Jonah
Source: ibtimes
I’m going to be starting things a little different today, with a piece I wrote on Examiner just last night. The piece has to do with the video right below. The video is one that was made by a 14 year-old boy named Jonah Mowry and it was all over Facebook and Twitter on Monday. Not having much time for looking at it then, I didn’t watch the video until yesterday and it moved me to write the piece, “Jonah Mowry: A New Face Against Hate.”
I had a hard time writing the piece…I wasn’t really sure what my goal was, but I felt the need to spread it to whomever might catch it through my Examiner page and now through this blog. I told my friend Rich about it and told him to watch, which he did earlier today and his reaction was more like the naysayers out there than the sympathizers like me.
Of course there could be shades of doubt about Jonah’s sincerity in the video, and my good friend Dit is a very cynical old gal, but in my heart I believe that Jonah’s message was real, and even if it wasn’t, I still feel it puts a new face on what young gay people go through day in and day out. Even Rich agreed that he understood that , sincere or not, the emotions and experiences Jonah talks about in his video are real. He knows it and so do I, and that’s why I felt the need to talk about it on Examiner.
In addition to being a gay person (and a writer!), I am also a teacher, and I see and hear the types of things, hateful things, that are perpetrated by children on children constantly. The words “gay” and “fag” are commonly used to put down kids who are perceived as being weak or different, and it is so widespread that sometimes I don’t think it will ever stop. At least Jonah did something to show the world what kind of effect these things have on innocent children everywhere.
Luckily for Jonah, he’s come out of this relatively unscathed. His parents found out about his homosexuality through the popularity of the video and so have his peers. The tormenting has apparently waned, for even Jonah says in a post on the video page that things are better than they had been. Others are not so lucky.
Last year, in September of 2010, a Rutgers student by the name of Tyler Clementi leapt to his death off the George Washington Bridge after his college roommate posted a video of him kissing another man on YouTube. And just a few short weeks ago another young man, 14 year-old Jamey Rodemeyer, also committed suicide in Amherst, New York, after repeated taunting and ‘bullying.”
Back in July, I posted a video of my friend Ozzie, who spoke to his audience at Circus about growing up gay. He, like me and Rich and Jonah and all of my other gay friends, survived our own torment from growing up different, and this video is his way of trying to give back and help out those who follow. It is another moving piece that deserves to be seen and heard. Writing the piece about Jonah is my way of spreading the word in the hopes of helping out somehow. Check out the post with Ruby/Ozzie’s video, “An Unexpected Good Time,” right here. And please watch Jonah if you haven’t seen him already.
Here’s more of what I’ve been writing these days:
Examiner
Christmas Events Galore on Long Island this weekend
If you live on Long Island and enjoy the Christmas season, there are plenty of fun things to do this weekend to live the spirit, from lighting displays to craft shows, theater, dancing and lots more!
Gather
New Coasters for 2012: International Edition
Wow, I just thought of that title now, and I think it would have been much better than the one I gave it when I published it (New Roller Coasters for 2012 from Around the World). Oh well, the list is pretty cool and now I want to go to China!
New Music This Week
Exciting stuff this week, including the new Amy Winehouse set of old demos and stuff, Black Keys, T-Pain, Robin Thicke and more!
Yahoo Voices
Rihanna’s “Talk That Talk”: A Track by Track Review
I have been so digging RiRi’s new CD and I couldn’t wait to get this one out there! Check out the raga dub-step sounds of this one:
Happy Birthday Grandpa
In addition to being Pearl Harbor Day, today is also my grandpa's birthday. My grandpa, Joe Randazzo, passed away a couple of years back at the age of 96, I believe. Anyway, happy birthday grandpa, wherever you are! Here's my favorite picture of he and my nana when they were young and in love. Isn't it a cool picture?
Well, thanks for reading and have a great Thursday!
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