Take Back the Night at UW features entertainment by Patti Fiasco and The Bettys

Patti Fiasco and The Bettys will provide the entertainment for the Take Back the Night rally on Tuesday, April 12, 4-7 p.m., at the University of Wyoming Union in Laramie. All ages free. More info here

Take Back the Night is the annual community march and rally that encourages community members to come together and take a stand against sexual violence. We march through the streets as a way of reclaiming that territory as a safe space for both women and men.

Sponsors of the event include: Women’s Action Network, SAFE Project, STOP Violence, ASUW, Soroptimist, Queer Advocacy Network, Interfraternity & Panhellenic Councils, Rainbow Resource Center, Women's Center, & the Gender & Women’s Studies Department.

Photographer and author Peggy Kelsey reports on the "Afghan Women's Project"

Gulalai, from the "Afghan Women's Project" 

From a Casper College press release:

Photographer and author Peggy Kesley will be at Casper College on Monday, March 28 to speak on the women of Afghanistan.

"Afghan Women's Project: Ten Years Later, the Follow Up" will feature a presentation by Kelsey as well as her photography of the Afghan women she interviewed.

"This is a perspective that seldom makes western mainstream news. Many important issues surrounding (Afghanistan) have been conflated to a simplistic view of their problems and therefore to simplistic solutions based on a western perspective. I believe that a more nuanced view of Afghanistan is transferable to other issues in other places. I believe that getting to know real people (by meeting them in person or vicariously) in one 'foreign' country conveys a broader understanding of people everywhere and the issues they face. I believe that awareness of and interest in people 'different from us' leads us to see our common humanity and enriches our lives," said Kelsey.

"If I have any agenda or message it is this: The situation for Afghans and specifically Afghan women may deteriorate during the coming years. But we, like the Afghans already do, must take a long-term view. What can be done now to secure the futures of the next generation for their children? There is one answer that doesn't depend on international politics and that is education, specifically rural education.

Kelsey will give three presentations on March 28: one at 10 a.m., one at 1 p.m. and one at 7 p.m., all in the Strausner Student Center, Room 217. The 7 p.m. presentation will be followed by a reception in Kelsey's honor. All presentations are free and open to the public.

The Afghan Women's Project: Ten Years Later, the Follow Up" photography exhibit and presentation are sponsored by Casper College, the Casper College Gender Studies Department, the Casper College Addictionology Department, the University of Wyoming Outreach School,and the Wyoming Humanities Council.

Shepard Symposium marks 15th year with staged reading of "Beyond Brokeback"

The 15th Annual SHEPARD SYMPOSIUM ON SOCIAL JUSTICE COMMEMORATES the 5th ANNIVERSARY OF BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN WITH STAGED READING OF BEYOND BROKEBACK IN LARAMIE on April 8.

Assistant Professor John J. O'Hagan of The University of Wyoming Department of Theater and Dance will direct a one hour staged reading of Beyond Brokeback for the 15th Annual Shepard Symposium on Social Justice on Friday, April 8, 11 a.m.-12:15 p.m. in the Union Ballroom of the University of Wyoming in Laramie.

Beyond Brokeback was adapted for the stage by Cody, Wyoming's, Gregory Hinton from the book Beyond Brokeback: Impact of a Film written by Members of the Ultimate Brokeback Forum, a web community which formed in the aftermath of the release of the award-winning film, Brokeback Mountain. The story was written by Wyoming author Annie Proulx. It was first published in The New Yorker and was in her book Close Range: Wyoming Stories.

The Forum, comprised of people from all walks of life -- country, city, gay, straight, men, women, young, old -- received over 500,000 posts in the first year. Excerpts of essays, poetry and music inspired by the film will be presented, including the song "Meet Me on the Mountain," written by noted composer Shawn Kirchner.

Beyond Brokeback was originally performed at the Autry National Center Museum of the American West in Los Angeles on December 11, 2010, in commemoration of the 5th Anniversary of Ang Lee's seminal western film, Brokeback Mountain.

The event is free but registration is required.

See http://www.shepardsymposium.org/ for more details.

Speakers for the symposium include Cherrie Moraga, John Corvino, Mary Cowhey, and A Slice of Rice, Frijoles, and Greens.

Award-winning "Kicked Out" features foreword by Casper's Judy Shepard

Casper's Judy Shepard wrote the foreword to the new anthology edited by Sassafras Lowrey, "Kicked Out." Last night, the book received a major literary award. Here's info from Lowrey's web site:

Last night Kicked Out received a HUGE honor and was not only included in the American Library Association’s Over the Rainbow booklist for 2011, but was also included in their Top 11 books of 2011!    Being included is a tremendous honor, and one which will help get Kicked Out into even more libraries across the country, and thus the hands of folks who need its messages the most. You can see all the books included in the top 11 as well as the full Over the Rainbow book list here

I’m so grateful to the American Library Association’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table and its Jurors  for honoring Kicked Out.

Here's a description from the book jacket:

In the U.S., 40% of homeless youth identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ). Kicked Out brings together the voices of current and former homeless LGBTQ youth and tells the forgotten stories of some of our nation’s most vulnerable citizens. Diverse contributors share stories of survival and abuse with poignant accounts of the sanctuary of community and the power of creating chosen families. Kicked Out highlights the nuanced perspectives of national organizations such as The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force and The National Alliance Against Homelessness and regional agencies, including Sylvia’s Place, The Circus Project and Family Builders. This anthology, introduced by Judy Shepard, gives voice to the voiceless and challenges the stereotypical face of homelessness. To learn more, visit us online at KickedOutAnthology.com

Cody native Gregory Hinton interviewed on NPR about his "Out West" series at the Autry Museum

This info on the Autry Museum's "Beyond Brokeback" and other offerings in its "Out West" series comes from Wyoming native Gregory Hinton:

Below is a link to our L.A. National Public Radio affiliate which has an interview of me about Out West and includes a copy of the speech I gave for our first event. This might be of interest to you if you wish to reprint it. It mentions Ucross, my Wyoming history, and includes a nice quote from Al Simpson and Annie Proulx. You should also be aware that my interview with Brian Kahn on Yellowstone Public Radio's Home Ground is being aired tomorrow at 6:30 and will be available on podcast.

http://www.scpr.org/news/2009/12/10/out-west-series-autry-national-center/

http://www.yellowstonepublicradio.org/programs/local/home_ground.html 

Call for proposals: Shepard Symposium on Social Justice at UW

The 14th Annual Shepard Symposium on Social Justice is seeking proposals for its gathering on the theme of "environmental justice" on April 7-9, 2010, at the University of Wyoming in Laramie.

Call for proposals: Download PDF

Submit Proposals (deadline January 13, 2010): Online Submission

Symposium registration begins January 11, 2010.

"The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later, An Epilogue" at Center Theatre in Jackson w/update on Laramie presentation

From the Jackson Hole Center for the Arts web site:

Dancers' Workshop and Off Square Theatre Company partake in an historic event, joining hundreds of groups in all 50 states and other nations in presenting "The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later, An Epilogue" to raise awareness for the need to accept diversity and combat hate-related crimes.

Bob Berky directs a staged reading of this update of the Matthew Shepard murder at the Center for the Arts Center Theatre, 265 S. Cache, Jackson, at 7 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 12. The event is free and open to the public.

Interested thespians, activists, community members, and those who just want to be involved are invited to be readers of "The Laramie Project – 10 Years Later." No prior acting experience needed, and the memorization of lines will not be necessary, as the script will be present on stage. There will be two rehearsals prior to the performance.

In 1998, Matthew Shepard, an openly gay student, was beaten and murdered on a fencepost in Laramie by two men who lured him from a bar earlier that evening. A month later, Moises Kaufman and other writers for the Tectonic Theater Project came to Laramie to interview residents and those connected to the incident. Those interviews became a play that was performed in thousands of theaters and was made into an HBO movie.

Ten years later (June 2008), Tectonic Theater Project returned to Laramie to explore the impact that Matthew Shepard’s death has had on the community, and to interview the same residents, including Aaron McKinney, one of Shepard’s murderers, who is serving a life sentence for the crime. These interviews have been created as an epilogue to the original play. The 80-minute play will be performed globally on Oct. 12.

For more details or to sign up to read, contact Bob Berky at bberky@wyoming.com or Alissa Davies at 733-6398.

Director Moises Kaufman said this in a recent New York Times article:

In holding multiple premieres of the play on the same night, Mr. Kaufman said he was taking a page from the Federal Theater Project, the New Deal program that often opened plays in a multitude of cities on the same night.

“We’re also taking advantage of contemporary technology so that at the New York performance we’ll be connected to the other productions across the nation via the Internet,” Mr. Kaufman said. “We’re giving each production a video recorder so that they can document the event, and we’ll be answering questions live from across the country,” after the performances on Oct. 12.

For a full list of performance venues for "The Laramie Project -- 10 Years Later," go to http://www.laramieproject.org/reading.php. As of today, the Jackson event is the only one scheduled for Wyoming.

UPDATE: Oct. 12 presentation in Laramie

THE LARAMIE PROJECT: TEN YEARS LATER: AN EPILOGUE
By Moises Kaufman, Leigh Fondakowski, Greg Pierotti, Andy Paris, and Stephen Belber.
October 12, 7:30 p.m., FREE! Arts & Sciences Auditorium, University of Wyoming, Laramie
See the August 2009 press release from The Tectonic Theater Project here.
See the September 29, 2009 press release from the AP here.
This event is FREE and the public is cordially invited.