Audience Response

WORD OF MOUTH
Yours is the Best Press


I attended Scott Turner Schofield: Becoming a Man in 127 Easy Steps on Saturday, 9/19.
What an exceptional show! I was so impressed with Scott's unflinching honesty about what it means to be transgender. He is an
extraordinarily brave person with a truly innovative artistic voice. I was touched, enlightened and filled with laughter, all in the span of  a single performance.
Congratulations to Scott! I hope the awards keep coming his way.
 
I saw your show tonight at Real Art Ways in Hartford and wanted you to know how much I loved it. The "127 Steps" and "choose your own adventure" format was pure genius, I think.

i just wanted to thank you for your art. i'm not sure yet what it means to me-- a 20something, woman-born woman, married to a man (i guess i might fall into the "Questioning" category, whatever that means...)-- but i'm certain, on a grander level than just my own context, yours is great and necessary work.
Thomas King, a Canadian Storyteller and educator, wrote in his book (first a lecture series) The Truth About Stories: "the truth about stories is that's all we are".  that was the first thing that came to mind when i saw bits of your performance on YouTube. You give me hope in people-- in the ability to change people through stories and in the ability to trust people with stories. Thank you.

Just wanted to say that it was a pleasure working with you at DiverseWorks! At our staff meeting yesterday, we talked about how awesome your performance was and how the TG community rules in Houston. You have made such an impact on all of us! Anyways…

Just wanted to make sure you that got this fantastic review from The Rice Thresher!

http://media.www.ricethresher.org/media/storage/paper1290/news/2009/02/27/Entertainment/Thoughts.On.Schofields.GenderBending.Becoming.A.Man.In.127.Easy.Steps-3651627.shtml

Thanks again for performing at TransGiving. You stole everyone's heart and refused to give any of them back, especially Jason's. Now he sees why I think you and Ryka are both such special people, and he wants to understand more about transgendered and genderqueer folk.

- After Trans/Giving, Los Angeles, 11/08


Thanks again for presenting to our Counseling Center staff and guests last Wednesday morning, as part of your time at UCF. The feedback that I heard was very positive, and it seemed that everyone found your talk valuable. I enjoyed meeting you and appreciate your working with us on this.

- After University of Central Florida workshop for mental health professionals, Orlando, 10/08


Thank you so much for coming to Rollins this week and for speaking to us as faculty, staff and students. I found your presentation to be informative and inspiring, offering me a sense of clarity and compassion for a community I will admit I do not often think twice about. Thank you, thank you, thank You.

- After Rollins College workshop for mental health professionals, Orlando, 10/08


I wanted to tell you how fantastic you were! To put yourself out there like that takes a lot of courage and I applaud you for having the confidence in yourself to do that and share how wonderfully diverse yet ultimately, in a deeper sense, how similar we are. With such honesty yet keeping it light with your humor.

- After "Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps" at 7 Stages, Atlanta, 8/08


I just wanted to reiterate how much Jay and I enjoyed your show last night. Your story is a fascinating one, and beautifully told.

- After "Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps" at 7 Stages, Atlanta, 8/08


i was so touched by your performance.

there was a strong connection for me in watching it...... seeing that is was sooo very real.

not that i thought it wouldn't be , or that of it was made up. you are so very brave. i wanted to hug you, but when i shook you hand, i couldn't even talk because i wanted to cry. not from being sad, but just feeling like i wasn't alone.

it hit me very hard, because i've kinda been struggling for the past year with my identity, and all the labels there are to choose from. i don't want to have to choose, or have to explain myself and who i am to anybody.i am trans.but i always felt like i had to look a certain way.....to actually be able to use that, for people to understand me in this community.

but its me.its who i am. and i accept it.

it made so much sense....made me so comfortable to watch you and hear you......i cried during your show. and i felt like the audience...maybe took some of things that you talked about differently than i did. i just understood it. i understood you.

and i understood myself better than i have in recent months.

i can't wait to read your book, to read all of your stories.....because some of them are mine too, you know?

- After "Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps" at 7 Stages, Atlanta, 8/08


I was at the Evergreen workshop performances and I was wondering how well the Seattle show went.
127 Steps was one of the most moving and dialectical things I've ever seen. I talk about it to all of my friends and what an intense experience the show was.
The flier hangs in my studio because it was something so thought provoking.

- After "Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps" at The Evergreen State College, Olympia, 10/07

My Last Word on the Censorship of TOTWK

I will not accept that the verb "remove" is a "protest" or a "boycott." It is censorship, and the most insidious kind, because it comes from us on us. I asked this question before: When does "my" trans representation cross the line and become "your" target for "removal"? None of us should even be considering this slippery slope. That is my entire point.

Protest and boycott all you want. I believe in protest, I participate in boycotts, I do and support grassroots activism. Protest is important -- the reasons to protest TOTWK are sound, even -- and I am not in any way criticizing the opinions or actions of those who wish to protest this film. That's why I posted BOTH the call to protest (which unfortunately demanded censorial "removal") AND an opinion in favor of the film (and against the proposed censorship of it). I hope this clears up any misunderstandings about my position on this, and I hope that any further comments will actually take seriously my opinion on this as a censorship act rather than a call against a protest.

To the comment I now paraphrase which said something like "removal by a private organization is not the same as censorship by the state," I ask you: When every arts venue is now the "Staples Center for the Arts," the "Olive Garden Performing Arts Center," the "Microsoft Theater" -- that is to say, when there is practically zero money for the arts coming from the government and our venues are all corporate/privately sponsored...I ask you then, does censorship not exist anymore if it's not being done by the government? I'm sorry, but no. Censorship is censorship. It happens way more by commercial interests because they are in many cases above justice according to the law. We have to be even more careful about censorship when it's based in commerce/capitalism.

The worrisome aspect of *this* brand of censorship is that it comes from within my own community and is being enacted upon someone in our community who is just trying to make art. Poorly, perhaps. Not totally thought out, absolutely so. I've seen the film now, that's what I think about it. To fail is every artist's right and responsibility. We get the bonus of doing it publicly!

Protest may help Israel Luna grow, or it may shut him up forever. If we believe that we are a community that is dedicated to growing full human beings--even the artists--we must question how we are going to support our culture makers. How many people reading this have wanted to publish a blog or make a film but were too scared about what other people (who read this blog) will think and then say about them? That's called *self* censorship, and it comes from moments like these, and it stops us from being able to lead full lives, express ourselves freely, and continue to make culture. Censorship kills culture and hurts people.

Why are GLAAD and MAGNET using conservative tactics of removal to serve the liberation goal of making a better world for transwomen? Haven't we all be removed enough already, and transwomen in particular? Further, why are they reacting to every wrong step? Where is the plan from GLAAD and MAGNET for the world they want to see and the steps they will pro-actively take to achieve it, rather than the constant attention to how we are victimized? I don't want to be a victim anymore. I want change.

My therapist tells me that I must "Teach people how you want to be treated." I know I don't want to be censored, and I feel sure GLAAD, MAGNET, and you, dear reader, don't want that either. So let's get on with supporting culture rather than squashing it, because culture is the only way any group advances in society.


To see my live-tweeting while watching the film Ticked Off Trannies With Knives, please visit www.twitter.com/turnerschofield or www.facebook.com/scott.turner.schofield

Still Against Censorship, even of TOTWK

A good interaction last night. Clearly this fight is not for lack of love.

A response I received from my commentary:
so i've only been following the progression of responses on this issue from a distance, so it's possible that there are new developments that i'm not aware of, in which case feel free to tell me that i'm missing some key information.

but censorship doesn't seem like the primary issue to me here. absolutely, the filmmakers have a right to freespeech and free expression, no matter how hateful or trans-misogynistic i ultimately find that expression to be. that said, deciding not support that work is not the same as censorship, though i know it can turn into a fine line. a film festival doesn't screen every movie submitted, it picks and chooses those it deems the best of the bunch. so in choosing to screen
TOTWK, it is, to an extent, endorsing the film. holding tribeca accountable for the content is chooses to promote is not the same thing as censoring the freedom of speech of the film makers who produced TOTWK. i get that boycotts can turn into censorship and it's a fine line to walk-- but when the immediate response immediately goes to freedom of speech and accusations of censorship (which is a pretty common response when something gets called out as hateful, offensive, etc.) we lose ground on which to have conversations about accountability and responsibility. the tribeca film festival has the right to screen any film it wants, just as the film makers have the right to produce whatever content they choose-- but as someone who believes this film does real, tangible harm to people i love and my community, there is no way i will support it or any organization that promotes it. that doesn't strike me as any different than our choices not to frequent certain businesses whose practices we disagree with, etc.


I responded:
The reason I characterize this as a dangerous censorship issue (which does real, tangible harm to people I love and my community too), is for one word in the press release. Remove. Remove from the festival.


 In my heart and I'm sure once I see it in my mind and likely every fibre of my being...I'm very sure we agree on the politics of why TOTWK is not a good film for anyone on any level. I'm firmly in the boycott position on that one, and I havent seen the movie yet. Okay. 


Protest. Make a movie about this movie and why it really hurts real people and screen it at the same time, illegally, on the wall above the Tribeca logo. That would be an amazing protest, no? DO IT!!!! I'm there!!!! I'm holding the projector!!!! 


But do not "remove" anything from any festival, lest we forget how our identities have been and are "removed" constantly from textbooks and history books and even library shelves. How that removal makes us feel isolated. How that isolation does real, tangible harm to people we love and ourselves too. 


Love, Scott Turner Schofield