The Statue

by Udiah(witness to Yah)

The story's told                                                                                                                                         Of long ago
About a statue
With a head of gold
And its breast
Did silver shine
And brassness
At lower spine

Now iron did make
The legs so strong
And at its base
Was all made wrong

For it was built
Of miry clay
And reinforced
With iron sway

It stood upon sand
Which did give way
When the base was hit
By a Stone that day

The great image
Built sixty high
Summed three sixes
From its front side

And through it was
Only six wide
It bare the mark
Of beastly pride

But the beast did crumble
And was blown away
Like shaft in the wind
Forever gone to stay

And that Stone hewn
By no man's hand
Became a Mountain
Forever to stand.

What does the Fence Mean to You: The Laramie Project

My class and I finished reading The Laramie Project by Moises Kaufman this past week and my view on not only of the incident in Laramie itself, but on the effect of media in America, homosexuality, peoples hate, peoples hope, and peoples love, have grown to a broader understanding. I now find myself though, fighting what I truly believe to be the most important topics of the Laramie project. To follow my head or my heart? My head likes to swim in all the details of the crime. Was it a hate crime? Was a crime done under meth? Does it really matter is Matthew Shepard was gay? But my heart, on the other hand wants to just feel the pain and love that has happened around the Matthew Shepard case. The impact that Shepard's death around the country, in1998 and now, is quite incredible, and yes their are those who like me, that see mostly the details, and get lost in their much abundance. I do not want to be in that mind set. I wish to point out the other half of the human though, that came out in this great time of grief and confusion in Laramie, and the one train of thought I have chosen to take for now. I believe many people during 1998 began to see the bitterness that any human can have towards another, gay or not. The country as a whole at this time chose to lay down their hate and worries, and decide instead to open their hearts and let the light that this crime has shed, warm dark spots of their own hearts, no matter what the views they hold on the crime.
Right now I feel like those in 1998 that let that light in. I have my own views, and uncertain thoughts on all of Matthew case but right now I choose to let the light in. I can, along with rest of those who know of Matthew's case, let my mind take over later, when time is right. For now, I choose to be part of the peoples love.

The Laramie Project

 I visited Laramie Wyoming about two months ago to check out the University of Wyoming, and as we where leaving and driving down the long stretch of highway back to Colorado, already feeling bored out of mind about the dead landscape, we drove by a hill and my father calmly said "That was where Matthew Shepard died." My mom simply nodded her head and I looked in confusion. "Who?" I asked. "He was a gay college student that got murder up there." I thought it sad at the time but did not think much else and the rest of the drive blurred together.  But as fate would have it I am now reading the play, The Laramie Project by Moses Kaufman, that has been written on this horrific event and my knowledge and sadness of the whole incident has come into a whole light. As I read Act one, all I could really feel was disgust. I know that not all those in Laramie are against being gay, but a lot are, and those that aren't have chosen to ignore the bluntly obvious; that  a 22 year old man has been killed over something not worth killing over and it is time to have things change. I think the catholic priest, Father Roger Schmit points out the towns ignorance best. " when we did the vigil-we wanted to get other ministers involved and we called some of them, and they were not going to get involved. And it was like, 'We are gonna stand back and wait and see which way the wind is blowing.'...We are supposed to stand out as leaders...'Wow, what's going on here?'" ( Kaufman, pg.25) My feeling of the first act was just sadness and alittle bit of hate. It has disturbed me how people care more about sexuality, then life and death, what has brought humans to this?
If the youtube video does not work, here is the link.                                    

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5OoIaaRlMQ