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Two articles for you
Sep. 23rd, 2009 04:56 pmFirst, this NY Times article about kids coming out in middle school was really heartwarming. Yes, there are really upsetting statistics about how many queer* youth experience bullying, but plenty of these kids are receiving support from at least some of their friends, family, and school officials in a way that would have been unthinkable not so long ago, and the ones who are out are facing their situation with impressive courage. The coolest part is that many of the kids profiled don't just come from traditionally accepting places like NYC and San Francisco but also from places like Tulsa, OK. There's still a long way to go, however, The article's discussion of how much kids use "gay" as an all-purpose insult is sadly on target. I work with middle-schoolers and hear this sort of upsetting language all the time. (I'm pretty forgiving of kids' misbehavior, often excessively so, but insults based on sexual orientation make me put my foot down so hard the ground shakes.) Still, I like to think our culture is slowly but surely making progress towards acceptance.
On a completely different note, a story from the Onion: Melting Ice Caps Expose Hundreds of Secret Arctic Lairs.
"You spend your whole career concocting a brilliant scheme to wipe out all of mankind, and what happens?" Dr. Raygun continued. "They bring about a major global catastrophe completely on their own, those fools!"
LOL! I've been feeling pretty frustrated about the wimpy, minimal progress on the international talks on climate change and the even sadder state of affairs within the US, so it was nice to find a bit of black humor at our ongoing failure to do anything to save civilization and the biosphere while there might still be a chance.
*While the term "queer" is still sometimes used insultingly, I follow the practice of the activist groups at the college I attended in reclaiming it as a respectful term that encompasses all the diversity of non-straight sexual orientation without being as unwieldy as saying gay/lesbian/bisexual/trans.
On a completely different note, a story from the Onion: Melting Ice Caps Expose Hundreds of Secret Arctic Lairs.
"You spend your whole career concocting a brilliant scheme to wipe out all of mankind, and what happens?" Dr. Raygun continued. "They bring about a major global catastrophe completely on their own, those fools!"
LOL! I've been feeling pretty frustrated about the wimpy, minimal progress on the international talks on climate change and the even sadder state of affairs within the US, so it was nice to find a bit of black humor at our ongoing failure to do anything to save civilization and the biosphere while there might still be a chance.
*While the term "queer" is still sometimes used insultingly, I follow the practice of the activist groups at the college I attended in reclaiming it as a respectful term that encompasses all the diversity of non-straight sexual orientation without being as unwieldy as saying gay/lesbian/bisexual/trans.
