Groundspark

We are gearing up for the Twin Cities premiere of Straightlaced, which will take place Monday November 16th in Minneapolis. This will be the last regional premiere of the film, completing an thirty-city, ten-month long tour of Straightlaced! With an impressive array of community partners and dedicated volunteers working on the ground to fill the seats, word about the event is spreading quickly.

Betty Tisel hard at work in Minneapolis!

Super-volunteer Betty Tisel (pictured above), who has been a long-time donor to GroundSpark with her partner, Sarah Farley, is leaving no stone unturned to ensure success. “Imagine these buckets full of cash and check donations,” she says. ”Visualize all these tickets being SOLD.” To help fulfill Betty’s dreams, get your tickets!!

I had the pleasure of talking with local radio host Leigh Combs last week about the event. A local teacher, advocate, and GroundSpark supporter, Leigh brought home the need for the Minneapolis community to not only come out to the event, but to start the dialog with young people about their experiences with gender pressures. To listen to the full show, click here. And just this week, I had the chance to talk about the more personal nuances and overall charm of Straightlaced with Todd Melby, a Minneapolis local radio documentarian with KFAI. Todd reminds us that the topic of gender and the pressure to conform affects not only young people, but adults also. You can listen to more of my talk with Todd here.

Please become part of what promises to be an inspiring and interesting community event in Minneapolis! For more information about the event or to sponsor the event please visit the event page. See you there!

One Wedding and a Revolution has been accepted for the 4th Annual Gero-Ed Film Festival held at the Council on Social Work Education’s (CSWE) Annual Program Meeting. The festival features films that show positive images of older adults or that highlight aging issues.

Since 2006 the Gero-Ed Film Festival, which is sponsored by the CSWE Gero-Ed Center, has introduced social work educators, students, and leaders to important films, such as One Wedding and a Revolution. With remarkable footage of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, long-time lesbian activists, marrying on their 51st anniversary, this film demonstrates that marriage equality affects people of all ages.

GroundSpark looks forward to having our film featured again this year!

Audience reactions to the Greensboro, NC premiere of
Straightlaced — How Gender’s Got Us All Tied Up.
Join our Straightlaced group on facebook!

In the 1970s, I was a counselor at Camp Rim Rock in Yellow Springs, West Virginia. In 1977, the last year I was there, I was an assistant head of the camp along with a young woman named Annette Green. I never thought I would see her again, but last week we reconnected for the first time.

Turns out that Annette got married to her high school sweetheart David, and moved to North Carolina to raise a family with him. She became a teacher and taught for 20 years in a relatively progressive school in Greensboro. And then she got involved in local efforts to get schools to address anti-gay prejudice. She came across our Respect for All Project films, recognized my name as one of her old camp buddies, and got in touch.

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