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i went to mark doty's poetry reading because i wanted to, not because it was for class. i also didn't exactly realize it was a poetry reading. i actually made that mistake multiple times that day. before dinner i went to a philosophy talk that i thought was on "transcendental consciousness". actually i only gave the flyer a cursory glimpse and thought i saw consciousness and was psyched. it was actually on "transcendental conscience", very different, i just apparently can't read when i'm nerdily stoked about philosophy. then after dinner, i went to what it thought was a talk about aids, not a poetry reading. though my first misguided talk of the day was a dissappointment, mark doty made up for it. his poetry ended up being so much better than just someone talking/reading about aids. i loved his poetry, and i loved listening to him read it. sometimes i'm not a fan of poetry readings because i feel like they fall too much into exactly what you stereotype something called a 'poetry reading' to be- you know, berets, bongos and organic coffee all wrapped up in hipster pants. but this was different. it was about his partner (i use this word with my whole own set of reservations on what the people in a committed but gay relationship are to eachother, partner sounding like a law firm, but i'll spare the rant and just use it for the sake of the story) getting aids, dealing with aids, and then dying of aids, but it was also just about human emotions in general. being gay wasn't the point, sometimes it mattered because people weren't willing to deal with aids in the mostly straight community where they first lived, and sometimes it didn't matter, it was just people caring about other people. i loved it, i got one of his books to read over break when i once again have that illusive creature called 'spare time' and i can't wait.