‘Out and Proud in Chicago’ premieres tonight

This is a documentary I’ve been working on for the past four months as an intern (production assistant). The film chronicles the history of gay life/rights in Chicago from the Civil War to the modern era. Hosted by actress Jane Lynch.

For those in the Chicago market, please tune in to WTTW-Channel 11 tonight @ 7:30 p.m. for the premiere.

For those not in Chicago, click here to buy the DVD from the official site. At the official site you can pledge and see real coming out stories told by Chicagoans themselves.

Click through to read the official synopsis and rebroadcast schedule.

During times of universal deceit,

telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.

-George Orwell

Cool is…

a poem:

It’s not a skinny jean
or a Techno beat

Nor a symmetrical face
or a North Face Fleece

It’s not a pocket full-of-cash
or a Wicker Park address

Nor is it a college kegger
or celebrity status

It’s not about who you know;
it’s about knowing you

It’s about:
‘to thine self, be true’

It’s not about following the herd;
rather, nurturing your inner-nerd.

It’s about empathy and kindness,
not thick-facade-cosmopolitan-coldness.

It’s not about the west vs. the east
-nor rural roads or city streets.

It’s about tearing down the walls all around town

-and-

turning the world upside-down.

You don’t know me.

-aj

What is the opposite of celebrity?

Poor Lindsay Lohan.

Drug-addled and longing for detachment.

I empathize.

If everyone in the western world was assaulting my psyche in the collective subconscious, my ability to fend off their advancements would atrophy too.

They want to know you. To know why your money and good looks aren’t enough to make you happy. To know how your spirit - in such a young body - can feel so old.

In the dream state of celebrity - the only thing you long for is the one thing you can’t have: anonymity.

Imagine not being able to walk out your front door. Imagine being judged twenty-four hours a day. Imagine just wanting to forget the world for one minute - a world that never forgets you.

Imagine feeling breathless, held beneath the weight of your own popularity. Choking.

****

What if anonymity is the new celebrity? What if the hot commodity now is people who haven’t yet used up their promised 15 minutes of fame?

These are the people who have potential to make their as-of-yet unused blip on the radar.

These are people who walk down the street and evoke mystery, rather than hysteria. Or people who fade into the environment, rather than draw circles of onlookers.

What if you could walk out your front door and no one knew who you were, what you were about, your intentions.

What if you wore a full face mask, making you entirely indistinguishable by people and face-recognition-software-equipped-cameras?

What if the anonymity is your source of power - your residual power waiting to explode into the psyche of humans worldwide - but perpetually waiting, building. Never to be wasted except by your subversive arrangement.

-anonymous

Chicago, Chicago - A hell of a town

Well, I’m in Chicago now.

In the near-northwest section of the city.

This town is inspiring - if not frustrating at times.

A few curiosities:

1. There are a lot of really attractive people here. I mean, damn.

2. Skinny Asian girls can walk down the street, iPod-a-buldging, without fear of getting mugged.

3. Some people are really proud of living downtown. I heard a man say, “Anything north of North Avenue is like the suburbs to me.”

4. The electronic music, like seemingly everything else in this city is divided into separate, only sometimes overlapping scenes - North Side and South Side.

5. Traffic is so bad all the time. Traffic jams on Sunday night, no kidding. The local NPR station barely gives traffic reports during weekdays. The sum it up by saying, “Delays on all freeways.”

I’ve been here for about a month so far. Do I miss Detroit yet? Only a little.

Carrie, could you ever forgive us?

how do you know that you’re alive?

How to use wordpress.com as an absolutely free, easy, no-ad webhost for your music project

When I was out to create a website for my music project (with no money) there was thing I wouldn’t have: ads. I already had a URL, metadetroit.com, now I needed to do something with it.

I wanted the site to be easy-to-update, versatile and preferably open-source.

But there was a crutch: I couldn’t spend ANY money on a web host or designer.

Almost every free webhost puts ads on your page — Not to mention Myspace, which sluts-up your page with video ads and pornbots.

To Everyone I met at DEMF this year…

 

Thank you. You have enriched my life, and I wish you all-the-best.

Please keep in touch and check back here often.