You Are Not Alone: A must see documentary on black gay men and depression

You Are Not Alone

The L.I.F.E Center in Inglewood attracted a record number of its congregation to attend a Friday night screening of a documentary on sex. Well not exactly sex but at the end of the 65-minute documentary the audience was up on their feet, standing, applauding the project’s ferocity and portrayal of black gay men dealing with depression. You Are Not Alone interweaves a single narrative on a man’s path to destruction with piercing interviews of over 20 gay men, mental health professionals, and religious leaders as well as a mother whose son committed suicide after being bullied because of his sexuality. The mother’s story is the most difficult to watch because her pain is visceral and present. The stories are blunt, brutal, and dark, but important and necessary to be heard by young gay men of color.

“A Black gay man dealing with depression should know that his mental illness is treatable and he need not suffer in silence; he is not alone,” said Antoine Craigwell. The interviews were conducted by Craigwell and Stanley Bennett Clay wrote and directed the project.

Craigwell has screened the movie in New York City, New Jersey, Oakland, and Washington, D.C. to raise awareness surrounding homosexuality, stigma, and depression. Mental health is often neglected in the black community. Sufferers are often looked down upon for seeking treatment and those who seek treatment often don’t continue.

The documentary traces the life of Cedric, a young professional whose early expressions of his sexuality were stomped on by his father. His father beat him mercilessly in an effort to eradicate any perceived traces of homosexuality and to force him to conform to his expectations. In a world that has become homophobically rabid, Cedric’s father’s violence lends itself to a segment of society that condemns and ostracizes anyone who demonstrates a departure from what is considered the norm. This father typifies many parents, whose reactions to their sons, are born out of fear of  homosexuality or how society will view their child. Cedric struggles to understand and accept himself, and is forced to live two lives: a hardworking businessman and a drug abuser, both collide and he doesn’t feel he has any reason to live.

You Are Not Alone started out as a book project. Craigwell interviewed a number of black gay men who experienced depression. The project changed shaped and Craigwell recorded some of the men who he had previously sat with. The film features Rob Smith, DJ Baker, Ty Martin, Jamaal Stone, Taylor Siluwe’, Rev. Kevin Taylor, and others.

“During many of the interviews, while the camera was over my shoulder, and as I was asking questions, I was also wiping tears from my eyes as I listened to the stories,” said Craigwell.

I had the pleasure of moderating the panel after the screening. The panel included: Antonie B. Craigwell, Stanley Bennett Clay (who wrote and directed the re-enactments), Lester Greene (who plays in the documentary), and Rev. Russell Thornhill of the L.I.F.E Center.

Check out the discussion below:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

3 Writing Tips: How to bring your writing above the page

“In order to understand, I destroyed myself.” – Fernando Pessoa

Writing Workshop is where writers can present their work (finished or unfinished), experiment, and receive critical analysis. From my first day of workshop to now, the way I approach writing has changed. The process, working through a scene, heightened, and is more aware of itself. I have encountered challenges and tried to experiment with language, native and foreign. Last week I received 3 great tips from my workshop instructor that I wanted to share. I think that these could help new (and possibly established) writers improve their writing to make it urgent. Click on the video to see the tips.

Also check out these helpful writing bibles:

1.The Art of Writing: Lu Chi’s Wen Fu

2. Writing the Breakout Novel

3. On Writing: 10th Anniversary Edition: A Memoir of the Craft

4. The Book of Disquiet (Penguin Classics)

Music: Live Show Preview – Mika

Origin of Love Album Art

The first time I heard of the singer Mika was on Perez Hilton’s blog and since then the refreshing pop singer has transformed himself and his artistry into a global brand. I spoke with Mika, for Campus Circle magazine, in a quick phone interview about his tour stop in Los Angeles. The intimate interview is below:

After the global success of his visually striking Imaginarium tour, Mika is back with a more stripped down yet equally delicious show for his faithful fans. The airy singer will be performing at the El Rey Theatre on March 27. Mika spoke to Campus Circle excitedly about his upcoming show in L.A., which is part of his new North American tour. For anyone who has not had the pleasure of attending one of his concerts, Mika described his live performances as theatrical, stemming from his childhood experiences of attending church in London. Interesting enough, his performances tend to follow the order of a church service. Traditionally, church services open with praise and worship, followed by a greeting, an offering, communion, the message, prayer for needs, then the closing, which can be dressed in dramatic make-up and the more dramatic, the more beautiful. Beautiful can describe a Mika show, but psychedelic sing along is much more accurate.

The standing room only show at the El Rey Theatre will be realized in the same way as Mika’s last concerts. Standout set designs from the Imaginarium tour, were the moonscape and outer space sequences. This time around for his new North American tour the microphone, piano, and guitar are front and center. Think old-Hollywood lounge singer: low lights and Mika in shadowed profile, white starched shirt, fedora hat, with animation creating a playful narrative behind him.

Mika said to bring the set to life he will start planning out the design with the stage technicians at the El Rey and in about four to five hours the set will be complete.

The art deco theatre is an effectual match for this intimate concert and is in harmony with the artistic products that Mika has created as of lately including: the dreamy “Origins of Love” music video directed by Christián Jiménez shot in Chile, the colorful Luvluvmi Doll made in collaboration with DEVILROBOTS, and the breathtakingly gorgeous Imaginarium tour book.

The North American tour kicked off in Vancouver, British Columbia on the 22nd of March and ends mid April in Boston. Altogether there will be seventeen live shows, with the state of California having the most shows in the U.S. (Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Solana Beach).

Curious MFers (Mika Fan Club members) will be delighted to know that the only cover song that Mika will be performing at the El Rey is “Popular Song.” Originally composed by Stephen Schwartz for the Broadway musical hit Wicked, “Popular Song” is not really a cover, but more of Mika’s sugary interpretation of the Galinda song made popular by Kristin Chenoweth. MFers can expect to hear Mika’s more radio-played songs like “Grace Kelly,” “Love Today,” “Relax (Take It Easy),” “Rain,” and “Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)” as well as across-the-board fan favorites such as “Billy Brown,” “Lola,” “Stardust,” “Love You When I’m Drunk,” and “Blue Eyes.”

Mika – Relax, Take It Easy -Re-Release- (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In shows for his first and second albums, Mika said he often performed cover songs, and with the release of his third album, The Origin of Love, Mika pulled from his own catalogue of music on the Imaginarium tour and even cut out an opening act.

When we asked the singer, from where do you pull inspiration to create your work, he answered with “from anger and vengeance,” which he transforms into infectious bubblegum pop tunes.

Interview with Actor/Writer Tishuan Scott

The 20th annual SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas, recently wrapped up, showing hundreds of independent and Hollywood movies and from all the movies presented, one stood out – The Retrieval, directed by Chris Eska and starring Tishuan Scott.

I talked to Tishuan about his role in the film and its media comparisons to Quentin Tarantino’s Django.

In The Retrieval, based in 1864, a 13-year-old black boy is sent north by a gang of bounty hunters, lead by a vicious white man, to retrieve a wanted man, Nate, played possessedly by Tishuan.

“Horror King” Bill Oberst Jr. (of Grindhouse, Machete, and Death Valley) plays the head of the bounty hunter gang and his portrayal is as terrifying as it is quietly brilliant.

The film follows Nate and Will (Ashton Sanders) as they walk North and navigate the complexities of survival and self-interest.

Together the cast of talented actors create a powerful work that sits as a document of life during the Civil War. Sitting, watching the movie, at no point was I pulled out of the movie. The movie, written and directed by Chris Eska, was in the Narrative Feature category, with Short Term 12, William and the Windmill, and Burma.

At SXSW, Tishuan won Special Jury Recognition for Acting in The Retrieval.

The supporting cast includes: Keston John, Bill Oberst Jr., Christine Horn, and Alfonso Freeman.

Click on the interview to learn more about this amazing new project and for more information on The Retrieval go to the website, TheRetrieval.com. The film, however will be at the Phoenix Film Festival and the Langston Hughes Film Festival in Seattle.

Also if you liked Django or any of the above mentioned movies, check out some of these below:

Duck Tape Diaries

(Photo credit: Sem Paradeiro)

In the past, it was important for me to believe others perceived me as someone who knew where he was going in life. Someone who had a good life, a good career, knew everything to know about the world; someone to envy or at least, have an intellectual conversation with. It was a cover to prevent people from discovering the real me, that I was  in the category of “other.” I’ll call that protection fear. In college, I learned that distance can help prevent people from getting to know too much about me and my experience leading into adulthood reinforced that: getting a new job in a new city, forgetting old friends to get new friends, not ever having enough time to call home. Distance and perfection, I carried them like hand guns.  I was so used to flaunting them, that they became my hands. Slowly, I learned to let go of distance, but perfection I had to hold on to. Perfection, in its own right, is truth and truth is incontestable, until proven false and nothing is false anymore, only less true. Today, the most important person in my life, just called me shallow. Now I don’t know who to blame: me, him, or the world. The world, as in, the idea of things; how men think, survival; the rules of effective communicate; multi-tasking in a post-digital area; being a good boyfriend.  A friend of mine worked at a national forest and had to learn deescalation techniques to take the fire out of heated situations.  She would mimic the escalated persons behavior and recognize their feelings. It always worked. Why aren’t their deescalation manuals ready and available at bars? At this moment, looking back, I never knew where I was going.

Kontrol Magazine Interviewed Me: Check it out

Photo Credit: Garen Hagobian/Stylist: Rico Cherry

Kontrol is a lifestyle, fashion, and entertainment magazine, based out of Atlanta and features new writers and/or writing projects monthly. I am the new featured writer.

An excerpt from the interview is below:

Get to know Victor

Why did you choose to get involved in this project?

I wanted to be involved in the project, because I believe it is important to start having more open conversations in families where sexuality and/or sexual abuse are taboo. The book form is a great package to hand to someone and say read this and get back to me. Books make great gifts, for any occasion, and speak when people cannot. I know of so many households where kids, growing up, were not allowed to talk about being gay. Because if they talked about homosexuality, they were talking about sex and sex talks were a no-no. The feedback from the project has been overwhelming. Different readers saw themselves or found similarities in their experiences with specific pieces. I’ve had two readings in L.A. so far and people have come with their mothers or bought a copy for a relative with children. Someone even told me they were buying a copy for their job.

Read the full article at: http://www.kontrolmag.com/author-conversations-with-victor-yates-kontrolreads/

 

New article on SB 1172 or the gay cure bill

Assemblyman Lieu (Photo credit: Barack Obama)

Over at Edge On The Net, I wrote an update on #sb1172 or the gay cure ban, sponsored by Senator Ted Lieu, which prevents mental health professionals (ex-gay counselors) from attempting to change the sexual orientation, gender expression, or gender identity of minors. An excerpt from the article is below:

Marea Murray, a social worker in San Francisco, sobbed uncontrollably when she learned that the governor of California had signed SB 1172 into law. Murray counsels clients of all genders and orientations on sexuality concerns and like a number of other mental health professionals, she has come to know people psychologically abused having undergone treatments thought to cure homosexuality. That is one of the many reasons why she worked through Gaylesta, a LGBT Psychotherapy Association, to mobilize supporters for the bill.

The bill specifically sought to prohibit professionals from using techniques to change gender expressions, gender identities, and/or sexual orientation for patients under eighteen.

After SB 1172 was approved, two lawsuits were brought against California, one filed by an ex-gay Aaron Bitzer, who is studying to be an ex-gay therapist. The therapist-in-training claimed the ban not only infringed on his rights to freedom of speech and religion, but also the ban prevented him from pursuing his profession. His lawsuit, led by Christian legal group Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), argued that “the law ignores young people who have same-sex attractions as a result of being victims of sexual abuse” and that lack of access to treatment will lead to irreparable harm.

Read more at: http://www.edgelosangeles.com/news/local/features//140531/implementation_of_california’s_gay_cure_ban_delayed_until_hearing