From the Publisher: Red Carpet Recognition

Sometimes inspiration comes in the least expected places.

Take for instance “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” starring and directed by Ben Stiller. (Risky business to star in the movie you’re directing, no?) But the movie was absolutely perfect to me. Ok, there’s one exception: the awkward Benjamin Button parody that felt a touch too absurdist for me, but I digress. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” is an amazing film, mainly for the underlying message it delivers: Be in the moment and take in the beauty it has to offer.

Poignant.

So there I am watching Sean Penn raise his head from an expensive camera to watch a snow leopard on a mountainside, not snapping away like an excited photographer, but experiencing it like a reverent human … and I get goose bumps thinking how I too cherish moments like that in my life. I was moved to tears with epiphany. The movie is an absurdly funny, yet fable-worthy story of a daydreamer who escapes his humdrum life by slipping into a world of fantasies filled with heroism, romance, and action. And when his lifelong, rather dull job is on the line, Walter jumps out of his fantasies and into a real-world journey that turns into an adventure more extraordinary than anything he could have ever imagined — one that would make anyone’s Match.com profile irresistible. (Inside joke. Watch the movie.) The movie ends with a powerful scene of unfettered acknowledgement of a life well spent. Truly, a must see!

It’s funny how the universe works serendipitously sometimes; it seems to always provide insight and guidance in life if you just take the time to look and listen. Here we are on the eve of our busiest season, Pride, and Out Front’s theme this year? The red carpet! A message with a literal translation that fits nicely with the glamourous world of Hollywood and is frankly the subplot of all Prides, right?!

The very culmination of Walter Mitty’s secret life is acknowledgement, and acknowledgement is what makes red carpet events so magical and memorable. Amid the fluttering of camera lenses and the popping of flashbulbs, there’s a moment where our very existence is acknowledged by others. This is what we all want our Pride to be … magical, memorable.

Well that’s what Out Front hopes to deliver this year at PrideFest. It is our hope that all who cross our red carpet will step off knowing they’ve been acknowledged for who they are and what they stand for.

Assuming you’re like the majority of us, living life and secretly wishing (maybe even yearning) to be singled out and recognized for what you do or who you are, you understand that (for whatever reason) it just feels good to be validated by others. We’re born with an intrinsic need for reassurance and approval, and being acknowledged by others helps us feel secure and, consequently, more comfortable inside ourselves. Being recognized and acknowledged bolsters our belief of being desirable, valuable, and esteemable. In a word, special. Pride is all of that wrapped up in one fun-filled weekend.

So I encourage you to stop by Out Front’s booth this year for the red carpet treatment. Some of the highlights include free backpacks, paparazzi, and plenty of free gift cards. And then, come Monday, once all of the glitter and pride-remains have been swept from the streets of downtown Denver, I encourage you to bring the meaning of the red carpet back into your day-to-day life. Acknowledgement of others is a powerful and often difficult skill to embrace and employ, but it’s a discipline worth honing. Taking the time to roll out the red carpet for others, then sharing a kind word of acknowledgement truly has the power of transforming the world we live in, which is why this year’s theme is so important to us.

Here’s to all you “Walter Mittys” out there having a memorable and magical 2014 Pride!