DVD: Warren Beatty's Epic Classic "Reds"

Up here in Turkey Hallow it is time to start ordering those DVDs that will keep your summer guests entertained when you sneak out of the room to catch up on your work. This summer high on my list is the 25th Anniversary edition of Warren Beatty's 1981 masterpiece - Reds. The movie is a romantic epic set against a sweeping historical backdrop - in the Gone With The Wind tradition...but to my personal taste, much better.

This was Warren Beatty's film from start to finish. He was producer, director and co-writer of this film. It had been a longtime vision to tell the story of Communist journalist Jack Reed the author of the book Ten Days That Shook The World. The cast is packed with stellar performances including Jack Nicholson as Eugene O'Neill, Diane Keaton as Reed's lover, Louise Bryant, and an especially memorable Maureen Stapleton as Emma Goldman.

Actually the film was an act of bravery for Beatty. To produce a film about a love affair between two communists set against the Russian Revolution was an unbelievably courageous act at the peak of the Cold War.

The film was a huge critical hit when released and collected twelve nominations for the Academy Awards and won a golden stature for Warren Beatty for "Best Director" , Maureen Stapleton for "Best Supporting Actress" and Vittorio Storaro for "Best Cinematography. Believe it or not, this master piece was upset for "Best Picture" by Chariots of Fire. It is one of the few times the Academy did not give the "Best Picture" award to the film that won "Best Director".

In an unusual technique, Beatty interspersed living witnesses to the events of those times throughout the film. Against a stark, black background these historical witness give us the context of the times and observations of the real lives of Reed and Bryant. Among the over two dozen witnesses are greats like playwright Arthur Miller and author Rebecca West. It is a daring and successful act of cinema.

Vincent Canby, the legendary film critic for the New York Times, wrote in a rave review on December 4, 1981:

"These are the Witnesses - there are more than two dozen of them - who make up a kind of Greek chorus, the members of which appear from time to time throughout ''Reds'' to set the film in historical perspective, as much by what they remember accurately as by their gossip and by what they no longer recall. It's an extraordinary device, but ''Reds'' is an extraordinary film, a big romantic adventure movie, the best since David Lean's ''Lawrence of Arabia,'' as well as a commercial movie with a rare sense of history"

One can't watch this epic without being struck by the history and the astounding personalities of those times. What is amazing as this broad historical and powerful film unfolds, it never loses the intimacy between its characters. Canby wrote:

"Most astonishing is the way the movie, which abounds with Great Moments of History, including the Bolshevik takeover of the Winter Palace in Petrograd, avoids the patently absurd, even as Reed and Louise, drunk on the excitement of the successful revolution they've just witnessed, make love in a cold Petrograd flat to the strains of ''The Internationale.'' The secret, I think, is that the film sees Reed and Louise as history's golden children, crass and self-obsessed but genuinely committed to causes they don't yet fully understand"

He continues in his review:

"The film's scenes of epic events (actually photographed in Finland and Spain) are stunning, but so are the more intimate moments, including a stuffy Portland dinner party where Reed and Louise are formally introduced; the Greenwich Village sequences in which Reed and Louise enjoy their newly found, mutual love, and a hilarious sequence in Provincetown in which Louise, not a born actress, plays the lead in the early O'Neill play called ''Thirst.'' Says O'Neill to Louise: ''I wish you wouldn't smoke during rehearsals. You don't act as if you're looking for your soul but for an ashtray.''

Many will say that Beatty failed to win the Oscar for "Best Picture" because of Hollywood's fear of the subject matter in the film. The technical aspects of this extraordinary picture were as good as it gets. Canby honors their achievements by saying,

"Students of history may argue over some of the film's ellipses, and film students may delight in pointing out cinema ''quotes,'' shots that recall scenes from other movies, but they will be missing the point of a film of great emotional impact. The technical credits are superior, including Vittorio Storaro's photography and the mindboggling editing job done by a crew headed by Dede Allen and Craig McKay. "

Long View Gallery: Artist Jamie Pocklington Has a Secret.

Washington, DC's Long View Gallery currently has a delightful show featuring artist Jamie Pocklington on view until April 25. Pocklington teases us with brightly colored provocative paintings that invite us to join the fun.

Jamie Pocklington is a resident of Richmond, Virginia and he thrives on painting real people in a bright manner. Every one of his subjects makes us feel that we have met him or her somewhere before. Each painting clearly contains a secret that challenges us to use our imagination. As you view his colorful works, you find yourself projecting your own story and hidden agendas upon the artist's subjects.

In his oil painting entitled "Mark the 'Crappy Clown' No One Ever Knew Why", we are treated to almost a vivid puzzle. Two spheres compete in the painting: One, of course, is the poor "Crappy Clown" and other is the fun-loving duo of women. Is their laughter causing him to cry or is his crying making them laugh? Who wouldn't want to personally know the vivacious and joyful young ladies? We instantly are ready to get our coat and go party with them.

 

Pocklington's "The Two Baddest Apples Off The Family Tree" is just deliciously evil. You know this prominent family represented by the generations in the painting has dark hidden secrets. God, I would love to know both the subjects in the painting and the juicy stories from their clearly dysfunctional family. The artist goes easier on the outstanding colors in this portrait and allows us not to judge them through his eyes but our own. More color would have risked painting a 'scarlet letter' on them.

With this showing, The Long View Gallery continues its excellent series of American artists and their paintings. Should you find yourself in our nation's capital this Spring, try and catch the fun.

ART: Endless Sze Tsung Leong

Mark your calendars: Sze Tsung Leong's newest show of photographs is being featured at Yossi Milo's Gallery in New York City April 3rd through May 17th . Entitled simply "Horizons", the collection just might be his best so far - the flurry of different horizons leaves you not only breathless but eager to walk into the unknown.

If anyone ever questioned that photography was art, this show should erase all doubts. The subtle images of skylines ranging from cityscapes to seascapes are stunningly powerful and beautiful. Nearly neo-impressionist, these pictures capture the mystery that haunts us of what is on the other side. With calculated perfection, Sze Tsung draws us into his photography and begs us to travel with him into an endless world with no boundaries. Take this amazing piece of countryside and examine your own desire to know what lies just beyond that horizon. How far can one walk in this beauty before encountering the calm or chaos that lies ahead?

 

Sze Tsung Leong express his in own words what horizons mean to him:

"Understood with this expanded capacity, the horizon forms a boundary separating the inside from the outside, the seen from the unseen, the known from the unknown, and the familiar from the foreign. Any boundary automatically creates a relationship between what is included inside and what is left outside, making the outside just as important as the inside in knowing and understanding the inside itself. Intelligibility is just as much a question of establishing “this is not” as it is of determining “this is.” National borders are just as much about defining an idea of what “we are not” as they are about delineating what “we are.” A horizon is just as much about what we cannot see beyond it as it is about what we can see in front of it. In other words, the horizon always points to what is outside."

His work doesn't always create mystery or journeys into the unknown. This photograph taken on the Yangtze River captures not only the beauty of a solitary life but the extreme loneliness of it. The river dweller almost seems to float above the water and you feel as though you are intruding simply by viewing the picture.

Again, Sze Tsung says it best when he states:

"To drift towards the horizon implies approaching the outside, the unseen, the unknown, the foreign. Yet if the horizon is always the farthest visible point, the widest limit of knowledge, then any approach to the horizon will be accompanied and preceded by the range of familiarity that delineates the horizon in the first place. The familiar, to some degree or another, is always immanent in the foreign, acting as a form of navigation, a compass by which the outside can become understandable and legible."

This will be an extraordinary show and well worth a trip to see it. Yossi Milo continues to emerge as one of the premiere photography galleries in the country. Milo has done great work in making sure that the photograph, like the canvas, can achieve pure art. His gallery is located at 525 West 25th Street in New York City.

Marylouise Oates: "The Second Home Book"

St. Martins Press has just published writer Marylouise Oates' entertaining new how-to guide, THE SECOND HOME BOOK, which disarmingly details everything you need to know about owning and running a weekend home. In this playful, humorous, yet amazingly comprehensive primer, Oates covers all the salient points on how to make your home away from home second to none. Running the gamut from how to stock your pantry for the summer to how to take stock of possible clandestine trysts among your guests, Oates shares the secrets of insuring a memorable time not only for guests but also for the owner/host as well. (Not the least of these includes a brilliant treatise on how to keep your second home from becoming your friends' new bed and breakfast!) This quick and easy to read handbook makes you laugh, gives you important tips and most of all, explains how to deal with a myriad of sticky guest situations any unsuspecting host might face.

The lucky publisher has a rare burnished gem in Oates, a long-time Washington D.C. literary fixture. In this delightfully sassy book, Marylouise Oates is part Martha Stewart and part Rachael Ray while still being wholly true to her own idiosyncratic voice. And a friendly word to the aforementioned domestic divas: watch you backs, because the delicious Oates is poised to give you both a run for your collective money while garnering her own coterie of devoted followers.

Publishers Weekly in a rave review says:

"Oates exercises her experience, her detail-oriented nature and a good dose of humor to confront the challenges of managing multiple homes at once. Aware that the purpose of most second homes is fun and relaxation, Oates stresses a casual and comfy approach to decorating, housekeeping and entertaining—without losing focus on the fact that running a home away from home takes a certain amount of undivided attention. Apart from the obvious must-dos, such as decorating, securing and managing utilities and implementing a system for closing up and caring for the home during off-season, she addresses the niggling things new or potential second-home owners might not have considered. For example, finding dependable craftsmen, a local hairstylist and a dog groomer can be difficult when you're away from the city or suburbs. Some of Oates's tips are gold—like how to keep a kitchen stocked so that you can immediately fix a decent meal upon arriving, or how to deal tactfully with people who want to borrow your vacation home while you're not there. All of this valuable information is presented in an easy-to-read, entertaining."

With the buoyant verve and clever nerve of an "Auntie Mame", Oates dances the reader through day one in a second home with suggestions on how to effortlessly triumph over even the most difficult and unexpected circumstances. Her intuitive, innovative recipes, her must-read, definitive check lists and her inclusion of personal dicey situations resolved in her own home prove to be wryly charming as well as enlightening. And did I mention funny? I couldn't stop laughing at the middle age maiden who insisted in walking around the house in her panties or at the failed attempts of two guests introduced at dinner to silence an especially boisterous sexual adventure later that night in a narrow twin bed! In addition, I will be forever grateful to Oates explaining in compassionate terms how to best deal with other peoples pets, unexpected illnesses and problematic vacation inebriations. Finally, I now know not only what I need stocked in my pantry but also in my medicine cabinet.

Pick up this utterly unique, breezy read and be prepared for any situation that might arise in your home, be it your first, second or third. As a periodic house guest of Oates and her husband, political advisor Bob Shrum, over the years, now, thanks to this book, maybe I'll be able to amend my behavior enough to become a perennial.

Can't wait for St. Martin's to do a follow up on this joyful and helpful book

Books: Chandler Burr's The Perfect Scent

There is no better writer than Chandler Burr to take science and colorful personalities to create a great story. In his book, The Perfect Scent: A Year Inside the Perfume Industry in Paris and New York, he beautifully captures the egos, drama and fascinating people of that industry and brings them to life for the reader.

This is not the first time that Burr has used his talents to take a complex scientific industry and make it readable. His last book, A Separate Creation: The Search for the Biological Orgins of Sexual Orientation was a must read when it came out. Burr has an a unique way of drawing into different worlds and capturing keeping our attention.

In The Perfect Scent he follows Jean-Claude Ellena and Sarah Jessica Parker as they each create their respective scents. The inside world of finding the 'perfect scent' with all the intrigue that such a process requires is as exciting as a political campaign. We have a ring side seat as we witness two strong personalities making their own masterpiece scent and planning its release. Burr captures the process and gives us an insiders look.

The book which was released this week got a rave review in Kirkus Reviews which stated:

"Split between the twin capitals of fashion, and therefore of the perfume industry, Burr’s account tracks the development of two new scents, each a high-stakes crapshoot. The New York fragrance was celebrity-driven. To create Sarah Jessica Parker Lovely, the actress spent an impressive amount of time with beauty-product manufacturer Coty’s corporate perfumers trying to create a scent that would not only capture her essence (don’t laugh: they actually seem to have done it) but would survive in an increasingly volatile $31-billion market. Un Jardin sur le Nil, the more traditionally designed Parisian fragrance, was revolutionary in its own way. Seeking a higher profile in the lucrative perfume market, Hermès hired Jean-Claude Ellena, one of the professional "ghosts" who actually make the scents sold under designers’ names, to be its first-ever in-house perfumer"

The review concludes:

".....Burr sharply evokes the intoxicating, often infuriating mix of precise science and artistic vision necessary to create a perfume, aided by his impressively calibrated BS detector and ability to unearth the industry’s many dirty little secrets. An unusually grounded depiction of a business built largely on artifice."

Books: Randy Florke's "Your House, Your Home"

My friend Randy Florke is simply amazing.

Having grown up on a small family farm in Iowa, Randy has transformed himself into a one-man industry over the years. The handsome and personable former Wilhelmina model has made his mark by becoming a major force in the world of country living. Florke has pioneered upscale real estate development and sales in upstate New York, and he is an expert on county design, furniture and antiques. He champions 19th century farm house aesthetics infused with modern practicalities.

Randy has appeared on numerous media outlets to share his brand of country living, including Today, Elsa Klench on CNN and HGTV. Recently, Randy hosted a show on the Home Shopping Network. He also just completed a stunning modular country home in Turkey Hollow, which is upscale but environmentally sound. He is a pioneer in the modular industry, especially in regards to building green structures.

Which brings us to his book, Your House, Your Home.

This beautifully crafted book is now available in both hardcover and paperback. It highlights Randy's passion for country design. With delightful pictures and easy to read helpful hints, it’s a guide that can help even the most design-challenged person to decorate their home with the humble beauty of rural living. He guides his readers through the house room by room and doesn’t exclude those on tight budgets. For example, he includes small boxes with simple decorating tips, including "Quick Fixes for Entries, Stairways and Halls" and "Home Comforts for Mudrooms." 

The book is a perfect holiday gift for those who love design, antiques or have a second home in the country. In addition, it is a fun and beautiful coffee table book that your visitors will love to pickup and glance through.

Perhaps Randy's most important success is his extraordinary relationships with his partner Sean Maloney, who works for Governor Spitzer, and their three amazing children.

Randy Florke is the perfect Renaissance man.

PERFORMANCE: Michael Kearns and South Africa

On December 1 and Worlds AIDS Day, Michael Kearns will premiere his newest work Going In: Once Upon A Time In South Africa. The performance will take place at the Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica, California. Michael is a fixture in the Los Angeles art scene and he’s a passionate activist on the side. The tall handsome performer spent a month with his daughter in Johannesburg working at an orphanage.

Kearns says of his visit:

“Like the bulk of my work, Going In will deal with issues of race, class, sexuality, HIV/AIDS, gender, and poverty,” Kearns says. “However, the lens provided by the day-to-day world of South Africa astounded me and forced me into territories of the heart that I’d never dared to visit. To experience these revelations, often alongside my 12-year old daughter, made each day in Johannesburg more luminous.”

Below is an exclusive excerpt from Michael's show, which will premiere in Santa Monica on December 1. The stunning photograph was taken by his daughter, Tina Kearns.

Exclusive Excerpt from Michael Kearns’ Going In: Once Upon A Time in South Africa

The August winds have officially arrived, expressing their tempestuousness. It is freezing this morning, so cold that utter strangers, as we pass each other on the streets, strangers who likely would not have spoken to each other under other circumstances, mutter, almost as a greeting, "Cold." I respond, "Cold." On that we all agreed. The air is dense with clouds of smoke, drifting out of homes with fireplaces, many without electricity, and it smells like a raging forest fire. This is my last day with Teacher Josephine at Park Junior. As we work with the children on an art project that incorporates playing with letters of the alphabet, she and I seize every possible moment to strengthen our soon-to-be-truncated friendship.

We have limited time to infuse each other with what we know, what we believe, and what we feel. "I was teaching at a Soweto high school in 1984 when my girls [students] started dropping like flies. I wanted to bring it out into the open but no one would ever listen." Many believed, and still believe, that "AIDS is a white man's disease. Condoms aren't for black men." When the 27-year old son of her sister ("my own flesh and blood," she says) was dying, all her siblings would admit is that he was "ill." When Josephine saw him, she was aghast. "A skeleton," she says, without emotion. "He died three months later." In the obituary, the grieving aunt truthfully indicated that her nephew died of AIDS. "I wanted people to know what can happen," she tells me. "My sister became hysterical. 'You killed him,' she said. 'He did not die of HIV. You killed him again with lies.'

When Josephine decided that she could no longer endure abuse from her husband, the mother of three children sought the counsel of her church pastor. He insisted that they remain married. "The pastor will always side with the man," she says. In 1991, she left him and was promptly disowned by her family members who provided no support, emotionally or financially, letting their own flesh and blood live in a shelter for a year. "Survival of the fittest," she reminds me. Don't forget that this is a black woman, speaking to a white man, sharing confidences that impugn her race.

She began holding meetings for women in her church, nurturing them to come out about HIV/AIDS. "The wife of the pastor got it from her husband," she remembers. "A man of the cloth." Josephine barely takes a breath as the kids' rowdiness escalates. "Another woman was barren. Her husband's mother informed her daughter-in-law that she must allow her son to have sex outside of the marriage. "That corner, that corner, that corner," she says, pointing in three directions, indicating the intersection of a street corner. "All children by this man, all with AIDS." The stories don't stop there. The debasing shame is so great that suicide is commonplace. "One young girl," she says, "put turpentine on her head and set herself on fire. Even today," she reports, "If someone in a rural area let it be known that they are HIV-positive, they would be stoned to death."

There was a teacher's strike in the summer of 2007, right before we arrived in Johannesburg. "A white female teacher in Soweto," according to Josephine, "was attacked by a dozen black men for her opposing stance." She pauses, but only for a second or two. "When asked to identify one of the perpetrators, she was able to point out one: the principal from another school." I ask her if she believes apartheid is over. In her dealings at Cotlands, she does not feel heard as a black woman who answers to an army of white women who are above her, literally (on the second floor) and figuratively (by their position of power). How can I not confide in Teacher Josephine that I am HIV-positive? When I do, her response needs no extravagant words; she offers the gravitas of support with her unflinching gaze. "No one has HIV in South Africa," she says, sarcastically. "Funeral after funeral after funeral. You bake a cake for the family but you don't talk about it."

I tell her about my experiences as the school bell threatens to end our intimacies. "I want to share three words with you that I have held close during the past 25 years," I say. Taking a pencil from her desk, I ask her for a piece of paper. On it, I write, "Silence Equals Death." She reads the words, takes a deep breath that telegraphs both dismay and relief. "I'm going," she announces, "to write a book." Josephine is my sister, my activist sister.

Books: The Portable Plato

Every once in a while, it feels good to return to the classics. These days, we are bombarded by self-help books advocating one remedy or another. But sometimes the best advice comes from centuries old works. Without question, my favorite classic is The Portable Plato, edited by Scott Buchanan. May copy has pages that have turned yellow with age, and it is filled with the marks that only a young college student could have made while searching for wisdom.

At least twice a year, I pick it off my bookshelf and read my favorite passages, such as Plato's Symposium, which always inspires me. In today's world, the word "symposium" represents a place where ideas are exchanged with great seriousness. In Plato's time, a "symposium" was basically an all male drinking party. The men arranged themselves in a circle on comfortable pillows, got drunk and engaged in great philosophical dialogue. Plato's Symposium takes place at the home of Agathon in Athens sometime after 385BC.

As a young man, I used to imagine myself as one of the young Greek warriors preparing for battle. This passage says it all:

"And I say that a lover who is detected in doing any dishonourable act, or submitting through cowardice when any dishonour is done to him by another, will be more pained at being detected by his beloved than at being seen by his father, or by his companions, or by any one else. The beloved too, when he is found in any disgraceful situation, has the same feeling about his lover. And if there were only some way of contriving that a state or an army should be made up of lovers and their loves, they would be the very best governors of their own city, abstaining from all dishonour, and emulating one another in honour; and when fighting at each other's side, although a mere handful, they would overcome the world."

Now that I have grown into my 60s, other passages seem to hold more meaning for me. I am not eager to do battle and I am more in line with being a teacher. I love this passage:

"How I wish, said Socrates, taking his place as he was desired, that wisdom could be infused by touch, out of the fuller into the emptier man, as water runs through wool out of a fuller cup into an emptier one; if that were so, how greatly should I value the privilege of reclining by your side!"

Now there might even be some advice for those taking us to war and practicing evil in today's world:

"Now actions vary according to the manner of their performance. Take, for example, that which we are now doing, drinking, singing and talking - these actions are not in themselves either good or evil, but they turn out in this or that way according to the mode of performing them; and when well done they are good, and when wrongly done they are evil...."

The Portable Plato is the most readable of all the translations that I have found of Plato. Do yourself a favor and go pick up a copy today.

BOOKS: Eliot Schrefer's The New Kid

After a hugely successful first novel, most writers really have problems with their sophomore effort. They often struggle to come up with an original idea that will continue their success, and the result is usually a bland and uninspiring second work. While great writers free themselves from the expectations of others and their later works are better than their first success, the second novel curse that entraps most writers.

Eliot Schrefer can go to the head of the class. His first novel, Glamorous Disasters was a bestseller and a critical success, and now, he has beaten the second novel curse with his hugely entertaining The New Kid. There is no better storyteller than Eliot when it comes to the complexities facing young people. He weaves a powerful story around their struggles.

In Glamorous Disasters, he wrote about the children of Manhattan's elite, who attend private schools in a world of wealth. The New Kid creates an entirely different storyline through siblings Humphrey and Grethen, who though far apart, become intertwined in a great drama. The very first lines in the book capture what lies ahead:

"By the age of fifteen, I've taught myself the essentials: how to walk cool, how to shave and hot to masturbate. The first involves spacing your feet wide and looking like you're about to fall sideways; the second , starting with your sideburns and proceeding with downward strokes; the third, the efficient application of saliva.

And yet despite these skills, I have a number of strikes against me:

-My name is Humphrey.
-I am overweight with a lame haircut.
-I am the new-kid."

While Schrefer skillfully develops rapid fire dialogue, cutting humor and interesting characters, his real strength is the power of his story. You quickly read along because you really do want to know the ending. This is the perfect book for this coming Columbus Day weekend with the warm sun of autumn coming through your living room windows as you curl up with a good read!

Publishers Weekly in its review captures the fun of The New Kid:

“Schrefer weds fluid prose to a trashy/sexy plot in his fun second novel…the combination of smart writing and a decadent world make for a genuine guilty pleasure.”

Photography: Jan Von Holleben

German photographer Jan Von Holleben is having his second show at the Peter Hay Halpert Fine Art Gallery in New York City. After his sensational exhibit titled Dreams of Flying, he returns with a theme inspired by a German nursery rhyme called We Keep on Growing.

Von Holleben is a sensation in Europe and has won numerous awards for his work. The son of a photographer, he was raised in an alternative commune. Early in his teens, he picked up one of his Dad’s cameras and fearlessly snapped away, experimenting with new forms of photography. He has been a fixture in the London art scene since his graduation from the Surrey Institute of Art. His works are often featured in magazines and some of his work is also being shown at the Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood in London.

The German’s work emphasizes youthful dreams and childhood memories. While his work proclaims the virtue of innocence, a cutting edge intrudes into each picture, providing contrast. This magical balance, between wonder and sadness, makes each piece a realistic delight.

The show runs until October 27.

 

Movie: Ira and Abby

For me, during troubled times, there is nothing like a good movie to transport me away from the woes of the world. Of course, there are “message movies” and serious cinema, like Gandhi, that inspire us to do more or remind us of past injustices. But on most weekends, I’m happy with a good escapist movie that allows me to laugh and feel passion. Throw in a little action and I am in hog heaven!

Ira and Abby is such a movie.

It’s a fun Woody Allen-type romantic comedy that doesn't insult our intellect while providing great entertainment. Too often, gems like Ira and Abby get lost in the torrent of Fall releases, a tragic fate that will hopefully not fall on this movie. The young lovers in the film are played by Chris Messina and Jennifer Westfeldt and backed brilliantly by veterans Robert Klein and Judith Light. While the story is not that unique, Robert Cary's direction gives it an honest vitality that allows the viewer to actually like and care for the main characters.

What is especially wonderful about this film is to see Judith Light, a celebrated television and stage actress, in a feature film role worthy of her acting ability. The Emmy-nominated actress continues to show her amazing range on such shows as Ugly Betty and Law and Order: SUV.

However, her latest triumph is in Ira and Abby. The moment she is on the screen we are riveted to her. She reminds me of past screen legends who could easily go from comedy to tragedy and handle both with skill and talent. It is baffling to me that it has taken so long to bring this actress to the silver screen, but here she is at last.

Take some time and get some popcorn and enjoy yourself by watching this small independent gem of a movie.

Matt Slaby's Journey on the Immigrant Trail (Part Two)

Today, we present the second part of an exclusive interview with young journalist Matt Slaby, who traveled with immigrants on their journey from Guatemala to Mexico.

What is the most horrible thing that happened on the trip?

I'm not exactly sure how to split that hair. The most horrible thing about this route is that the immigrant is the least culpable of all sides involved, having made a choice to eat over starving. Immigration on this route -- which is much different from hiring a coyote to guide you through Mexico -- is an issue of poverty and a symptom of old, imperial economic models embodied in CAFTA, NAFTA, and other various Banana Republic machinations that the "developed" world has promulgated on our southern neighbors. If our policymakers were to engage in responsible legislation and treaty making that looked at the human impact of their ideas with as much forethought as they give to business interests, there would be no immigration issue to speak of.

What drives people to take such risks and make this trip North?

I asked that very same question to an immigrant who had lost both of his legs under the wheels of the freight train after dozing off and loosing his grip on the train. He was recovering in a shelter for dismembered immigrants run by a one-woman army in Tapachula. His answer was very telling and cuts past most of the policy-level jargon that gets thrown around in DC circles. He told me this: "You do it because your stomach demands it."

Were there many children on the trip?

"Children" is kind of a flexible term when you start looking at countries where working age can be as young as five. In that context, a 12 year-old can be well into adulthood, having been a breadwinner of sorts for the better part of a decade. Semantics aside, there are a lot of teenagers and young adults along the route. Children are also fairly common. The youngest person that I met traveling alone was 12.

Who was your most memorable character on the trip?

Padre Alejandro Solalinde of Ixtepec who is a one man army combating police corruption and a tireless advocate for immigrants. You can read more about him in an article I wrote for The University of Denver Sturm College of Law Free Press.

Having witnessed the endless line of people willing to take great risks to go North, what are your feelings on the immigration issue now?

Mainstream debate seems to focus on ratcheting up enforcement as a means to curb immigration. After seeing the risks people are willing to take for a minimum wage job in the United States, these measures seem foolish and misguided. John Wayne has been dead for years and this sort of western justice is outdated in the sense that the vast majority of so-called "criminal" immigrants are fleeing economic devastation that is perpetuated by poorly crafted U.S. external policy. In my opinion, Tom Tancredo and other anti-immigrant policy makers are bad doctors who propose to treat the symptom and not the disease. Immigration is the symptom; economic hardship created under bad policy is the disease. The moment that we, as the richest and most powerful nation in the world, are willing to look at what we can do to cure the disease is the moment that the northward flow of immigration will slow.

What do you hope to do with the incredible photographs and the stories you found?

I am currently seeking publication. Some of the pictures and stories have found play in a few journals and documentary websites, though these stories belong in front of a bigger and more diverse audience. I feel like I'm facing the same dilemma that many writers and photographers with a bent for social justice have: the places most ready to publish the stories cater to audiences that are already familiar -- or at least unchallenged -- by the content. This story belongs in the hands of people unfamiliar or unwilling to accept the simple truth that the plight of immigrants is not one that will be solved by bigger walls, deeper moats, stricter enforcement against employers, or even shoot-on sight orders given to every Border Patrol agent. It is rooted in the forces of globalization and embodied in the immigrant risking everything because their stomach demands

Visit The Free Press online to read more about Matt's journey and view additional photographs.

EXCLUSIVE: The First Interview With Matt Slaby as He Follows the Immigrant Trail from Guatemala to Mexico (Part One)

The young and passionate Matt Slaby is a photojournalist in the mold of Sebastian Junger – his stories are deeply affecting and bring a raw truth to the fore. He is also a former forest fire jumper and a current law school student. He completed an internship with U.S. News and World Report late last year.

Matt intends to use his experience and passion in the field of journalism. Slaby went to Guatemala and, in an astounding act of raw courage, followed, with his camera, the immigrant trail from there to Mexico. I’m proud to print Matt’s first interview about this extraordinary journey.

Due to the interview’s length, I will post it in two parts, with the second part appearing on Wednesday.

When did you do this trip?

I left for Guatemala in December of 2006 following an internship at U.S. News & World Report. After spending about five weeks in Guatemala researching different story ideas, I decided to head for the country's northern border to cover Central American immigration in Mexico.

Where did the trip start and where did it end?

This story starts in the small, dirty, Guatemalan border town of Tecun Uman -- a town that is essentially controlled by various human and drug trafficking interests -- and ends in Ixtepec, Mexico. That's the first leg of the trek which, for many immigrants, continues for several months and covers the entire length of Mexico. Ixtepec is the first stop on the rail part of the trip where immigrants switch trains heading to the Gulf coast before continuing north into Mexico City.

Were you by yourself?

I spent most of the trip in the company of people that I felt I could trust. Journalists, knowledgeable locals, immigrant advocates, clergy, and the immigrants themselves. Contrary to stereotype, the danger does not really come from the immigrants; it is external. Street gangs, organized crime, drug cartels, and their various manifestations in Mexican law enforcement literally wage the equivalent of a low-level war against immigrants. Rape, murder, assault, robbery, extortion, kidnapping, and a parade of lesser horrors are perpetrated against immigrants. Nearly everyone on the route has a story.

How long did it last?

Three weeks.

When did this journey take place?

January, 2007.

How did you figure out where to go to begin this journey?

Stories about the Mexican/Guatemalan border are pretty common in circles of Central American immigrants here in the United States. I picked up talk of the train almost four years ago while working as a student-attorney at a Denver day labor center. At the time I had been thinking about making a crossing in the Arizona desert with a group of immigrants and was intrigued by the Central American story since the hurdle is exponentially greater than a walk through the desert. Central Americans must cross more than 1500 miles of Mexico. The train itself poses another threat: dismembering and electrocution kills hundreds of immigrants annually. Figuring out where to begin was really pretty easy. Aside from existing information in the press, there are only a few border crossings between Mexico and Guatemala. Guatemala's infrastructure is archaic and really doesn't make crossing practicable in areas where there is no official link between countries because there is literally no road to get anywhere close to the border. Immigrants with money or property to mortgage to a coyote [smuggler] generally take routes in the interior of the country. The poorest, DIY immigrants, who cannot afford a coyote, end up at the rougher crossings where proximity to Mexico's railroad facilitate their northbound journey.

Exactly where did you travel over the 21 days?

My route started in the human/labor/prostitution market in the central plaza of Tecún Umán, crossing the river separating Mexico from Guatemala on a raft made of tires into Ciudad Hidalgo, stopping through the economic hub of southern Mexico in Tapachula, Chiapas, continuing for about 150 miles to the southern terminal for the freight train in Arriaga, then on the freight train north to Ixtepec. I stopped my story in Ixtepec, although immigrants continuing on the route head east from there through the narrowest part of Mexico to the Gulf side of the country before continuing north into Mexico City. From Mexico City, the railroad branches in three different directions, heading north towards three different points along the U.S. border where most of the immigrants who have been able to make it that far will face the final hurdle through the Rio Grande, along the seawall of Tijuana, or through the deserts of the southwest.

How did you explain yourself to the others?

Honestly. And in a lot of situations, I had help from whoever I was with at the time, be it a priest, a journalist, or immigrants that I had run into at other points along the route. This is somewhat speculative, though I don't think that it is a stretch to say that the U.S. passport was incredibly valuable in dealing with Mexican officials in the sense that most of the organized crime that takes place along the route takes place with a de facto blessing from the U.S. We fund, arm, and train many of the agencies along the southern border of Mexico as a second door to the U.S. Messing with Americans in this context triggers involvement from the U.S. consulate which would only serve to expose and undo the network of Mexican officials perpetrating crimes against immigrants. Make no mistake about it, extortion and robbery are the rule and not the exception. Even without drug money, the cash taken from immigrants at the hands of these officials is a boon.

What were conditions like on the trip?

It's the Grapes of Wrath with the addition of armed gangs and corrupt officials. If you were to describe the conditions without any back-story --rape, robbery, assault, and murder, massive displacement of people, etc. --you really hit the symptoms of a low-level war.

How did you travel? By foot? Train?

I crossed the river separating Mexico from Guatemala on a raft made of tires. The rafts run over the river and cost a little less than one U.S. dollar to get a space on the rickety, plywood deck. They are completely outside the law, though they operate in broad daylight just a few hundred yards from the official bridge connecting the countries. The rafts dock on the Mexican bank where Mexican soldiers wait in U.S. supplied Humvees to extort money from immigrants as they disembark. The cartels control this crossing and nighttime marks an increase in violence and the movement of drugs over the same few feet of water. I drove along several of the routes where immigrants walk to make efficient use of my time and to avoid the most unpredictable threat posed by armed gangs who wait for passing immigrants. In Arriaga, I spent nearly 72 hours awake on top of a freight train waiting for its departure before it finally rolled north for the final 150 miles of my leg of the journey into Ixtepec. An estimated 1000-1500 immigrants were aboard the same train.

Did you fear for your life at any time? Tell us about it.

There are really two different kinds of fear that you experience along this route: the Hollywood type of fear where your life or physical integrity are threatened -- and that happened to me at a couple of points -- and the other kind, which is a fear that sets in like a fog and keeps you on edge even in quiet moments. In my young and relatively inexperienced opinion, I think the latter is worse. After seeing immigrants who had been dismembered by the trains, hacked with machetes by the gangs, robbed, kidnapped, and raped by corrupt officials, you begin to expect that your fate may well lie at one of those ends -- and for the overwhelming majority of immigrants, it does. When fear becomes pervasive in the manner that it does on that route, you start to explore the darker corners of your psyche, planning out how you will deal with these situations when you're presented with them. At some point, it became very clear to me that I was very capable of killing if I felt like my life was threatened. I have never been a complete pacifist, though I've always thought killing to be below me, something that good behavior and self-control could prevent. I don't think this way anymore.

Books: The Outsports Revolution by Zeigler and Buzinski

America is often defined by our sporting events, tailgate parties, pep rallies and the ever lasting question, "Who is Number 1?" At times, our social lives revolve around rooting for favorite celebrity athletes, our alma maters, a city’s athletic teams and even our children as they participate in community athletic programs. For these events, we’ve designed outfits, mastered the ancient art of face painting, passed down chili recipes for generations and bought more booze than we probably should. Sports are part of the fabric of American life.

Historically, members of the LGBT community have been left out of this hoopla. Unlike the African-American, Jewish and Hispanic communities, we have no have players like Jackie Robinson, Sandy Koufax or Fernando Venezuela to break down the walls of homophobia. I can only imagine how many dozens of baseball, football, NASCAR and other sports stars played their game in the closet, denying joy to thousands upon thousands of young Americans who would have loved to have them as a role model.

We have seen progress as stars in a number of professions have come out, including a number of female athletes. The barriers for most men, however, are still rigid, especially in professional football and baseball. Of course, we have had pioneers like David Kopay and Corey Johnson, who came out to his high school team. Also, we have had breakthroughs in tennis, swimming, skating and other sports. It is just a matter of time before we cheer an openly gay player in Yankee Stadium!

A delightful and fun book has been released to fill this vacuum. Cyd Zeigler, Jr. and Jim Buzinski, authors of Outsports Revolution, have given us nearly 300 pages of information on gays and lesbians in sports. As someone who enjoys sports, I had a ball going through this wonderfully laid out book. It deals with some big myths about who is in the closet and who is out of the closet. In short, concise and tailored sections for fun reading, you can learn about great historical figures like the founder of the Gay Games, Tom Waddell, or how to cook Jim's Great Chili Recipe.

Zeigler and Buzinski say Outsports Revolution is more like a community with different contributors and great photographs showing our history in sports. It is one of those easy going books you can browse through with a friend, pick up and put down at leisure and find great little tidbits of information each time you open it. The two authors are the co-founders of www.outsports.com and are fully committed to this interesting topic. They even share how to organize an "out" sports league in your own community.

The book, however, is not without a serious side, and talks about the barriers and bigotry that face many players in the sporting world today. They even have a chapter called "The Good Guys and The Bad Guys," which lists those who have moved us forward and those who have held the LGBT community back in the sporting world. There is a great mix of seriousness and fun.

My only regret is that I would have loved to see an index and a little more detail about heroes such as Tom Waddell, Jerry Smith and Billie Jean King. I hope that Zeigler and Buzinski have another book planned profiling our pioneers.

What I can tell you is that I found myself picking up Outsports Revolution all weekend and reading sections of it. It is great fun, good knowledge and long overdue. For all you jocks and fans out there, pick it up. You will be glad you did.

Yossi Milo Gallery: First Showing for Kohei Yoshiyuki's Photographs in Thirty Years!

In a real coup, Yossi Milo Gallery in New York City will open an exhibit of Kohei Yoshiyuki's famous “park series” photographs. It has been over thirty years since the cult photographer has been exhibited and the opening on September 6 will represent his first show in the United States.

The reclusive photographer’s work from the 1970s will be one of the hottest exhibitions of the Fall gallery season. The show continues until October 20, and I strongly urge you to visit what might be once in a life time opportunity to view Yoshiyuki's astounding black and white - almost silver - collection in person.

The photographer was born in Hiroshima Prefecture in 1946. This post-bomb generation seems to seek life on a larger scale after living amidst the ruins, the radiation illnesses and the horror of post-war Hiroshima. To this unique baby boomer group, life was fleeting and uncertain. Yoshiyuki’s focus was often on the erotic playing fields of local parks, where one could find immediate, deep passion without the intimacy that could only bring more loss.

When his first works, taken at night using infrared film, were published in Weekly Shincho, he became almost an overnight sensation. In 1979, after a showing in Tokyo's Komai Gallery, he became haunted by his own work and destroyed many of the images he had taken in this powerful series of erotic underground photographs. For years after, he was a “family photographer,” and his work could not have been further from his sexually charged photographs in the early 70s.

The intimacy of couples in a public place, surrounded by voyeurs and total strangers eager to somehow be a part, was so erotic. The photographs weren’t sexually explicit, but uniquely captured the sexual passion of an intimate moment. Inherit in his work was a powerful loneliness amidst the crowd. There were people eager to seek a connection in public place that was devoid of common rules of engagement. Some of his subjects seemed tender, others seemed frantic to join in and many just seemed lonely and desperate for touch.

Yossi Milo Gallery is located at 525 West 25th Street in New York City. The gallery is also publishing its first book around this show. Most of all, Yossi Milo Gallery deserves our thanks for bringing to life this remarkable talent whose works have been too long hidden.

 

Bob Smith's New Book: Selfish & Perverse

Bob Smith makes me laugh. I have known Bob for years and throughout the struggle for civil rights for the LGBT community. He is one of the most decent human beings anyone could want to meet. But most importantly, he has always made me laugh through good times and bad. He has made many of us laugh at ourselves and at all the quirks and twists in the LGBT civil rights movement. He has brought humor and humanity to the gay experience. 

In two weeks, Bob will release his remarkable first novel Selfish & Perverse, in which he reveals himself as a wonderful storyteller. In some ways, I guess Bob was always a storyteller about our journey, though from the stage. He continued illustrating his first rate talent with two books of comedic essays called Openly Bob and Way to Go, Smith!

After all, Bob has long been an openly gay pioneer in the entertainment business. He was the first openly gay comedian to appear on The Tonight Show and to achieve a groundbreaking HBO Comedy Half Hour. He has appeared on many televised comedy shows and been on the tour circuit for years. Bob has distinguished himself at every turn in his career.

In this new book, his writing is a joy to read. With great courage, he pushed himself to write through a new medium, emerging as a powerful writer with a fine sense of story. He has combined Hollywood, Alaska, salmon fishing, archaeology, finding a boyfriend, love and betrayal into one excellent novel. Now that is not an easy accomplishment! Then, he takes the entire mix and makes you smile and laugh out loud while reading the book. Talk about talent!

Smith's bravery in writing his first novel has been rewarded with high praise, great initial reviews and the admiration of his peers. I am proud to know such a man who took risks in giving us his best. I loved this book and loved the characters. I cared for them and wanted to know them. Through Smith's prose, I wanted to escape to Alaska to seek a new adventure in my own life.

Nelson Kunker is the main character in Selfish & Perverse and he travels from Los Angeles to Alaska to seek a new world. While he held on to images of rugged outdoor life, Nelson ends up initially working in a bakery:

"My first job in Alaska wasn't exactly what I had envisioned when I left Los Angeles. I never saw myself as a logger or fisherman, but it was impossible to come that far without entertaining the possibility that I might find a job that was intrinsically Alaskan. I consoled myself with the observation that lattes were as emblematic of the Pacific Northwest as eagles and orcas are. I tried to imagine myself as a legendary figure in a tall tale - a diminished Paul Bunyan whose prodigious strength resided in his ability to brew a mighty powerful espresso - his coffee was so strong that one sip kept the man on the moon awake at night."

Armistead Maupin says of Selfish and Perverse, "A thoroughly seductive and satisfying read. It makes me laugh, it makes you horny, it makes you want to fish for salmon."

I couldn't agree more.

DVD: Mrs. Miniver

Each Wednesday, we take a look at great works of art in our Turkey Hollow cultural moment. Recently, we’ve written about timeless films from the past that might have been forgotten by some of our older readers or overlooked by younger readers. This week, we review Mrs. Miniver, an award-winning masterpiece and international phenomenon from 1942.

Starring Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon and directed by William Wyler, the film was the number one box office hit of 1942 and the second biggest box office hit of the decade! It followed only Gone with the Wind in total box office receipts. Ironically, few today know of this film gem.

Mrs. Miniver was nominated for 12 Academy Awards and took home seven of them including Best Picture, Best Actress (Greer Garson) and Best Director.(William Wyler). On the night of the awards, Wyler was flying bombing missions over Germany! Winston Churchill said of the film, "Mrs. Miniver is more important to the war than the combined work of six divisions." Today, it is one of the finest films to emerge from the World War II era, having served to motivate a nation in wartime.

Get out your Kleenex because even the most hardened among us will shed some tears. Valerie J. Nelson in her Amazon.com review says:

"A movie doesn't win seven Oscars for nothing. A glowing Greer Garson (Best Actress) commands the screen as Mrs. Miniver, a middle-class British housewife whose strength holds her family together as World War II literally hits their home. Walter Pidgeon as her architect husband seems to be the prototype for future TV dads in this affecting portrait of love--familial and romantic--during war. But the relationship between Mrs. Miniver's college-age son (Richard Ney) and the upper-crust Carol (Best Supporting Actress Teresa Wright) is filled with inherent drama--as the war speeds up their young love, it also has the potential to doom it. The 1942 film, which also won for Best Picture and Best Director, is filled with colorful characters, snappy dialogue, and sensational plot twists. Although you spend much of the movie dreading that one of the Minivers will become a casualty of war, when it finally happens, it's not what you anticipated. Exactly what you'd expect from a legendary film that lives up to its billing."

The clip below is of the famous Wilcoxon Speech, one of the film’s more moving scenes. Given by actor Henry Wilcoxon, the final speech was later broadcast over Voice of America in Europe and printed on millions of leaflets dropped over German-occupied territory. In part, the speech and the film were credited with mobilizing America to defend its European allies.

Do yourself a favor and rent Mrs. Miniver for an evening remembering a time when distinguishing between good was so much easier. This is one of my all time favorite movies.

Documentary: No End in Sight

Documentary films have always been the “truth tellers” of the entertainment industry. The filmmakers, often with no money, spend months putting together stories that get to the truth of a moment in time.

For me, the early 1970s was a period of powerful films that for the first time really illustrated the power that these films could have socially and politically. Barbara Kopple’s Harlan Country, USA in 1973 about a bitter labor strike in Appalachia made me realize not only the economic injustice that existed, but that there was an entire world of which I was unaware. Also, Peter Davis’s Oscar-winning documentary Hearts and Minds in 1974 captured the war in Vietnam brilliantly, while exploring the deep social conflict that took place at home.

Recently, Michael Moore has taken this art form to a new level with his documentaries, showing that filmmakers can produce meaningful and profitable films. The recent film March of the Penguins, for example, earned quite a bit of money. These films have opened the door for many young filmmakers who would have previously been unable to finance their films and they are giving us amazing new works.

One such filmmaker, Charles Ferguson, has given us with No End In Sight an astounding documentary of the war in Iraq. Having access to many key decision makers, especially on the ground in Baghdad, he created a powerful film on the unfolding and conduct of the war. Though you might think that we all might be desensitized to the revelation of any new scandal, this artful documentary will shock you. The decisions and the journey to making those decisions were simply a disaster.

Richard Schickel in TIME magazine raved about the film:

"Basically, it is just a talking-heads documentary, interleaved with some routinely dismaying shots of deadly carnage in a far-away place. Moreover, what those heads are talking about is a failed political policy — not, on the face of it, the most riveting of cinematic subjects.

That said, prepare to be riveted: No End in Sight, Charles Ferguson's first film, is without question the most important movie you are likely to see this year. It is not a film that simply massages your pre-existing attitudes about the war in Iraq. Rather it is a work that tells you things you almost certainly did not know about that disaster or things that have been lost to sight as chaos, anarchy and our feelings of helplessness have grown over the years since the invasion of 2003. Specifically, what it says is that the war was lost by the "coalition" in its first month — when U.S. forces failed to protect the Iraqi museum and library, among 20 other invaluable cultural, social and political sites."

The film is a powerful reminder of how not to do things (pay attention candidates!), Schickel concludes:

"It can be argued that this film is largely addressing mistakes and grievances that are now beyond redress. But that's not strictly true. The kinds of errors it examines are entirely duplicable. And it is important to have this grand compilation of serious, sometimes anguished, testimony to remind us that big talk is always cheap and essentially dreamy. Who knew that a bunch of medium shots of well-spoken, nicely dressed men and women could transcend mere journalism and bring us very close to the authentic tragedy lurking behind the Green Zone's concrete walls."

Watch this trailer and then get to a theater soon. It is currently only playing in a few select cities now, but the film will be released in new cities each weekend over the next couple of months. It should give Michael Moore's Sicko a run for the Oscar!

Books: Paul Theroux’s Dark Star Safari

As most of you know by now, every Wednesday we focus on the arts, especially those that not only entertain but adds to our knowledge. I am always thrilled to bring to light not only new finds from the arts but those from the past that should be viewed or read one more time. Of course, at my age, some of you might be hearing of these older books and movies for the first time.

One of my favorite authors is Paul Theroux whose books on his travels are not only delightful reads for a lazy evening but are also very informative. His novel Mosquito Coast was made into a successful movie and his non-fiction travel adventures The Great Railway Bazaar and The Old Patagonian Express transport us to new worlds.

Theroux, through his brilliant story telling, illustrates for us the history, the cultural, the politics and the beauty of people as he travels through different countries. As we follow his amazing adventures, he enlightens us about the complex problems in different regions of the world. There is no better way to learn about our neighbors on this planet than through a good story teller with the intellect to probe deeply into what he sees as he travels.

By reading Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Cape Town, you will not find a more enjoyable way to learn about the nations along the East Coast of Africa. The book rivets you as he faces danger and the unknown while traveling alone via trains, camels, boats, back of trucks, buses and every other conceivable mode of transportation imaginable. Theroux has the magical ability to take us right along with him as he rides a horse in Cairo to the Pyramids:

“…..the jaunt on horseback that early evening in Giza was gorgeous. Trotting though the back alleys that reeked of rotting food and litter, we passed basins of dirty water and buckets of garbage and chamber pots that were being emptied from the upper balconies, with a squawk that might have meant ‘gardy loo’. The smoke from fires lit in braziers, the stink of pissed-on walls, the graffiti, the dust piles, the brick shards, the dried mud, the neighborhood so decrepit and worn, so pulverized, it looked as though it had been made of whole wheat flour and baked five thousand years ago and was now turning into crumbs. But I loved riding in the crepuscular dusk, parting the air that was penetrated with food smells and smoke and garage, jogging through puddles with the muezzin howling, the dogs barking, the children chasing my sorry pony – the lovely evening sky showing through the dust cloud and striped bright yellow and cobalt blue. And then the pyramids, smaller than I had expected, so brown and corrugated and geometric, it looked like giant origami folded from cardboard.”

The author faces real dangers on his way to Cape Town and we watch in amazement as he navigates his way out of them. As you read, you want to become him and witness and experience what he is seeing. However, as you read on, you begin to question whether you have the courage to face the obstacles that Theroux finds in each new nation. Most importantly he captures the people, their struggles and their laughter. He captures the joy of children and the pride of parents no matter what nationality. His prose is elegant but his story telling is his genius. He is clearly addicted to travel and he writes:

"The traveler’s conceit is that he is heading into the unknown. The best travel is a leap in the dark. If the destination were familiar and friendly, what would be the point of going there?”

Do yourself a favor this summer and pick up this amazing book and go into the unknown with Theroux. You will not be disappointed.

Patricia Nell Warren: The Lavender Locker Room

Patricia Nell Warren has done it again. The prolific writer has given us another important book to remind the LGBT community of its long and powerful history. The Lavender Locker Room covers thousands of years of great athletes coming to terms with their sexually. Departing from her previous works of fiction, the author of The Front Runner and Harlan’s Race gives us a look into the world of jocks throughout history.

From Achilles to Navratilova, she skillfully chronicles the lives of athletes as they discover their sexuality and ability to love. Warren also shows us how history has been rewritten at times to avoid sexuality, thereby denying LGBT community important role models. In doing so, Warren continues to break down stereotypes and she can uniquely claim a specialty in the world of sports.

Warren, who has won almost every writing award around, captured our imagination with The Front Runner, a classic novel about the love of a coach for a player. To the people of my generation The Front Runner was the first best seller to break down the myths that there were no homosexuals in sports. The book also opened the door to a wave of media articles about homosexuality in sports. In many ways, some sports stars were able to find a path to coming out because of her extraordinary story of simple love.

The Lavender Locker Room further demonstrates Warren’s expertise in discussing sexuality and sports. More notably, however, she has given us a piece of authentic and often untold LGBT history. In order for young out people to be fully whole into today’s world, it is essential that they know and understand who paved their road to freedom. Our community has a rich and powerful history full of brave pioneers who made it possible for us all to stand tall.

As a lover of anything in literature dealing with Achilles, I found her first chapter about the love story of Achilles and Patroclus wonderful. Here is a short excerpt:

“The two men were a marriage of opposites. Achilles was a wild child, mercurial, passionate, who could go from charming to cruel in a blink. His fits of righteous rage were as legendary as his courage and fighting skills. We don’t know what he looked like, but Homer describes him as a handsome hunk with a shaggy chest and red-brown hair. He was considered the greatest warrior in all Greece. Patroclus was quieter, loyal and steady, but no less handsome and charismatic, with beautiful eyes. An animal lover, he surrounded himself with pet dogs and horses. As Achilles’ aide-the-camp and charioteer, Patroclus was not the equal of Achilles as a fighter, but greatly respected by the Myrmidons. “

We owe Patricia Nell Warren so much for her work as an author and activist in the struggle for equal rights for the LGBT community. She continues to give us amazing gifts and The Lavender Locker Room is no exception. What a fun, interesting and important book. I hope you pick it up and make it your end of summer read.

DVD: The Grapes of Wrath

Recently, I was sitting on my back porch visiting with some of my young friends. Among other things, we discussed our favorite books and movies, joking about which author or character we might invite for dinner. One of the gang said that Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck was one of his favorite books. I quickly countered that it was the only work that made both my favorite book and movie lists. Most of my friends looked perplexed. A brave one queried, “When did they make Grapes of Wrath into a movie?”

I was stunned. How could they not know that this masterpiece had been made into a movie? I just assumed they were all film buffs. But given their youth, I quickly surmised that their awareness of film probably began with Star Wars.

With that knowledge, I realized that I would be doing everyone a public service to urge them to rent or buy the DVD of Grapes of Wrath. If you already have seen it, then rent it again. This 1940 classic was nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture and a Best Actor nod for Henry Fonda. It actually won for Best Director for John Ford and Best Actress for Jane Darwell who played Ma Joad. The American Film Institute ranked it number 21 among the 100 greatest American films of all time.

As we have been talked about poverty in America this week, there is no better film for you to view. The book is brilliantly adapted for the screen by Nunnally Johnson and closely follows the story of the Joad family, in the Oklahoma dustbowl days during the Great Depression. As Tom Joad returns from serving a four-year jail sentence, he finds the homestead empty. The family has been driven from their land. With all their belongings piled high on an old truck, they head to the “promise land of California.” Along the way, they encounter heart break, death, discrimination for being poor, harsh travel conditions and anti-labor goons.

Ma Joad keeps the family together as best she can. Jane Darwell as Ma gives one of the best acting performances in cinema history. Ma’s spirit gives us all hope and Henry Fonda’s Tom shows us the power of redemption in the face of constant adversity. Both despair and hope fight for our hearts during the entire film as we ride in the back of the truck with the Joads. The black and white film also adds stark power to the movie’s cinematography.

Film critic Jeff Shannon writes of this classic:

“A documentary-styled production for which Ford and cinematographer Gregg Toland demanded painstaking authenticity. The Grapes of Wrath is much more than a classy, old-fashioned history lesson. With dialogue and scenes that rank among the most moving and memorable ever filmed, it’s a classic among classics – simply put one of the best films ever made.”

While there is no trailer to share, here is a haunting clip of scene where Tom Joad, a fugitive once again, must leave Ma and the family:

Todd Jordan: Extreme Sports and a Camera

Extreme skate boarder Todd Jordan is almost becoming better known for his soft, impressionist style of photography than for being a jock. The sports pro, who skates for Nike Skateboarding, avoids the predictable by seeking out scenes more typical of a Norman Rockwell painting than an extreme sporting event.

Jordan has had four shows with Peter Hay Halpert Fine Art Gallery and has been published in American Photo, The Journal and Vice. Instead of featuring the hard edge of extreme sports, Jordan photographs his buddies in the most human of poses. With almost no formal training, Jordan’s photographs are in demand for their innocence and warmth.

Even a photograph of a skate boarder walking a beach in Sicily, the spectator’s first impression is not of extreme sports. The viewer sees a reflective and soft young man walking alone among stunning beauty. Jordan’s swimming hole shot is every boy’s childhood and could easily been on of Rockwell’s covers on The Saturday Evening Post!

Todd Jordan is rapidly becoming one of the ‘hottest photographers’ in America. He has a Zen like spirit which creates not only a great photographer, a first rate jock in extreme sports but a damn nice guy. Jordan answered some questions for us and in an exclusive interview:

You are known for your participation in “extreme sports” as a pro but your pictures have an almost nostalgic and warm quality. Why the stark contrast between your daily life and the photographs?

You’re right. My daily life, especially when on the road, can be quite hectic or chaotic as most expect from a skateboarder. However, the down time, the calm and relaxed moments, which I tend to focus on my photographs, are where I see the truest of characteristics in my friends. It can either be in the van headed back to the hotel after skating, a night we decide to stay in, a day off where we go to a beach, or even a hung-over morning. But these seem to be the moments that speak loudest to me about who we really are.

Your pictures have almost a Norman Rockwell quality about them. Was he any influence on you?

No, he certainly wasn't any influence of mine but that is an interesting comparison. I can see some similarities as far as candidness and maybe even composition, but it's definitely just coincidence.

Who are your greatest influences?

One of my greatest photographic influences, whose one of the first photographers I came across at an early age, and who showed me that photography could be a way to bring my personal life to the forefront, is Nan Goldin. I was absolutely blown away when I first saw her work and still am to this day. I remember first seeing her stuff and thinking to myself how truthful her work was.

What person would you most like to have a photograph session with?

I've never thought of that. I think it would be really fun to photograph Paris Hilton and see what I could come up with. She’s honestly someone I detested, but I know I could shine a more positive light on her. She’s definitely naturally beautiful and id love to take off her make up and costume and bring out her sweetness and innocence if there is any there, which I assume there is in everyone.

Have you ever considered being a photo journalist? An extreme sports photographer?

Photojournalism was an early interest of mine. I have a great respect and admiration for the photographers that put themselves in true danger to bring the real problems of the world into people’s homes for them to witness for themselves. As far as an extreme sports photographer, no. I find that the experiences and lives of my friends and other athletes are much more interesting and captivating than the "stunts" that they’re capable of performing.

The River by Todd Jordan

 

Joey Goes To Sicily by Todd Jordan

JFK on Freedom and Artistic Expression

Every Wednesday, this site has attempted to post something about the arts – books, film, music, poetry, etc. We can not live full lives without celebrating and embracing the creative side of our society. Often it is the artist that sees injustice before others.

The arts have always been a place of free expression, colors and complex views of the world. A line of poetry can last thousands of years because of the power of its words. Yeats’ simple line, “Too much suffering makes a stone of the heart,” will have power long after many of us are gone.

Artists around the world often fill the jails of tyrants because they cannot fit into rigid structures of thought. They refuse to change their words or the colors on their canvas to please the many at the expense of the few. They must be free to express. A true creative spirit often can only thrive by being eccentric and in living in their unique world.

President John Kennedy, less than a month before his assassination, spoke eloquently about this essential creative freedom at Amherst College. On October 26, 1963, the President spoke not only about the role of the artist, but the role of a free individual in society. These words are worth reading again and again. Here is just part of this magnificent speech:

President John F Kennedy
Amherst College
October 26, 1963

The artist, however faithful to his personal vision of reality, becomes the last champion of the individual mind and sensibility against an intrusive society and an officious state. The great artist is thus a solitary figure. He has, as Frost said, a lover's quarrel with the world. In pursuing his perceptions of reality, he must often sail against the currents of his time. This is not a popular role. If Robert Frost was much honored in his lifetime, it was because a good many preferred to ignore his darker truths. Yet in retrospect, we see how the artist's fidelity has strengthened the fibre of our national life.

If sometimes our great artist have been the most critical of our society, it is because their sensitivity and their concern for justice, which must motivate any true artist, makes him aware that our Nation falls short of its highest potential. I see little of more importance to the future of our country and our civilization than full recognition of the place of the artist.

If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him. We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth. And as Mr. MacLeish once remarked of poets, there is nothing worse for our trade than to be in style. In free society art is not a weapon and it does not belong to the spheres of polemic and ideology. Artists are not engineers of the soul. It may be different elsewhere. But democratic society--in it, the highest duty of the writer, the composer, the artist is to remain true to himself and to let the chips fall where they may. In serving his vision of the truth, the artist best serves his nation. And the nation which disdains the mission of art invites the fate of Robert Frost's hired man, the fate of having "nothing to look backward to with pride, and nothing to look forward to with hope."

I look forward to a great future for America, a future in which our country will match its military strength with our moral restraint, its wealth with our wisdom, its power with our purpose. I look forward to an America which will not be afraid of grace and beauty, which will protect the beauty of our natural environment, which will preserve the great old American houses and squares and parks of our national past, and which will build handsome and balanced cities for our future.

I look forward to an America which will reward achievement in the arts as we reward achievement in business or statecraft. I look forward to an America which will steadily raise the standards of artistic accomplishment and which will steadily enlarge cultural opportunities for all of our citizens. And I look forward to an America which commands respect throughout the world not only for its strength but for its civilization as well. And I look forward to a world which will be safe not only for democracy and diversity but also for personal distinction.

Poetry: Neruda’s “Captain’s Verses” Filled with Passion!

Poetry has been one of my life’s most important passions. I love to read, write and be inspired by the great poetry of our times. Yeats, Tennyson and Neruda are the poets that I return to over and over again for beauty and inspiration. There is magic in their sweeping thoughts captured in just a few concise and lyrical lines.

Hand down, Pablo Neruda is my favorite poet. This Chilean writer won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971, after decades of writing poetry about love, revolution, the earth and passion. Neruda was a Communist and at various times, he was forced from his beloved Chile into exile around the world. He became a “poet of the people” and championed the oppressed.

After his Nobel speech in Oslo in 1971, he return home to