By Leslie Anne Wiggins
The Good Men Projects tour of Los Angeles brought Project cofounder Tom Matlack and Good Men Project film producer/director Matt Gannon to the Book Soup bookstore in West Hollywood on Wednesday night. There, they spread the good word about the film and the book that inspired it.
The audience members, treated to wine and cheese, sat, ironically, among issues of X-Men and other comic books as they listened to the real stories of two men whom Matlack deemed heroic–one for his resilience, the other for his redemptive actions, and both for the honesty they display in the essays they contributed to The Good Men Project anthology.
Matlack opened the event by reading John Olivers essay Blindfolded. Oliver served in the first Iraq war, but the essay isnt about dodging bullets; its about the death of his baby daughter and his coming to terms with his loss. Matlack then read Blood-Splattered, Julio Medinas account of his 12-year term at Sing Sing and of his transformation from drug lord to the founder of Exodus Transitional Community, an organization that helps former inmates adjust to life outside prison. 
Matlack explained that he and his fellow editors compiled the stories of Medina, Oliver, and 29 other men in The Good Men Project book with that hope that they would prompt other men to examine their own choices and actions, and to let them know that they are not alone as they confront lifes most difficult challenges.
Matt Gannon took the stage next to share his documentary, which, he said, plays like a collection of short stories. And indeed it is. Gannon based the film on 10 of the stories written for The Good Men Project book. He showed war-zone photojournalist Michael Kambers story, which has the three-time Pulitzer Prize nominee describing, in voice-over, the absolute heart-pounding terror of his job, while the screen displays Kambers powerful and sometimes disturbing images of war.
In a second segment from the film, actor/writer/filmmaker Kent George describes the battlefront that was his childhood, in which he grew up with a mentally ill and emotionally abusive mother. George does manage to incorporate humor into his story. Among the lines that drew laughs from the audience was Georges impression of his mother, upset that he wouldnt fight during his hockey games, telling him he should join the fucking Ice Capades.
The Good Men Projects tour of Los Angeles concludes Thursday night with another screening of the film followed by a panel discussion at Temple Israel of Hollywood.
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Leslie Anne Wiggins is on the editorial staff of the Los Angeles Times, is an intern at Los Angeles Magazine, and is a contributing writer to Under the Radar magazine.
