Well, it has been a long time since I've written for my blog. But here I am at the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport waiting to head back home after a short visit in Kentucky. A trip, I will admit, I was apprehensive to make. Kentucky? Aren't Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul their US Senators? What the hell am I going to do here? 

For some background, let's start with why I'm here. As a maker of horror movies, one of the cool things about the genre is the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards. 

According to Wikipedia - The Rondo Awards is an annual "monster kid fandom" award created by members of the Classic Horror Film Board, where the members and other interested fans vote for a variety of individuals, entities, and media nominated in the horror genre. The award has been likened to a "Horror Oscar,"[2] and is considered a "coveted" prize in the horror community. 

"Honoring the best in classic horror research, creativity and film preservation," according to its website, the Rondo award has no corporate backing or institutional sponsorship.[4]

Named in honor of actor Rondo Hatton, the awards have been presented annually since 2002 and selected via an open vote; any individual may cast a ballot. Nominees are chosen by a committee, although any individual can nominate either themselves or others via the award's official forum.

Although the Rondo award was initially created to honor individuals and figures associated with classic horror, the award also recognizes contemporary achievements, such as best film and book of the year and best television presentation of the year.

This year we were lucky enough to win the award for our feature SEEDS.

Which is an incredible honor. I had to come. The Rondos are run by David Colton, who is a remarkably kind man. And as I learned at this years awards, very much about diversity and inclusion. But more on that later.

The awards are held every year at the Wonderfest USA. It started out as a model kit convention but now with 3D printers and garage kit producers it has grown into much more.

There are a lot of vendors who are illustrators for some of the major horror magazines, actors from cult productions and a lot of people in costume. 

All of which makes sense when you know that artist Kerry Gammill who designed the award is in attendance. It s a very cool looking award. He also won an award this year for the artwork in the graphic novel Bram Stoker’s Dracula Starring Bela Lugosi. 

All very cool stuff. But it is in Kentucky!

One of the things I generally do when I travel to other cities for film festivals or simply vacation is to always visit their museums. I've often found myself skipping events I probably should be attending to go to a museum instead. I would much rather walk alone in a museum than spend my time networking. I find it torturous. And it probably explains why my career has only gone so far. 

One of the things I've been taking a closer look at is the Decolonize the Museums movement.  According to this story by Elisa Shoenberger, she says the Washington Post defines it as “a process that institutions undergo to expand the perspectives they portray beyond those of the dominant cultural group, particularly white colonizers.”

Since the George Floyd murder, museums across the country have taken steps to embrace this concept. Most in theory and lip service, truth be told. But some are trying.

So what was I to expect from a museum in Louisville Kentucky? The answer was eyeopening. 

The day that I was to accept my award was also Breonna Taylor's birthday. And there was an exhibit at the Speed Art Museum called Promise, Witness, Remembrance curated by Allison Glenn.

The exhibit as described on the Speed Museum site says In "Promise," artists explore ideologies of the United States of America through the symbols that uphold them, reflecting on the nation’s founding, history, and the promises and realities, both implicit and explicit, contained within them. In "Witness," they address the contemporary moment, building upon the gap between what a nation promises and what it provides through artworks that explore ideas of resistance across time, form, and context. In "Remembrance," they address gun violence and police brutality, their victims, and their legacies.

The exhibit is one of the most moving I have ever seen. Perhaps because it was her birthday and how solemn everyone in attendance was. And there were a lot of us. It was an exhibit I don't know that would be curated at places like the Clark Museum. 

Back that evening for the awards it was wonderful to hear David talk about giving out awards to projects like Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror, as described on Shudder, Delving into a century of genre films that by turns utilized, caricatured, exploited, sidelined, and finally embraced them, Horror Noire traces the untold history of Black Americans in Hollywood through their connection to the horror genre. 

Similarly the article ‘Black Horror; History on the Big Screen,’ by Ernie Rockelman in HorrorHound also won an award.

Writers Kelly Robinson from Daibolique and Rue Morgue, Barbara Crampton from Fangoria, podcaster Stacie Ponder, Mallory O’Meara author of The Lady of the Black Lagoon all won with voters now embracing the scholarship of women writing about horror.

And writer Carly Maga along with Matthew Hays won for their article Rise of the Supermonsters/Monsters from the Closet for Rue Morgue about LGBQT representation in horror.

Remember all of the awards are decided by fan votes. This is an incredible moment and shift in the horror community.

It was an evening of diversity and inclusion which made our winning the award all that more special.

The trip itself made me realize that there are pockets of change everywhere, even if it seems very small that will continue to offset the beliefs of the likes who stormed the Capitol on January 6th. They will eventually lose. 

I saw the evidence in Kentucky.