Letter from the editor July 2005

How fortuitous that one of this month's feature subjects happens to be named Miranda July. But the 31-year-old Miss July--who is about to open her first theatrical release, Me and You and Everyone We Know, a film which is already raking in the kudos--doesn't just have the perfect name for the month in which we commemorate the founding of this country. In her artwork, which spans so many different media and reaches viewers in so many ways, she lives up to the spirit of independence that our country was built on and that the July 4th anniversary celebrations so vibrantly bring to mind.

In her interview with Carrie Brownstein of the band Sleater-Kinney (the conversation starts on page 80), July talks about a moment when she was beginning to direct her film, and she was having trouble getting a bird to turn its head in the direction she wanted. Recalling how she ultimately managed to persuade her subject to cooperate, she says, "I just threw my heart at it." What a great, to-the-point way to describe what it takes to pull off what might at first seem to be impossible. Of course, one needs other things, too--like intelligence and persistence, to name a couple--but to put our hearts into something is to believe that we can discover how much more we can do.

Beginning on page 78 you'll find Winona Ryder's interview with a living embodiment of the power that comes with throwing your heart at life's obstacles. The story's protagonist, Mark Zupan, is the focus of a new documentary called Murderball, and in the film--as well as here--it's clear that he has done exactly that. Zupan describes to Ryder how being confined to a wheelchair following a car accident during college drove him to discover new resources in himself--a path which ultimately led him and his Team U.S.A. to be the most dominant team in the history of their sport. That sport is wheelchair rugby, or "murderball" as it is often referred to, though, as the interview reveals, it doesn't wreck lives but enlarges them. As Zupan tells Ryder, "I've done more in a chair than I would have out of one."

In one way or another this kind of determined spirit and independent view defines many of our subjects this month. And they have something else in common: They understand that being independent does not mean ignoring others. Today too many people equate independence with being apart--for them, independence has come to mean the right to make the most money and have the most power and possessions for themselves alone. But figures like July with her artistry and Zupan with his team spirit show what independence is really about--being fully engaged with life, which means being wholeheartedly involved in the world. Just consider one more of this issue's subjects, the actor Terrence Howard, whose conversation with Elvis Mitchell begins on page 84. A brilliantly talented and independent firecracker, Howard is not a big fan of much of what goes on in the entertainment business. But that doesn't stop him. "This is a joust before the entire world," he tells Mitchell. "And you've got to be skilled at it. But that's why I'm in it, because I love that fight."

Howard knows "the fight"--whatever forms it may take--can't be won alone. He's a real believer in passing on what one can, and in not forgetting. Here's how he puts it: "When you find somebody who doesn't know his or her way yet, and you show them and then see them swim and sing and make life happen, then you're happy because you remember when you were that person." Sounds like a great sentiment for July, the month for remembering where we came from--and where we're going.

COPYRIGHT 2005 Brant Publications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning