The Warren Report
Question what you see. Consider what you don't. Draw your own conclusions.
Equal rights cannot truly be equal unless they protect everyone. And when I begin to lose faith in this fight, I turn to film. Recently, I saw CITY OF BORDERS and interviewed the documentary's director, Yun Suh. If she could find Hope in the midst of Hate, we can all stay strong. I have pledged to DECLINE to sign Referendum 71. I trust you will, too.
(click here for my interview with Yun Suh, director of CITY OF BORDERS, or watch the podcast embedded below)
An Israeli, a Palestinian and a South Korean walk into a gay bar in Jerusalem and... nothing happens. That is the beauty of Shushan, the LGBQT dance club situated in the heart of the traditionally intolerant city. (Heck, when two peanuts walk down Jaffa Street, one is usually a-salted!) CITY OF BORDERS is a testament to this Mid-East oasis, a place where Arabs and Israelis reveal(ed) their identities without fear of fallout, payback or hatred. However, beyond Shushan's walls, the orthodoxy of ignorance remains and the threat of prejudicial violence reigns.
Director Yun Suh fashions a compassionate and compelling documentary by graciously and inconspicuously providing camera-time to some of the club's most arresting patrons, the opportunity to share their stories of faith, fatalism and flamboyance in the face of grave danger. Adam, an Israeli, bears his scars as a survivor of a brutal hate crime. Boody, a Palestinian, masks his fears, illegally crossing the border nightly just so he can cross-dress. Samira, a Palestinian Israeli, boldly courts Ravit, a Jewish Israeli, unafraid of retaliation. Love, means more.
Although I could not sway Yun Suh to go dancing, she did agree to sit down with me — at the fabulous Pan Pacific Hotel in Seattle! — to discuss her bent on public service, racial profiling and foreign policy. (Special thanks to Simone Nelson, the dynamic yet camera-shy co-producer of CITY OF BORDERS.)
(click here for my interview with Yun Suh, director of CITY OF BORDERS, or watch the podcast embedded below)
An Israeli, a Palestinian and a South Korean walk into a gay bar in Jerusalem and... nothing happens. That is the beauty of Shushan, the LGBQT dance club situated in the heart of the traditionally intolerant city. (Heck, when two peanuts walk down Jaffa Street, one is usually a-salted!) CITY OF BORDERS is a testament to this Mid-East oasis, a place where Arabs and Israelis reveal(ed) their identities without fear of fallout, payback or hatred. However, beyond Shushan's walls, the orthodoxy of ignorance remains and the threat of prejudicial violence reigns.Director Yun Suh fashions a compassionate and compelling documentary by graciously and inconspicuously providing camera-time to some of the club's most arresting patrons, the opportunity to share their stories of faith, fatalism and flamboyance in the face of grave danger. Adam, an Israeli, bears his scars as a survivor of a brutal hate crime. Boody, a Palestinian, masks his fears, illegally crossing the border nightly just so he can cross-dress. Samira, a Palestinian Israeli, boldly courts Ravit, a Jewish Israeli, unafraid of retaliation. Love, means more.Although I could not sway Yun Suh to go dancing, she did agree to sit down with me — at the fabulous Pan Pacific Hotel in Seattle! — to discuss her bent on public service, racial profiling and foreign policy. (Special thanks to Simone Nelson, the dynamic yet camera-shy co-producer of CITY OF BORDERS.)
Equal rights cannot truly be equal unless they protect everyone. And when I begin to lose faith in this fight, I turn to film. Recently, I saw CITY OF BORDERS and interviewed the documentary's director, Yun Suh. If she could find Hope in the midst of Hate, we can all stay strong. I have pledged to DECLINE to sign Referendum 71. I trust you will, too.
(click here for my interview with Yun Suh, director of CITY OF BORDERS, or watch the podcast embedded below)
An Israeli, a Palestinian and a South Korean walk into a gay bar in Jerusalem and... nothing happens. That is the beauty of Shushan, the LGBQT dance club situated in the heart of the traditionally intolerant city. (Heck, when two peanuts walk down Jaffa Street, one is usually a-salted!) CITY OF BORDERS is a testament to this Mid-East oasis, a place where Arabs and Israelis reveal(ed) their identities without fear of fallout, payback or hatred. However, beyond Shushan's walls, the orthodoxy of ignorance remains and the threat of prejudicial violence reigns.
Director Yun Suh fashions a compassionate and compelling documentary by graciously and inconspicuously providing camera-time to some of the club's most arresting patrons, the opportunity to share their stories of faith, fatalism and flamboyance in the face of grave danger. Adam, an Israeli, bears his scars as a survivor of a brutal hate crime. Boody, a Palestinian, masks his fears, illegally crossing the border nightly just so he can cross-dress. Samira, a Palestinian Israeli, boldly courts Ravit, a Jewish Israeli, unafraid of retaliation. Love, means more.
Although I could not sway Yun Suh to go dancing, she did agree to sit down with me — at the fabulous Pan Pacific Hotel in Seattle! — to discuss her bent on public service, racial profiling and foreign policy. (Special thanks to Simone Nelson, the dynamic yet camera-shy co-producer of CITY OF BORDERS.)
(click here for my interview with Yun Suh, director of CITY OF BORDERS, or watch the podcast embedded below)
An Israeli, a Palestinian and a South Korean walk into a gay bar in Jerusalem and... nothing happens. That is the beauty of Shushan, the LGBQT dance club situated in the heart of the traditionally intolerant city. (Heck, when two peanuts walk down Jaffa Street, one is usually a-salted!) CITY OF BORDERS is a testament to this Mid-East oasis, a place where Arabs and Israelis reveal(ed) their identities without fear of fallout, payback or hatred. However, beyond Shushan's walls, the orthodoxy of ignorance remains and the threat of prejudicial violence reigns.Director Yun Suh fashions a compassionate and compelling documentary by graciously and inconspicuously providing camera-time to some of the club's most arresting patrons, the opportunity to share their stories of faith, fatalism and flamboyance in the face of grave danger. Adam, an Israeli, bears his scars as a survivor of a brutal hate crime. Boody, a Palestinian, masks his fears, illegally crossing the border nightly just so he can cross-dress. Samira, a Palestinian Israeli, boldly courts Ravit, a Jewish Israeli, unafraid of retaliation. Love, means more.Although I could not sway Yun Suh to go dancing, she did agree to sit down with me — at the fabulous Pan Pacific Hotel in Seattle! — to discuss her bent on public service, racial profiling and foreign policy. (Special thanks to Simone Nelson, the dynamic yet camera-shy co-producer of CITY OF BORDERS.)
A slew of celebrities died over the last ten days, but no true movie stars... unless you count Robert McNamara.* Granted, the erstwhile Secretary of Defense only appeared in one film, but in Errol Morris' THE FOG OF WAR
, McNamara was brilliant portraying a Cabinet member so skilled at political rationalization he is almost oblivious to his own soul's non-partisan torment. Of course, he was just playing himself, but in the poignant documentary's climactic moments, you'd swear you were watching Lord Olivier's HAMLET
instead, prepared to hear McNamara (m)utter: To die, to sleep... No more; and by a sleep to say we end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to... 'tis a consummation devoutly to be wished. Wish granted, Bobby. Good night and good luck.
THE FOG OF WAR is Shakespeare-verite, the tragedy of an internally-conflicted power-broker whose best intentions are undone by his protracted and pernicious decision-making. If you have yet to see the movie, please, rent it and revisit history learning lessons both from America's involvement in Vietnam and the architect of that disastrous donnybrook.* Undisclosed causes, though I suspect the 93-year-old fell victim to Col. Mustard with a lead pipe in the Conservatory.
Free speech has never truly been free, but the mark-up in other parts of the world is far greater than in the United States. Americans pay at the pump. Foreigners pay at the stump. Be careful what you say. Today, the price of dissent in Tehran is steep, as academics and average Jafars are detained, isolated, maimed or murdered for their independence.
For decades, the consequences of candor in the Union of Myanmar have been equally costly and more gravely ignored. However, an intrepid, outlaw band of reporters has captured snippets of taxed speech and non-violent protest and broadcast these images and outrages to the rest of the world while risking their lives. These journalists' brave and tragic tales are recounted in BURMA VJ, an award-winning documentary by Anders Ostergaard, that immerses viewers into the country's cloistered culture and recruits sympathizers for the unlikely revolution spurred by the nation's typically apolitical monks. As significantly, BURMA VJ dramatically reminds Westerners that The Fourth Estate comes with a mortgage and forewarns that should we continue to neglect our debt, our governments will foreclose on us. The power of the press is its autonomy, its ability to check and re-balance. Undermine the authority of the press and everyone's speech becomes cost-prohibitive.See BURMA VJ for the geo-political indoctrination. Then, ask what you have done to protect your local and national press outlets and what you have done to demand they uphold their professional responsibilities. The incompetence of the press — whether headlined by Jayson Blair's shameful inventions or Judith Miller's war-mongering misrepresentations — is not only heinous, it's treasonable. Before we can speak Truth to Power, we need reporters to do some of the legwork for us. In Burma, newsmen would sooner die than sacrifice their integrity. Here, too many of our ink-stained wretches and tele-prompted wenches would sooner sell their souls for their own shows than risk access to a staged reading of the day's presidential talking points.
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