Moment of Zen: Just Because

Labels

Wouldn't the world be a wonderful place if we could shed labels like black, white, Latino, Asian, gay, bisexual or lesbian? We like to imagine — assume, even — that humanity will only ever continue to progress socially and technologically and that one day such distinctions will blur into a pleasant haze of meaninglessness. Are labels really necessary? We se them all the time, but should we?

Emotions

Tuesday was a difficult day emotionally for me.  It was not just because it was 9/11, but also for other reasons.  As the history teacher at my school, it largely falls on me to answer questions kids have about the events of September 11, 2001.  My students range from my seventh graders who were either not born or just one year olds to my Seniors who were in first or second grade when the terrorist attacks happened.  They always want to know what I was doing when I heard the news, so I tell my story and tell some of the background and following events that they were too young to understand.  They are still too young and naive to understand why anyone could hold that much hatred for the United States, and even at my age, I find it difficult to imagine that amount of hatred.  I read my classes the poem that I posted on Tuesday, because I found it poignant.  I tend to read poems with a great deal of emotion, so there were some tears shed by the end by my students. So that got my day off to a sad beginning.

Because I was in graduate school even back then, one student asked me why I had not gotten my PhD yet.  I explained that though I had planned to have my dissertation largely finished by the end of the summer that Grandmama's illness, death, and the emotions surrounding that had made it difficult to get much work done this summer. That combined with the fact that one of my friend's father suddenly died over the weekend and having dinner with my aunt at Grandmama's houseTuesday night, all combined to create a waive of emotions as I lay down to try to sleep. I ended up crying myself to sleep as the emotions of the day and the thoughts of never seeing Grandmama again hit me suddenly.  I was exhausted physically and emotionally.  I've been very busy at the school with some additional duties this year, and I am still recovering from my cold making for a tiring day.

As I fell asleep, I dreaded waking up the next morning with the emotionally draining depression that I expected. However, I guess the mind works in mysterious ways and often knows how to heal.  I had a dream that night, which is unusual that I remembered it so vividly the next day because I rarely remember my dreams.  I dreamed that a dear friend of mine, one who lives far away but that I care deeply for, was traveling to visit me. I remember vividly the details, though odd some of them were.  I remember that he flew into to Mobile instead of the closer airport in Montgomery, and that I had given him directions to meet me at an away basketball game for the school which for some very odd reason, I was playing in or maybe I was coaching or something (that part was too odd to be clear).  I dreamed that I took him to my family lake house and we had a wonderful time together.  I woke up in a much better mood just thinking about him and seeing him.  I hope he doesn't mind that I shared this dream with you, but it gave me such a sense of joy that it greatly lifted me out of the funk I was in when I had gone to bed.  

It's amazing what a good dream and happy thoughts can do for a person's mental state.  It was a wonderful experience, even if it was only a dream.  Have you ever had a dream like that which turned your whole mood around?

Thomas Eakins: Gay or Not?

Both the high school and college US history class I am currently teaching are studying the Gilded Age.  This means that the realist painter Thomas Eakins came up in my lectures. Since I know of his works, especially The Swimming Hole above, I began to wonder about his sexuality.  His paintings are certainly homoerotic, so was he gay, bisexual, or heterosexual.  I did an internet search to see what I could find. 

Eakins was married, but from my research it seems that his sexuality remains a matter of gossip even today. The males in his paintings, close friendship with Walt Whitman, stories from men who claimed advances, and belief that a naked woman was the most beautiful form in nature---'except for a naked man'---give some reason to pause (Eakins also photographed and painted nude ladies).  His brother-in-law, Frank Stephens, prompted even more allegations by accusing him of incest. While the accusations of incest were never proved, the charge itself was enough to have Eakins removed from a Philadelphia art club. Some have speculated that Eakins had a long-term love affair with another former student, Samuel Murray, who was later a well-known sculptor and became Eakins' devoted nurse in his last days.  

Always ingenious, Eakins devised endless ways to put naked or nearly naked people in his pictures. He painted a brutally realistic crucifixion scene; a group of men naked at a swimming hole; a sculptor in his studio with a young female model (and chaperone); and classical figures in a meadow, with and without their togas. On two occasions he depicted patients stretched out under a surgeon's knife, and throughout his career he painted thinly clad male athletes in the heat of competition.

Eakins constantly strived to create convincing illusions, and long before it was fashionable, he used photographs to further his goal. He often succeeded too well. In 1876, Eakins portrayed world-famous surgeon Samuel Gross in the midst of an operation, and submitted the portrait for the art display at the United States Centennial Exhibition. But the judges saw simply a bloody document and sent the painting to a hall for medical instruments. Today many people consider "The Gross Clinic" the finest painting Eakins ever made.

About 10 years later, Eakins presented an idyllic scene of men swimming in the river for one of his most important patrons, but the patron politely sent it back, asking for a painting that he could donate to an art museum someday.

Now "The Swimming Hole" is one of Eakins' best known and most popular images. It is a horizontal canvas, smaller than your sofa is long, showing six naked men and a big red dog, swimming in a river on a sunny day. One of them appears to be Eakins himself.

Viewers must have always seen that it expressed great pleasure in male companionship. These days, when homosexuality is an open subject, the painting, and the photographs that show the same setting and subjects, appear to indicate Eakins' own sexual preference. Many call him one of the first gay artists in America.  Is this a fair assessment? Probably not.  I don't know whether Thomas Eakins was gay or not, but I'm sure he would be dismayed by all this acclaim. Because more than anything else, Eakins wanted his art to make people uncomfortable, even angry.

As a teacher, Eakins demanded that his students draw and paint nude models, and he even asked the students to pose nude for one another. But that does not explain why he pulled the loin cloth off a male model to show a room full of female students the shape of a male torso. Or why when a female student, Amelia Van Buren, asked about the movement of the pelvis, Eakins invited her to his studio, where he undressed and "gave her the explanation as I could not have done by words only".  It does explain why a public scandal flared, and why he got fired.

A few years after that, Eakins again made his students pose for photographs, though they were just the young sons and daughters of his brother-in-law, Will MacDowell. But why did he keep on making photographs after MacDowell asked him to quit? The incident caused a permanent break, and Eakins was banned from seeing the children, or visiting their family again.

These are just a few of many incidents in which Eakins' apparent devotion to principle outweighed his commitment to his students, his job, his patrons and even his family.

There are other troubling stories. Eakins chose to make a portrait of Louis Kenton, the man who married his wife's sister and beat her so badly she left him. Eerily, the painting is one of his best. On another occasion, a student who posed for her portrait publicly claimed that Eakins had promised to leave his wife and marry her. (The portrait was not finished.) Another young female student died of a suicide, though no one ever established a clear connection between the art lessons and her death wish.

Eventually, the American public came to accept realistic painting. Eakins was rehabilitated for history, and since the 1930s, he has been known as a modern rebel, ahead of his prudish time.

But his work continued to raise problems. There were all those nude photographs. Why did he do it? Many paintings of many subjects looked too photographic. Was he cheating somehow? There were portraits of women who looked intelligent and miserable. There were men who looked like objects of desire.

At last, in our new century, we've grown so tolerant of ambiguity, and photography, that the uneasiness is gone. The photographs are no longer a cheat, they look charming, and we enjoy the matching game, searching out the pose he stole and put in a painting. His naked male friends are almost sweet, as they stand on the river bank, posing like Greek gods. We don't flinch when we discover that his wife Susan was content to play along, posing nude in the studio, and outdoors with his horse. We don't mind that Eakins posed nude himself, and we see plenty of him, front and back. The scandal makes good gossip, and all the tired women could so easily be our mothers, or our friends.

Remember 9/11

TWO THOUSAND ONE, NINE ELEVEN

Two thousand one, nine eleven

Five thousand plus arrive in heaven

As they pass through the gate,

Thousands more appear in wait

A bearded man with stovepipe hat

Steps forward saying, "Lets sit, lets chat"

They settle down in seats of clouds

A man named Martin shouts out proud

"I have a dream!" and once he did

The Newcomer said, "Your dream still lives."

Groups of soldiers in blue and gray

Others in khaki, and green then say

"We're from Bull Run, Yorktown, the Maine"

The Newcomer said, "You died not in vain."

From a man on sticks one could hear

"The only thing we have to fear.

The Newcomer said, "We know the rest,

trust us sir, we've passed that test."

"Courage doesn't hide in caves

You can't bury freedom, in a grave,"

The Newcomers had heard this voice before

A distinct Yankees twang from Hyannisport shores

A silence fell within the mist

Somehow the Newcomer knew that this

Meant time had come for her to say

What was in the hearts of the five thousand plus that day

"Back on Earth, we wrote reports,

Watched our children play in sports

Worked our gardens, sang our songs

Went to church and clipped coupons

We smiled, we laughed, we cried, we fought

Unlike you, great we're not"

The tall man in the stovepipe hat

Stood and said, "don't talk like that!

Look at your country, look and see

You died for freedom, just like me"

Then, before them all appeared a scene

Of rubbled streets and twisted beams

Death, destruction, smoke and dust

And people working just 'cause they must

Hauling ash, lifting stones,

Knee deep in hell, but not alone

"Look! Blackman, Whiteman, Brownman, Yellowman

Side by side helping their fellow man!"

So said Martin, as he watched the scene

"Even from nightmares, can be born a dream."

Down below three firemen raised

The colors high into ashen haze

The soldiers above had seen it before

On Iwo Jima back in '44

The man on sticks studied everything closely

Then shared his perceptions on what he saw mostly

"I see pain, I see tears,

I see sorrow - but I don't see fear."

"You left behind husbands and wives

Daughters and sons and so many lives

are suffering now because of this wrong

But look very closely. You're not really gone.

All of those people, even those who've never met you

All of their lives, they'll never forget you

Don't you see what has happened?

Don't you see what you've done?

You've brought them together, together as one.

With that the man in the stovepipe hat said

"Take my hand," and from there he led

five thousand plus heroes, Newcomers to heaven

On this day, two thousand one, nine eleven

UNKNOWN AUTHOR

Raising the Flag at Ground Zero

The horrific attacks of September 11, 2001 forever changed the landscape of the Manhattan skyline and life in America as we knew it.

But in the chaos and rubble where the World Trade Center no longer stood, Record photographer Thomas E. Franklin captured an unforgettable image of hope -- three firefighters raising the American flag.

Standing defiantly against the gray and white landscape of devastation, these dust-covered men and the vivid red, white, and blue of Old Glory instantly became a symbol of American patriotism.The Record's photo of these three heroic rescuers - Brooklyn-based firefighters George Johnson of Rockaway Beach, Dan McWilliams of Long Island (both from Ladder 157), and Billy Eisengrein of Staten Island (Rescue 2) - also became a global message that life, and America, would go on.The photo, which appeared Sept. 12 in The Record, has since graced the pages of many other newspapers as well as national newsmagazines. Network television has repeatedly displayed the photo during its round-the-clock disaster coverage, comparing it to the famous image of Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima during World War II.

Franklin, an eight-year veteran of The Record, took the photo late in the afternoon of Sept. 11, after spending hours at the scene. He was walking toward the debris of the World Trade Center when he spotted the firefighters.

"The shot immediately felt important to me," Franklin said. "It said something to me about the strength of the American people and about the courage of all the firefighters who, in the face of this horrible disaster, had a job to do in battling the unimaginable."

A Collection of Thoughts

There were several topics that I wanted to blog about today, but couldn't decide on only one, so I just thought this would be a random post of a collection of my thoughts.  So, here we go.

First of all, I was watching Julie & Julia last night for the first time.  It is quite a delightful movie, and when Julie Powell found out that Julia Child was not fond of her blog, I began to think about blogging.  Personally, I have had wonderful experiences blogging.  Yes, there have been times when people have left somewhat hateful, or at least disheartening comments on my blog, but for the most part, my comments are positive.  I have met and corresponded with some wonderful people and made a few delightful new friends who have been an inspiration in my life.  Also, unlike Julie Powell, my favorite author, Mark Childress, once commented on my blog when I wrote about what an admirer I was of his writing.  It was truly a thrill.  I've had authors and poets write to me, and I have always enjoyed reading what they send me. I am currently reading one of those books right now,  Shirts and Skins by Jeffrey Luscombe, The Gay Groom.  And what a delightful book it is.  I can't wait to finish it and review it for all of you.

Next on my list of thoughts is to answer a few comments from my post yesterday "Jesus Was a Capricorn." For the Anonymous commenter who said he or she was one of those " Conservative Republicans" I described, I wanted to say that I agree with you completely that I too am "concerned that so many of the beliefs on BOTH sides of the aisle (conservative and liberal) have more to do with following the crowd lined up behind their banner vs. seeking, listening and discerning what the truth is and forming their own views and opinions based on that."  I honestly think that for the majority of Americans, neither the Republican nor Democratic Party represent our beliefs anymore.  They both have some very loud voices that drown out the moderates of America.  I firmly believe that we should treat others as we want to be treated and neither party really takes that into consideration.  They are far too concerned about what they don't like and what everyone else is doing wrong than to have any helpful solutions.  We need more positive politics.  The recent party conventions were more about negative politics than positive politics.

And to Silvereagle, I want to thank you for your encouraging words.  Jay, I know that I am preaching to the choir, but I also think that if we know our arguments better and and more informed about the truth, then we are better prepared to give rebuttals to those who fight against us. Will, I think that instead of thinking of them as 2,000 year old prejudices, we should think of them as morals that have been handed down through history from the beginning of mankind.  Since the first people decided to believe in an afterlife, we have placed human morals, those basic fundamentals of the laws of nature and nature's God, as the basic tenements of reaching a peaceful afterlife.  And, GP, you are absolutely correct about the Apocrypha, but many of those early writings cannot be traced to the first century and are often from the 3rd, 4th, or 5th centuries.  While some of them possibly should have been included, there is not enough of those books that have survived to add to the Biblical cannon.  When we reach the afterlife, our questions will be answered.

I also wanted to remind you guys that I do have jewelry for sale on Etsy.com.  If there is something that you like and would like somewhat differently from what is described in the listings, then let me know, and I can custom make something for you.  I have also added a few new items to my listings, so check it out, and get to buying, LOL.

Finally, I wanted to say, "It's finally here."  The fall season has made it.  We had our first mild day in what seems like forever.  It was very nice to finally walk outside and not break out into a sweat because of the heat and humidity.  It was actually pleasant.  Fall is still officially a couple of weeks away, but at least we are getting a small respite from the heat.  It may not last long, but I can at least hold out hope.

So there are my random thoughts for today.

P.S. The picture above has nothing to do with anything in this post but is merely another piece of randomness.  I just thought the picture was so cute and wanted to share it with you.

Jesus Was a Capricorn

Jesus was a Capricorn
He ate organic food
He believed in love and peace
and never wore no shoes.
Long hair, beard and sandals
And a funky bunch of friends
Reckon we'd just nail him up
If he came down again

Kris Kristofferson

I have to admit that I agree with many of Kris Kristofferson's sentiments on the subject of Jesus and honestly, I started thinking about what would Jesus be like if he came back to earth today. A few years ago, one of the big things was WWJD? bracelets. Christians were challenged to ask themselves "What would Jesus do?" and sadly for too many of them, it was not unconditional love and acceptance.  Would Jesus discriminate as so many Christians do today, especially against those who are different (that is , unless you are a Christian Republican and now have decided for the first time in your religious history to believe that Mormons are Christians just like you)?  Instinctively, we all sense that the answer must be a resounding No!  Yet we live in a time when many churches are leading the effort to deny gay and transgender people equal protection under the law.  Since so many churches are invoking the name of Jesus to justify their assault on the rights of gay and transgender people, I invite thoughtful people everywhere to ask this simple question:

What would Jesus do?

The answer is not hard to find.  One of the themes of Jesus' ministry was a recurring conflict with the Pharisees, a powerful group of legalistic religious leaders.  The Pharisees were waiting for the Messiah to come, and they believed that would happen only when their entire nation became righteous.  So, in their minds, anyone who failed to follow their particular set of rules was bringing down a curse on their nation and worthy of contempt.

Sound familiar?  I see the same type of attitude and arguments from the Christian conservatives, who increasingly are becoming the voice of the Republican Party.

The list of people despised by the Pharisees was long:

• The Samaritans were considered religious heretics and ethnically impure. 
• Sick people were believed to be sinners whom God was punishing. 
• Women were deemed unworthy of discipleship. 
• Tax collectors and Roman soldiers were regarded as the enemy. 
• The poor, who had neither the time nor resources to maintain rigorous rites of religious purity, were thought to be beyond God's grace. 

The list of people despised by Republicans is even longer.

Jesus emphatically rejected each one of these prejudices as I believe he would the prejudices in the world of today.  You can read the stories yourself in your own Bible.  E.g., John 4:1-42; Luke 10:29-37; John 9:1-34; Luke 8:1-3; Matthew 11:16-19; Matthew 5:38-48; and Matthew 9:18-26. 

A classic example is provided in Matthew 8.   There, a Roman soldier asked Jesus to heal his "pais."  This is a Greek term often used in ancient times to refer to a servant who was his master's same-sex partner.  [K.J. Cover, Greek Homosexuality (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1978), p. 16].  When the soldier said, "Lord, my 'partner' is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible distress," Jesus was immediately compassionate and spoke no words of exclusion or condemnation.  He simply said, "I will come and heal him."

In the dialogue that followed, Jesus commended this Roman solider for having more faith than anyone he had ever met and assured him that he would sit down in the Kingdom of Heaven with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  By this miracle of healing, Jesus preserved this loving same-sex relationship.

The Gospels are clear. Jesus refused to be bound by cultural prejudice.  Repeatedly, he took up the cause of the oppressed and defended them against narrow-minded religious leaders.

A Call To Action

I call upon Christians of goodwill to have the courage to follow the example of Jesus. Specifically, I call upon Christians everywhere to take four key steps to end the Church's history of persecuting gay and transgender people:

1. We must renew our commitment to honesty."Thou shalt not bear false witness."  Exodus 20:16. This is one of God's most basic commands.  Too many Christians today are playing fast and loose with the truth, making sweeping statements about gay and transgender people without ever taking the time to investigate.  For example, some confidently assert that "gay people choose to be that way" and "gay people can change their orientation if they want to" and "the gay and trans lifestyle is inherently unhealthy."  None of these statements have any basis in science or reality.  As Christians, God expects us to love the truth, seek the truth, and tell the truth – even when it's not popular. 
2. We must educate ourselves by daring, like Jesus before us, to become genuine friends of all people who face persecution.Jesus set the example. He was a genuine friend to all kinds of people, including those that his contemporaries derisively referred to as "sinners."  Anyone who really wants to know the truth about gay and transgender people needs to take the time to get to know us, have a meal with us, engage in a real conversation with us.   
3. We must carefully reexamine what the Bible teaches about same-sex relationships.On many occasions in the past, "accepted Christian wisdom" has been wrong.  For centuries, many in the Church vigorously opposed the right of women to vote, condemned interracial marriage, and supported slavery – always insisting that the Bible supported their point of view.  Now we know better.
4. We must stop the use of the law to hurt gay and transgender people. Regardless what anyone believes about gay and transgender people, there is no excuse for doing us harm. Enacting laws that keep a dying gay person in an emergency room from seeing his life partner in his final moments of life is not Christian – it's plain cruel.  Enacting laws that refuse to recognize the shared property of same-sex partners, thereby forcing one partner to sell their home when the other dies, is not Christian – it's just meanspirited.
   
   

   The effort of some modern Christians to deprive gay families of basic civil rights is shameful and must stop.  Jesus would expect no less.

I stand with Jesus in defense of those who are being unfairly targeted and invite you to join me in doing what Jesus would really do!

I have to apologize for something in this post: the politics of it.  I do not like to overtly mix politics with religion.  Quite honestly, I think they should be kept separate. in America, though, that seems almost impossible. However, in the current highly political climate of election season, I just couldn't keep my mouth shut. So I hope you will excuse me for mentioning politics in this week's Bible study.

Moment of Zen: Being Lazy

It's been a long stressful week with a lot going on at school.  On top of that, I haven't fully gotten over my cold, and I barely have a voice, which is not good for a teacher.  So I am going to have a lazy weekend and just enjoy myself.

The most glorious, groundbreaking gay and lesbian movies of all time

I can't remember where I first saw this list (I think it was on a Tumblr blog), but when I searched again it seems to be a list by Josh Winning at TotalFilms.com.  Personally, I think there are movies on this list that do not belong and some that should be closer to #1 such as Latter Days (#42).  Furthermore, if they are going to include such movies as The Color Purple and Mulholland Drive, then how can they omit such classics as Some Like It Hot and Fried Green Tomatoes. Or, why include The Birdcage but omit La Cage Aux Folles? Most, if not all, of the movies listed are American movies, but some of the best in gay cinema tends to be foreign movies.  The French and Latin American countries have made some wonderful gay movies.  I've seen a fair number of these movies and really question how good many of them are. So what do you think of this list? What movies do you think are missing?  What movies do you feel should be excluded from the list?  Here are the 50 movies that made Mr Winning's list of "the most glorious, groundbreaking gay and lesbian movies of all time":

50. Shelter (2007)  

49. When night is falling (1995)

48. Loose Canons (2010)

47. She-Monkeys (2011)

46. C.R.A.Z.Y (2005)  

45. The Birdcage (1996)  

44. Go Fish (1994)

43. L.I.E (2001)

42. Latter Days (2003)

41. D.E.B.S. (2004)

40. The Hours (2002)

39. Female Trouble (1974)

38. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

37. All Over Me (1997)

36. Prayers For Bobby (2009)

35. The Celluloid Closet (1995)

34. Mulholland Dr. (2001)

33. The Wedding Banquet (1993)

32. Gods And Monsters (1998)

31. My Summer Of Love (2004)

30. Kissing Jessica Stein (2001)

29. Patrik 1.5 (2008)

28. But I’m A Cheerleader (1999)

27. Your Sister’s Sister (2012)

26. Tomboy (2011)

25. The Colour Purple (1985)

24. Maurice (1987)

23. Transamerica (2005)

22. High Art (1998)

21. Show Me Love (1998)

20. Bent (1997)

19. The Crying Game (1992)

18. The Boys In The Band (1970)

17. Mysterious Skin (2004)

16. The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert (1994)

15. My Own Private Idaho (1991)

14. Shortbus (2006)

13. Water Lilies (2007)

12. Beautiful Thing (1996)

11. The Kids Are All Right (2010)

10. Philadelphia (1993)

9. Monster (2003)

8. Boys Don’t Cry (1999)

7. Milk (2008)

6. Bound (1996)

5. A Single Man (2009)

4. Weekend (2011)

3. Heavenly Creatures (1994)

2. My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)

1. Brokeback Mountain (2005)

TMI Movies

On Sean's blog, Just a Jeep Guy, he posted on Tuesday "TMI TUESDAY QUESTIONS: LET'S GO TO THE MOVIES."  And I decided that I would once again participate.  So here we go:

LET'S GO TO THE MOVIES

1. Do you still go to the movies? Why or Why not?

I do, but it is very rarely.  I tend to wait for a movie to come out on DVD, unless I am really excited about the movie and can find the time to go see one. I love watching a movie in the theater, but sometimes it's just too much of a hassle.  Though I love the experience, I have never been a big movie goer.

2. Would you go by yourself?

Generally, I do end up going by myself, which is another reason I don't go often.

3. What was the last movie you saw? Recent recommendation?

The last movie I saw was the Hunger Games.  ( I wanted to see Magic Mike, but wasn't able to make it, because too much was going on during the time it was in the theaters.)  Hunger Games was a good movie, but it still could have been better.  The books was far superior.  That being said, since the second and third book in the series were mediocre, I'm hoping that the movies based on those books will be better.  If the movies are on par with the first movie, then they should be better than the actual second and third books of the trilogy. They could be worse, but I hope not.

4. Snacks: Buy, Bring or Boycott?

I usually buy a Coke and a bag of popcorn.  It just makes the experience better for me, even if it tends to be way overpriced. I love good salty movie theater popcorn, but no extra butter please.

5. Teenagers used to go to the movies to make out. Have you ever and if so, when was the last time?

I did when I was a teenager and in college, but I have not been to the movies on a date in years.  I probably wouldn't now anyway.

6. Have you ever gone to an adult movie theater? Did you pull a Pee Wee Herman?

Never been to an adult movie theater.  They just don't exist around here.

Bonus

Which all-time favorite movie would you pay to see on the big screen again? Of course cell phones, babies, and assholes are banned.

Hands down, without a doubt in my mind, Fried Green Tomatoes. I never had the chance to see it in the theater, but given the chance, I would be the first in line if it was shown again. I could watch this movie over and over again and never tire of it.  But to really answer the question, a movie that I saw in the theater that I would go see again...it would have to be between Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark or the latest Star Trek.  Indiana Jones makes the list mainly because I don't remember seeing it the first time, though I know we saw it in the theater.  I think it would be so cool to see it on the big screen.  Star Trek makes the list because it was truly fantastic on the big screen (I'm a bit of a Trekkie) and loses some of the effect when watched on the small screen.