Raven in Green again..

nothings changed the senates still corrupt & the emporer remains insane, and every day, is a new strain of slaughter, supply lines are less protected, evil on all sides, eye can smell the death on your flesh--creeping in, trapped within the twisting fingers of fear, and all eye see is ewe, that face, those eyes, burning like leprosy, eye can see u there poisoning the air, prostituing Nationalism, and eye want to attack, to rip out your heart and lay you flat on your back, and vomit a world of agony and truth into your throbbing illness of memory...and hate guides our way, eye long for the icy slap of a belt across my back, for the acceptance of death and blind cave war, the giving sleep of depression, the sweet elucidation of savage meaningless agression, chiseled in the meaty forearms of Mother Jupiter and his slave disciples, in the harem tents--outside, just beyond the edges--eye ride, a cycoptic mare in the fires of imagination. feeding my disease, a river of plagues, eye need something to remind me I'm still sinning that pain is important, that wurdz matter, that healing is possible, that eye am not alone ...in this --guard the houses--triple the watch,--Maidens, dig up your sorcery --sirens, sharpen your rocks..ewe will eat my pain again. whatever you need unite messiah ME

--Wurdz by Otep Shamaya

The Laramie Project
October 02, 2002 11:22 a.m.

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B, C, J, and I went and saw a play on campus entitled: The Lamamie Project. While I saw it for my own personal enjoyment, it also fullfilled a requirement for my women's psych class, and I had to right a brief paper on it. I decided to post that paper here. ..I might write more on the play, but I also really like this paper. I wrote it quickly and I think it makes me seem smart.

Last Saturday evening (September 28, 2002) I had the privilege of viewing the Laramie Project in Dreiser Hall. I was so impressed by the show I attended it again on Monday, September 30th, 2002.

When I went into the first performance, I was going in entirely blind. I at that moment in time I knew very little about Matthew Shepard and the events which surrounded his death. All I knew was that he was a young gay man, and his death was considered to be a hate crime. Because I knew so very little about the events that transpired in Laramie, attending this performance was an incredible learning experience. Before viewing this production I was totally unaware of the severity of the crime and the hate which motivated it. When I left I had such a vast amount compassion for Matthew Shepard as well as the people of Laramie.

It was fore mentioned that I saw two performances of this play, Saturday night and Monday night. I am very glad that I was in attendance on Saturday. That performance surpassed the other greatly. The cast seemed to have lost energy from one evening to the next. The Saturday performance they were relaxed but not too relaxed. I also found it quite interesting the way in which they illustrated their point that this type of thing could happen anywhere. Part of the way they did this was though the usage of slides.

The Tectonic Company Members (Photo: Joan Marcus)
> The set for this show was very simple, an all black stage and a couple of black chairs. The most exciting element of the set was the usage of three screens, on which slides were projected. These slides varied from words to locations from Laramie. However, thrown into the mix were a few images from right here in Terre Haute. I specifically recalled seeing Pickeral Hall as well as the Terre Haute Courthouse. I also believe that the images used to show the Wyoming University Theater were actually taken in Center for Performing Arts here on campus. This forces the story to come close to home. I felt this to be a strong and very well used tactic.

In regards to how this play, and the themes contained within it are relevant to a women’s psychology class, I find them very relevant for sever reasons. A friend of mine, Craig Kilgore, who played a major role in the show, once stated that he believed that Feminism is not about placing woman as dominant to men, but rather working for all people to have equal rights. This idea of not stereotyping or singling one type of person, or group of people, out from the rest is clearly represented. The show also did hit on several relationships specially relating to women. One of these relationships is that between a mother and a daughter, and the strength of their bond and friendship, and how that relationship was able to bring them though the horrible events which surrounded Matthew’s death. Along with the mother/daughter relationship, was that of the relationship between sisters, and the closeness which exists between them.

I personally believe this is by far the best production I have seen and Indiana State in the past three years. I feel very fortunate for being able to view it twice. With the multiple viewing I was able to pick up several moments which I had missed the first time around. Because I was so unaware of the Matthew Shepard story upon my first experience with the show, the images and telling of the fence where he was found did not make much of an impact on me, however the second time I saw and heard this, I was aware of the horrendous details of his murder, and seeing the fence was a much more emotional experience. I believe that because of this play I have a greater understanding standing of those events surrounding Matthew Shepard’s death as well as a greater compassion. I believe this is a show more people need to see.

I found that HBO has actually made this play into a movie. ....Not exactly sure how I feel about it, I don't know if it would work very well as a movie. But, we'll see.

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