Living Out Loud with Darian

I came across this clip of the famous documentary "Paris is Burning" today and I had no choice but to post it to my blog.

I saw this movie for the first time when I was in junior high school in Alabama and it was at that moment I realized that I had to
live in New York.

It was something about the excitement of the city and the idea that gay people were living their lives openly and no one seemed to care that I think excited me the most. I would watch this movie everyday after school(along with the Five Heartbeats) and although to this day I've never been to a ball I connected with the people in the film on a very strange level. I'd never met any of them with the exception of Octavia St. Laurent years later, but I knew even then that their experiences were apart of who I was and the life I longed to live in New York City.

Watching the clip brings tears to my eyes as I reflect on the young black boy in Alabama with so many dreams who was bold enough to step out and actually make it happen. As the saying goes "if you can make it in New York then you can make it anywhere". Let Paris Burn!