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7 Years

In Denver airport, in the line waiting for security, a man & his wife have their stuff searched. At issue is her prescriptions because they’re the wrong size bottles. She explains they’re anti-anxiety drugs she needs for the flight. Guard asks if she takes them only for flying. Husband replies, “Everyone in New York is on anti-anxiety drugs you know.”

We know.

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Off to DO

Here we are again, off to DO, and I probably won’t be blogging or checking the boards (much) while we’re gone. The internet is always a little iffy from camp, and really, honestly – a little too cyber when there are people having sex near you on lounge chairs.

We’ll be back Monday-ish.

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Snooty-Pants

Our friend Lynne pointed out this interesting article from The American Scholar about the problem of elite schools. I particularly liked this section, since it’s so rare we actually talk about class in this culture:

Elite schools pride themselves on their diversity, but that diversity is almost entirely a matter of ethnicity and race. With respect to class, these schools are largely—indeed increasingly—homogeneous. Visit any elite campus in our great nation and you can thrill to the heartwarming spectacle of the children of white businesspeople and professionals studying and playing alongside the children of black, Asian, and Latino businesspeople and professionals. At the same time, because these schools tend to cultivate liberal attitudes, they leave their students in the paradoxical position of wanting to advocate on behalf of the working class while being unable to hold a simple conversation with anyone in it.

He goes on to talk about types of smartness, the goal of liberal arts, and the uses of solitude.

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Let’s Start with Seven, in Seven

In a week’s time, straight Americans will be standing up for LGBT Rights – here in New York, including Brooklyn, but also in California, Colorado, Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, etc. The basic idea is that straight people will attend vigils – and other media-making events – in order to bring attention to the political issues facing LGBT Americans.

This is a damned good idea (and it’s brought to you by Atticus Circle, and Soulforce).

You can get involved by signing up here, and you can email your friends about it, too.

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Looking for a T Republican

I’m looking for someone who can write an articulate piece about being trans and Republican. I really don’t understand it myself, so I’d like someone who would be willing to address themselves to left-leaning Democrats.

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NYT on Workplace Transitions

For those of you who didn’t see it (and who didn’t send it to me), there was an article in the Style section of The NY Times about on-the-job transitions called “Smoother Transitions.” One insight that I had never thought about:

There are also easier routes for employees. At first glance, Ms. Fox said, it might seem easier to apply for a new job in a new gender rather than changing identities in place. But the latter turns out to be simpler.

“If you make the change with people who already know you, then the fact that you are transgender is just one part of you,” she said. In contrast, Ms. Fox said, starting from scratch with a new employer, particularly for a transgender person who does not completely look male or female, means an employer can be “distracted to the point that your gender identity is all they see.”

There’s also a few good quotes in here my Jillian Todd Weiss, who blogs about transgender issues in the workplace. My only wish is that they’d have interviewed Hawk Stone, since he’s been helping people transition on the job for a very long time.