Chapter 40: One Down, Seven To Go

Wednesday, December 12, 1984

Jas and I arrived at the Batt’s office a few minutes before 1 pm. Marc Viguet was waiting for us when we got there. He led us back to a little conference room. The office was nearly deserted, which was no surprise. They weren’t publishing again until January, after all, but we wouldn’t be around to be interviewed then.

He told us he’d already interviewed Lynn Scannapieco, who I’d met a couple of times at GSS meetings. She was going to be featured in an article, but he had permission to write a series, and I (or we) would be in the second article. That decision had only been made yesterday — originally Marc had planned on giving each of us half the space. He’d apparently done his research, though, and had found out there was enough to my story to be interesting in its own right.

With that, we started into the interview proper: how I’d gotten involved with ‘gay rights,’ my take on things, why I wanted to be involved in GSS, if I knew other members well, and so forth. I leaned on Lizzie and Janet for the ‘how I’d gotten involved’ answer. It was a lot easier than mentioning Cammie. Lizzie and Janet were, after all, public figures, and my getting national press coverage in the first place was thanks to them.

We covered President Reagan quoting me, as well. I suspected that’s why he’d been approved for a second article — not many A&M students could claim to have put words in the President’s mouth, even if only by luck. We also covered the second prom. That, too, was public, and it put a reference to Angie and Paige in the article. Marc hadn’t known they were attending A&M, and he decided to check with his supervisor as to whether he should mention that. Even if they were ‘out,’ it still might count as ‘outing’ them and would obviously create a risk for them. At the minimum, the Batt would want their permission before naming them.

He counseled Jas about remaining nameless in the article. There was little upside for her to being named at this point. Jas agreed, though she made it clear she wasn’t overly worried about it. Most likely, if my name was out there, hers would wind up known to the ‘bad guys’ before long. Still, it’d be a lot easier if it was in the article.

Marc asked about my parents. Given Angie’s going to prom, he’d guessed they were okay with things, but was surprised they were actually supportive. Lynn’s, apparently, were not pleased about her even having gay friends.

He also wanted my opinion on the appeal. I said I thought it was a reaction to wealthy anti-gay donors. Those donors were funding the appeal, after all. It was a waste of money, but it wasn’t A&M’s money being wasted.

One of the better moments was Marc asking me about the people I’d met through GSS. I said there were several kinds. People in leadership were certain of who they were and wanted to help others. Some of the others were pretty certain, too, but wanted a place to ‘belong’ and do so while being true to themselves. Many of them, though, were new to being gay, unsure of things, and scared. Some were literally terrified about anyone outside of GSS finding out.

I made the point that all of them had come to A&M because they wanted to be Aggies. No one got here ‘by accident.’ No one wanted to transfer to t.u. ‘Highway 6 runs both ways’ arguments weren’t going to do anything. They were Aggies, and shouldn’t Aggies support their fellow Aggies? I also pointed out I’d heard far more straight people bashing gay people than vice versa.

Marc took a lot of notes there, and I figured it would work well for his article.

I asked him if he would be willing to send me an advance copy a day before publication. At first, he thought I wanted to review it (which was okay, but not encouraged), but that wasn’t it. I wanted to be able to get it to Marco so he wouldn’t be blindsided by questions about one of his members. Marc thought it was a great idea, and said he’d do the same for Lynn’s article.

All things considered, this seemed good to me. Anyone who had a problem with me being a straight supporter of GSS could tell me to my face. My name was out there — had been out there! — and I could handle myself.

I likely wouldn’t see the article until we were back from the ski trip simply due to timing. Lynn’s would run during winter break, but mine would be held until the first week of classes.

I wasn’t able to actually talk to Lynn Scannapieco, but I did manage to exchange messages with her. I didn’t want her to feel I was ‘upstaging’ her or anything.

She said she was thrilled someone else was willing to be profiled and supported the whole thing.

It would have been nice to get to talk with her, but things were ridiculously busy right now. We’d talk in January, likely after the articles had run.

We’d been watching MTV a fair bit (though ‘watching’ might not be the most accurate description — often we were merely ‘listening’), but we also listened to the radio a fair bit. I was glad today was one of those days, though I’m sure I’d have noticed it soon.

Not that the song I was hearing now was itself one of my true ‘favorites,’ but it meant the return of a true favorite. The song in question was Murray Head’s ‘One Night in Bangkok’, from the ‘Chess’ concept album which preceded the various stage versions. ‘One Night in Bangkok’ wasn’t even my third-favorite song from the musical (‘Someone Else’s Story’ — not on the concept album — and ‘Anthem’ were in a virtual tie for the top spot, with ‘I Know Him So Well’ easily ahead of ‘Bangkok’), but it was a terrific song and deserved to be a hit.

I immediately started jumping around when the song came up, which made Jas ask what was up. No surprise there! I explained the song — music by the guys from ABBA, lyrics by the great Tim Rice, vocals by Murray Head - and what it meant in the bigger picture.

Jas, of course, was thrilled a favorite musical of mine had re-entered the world. We ran out to the record store and purchased a copy of the concept album on cassette as soon as the others got home. I’d replace it with a CD once I got a CD player (soon!) and buy the cast recordings when they came out.

I really hoped someone did a better job with the Broadway production this time around. Maybe? They’d had one (or two, or maybe three) too many ‘good ideas,’ which together turned the second act into a somewhat muddled mess. Plus, the ‘let the American win’ subtext, as snarky and underhanded as it was (is winning because your opponent intentionally lost really a ‘win’?), made a mess out of the story. Write out a couple of subplots, stick closer to the British ending, and it could have been a monster.

Many people had blamed Trevor Nunn, but I was pretty sure he wasn’t the problem but rather a symptom of the problem. Sadly, there was virtually no way we’d be in any position to influence things. 1988 was simply too soon. On the other hand, perhaps we could affect later versions.

Or, perhaps, the 1988 version would be better in this universe. There was always hope.

In any case, we were singing along with the concept album tonight. I had an advantage in knowing all of the songs, but many of them were instant hits with the girls.

Cammie and Mel, as usual, were the hardest to convince, but even they couldn’t dispute how great the best of the songs were.

Friday, December 14, 1984

This was it. We’d officially survived finals. What was done was done. Now we’d wait for grades to come out. Many professors would post them on Monday or Tuesday, so people like us who were staying in town would have an advantage.

Aside from that, it would be very quiet in town after the weekend. Some kids were using the holidays to move out of the dorms and into apartments, but not many, and the dorms would be closed and locked after Monday. On the other hand, many of our neighbors would stay right here, except for perhaps a week or two for Christmas itself. Graduate students tended to run on a different calendar than the rest of us. They wouldn’t have classes, but they might well have research to attend to.

The basketball teams (men’s and women’s) had some games over the break, but that was about it for official university activities.

The six of us all felt good about waiting until mid-week before heading down to Houston. Having a few days of complete peace and quiet around our house seemed like a good thing. Plus, we’d be much happier seeing our grades rather than waiting for the envelope to arrive!

Amusingly, Mel was the one to suggest we go out and see David Lynch’s ‘Dune’ tonight. It turned out she was a long-time fan of the books (well, the first two books, anyway) and really wanted to see it.

Angie, of course, waved her hand and said, “Seen it!”

That got her an elbow from Cammie and tickling from Paige.

“Well,” Angie said between giggles, “I have! So there!”

Mel gave me the evil eye, though it was pretty much in jest.

“I’m sure you’ve ‘seen it,’ too, right?” she said.

“Of course,” I said. “I’m not actually sure I’ve seen it since ... um ... tonight, though.”

Jas was the one to provide the elbow. She was very gentle about it.

Mel actually giggled at the answer and said, “Okay, so ... that’s funny. That bad?”

“Any answer I give will prejudice things. I’ll say that I’m a big fan of Lynch and of Kyle MacLachlan, and that this is not their best work together. I can even say that the quote that I used to get Laura to admit that she was like Angie and me came from that later work.”

Angie gave me a little grin and a thumbs-up at that.

Mel said, “Now I’m glad I asked. I won’t ask more, just ... that’s interesting.”

“It really is,” Cammie said.

“Actually,” I said, stretching a bit, “There’s a story about seeing it ‘tonight’ that I think you’ll all appreciate. And without my needing to worry about misplaced elbows.”

Jas gave me a mock glare.

“It was not ‘misplaced!’” she said. “It went exactly where it was supposed to!”

I chuckled at that.

“Tell!” Paige said. “Or mine will be ‘misplaced’ somewhere much more tender!”

“So...” I said. “After finals ended, we — Dave Winton, me, a guy named ... um...”

I had to think about that one.

“Peter Lecompte...”

“That’s a French name!” Jas called out.

“Yeah, I know,” I said, chuckling. “He was from Clear Lake, though. Born and raised.”

“Hrmph!” Jas said. “Go on!”

“Anyway, we — me, Dave, and Peter — piled in my car and went to Clear Lake. Peter didn’t have a ride and we offered to get him home.”

“And...?” Angie said.

“And we decided to all go see ‘Dune’ in Clear Lake. Which was fun. Really! The thing is, I have vivid memories of throwing up in a sink unexpectedly. I’m pretty sure it was the stress of finals getting to me at last.”

“Ew!” Paige said. “Not even the vomit, but all that stress?”

“It was much worse that time,” I said.

Cammie shook her head slowly.

“Maybe it wasn’t so bad because we took our cues from you and Angie?”

“I think so,” I said, nodding. “It’s a big deal, but it’s also manageable. The other thing, though, is that I was a ‘lone wolf’ through high school before. No study groups, and very little studying with other people at all. It makes a big difference we’re all in this together.”

“I still have trouble picturing that,” Mel said. “I mean, I can, but it’s so alien to the Steve I know. You really were a different person!”

“Why repeat the old mistakes?” I said, chuckling. “Making new ones is far more interesting!”

Jas growled and tickled me, saying, “What mistakes would those be, Mister?”

“Nothing, dear,” I said. “Nothing at all!”

Even Jas couldn’t keep a straight face after that. She collapsed across my lap, giggling.

The movie was as good as I remembered it.

It was also as bad as I remembered it.

That was the thing with Lynch’s ‘Dune’. It wasn’t, strictly speaking, a bad movie. Lynch captured some things very well. MacLachlan did a great job with what he was given, though on the basis of age he was miscast. So did a lot of the cast, even though some of them were also arguably miscast.

On the other hand... ‘Weirding Modules?’ Seriously? That was a travesty, no matter how you look at it. While context matters, and martial arts were largely frowned upon in 1984 action movies (‘The Karate Kid’ notwithstanding, or maybe that would’ve made it seem sillier), replacing a mental discipline one took years to learn with a gadget was a terrible move and undercut major plot points.

Perhaps the worst thing about it was that it wasn’t weird enough. We didn’t need ‘The Elephant Man in Space’, but not enough Lynch was left on the screen. Even Lynch’s most straightforward film, ‘The Straight Story’, was more odd than ‘Dune’. ‘Dune’ played too safe, and the bad decisions were the ones which made it safer (gadgets versus hand-to-hand combat, for instance, or an older actor in place of the teenager the book called for).

I can understand the studios not wanting to lavish a space-opera budget on a ‘weird’ director without reining him in, but the result was a compromise which left most people cold in one way or another.