Tag: youth

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Too Many

There is a lot on the news about the shootings at NIU that left too many students dead. It’s too sad a story, and sadly familiar as well.

But there are two other stories of young people who have died that are barely being reported, and are just as important:

As confusing and frustrating as the NIU shooting is, these other two deaths were entirely preventable: if only we could give kids a little more room to be who they are, while ALSO educating people that gender diversity is not immoral, unnatural, or dangerous.

Still, it frustrates me to see that the deaths of these other children are barely being reported, once again confirming the idea that gender diverse people’s lives are worth a little less.

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More Education, Less Sex

Yet another report has been published that proves that comprehensive sex ed keeps kids from having as much sex, as many partners, and from getting STDs. Despite that, of course, our government is still throwing money at abstinence-only sex ed:

“Congress is currently considering a funding bill which includes $141 to fund these programs, an increase of $4 million over President Bush’s request.”

So we’re paying more to educate kids less. Isn’t it counter-intuitive to spend so much money to keep kids ignorant? That’s never cost anything in the past.

Is everyone else tired of reporting this?

Source: Feminist Daily News 11/9

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So Here’s a Problem

When I introduced the subject of transgender identity to the class, one of my students told a story about a guy he saw when he was out fishing with a friend one day: they were at the end of a pier, fishing, like you do, when a 60-something year old guy got out of his car in a tiny bikini, walked the length of the pier, & then got back in his car & drove away.

& What the student wanted to know was whether or not that was illegal, specifically because there were children around.

In most cases, I explained, it isn’t, unless of course the bikini didn’t cover everything it was supposed to, in which case he was publicly indecent.

But I also thought: it’s a shame that this student’s first encounter with someone (presumably) trans was so sucky & inappropriate. As the student said, there was no issue with a guy wanting to wear a bikini. He just didn’t feel it was appropriate for the person to parade himself, with no attempt at passing, in front of kids, in such skimpy clothes.

Obviously this guy was within his rights, but still: it makes a lousy first impression, especially the lack of concern about his surroundings. It just comes off as kind of pervy & inappropriate.

So, thoughts?

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Kids These Days

At least here at Merrimack, they’ve got it good, even though they probably don’t know what’s right under their noses.

They get free films, for instance. I’ve been going to see them, which is kind of funny considering I don’t like most movies most of the time & don’t go see them – not American movies, anyway, or anything contemporary. They’re rarely worth the $10.

But Tuesday night I saw Deepa Mehta’s Earth, which is about the Partition of India in 1947, into India & Pakistan, and which came with Independence. It’s a stunning movie, & I’ve been thinking about the plot and themes and scenes and characters since I saw it. It’s a terrifying film, but deeply moving as well.

Last night I saw one of the earliest Theda Bara films, A Fool There Was, in which she plays her legendary vampire character, and afterwards they’re screening a documentary about her. A Fool There Was made so much money that it helped launch Fox Studios. It’s such a lovely rare treat to get to see a silent film on the big screen.

& In a couple of weeks, they’re screening a film about Dorothy Day, though it’s not the one that I missed when it played at the Brecht Forum in NYC.

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Passing (as a Student)

I don’t know what it is about me, but the ladies in the cafeteria & some students (who aren’t in my class) as well as some administrators, seem to think I’m one of the students. It doesn’t matter how I’m dressed, though today, on a non-teaching day, being in jeans & hoodie probably doesn’t help. But even in a suit jacket, I’m still assumed to be a student. (Must be my acne.) There aren’t any grad students around, either.

Still, I’m wondering if I just don’t radiate professor. Probably I don’t, and I don’t think I will when I’m 80 years old, either.

I suppose the anarchy ring doesn’t help, nor do the new piercings, nor does the fact that the campus, in general, is pretty mainstream: sadly, no blue-haired kids, no goths that I’ve seen. A lot of athletes, though; I get the feeling a lot of people here have never met a NYC hipster before.

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SoCo Keynote: Jenn Burleton

SOUTHERN COMFORT CONFERENCE 2007
KEYNOTE ADDRESS – SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15TH, 2007

One Community, One Family

by Jenn Burleton, TransActive Education & Advocacy, Portland, OR

Thank you to the organizers of this amazing conference and in particular, Cat Turner, Lola Fleck and Elaine Martin. And I must thank my longtime friend, Mariette Pathy Allen. My life has been truly blessed as a result of knowing her and sharing many adventures with her…some of which are suitable for sharing with the whole family.

When Cat Turner called back in January and invited me to come to Atlanta I was of course, very honored. I was also surprised. After all, we’d never met. I’d never attended a previous Southern Comfort Conference and I am not, in my opinion anyway, one of the gender community heavy hitters.
Continue reading “SoCo Keynote: Jenn Burleton”

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Smoking = Death, & Other Gruesome Things

I saw a recent public service announcement that I can’t call anything but gruesome: it’s someone who has gotten gangrene on their feet as a result of smoking. I don’t know how; when I saw it, I was too blown away even to listen to what they were saying. Aside from the shock factor having defeated educating people, I’m really tired of being the only group being singled out for sucking because of something we do.

I mean, diabetics lose their feet if they don’t manage their diabetes, right? & A lot of people can prevent getting diabetes or can manage it if they live healthy lives. But a lot don’t, & they end up in diabetic comas or lose their feet. So where’s their public service announcement?

What about the kids of women who die of heart disease? Where are those public service announcements? Men who die of heart attacks or prostate cancer (which can often be caught early with prostate exams)? Don’t they all suck as much as smokers in not caring for their health?

I can’t smoke anywhere in public anymore, so it’s not like I’m harming anyone’s health but my own at this point. So why can’t I make a choice to neglect my health like everyone else without watching these gruesome ads about all the things that may happen to me?

Yes, I know I should stop smoking. But people should exercise & go to the doctor regularly & lose some weight, too. I just have a hard time believing that I’m the only one who is negligent about my health.

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Abstinence Fails Again

Yet another report has come out that abstinence-only education fails our kids; in this case, abstinence-only education has been shown not to prevent HIV infection.

So what I want to know is when we go on the offensive, and start accusing people & agencies who back this bullshit why they want to kill children. Granted, people don’t die of HIV the way they used to, but goddamn, if we can avoid having a kid get a serious, life-long compromised immune system, surely that should be enough reason to get some real sex ed taught, no?

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Coal Country

Betty & I are spending some time with my family today & Monday; we plan to be back sometime on Tuesday. We’re going to coal country, where my mother’s peeps are from, as it’s my grandaunt’s 85th birthday – yes, she’s my grandaunt Helen, there really is only one page in the Polish baby names book – while my parents are up north for a visit, too. We’ll go revisit some of the places they brought me as a kid, but with my sister’s kids, who’ve grown up going to that region on their summer holidays and tromping around what they call “the bush” (otherwise known as the woods) the same as I did.

It’ll be four generations in two cars, which to me is always a lovely, if complicated, experience.

Since I’ll be in coal country, I’ll be thinking about those trapped Utah miners & their families, of course. This bullshit cowboy mining should be illegal, by the way. I’m sure John L. Lewis is turning in his grave now that they’re even stripping the pillars. Greedy bastards. Please keep in mind, folks, that while trapped miners are always a good “human interest” though tragic news story, we don’t often hear about the accidents that just kill miners outright – not here, or in China, or in India.