act ii. moments read in class today.

Reading Kaufman's et al. The Laramie Project the same way I've read other plays threw me off. There are so many characters/moments/cut-ups. This being said, I decided to let go of trying to remember "who's who", where the 'moments' take place, and the elements of a play I typically seek grounding in. This made the reading much closer to the meditative experience I aim for when I read, and it gave me the room I needed to understand the intended multimedia 'effect'.
The few moments we read in class circled around the opinions of several 'third parties'. I respect that the opinions are varied- it makes it feel inclusive. Many of the characters come from Laramie or around there so wherever they're coming from with their values and worldviews is not entirely shaped by a shared culture. There're particular lines that I notice thread the characters together- they stand out. Aaron Kreifels says, "It's like you're almost scared of gay people, for some reason...you just have this feel that...you need to be scared..." (55). This fear of predatory behavior is linked to the unknown. misunderstood, ostracized. On the other hand, Zubada Ula responds to an attitude that "[...]Laramie is not this kind of [hateful] town.' but it IS that kind of a town." This line points to an underlying commonality that is not out-and-out addressed.