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Sunday, February 19, 2006

Lubbock, Texas: On Saturday, February 18, I had the honor of appearing on the panel discussion The View from Brokeback Mountain, here in Lubbock, at the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts. Two groups sponsored the event. One of those groups, the Lubbock Film Society, fosters local filmmaking and local interest in low budget or independent movies. The other group, Lubbock Interfaith Fellowship for Equality, works to promote inclusion and justice for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

Though I originally guessed at well over a hundred, at least 90-100 people attended the event. Scheduled to last an hour, it went over two hours, and could have gone even longer.

I had already seen and loved the movie. To prepare for the panel, I read the book Brokeback Mountain: Story to Screenplay and explored the discussion boards at AnnieProulx.Com, EnnisJack.Com, DaveCullen.Com, Yahoo! Groups: brokeback-mountain, and Yahoo! Groups: Gay Cinema.

As with those online discussions, the panel featured a variety of views on the movie and its themes. The same continued when moderator Grace Rogers opened the discussion to the audience. While much disagreement occurred, no one disagreed with the importance of Brokeback Mountain and its themes. More importantly, I never heard anyone make a single homophobic remark! It was an engaging discussion, but still left much to say, and left many eager for more such events.

I appreciate Grace, the other panelists, and the two groups for letting me take part, and all those other people who came out to discuss this thought-provoking film. To read more about gay-related events in Lubbock, please read my Rainbow: Lubbock online newsletter.


Duane Simolke author of The Acorn Stories, Degranon: A Science Fiction Adventure, Holding Me Together, and New Readings of Winesburg, Ohio

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Some upcoming DVD releases of special interest to LGBTs follow: Dorian Blues, Brokeback Mountain, Unveiled, Queer As Folk Season 5 (The Final Season), Transamerica, Loggerheads, and Rent.

Science fiction fans can look forward to Babylon 5 - The Legend of the Rangers (a spin-off from one of my all-time favorite shows) and Quantum Leap - The Complete Fourth Season.

Friday, February 10, 2006

Echo Magazine, a weekly publication for gays in Arizona, reviewed my book Holding Me Together on their Web site and in issue 428. The following page will change, but the review was posted online here: Echo: Between the Covers. Or see Page 55 of the following PDF file: Echo Magazine Issue 428.

“Duane Simolke's Holding Me Together: Essays and Poems 1983-2005 (iUniverse, $17.95, pap.) is an update and revision to his 1999 book, also titled Holding Me Together. It's a curious marriage of genres, and both the poetry and the essays favor political and cultural issues. For more information about this and other books by Simolke, readers can visit http://DuaneSimolke.com.”

Friday, February 03, 2006

Lubbock, Texas, I’m participating in the panel discussion The View from Brokeback Mountain.