The first word that comes to my mind when I think of Penny Arcade is passionate. She was extremely passionate about her own work and I deeply respect that she shared with us her story growing up. Her childhood was rough and she went into detail about how her parents and family came from a restrictive and traditional immigrant family. They did not support her wishes to go into the show business, which caused her to run away from home when she was 15 to follow her true passion in theater. I was awed by her strength being able to follow her dreams that disobeyed her parent’s wishes. Even with a rough childhood and being homeless for a few years, as well as having a drug addiction, she showcased her strength in how successful she is today.
One of the things that I admired about Penny Arcade was that she was not afraid to dodge any subject and took every topic she spoke about head-on. She did not avoid taboo topics and was not afraid to talk about controversial subjects. Penny Arcade talked about the ills of gentrification that are taking over New York City. She came to New York City because it was the center of culture and where people came to make their dreams a reality. She spoke about her first-hand experience seeing New York City change due to gentrification and how everyone should be aware of what is happening around us. In the areas that used to be taken over by poverty, they have now been turned into more high-class areas that make it difficult for people of lower income to inhabit New York. Additionally, from the clips that we saw in class prior to meeting Penny Arcade, and the clips that she showed us during our visit of Bitch! Dyke! Faghag! Whore!, we saw how she was not afraid to bring in topics of feminism, sexuality and erotic dancers, which dominated her work. She was not afraid to censor anything and bring in the reality of things. Penny Arcade was very open and welcoming and even showed us a project that she is currently working on. She even told us to email her if we had any questions, concerns or even if we just needed someone to talk to.
