The Rules: Over the course of six weeks, we'll challenge Tegan and Sara to blog about one of three themes -- laugh, rage or cry -- and, in fine Sister Quin fashion, wax literal on something that recently made them do just that. It's simple, really. The twins will alternate weeks, bringing their blogging total to 3-all. We wanted to call this series Brooklyn Tegan and Dr. Quin, but then we came to our senses. Without further ado ...

This week's theme: LAUGH

My grandpa has a laugh that could be defined as contagious once airborne. He is a true master of storytelling. Leading you to the punch line, his voice picks up speed, the pitch of his words jerking towards the ceiling, his shoulders narrowing and hunching as he breaks into giggles. It's impossible not to laugh with him. My sister and I are known for telling stories at our shows, and everything we do we learned from our grandpa.

The Rules: Over the course of six weeks, we'll challenge Tegan and Sara to blog about one of three themes -- laugh, rage or cry -- and, in fine Sister Quin fashion, wax literal on something that recently made them do just that. It's simple, really. The twins will alternate weeks, bringing their blogging total to 3-all. We wanted to call this series Brooklyn Tegan and Dr. Quin, but then we came to our senses. Without further ado ...

This Week's Theme: RAGE

Editor's Note: This week's edition of Laugh, Rage, Cry will be a special one, featuring two individual columns by both Tegan and Sara, who chose to respond to the passing of California's Proposition 8, which rescinds the right for homosexuals to marry.

This past week has been full of ups and downs for me. I'm sad I left "Rage" for this essay, mainly because I think what we really need right now is to embody the courage, calm and focus that Barack Obama used in becoming President Elect. He endured ridiculous circumstances and ignorance with dignity. He never complained. He never cried. He never seemed angry enough to smack John McCain in their debates. I would have. I could never be president. I would definitely let my rage spill out. I did. Every time I heard "my friends," I would swear and sweat and seethe. But Obama didn't do that. He just smiled and looked into our eyes all across America and beyond, assuring us he would, he could. And he did.

The Rules: Over the course of six weeks, we'll challenge Tegan and Sara to blog about one of three themes -- laugh, rage or cry -- and, in fine Sister Quin fashion, wax literal on something that recently made them do just that. It's simple, really. The twins will alternate weeks, bringing their blogging total to 3-all. We wanted to call this series Brooklyn Tegan and Dr. Quin, but then we came to our senses. Without further ado ...

This Week's Theme: CRY

Editor's Note: This week's edition of Laugh, Rage, Cry will be a special one, featuring two individual columns by both Tegan and Sara, who chose to respond to the passing of California's Proposition 8, which rescinds the right for homosexuals to marry.

I have been living in Montreal for six years. Montreal -- and Canada in general -- has the reputation for being a more lenient, understanding and open-minded country. Although I am grateful for the legislation that has made me "equal" in the eyes of the law, you cannot legislate away people's disgust or ignorance. You can't remove the stinging intolerance and slurs of homophobic audience members' words in my ears. For any minority, this seems to come with the territory. What helps me hold my head above water is the understanding that I am legally equal in the eyes of my country. I pay taxes, I obey the law, and I respect my place in the community and strive to be successful in it. I want to be inspiring, a role model. I am fueled by the idea that my life as a message dismantles the public's image of gay people as sexual deviants, as less than, as being abnormal.

The Rules: Over the course of six weeks, we'll challenge Tegan and Sara to blog about one of three themes -- laugh, rage or cry -- and, in fine Sister Quin fashion, wax literal on something that recently made them do just that. It's simple, really. The twins will alternate weeks, bringing their blogging total to 3-all. We wanted to call this series Brooklyn Tegan and Dr. Quin, but then we came to our senses. Without further ado ...

This Week's Theme: LAUGH

Editor's Note: This column was written prior to the U.S. presidential election.

I've struggled all week with what to write about. This week I'm writing about "Laugh." Or I should say writing on "Laugh." Neither wording makes me feel any clearer on what I should write.

I do a lot of laughing. In fact, a few weeks ago, in the middle of a four-show run in Los Angeles, I apparently woke up laughing. Thankfully someone was there to witness it or I probably would not have remembered in my post-dream state. You know those moments that are so funny but no one is there to witness but you? This is my biggest want in life. To find someone to bare witness to those moments.

The Rules: Over the course of six weeks, we'll challenge Tegan and Sara to blog about one of three themes -- laugh, rage or cry -- and, in fine Sister Quin fashion, wax literal on something that recently made them do just that. It's simple, really. The twins will alternate weeks, bringing their blogging total to 3-all. We wanted to call this series Brooklyn Tegan and Dr. Quin, but then we came to our senses. Without further ado ...

This Week's Theme: RAGE

This summer I was sitting in Parc Lafontaine in Montreal, reading a book. I was trying to ignore my grass allergy when my attention was drawn to a man wearing a tight white "running outfit." I'm not sure what one actually calls this sort of outfit, but it involved the type of spandex shorts I've only ever seen on triathletes at the Beijing Olympics, or adorning my preteen body in 1992. Of course my "running shorts" used to be fluorescent, whereas Olympians seem to favor colors that absorb the embarrassing pee puddles that accumulate when running, swimming and biking for hours, all while ingesting liters of electrolytes.

The Rules: Over the course of six weeks, we'll challenge Tegan and Sara to blog about one of three themes -- laugh, rage or cry -- and, in fine Sister Quin fashion, wax literal on something that recently made them do just that. It's simple, really. The twins will alternate weeks, bringing their blogging total to 3-all. We wanted to call this series Brooklyn Tegan and Dr. Quin, but then we came to our senses. Without further ado ...

This Week's Theme: CRY

I wrote our last record about crying. I've spent nearly a year answering questions about what I was crying about, and I've rarely had a believable response. No one understands why someone like me would enjoy being upset.

I remember when I was six- or seven-years-old, my grandparents' friend Claudette told me that crying was good for you. "It cleans out your eyes!" she shouted at me. She had a very loud voice, and I was intensely nervous and shy around loud voices -- ironic considering how loudly I speak. I remember the carpet and wallpaper in my Grandma's kitchen as if it were yesterday, and Claudette picking me up, putting me in her lap and telling me why crying was healthy.