It's somewhat incidental, but I wonder how universal that experience of having somebody recognize your hometown from its famous tragedy will become, or is already becoming. There's certainly a cartography of atrocities, of place-names plucked from obscurity and weighted by public grief that only seems to grow. My cousins grew up in Ft. Collins, and when one relocated to Denver to marry and settle down and briefly lived in Columbine it was impossible to think of it as a town, a suburb, and not just the site of a massacre.
But of course it's a place that existed and continues to exist, and isn't experienced in its daily existence as the one infamous thing that happened there, and neither is Laramie. It sounds like recognizing that, in a way restoring to Laramie its actuality, is part of what 'saying it correct' is, and how The Laramie Project managed to evoke such a response in you, and the rest of the crowd. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Sounds like a very interesting experience, seeing this often-performed show about your hometown for the first time. I've read a lot of essays about reflecting, seeing a piece of art after years of not seeing it, and about "being from a place." This essay's at the top tier of them.
It's somewhat incidental, but I wonder how universal that experience of having somebody recognize your hometown from its famous tragedy will become, or is already becoming. There's certainly a cartography of atrocities, of place-names plucked from obscurity and weighted by public grief that only seems to grow. My cousins grew up in Ft. Collins, and when one relocated to Denver to marry and settle down and briefly lived in Columbine it was impossible to think of it as a town, a suburb, and not just the site of a massacre.
But of course it's a place that existed and continues to exist, and isn't experienced in its daily existence as the one infamous thing that happened there, and neither is Laramie. It sounds like recognizing that, in a way restoring to Laramie its actuality, is part of what 'saying it correct' is, and how The Laramie Project managed to evoke such a response in you, and the rest of the crowd. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Sounds like a very interesting experience, seeing this often-performed show about your hometown for the first time. I've read a lot of essays about reflecting, seeing a piece of art after years of not seeing it, and about "being from a place." This essay's at the top tier of them.
Also, good to see this newsletter again!