No, that is not Ben Shaul and me.
I just spent more than 3 weeks taking care of my 94-year old father, and was able to include my 23-year old daughter in this first and unique experience in my life. Even more than usual, there are many feelings zooming all around the notion of what it means to be a dad, a son…a (straight) man. A nurturer. A lover. As anyone who knows me can attest, so much of what inspires me personally and creatively is the human connection. Relationships. Parenting (as in, being a parent). Kidding (as in being a kid). Sensuality. Sexuality. The human condition. Creating community. Listening, and connecting, people’s stories.
Ben and I have become deeply connected ever since we met in the past year, and we are proud to be launching 2Str8Dads, with the first episode of our “live talk show” taking place tomorrow, January 10, at 11AM, at Singl, the beautiful lounge located in the new Hyatt Hotel in Union Square (13th Street/Fourth Avenue).
Ben and I share many overlapping sensibilities, and we also come from life from wildly different perspectives, the combo of which makes for kinetic and provocative conversations. We both have opinions about anything and everything, we love women and we love men (in a different kind of way!), we are provocateurs, we speak honestly and don’t generally give a fuck about other people’s opinions as a roadmap or guide for ours (while deeply caring about loving people and who they are), we each have chosen to take many roads less traveled, and while we both love to talk, we surely love to listen as well. Neither of us has ever been accused of being boring. We are storytellers, and we relish the stories of others. The human connection. We are excited about what will unfold at our weekly gatherings in person, as well as through what we will be building online with podcasts, and our website.
We are going to talk about things that seem to matter to people, to women+men. The things that separate them (us). And what draws us together. We are here to connect and shine a light on the disconnects, on the shadows. The things we feel deeply about, and are willing to share as well as the vulnerably naked ones that we may be reluctant to reveal. We are here to blow up paradigms that no longer hold weight, whether it’s that men are the specie afraid of intimacy, or women are less interested in sex, or men don’t cry, or women need monogamy, or men are not intuitive, or women are the nurturers, and on….and on. What is true, and what is true for YOU.
Because while the generalities and long-held-beliefs may still apply in many cases, we are not here to be general. We are (very) personal people, and that’s where we are going. Because any and all of this IS personal. Individual. 2Str8Dads are provocateurs and mirrors. We will speak from our hearts, more than from our minds, and we will engage with our audience. We will have engaging guests who are interested in not playing games and who would prefer to be game changers instead.
Please join us tomorrow at 11AM, free Coffee provided by our friends at One Five Hospitality, and each Friday thereafter.
Yes we are 2Str8Dads (not that there’s anything wrong with that!).
