Misc. Reading: Engaging Your Kids With Their Disabled Peers, Abortion Facts, TransCanWork, Pot Monopoly, And Thai Restaurants

1.  Thoughtful advice on how you and your children can engage a disabled child you run into by a father.

From  Daniel T. Willingham in the LA Times:

"Embarrassed parents will try to distract their child, or drag him away, probably delivering a “don’t stare” lecture once out of sight. But you can’t blame a 4-year-old for staring at a child who looks different. His curiosity is natural.
Staring at people feels wrong because it’s how we respond to an object — a skyscraper, or a waterfall. When we look at people, we usually send a social signal — a smile, for example — that acknowledges their humanity. Staring isn’t staring if you’re smiling. Or waving. Or if you say hi. That turns staring into a bid for interaction. So don’t try to stop your little one from looking at Esprit. It probably won’t work anyway, and it may be interpreted as indicating there’s something dreadful or forbidden about her. Just tell your child to wave. And don’t worry if he asks an awkward question, like, “Can’t she talk?” That’s a welcome chance for us to introduce Esprit."

2.  Do you need numbers when you're discussing abortion?  Abortion Study by National Academies Of Science, Engineering, and Medicine Offer Data on Abortion In The US


3.  As Anchorage defeated Prop 1 at the April 3 election, I thought this LA Times article was a good one today.  (Prop 1 would have reversed existing protections for transgender folks.)  It's about Michaela Mendelsohn who owns the Pollo Loco franchise in LA and transitioned to a woman 11 years ago and was thrilled to learn that one of his managers had hired another transgender woman.

"This prompted Mendelsohn to found TransCanWork, a nonprofit organization that trains businesses in best practices for hiring transgender workers and helps transgender people have equal access to employment.
“Trans people of color are over three times more likely to be unemployed and over seven times more likely to be living in poverty, under $10,000 a year, because of difficulty in getting employment,” Mendelsohn said. 'And so when I heard her story, I realized how fortunate I was to have transitioned as the boss of my own company.'”

4.  Is BioTech Institute LLC getting a patent that will allow it to take a cut of all cannabis sold?  Here's from a long CQ story by Amanda Chicago Lewis:

"According to Holmes, a secretive company called BioTech Institute LLC had begun registering patents on the cannabis plant. Three have already been granted, and several more are in the pipeline, both in the U.S. and internationally. And these are not narrow patents on individual strains like Sour Diesel. These are utility patents, the strongest intellectual-property protection available for crops. Utility patents are so strict that almost everyone who comes in contact with the plant could be hit with a licensing fee: growers and shops, of course, but also anyone looking to breed new varieties or conduct research. Even after someone pays a royalty, they can’t use the seeds produced by the plants they grow. They can only buy more patented seeds.
“Utility patents are big. Scary,” Holmes said. 'All of cannabis could be locked up. They could sue people for growing in their own backyards.'”

5.  The Surprising Reason that There Are So Many Thai Restaurants in America

This article credits the number of Thai restaurants in the US (and the world) to a Thai government agency that promotes them as part of a tourism campaign that began in 2000.  I would just note that when I got back to LA after my Peace Corps service in Thailand in 1970, there were NO Thai restaurants in LA.  But soon there would be one, then two, the three, then things just exploded.  It was only much later that I learned about the  Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (H.R. 2580; Pub.L. 89–236, 79 Stat. 911, enacted June 30, 1968, also known as the Hart–Celler Act.  From Wikipedia:

"The Hart–Celler Act abolished the quota system based on national origins that had been American immigration policy since the 1920s. The 1965 Act marked a change from past U.S. policy which had discriminated against non-northern Europeans.[2] In removing racial and national barriers the Act would significantly, and unintentionally, alter the demographic mix in the U.S.[2]"

The US' doors were then opened to Thais and others.  Thai immigrants began opening restaurants, and because their food and hospitality are so good, the soon spread to all parts of the US.  That was 30 years before the Thai government started promoting Thai restaurants and helping their owners.

First Anchorage Election Results - Mayor Winning Reelection, Prop 1 Losing, All The Other Props Winning [UPDATED 4/5/18 7:30PM]

With the new voting by mail, I'm not quite sure what these tallies mean.  It says all precincts reporting.  And 23% is in the ballpark.  Last year's MOA election had a 23% turnout.  This first set of results should reflect the ballots cast at the few polling stations, at the drop off boxes through - maybe yesterday or earlier today, maybe even those in the boxes by 8pm.

That would leave those mailed in probably before Friday or Saturday.  So if there are 4% still out there, that would be about 8,000 votes left.  If the Yes vote for Prop 1 got 60% of the remaining votes (not likely) they'd add 4800 votes and the no votes would add 3200 votes.  So I'd guess that Prop 1 has been defeated.

The Prop 1 vote means that Anchorage no longer supports discrimination against GLBT folks.  Let's hope Jim Minnery finds a new hobby that doesn't involve disrupting other people's lives.

And if there are 8000 votes left, there is no way that Rebecca Logan could catch up with Mayor Berkowitz, even if she got all 8000 votes.

This is the closest school board race.  Tasha Hotch is less than 400 votes behind Alisha Hilde.  If there are 8000 votes still to be counted, even 4000, this race could change.

The other school board races had much bigger margins with

70% for Deena Mitchell
57% for Elisa Snelling

All the other propositions won with 60% or more.

You can see all the results at the official site here.   [UPDATE 4/4/16 - This link went to the PDF of the early results.  It doesn't update.  Here are the results as of 4:27pm today.  Everything seems to have stayed more or less the same with 8,000 more votes.  There must still be some outstanding votes, but I doubt that they will change any results.  This page has the link to the latest election results.]


[UPDATE 4/5/17 - There are more results today.  As I glanced over them the margin based on vote totals seem to increase slightly in most races while the percentage gaps decrease slightly.  Prop 1  has a 4035 vote gap now, but is now yes = 47.12 % and no= 52.88%.  They've counted 70,961 of 218,388 (32.49%).  There are probably some more mail in ballots trickling in. I don't see how they can change any of the races.]

Getting To Know Some Local Transgender Folks Before You Vote On Prop 1 On April 3

We are taught to think of gender as an either/or case of male or female.  It's just how you're born.

But we have lots of evidence that it's not that easy.  If it were, all men would have strong 'male' traits and women would all be 'feminine.'  But we know that's not how it is.  If we took all men, I'm guessing we'd get a bell shaped curve of 'masculinity' and 'femininity.'  A similar curve for women would overlap that for men.

Many cultures recognize the fluidity of gender and the fact that some people clearly do not fit the gender category their private parts seem to indicate.  A number have special roles for people who seem to carry both genders.

Many babies are born with ambiguous genitalia and doctors have traditionally decided what gender they should be right after birth, often with surgery to make the baby conform to the doctor's decision.

This is all relevant in Anchorage now because Jim Minnery  and the Alaska Family Council and friends have gotten Prop 1 onto Anchorage's April 3 local ballot.

So I want to post some video I made at a panel discussion last August here in Anchorage.  Mara Keisling, the Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, moderated this panel with three local transgender folks and two parents of transgender kids.

Here's a link to the ballot measure and explanations at Ballotopedia.  (I found that site easier to read than the Municipality's site on this.)

On first blush, I can understand the idea of women not wanting men to use the women's bathrooms, though since women don't use urinals, it's my understanding their public restrooms all have private stalls.  So that should be, for the most part, moot.  Locker rooms and showers are perhaps a different story. Or so the sponsors of Prop 1 would  tell you.  (Actually, they'll tell you public bathrooms are a problem.)

Current Anchorage law allows transgender folks to use the bathroom that they identify with.  No problems have been brought to the public's attention that I know of.  The number of transgender people in Anchorage is very small.  The problems the initiative's sponsor cite are all hypothetical. And unlikely. I doubt too many men will dress up like a woman just to spy on women in the women's restroom.  And they could do that now and it would be illegal if they weren't transgender and were there to spy on women.

I also understand, and am more sympathetic with, the opponents' argument.  I suspect their key objection is the initiative's essential denial of transgender identity.  Even the US military recognizes this, but Prop 1 would make the gender listed in someone's birth certificate the only thing that counts.  Here's a statement from Nobodyaskedme.org (part of the Prop 1 campaign):

"In September of 2015, the Anchorage Assembly forced an ordinance upon residents that allows men to enter women’s spaces — public bathrooms, showers, locker rooms and changing facilities." 

I think this shows clearly that they deny the existence of transgender people.  There is nothing in the ordinance that allows 'men' into women's restrooms, only transgender people who identify as women.  I'm not trying to answer all the questions people have about transgender folks here.  I'm not that well-versed myself.  But I know that for a number of people, the physical gender parts don't always match the mental gender identity of people.  I also know that nobody in their right mind would claim to be transgender if they weren't.  There's far too much heartache and prejudice that comes with such an identity.   I'd also note that the Assembly passed the ordinance 9-2.  That's not even close.  That's not 'forcing.'  The representatives of the vast majority of Anchorage voted for the current ordinance.  If people were 'forced' they could have voted out people at the last Municipal election.

As both of the parents on this panel in the video say, 'before I had a transgender child, I really knew nothing about what the word means.'  My own knowledge, while probably more extensive than the average person's, is still sketchy, but I did post last August about my own education on this topic,  just before Mara Keisling moderated this panel.

Two Movies Two Nights, One About Love, One About Anger - Naming and Billboards (Updated)

Monday night we saw Call Me By Your Name, a movie as devoid of violence as you can get.  There was blood - Elia got a nose bleed while eating dinner.  Oscar scraped his stomach in a bike accident.  If there was more than that, I don't remember.  The movie was about love in many different forms from love among family members, friends, and sexual love.  It's about intelligent, well educated, multilingual people interacting not just with civility, but with affection.  It all takes place in a lushly sensual summer in Northern Italy.

The movie has gotten a lot of praise.  The New Yorker has one gushing review and one thoroughly nasty review.  It wasn't merely critical, but relentlessly churlish.  The first paragraph ends with:

"Elio affirms that his parents were aware of the relationship and offered their approval, to which Oliver responds, “You’re so lucky; my father would have carted me off to a correctional facility.” And that’s the premise of the film: in order to have anything like a happy adolescence and avoid the sexual repression and frustration that seem to be the common lot, it’s essential to pick the right parents. The movie is about, to put it plainly, being raised right."

I had thought about how loving Elio and his parents were with each other, and as well as I got along with my parents, this family really had a great rapport.  But to say that the movie was all about being raised by the right parents, hints that perhaps something about the warmth of the family irritated Brody, the reviewer, enough to color his whole view of the movie.  There were things he said that had  merit.  He basically said it was all a tourist promotion scheme for Northern Italy, and I did think, when I saw the waterfall, about all the people who will add it to their itineraries when the go to Italy.  And I thought about his criticism of the camera shots.  There were no point of view shots - and I realized I couldn't remember seeing what was happening from the eyes of the main characters. (I'd have to see it again to be sure.  I'm not sure it's true.  We do see Oscar's arrival from the upstairs window where Elio is, for example.)  That criticism also made me feel sorry for someone so steeped in film making that he sees the film making instead of the film.

I did raise the question to my wife about Armie Hammer's name.  I joked that he was the grandson of the oil man Armand Hammer.  It turns out, according to The Times of Israel that he's the great grandson of Armand Hammer.  The review focuses on the Jewish themes of the movie.


Tuesday night we saw Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, a movie full of violence, foul language, and anger.  The film erases the idea of good guys and bad guys - everyone is flawed, and there's anger deep in all of them.  With one exception.  It doesn't paint a pretty picture of the United States, but it does force anyone watching it to think about our uncivil society and the troubled lives of people who never experienced dependable, unconditioned love.  This is, for me, a movie about anger and how it causes us to do stupid things, to hurt other people as a way of trying to lessen our own pain.

All that said, Three Billboards got a slew of Golden Globe awards Sunday night and Call Me By Your Name got shut out, though it did have a lot of nominations.

This post is for Casey, but he's probably already asleep.

[UPDATE Jan 10, 2017:  I've had a night to sleep on this second film.  What hadn't quite formed itself into words last night:  This is a fairy tale, constructed to make a point about the destructiveness of anger and the importance of forgiveness.  The characters and the town are less real people than constructs to teach a lesson, a parable perhaps.  That's the unease I walked away from the theater with.  Will it work?  I don't know.  This town is in the same state as Ferguson and racism in the police station isn't below the surface.  While partisan politics aren't mentioned, this town clearly voted for Trump and Mildred is probably one of the few who didn't.  The town is divided between troubled whites and others - blacks, a gay guy, and a dwarf.  I suspect the obviousness of that will have many Trump voters immune to the message about the destructiveness of anger and hate.  It will come across like Clinton's deplorable comment did.  With the exception of one (very cool) white resident of Ebbing, the only people who supported Mildred were the outsiders - blacks, a gay, a midget.   But perhaps people who originally side with Mildred will recognize their own obsessiveness.

In a SlashFilm interview, director McDonagh says the screenplay was written eight years ago, so it's not about Trump and current politics, but it doesn't say how much time he spent in small town Missouri.  (Sam Rockwell, in a Vanity Fair interview says the movie was filmed in Asheville, North Carolina, but he spent time in Missouri doing ride-alongs with police.) So I simply don't know how well this reflects the people in a town like this.

All that said, each film maker, each author should make the story they have in them.  Short of intentionally manipulative propaganda, it's not their responsibility how people react.   Riling people up is not a bad thing.  so long as they think about the issues raised and their own positions.]

Is 2017 Really 1984? Forbidden Words At CDC - Controlling Language Is Way To Control Thinking

According to the Washington Post:

Policy analysts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta were told of the list of forbidden words at a meeting Thursday with senior CDC officials who oversee the budget, according to an analyst who took part in the 90-minute briefing. The forbidden words are “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “diversity,” “transgender,” “fetus,” “evidence-based” and “science-based.”
In some instances, the analysts were given alternative phrases. Instead of “science-based” or ­“evidence-based,” the suggested phrase is “CDC bases its recommendations on science in consideration with community standards and wishes,” the person said. In other cases, no replacement words were immediately offered.

The article goes on to say the ban is related to the 2019 budget.  I guess if you can't say the words, you can't allocate funding to the projects.  Diversity, transgender people, science, and fetuses will, I guess, be ‘vaporized’ (see 'unperson' below) if there are no labels for them. But surely they don't want to get rid of babies, so fetus, I guess, will become 'unborn innocent baby.'


Tampering with Thinking Integral to 1984

This is really tampering with our ability to think.  This is so outrageous and dangerous that probably no one ever thought of a law to prevent it.   The NRA has already prevented the CDC from doing any research on gun deaths and injuries.  If you have no data, you can't do research and you can't prove anything.  But, of course, science based is now being banned as well.

I remember as a kid, thinking that the year 1984 was so far into the future.  Then it came.  And then it was 1985.  What I didn't know was that 1984 was really 2017.

George Orwell's 1984 introduced the term NEWSPEAK. Orwell envisioned an authoritarian world where thinking was controlled by the government.   Here are some of the ideas, if not the exact terms, we can now expect from our new regime as they revise the English language to their service.  Courtesy of Wikipedia:

• bellyfeel – a blind, enthusiastic acceptance of an idea

• blackwhite – to believe that black is white, to know that black is white, and to forget that one has ever believed the contrary

• crimestop – to rid oneself of unwanted thoughts, i.e., thoughts that interfere with the ideology of the Party. This way, a person avoids committing thoughtcrime

• crimethink, thoughtcrime – thoughts that are unorthodox or outside the official government platform

• doubleplusgood -Replaces excellent, best and benevolent

• doublethink – the act of simultaneously accepting two mutually contradictory beliefs as correct

• duckspeak – Voicing political orthodoxies without thinking, lit. "to quack like a duck"

• equal – Only in the sense of physically equal, like equal height/size, etc. It does not mean socially – politically or economically – equal, since there is no such concept as social inequality in purportedly egalitarianistic Ingsoc

• facecrime – An indication that a person is guilty of thoughtcrime based on their facial expression

• free – Meaning Negative freedom (without) in a physical sense, only in statements like "This dog is free from lice", as the concepts of "political freedom" and "intellectual freedom" do not exist in Newspeak

• good – (Can also be used as a prefix vaguely meaning "orthodox")

• goodthink – thoughts that are approved by the Party and follow its policies, ideals and interpretations. It is the opposite of crimethink

• goodsex – intercourse between man and wife, for the sole purpose of begetting children and without physical pleasure

• joycamp – Forced labour camp

• malquoted – flaws or inaccurate presentations of Party or Big Brother-related matters by the press. See misprints below

• miniluv – "Ministry of Love" (secret police, interrogation and torture)

• minipax – "Ministry of Peace" (Ministry of War, cf: 'Department of Defense' vs 'War Department')

• minitrue – "Ministry of Truth" (propaganda and altering history, culture and entertainment)

• miniplenty – "Ministry of Plenty" (keeping the population in a state of constant economic hardship)

• misprints – Errors or mispredictions which need to be rectified in order to prove that the Party is always right. See malquoted above

• oldspeak – English; perhaps any language that is not Newspeak

• oldthink – Ideas inspired by events or memories of times prior to the Revolution

• ownlife – the tendency to enjoy being solitary or individualistic

• plusgood - replaces the words better and great. Refers to good compliance with Party orthodoxy.

• pornosec – subunit of the Fiction Department of the Ministry of Truth that produces pornography

• prolefeed – The steady stream of mindless entertainment to distract and occupy the masses

• recdep – "Records Department" (division of the Ministry of Truth that deals with the rectification of records; department in which Winston works)

• rectify – used by the Ministry of Truth as a euphemism for the deliberate alteration (or 'correction') of the past

• sexcrime – all sexual activity which is not goodsex

• speakwrite – An instrument used by Party members to note or "write" down information by speaking into an apparatus as a faster alternative to an "ink pencil". It is, for example, used in the Ministry of Truth by the protagonist Winston Smith. Speakwrites are also apparently able to record everything that is spoken into the device

• telescreen – television and security camera-like devices used by the ruling Party in Oceania to keep its subjects under constant surveillance

• thinkpol – the Thought Police

• thoughtcrime – the criminal act of holding unspoken beliefs or doubts that oppose or question Ingsoc

• Unperson – someone who has been "vaporized"—not only killed by the state, but erased from existence

I would note that banning words really doesn't make them go away.  People find other ways to say the ideas.  However, if the ban is supported by a capable government authority it can distort how people conceive of the world.  Just consider the people who only watch Fox News and people like Limbaugh.  They now live in an alternative reality that can't be breached.  Now, the people who created that alternative reality are running much of the US government.  

Vietnam War, Fiber Infrastructure, Chinese Language, Community Engagement

I was in meetings most of today and then went to see the Alaska Humanity Forum's preview of Ken Burns documentary on the Vietnam War.  We saw excerpts of each episode.  As someone who lived through that period, I didn't hear anything new.  There was discussion afterward.  But first AKHF director asked audience members who were veterans to stand.  Then those who were Vietnam veterans to stand.  Then those who had family members of friends who were veterans.  Then questions were asked - "Why did you come here tonight?" was the first one - and we were asked to discuss them with people nearby.  

I was struck, after watching the excerpts that covered soldiers from both sides as well as protesters, that people who protested the war weren't asked to stand.  And one of the audience did make that comment to the whole group.

The series will be worth watching when it comes on - not only for people who lived those years, but more so for those who only know the historical myths of that period.

But that's all excuse for why I haven't posted today and to explain why I'm taking the easy way out and letting you know about some talks coming up in the next few days at the UAA bookstore.
They are all free.
(There's free parking for these events in the parking lot near the bookstore.  And for people who can't make them, the videos will eventually be online, probably here.)

Thursday, September 14 from 5:00 pm-7:00 pm
Darrel Hess presents Leave It To Beaver, Cocaine & God: My Journey to Community Engagement

In  Leave It To Beaver, Cocaine & God: My Journey to Community Engagement Darrel Hess talks about growing up in the shadow of domestic violence, his arrest for selling cocaine to an undercover Alaska State Trooper, coming to terms with his sexual orientation, his relationship with God, and his struggles to find himself and his place in the world.
Today, Darrel Hess works as Anchorage’s Municipal Ombudsman and is a member of the Advisory Council for UAA’s Center for Community Engagement and Learning.   A pillar in the Anchorage community, Darrel Hess has served as Anchorage’s first Homeless Coordinator and was a member of the Anchorage Equal Rights Commission.  He has served on the board of Identity, Inc.  and is the recipient of the 2014 Alaska First Lady’s Volunteer of the Year Award.
Everyone is encouraged to welcome and meet the dedicated and amazing Darrel Hess. 
 
There is free parking for this event in the South Lot, Sports Complex NW Lot, West Campus Central Lot, and Sports Campus West Lot.

Friday, September 15 from 3:00 pm-5:00 pm
Dr. Shinian Wu presents Linguistic Challenges in Learning Chinese
Dr. Shinian Wu presents linguistic challenges and cultural congruence in learning Chinese as a second language. His talk will discuss contrasts between Chinese and English, how languages create socio-cognitive processes in language socialization.

 Dr. Shinian Wu. Professor of English and director of the graduate program in Applied Linguistics, English Department, Grand Valley State University, Michigan.
This event is sponsored with the UAA Confucius Institute. Everyone is welcomed to attend. There is free parking at UAA on Fridays.

 Saturday, September 16 from 1:00 pm-3:00 pm
Dr. Sebastian Neumayer presents Fiber Infrastructure and Natural Disasters
Dr. Sebastian Neumayer, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, UAA, shares his research on the effects of natural disasters on fiber infrastructure. While investigating the survivability of networks in the face of geographically correlated failures, he will discuss algorithms that identify the most vulnerable parts of real-world networks to large-scale disasters.
In addition to his academic research, Sebastian Neumayer will discuss The BTC Ring, an open-source Bitcoin project that integrates jewelry and digital assets. The BTC Ring can mitigate the risk that traditional jewelry has to loss and theft as well as can be used as an alternative to diamond engagement rings.
Everyone is invited to attend this fascinating event and learn how we can better prepare for "natural" environmental and emotional disasters.
There is free parking at UAA on Saturdays.  

Three Steps Forward, Two Steps Back - Transitioning On Transgender Awareness and Rights

When conservatives cry about liberal control of the national agenda, they think about gay marriage, the shrinking white majority, pornography, legalization of marijuana, loss of public Christian displays.

When liberals cry about conservative control of the national agenda they think about ever increasing abortion restrictions, shrinking government, public funding going to private schools,  tax cuts, the wealth gap, rollbacks of regulations on the environment and corporate mergers and finance, about the attacks on evolution and science in general.

People who identify as liberal or as conservative all seem to think 'the other side' is winning and destroying the country.

Ignorance plays a big role in this,  That's certainly been the case with gay rights.

In this post I want to talk about the issue of transgender rights. On the one hand, great progress has been made, on the other hand there is a backlash to take it back.

At the national level, Trump has decreed that transgender folks should no longer serve in the military.   (I'd agree with this policy if it included all people of all sexual identities.)

On the local level, the forces that have fought gay rights forever here, have now put an initiative on the April Municipal ballot that would roll back transgender rights in Anchorage.

Growing up in the US, I never even had a word for transgender folks (and even now I'm not sure I'm using the right words).  If I search my memory, I'd say my awareness of the issue was when Christine Jorgensen had a sex change in 1951.  I was really young back then, but somehow the news got through to me.  I obviously had no real understanding of what had happened, just that a man had turned into a woman.

I think my real transformation came from reading.  There was Roberta Muldoon in The World According to Garp who was written as just another character who happened to have had a sex change.  The book that really focused my attention on the experience of a transgender person was Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex.  (You can listen to the book on Youtube.)

My son had a college classmate who later transitioned to female.  I've spent time with him before and her after, but we didn't talk much, if any, about the transition.

[I'm running out of time here.  The above is to give people some references to this topic, but I don't pretend this is the best list.  It's my personal list.  There have also been a number of films on this topic I've seen at the Anchorage International Film Festival over the years:  The Prodigal Sons, From This Day Forward, and Real Boy.  All have added nuance to my still limited understanding. So I'm going to leave links here for people who haven't encountered transgender folks and want to understand this better.  And below I'll give people some things they can do to help others understand.]


What You Can Do #1

More recently, I got to know Scott Schofield when he came to Anchorage and headed Out North theater.  He was back again this summer performing his piece, Becoming A Man in 127 Easy Steps.

Yesterday I got an email from Scott saying he's working on making his performance piece into a movie.  So if people want to be supportive during these times of transgender rights backlash, this is a way to do it.  Your contribution will help make this film a reality.  And the more people who see the film, the more people will 'know' a transgender person and have a better understanding of what this is all about.  And they'll get a more complex awareness that our binary male/female dichotomy is not nearly as simple as that.   Here's a short video of Scott explaining the film project.






What You Can Do #2   

I got a another email today pointing me to a presentation here in Anchorage by

"Mara Keisling. She has served as the director of the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) for 14 years and is one of the country’s most prominent transgender civil rights activists."

 Wendy Williamson Auditorium  (UAA)

7 pm  Tuesday (August 29).

The email goes on to say:

"The focus of our discussion with Mara will be, first and foremost, how we can most effectively fight Prop 1, the harmful anti-transgender initiative on the April 2018 ballot in Anchorage. This ballot question is drawing attention from national organizations—like the NCTE—because it is, unfortunately, the worst anti-transgender ballot initiative in the country.
Through her work with the NCTE, Mara has been on the front lines in so many fights similar to what we’re facing now in Anchorage. Her guidance and words of wisdom will be indispensable, so you will not want to miss out tomorrow."

Even if you aren't sure where you stand on the initiative, this would be a good chance to get to hear a person who has been prominent nationally on this issue.

"He has comic timing tattooed to his genes" Scott Turner Schofield Saturday Night At Out North

Tonight night - Saturday, July 1,  7pm - Out North will be presenting  Scott Turner Schofield in "How I Became A Man."   Out North has transferred their old home in Airport Heights to Cyrano's and Out North is moving to the Alaska Experience Theater.  It will be there - 4th and C Street.

There's a lot of unsaid in that first paragraph.  I don't know the details, but the ADN had a story two weeks ago.  And Friday's paper had a story about Scott's show.

I just think that Scott is an amazing performer and I'd go see anything he was doing.  But let me give you some background on how my admiration for Scott came about through some links to old blog posts.

 I like to think that I have a good eye now and then, and with Scott I did.  I first saw him acting as an MC at OutNorth introducing the Under 30 acts.  That was Jan 3, 2010.  I wrote:

The performances were introduced by Scott Turner Schofield who is a visiting performer who will be putting on Debutante Balls Jan. 14 -17. He seemed totally comfortable onstage and I'm sorry we're going to miss his show, but we leave for Juneau on the 11th.

The next time I wrote about Scott was July of that same year.  Again, he introduced the act - Wu Man and Friends- and this time I was really impressed.

Scott Turner Schofield

"On the right is Scott Schofield, Out North's new artistic director after the performance.  Preparation for the performance began just as he arrived at OutNorth.  His introduction Wednesday was a pleasure to listen to.  His words were good, his delivery fluent, and he effortlessly rotated to acknowledge the audience members sitting behind him on the stage.  (See, there are some things I feel have some basis for evaluating.)  We're lucky to have him here and I look forward to continuing great nights like Wednesday at OutNorth."

Then that October, he mc'd Out North's coming attractions show.  I caught a bit of it on video and posted it here.  This was just a random couple of minutes, but even then you can see that he moves his body and expresses himself with a lot more fluidity than your average person.

The following September, 2011 Scott has been busy at Out North for a little over a year and here's a post about the introduction to the year.  It was a full house.  There's some underlying tension as Out North had lost some grant money.

Here's some video of that night. The first four minutes is Scott talking about Out North's evolution.



That November Scott performed 'Two Truths And A Lie."  It was his story.  Up until then I'd seen him only as an mc, but that night he performed and confirmed my original gut feelings.  Here's that post "He has comic timing tattooed on his genes" - Scott Schofield Performs at Out North, 
and it explains a lot of what tonight's performance will be about.

And then he quit suddenly and somewhat mysteriously.  Eventually he came back and did a show that explained it all.  I can't find a post about it, but it was powerful and for many of us an important closure and explanation of why he'd left.

In 2015,  we got news that Scott had gotten a role in the tv show "The Bold and the Beautiful."  My post on that was called My Fantasy:  Jim Minnery and Amy Demboski Meet Scott Turner Schofield.
Wouldn't it be great if they came tonight?

I'm excited we get another chance to see him perform.  As I mentioned, Scott has performed this in Anchorage already.  It's called, Becoming a Man in 127 Easy Steps.  At that time, it was Two Truths And a Lie.  As I recall, he was already talking about the 127 Easy Steps and each number between 1 and 127 had a story attached.  The audience got to pick numbers and he told the stories of those particular steps.  So each performance is different.  The ticket agency for the show tonight says he's done this all over the US and Europe and it will be made into a movie.  So this is an opportunity to see the movie before it becomes one.

Tickets are available here for only $25 which is a deal considering how good Scott is and how close you'll be to the stage at the Alaska Experience theater.

Anchorage Pridefest 5: Fire and Brimstone

The Pridefest was not all sweetness and light.  There were a few folks who were there to pass on their interpretation of God's word, and it wasn't pretty.   I went to the spot to figure out what was going on. There was this big sign, the rainbow flag, drummers, and people dressed like angels.  I asked one of the angels what was happening and why she was there.  Her reply was something like, "I get harassed every day.  I don't need to hear it at Pridefest where I should be safe with welcoming people."

So, the angels and the flag were surrounding the protests, blocking them from view and the drums were drowning out their message.




There are lots of interpretations of the bible.  Many conclude that homosexuality as we know it today is not what the bible refers to.  For example, this evangelical who believes practicing homosexuality is a sin, argues that the sin of Sodom was NOT homosexuality.

"There’s nothing in Genesis 19 that talks about gay people. The main sin committed in Genesis 19 was attempted gang rape. And I don’t know any gay person who’s trying to justify gang rape. In fact, whenever Sodom is mentioned elsewhere in the Bible, the city is usually described as being inhospitable and not caring for the poor — an ironic description of many straight Christians."

I'm not a biblical scholar and don't know Hebrew or Aramaic, so I'm not qualified to interpret these passages.  I can only point out that various Christians (and Jews) have different interpretations about what the bible says about homosexuality.  Another writer I saw claims the opposite of this quote - that Sodom was not about lacking hospitality and it was all about homosexuality.

The woman in the white tee shirt with the microphone was droning on and on.  I don't mean to be disrespectful, but it really didn't make any sense to me.  I'm sure all the drumming didn't help.  Someone told me that this group was from the Valley and they showed up last year and no one was prepared.  This year they were prepared.  They were even passing out earplugs.  [My wife, who wasn't there, thinks the word 'droning' is too judgmental.  Normally I'd try to find another word, but 'harangue' isn't neutral either.  But to my ear, both are good descriptions of lecturing to a crowd of people who simply don't want to hear what you have to say.]

This does, of course, raise free speech questions for some.  As the first woman I spoke to said, "This is the one day I shouldn't have to hear this sort of thing."  I expect 99% of the people at Pridefest don't want to hear this woman.  They've heard messages like hers all their lives.  One could argue she's disturbing their peace.  But Pridefest isn't shutting her down, they're just counter protesting her.  And anyone who wants to know what her message is can come in close and listen.

I'd note the implication of 'real Christians' on the tee shirt would seem to be, "If you disagree with me on this, then you aren't a real Christian."  I've always heard the the most important message of Christianity was: "do onto other what you'd have others to do onto you." That's not something these folks are doing.

If you click on the image, it will get clearer and you can see at the bottom it references Matthew 19: 4-7.

Well, here's Matthew 9 4-7

4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’1 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’2? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” 7  “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”

Hmmm, good question.

 8 Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. 9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

Leviticus says the punishment for all sexual immorality starting with adultery and including 'a man lies with a man as with a woman' is death.  I haven't heard about anyone picketing the divorce courts.  I did look quickly to make sure and only found reference to people opposing orthodox Jewish men who don't allow their wives to divorce.  I wonder if the picketers at Pridefest voted for the president who's on his third wife and was practicing sexual immorality with his second wife when he was still married to his first wife?

But let's read the rest of this section of Matthew:

10 The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.” 11 Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. 12 For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”

Professor of Theology and Ethical Studies Stephen J. Patterson interprets what "when a man lies with a man as with a woman" might mean in the context of the Middle East 2500 years ago.  He argues it does not mean what we call homosexuality today.  Instead he argues it's a form of dominance by one heterosexual male over another.  He then points out the example Jonathan and Samuel, "“Your love to me was wonderful, surpassing the love of women.” 

I'm not a biblical scholar and I don't necessarily buy this interpretation, but enough denominations of Christianity, not to mention of Judaism, accept gay love and marriage that I have to believe that when reading the original Hebrew and maybe even Aramaic, there's lots of room for interpretation.

I don't have a neat ending for this.  I'm just documenting what I saw and what I've been able to find online to help me interpret the bible passages.  I don't pretend that these interpretations I've quoted are 'right' just that they exist.

Anchorage Pridefest 4: Dogs of Pridefest

Let's start with little dogs.  Rachel's got her pup in a front pack because it's got a recovering foot.  But the dog attracted a hello from a vet and there was a long discussion. There's hemp based medication you can get for dogs.  One issue I hadn't thought about given the legal status of marijuana in Alaska now, was an increase of dogs coming to the vet after consuming cannabis edibles.  They either come in very dopey or very wired.










There were also middle sized dogs.

And very big dogs.

The first post on Pridefest covered this year's parade.
The second covered businesses that had booths at the Pridefest.
The third was people.

Anchorage Pridefest 3: People I Met

What a difference a year makes.

I met Chris Constant last year at Pridefest.  I'd heard his name and vice versa, but we'd never met.  He had a booth as part of his campaign to be on the Municipal Assembly for downtown Anchorage.  Here are some more pictures from last year's fest.

One thing he told me last year, was he was hoping to be the first openly gay Assembly member.  He's pictured here with his mom.

He did get elected to the Assembly (our city council).  But is he the first openly gay Assembly member?  Sort of, but Felix Rivera, another openly gay candidate was also elected, so they are the first two.  When I asked him how things have been so far, he told me that there have been about 100 votes since he was sworn in.  And he and Amy (Demboski who is also on the Assembly and ran for Mayor with a very anti-gay platform) have voted the same except for three times.  But, he added, he also has voted differently from most of his more liberal colleagues about three times as well.

Another reminder that the media's focus on conflict means we think there's a lot more conflict and less cooperation than there really is.  It is easier, and more necessary, for the Assembly members to get along with each other.  There are only eleven members and the meet all year.  They have to find a way to do more than just make nice.

And here's Felix with Elvi Gray-Jackson, the long time assembly member he replaced.

This young man agreed to a picture.  I don't think I got his name, it's not written down in my notes and it was before a got a pen from Konrad at the Alaska Club booth.















But I got this picture of two more rainbow beards later and these are Thomas and Keith.

Here's my friend Kokayi with a friend of his whose name I didn't catch.

And here are some friends from University of Alaska days.

Travis (on the left) is a friend I know from Citizens Climate Lobby and he's in charge of community outreach at St. Mary's.  And to mess with people's stereotypes, he's also a  BP engineer.

And finally, for this post, we have Mary Jo Torgeson, Anchorage's library director.  I'd never met her before and we had a great discussion on a variety of library related topics, but I'll focus on the renovation.  First, why is it so late?  Well, the as-builts weren't accurate and the found things - like pipes of a different size - that caused a lot of delays.  Second, some wanted to close the library during some of the construction which would have sped things up, but keeping it open was the decision.  I don't know how long it would have been closed, but it's been under construction for over a year now and I think I'd prefer it open even if that meant it took longer.  Here's the first post I did on the renovation - back in February 2016.

But the news is they're planning an opening on July 17.  Though there still we be more internal work to finish up even then.

Here's a link to Anchorage Pridefest 1:  The Parade.
Here's a link to Anchorage Pridefest 2:  Businesses with Pridefest Booths

Anchorage Pridefest 2: Businesses With Pridefest Booths

I'm didn't get them all, and I'm not counting the food trucks here, but here are some of the companies that were at the festival.  

I'm going to start with this one - The Great Land Infusion Pharmacy - because it seems the company that's feels most at home at the Pridefest.  The pharmacy is on Tudor right near Lake Otis.  These are pharmacists Rod and Justin

and they were highlighting PrEP, and HIV prevention drug.

From the CDC website:

"Pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, is a way for people who do not have HIV but who are at substantial risk of getting it to prevent HIV infection by taking a pill every day. The pill (brand name Truvada) contains two medicines (tenofovir and emtricitabine) that are used in combination with other medicines to treat HIV. When someone is exposed to HIV through sex or injection drug use, these medicines can work to keep the virus from establishing a permanent infection.
When taken consistently, PrEP has been shown to reduce the risk of HIV infection in people who are at high risk by up to 92%. PrEP is much less effective if it is not taken consistently."

This is Bill from the Cake Studio and he assured me that they wouldn't turn down making a cake for a same sex wedding.

Mara sells stun guns and pepper spray and other tools aimed at women who feel they need some protection.  Many years ago, my wife and daughter attended a women's self defense class in town that  they felt was quite useful.  The key lesson was how to be alert and not get into risky situations - being mindful of where you are and who is around you.  Mara demonstrated a hand held stun gun that has a wrist band.  If it gets disconnected from the wrist band, it won't work.  She said it causes a severe muscle spasm.  I think classes for how to use things like this would be helpful.  But there are times when having one of these would be helpful.  This company does not have stores, just individual sales folk.

Konrad is the membership coordinator for several of the Alaska Club locations.  He's a great salesman, getting his message across, but careful not to be pushy.  He was giving out coupons for free introductory visits.

Gabe Larson actually works at the Native Hospital and this is a sideline - emergency medical aid at events like this until the Fire Department arrives.  He says he has had very few serious situations in the various events he's been at.









AARP was here with a number of other not-profit organizations.

And BP and Wells Fargo also had booths.


Next post I'll put up pictures of people who I met - some I already knew, others I met for the first time.

The first post on Pridefest covered this year's parade.
And also up now: Pridefest 3 - People I Met