Letter
from Steven Solberg
To
all my relations:
I
am pleased to announce The White Crane Institute Inc. as the
fiscal non-profit sponsor for the completion of my feature length
video documentary: "Standing on the Bones of Our Ancestors:
Exploring the Role of the Queer Tribal Elder." To date
the project has been personally financed with a small inheritance
I received following my mother's death. Principal photography
and a substantial preliminary edit are completed. However my
personal resources are now exhausted. And therefore I am appealing
to you, my friends and relations so I can continue moving this
worthy project forward.
WHY A DOCUMENTARY ON QUEER
ELDERS:
The need for people to claim elderhood transcends sexual identity.
From whatever hereditary lineages we may have descended, our
ancestors revered the wisdom of their elders and all older people
have the capacity for awakening their untapped inner wealth
to claim this critical role in community. Like mainstream society,
the Gay, Lesbian Bi-sexual and Transgender/Transsexual (GLBT)
community is a youth focused culture - cut off from elders and
their life experience. So why focus on the GLBT community for
answers to our society's intergenerational atrophy? Because;
in the context of recent history the "Queer" community
is poised in a unique historical position. Prior to the June
27, 1969 Stonewall Rebellion in New York City, there was little
open public expression of the lives of GLBT people. Stonewall
galvanized a collective discontent, transforming this oppression
of queer people into a movement for pride and civil rights,
affirming that contrary to being an aberration or a mere sexual
preference, queer centeredness is important, substantial and
has a significant spiritual, evolutionary and social purpose.
In the past thirty-five years, an unprecedented emergence of
gay culture transformed this country and the global village
forever! Since the Stonewall Rebellion, there are now three
generations of openly identified GLBT people: youth, adults,
and "olders" (older people with no intergenerational
role in society) "out" in community. The ground has
been prepared and the health of our communities depends upon
fostering intergenerational dialogue, interdependence and calling
the Queer Tribal Elder into being. The power and vitality of
film and video is the ideal medium to amplify that call, share
efforts being made to illuminate this important issue, and provoke
intergenerational dialogue and critical thinking.
Without elders a critical intergenerational thread is severed
and a people become lost. If elders are lost, adults will be
lost. If adults are lost, youth will be lost.
Against a backdrop of culture hero ancestors throughout history
and contemporary gay-liberation history beginning in the 1950's
the documentary includes commentary from: Mark Thompson,
former editor of the Advocate Magazine, international
acclaimed author and historian. Christine Downing, psychologist
and author of Myths and Meaning of Same Sex Love, Clyde
Hall, Shoshone Elder, Ceremonialist, Historian, and Spiritual
Teacher on the "Two-Spirit" tradition in Native American
Culture, Malcolm Boyd, Episcopal Priest and Civil Rights
activist, Dr. Don Kilhefner, Gay Liberation Activist
and founder of the first Gay and Lesbian Community Services
Center in history, Tom Spanbauer, Author of The Man Who Fell
In Love With The Moon, and many others - elders, adults
and youth exploring this critical subject.
Robert Greenwald's production company Brave New Films inspires
me. Following an appeal for minimum $50.00 donations from the
thousands of people who had purchased DVD copies of previous
films, nine days and four emails later, all the financing needed
for the production of "Iraq For Sale" - over $350.000
- was raised. Personally I do not have the production history
to generate that kind of response. But collectively we can.
Please partner with me in completing this important project.
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
- Donate - Make a secure tax-deductible donation online
through PayPal.
Or make check donations payable to: White Crane Institute
(Bones Project) and mail to:
- Levels of Giving: $50 * $100- 250 * $250-500 * $500-1000
* $1000-5000 * $5000-10,000 plus
- Forward this link. Open your contact book. Spread the word
amongst your friends, comrades, colleagues, media workers
group affiliations and GLBT organizations. Or If you know
of anyone with strong financial resources or foundation sources
for grants or other funding leads please contact me, Steven
Solberg at: PumaSpiritRising@yahoo.com
- Cut and paste our Webpage URL Links: www.gaywisdom.org/bones.html
and http://www.gaywisdom.org to your outgoing emails
or add a link from your personal website or organization website.
- Do you have a mailing list whose contacts would resonate
and support this project? Please share it with us or independently
circulate this letter.
The Standing On The Bones Website is currently under construction.
Meanwhile you can find out more about me, the filmmaker and
view stills from the project at: http://myspace.com/stevensolberg
May the Spirit that set the heavens in motion - known by many
names and honored in many forms - shower blessings upon you
and your loved ones. Thank you.
Steven Guy Solberg
PumaSpiritRising@yahoo.com
White Crane Institute is a 501(c)(3) education
corporation.
Donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the
law.
