For Your Viewing Pleasure

I just cracked this week's issue of Time Out New York just in time to discover a couple of gems that I must share. First, you may remember me speak of Bayard Rustin a few months back. He's the civil rights leader who, because of his homosexuality, was pushed out of his involvement. He was the mind behind the march on Washington but you wouldn't know it. Unless, of course, you tune into your local PBS station and watch  Brother Outsider. It premiere's some time this week. Another PBS special that's not necessarily for your viewing pleasure is a movie called Two Towns of Jasper. It's an interesting attempt at a look into the black and white of America by interviewing white and black citizens of Jasper, Texas, during the year-long trial of the three men who dragged James Byrd to his death. My race class was pretty disappointed in the directors after we heard them answer questions. But the film is still worth seeing. Anyway, because I think everyone should see it (at least those of you who -- thank you very much -- read my exhaustive blogging) here is a detailed schedule from PBS.org:  ABC News "Nightline" will preview "Two Towns of Jasper" on Tuesday, January 21 (11:35 p.m. ET) on the ABC Television Network. The broadcast will feature a conversation with filmmakers Marco Williams and Whitney Dow, lengthy excerpts of the documentary, and a study of Jasper in the aftermath of the Byrd murder. On Wednesday, January 22, P.O.V. will broadcast the documentary "Two Towns of Jasper" (9:00 p.m. ET on PBS, check local listings). In "Two Towns of Jasper", two film crews, one black and one white, set out to document the aftermath of James Byrd, Jr.'s murder by following the subsequent trials of the local men charged with the crime. On Thursday, January 23, Ted Koppel will anchor "America in Black and White: Jasper, Texas," a live town meeting on race in America from Jasper, Texas. The 90-minute town meeting will be broadcast live and in its entirety on PBS at 9:00 p.m. ET (check local listings). ABC News "Nightline" will broadcast one hour of the town meeting beginning at 11:35 p.m. ET on the ABC Television Network. The town hall meeting will be held with the citizens of Jasper, many of whom were interviewed for the documentary. And one more bit of news. I'm going to go see bell hooks on Wednesday. She's signing her latest book but I'm going to take another one for her to sign. I'm going to go out into the 16 degrees now.