films)

Sometimes, life changes overnight, and thereā€™s nothing to do but be swept away by it, trying to navigate its currents with nothing to help you but sheer instinct and the will to survive.

Sound familiar? It should; most lives are at some point met with the challenge of facing a new personal reality when the old one unexpectedly ceases to exist. Losing a job, a home, a relationship: any of these experiences require us to adapt, often on the fly; well-laid plans fall by the wayside and the only thing that matters is surviving to meet a new challenge tomorrow.

When such catastrophes are communal, national, or even global, the stability of existence can be erased so completely that adaptation feels nearly impossible; the ā€œhitsā€ just keep on coming, and weā€™re left reeling in a constant state of panicked uncertainty. That might sound familiar, too.

If so, you likely realize that thereā€™s little comfort to be found in most of the entertainments we seek for distraction, outside of the temporary respite provided by thinking about something else for a while ā€” but there are some entertainments that can work on us in a deeper way, too, and perhaps provide us with something that feels like hope, even when we know there is no chance of returning to the world we once knew.

ā€œFlowā€ is just such an entertainment.

Directed by Latvian filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis from a screenplay co-written with MatÄ«ss Kaža, this independently-produced, five-and-a-half-year-in-the-making animated fantasy adventure has become one of the most acclaimed films of 2024; debuting at Cannes in the non-competitive “Un Certain Regard” section, it won raves from international reviewers and went on to claim yearly ā€œbest ofā€ honors from numerous criticsā€™ organizations and film award bodies, including the Golden Globes and the National Board of Review. Now nominated not only for the Academyā€™s Best Animated Feature award but as Best International Feature (only the third animated movie to accomplish that feat) as well, it stands as the odds-on favorite to take home at least one of those Oscars, and possibly even both ā€” and once seen, itā€™s hard to dissent from that assessment.

Set in an unspecified time and an unknown, richly forested place, it centers its narrative ā€” which begins with breathtaking quickness, almost from the opening frames of the film ā€” on a small-ish charcoal grey cat, who wakes from its slumber to find its home rapidly disappearing under a rising tide of water. Trying to stay ahead of the flood, it finds a lifeline when it discovers an abandoned sailboat, adrift on the waves, and seeks safety on board; but the cat is not the only refugee here, and with an unlikely group of other animals ā€” a dog, a capybara, a lemur, and a secretary bird ā€” sharing the ride, the plucky feline must forge alliances with (and between) each of its shipmates if any of them are to avoid a seemingly apocalyptic fate. Faced with setbacks and challenges at every turn, the crew of unlikely comrades learns to cooperate out of shared necessity ā€” but will it be enough to keep the uncontrollable waters that surround them from becoming their final oblivion?

With no human presence in the movie ā€” though the implication that it once existed, accompanied by the inevitable suspicion that climate change is behind the mysterious flood, is ominously delivered through the monumental ruined structures and broken relics it has seemingly left behind ā€” the story unfolds without a word of dialogue, a narrative chain of events that keeps us ever-focused on the ā€œnow.ā€ The non-verbal vocalizations of its characters (each provided by authentic animal sounds rather than human impersonation) help to convey their relationships with clarity, but itā€™s the visual evocation of their sensory experiences ā€” of being trapped and at the mercy of the elements, of making an unexpected connection with another being, of enjoying a simple pleasure like a soft place to sleep ā€” that fuels this remarkable exploration of physical existence at its most raw and vulnerable. We have no way of knowing what has happened, no way of imagining what is yet to come, but such questions fade quickly into irrelevance as the story carries our attention from the immediacy of one moment into the next.

Accentuating this in-the-moment flow of ā€œFlowā€ā€” for if ever a film title could be said to summarize its style, it is surely this one ā€” is its eye-absorbing visual beauty, rendered via the open-sourced software Blender to provide an aesthetic which matches the material. These realistically-drawn animals come vividly to life against a backdrop that captures a deep connection to nature, accented with the surreal intrusions of human influence and a certain appreciation for the colorful beauty of the world around us, even at its most untamed, which hints at an indefinable mysticism; and when the story begins to transcend the expected borders of its meticulously-crafted realism, the animation takes us there so easily that we scarcely notice it has happened.

Yet transcend it does, and in so doing becomes something greater than a humble adventure tale. As the animal companions progress in their journey toward hoped-for safety, the remnants of human existence become more weathered, more ancient, and less recognizable; the natural landscape through which they are carried begins to be transformed, rendered in a more mythic light by the clash of elemental forces swirling around them and the strange encounters with other creatures that occur along their way. Whatever world this may have been, it seems rapidly to be dissolving into a cosmos where the forms of the past are being reconfigured into something new ā€” and the band of travelers, both witness to and participants in this process, cannot help but be reconfigured, too.

We canā€™t explain that further without spoilers, but we can tell you that it includes the catā€™s ability to ignore its solitary instincts and natural mistrust of its comrades in order to form a diverse (yes, we said it) and cooperative team. It also involves learning to let go of things that can no longer help, to be open to new possibilities that might, and perhaps most importantly, to surrender without fear to the ā€œflowā€ and trust that it will eventually take you where you need to go, as long as you can manage to stay afloat until you get there.

Zilbalodisā€™s film is an immersive ride, full of visceral and frequently harrowing moments that may produce some anxiety (especially for those who hate seeing animals in peril) and conceptual shifts that may challenge your expectations ā€” but it is a ride well worth taking. More than merely a fantastical ā€œNoahā€™s Arkā€ fable reimagined for an environmentally conscious age, it just might offer the timely catharsis many of us need to confront our unknowable future with a renewed sense of possibility.
ā€œFlowā€ begins streaming on Max on Feb. 14.

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Out & About

Celebrate Aquarius season with drag

SADBrunch holds event at Throw Social

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Cake Pop! hosts the brunch at Throw Social on Sunday. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

SADBrunch will host ā€œDrag Brunchā€ on Sunday, Feb. 16 at 12 p.m. at Throw Social.

Grab your friends & family, your mimosa, a plate full of food, and join us for Drag Brunch. Five flocking fabulous queens take to the stage to perform in this sassy, extravagant, fantabulous event. Tickets start at $25 and are available on Eventbrite.Ā 

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Out & About

Being single doesnā€™t mean you have to be alone this Valentineā€™s Day!

Casa De LGBT hosts speed dating event

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(Image by kotoffei/Bigstock)

Casa De LGBT will host ā€œGay, DL, Transgender Speed Datingā€ on Friday, Feb. 14 at 8:00p.m. at 1406 N. Capitol St. NW. 

This will be a night of speed dating, deep connections, and good vibes! Whether you’re gay, lesbian, transgender, or queer, this event is designed to bring people together in a safe, respectful, and welcoming environment Come ready to connect, have fun, and maybe even meet someone special. Tickets cost $30 and can be purchased on Eventbrite.

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