Winners: A Million Brokebacks Later

OK, I have settled on a prize for Michael from Knoxville, Tenn., our One Millionth Visitor here at The Malcontent.  Actually, it's a two-parter.

Michael will receive a $200 gift certificate from Amazon.com, but he will also receive an amplified "voice."  I had decided to give the winner one year with a prominent link on The Malcontent to any site of his/her choosing, whether that be a blog, a political candidate, or a favorite cause, as long as it wasn't a hate site or objectionable as deemed by my own subjective criteria.

Michael has chosen "antiwar.com," which seems to be a coalescing point for extreme isolationist views from both the left and right.  While a quick glance yielded article after article with which I vehemently disagree, I'm not calling the shots here.  Congrats to Michael and to antiwar.com, and thanks once again to all of our readers.  Robbie and I feel very lucky to be part of such a great virtual community.

As for our other recent contest, find out "Who's the Brokeback-est of Them All" after the jump ...

Our "Most Obsessed Brokeback Fan" contest was not an easy call.  There were a lot of great and moving entries, both via email and in the comments to the contest announcement.  Some of them were similar to each other.  Some were serious, others sad or inspiring.

But Robbie and I agreed that the winners were this moving story from Andrew:

I am a Resident Assistant at a southern, mostly conservative, private university. As an RA, part of my job is to create, plan, and implement intellectual and cultural activities for the student body.

One of my (straight) coworkers suggested that our staff show Brokeback Mountain because he had seen it in theatres and heard a lot of press about it. I thought it was a good idea, but there were a lot of issues: How would we get a copy of the movie before its release date? How would we finance the project? Would the students here take time out of their busy lives to see a movie about the GAYS?

First, we had to research how to order a film not-yet available on DVD. It turned out that there was an office willing to help us; however, the fee for the rights to show the movie to a crowd cost $650. We only have about $550 in our staff budget to cover programming costs for the entire year. Additionally, we wanted to provide pizza and beverages at the screening. At about this point, we also decided we wanted to have a student-led discussion after the movie. It was very important to us that the students feel free to speak their minds, so we didn't want the faculty to moderate the conversation.

Our first thought was to apply for a grant from a certain office at the university. However, the grant was denied because the movie/discussion idea was not in line with their mission statement or what-have-you.

We also turned to campus organizations. Here, we had some luck. The gay/straight alliance (New Directions) agreed to help with publicity and fund the pizza and soda. The president of the confidential support group for GLBT people agreed to help lead discussion and provided funding. A university action committee and the male student government also added monetary support.

After raising the money, our next concern was getting people to actually attend. This can be very hard to do, because the average student here has lots of homework and a meeting or two on the average weeknight. Factoring in the general atmosphere of homophobia, we were worried.

We made fliers (I photoshopped a cowboy hat onto an Oscar statue), chalked sidewalks with ads, made a banner for the student commons, emailed faculty, posted in an electron newsletter, and invited students on a social networking site called the Facebook... but even with that much publicity, we were uneasy. Only 13 students RSVP'd. With such low numbers, it would have been cheaper to buy each attendee two or three copies of the DVD.

Fast forward to tonight, the night of the screening.

We filled an auditorium with seats for 90+ people, with people in additional seating in the back. The 10 pizzas we ordered were gone in five minutes, as was a box of chocolates someone decided to bring (somewhat randomly). About 10 minutes into the movie, about 6 guys in grass-stained shirts entered together (part of the ultimate frisbee team). Overall, I'd say about a third of the audience was male.

After the movie ended, at least 30 people stayed to participate in a discussion of the film and the issues it has raised. Some students admitted to seeing gay relationships in a new light, and a few members of the faculty were educated about what it means to be a gay student at our school (i.e. "But we don't have 'gay-bashing' here, do we?").

To sum it up: Brokeback Mountain provided the student body a chance to start a dialogue about GLBT sexuality, something that rarely happens here in the capital of the Confederacy. As one student put it, "I always felt like it was taboo to talk about this here. I'm glad this movie came along. Helloooooo, it's 2006."

And this from frequent commenter Oscar, sent in via email:

The film made me remember the same situation I had in NYC in 1966. I used to live in 76 street and 3rd. avenue. Then, I don't know now since I have not lived in NYC for awhile, but 3rd. avenue between 51st. and 87th. streets were real hot to meet young men.

One night I met Steve, a doctor, married and living in White Plains. We fell in love. My first love. We just clicked. Sex was great. He smelled wonderful (strange the things that one remembers about someone that hits your heart hard). He used to come down to Bellevue once a week and stop by my apartment. We had a great time.

As I said before sex was great but it was more. It was his aura, his presence, I don't know, it was something intangeable, something in the air when he was there. Unfortunately, he could not renounce or get away from his situation in White Plains. It was 1966, police used to raid gay bars. I remember at the Circle 8 in Christopher street that the police raided one night and I think it was the son of the panamanian ambasador to the UN that jumped from a window and killed himself trying to get away from being taken prisoner for being gay, and shaming his father.That was the  atmosphere that we lived in then.

Brokeback Mountain Syndrome is in me like the color of my eyes, the color of my hair and my life itself. I lived it and, let me tell you, you live thru it, but you never, ever get over it. It is in your soul. I was, and maybe still am lucky that I am straight acting. My best friend was fey and got insulted and jeered all the time.

Anyway, going back to Steve, he told me he was afraid for his image, because his wife was asking him questions about the extra hours he used to stay in NYC. With tears we said goodbye and I have never seen him again. I am now 67 years old and I still remember that doctor that smelled so good. Take it from me, you never forget your first love.

Congratulations, gents!  I'll get in touch with you to get your mailing addresses for your free DVDs.

And for the record, I will be changing our "Brokeback Malcontent" theme as soon as I get a free minute.  People are actually starting to think that is the name of our blog!

Comments

[Andrew]

Thanks guys!

[The Cranky Insomniac]

People are actually starting to think that is the name of our blog!

-Oh sure, pick on the straight guy!

[Oscar]

Dear Matt,
Thank you for, first, reading my e-mail and then for the prize.
My full name & address is:
[Edited by webmaster]
Let me tell you that I have in my Favorites, if not all most of, the clips from your site about Brokeback Mountain and others (Sebastian Kehl, AI, etc...). Also, everytime I see a reference to BM on tv, I get a pressure in my chest. The message of that movie, if one had an experience like it, is very powerful.
Thank you for having your site. I check it every day. You are also my connection to other site ( Scott, Pink, Made-in-Brazil, etc...).
Give on the good work. We are with you all the way.

[Tommy]

I realy like the stories. Great job Anderw and Oscar.

Also, Mal, I think the Brokeback thing in the title of the blog was a great marketing thing. So good job to you too, even if it was just a pun.