Mrs. Shepard comes to town
Judy Shepard, the mother of hate-crime victim Matthew Shepard, will be speaking at SUNY Fredonia's Juliet J. Rosch Recital Hall on Sunday, Sept. 14, at 7 p.m.
Matthew, of course, was the 21-year-old gay man who was robbed, beaten, tied to a fence and left to die in 1998. That was near the Unversity of Wyoming, where he went to school.
The two perpetrators are in prison on murder and kidnapping charges, but Shepard's death was what it took for that state to create hate crime laws.
Shepard's death spurred an outpouring of reaction. When I hear his name, I always think of the song, "Human, Like You," by my friend Greg Klyma. Greg is a great singer-songwriter who makes his living as a traveling troubadour (you should hear him tell his story about getting stopped by cops out west ... for driving too slow).
Anyway, when I first met Greg, he was a young songwriter full of potential. I wrote about him in the late, great magazine No Depression, and later did his website for awhile. I think he's really fulfilled that potential and even gone beyond that. You can judge for yourself at http://www.klyma.com, which he does a fine job on himself now.
Meanwhile, here's that song, "Human, Like You." If you ever hear it, Mrs. Shepard, I hope if offers you some solace that Matthew's life inspired people to stand up and speak out against intolerance and violence.
Matthew, of course, was the 21-year-old gay man who was robbed, beaten, tied to a fence and left to die in 1998. That was near the Unversity of Wyoming, where he went to school.
The two perpetrators are in prison on murder and kidnapping charges, but Shepard's death was what it took for that state to create hate crime laws.
Shepard's death spurred an outpouring of reaction. When I hear his name, I always think of the song, "Human, Like You," by my friend Greg Klyma. Greg is a great singer-songwriter who makes his living as a traveling troubadour (you should hear him tell his story about getting stopped by cops out west ... for driving too slow).
Anyway, when I first met Greg, he was a young songwriter full of potential. I wrote about him in the late, great magazine No Depression, and later did his website for awhile. I think he's really fulfilled that potential and even gone beyond that. You can judge for yourself at http://www.klyma.com, which he does a fine job on himself now.
Meanwhile, here's that song, "Human, Like You." If you ever hear it, Mrs. Shepard, I hope if offers you some solace that Matthew's life inspired people to stand up and speak out against intolerance and violence.
posted by Mister E at
8:02 PM
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