Archive for the ‘Etc.’ Category
Saturday, December 22nd, 2007
I've been tickering on this blog quite a bit behind the scenes.
2008 will bring a new look. This new look will allow me to combine my other two blogs and have everything be in one place.
Happy Winter Solstice to all.
Take care,
Jay
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Wednesday, December 5th, 2007
is The Hanukkah Song [1].
No images here. Just the lovely lyrics.
A happy hanukkah to all.
[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEY2KOXrSZI
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Tuesday, November 13th, 2007
Busy-ness: About 80%. Completed a lot of detailed tasky items yesterday (40+ emails). Today: bigger projects.
Listening to: WEMU, one of the last jazz stations in the U.S. (Alas, would that all radio be like CBC radio...).
Reading: A Fan's Notes, by Frederick Exley.
Contemplating: Creating a trans change movement based on personal self-determination rather than privacy.
Dreading: My dentist appointment this afternoon (8 cavities! Ladies and Gentleman).
Welcoming: My birthday this Friday, where the lovely Ms. H. and I shall partake of many free meals proffered by local eateries on a patron's birthday.
Posted in Etc. | 2 Comments »
Monday, October 23rd, 2006
My Sunday reading, a kind of spiritual reminder that we have much work still to do, to end poverty, to enhance coordination between granting agencies, to provide more grants for overhead and salaries, to provide continued practical assistance to thousands of our people still suffering a year plus later.
From Oxfam America [1]: Forgotten Communities, Unmet Promises [2]:
One year ago, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, elected officials at all levels pledged bold new action and committed to righting inequities as devastated communities rebuilt—better, safer, with more access to opportunity than before. However, despite their pledges that the most vulnerable citizens would get the help they needed to reclaim their lives and livelihoods, lawmakers have lacked the political will to turn their rhetoric into action.
[1] http://jaysennett.com/cgi-bin/mt/www.oxfamamerica.org
[2] http://www.oxfamamerica.org/newsandpublications/publications/briefing_papers/briefing_paper.2006-08-21.1978258942
Posted in Etc., The Good Life | Comments Off
Wednesday, April 19th, 2006
Do you think Gov. Ernie Fletcher of Kentucky got potty-trained too earlier?Concerns about "special rights" prompted Fletcher to withdraw [1] legislative anti-discrimination protections for state gay and lesbian employees.
That, and the overwhelming difficulty deciding which bathrooms should be used by a person undergoing sex reassignment.
Thank God! Toilet Tragedies Averted! Urinary Segregation Upheld!
[1] http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060413/OPINION01/604130376
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Friday, September 2nd, 2005
From Alan, via Hugh at gapingvoid [1].
Hugh,
I need your help. There is a problem with New Orleans. Reporting has been given over to the media, and they are talking about the looting, the shooting, the crime. It's a great big show. It's anarchy, it's chaos. No information to be had.
But, in reality. There is A LOT of information to be had. It's simply not presented in a way that is at all useful to the citizens of New Orleans. (emphasis mine).
There are land lines working, SMS messages are working on cell phones, people are running all sorts of information through the http://nola.com/forums/ [2] .
That's the problem. It scrolls off the screen and gets lost.
I gathered some of that information into a Wiki page. It was information about about Xavier University. A faculty member posted a list of trapped students. I formatted it and put it on a Wiki page.
Then people started to send me updates in e-mail. Someone thanked me for the page. So, I made point of gathering and formatting all the Xavier messages I could find onto the page.
The Xavier Wiki page became an unofficial web page, and kept it up until I couldn't stay awake an longer, and sadly, went to sleep.
When I awoke, I found that the Xavier families, has simply kept the Wiki page going without me. I cleaned up the their markup, buth the information is there.
Now, I'm finding the page gets updated, nice and neat.
http://thinknola.com/wiki/index.php?title=Xavier [3]
Wiki works.
Okay, cute. But this helped. Maybe only a tad, but tad more than nothing.
I wish I could create a page for every university, school, hospital, nursing home, apartment, etc. Gather photos off of Getty and AP and organize them by neighborhood. I wish I could key in more names from the myriad message boards into a real survivor directory like:
http://www.familymessages.org/index.php [4]
The people in crisis don't have time to fiddle with a new technology. But, we could help, by gathering and organizing this information for them. The journalists won't do it. Someone has to.
Please, help me figure out how to get more people involved organizing all the loose information. There is a problem that we can help to solve from our keyboards. There really is.
Get a conversation going. It's not about the software. It's about getting the data organized. Giving people places to rally.
Alan
Make your way over to Alan's wiki and lend a hand. It is really easy, actually. And frankly, will probably make us all feel better to at least being doing something of value to the survivors.
Jen at Transcending Gender [5] provides information [6] where you can donate to help orphaned and abandoned animals. As a devoted cat lover, I feel my eyes well with tears everytime I see Mr. Jack, aka Jack E Poo. Hearing stories about humans leaving their animals behind just wreck me.
Give as much as you can. Even if it is only five cents. The Red Cross needs your help, too. Click on the button on the right to donate. And for those naysayers, I don't make any money at all, ever, of your click.
Sue over at Authentic Eccentric [7] offers up more [8] great links for donations, including groups that want to attend to the needs of the thousands of refugees pouring into Texas and a link to assisting LGBT survivors of Katrina.
Yours truly called my local chapter of the American Red Cross [9] to volunteer for two week hardship stint in the Gulf Coast area. I don't know when I will be going just that I am going.
[1] http://jaysennett.comwww.gapingvoid.com
[2] http://nola.com/forums/
[3] http://thinknola.com/wiki/index.php?title=Xavier
[4] http://www.familymessages.org/index.php
[5] http://www.jenburke.com/
[6] http://www.jenburke.com/?p=291
[7] http://www.authenticeccentric.com/
[8] http://www.authenticeccentric.com/?p=43
[9] http://jaysennett.comwww.redcross.org
Posted in Etc. | 5 Comments »
Monday, August 15th, 2005
[UPDATE: I've updated some links. Oh, and the grammar, too!]
In my inbox this morning is press release for FtM 2005: A Gender Odyssey [1]. Check it out, if you can. September 2 through 5 in Seattle.
Among the notable bits of info within the release is an acknowledgement of FtM: Conference of the Americas [2]. Convened in 1995, the conference drew an unexpectedly larger group of people such that the organizers had to find an additional spaces for the overflow.
I knew two guys who attended that conference. There was an air of excitement about the whole event. FtMs putting themselves on the map!
[1] http://jaysennett.comwww.transconference.org
[2] http://www.sexuality.org/l/cu/ftmjo_21.html
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Sunday, April 24th, 2005
"Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional."
Dalai Lama
and.....
"Worry is not preparation."
Posted in Etc., The Good Life | 1 Comment »
Friday, April 22nd, 2005
"Life is about movement. If one doesn't make bold choices, death has already occured." from 'Not Dead Yet'
Posted in Etc., The Good Life | Comments Off
Thursday, April 21st, 2005
I found this quote at Gimp Parade [1]. The connections between transsexuals and people with disabilities are many, given what we have to teach the world about bodies, happiness and the medical establishment, among other things.
Not only do physically disabled people have experiences which are not available to the able-bodied, they are in a better position to transcend cultural mythologies about the body, because they cannot do things the able-bodied feel they must do in order to be happy, 'normal,' and sane....If disabled people were truly heard, an explosion of knowledge of the human body and psyche would take place. -- Susan Wendell, author of The Rejected Body: Feminist Philosophical Reflections on Disability
[1] http://thegimpparade.blogspot.com/
Posted in Etc. | 4 Comments »
Wednesday, April 6th, 2005
1739 AD: First separate toilet for men and women appear at a ball in Paris. (Link) [1]
The creation and rise of privacy among the working classes about the time separate bathrooms arise....
Hmmm. Curious.
[1] http://www.plumbingworld.com/toilethistoryindia.html
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Wednesday, April 6th, 2005
Pauline Park, a fierce activist living in NYC, recently won a discrimination case [1]under NYC's non-discrimination ordinance. She filed under the ordinance because she had been harassed after using the ladies room.
I got hassled, too, before I started hormones. Like Park, people claimed there was a man in the bathroom. Security further claimed they were protecting women.
Now, men assaulting and raping women send women to hospitals and graves. One time is too much.
Women claimed I was a threat to them. An activist/poet pal of mine asked this question: are women feeling unsafe or uncomfortable.
"How do we distinguish between safety and comfort?"
[1] http://www.jenburke.com/2005/04/new-york-times-article-about-restroom.html
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Monday, April 4th, 2005
A New York Court has ruled that transsexual discrimation is a-okay in New York.
"(New York City) A New York State appeals court has dismissed a lawsuit by a AIDS awareness group filed after a landlord refused to renew the organization's lease because transgendered clients were using the building's common-area rest rooms."
Read on! [1]
How about a new transsexual slogan?
Fight the Power to Pee, Or, Take Back the Pee Pee Power....ridiculous human behavior deserves to be called right out front and center
[1] http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/04/040105tgCourt.htm
Posted in Etc. | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, March 29th, 2005
Down in Key West FL for my father and his partner Martin's wedding. Amazing and overwhelming. I'm still processing it all. First impressions: my father is a great man and Martin is a great man; all family that could make it, did, including my three nieces, which means granddaughters got to watch their gay grandfather get married; Key West is a very queer friendly place and unlike other cities in the US.
Biggest impression: a transsexual son got to watch his gay dad get married.
Deep. Very, very deep.
Posted in Etc. | 5 Comments »
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2005
From Not Dead Yet [1]'s website:
Research shows that non-disabled people and medical professional devalue the quality of life of disabled people, yet the court took only the word of non-disability experts-those who historically have devalued people like Terri. Those 'experts' the court deemed more reliable are exactly those that research demonstrates devaluing people with disabilities.
Read more [2]
How long will this form of bigotry remain in fashion?
[1] http://www.notdeadyet.org/
[2] http://www.notdeadyet.org/docs/dqiastatement022305.html
Posted in Etc. | 5 Comments »
