Last night I went to NYU and saw a documentary about gay youth called “Jim in Bold,” created by a group called Young Gay America. Not only was it free, and not only was there free food, and not only did the room have a great view, and not only were there lots of cute boys in the audience, but it was a really great documentary, too. It interspersed a cross-country road trip in which the Young Gay America guys interviewed gay youth from various towns and cities with the story of Jim Wheeler, an immensely talented gay artist and poet who committed suicide when he was 19. You can read his poem “Jim in Bold” here. The juxtaposition of happy young optimism with sad young despair was enlightening. Gay youth is not all one thing.

After the movie, the three Young Gay America guys who’d conducted the road trip sat at a table at the front of the room and took questions for about 45 minutes. If you’ve ever watched a documentary and then stuck around afterwards for a question-and-answer session, you’re familiar with the strangeness of seeing these two-dimensional faces you’ve been watching for over an hour suddenly appear before you in three dimensions. Oh my god, they’re actually real! And they’re right in front of me! And of course all three of them were hot. And of course two of them used to help run XY. And of course I felt artistic envy that these guys have created projects and have followed through on them.

I want to see my screenplay (which is about gay youth) made into a movie, and now I’m interested in the idea of doing a documentary, too. And I want to keep writing.

Creativity is infectious. I want to be Jeff in Bold.