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"Whatever Happened to Ennis del Mar?" panel in LA!
Brown Eyes:
--- Quote from: BayCityJohn on December 03, 2009, 06:19:20 pm ---Just so I don't offend, is "Brokie" a term you all like?
--- End quote ---
:laugh: :laugh: What a fabulous question!! I love it!
BayCityJohn:
This was posted today on Down With Tyranny
What Ever Happened To Ennis Del Mar? The Contributions Of Gays To The Olde American West
Wednesday, New York State joined California and Maine in voting down marriage equality. That same day, I learned that the Autry National Center, just a hop, skip and a jump from where I live in Los Angeles, had recently become the first institution of its kind to formally acknowledge the contributions of the LGBT community to Western American culture. On December 13, they will launch Out West, a four-part year-long series exploring the topic, with the program “What Ever Happened To Ennis Del Mar?” L.A. Times film critic Kenneth Turan, USC Professor William Handley and Pitzer Professor Peter Nardi are on a panel moderated by University of New Mexico Professor Virginia Scharff. It seemed timely to support the strides that have been made with the Autry’s unprecedented programming-- remarkable for a conservative institution, especially given what is transpiring in the political arena-- and to point out the importance of engaging in such discussions. To that end, I invited author and filmmaker Gregory Hinton, who conceived the Out West series, to post about the project:
OUT WEST AT THE AUTRY
-by Gregory Hinton
--- Quote ---Like a molten branding iron, the acclaimed Laramie Project and the groundbreaking Brokeback Mountain seared into the collective national consciousness the notion that it might not be so easy to be Gay in the West. Both were deeply elegiac yet phenomenally successful, critically and commercially. And it makes me wonder.
If it’s really so bad in the rural west, why does anybody gay stay? With all the risks, what are the rewards? What’s it really like to be Gay or Lesbian and ‘out’ in the American West?
--- End quote ---
--- Quote ---The rewards are many for those LGBTs who remain in the rural West. For those of us who come from the west, it is in our blood and never lets us go.
To that point, I recently returned to Wyoming with the ashes of my older brother, who also happened to be gay and scattered them, per his wishes, (with those of his partner of thirty years) in the Crazy Woman Creek in the blue shadow of the Big Horn Mountains. After decades in urban Southern California, my western brother yearned for his rural past till the end.
--- End quote ---
Here's the link to the full article:
http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2009/12/what-ever-happened-to-ennis-del-mar.html
BayCityJohn:
I mentioned to Gregory that Brokenback Mountain is just a few miles from Crazy Woman Creek, and that several of us have been to the creek and canyon.
his reply:
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I'm very, very touched by your first note. It was my brother's birthday yesterday. We were very close.
I spent a month at the Ucross Foundation (an arts retreat) near Sheridan last February. Annie Proulx is on the board and wrote portions of Close Range and Shipping News there.
The first day, they took us into the hills on what I now call "The Brokeback Tour." Our guide pointed out a forlorn cabin owned by someone named Childress, which is where she got the name of Jack Twist's town in Texas.
She also told us that Ang Lee scouted locations here at Proulx's request. This may be folklore, but he apparently stopped at a bar down the road from Ucross, and got thrown out by the owner who did not like Asians or Gays and that's why he took his business to Canada.
It rattled me. It changed the dynamic of the entire retreat, which was already charged with the fact that I was doing research about my wonderful dad and had the ashes of my brother and his lover in my studio.
When I scattered them in the creek on a clear, cold February morning, they were reunited forever.
Monika:
--- Quote from: BayCityJohn on December 05, 2009, 07:14:04 pm ---I mentioned to Gregory that Brokenback Mountain is just a few miles from Crazy Woman Creek, and that several of us have been to the creek and canyon.
his reply:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm very, very touched by your first note. It was my brother's birthday yesterday. We were very close.
I spent a month at the Ucross Foundation (an arts retreat) near Sheridan last February. Annie Proulx is on the board and wrote portions of Close Range and Shipping News there.
The first day, they took us into the hills on what I now call "The Brokeback Tour." Our guide pointed out a forlorn cabin owned by someone named Childress, which is where she got the name of Jack Twist's town in Texas.
She also told us that Ang Lee scouted locations here at Proulx's request. This may be folklore, but he apparently stopped at a bar down the road from Ucross, and got thrown out by the owner who did not like Asians or Gays and that's why he took his business to Canada.
It rattled me. It changed the dynamic of the entire retreat, which was already charged with the fact that I was doing research about my wonderful dad and had the ashes of my brother and his lover in my studio.
When I scattered them in the creek on a clear, cold February morning, they were reunited forever.
--- End quote ---
thank you for posting. Beautiful and interesting
BayCityJohn:
Julian Ayrs has posted info for the event on his blog 'The Tattler'
http://ijulian.blogspot.com/2009/12/gene-autry-museumout-west-series-to.html
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