I Am Your Neighbor Episode 10 - Mimi Marks

Twenty-some years ago I began frequenting The Baton Show Lounge in River North with a group of gay women from The Closet, my local lesbian watering hole located in the heart of Boystown in Chicago.  I'd spent my early 20's hanging out in drag bars in Indianapolis, where I eventually forged friendships with many of the girls who performed there, so it was a natural step for me to keep that up once I moved to Chicago.

I don't know if it was the drama of the costumes, makeup, numbers, or the attraction to the performers themselves that initially drew me to the scene, but I know that I kept coming back because I felt comfortable there, among the various stages of transformation and expressions that butted against cultural norms.  I felt a sense of belonging and safety with these humans, despite not sharing the actual trans experience with them, as I had always worn the cloak of normalcy over my bohemian spirit, while living amongst a world of the Jones'.

It made perfect sense to me that I ended up in a long-term relationship with a woman who also loved the women of drag, and she introduced me to the iconic Mimi Marks, whom I befriended immediately.  Our friendship has endured our combined myriad of life stages, and she is a constant presence in my family.

Her unique story of living her own truth is one I envisioned sharing when I was trying to conceptualize the idea of I Am Your Neighbor years ago.  A beautiful full life circle appears complete as I present her interview to you as my final show. 

I've enjoyed sharing with you my own wonder over the extraordinary ways people live their lives so authentically.  Both the enthusiasm and unshrinkingly candid way my guests have conveyed both their ideas and lives is infectious; I promise to carry on the torch for each of them in doing the same with my own.  Thank you for your support over the years.  

I am Stacy Snyder.  I Am Your Neighbor.

I Am Your Neighbor Episode 6 - Paul Nickerson

When my friend Kim of Kim's Welcoming Kitchen first told me about feral cats as a potential solution for rat control in outdoor residential areas a few years ago, I laughed at her.

Photo courtesy of Steve Dale Pet World

"Only you would consider such an insane idea to adopt wild cats that live in your back yard!" I scoffed at her, convinced that her modern hippy way of life was behind such a preposterous thought. "You couldn't use your yard because of the cats, the'd jack up the surroundings with their refuse, and it would be expensive as hell to feed them," I taunted. She silently let me grandstand that day while targeting her as the butt of my joke.

A year later, after having tried everything in the book to try and rid our back yard of rats, Paul Nickerson of TreeHouse Humane Society stood in my back yard and corroborated the benefits of feral cat colonies as a solution to Chicago's residential rat population. Poison, traps, exterminators, steel wool, bait, bb guns, bombs, nor wire mesh worked. The idea of stripping the lush yard of all vegetation and cementing the ground into a patio did not appeal to us, so instead, tail between my legs, our family adopted 3 feral cats to man our abode.

Check out Episode 6 of I Am Your Neighbor to learn about the ins and outs of city cat colonies as a means to rid your neighborhood of rodents.

On a side note, I am so pumped with the new intro of I Am Your Neighbor, created by Mike Coleman! I need more faces on this collage, though.  Who should be next? I'd love your input for interesting neighbors to feature. Please post your ideas here or send me your connections via email at stacylsnyder@gmail.com.

I Am Your Neighbor Episode 5 - Candace Jordan

Meeting Candace Jordan was the highlight of my year in 2015. I topped that in 2016 with executing the talk show I'd always dreamed about, I Am Your Neighbor.  This year's a double whammy as I've got Candace on my show! Remember the scene in Annie when Daddy Warbuck's secretary/girlfriend Grace runs through the big house singing WE'VE GOT ANNIE! making it into a number?  That's how I feel right now!  Enjoy this great interview with Chicago Tribune society columnist, Candid Candace blogger, Candid Candace TV creator, and charity spotlight Candace Jordan.