Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Judy Shepard's Book Signing

Judy Shepard, the mother of Matthew Shepard, had a book signing for her book The Meaning of Matthew: My son's Murder in Laramie and a World Transformed. While this was a book signing, Judy did not read from the book; she talked a little and then took questions from the audience.

I have never heard Judy talk before, but I must admit that she was sounding tired. She noted that a lot of the access to politicians was becoming superficial. When she does meet with some of them, she only gets nodding agreement to what she is saying and little more. That is when they will meet with her, some only send their staff.

While she is very frustrated with the progress on the national level, she was turning her hopes to the local levels. In particular she singled out Iowa as an example of what can be done on the local level. Its small size and homogeneity made it easy to present the issue. California on the other was the exact opposite, and would be difficult.

The part of the book that I have read so far is a personal account of the death of Matthew, and I will present more as I read it.

Good luck, Judy

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