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There Is No Map for Where We Go . . .

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There Is No Map for Where We Go . . . or
So Reminded During a Walk on Market Street

“Kristallnacht” was her answer when I had asked, just a while prior, why she was profoundly moved. My friend and I chattered, wandering back up Market Street after The Preview Room screening of Bud Dillon and Eric Jansen’s new documentary “Why We Sing!”

The film, to be aired this June during KQED's Pride Month programming, brings forward the story in the US and internationally of the GALA (gay and lesbian) choral movement, giving a look at reasons why LGBT choruses exist: We sing for freedom, acceptance, tolerance, community, peace, change, our rights and the future.

In a particularly memorable segment, the film introduces a performance by Seattle’s Gay Men’s Chorus of the song “Not In Our Town," recounting the response of townspeople in Billings, MT when neighbors were threatened by a series of hate crimes by white supremacists in 1993. Among the incidents was the smashing of a Jewish family’s window where a Menorah was displayed by a child during the Hannakah season.

In the film, onstage during the 2005 GALA event in Montreal, the Seattle Chorus's solo singer dedicates their rendition of "Not in Our Town" to a member of the similar chorus form Cincinnati victimized an evening prior by a hate crime in a popular gay district.

The contrast of a Jewish perspective, such as my friend's, with my own Deep South or southern-experience based one, is hardly unfamiliar. Yet, I am fascinated as it surfaces once more.

Our evening walk's progress continued for some blocks until, with a spontaneous decision, we stopped for dinner. Ranjan Dey himself thanked us for patronizing the New Delhi restaurant and inquired how was the food. Chicken masala, sag paneer, spiced veggies, saffron rice and garlic nan and poori. Marvelous. I have long been convinced that Indian is the most erotic of cuisines, and this unplanned access to such fare remined me of the truth in Herb Caen's frequent expression, "God, I love this town!"

Between courses, we talked about my moment of reckoning in the film which occurs during the segment featuring first tenor Cecil Johnson, soloist of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus. Cecil's rendition of an African American gospel-style hymn, “We’re Not Lost, We’re Here,” has become a personal anthem since my first hearing several years ago.

There is no map for where we go . . .

There is so much that we don’t know.
There is so much that we don’t know.
We’re not lost. We’re here.

Both segements, "Not In Our town" and "We're Not Lost, We're Here," are represented in trailers from the film to be viewed on the web site for "Why We Sing!"

What's the moral of this story? Perhaps several. Diversity. Friendship. Power of song. Faith.

Not infrequently, I admit to little understanding of my own assignment in the universe. During those moments, Cecil's voice and the lyrics return. I am filled with wonderment, determination, and a sense of moving forward unsure, yet with care in step and faith a purpose may yet be revealed.

(Photos: Why We Sing! & Bilings Gazette)