I picked this book up when I was only holiday in Toronto, drawn to it when I saw the name "Matthew" and the word "Laramie" and knew it had to have to do with Matthew Shepard. It says right on the inside flap of the memoir that "today the name Matthew Shepard is synonymous with gay rights...". At any rate, its a name people recognize. I first learned of the Matthew Shepard story, if you will, when I read Moises Kaufman's play, "The Laramie Project", written in conjunction with members of the Tectonic Theater Project. The play combines interviews with various members of the Laramie Community with transcripts from the court trials of Matthew's murderers, and is very moving indeed. Some years ago, the Surrey School District made somewhat of an ass of itself when they banned "The Laramie Project" from being performed at Elgin Park Secondary. I'm still incredibly disappointed in that decision, as I think it would have been great for the South Surrey/White Rock community to see Kaufman's play staged. Anyways. Having read the play, I was very interested to read a book which is quite simply a mother's account of the death of her son.
While society may know what happened to Shepard, and what uproar and movement was inspired by his tragic death, they don't necessarily know who he actually was. Judy Shepard, Matthew's mother, explains how he was "just Matt". That is, in a sense, the point of this book. It's Judy Shepard's chance to show the world who her son really was.
Because of this underlying purpose, its very simple. Sometimes, I found myself frustrated by this, wanting more politics, more drama, but I totally get that that isn't the point, and I totally respect Judy Shepard's intentions with her text.
For me, the most striking parts of the text were the addresses made by both Judy, and her husband Dennis, in court, when asked to describe how their lives would be different without Matt in it. How they both managed to be so eloquent in such a time of grief is something truly amazing.
The point of these blog posts is typically to share my opinion on whether or not a book is worth reading. In the case of The Meaning of Matthew, that would be an insanely insensitive judgement to make. The book is essentially about the life of an individual, and the difference he made in the world. So because of that, yes, of course its worth reading.
http://www.matthewshepard.org/
Because of this underlying purpose, its very simple. Sometimes, I found myself frustrated by this, wanting more politics, more drama, but I totally get that that isn't the point, and I totally respect Judy Shepard's intentions with her text.
For me, the most striking parts of the text were the addresses made by both Judy, and her husband Dennis, in court, when asked to describe how their lives would be different without Matt in it. How they both managed to be so eloquent in such a time of grief is something truly amazing.
The point of these blog posts is typically to share my opinion on whether or not a book is worth reading. In the case of The Meaning of Matthew, that would be an insanely insensitive judgement to make. The book is essentially about the life of an individual, and the difference he made in the world. So because of that, yes, of course its worth reading.
http://www.matthewshepard.org/
