Callen Harty
Callen Harty is a free-lance writer/photographer from Monona, WI. He is the co-founder of UW-Madison's 10% Society and of Proud Theater, an LGBT youth theater group for which he is still an adult mentor. Until recently, he was the Artistic Director of Broom Street Theater in Madison (2005-2010). He has performed hundreds of times and written/produced 20 full-length plays, most recently Invisible Boy, an autobiographical play about surviving childhood sexual abuse.
Dan
Dan was always honest about his illness. He was always honest about everything. He would confess the most intimate things to people, sometimes too open too quickly. I think ultimately it was because he wanted most of all to be loved and accepted and he didn’t feel that in his life, so he opened himself up at the first indication that someone would care enough to listen. We balanced each other nicely that way as I am a natural empath and I could take on his pain sometimes, even when I was depressed myself.
A Fallen Soldier
Yesterday a distant cousin of mine, only thirty years old, was killed in Afghanistan, or at least word of his death came yesterday around 5:00 p.m. I can find no mention of it in the newspapers or online. It may be that authorities are still contacting relatives or unwilling to release further information at this [...]
A Day For Us
In my youth it was illegal for groups of two or more gay men to gather together in public. Those who dared to congregate in homosexual-friendly clubs risked raids and arrests. This is what caused the Stonewall Rebellion that started the modern gay rights movement. Now it is mostly illegal to discriminate against queer people, but that is the law, not the reality. How many straight people have lost jobs when it was discovered who their life partners were? How many straight people have had friends killed because those friends were straight?
Today I Consider
Today I consider love. I believe that one cannot truly love others without loving oneself. It took time and a great deal of self-examination, but I grew to love myself, faults and all, after I stopped using. I still have moments when I slip and don’t love myself as fully as I should, but for the most part I have come to appreciate myself for who I am and the gifts I have to offer this world. I understand I am not a perfect man. I understand that I have so much growth yet to come. But I believe that my essence, the core of my being, is worthy of love, and I believe the same is true of humankind in general, that we are all worthy and that everyone at their core is an innocent child worthy of love, compassion, and respect. It is this belief that gives meaning to my life and my movement through this world.
The Legacy of Harvey Milk
Harvey Milk opened the closet door for countless Americans. He refused to stay in the closet himself, and at every opportunity he encouraged all gay men and lesbians to come out. He understood that only when queer people were no longer afraid to come out and claim a rightful place in the tapestry of our country would there be any possibility for equality. He knew that when everyone came out there would be fewer and fewer Americans who could say that they did not know at least one (and probably several) queer-identified friends, co-workers, or family members. And his instincts told him that those people would then want equal rights for his gay brothers and sisters because the issue would be closer to home; it would affect those they love.
Community of Love
Positive energy breeds positive energy. Love breeds love. That is where the community focused its energy. And in the process the community grew stronger. They took the power of the hateful symbols and rendered it meaningless because there is no power in hatred when it is not accompanied by fear. It cannot stand against the power of love. The residents of southwest Madison demonstrated that they know this in their hearts and that they live it in their lives.
Peace Begins in the Heart of One
Images come to me, of a lone man blocking a tank in Tiananmen Square, of a Viet Nam War protester putting a flower in the barrel of a National Guardsman’s gun. A lone man or woman standing for justice can truly have an impact on the way of the world. Then imagine the possibilities of joining hands around the world to pursue a path of peace and justice. If a single man standing in front of a tank can stop an army then what could a world of committed activists for peace achieve? If a single woman placing a flower into a gun barrel can make us all stop and think of the meaning of her act, of the power of that gun barrel, then imagine the power of citizens around the world planting the seeds of peace in myriad ways. Every act puts energy into the world that reverberates for all.
A Life Too Short
For every Matthew Shepard case that gets reported there are countless undocumented stories of men and women beaten or killed because of someone’s ignorance and hatred. Sometimes they are attacked because they are LGBT, sometimes it’s because they are African-American, sometimes it’s because they are women, Latino, intellectual . . . in essence, because they are different and ignorance cannot tolerate difference. It happens every day, and the world ignores it as much as it can. We rarely hear about them.
Strange Fruit
Strange Fruit may be the most haunting of all of Billie Holiday’s songs. It was written as a protest song to draw attention to the lynching of African-Americans in this country and her recording of it was a brave act at a time when segregation was still legal, Jim Crow laws were in effect, and acts of defiance or assertion of civil rights could get a person killed or severely beaten.
The Path of Peace
Growing up in a Christian household I grew up to believe that killing is wrong. I did not grow up with the god of vengeance from the Old Testament because in the New Testament Jesus says that he came to replace the old law with a new one. He preached love and forgiveness, not an eye for eye, not retribution, not hating enemies. In fact, he said the opposite: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”
Sammy Rangel “FOURBEARS: Myths of Forgiveness”
FourBears: The Myth of Forgiveness: isn't a simple memoir; it is a graphically illustrated guide from tortured child, to remorseless beast, to healing and change. This book is about helping others find their way out of their history and into the here and now. Proof that what once held you down can now hold you up. After the book reflects on a horrific upbringing it looks to offer key and ground breaking insights of the inner workings of the mind of a victim and later a perpetrator of hate and violence. Service providers working in treatment centers and institutional settings would greatly benefit from this work. Anyone facing issues with forgiveness and change might find a process toward healing and recovery.
Recommended Reading
Frank Meeink—Autobiography of a Recovering Skinhead
TJ Leyden—Skinhead Confessions
Arno Michaels—My Life After HateMusic
Wizard Fingaz & Soul Sathe embarked on a collaborative project known as Tribal Sorcery · deep conscious hip-hop
