Bringing Walt Whitman to 21st century people

Check out this beautiful web page giving an enticing trailer for two events this weekend – one yesterday evening, the other Sunday at 2 p.m. – in conjunction with the Portland Q Center’s month long exhibit, “This Beginning of Us: Walt Whitman and the Spiritual Origins of Gay Marriage.”

“It consists of large, colorful prints representing a storyboard for an animated short about Walt Whitman by Portland illustrator and Whitman expert Mitchell Santine Gould.” Mitch is the author of several articles on Whitman, and hosts LeavesofGrass.org, a website devoted to the poet’s life and work.

I’m sorry I didn’t post this in time for you to catch the first part, in which the artist gave a dramatic monologue, “I Call to Mankind: Leaves of Grass as Quaker Testimony”. Mitch himself gives us a report on and photos of the event here. There’s still time to make it to the Sunday artist’s talk, at 69 SE Taylor:

“On Sunday, October 7th at 2pm, Gould will give a talk entitled “This Beginning of Us: Walt Whitman and the Spiritual Origins of Gay Marriage,” which summarizes the results of 15 years of research into the role of Quakers in gay history. On this occasion, he will announce his latest finding—a neglected 1842 Whitman essay which, he claims, represents “the single-cell embryo which in time grew into the fullness of “Leaves of Grass.” Community leaders will respond to Whitman’s message by discussing its relevance to 21st century people of faith.”

I wish I could attend, but I’ll be on my way to Seaside in preparation for Dennis Kucinich’s opening speech at the AFL-CIO convention. So there may not be many posts here until after the middle of the week, except for Steve’s photographs daily.