Just before we separated, my ex-wife got a digital video recorder to go with our digital cable subscription. I didn't pay much attention. It was kind of her toy, and she used it to record every episode of the series of the month she was addicted to (e.g., CSI or Numbers). I've got too much writing and other work to spend much time in front of the TV, but I decided I would make the time in front of the TV more productive. Last week I started recording movies and shows I really want to see, and now they're sitting there when I want to watch them. I've recorded Trekkies and Trekkies 2, City of God, etc., along with every episode of Southpark that comes along.
I recorded and watched The Laramie Project this past weekend. Now, I've only lived in Laramie post Matthew Shepard, and only paid a little attention to the story when it happened (just prior to my wedding, actually). I've heard some stories, and seen some related campus events on the calendar, but didn't know a lot about it otherwise.
I was near tears several times watching. I don't know if it was because the story is that powerful, or if it is because it was about my hometown (and yes, I've embraced Laramie and feel attached to it as a good place to live). The Fireside where Matthew left from that night recently reopened as JJ's Bar (owned by the previous owner of my house, a great guy who still cleans my carpets with his other company). I drank beer last week at JJ's Bar. I've been in that courthouse half a dozen times, paying taxes or gettince license plates. I've driven those streets. It was very personal.
The movie casts the Matthew Shepard incident as applying to the entire country and the hatred and violence that can spring up anywhere, but it happened in my hometown, and as the people talked I could see myself in them. I think this is a great place to live, and the people are in general more friendly than nearly any other place I have lived. There are some attitudes here that are troubling, and, for better or worse, rarely seen. I mean, I posted back a few months about the kids getting arrested for building a giant snow phallus on their yard. It was crazy then, and it's crazy now -- not that they did it, but that people complained about it, knocked it down, then called the cops and got them arrested for it. This was April...the thing would have melted in a day.
As a professor I have some standing and influence. When I have an opportunity to speak out, I'll take it. Live and let live is a great maxim as long as it isn't the same thing as don't ask, don't tell. Intolerance is the only thing we shouldn't tolerate.