Two Very Different Stories

In reading my feeds over the last 24 hours, two stories about Gay Youth stood out among the others, so much so I thought I would share them with you.  The first story is the story of another life cut short by suicide caused by bullying.  In his article "Jadin Bell: The Lynching of  a Butterfly and the Modern Mob", author and Gay Dad Rob Watson gives us his take on this tragic story: "The officials are calling the impending death of young Jadin a “suicide.” It was not a suicide; it was the destruction of something innocent, something beautiful, something of supreme contribution exposed to an environment that valued it not at all."  Read the whole story for yourselves and weep along with Jadin's family and friends.  My heart goes out to them all.

The second story is more uplifting as well as a Gay History lesson.  For his class project, L.A. high school senior Devon Yaffe chose to do a video covering a subject near and dear to him: "When given the guidelines, I decided to do more than  just a high school project. I wanted to take this beyond high school and into the world. I felt so strongly about my project that there was no turning back and that deep down I knew this was going to be something life changing. During the process of this project my world had been changed, as my eyes were opened to a community in which I regretfully wasn't active. Now, after learning so much about this incredible world,  I feel I would love to be involved with the community and possibly become a gay rights activist. I am proud of my project and feel that I did, in fact, do it justice. I explored unknown territory for many gay teens. I hope that gay youth all over can see what I have created and be inspired to add their voice to the community. I feel I have created one of the best kinds of documentaries there is: the true life testimony of those who have grown up gay in a heterosexual world."  His oral history documentary, "Overcoming Adversities as a Gay Teen, One Generation at a Time",  contains the stories of 10 Gay men from age 15 to age 82, their own coming out stories and reflections on life as a Gay man.  The documentary runs 90 minutes and is a compelling must see for anyone who is interested in where we have been and where we are headed.

For your midweek musical moment today I thought I would go with some Mozart with his Divertimento for String Trio in E Flat Major, K 563.  Performing in this 1975 recording we have Isaac Stern on Violin, Pinchas Zukerman on Viola and Leonard Rose on Cello.

I must have been in a moment of confusion when selecting today's photographs as I went looking specifically for Men In Jeans which I normally post on Thursday not Wednesday.  Therefore all of your Humpday Hunks for today are sporting denim (more or less) of one sort or another.  Thanks for taking time to visit Nichevo today, we will see you again tomorrow.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!