Brody's Notes... Where are you from?

By Brody Levesque (Bethesda, Maryland) Sept 13 |  Recently I had the privilege of interviewing a talented young artist, S. William Moore, who commented at one point in the interview that; "I think it's weird and wrong that a person's sexuality requires a lawyer just to have basic rights." 
That got me thinking, Why is it so hard to be yourself just because you're LGBT? Ultimately, there are several answers. Yet the one that seems to stand out the most, is that there is a fear of how a person is perceived by others in the community where they live.

Not long after that interview, I had begun research for a series of articles about being young and LGBT that I am writing. I was given a link to a website run by a group of young & talented, Gay men from Brooklyn, New York, and what I found after spending time on the site was not only heartening, but amazing. Here was a collection of stories about Gay people from every walk of life, different ages, and from all over the globe. I was so impressed that I have linked this site to my blog as a resource in my links column.

As I explored this excellent site further, I ran across a link to an interview by a colleague, Hugh Ryan, writing for the on-line  ADVOCATE.COM magazine, profiling the founder and senior editor of the site;  'im from driftwood,' Nathan Manske.  {ADVOCATE.COM Interview Here.}
  

Nathan Manske

This site combines written stories and professionally produced videos, in a linear fashion, by calender date. The stories themselves run from deeply personal, to whimsical, and in a few cases, very, very, funny. There is the ability to  comment, a small chat widget, and well thought out placement of graphics. Navigation for the site is straightforward and simple. Topic links include About IFD, Featured Artists, Video Stories, Contact, and a small on-line store that sells merchandise imprinted with the site's logo. 

I will caution that you must have a comfortable place to sit, as you're likely to be entranced by what you see and read on 'im from driftwood,' and will soon discover that a significant bit of time flew by while you were reading through the stories.

By the way, Nathan really is from Driftwood...