"Love above all else, brings people together."

On December 2, 2009 I had decided to bring a friend to this filming I had recently heard about. I figured it would be somewhat interesting despite my preoccupied mind set on extra credit. I had no idea what I was in store for.

All I knew about the film was that it was on December 2, 2009, at 6:30p.m, 1104 S. Wabash, and FREE. I had no idea the impact it would place on my life. I packed up my journal, and camera close to the time we had to leave and was ready to go. As soon as I got there my friend and I were awkwardly greeted by a stranger which ironically enough became a new friend to us. We went up to the 8th floor, arrived in the room and picked out what we felt would be decent seats.

My mind set into arriving wasn't very open, I figured I'd get there take some notes, a couple pictures and leave. What I ended up leaving with was knowledge on the film matter, and new friends.

The film I saw was called, "A Fish Out of Water: A documentary that explores the impassioned relationship between homosexuality and the Bible" by Ky Dickens, and Fawzia Mirza. The film was exactly about what it was titled. It was a documentary covering the distinction of homosexuality and the misunderstandings with homosexuality and the bible. It was not only a documentary with interviews, but also a collaboration of cartoon design.

To be quite honest, my thought process on picking this event wasn't very strong. I had just went through the event list and picked the closest date possible. However, I am glad that I stumbled upon this event because it showed me a greater appreciation for the gay community.

I was surprised by many things at this event, I was mostly surprised at how friendly the people were. I don't think I've ever felt more welcomed in an unfamiliar place then this one. I'm not sure if it's because they are gay, or they are just genuinely nice people, but whatever it was I am glad to have experienced it.

I was also surprised at the fact that I had been so uneducated about homosexuality. I am not against it what so ever, but it was sad to see how ill informed I was to the subject matter. I also was surprised at the fact that the documentary wasn't biased at all. I had a set notion that the documentary would just pronounce homosexuality and list off basically the pros and cons that people have towards it, but that wasn't the case at all. There was a wide range of opinions from interviewees both positive and negative. If there was anything that I got out of the film it was the message to just accept people for who they are. It was a message of reaching out, and understanding that love is just love, nothing more & nothing less.

I think the most memorable encounter at this event were all of the people that I had reached out and got to know for that short while. I had met four new people, and had really gotten to know two of them.

It started with the awkward meeting in an elevator, he greeted my friend and I automatically. Simply just looking for a pair of eyes to watch the film with, his name was Matthew. He also went to Columbia College, and came to view the film because well.. he had nothing better to do. He told me he was a freshman, and yes he was homosexual. He had a boyfriend of a year, and came to Columbia to study graphic design.

The next two people I had the pleasure of meeting was a gal at the age of 32 with the unique name of Utah (to the right), and her friend at the age of 36 with the more common name Niki (to the left). They both were very welcoming to conversation, and were more then happy to share some of their stories. Utah had told me that she had lived in many different states, and now resides in Chicago. I thought to ask her a little more of a personal question, the question any curious person would want to know: when did you know? I apologized for my forwardness and she chuckled and said, "don't worry about it!" She told me she knew when she was just five years old. She had realized she wasn't like every other little girl she was surrounded by, "while all of the girls told each other to stay away from the boys because of the fear of cooties, I thought to myself, 'why do we want to stay away from them? they are fun!'" She told me at that point she knew that something was different, and accepted it ever since.

However, her friend Niki was a little bit different. She was also very welcoming and open with me. I had asked her the same question, and she didn't know until she was 17, but because it was so unfamiliar with her, she didn't act upon it until she was 22. This was crazy to me, I couldn't believe that she held in who she was for 5 years. She was from New Jersey, but came to Chicago for her previous love interest. They both came to the filming to support their friend Ky who had written the film.

I found myself connecting with the film, I started to realize that you don't need to be homosexual to connect yourself with it, but just a person in general. Me not being homosexual had nothing to do with it. I found myself seeing prejudice and unfairness within each individual. Having a constant battle with the people around you telling you who you should be, how you should think, what is right and wrong. It happens to everyone, and I think some people tend to forget that.

I found myself coming back to the question on the critical encounters page, "how does faith shape our ideals, communities, decision making, and sense of self?" I realized then how the documentary related to it greatly. The creators of this particular event must of had this question floating in their mind constantly. I think their answers to the question shows tremendously throughout the documentary especially with the interviews that they have used; both negative and positive.

I also realized that this event interacted with topics we have touched on in class; with the most obvious sexuality.

If I had more time with this particular event/experience I would probably investigate further dealing with the people and creators of the documentary. I would want to talk to them personally and ask them what their original plan was when they showed this to their audience.