well, not really, but even better. erin davies, driver of the fagbug, from syracuse, ny, visited eou this past tuesday to show a clip of her documentary fagbug and give a poignant perception into a daring venture in which she has brought hope to many and discomfort to a few. erin has laid it all out on the line and opened up her life since her vw bug was vandalized 6 years ago. she decided against covering up the graffiti, which read “fag” on the door and “ur gay” on the windshield. instead, she began driving all over the usa to spread her own example of why hate and discrimination is the death of society. after one year, the graffiti was finally removed and replacedwith a vinyl rainbow wrap and the script “fagbug” with her website to raise even more awareness.
erin has driven the fagbug to 49 states, with alaska coming up in a couple weeks. in the time since the initial vandalization, the car has been vandalized 12 more times. several times it has been spit on, a few times egged, even once had a stolen dog thrown onto it! add onto that nasty, negative, rude comments and insults. some people have thought the car was cute until they knew what it was about. others have contracted her to speaking engagements, only to cancel when they found out the car wouldn’t be present. others still have asked her to speak with a contract mandating that the car would not be present on their property. she’s seen people so enamored to nearly crash into her trying to take her picture as she motors down the interstate. she’s seen every kind of unreasonable behavior and wishy-washy feeling imaginable from all types of people. and let’s not forget there are always cops! erin has received over $2000 in fines for things such as “improper signage” and “letters more than 2 inches high.”
erin has done more than 500 interviews, and only 5 or 6 of those were adverse, though the people with ill-will usually decline interviews. she has received over 350 notes on the fagbug, and only 5 were negative. what, she can only wonder, would be her job prospects if she tried to change jobs? the rabble rouser believes her prospects to be endless! however, she was fired from a student teaching post after only 9 days because she dared to exert the freedom to be herself. the crowd at her eou talk also saw how frivolously we waste our time. out of 40 people in the room, only three admitted to not having sent a text in the past day. are any of us considerate in the way we interact with others? do we give our encounters the care they deserve? or do we brush them off according to our own perceptions of what they were worth? certainly, my own interaction with erin was very short while other people waited to talk to her and i was headed to another concert. yet she did encourage us to stop and take the time to write handwritten letters. i already make the practice of writing at least one letter per month, but it’s still not easy for me to slow down to do such a task. just try and give that a shot! it might be difficult enough to just to find out where people live. but writing to a friend or a family member is work put in for someone more than a stranger, yet we still can’t do that carefully enough. so, how much are we equipped to help a stranger? or to put that in selfish american terms, how much should we expect a total stranger to be able to help us if we were in a tough spot?erin could have cleaned off the graffiti on her car and took the simple route back to her own private place, but to how much shame and to how much loss for the rest of us? she was able to share a message to thousands and make immeasurable differences in the lives of more than one person. she understands the importance of strangers that have made everything possible. those of us compassionate enough to empathize with the personal and professional sacrifices she has made to extend her message are those strangers that give her what it takes to keep going. please look up erin and tell her what you think!
find her at her website fagbug.com. the film itself can be purchased on the site, or streamed for free at http://bit.ly/sharfagbug. as any of us who have tried to sell merch know, it is a money losing proposition but still great for raising awareness, so help her out if you can. erin has plans for a follow up documentary called fagbug nation about her trip to all 50 states and a children’s book called rainbow bug. yes! can we please start informing kids about tolerance from the time they begin to walk? for the love of our own kids, like jadin bell, who deserved to grow up in an environment free of hate.
on that note, let's pause to breathe until the next blog about the film bully...
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