Fred Phelps, free clothes and hand modeling

On Tuesday, I went to a counter-demonstration against Fred Phelps and members of the Westboro Baptist "Church." They threatened to protest outside a Howell High School production of the Laramie Project, a play about the lynching of gay college student, Matthew Shepherd, in 1998 in Laramie, Wyoming.

Of course, Phelps and his crazy family members didn't show up. They're fairly notorious for sending out press releases announcing their intentions to protest, and then never actually doing so.

Instead, the counter-protest turned into a demonstration against hate and a rally of support for the students' production. It was definitely the most festive rally I've been to in a long time. Plus, I forgot how much energy high school students have! I was really impressed by their ability to "woo" and scream loudly every time a car passed by and offered a supportive honk or wave.



For more information about Fred Phelps (and a hilarious look at his life and opinions), check out Brent Sullivan performing his one-person show, Fag Life: A Conversation with Fred Phelps.

I retired to bed fairly early after the demonstration because I had an early morning call time for my commercial shoot for DTE Energy the next day. In the ad, I played a woman doing laundry who discovers that her washer is broken and has leaked suds all over the floor. It was fairly easy as all I had to do was act horrified upon discovering the leak, immediately drop my laundry basket and then try to slam the washer door shut.

I also got to do some hand modeling. In one of the scenes, there's a shot of my hands signing some paperwork to enroll in DTE coverage. I learned from one of the other actors on the set that in "the biz," hand modeling is referred to as a "hand job." He then proceeded to tell me some stories of discussing hand jobs with fellow hand models and the strange looks he used to get from passersby.

After the shoot, I mentioned to one of the women in the wardrobe department that I liked the outfit they put me in because it was so comfortable. She replied, "oh, we just got that at Value World, and we can't return it. So you can keep it if you'd like." She then said I could look through the other outfits they picked for me, and if I wanted to take them home, I could. So, by the end of the evening, I ended up with three new shirts!

All in all, it was a successful day. I got some free clothes...and I got paid for my first hand job.