Someone please...

... knock me down and sit on me next time I decide to browse in Future Shop just because I have nothing else to do.

For some reason I slept unusually late today, even for me. I was online until about 6 this morning, then while I was getting ready for bed I went to turn the TV off. It was still on the Hurricane Rita coverage, and because of its compelling nature I couldn't actually make my thumb press the "off" button on the remote. I didn't actually get to bed until after 7 this morning, and then when I woke up, I rolled over and squinted at the clock... "Quarter to four??? WTF????"

So I went out for coffee, and decided to do some browsing as I had nothing better to do until it was time to leave for Malcolm's memorial. I wasn't looking to actually buy anything (Enterprise S3 doesn't come out until Tuesday), but I ended up spending about $200 on the first seasons of Desperate Housewives and Battlestar Galactica (I could have sworn I'd said I wasn't interested in BSG, but I bought it anyway - go figure), the second and third seasons of the 80s incarnation of The Twilight Zone, and The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (the movie; I already had the BBC miniseries). When I go in on Tuesday for Enterprise I'll probably end up picking up House as well (I actually did want to get it, but forgot in my shock at seeing TZ on the shelf). Not to mention season three of Quantum Leap, which I somehow missed when it first came out. I didn't get it today because I can never remember whether I already have it (I just checked, and I don't). I made that mistake with season two, and had to return it 15 minutes after I'd bought it and brought it home.

The BSG set came with the miniseries included, plus a Serenity preview DVD. Cool.

Then, tonight, I went to Malcolm's memorial at the Frog and Firkin. I hadn't realized that the full story behind his death had become public knowledge, but people knew the details so I was able to get my misgivings about memorializing him off my chest. People have suggested other memorials as well, but I don't feel that they're appropriate. Besides, as redeem147 correctly pointed out, we haven't done that in the past for other fans who have died; we didn't do it for her father, or for Pat Woodey, both of whom had just as much impact on local fandom, if not more. (Truth be told, they may even have had more. Malcolm was known, but that was partly because of his being an actor and because he socialized with other fans outside of cons. That, and a good-looking black man with a Manchester accent tends to stand out round these parts. *grin*)

Anyway, I sat with redeem147 and a couple of other folks whose LJ names (if they have such) are not known to me. A little while later plaidlibrarian came over to join us, and neoengel popped his head over the partition between our booths from time to time until I told him that it was hurting my back to twist around to talk to him, and would he come over and sit with us already? :) Pub food seems to be getting expensive - a burger (okay, it had bacon and Monterey Jack cheese on it), two pints and a shared dessert came to $30. Yikes. I have to cut back on my dining out...

I really ought to try to get to bed at a decent hour, as I have to be at Don Mills subway station at 11 to help move stuff to TT's storage facility. But we all know I'll still be here, come the sunrise.

The Laramie Project

I don't normally make back-to-back posts, but I wanted to separate this political commentary from the personal entry I just finished.

The school board of Surrey, British Columbia, has decided to cancel Elgin Park Secondary School's production of "The Laramie Project", saying that the subject matter of the play was not suitable for family audiences.

"The Laramie Project" is about the murder of Matthew Shepard, who was killed seven years ago for the simple reason that he was gay. Lured by a group of young men who pretended to offer him sex, he was beaten and left to die, tied to a fence post. (He died five days after he was found.) The murder inspired Elton John's song "American Triangle":

Seen him playing in his backyard
Young boy just starting out
So much history in this landscape
So much confusion, so much doubt

Been there drinking on that front porch
Angry kids, mean and dumb
Looks like a painting, that blue skyline
God hates fags where we come from

'Western skies' don't make it right
'Home of the brave' don't make no sense
I've seen a scarecrow wrapped in wire
Left to die on a high ridge fence
It's a cold, cold wind
It's a cold, cold wind
It's a cold wind blowing, Wyoming

See two coyotes run down a deer
Hate what we don't understand
You pioneers give us your children
But it's your blood that stains their hands

Somewhere that road forks up ahead
To ignorance and innocence
Three lives drift on different winds
Two lives ruined, one life spent

Judy Shepard, Matthew's mother, now tours the United States speaking out against homophobia. She says, "Hate is really out there and alive and thriving in our world. It is learned from fear and ignorance. We can learn to be more tolerant and if I didn't believe that I wouldn't be out here preaching the word."

As I see it, the message being sent by the Surrey school board is that violence against gay people is something that ought not to be discouraged. The play is meant to shock and to make people reconsider their hatred and fear. It contains no overt sexuality. It contains some foul language, but nothing that most kids have probably heard on playgrounds (and the director was prepared to tone down the language). By cancelling the performance, the school board is saying, "We're comfortable with our bigotry. We don't want to be made uncomfortable."

Playwright Moises Kaufman said: "I think the kind of bigotry that killed Matthew Shepard is learned in high school. To pretend that high school kids are unaware of homosexuality is not only a fallacy but it's irresponsible. I think it's really irresponsible for them to do that [cancel the Surrey high school production] because the kind of violence that leads to hate crimes is learned at the high school age."

He's absolutely right, though in fact I would suggest that the attitudes that lead to violence is learned earlier than high school. I was being called "faggot" when I was nine years old.

The Surrey school board can be reached at:

School District No. 36 (Surrey)
14225 56th Avenue, Surrey, BC V3X 3A3
(604) 596-7733

Their website's feedback page can be found here.

And here is the full story from today's Globe and Mail; here is the Vancouver Sun's take on it.