An Afternoon Break From Studying

I went up to the D’Amour Museum of Fine Art in Springfield MA yesterday with a friend and one of my favorites was a French impressionist painting by Antoine Blanchard of a street scene in Paris. It caught eye because of its composition and color and I liked it better than the painting by Claude Monet that they had there, it was more alive. This isn’t the painting but it is almost same streetscape, but you can see what I mean.

There were a number of other exhibits of contemporary art along with a Currier & Ives exhibit of their prints. It was like walking through one big calendar of their prints. I like most art, however, I’m not a fan of 16th and 17th century Dutch and Flemish artists, the paintings are too stoic and dark. They had a few Hudson River School paintngs which I love for their style and I am also a sucker for landscapes.

Overall, it was a good break from studying.

Saturday Six – Episode 303

Patrick’s Place Saturday Six – Episode 303

1. Without looking it up, how many of the following could you correctly name off the top of your head: your state slogan, your state tree, your state flower, your state bird, your state dog, your state song, your state dance, and your state beverage?
The state motto is Latin for “He who transplants, still sustains.”
Mountain Laurel
Robin
We have no state dog, dance or beverage; however, we do have a state insect, a Praying Mantis.

2. Suppose you started your own state: based on your personality, what would you want for your new state’s slogan?
Equality for all.

3. If you had to choose one kind of animal to represent your state — mammal, fish, reptile, insect…but just one — which would you choose and which specific breed would you select?
A Copperhead snake

4. What would be the pick for your state’s official drink?
Water, clear fresh mountain spring water

5. Take the quiz: What State Are You?

You Are California

You are cutting edge and diverse. People may call you flaky, but you can't help that you have a lot going on. In general, you are friendly and laid back. There's nothing you like better than a quiet afternoon at the beach. You are socially progressive and open minded. Anyone is welcome into your circle of friends. You may be a bit image conscious, but you understand that appearances matter!

What US State Are You?

6. Go to Wikipedia and look up that state: what is its slogan and how good of a fit would it be for your new state?
Maybe it would fit, I would want people to move to the state (transplant).

Saturday 9: Everybody is a Star

Crazy Sam’s Saturday 9: Everybody is a Star



1. Did you ever think that you'd be a star? If yes, doing what?
Naw, I never be a star. My life is too plain.

2. Tell us about the last time you had a romantic dinner.
That was a long, long time ago, my girlfriend made a candlelight dinner.

3. Tell us about your worst job interview.
I never had a bad job interview. I always was hired when I was interviewed. I only had three real jobs in my life (not counting summer jobs). The first job I got through an employment agency. My second interview, a friend was interviewed a couple of days earlier and told me about the test they gave, so I studied up on it and passed. Later on, I was talking to my boss about my friend telling me the questions, he laughed and told me I was the only one ever to pass the test. My third and last job, my boss left the second company and I gave him my resume when he left. They hired me and I worked there for 28 years.

4. Tell us about your stupidest date.
It was the one I got stood up, she went out with a football player instead.

5. How much in common do you think you should have with a romantic partner?
I can’t answers that, it is one of those question that you will know it when you see it.

6. Tell us about a favorite meme that you loved but no longer posts.
He was a bigot. I will not name names, but he asked deep thought provoking questions. After I played a couple of times, I couldn’t post to the site anymore. I got a message saying that my IP address was blocked. I emailed him saying that for some reason my IP address was being block, he email me back and said that he didn’t want “your kind of people playing his meme.”

7. How did you get into blogging?
I had a Geocites web-site (the same name as my blog) and I was posting the same type of posts that I post on my bog (except for the memes). A friend emailed me and said that he would love to comment on my post, and I should get a blog. And, as they say, the rest is history.

8. Do you share all your fantasies with a significant other?
If I had a significant other, I would.

9. What change in your life would you like to happen this year?
That I win Powerball.

Friday Fill-ins #161

Janet’s Friday Fill-ins #161



1. Wouldn't it be easy _to just do nothing all day_.

2. _My Lobster Newberg is_ better than ever!

3. I love the taste of _ Chocolate Truffles_.

4. _There is a big pile of research books on the floor_ in the living room.

5. The first thing we're going to do is _relax_.

6. _My shower stall goes_ drip, drip, drip; _its drives me crazy_.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward have to _go to a meeting at 5:30 and when that gets out go over to the coffee shop to hear some folk music_, tomorrow my plans include _playing Bingo_ and Sunday, I want have to _do homework_!

My Story Part 16 – School

This is going to be a short, short story because of my homework and I figured what better to write about then my first days in class.

As I wrote about before in another “My Story”, I am in grad school to earn my Master’s in Social Work. I started taking classes in the STEP program which is a non-matriculating program that the class credits can be transferred over to the matriculating program. Anyhow, I went to register for my first class and I told them that I identified as Diana even though I haven’t transitioned, they said it would be no problem. They would just add a note to the professor. One of the two classes that I took was “New Perspectives on Gays and Lesbians Individuals”; I thought that it would be an interesting class, so I signed up for the class.

The first day of class, I walked in and found a seat and there was actually someone in class that I knew from the Stonewall Speakers. So that was a nice surprise, I didn’t feel as nervous on my first day of class in over 40 years. The teacher was writing the name of the class, when she turned around and looked at the students, she then wrote on the blackboard, “New Perspectives on Gays, Lesbians and Transgender Individuals”. She then read the class roster of students and she called my male name and I said “Here, but I go by “Diana” and she said OK. All my homework and exams I use “Diana” all through the STEP program with no problems.

When I applied to the School of Social Work to become a matriculating student, I had already transitioned. I had to submit my grades from my other colleges and they were all in my male name. One day I had a message on my answering machine when I get home, it was from admissions… “There seems to be a discrepancy your school records, could you stop by the office.” Right away, I knew what the problem was, so a grabbed a copy of my Probate Court order for my name change and drove up to the school. When I walked into her office, the admission’s director look up from her desk, didn’t ask me for my name, or why I was there, but just said, “Oh, I think I got the problem straightened out now.” I said well just to make it official, here is a copy of the Probate order.

I have to say that other then that, I have no problem with anyone at school. That I have been treated by everyone as just another student. Oh yeah, there have been an occasional slip of pronouns but nothing on purpose and I few students that had an initial apprehension with working with a trans-student but the all got over it.

Why I Get Emotional Over Discrimination

Some people don’t under stand why I get so emotional over organizations that discriminate. I was in a heated discussion once with somebody who couldn’t understand why I was so down on the Boy Scouts. He said look at all the good they do, look how they train young man to be leaders. I said, yeah, they train them to be bigots! He just couldn’t see my point of view.

I have always been against discrimination and for diversity, long before I ever had any thoughts about coming out. Now that I have transitioned I have seen the results of discrimination first hand. I have seen what if does to families, I have seen what it does to people’s sprite, and I have seen the fear in their eyes when they thought that they were “outed”. I know personally what that fear is like, when you think that your whole world is coming crashing down. When you want to crawl into a hole. I know what it is like to have someone laugh in your face

When I was first coming and I was going to a COS banquet, I was walking across the lobby in the hotel where the banquet was being held. A guy who was checking in to the hotel saw me and started to laugh so hard that he almost fell down. I wanted so badly to run back to my room and hide and just cry, but instead I stood up straight and continued walking. This past Saturday, while I was getting up to leave a restaurant where I had dinner with some friends, three teenage girls took our picture on their cell phone and started laughing.

In political campaigns, they use lies and fear against us, they call us freaks, perverts, pedophiles. In Loudoun County VA., the Washington Post reported that

At a Jan. 6 meeting, supervisors voted to expand Loudoun's nondiscrimination policy to prohibit bias on the basis of sexual orientation in hiring by the county. Delgaudio [Supervisor Eugene A. Delgaudio (R-Sterling)] fought the change in the meeting, saying he was especially offended by language in the measure that sought protection for transgendered people. In the debate, he called the board's attempt to protect transgendered people "freaky" and "bizarre." In a subsequent newsletter to supporters, Delgaudio wrote that "if a man dressed as a woman wants a job, you have to treat 'it' the same as a normal person."

When he was challenged on his bigotry, he said,

Delgaudio responded, reading a revised statement with the word "it" taken out. He continued: "With apologies to real-life Tootsies" and "to all their defenders who are calling me all sorts of names and, like Mr. Burton, are saying I should apologize."

Delgaudio is not alone in his hate and bigotry, in Michigan there is a candidate for Secretary of State that is also running on a platform of hate. The Michigan Messenger reports that, State Rep. Paul Scott (R-Grand Blanc) said,

”I will make it a priority to ensure transgender individuals will not be allowed to change the sex on their driver’s license in any circumstance”
…
“It’s a social values issue. If you are born a male, you should be known as a male. Same as with a female, she should be known as a female,” he said.
…
He said his mandate would be in place even for those who had completely undergone sex reassignment surgeries.

“That’s who you are. You can have cosmetic surgery or reassignment surgery but you are still that gender,” he said.
…
“I think because the [LGBT] community is going to become a flash point for getting voters,” said Volk [Phil Volk, chair of the Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Transgender and Ally Caucus of the Michigan Democratic Party], “[Republicans are] going to go into a lot of churches and into a lot of teabaggers groups etc. and say, ‘be frightened of these people because…,’ and that is going to instigate a lot of violence. We are going to have to be very cautious in this area.”

Wherever, the issue of discrimination has been raised, the conservatives have come in to spread their lies, hate, and fear, in Gainesville FL., in Kalamazoo MI, in New Hampshire, in Massachusetts and here in Connecticut.

And people wonder why I get so emotional when I hear that the Boy Scouts do such great work and the fact that they are teaching bigotry against gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender people, atheists, and agonistics should be over looked.

I close with the lyrics from “You’ve Got To Be Carefully Taught” from the 1949 play South Pacific…

You've got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!

Manic Monday #198

Lisa’s Manic Monday #198



If you could only have one section of the bookstore to visit, which section would it be?
The SiFi/Fantasy section

If you could only subscribe to one publication for the rest of your life, what would it be?
OK, OK…I’m geeky. It has and will be Science News. I first started to subscribe to it back in my college days. I use to get PC Photo, but they had the same articles over and over again.

What activity always makes you lose track of time?
Photograph, as I have said many times in memes, I can lose track of time were easily and get lost in the view finder.

2009 Computer Pioneer Award Recipient

Lynn Conway

2009 Computer Pioneer Award Recipient
_______________________________________________


“For contributions to superscalar architecture, including multiple-issue dynamic instruction scheduling, and for the innovation and widespread teaching of simplified VLSI design methods”

Lynn Conway is Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Emerita, at the University of Michigan.

After earning her B.S. and M.S.E.E. from Columbia University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, Lynn joined IBM – where she made foundational contributions to superscalar computer architecture in the mid-1960’s, including the innovation of multiple-issue dynamic instruction scheduling (DIS).

At Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, Lynn went on to innovate scalable MOS design rules and highly simplified methods for silicon chip design, co-authoring the famous “Mead-Conway” text and pioneering the new form of university course that taught these methods – thereby launching a world-wide revolution in VLSI [Microprocessors - computer chips] system design in the late-1970’s.

Lynn also innovated the internet-based rapid chip prototyping infrastructure that was institutionalized as the “MOSIS” system by DARPA [Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency] and NSF [National Science Foundation] – supporting rapid development of thousands of chip designs and leading to many Silicon Valley start-ups in the 1980’s.

After serving as Assistant Director for Strategic Computing at DARPA from 1983-85, Lynn joined the University of Michigan as Professor of EECS and Associate Dean of Engineering, where she continued her distinguished career.

In a remarkable form of career closure, Lynn’s VLSI design revolution enabled her multi-issue DIS innovation from the 1960’s to finally “come to life” in the 1990’s – in the Intel Pentium microprocessors and their contemporaries – greatly enhancing the power of modern PC’s.

Lynn has received many awards and honors for these contributions, including election as Fellow of the IEEE, Pender Award of the Moore School of the University of Pennsylvania, Wetherill Medal of the Franklin Institute, Secretary of Defense Meritorious Achievement Award, Society of Women Engineers National Achievement Award, Presidential Appointment to the USAFA Board of Visitors, an honorary Doctorate from Trinity College, election to the Electronic Design Hall of Fame, and election as a Member of the National Academy of Engineering.

I know that for many of you when you read this it is all Greek to you, but I think that you understand the basics of what the article means.

When I was working back in the late 70’s early 80’s I read their book “Introduction to VLSI Systems.” At that time I knew nothing about her background, you see, Ms. Conway is a trans-woman. She transitioned back in 1968. Therefore, the computer and the internet that you are reading this on, can be traced back to the pioneering work of a transsexual.

Saturday Six – Episode 302

Patrick’s Place Saturday Six – Episode 302

1. You’re offered your own late night talk show. If it were completely up to you, what would you the name of the show to be?
The Insomniac’s Dream

2. Which actor or actress would you want as your first guest?
Hmmm… I’m not that up on who’s who in Hollywood so I have say an actor friend of mine, Peterson Tuscano.

3. Which comedian would you want as your first comedy performer?
Karen Williams

4. Which musician or group would you want to be the first musical performer on your show?
Namoli Brennet

5. Which existing song or melody would you select for your theme song if writing something specifically for your show wasn’t an option?
A lullaby like Rock-a-bye, baby

6. Suppose you could magically go back in time and bring back any performer of any kind, living or dead, to be your first guest: who would you select?
That is easy, “The Beatles”

Saturday 9: I Think We're Alone Now

Crazy Sam’s Saturday 9: I Think We're Alone Now



1. What celebrity in a fantasy would you like to be alone with?
The woman who plays Bones on the show

2. Have ever dated a good friend?
No, it would be too complicated

3. What is the most embarrassing song that you like?
The Monster Mash

4. What is your favorite tear jerker movie?
Fifty First Dates

5. What about yourself makes you least secure?
Worrying that I hurt some one’s feelings

6. Do you believe in destiny?
Nope

7. What 'issue' do you think your opinion is so right about that you end up trying to sway others to your point of view?
Equality, every should be judged on their merits, not what or who they are.

8. What are 5 things you don't care about?
Who’s Tiger Woods dated
Who’s the biggest loser
What celebrity is not talking with what celebrity
What fashion is hot this year and what is not
Who is playing in the Super Bowl

9. Have you ever been in a situation where you weren't sure if you were seducing or being seduced?
Nope. But that’s a nice spot to be in

Friday Fill-ins #160

Janet’s Friday Fill-ins #160



1. You have a chance to _make things right, only once in life_.
2. _I wish I was on a warm tropical beach_ right now!
3. There is a _large spider crawling on your shoulder_.
4. _You can pay the toll now_ and pay later.
5. It's time to _pay the piper_.
6. _The decision to hirer a band_ up in the air but _but we have to decide by next week_.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _going to the coffee house_, tomorrow my plans include _doing homework_ and Sunday, I want have to _do homework_! (I have read 5 chapters by Tuesday + work on my Independent Studies class project)

Supreme Court Update

The blogshere is alive with the latest SCOUS decision.
From Mother Jones,

But Justice John Paul Stevens, in a stinging dissent written for the minority, argues that the right wing of the court has engaged in a brazen act of activism--and has done so to award corporations more legal rights than they have previously been afforded.

A few excerpts:

* Even more misguided is the notion that the Court must rewrite the law relating to campaign expenditures by for-profit corporations and unions to decide this case.

* The conceit that corporations must be treated identically to natural persons in the political sphere is not only inaccurate but also inadequate to justify the Court’s disposition of this case.

* Although they make enormous contributions to our society, corporations are not actually members of it. They cannot vote or run for office. Because they may be managed and controlled by nonresidents, their interests may conflict in fundamental respects with the interests of eligible voters.

* The financial resources, legal structure,and instrumental orientation of corporations raise legitimate concerns about their role in the electoral process. Our lawmakers have a compelling constitutional basis, if not also a democratic duty, to take measures designed to guard against the potentially deleterious effects of corporate spending in local and national races.

* The majority’s approach to corporate electioneering marks a dramatic break from our past. Congress hasplaced special limitations on campaign spending by corporations ever since the passage of the Tillman Act in 1907....We have unanimously concluded [in 1982] that this “reflects a permissible assessment of the dangers posed by those entities to the electoral process"...and have accepted the “legislative judgment that the special characteristics of the corporate structure require particularly careful regulation...The Court today rejects a century of history when it treats the distinction between corporate and individual campaignspending as an invidious novelty born [in a 1990 opinion].

* The Court’s ruling threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions across the Nation. The path it has taken to reach its outcome will, I fear, do damage to this institution.

From the Huffington Post…

"That's regrettable, obviously, from where I stand and the positions I've taken and argued here," Snowe told HuffPost Thursday to describe her reaction to the decision.

"It's very disappointing, frankly," she said. Other prominent members of her party, including Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, have endorsed the decision.

"Although they make enormous contributions to our society, corporations are not actually members of it. They cannot vote or run for office. Because they may be managed and controlled by nonresidents, their interests may conflict in fundamental respects with the interests of eligible voters," writes Stevens. "The financial resources, legal structure, and instrumental orientation of corporations raise legitimate concerns about their role in the electoral process. Our lawmakers have a compelling constitutional basis, if not also a democratic duty, to take measures designed to guard against the potentially deleterious effects of corporate spending in local and national races."

In another article from the Huffington Post…

"We are moving to an age where we won't have the senator from Arkansas or the congressman from North Carolina, but the senator from Wal-Mart and the congressman from Bank of America," said Melanie Sloan, director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

From the Wall Street Journal,

Joe Ricketts, the founder of TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. whose family owns the Chicago Cubs baseball franchise, is forming a political organization with other individuals to run advertisements against lawmakers who use spending earmarks to steer government funds to home-state projects, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

From the Christian Science Monitor,

The chief justice addressed this shift in a concurring opinion joined by Alito. During his confirmation hearing, Roberts told the Senate in often quoted remarks that he would be a judicial minimalist who would follow the rule that "if it is not necessary to decide more, it is necessary not to decide more."
…
The majority justices said the government restrictions interfered with the open marketplace of ideas rather than protected it. “By suppressing the speech of manifold corporations, both for-profit and non-profit, the government prevents their voices and viewpoints from reaching the public,” Kennedy wrote.

Yup, we now have an open marketplace! Elections are now for sale to the highest bidder.

Update: Jan. 22 10:38
I have a question about the Supreme Court decision that maybe you lawyers out there can answer.
If the company is a multi-national corporation how would it effect their political ads?
How about if it is a foreign owned company like UBS or Toyota, could they run political ads. Because they do have U.S. corporations affiliates (Toyota North America)?

This Is A Horrible Supreme Court Ruling!

The Supreme Court has just handed down a ruling the companies have a free hand to spend as much as they want on elections! The court has just ruled that elections can go to the company with the deepest pockets.

High Court Rolls Back Campaign Spending Limits
By a 5-4 vote, the court ruled that corporations may spend freely to support or oppose candidates for president and Congress, overturning a 20-year-old decision that barred such contributions.
…
The new ruling blurs the lines between corporate and individual contributions in political campaigns. It also strikes down part of the 2002 McCain-Feingold campaign finance law that banned unions and corporations from paying for political ads in the waning days of campaigns.
NPR

At least they threw a small bone to the masses…

At the same time, NPR's Peter Overby points out that one important limit remains inAt the same time, NPR's Peter Overby points out that one important limit remains intact: Corporations still cannot give money directly to federal candidates or national party committees. That limit dates back to 1907. The justices also upheld some other restrictions, including disclosure requirements for nonprofit groups that advocate for political candidates. [Thank goodness for small favors]

From the Washington Post article…

Strongly disagreeing, Justice John Paul Stevens said in his dissent, "The court's ruling threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions around the nation."

Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor joined Stevens' dissent, parts of which he read aloud in the courtroom.

It sure does, we now have the best government that money can buy!
The Washington Post goes on to say…

"It's going to be the Wild Wild West," said Ben Ginsberg, a Republican attorney who has represented several GOP presidential campaigns. "If corporations and unions can give unlimited amounts ... it means that the public debate is significantly changed with a lot more voices and it means that the loudest voices are going to be corporations and unions."
…
Stevens complained that those justices overreached by throwing out earlier Supreme Court decisions that had not been at issue when this case first came to the court.

"Essentially, five justices were unhappy with the limited nature of the case before us, so they changed the case to give themselves an opportunity to change the law," Stevens said.

The Right Wing Conservatives are always complaining about judicial activism, well let see if they will complain about this judicial activism! The court went way beyond the question before the court. I bet that if you ask people if that want corporation to have an unlimited pocketbook for campaign advertising, they would say no.

Corporations cannot vote, they should not have a say in the elections. Corporations were created by law and they should be able to be limited in their scope in what they can and cannot do.

Only In Florida, I Hope

From the state that seems to like to invade one privacy and make personal decisions by court order there comes a new battle. Do you remember the Terri Schiavo case where the state stepped in to stop her wish not to "kept alive on a machine." Well they have done it again, this time ordering a mother to bed rest in a hospital because she might have a miscarriage!

The New York Times reported…

Is Refusing Bed Rest a Crime?
By LISA BELKIN

Arguments are under way today in the First District Court of Appeals in Tallahassee, Fla., in the case of Samantha Burton, who was confined to her bed by a judge earlier this year because she was at risk for a miscarriage.

Burton was in her 25th week of pregnancy in March 2009 when she started showing signs of miscarrying. Her doctor advised her to go on bed rest, possibly for as long as 15 weeks, but she told him that she had two toddlers to care for and a job to keep. She planned on getting a second opinion, but the doctor alerted the state, which then asked the Circuit Court of Leon County to step in.

She was ordered to stay in bed at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital and to undergo “any and all medical treatments” her doctor, acting in the interests of the fetus, decided were necessary. Burton asked to switch hospitals and the request was denied by the court, which said “such a change is not in the child’s best interest at this time.” After three days of hospitalization, she had to undergo an emergency C-section and the fetus was found dead.

The ACLU has now appealed the case to a higher court and in their brief they say that they want “to protecting the constitutional rights of privacy and reproductive choice.” The brief goes on to state,

Moreover, to ignore this fundamental constitutional distinction between the State interest in protecting fetal life and its interest in the protecting the lives and health of people is to risk virtually unfettered intrusion into the lives of pregnant women.

The right to have control over one’s body is, I believe, sacrosanct. I do not believe that the government has the right to tell me what I can or cannot do to my body. I believe what the ACLU says in their brief is true…

“Thus, the overwhelming weight of federal and Florida precedent required the circuit court to apply the strictest level of constitutional scrutiny by giving full weight to Ms. Burton’s fundamental rights of liberty, bodily integrity, and medical autonomy and requiring the State to carry its heavy burden of demonstrating an overwhelming interest in fetal health that justified the extreme liberty deprivation in this case.

My Story Part 15 – Life On A Roller Coaster

The roller coaster ride began for me, back in the fifties when I first started questioning my gender and it has never stopped. As I mentioned before I remember crying myself to sleep wanting to wake up a girl, back then I did not any sense of guilt. However, in my early teen years I started to develop low self-esteem, because of the pressures that society places on people who do not conform to the societal norms. Many transgender people, crossdressers or transsexual go through purging where they throw out all their clothes of the opposite gender, promising never to do crossdress again. I think that we all at an early age begin to pick-up social clues on what society expects from us and one of those expectations is to dress in gender conforming clothing and that is our source of the guilt and the ride in the roller coaster.

In one of my classes I had to write a paper on a chapter in Aronson’s book, The Social Animal the chapter that I chose was on conforming, I wrote this on why I chose that chapter,

It was a toss up between the chapter on Conformity and Prejudice, both of them affect me personally but I chose Conformity because it is about us, not what is done to us. Even though the Trans-community does have its prejudices, we are more a victim of prejudice. However, conformity is something that all of us in the trans-community have in common that we have to overcome in ourselves in order to be whole. It is the fear of what will our family say or what will the neighbors say or what will…. the list just keeps going on and on, every time we walk out of the house we face the results of non-conforming. The social pressures to conform builds up in us until we reach a point where we say, “Screw You World” and are able to break the hold that the desire to conform has on us.

It is that guilt that creates the roller coaster. Several times, I came close to being caught and each time that happen, I went into a depression and I vowed never to dress again. When I did start dressing again, it pushed me deeper into depression. I had always thought that if my family or friends found out, they would disown me and I would be cut off from the world. Because the guilt, we become secretive and learn to tell little white lies. One of the lies that we tell is to ourselves, that we can stop any time that we want. Another lie that I told myself was all it would take to stop is love, that if I found a woman that I loved I could stop crossdressing. I think that many of us in the LGBT community think the same thing and that is how we end up in disastrous relationships. Well for me it never worked, I think that the women that I dated felt that I was holding something of me back.

Later on in the paper for my class, I wrote this about how knowing about conformity would help me in my field,

There is tremendous pressure when you reach the point in your journey where you have to come out to your family; I know when I came to that point I felt a betrayal to my family. I felt that I had let them down in some way in not living up to their expectation and I still feel that way at times. Many of the members were in fear that they would be found out by their loved ones; they are not so much victim of prejudice but more victims of not conforming to society’s norms.
The field of my concentration is Community Organization and understanding conformity will help in trying to change society’s view of gender variant persons. By organizing grassroots political action coalition to help chance the laws to be more trans-friendly, we also can educate the community at large to the needs of the trans-community and maybe change society to become more accepting.

When I was growing up, the only way that transgender people were portrayed in the media was as crazies and people living in the fringes of society. The Christine Jorgensen’s and the Renee Richards’ of the world were portrayed as a novelties and someone to be the butt of jokes, but now there are positive roll models for those who are growing up today. They can find success stories all over the internet. Maybe the child of today will not have to live on that roller coaster.

Manic Monday #197

Lisa’s Manic Monday #197



Growing up, what was your favorite sitcom?
Wow, that is a very hard question to answer! The top contestants for my favorite sitcom, in no particular order, are:
M*A*S*H
All in the Family
Taxi
Seinfeld
Mary Tyler Moore
Happy Days
Dick Van Dyke Show
The Lucy Show
ALF
Cheers
Newhart
Bob Newhart Show
Friends
Home Improvements
Mork & Mindy
Now how do you pick a favorite from this list from of five decades of great sitcoms

What's your idea of a romantic date?
Dinner for two with good food, good wine, soft music, a fire in the fireplace and snowing.

What are you most afraid to lose?
My family.

The Supreme Court - Doe#1 v. Reed

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of whether the names on a petition should be made public. According to the “Blog of LegalTimes” the case is about…

The Court on Friday afternoon announced it was granting review in five new cases, including Doe#1 v. Reed, a case from Washington state asking whether that state's public records disclosure law violates the privacy rights of voters who signed petitions to launch a referendum aimed at overturning a law allowing same-sex domestic partnerships. Sponsors of the ballot initiative went to court to keep the names from being posted on the Internet, claiming that would violate their right to anonymous speech and would subject signers to threats and harassment.

I think both sides of the case have valid arguments; one side is lobbying for open government and the other side’s argument is that it stifles unpopular stands on issues.

A little background on the issues before the Supreme Court, in 1972 a ballot initiative was passed by the voters of Washington state,

Washington's public records and open public meetings laws, passed separately in the early 1970s, are a product of the "open government" climate brought about by distrust of government accountability and by misuse of government power during the civil rights and Vietnam protest era. Citizen groups such as the League of Women Voters, Common Cause, Coalition for Open Government, and others succeeded in promoting such legislation at a time when conservative opposition to such measures was discredited. (The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press)

The law is now being challenged by a group (Protect Marriage Washington) that tried to overturn the domestic partnership law. They are claim that by disclosing the name of the people who signed the petition for Referendum 71, that it will expose them to undue harassment and/or reprisals. While the other side is making the argument for an open governmental process. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled that the names should be released, saying that, “protecting the integrity of elections through transparency and providing voters with information about who supported placing the referendum on the ballot.” So now the case goes before the Supreme Court.

I can see the arguments made by both sides as valid, but I tend to lean towards the side that wants to block the names. I tend to look at it as a form of voting. However, I am really torn on this question, I believe in open government, but should that include people who petition government or just government operations?

As a member of a highly oppressed and marginalized community, I have seen how fear has prevented members of our community from speaking out. When I try to get people to come out and speak to their legislators or testify, I hear the same thing over and over again. They are afraid of losing their job or their family or their housing or being harassed or stigmatized and that fear is real. When we talk to legislators they say that they hear from those who are against the anti-discrimination legislation, but they never hear from anyone in favor of the bill. We try to explain to them being such a small oppressed community that it is hard for anyone to overcome their fears. When I testified before the Judiciary Committee, I stated my name, my address and town and imagine my dismay when I heard the committee co-chair announce proudly that they were the first committee to post the testimony on-line. To this day, if you Google my full name you come up with my address and the fact that I am a transsexual.

Therefore, I will be waiting for the Supreme Court decision and see what are their thoughts on the issue.

Just to clarify some points. I am in favor of a transparent government and I believe in the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) and I also think that campaign financing should be public information. I think that we have the right to know who are funding campaign ads and I see that as being distinctly different from who are signing a petition.

Please leave comments on your thoughts, I would love to hear what others think on this topic.

Saturday Six – Episode 301

Patrick’s Place Saturday Six – Episode 301

1. You’re at an Italian restaurant on a first date: how do you eat your spaghetti: do you cut it with the folk or roll it onto the tines? (And eating something else isn’t an option!)
Since I am Italian, there is only one correct way spaghetti. You take the fork in one hand, the spoon in the other hand and you roll the spaghetti on to the fork using the spoon at the end of the fork to keep the spaghetti on the fork.

2. You’ve prepared a nice soup for dinner when you happen to hear a news story that bay leaves, even after being cooked, are sharp enough to tear internal organs when eaten whole. (It’s true.) Do you fish them out of your masterpiece, warn your guests in advance not to eat them, or just assume everyone knows to not eat the extra greenery?
I usually take them out of the soup before I serve the soup. All the recipes that I have tell you to remove the bay leaves.

3. You’re having dinner at a nice restaurant with a group of friends and acquaintances. The sauce of your main course is the best you’ve ever tasted. You’ve eaten most of the dish, but you’ve got part of a roll and some sauce left. Do you sop up a little sauce for one more taste?
I would be terrible tempted to sop up the sauce, but I wouldn’t. Maybe lick the plate instead....just kidding!

4. This time, you’re at a seafood restaurant with folks you don’t know as well. Do you order a crab or lobster, a dish that would involve a lot of shell-cracking and a potential minor mess, or do you stick with something cleaner like a nice grilled fillet?
If you follow my blog at all, you would know that if there is a lobster on the menu, I’ll have it. I never walk away from a lobster.

5. You’re invited to a cookout by a friend, but when you get there, you discover that the main thing being cooked, that everyone else is a big fan of, is something you don’t like. Would you still eat a serving to be neighborly, or try to talk your way out of that one dish?
I am not big on ethnic foods; however, I would eat some if I had to. I feel that sometimes you just have to do some things that you don’t like. I hate Chinese foods, but if everyone wants to go to a Chinese restaurant, I will go them and have some.

6. You’re back at a seafood restaurant with friends. Unknowingly, you order a fish that is served whole, head and all. Do you send it back or just deal with it?
I would eat it and maybe make a joke, “Here’s looking at you kid.”

Sam’s Saturday 9

Crazy Sam’s Saturday 9: When We Was Fab



1. Is there a blog as far as its appearance goes that you think is the most fabulous?
Yes, but I'm not telling. I don't want to make my other friends mad for not picking their blog.

2. Do you like the look and the contents of your blogs?
Yes, it is pedestrian, but it OK.

3. Have you ever thought what would happen to your blog in case you died?
Yes, I thought about putting in my will or have a friend enter the last entry.

4. Has any particular blogger had a great impact on how you set up and write your blog?
Yes, a friend suggested that I get a blog, instead of using a Geocites site.

5. Would you want a fellow blogger to give you suggestions or criticism of what you write?
No, but they could drop me an email if I murder the English language too much

6. Is the number of visitors each day to your blog important to you?
Yes, I judge how a topic is received and try to tailor by blog entries to my audience.

7. What percentage of your readers do you think actual comment?
<1%

8. Do you have a favorite blogger who does the memes that you participate in?
Yes and I’m telling. (See the answer to question 1)

9. How often do you update your blog/site and why?
I try to do it every day because it keep the traffic to my site up. If I go four or five days without an entry, it takes a long time to get my readers back.

Friday’s Fill-ins #159

Janet’s Friday’s Fill-ins #159-1/15/10



1. The lesson I learned yesterday was _to leave forty minutes early for a 5:30 meeting in Hartford because of traffic_.

2. _Our cottage is_ where friends and family meet.

3. All these years _I still hate having a cold_.

4. _I was 15 minutes late to the meeting_ when I arrived.

5. The truth is _that I’m looking forward to classes beginning next week_.

6. _Getting ready to stick my hand out to pay the toll, when the other car struck my car_ is what I remember most from that day. ( Wham, Bam, Thank You Ma’am)

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _going to the coffee shop to hear some folk music_, tomorrow my plans include _not doing much_ and Sunday, I want have to _attend a Board meeting_.


Even though the number of spam has increased, I decided to remove the comment moderating because it was cutting into the number of comments that I am receiving.