Sweetness! I am incredibly stoked!
I just got off a call with one of the best in the business regarding my travel show idea, and he gave me some priceless advice and assistance! He confirmed many things I already (surprisingly) knew, and added glow to them, such that I can advance my knowledge. So the next step for me is to just get out and start shooting. I’m going to Blanding this next Thursday to assist in building homes for those living on the Navajo reservation with the non-profit group Hearts and Hands, and I’m going to take advantage of that trip to start filming. What perfection the Universe lines up for me! Now all I have to do is get a video camera to be able to film, haha! My friend that I just got off the phone with – Jasen Wade Nielsen – offered to assist me a bit with editing if need be, and I know a couple other people who excel at that who I can hook up with, and I personally love sound editing and yesterday found out that a really good (and developing) friend of mine is really skilled at sound editing anyway, and I am overflowing with creativity for the writing and hosting part of the job; everything is just lining up out of the blue and it feels great!! Like I said, all I need now is to find a camera (and preferably some decent sound-capturing equipment) and grab someone who can carry it and shoot and head down to Blanding by next week! I am sooooo looking forward, with immense excitement and optimism!
Now, the basic concept is to provide to youth and teens a fun, semi-interactive education on the diversity of the people who walk this planet with us with a purpose of engaging the viewer’s creativity and feelings of compassion and personal responsibility. I will cover niches wherever they may be. The first episode to be filmed, as stated above, will be the Navajo Nation in Blanding, Utah – their customs, dances, art, etc, as well as the plight they continue to endure regarding their government’s corruption. The second shoot will involve the gay movement in Salt Lake City – simply because I am getting more involved in it and the Pride Celebration (with which I am assisting this year) takes place at the beginning of June, which will give me ample time to edit the Blanding footage before I tackle my next episode. Plus, I think it’s great timing (and great footage to have in general), because of everything that’s going on between the gay movement and SLC, specifically, with all the hate crimes that have been occurring lately, and the indie Prop 8 movie being released in nationwide theaters soon and all. Like I said, the timing of all this creativity is absolutely impeccable! What should my third episode be? I am heavily considering India, as I am already planning on traveling there this summer…the only reason I’m CONSIDERING it, rather than COMMITTING to it is because I don’t know anything about it, or where to start with it! So I guess I will add to my to-do list to research India and its history and culture such that I can tackle something significant and interesting!
Timeline:
1. Research Navajo Nation for at least ten hours before Thursday.
2. Be working out to get in best shape for filming lifestyle.
3. Get video camera and someone to film.
4. Gather footage in Blanding next week.
5. Find a month-long job in Utah so I can begin saving for India.
6. Review and edit footage.
7. Format a plot for my Gay-SLC episode.
8. Research India (government, culture, rituals, niches) for at least a week.
9. Format plot for India episode.
10. Gather Gay-SLC footage in June.
11. Move to San Luis Obispo and immediately get a job to save for India trip.
12. Review and edit footage.
13. Take 2-3 days to research surfer culture and history.
14. Gather Surf footage in June/July.
15. Review and edit footage.
16. Gather footage in India in August?
17. Review and edit footage.
If you think I’m missing anything, feel free to throw anything up here. I love hearing from you guys and look forward to your discussions! Love y’all (as Texans would say)!
Showing posts with label gay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gay. Show all posts
4.23.2010
4.13.2010
What We're Missing is a Revolution...and Respect
I remember just a week or so ago remarking to a friend, "You know, I am so sick of the complacency in this nation. What we are missing in this nation is passion! That's something that made us great." and I hereby retract that statement. Yes, I believe there is an alarming amount of complacency in this nation, and I would love that to change, but I now see that we have quite a bit of passion here in our lil ol' nation. I think what we're missing, though, is Respect. Today I read a story about Reverend Phelps and his Westboro gang, and I was truly appalled by their sheer disregard for the respect of life. (You can find the story to which I'm referring here) And just a few weeks ago, the media was filled with reports of Teabaggers throwing slurs at our Congress members. Why is it that our citizens have come to the brink of savagery? To where have our respectful movements disappeared? Where is our ability to see and sculpt the future?
Yes, Westboro assholes, say what you want, whenever you want, wherever you want; such is the current state of free speech. However, I firmly believe this definition and legal upholding of free speech is bullshit. It's time to evolve, people. The Constitution states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech" and I believe that is the nail in the coffin that the Founding Fathers unwittingly included that gives religion whatever rights it wants to have. How I read that is: as long as it's a religious movement, then Congress can legally have no say in changing it. So why don't all the homosexuals just create a religion celebrating homosexuality? We could then get married and adhere to a loophole in the Constitution to ensure whatever we wanted could be carried out by us. I think it is about time for some real reform. It is time for a revolution, people.
Yes, Westboro assholes, say what you want, whenever you want, wherever you want; such is the current state of free speech. However, I firmly believe this definition and legal upholding of free speech is bullshit. It's time to evolve, people. The Constitution states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech" and I believe that is the nail in the coffin that the Founding Fathers unwittingly included that gives religion whatever rights it wants to have. How I read that is: as long as it's a religious movement, then Congress can legally have no say in changing it. So why don't all the homosexuals just create a religion celebrating homosexuality? We could then get married and adhere to a loophole in the Constitution to ensure whatever we wanted could be carried out by us. I think it is about time for some real reform. It is time for a revolution, people.
3.30.2010
I Envision Assimilation and Tolerance
The other day, I put on my Facebook status the following: "Irony: when religious zealots make preventing gays from marrying peacefully their newest false idol." I did not say anyone I knew was a religious zealot. I did not say all religious people are crazy zealots. I did not list anyone in particular. I simply posted what I wrote above. And the only person who responded so far wrote "I think the real irony is how gay people preach tolerance and show more intolerance for others than anyone I know." Now, I am gay. And her brothers are gay. And one of her friends is gay. And she still says she believes this. How can that be? One cannot stereotype a group of people but say that there are some of that group that they don't believe it about. That's just not how the mind works. You either believe it about us all, or you don't. Yes, there may have been some very intolerant gay people in your history (I know I can think of quite a few), but to say that gay people are the least tolerant people of ANYONE is a very powerful and clear statement. And I don't agree with her claim that gay people kissing in front of a temple, or defacing churches or any of the other items she wrote as evidence are the most intolerant acts ever demonstrated by anyone or any group in mankind's history. I do NOT condone any of the things she wrote as evidence of gay people being intolerant AND I do not believe them to be the most intolerant acts ever committed. Yes, kiss-ins are juvenile in my opinion, and especially that gays would be holding it in front of the temple, obstructing the way for devout followers of a faith who want to simply peacefully worship and enjoy their day. AND when the kiss-ins were happening, I loudly voiced to ALL my friends (straight AND gay) that I thought it was immature and purposeless and I lost a couple friends for it in fact. Yet I am lumped into the same category as those friends I lost. I am lumped into the same category as the people who actually participated in an act that I found revolting, immature and disrespectful.
Now, I want to state here to all readers: I'm not writing this to win, I'm not writing this to be a bitch, I'm not writing this to get people against her or to belittle her or to get people to harass her, and I would appreciate it if all readers would respect those wishes. Why I AM writing this is to provide to straight people just a little bit of clarity on the history of the treatment of gays.
There's a lot of things to say to combat what she said, and I'm going to say them here to get them out. I don't want to confront her, because I don't think that's the high road, but I also feel a need to express travesties that are done to the gay community of which she (or others) may simply not know. And NOTE, this is all to MY knowledge...there may be things out there that have happened to straight people that I don't know about, and please feel free to put them here if they have been (education is always best).
First: I have never known a straight teenager to be kidnapped by his gay peers, dragged out to the middle of nowhere, beaten to a bloody pulp, tied up to a fencepost, beaten some more and left for dead, on the brink of death, all because the child was straight. I do know of a gay 14-year-old that has happened to him. His name is Matthew Shephard and he lived and died in Laramie, Wyoming. For those who don't know, Laramie is a mere 5 hours and 37 minutes away by car. In this huge nation, that is much too close for comfort. And to have my fear and my pain and mostly HIS pain, and his mother's pain reduced to "Gays are intolerant" is just straight up bull. There's no other wording for it.
Second: In Iran -- and MANY other countries -- being gay is punishable by death or many other forms of atrocities. What?? Why? Why is my being attracted to someone else punishable by death? Whether or not being gay is a choice or something you're born as isn't the argument here. The question is -- either way -- why is a way of being punishable by death, or by being whipped severely and scarred? It's not punishable by death to be a businessman, or to be a stay at home mom, or even in many of these countries to be a prostitute, yet it is worthy of death simply to be gay (even if one doesn't act on it)??
Many careers have been destroyed because a person has come out of the closet. And yes, my belief is that most of these times it is because when the person comes out, they go a little overboard and they act "too gay". I mean, take a look at a few people... Lance Bass: Well, he didn't have much of a career left, HOWEVER, he has earned a lot of respect because he told everyone "I just wanna be a normal gay. I don't need to be all outlandish and everything." Same with Neil Patrick Harris and Ricky Martin. Rosie O'Donnell? Well, she was like the queen of acting too gay when she came out. And look at the way she is perceived in the media. Tell me one straight person who perceives her as "normal" or "acceptable". I have not met any myself. The argument here may have gotten a little obfuscated, so let me point it out for certain: since when has it been bad to be "too straight"? Are people fired from their job for being "too straight"? Are people called derogatory words for being "too straight"? Are people completely dismissed as actual humans for being "too straight"? No. Bottom line is: NO.
Based on THESE EXAMPLES, saying gay people are intolerant of the way straight people have treated them would be akin to saying that black people were intolerant of the KKK. I'm not saying it's okay for gay people to be "intolerant" and it's not for straight people. I'm not saying that gays are righteous and straights are evil. What I'm trying to do here is point out that gay people have had an inordinate amount of intolerance shown to them in recent history, and maybe it's about time for straight people to give us a little wiggle room?
Now, I want to state here to all readers: I'm not writing this to win, I'm not writing this to be a bitch, I'm not writing this to get people against her or to belittle her or to get people to harass her, and I would appreciate it if all readers would respect those wishes. Why I AM writing this is to provide to straight people just a little bit of clarity on the history of the treatment of gays.
There's a lot of things to say to combat what she said, and I'm going to say them here to get them out. I don't want to confront her, because I don't think that's the high road, but I also feel a need to express travesties that are done to the gay community of which she (or others) may simply not know. And NOTE, this is all to MY knowledge...there may be things out there that have happened to straight people that I don't know about, and please feel free to put them here if they have been (education is always best).
First: I have never known a straight teenager to be kidnapped by his gay peers, dragged out to the middle of nowhere, beaten to a bloody pulp, tied up to a fencepost, beaten some more and left for dead, on the brink of death, all because the child was straight. I do know of a gay 14-year-old that has happened to him. His name is Matthew Shephard and he lived and died in Laramie, Wyoming. For those who don't know, Laramie is a mere 5 hours and 37 minutes away by car. In this huge nation, that is much too close for comfort. And to have my fear and my pain and mostly HIS pain, and his mother's pain reduced to "Gays are intolerant" is just straight up bull. There's no other wording for it.
Second: In Iran -- and MANY other countries -- being gay is punishable by death or many other forms of atrocities. What?? Why? Why is my being attracted to someone else punishable by death? Whether or not being gay is a choice or something you're born as isn't the argument here. The question is -- either way -- why is a way of being punishable by death, or by being whipped severely and scarred? It's not punishable by death to be a businessman, or to be a stay at home mom, or even in many of these countries to be a prostitute, yet it is worthy of death simply to be gay (even if one doesn't act on it)??
Many careers have been destroyed because a person has come out of the closet. And yes, my belief is that most of these times it is because when the person comes out, they go a little overboard and they act "too gay". I mean, take a look at a few people... Lance Bass: Well, he didn't have much of a career left, HOWEVER, he has earned a lot of respect because he told everyone "I just wanna be a normal gay. I don't need to be all outlandish and everything." Same with Neil Patrick Harris and Ricky Martin. Rosie O'Donnell? Well, she was like the queen of acting too gay when she came out. And look at the way she is perceived in the media. Tell me one straight person who perceives her as "normal" or "acceptable". I have not met any myself. The argument here may have gotten a little obfuscated, so let me point it out for certain: since when has it been bad to be "too straight"? Are people fired from their job for being "too straight"? Are people called derogatory words for being "too straight"? Are people completely dismissed as actual humans for being "too straight"? No. Bottom line is: NO.
Based on THESE EXAMPLES, saying gay people are intolerant of the way straight people have treated them would be akin to saying that black people were intolerant of the KKK. I'm not saying it's okay for gay people to be "intolerant" and it's not for straight people. I'm not saying that gays are righteous and straights are evil. What I'm trying to do here is point out that gay people have had an inordinate amount of intolerance shown to them in recent history, and maybe it's about time for straight people to give us a little wiggle room?
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