| Oscar-winner Dustin Lance Black: "Harvey Milk, 30 Years Later" |
[Feb. 22nd, 2009|10:55 pm] |
I grew up in a very conservative Mormon military household in San Antonio, Texas. I knew from the age of six what people would call me if they ever discovered my “secret.” Faggot. Deviant. Sinner. I’d heard those words ever since I can remember. I knew that I was going to Hell. I was sure God did not love me. It was clear as day that I was “less than” the other kids, and that if anyone ever found out about my little secret, beyond suffering physical harm, I would surely bring great shame to my family.
So I had two choices: to hide — to go on a Mormon mission, to get married and have a small Mormon family (eight to twelve kids) — or to do what I’d thought about many a time while daydreaming in Texas history class: take my own life. Thankfully, there weren’t enough pills (fun or otherwise) inside my Mormon mother’s medicine cabinet, so I pretended and I hid and I cried myself to sleep more Sabbath nights than I care to remember.
Then, when I was twelve years old, I had a turn of luck. My mom remarried a Catholic Army soldier who had orders to ship out to Fort Ord in Salinas, California. There I discovered a new family, the theater. . . and soon, San Francisco.
That’s when it happened. I was almost fourteen when I heard a recording of a speech. It had been delivered on June 9, 1978, the same year my biological father had moved my family out to San Antonio. It was delivered by what I was told was an “out” gay man. His name was Harvey Milk.
That moment when I heard Harvey for the first time . . . that was the first time I really knew someone loved me for me. From the grave, over a decade after his assassination, Harvey gave me life. . . he gave me hope.
( Somewhere in Des Moines or San Antonio... )
The entire article is up at Towleroad - it's long but it's worth it!
The pictures are from Vogue Hommes, also via Towleroad. Gus Van Sant took them. |
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| The Octopus Project: theremin thrash |
[Aug. 18th, 2008|02:52 am] |
The Octopus Project
theremin thrash
I'm never sorry when I take a chance on going to the Bottom of the Hill on spec. The sound is so good, unlike certain other small SF venues (Slim's, I am looking at you) that even just decent bands make a good impression.
On Saturday I didn't have to settle for a just decent band -- The Octopus Project was dynamite. I should have become a much bigger fan much sooner, but the little ripple of hype with the release of Hello Avalanche last year mostly passed me by. Well, having seen them live, I'm a confirmed fan now.
Source: my awesome blog, Distingué Traces, which has lots more pictures - so many pictures, in fact, that I am realizing I need to start using some kind of gallery widget. What should I use? |
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