Like potatoes? Well, we're gonna have a lot of 'em! This Wednesday 2/25 at 7pm, come to Ridgewood Commons for our first ever potato potluck, then stay for a screening of the queer classic, My Own Private Idaho (1991).

Mike (River Phoenix) and Scott (Keanu Reeves) are two queer swers walking the streets of Portland, Oregon. While Scott is poised to inherit a small fortune and leave his queer lifestyle behind, Mike fully embraces his queerness and finds himself longing for the unattainable affections of his friend.

The story follows their adventure as they travel the country and then the world looking for Mike's estranged mother. Heat builds and fizzles and then builds again as the two struggle to find connection amongst the isolating landscapes of their journey. At its heart, this is a film about chosen family, unrequited love, and what it means to search for home when home has never quite held you.

Although it remains unstated, Mike reads as a queer refugee from the rural midwest in a time when being gay in middle America meant isolation, criminalization, and violence. His flight to Portland to find safety and community mirrors the mass migration of trans people today. Over 400,000 trans people have fled from their home states in the last year alone, as state persecution continues to mount and civil rights continue to erode.

Let's come together and remember that the challenges facing trans people today faced the entirety of queer community just 30 years ago, and if conservative thought leaders have their way, we'll all be returning to those times in the years to come.

585 Woodward Ave, Ridgewood NY

Ridgewood Commons events are donation based, no one turned away for lack of funds.
Withfriends tickets are useful for us as RSVPs, to get an idea of attendance, but are not required and will not be checked at the event.