HAPPY 7th BIRTHDAY TO THE FAGBUG! Each April, I celebrate not the day my car was vandalyzed, but the day I decided to keep driving it with the graffiti, claiming and naming my car the fagbug. That decision became a defining moment in my life, something I was willing to stand up for, sacrifice myself for, take a risk for, and fight for. Im proud to have maintained the fagbug this long. Excited to be having a new film coming out, with new material, and concepts to share. What I have taken from the fagbug is that there are many people who fear who they are more than others fear them, and many people who are unapologetically themselves with backlash, and for every so called bad person, there are 500 good ones. If you are a dreamer (and I hope you are), there is a way to financially accomplish your dreams with drive, hard work, commitment, and a willingness to follow the signs of the universe. I love jumping into different realities, seeing how vastly different the country is demographically. I love driving the car, recieving the notes, the smiles, waves, and even the detractors being a part of the fabric of my daily life, and i love that kids love it. My commitment to doing this has been challenged many, many times. Having someone remove fag off the car before the first roadtrip, being accused of fabricating the story, stealing a word thats not mine to take, recieving hateful emails from people in the gay community, having a car accident and having to decide how to move forward, losing friends and loved ones, having to relive the pain of my experience over and over again and living in financial uncertainty. All of those things are matched with the joys of bringing someone a smile, helping someone have closure or a new way of seeing their own experience or being able to have even one person feel something and relate to a gay person for the first time. At the core, the fagbug is a moving piece of art that is used to evoke dialogue while capturing thoughts of diverse points of view. My audience has grown over the years. The longer I drive the car and the more the film(s) get out there, the more people we come across. When you reach a certain point of success, you have to watch out for insincere people who may want to use you for their own gain. Through it all, Ive managed to always fight to stay true to my mission, and myself, despite many people not getting it or understanding me. It can be hard, but when you put all of yourself into creating and sharing your art, you open yourself up to the world, and have to figure out the best way to navigate through it. Im grateful for my audience, critics, and for having the chance to be able to create meaningful films with a topic Im passionate about. Im also grateful to be able to experience and see a shift in peoples acceptance and celebration of gay people by legalizing gay marriage in so many states and on a federal level. Seven years ago, I dont think anyone suspected the level of progress weve made was possible so soon. It only happened because many people were willing to fight for it. To quote Ani Difrancos song, Willing to fight. I was a long time coming Ill be a long time gone youve got your whole life to do something and thats not very long so why dont you give me a call when youre willing to fight for what you think is real for what you think is right On of the most common questions I get is: What do you really do? My answer, This is what I do. I fight for people to learn to take the time to investigate something before making judgements. What are you willing to fight for? https://youtube/watch?v=Yt0J7TWNZI0
Posted on: Thu, 24 Apr 2014 14:36:30 +0000
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