Harvey Meets Jack

Pain and Passion

2009-06-29T22:51:00.001-07:00

Launching a Blog and a Forum.

This is another tale of birthing. Tougher this time as it's twins!
Harvey Meets Jack - The Blog and The Forum have come out together.

It makes sense to start this tale at the beginning.
Back in 2006 March I was a staunch supporter of human rights (oh yes I still am). That included LGBT rights. I didn't know anyone who was gay (maybe I just hadn't identified them as such) but in principle I was positive about the idea of same sex relationships. All I had to go by, was an intuitive sense of what homosexuality was about, gleaned third hand, and nothing more. The little I knew told me without a doubt that it was neither disease nor perversion nor "lifestyle choice" as some believe it to be. I felt anger and disapproval about denial of rights to people whose sexual identity or orientation was "different." But it was all very academic. I supported gay rights with my intellect (not particularly fine-tuned to the issue at that time), and I'm not sure I'd have done anything much about them beyond that.

Then one day came the pain. I had found my way to Brokeback Mountain through happenstance - the stuff of another story that will be told here another time - and was surfing the net for information. I found myself watching a youtube video. A video that left me sprawled and sobbing my heart out. An experience that turned my life upside down and me inside out.

Do watch this video if you haven't already. The version I then saw was condensed; its power over me the same, regardless. It's a video that will tell you even a movie about a movie can alter a person's life. Happily I was to discover there were actually thousands like me, profoundly affected by Brokeback Mountain, which I got to see only some months later. And I still return to the "Making Of" video with a sense of wonder and new discovery, despite having seen the film itself countless times and written so much about it.

Straight after the video grabbed me, I found myself jolted into an unexpected place of understanding, empathy, identification. There was no going back from that point. The experience changed my present irreversibly, created my future as it has turned out now.

Pain: Jack Twist's pain spoke to me directly. I wept with Ennis Del Mar in his trailer holding the shirts. And it set me on a journey of working through my own pain and unlocking my own closets. For the first time I stood on the shoulders of my past and reached out for my future.

Passion: Fast forward to 2009 - Harvey Milk took my life by storm. First on DVD and then unbelievably, larger than life on big screen. Harvey ignited the embers of my passion with his own.

And the twain met: Emotions that reached me through legend, events that touched me from history, united to spur this wave of targeted activism.

Epiphany Moment: There's a space between this meeting process and the initiatives that grew out of it. A space filled with restless vibes seeking an outlet. So often a process is dormant awaiting a catalyst. My epiphany moment arrived sooner than I anticipated and gave a new direction to my energy. A present arrived for me in my email one fine morning from the Pater Familias of Strike~Me~Gyllen, iwishiknew. You can see that present proudly hoisted up as you enter this blog - the picture of Sean Penn and Jake Gyllenhaal together at a 2009 Oscar after-party (Sean won an Oscar for his portrayal of Harvey Milk while 3 years earlier Jake had been Oscar-nominated for his role as Jack Twist in BBM). iwishiknew captioned (he's a master captioner) it "Jack Meets Harvey." Somewhere, sometime, I have no idea when, my subconscious switched the order. Thinking back on it, I suppose that in 2009 the name "Harvey" will ring a bell sooner in people's mind.

A name was born, an idea grew around it. And now a blog and forum have opened.

Spaces in time: 2006-09: Having read about a space between the conception of an idea and its expression, you would naturally ask about that other space - what happened during the three years? I believe the past is there for us to learn from. Each moment is a dynamic point of reference as it passes into eternity. In more down to earth terms, we stand on the shoulders of the past and stretch into the future. Not that part of the past that's crumbling and cannot hold us up - we would only sink down with it then - but the part that is enduring and supportive to our upward growth. Through my posts here, I hope to bring alive those parts of my past experience that enriched my life most, while I continue to surge ahead with here and now. We live each moment as a meeting point of past and future, moving with it.

This Blog: is both an individual and shared journey. It's personal, being a record of one person's (you'll notice "I" instead of "we," much of the time) experience - mine - and I do hope I can be brave enough to share the parts that matter most. It's also for sharing both heart and mind with readers and hoping they'll speak up in response.

The heart shows the way: I would still be one of those content to remain in a cocoon of emotional isolation, if two beautiful boys in love had not grabbed my heart first. So I say "grab the heart." For most of us it directs and guides the mind. The way to opening people’s minds and leading them to a place of understanding is really through their hearts. And Harvey Meets Jack is about reaching that understanding in ways that heated public debates on constitutional or legal points often don't end up doing. We look forward to participation on this blog and even more on the forum, from those who are familiar with us already as well as new visitors.

Why a blog and a forum?
Read about the related and complementary purposes of the two on our post The Twins.

To our readers:
Have you had a similar epiphany moment? Has an experience ever grabbed at your heart in this way? Have you stood on the shoulders of the past and seen into the future? Do you struggle with the issues of loving differently? Are you working with others for personal rights? We are eager to have your response which will appear as a comment below this.

Love
Incognita

Pride, Prejudice - and the Tale of a Journey

2009-06-28T21:24:00.000-07:00

As I write this, it is still the 28th of June, 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, in much of America. There has been the excitement of Pride parades, marches, festivities all over. India has caught the echo in a big way and several cities have reverberated with rainbow-power over the weekend.

As Americans engage in the battle to legalize gay marriage, pride battles prejudice in India. Whenever it appears that the repeal of Sec 377, the draconian Indian Penal Code clause criminalizing homosexuality(introduced by colonial rulers in 1860 and never revised since!!!) is imminent, religious fundamentalists throw a damper. It's the same scene with gay rights issues in USA, only in USA the fight is beyond basics to ensuring complete protection and equality. Here it's about the most basic of human rights, the very right of some people to exist that this clause threatens. This strongly worded editorial from The Asian Age dealing with the 377 issue, effectively takes care of any further argument that the defenders of 377 might lamely continue to put forth. They never really had a case because they never really understood what they were talking about. And it becomes more obvious with each day's delay in repealing the obnoxious law, that they're on shaky ground. Sadly, it is politically expedient to pander to these fundamentalists as they hold sway over large groups of humanity who can't or won't think for themselves.

My random musings (fast growing into rants!) here are a precursor to the actual opening of this blog. I need to acknowledge this historical day, need to draw attention to it.

I'm collecting my thoughts for the launch post. As always launches and launch posts never work to plan for me. It's been an intense emotional journey. Think of a wild ride on a moving roller-coaster. With refuelling stops thrown in. Today 29th June, is in many ways the day this ride started for me 3 years ago. I found myself unexpectedly registering on The Ultimate Brokeback Forum in cyberspace, a place I'd visited and thought to be not for me. Who would have known that I was meant to traverse karma's pathways through that very place and draw my vital energy and support from there?

I'll dedicate this pre launch post to my 3-year journey along this "rutted old road." It's been a long way from Jack Twist
to Harvey Milk,
a journey with many challenges & hurdles. I'm now ready to travel on the next lap with both of them as my companions. And hope you'll all join.

Love,
Incognita

Mission Statement

2009-06-28T05:45:00.000-07:00

Purpose of the twin enterprises:

To increase acceptance of sexual diversity by reaching out to people who have doubts/questions about the issues of gender/sexual identity/orientation and who seek a safe place in which to explore/resolve those issues.
To promote understanding at two levels - heart and mind – with the belief that acceptance from the heart opens the door to understanding by the mind.
To identify and assist transformation of social norms where they go against acceptance of sexual diversity.
To identify religious laws and norms that limit or oppose acceptance of sexual diversity in various global traditions; to encourage examination/reform of those laws and norms; and to assist forming alternative spiritual support communities outside established religious frameworks.

Goals:

Through these steps, we hope to be on a collaborative journey towards self-fulfilment and social transformation.

To these ends, Harvey Meets Jack adopts the symbol of Jack Twist to represent the opening of the personal closet through self-acceptance. And it adopts Harvey Milk as a symbol of opening of the societal closet through social activism. The latter is impossible without the former.

The power of Jack’s love was strong enough to motivate him to seek the sweet life with Ennis in a day and age when it was risky. Sadly it could not be but he struggled to keep hope alive. Again Harvey’s most important message was about hope. And he strove tirelessly to eliminate the risks that gay people faced just in being who they are. Both Harvey in real life and Jack through his tragic story, spoke to the heart. They wouldn’t have reached so many minds otherwise.

The Twins

2009-06-28T04:45:00.000-07:00

As you click this link you'll be wondering "What's the point or goal of the blog and what's the point or goal of the forum?" I think the very words blog and forum contain answers.

In the Brokeback Mountain youtube video on the Pain and Passion post, there are two lines that struck me especially. Jake Gyllenhaal says "I'm always looking for films that go after an emotional journey" followed by Heath Ledger's "I always like to bare my soul a little bit. It's therapeutic." That's just what I hope will be happening on this blog. A few will want to comment here on the emotions (and philosophies) that unfold in the process. But more importantly, the philosophies and ideas that emerge would be the pivots around which concrete activist strategies can be built. That's where the forum takes over and discussions, both spontaneous and structured can take place.

Happy Birthday Harvey Milk

2009-05-22T05:00:00.000-07:00

Thank you...

Happy Birthday With Love from Strike~Me~Gyllen and Consolidation!