by the light of the moon...

I was stunned and delighted to hear this morning on NPR that there is a new Spanish-Language version of the National Anthem that has been released.

(I've linked to the story, but please note, I only heard the teaser and haven't been able to hear the whole thing yet myself.)

How awesome, I thought, and what a wonderful and hopeful thing to do! Won't it be amazing when someday people don't judge what language a person chooses to speak or sing as representative of the summation of their value to a country?

Well, I also thought, Bush won't let that go without a comment...

Didn't have long to wait.

Posted by Lythande (formerly T) at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

...and also, (surprise!) it's kinda helpful not to use the idea of a hierarchy to keep oneself from examining a system where one has privilege.

There is a lively debate going on at blac(k)ademic about a comment she's encountered (and I've heard it, many times) saying that "Gender trumps race." Another way to say this is that "women as a whole are oppressed across color lines, and so the fight to end sexism is more important than the fight to end racism."

Woh. I can see how people would get there, but I have deep problems with that sentiment. Especially when voiced by white women. We are essentially saying that the system that gives us power (racism) isn't as important to us to fight as the system that oppresses us (sexism).

Convenient, eh? Not surprisingly, this idea was the source of a decades-old schism in the American feminist movement.

It is my firm belief that I get nowhere fighting oppression unless I am able to acknowlege the privilege that I have, sitting side by side with my oppressions. I need to own and examine all of my identities, target and agent.

Here is the comment I made in response to Nubian's critiqe of that idea. Warning: expletives.

Excellent post, Nubian. My thoughts….In my work, I used to describe a hierarchy of oppression, but in the opposite direction: it’s been clear to me that as a white, bisexual, disabled, Jewish, American Citizen, upper class woman, my race and class have powerfully protected me from much of the oppression that I face through other aspects of my identity. So I felt for a long time that racism actually was the most powerful oppression that existed in my world, and that I would do well to prioritize fighting racism over fighting other oppressions.

These days I see things as more complicated. It’s kind of a both/and situation. BOTH I need to acknowledge that my race and class privilege are very, very powerful, & I need to make sure that I keep fighting to tear down those systems of privilege and that I do not become complacent, AND I see that all of the systems of power and oppression in this society can kill and are grievously hurting people. All of us.

The shit I face as a woman, and as a queer woman, sucks, and I’m only just starting to really see it. (A very painful process.) But the shit that white women give communities of color when we claim “race work needs to wait until gender work is finished” (which is what I read in “gender trumps race”, let me know if I’m misinterpreting) only serves to derail our activism. It perpetuates the system that is killing us all.

Everybody’s work needs to happen. No one is free when others are oppressed. Hey…haven’t I heard that one before?

Yeah.

Posted by Lythande (formerly T) at 09:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today is Yom Ha-Shoah, the annual day of remembrance for the six million Jews murdered by Hitler.

It's a good day to think about my Jewish roots, about survivor stories, and about what I know of the European Jewish culture that the Nazis nearly exterminated...

...AND, of course, to work to end another genocide that is currently happening.

Please, go to this site to send a quick letter to President Bush asking him to stop the genocide in Darfur NOW.

Thanks.

p.s. I should give credit to my super cool jewish mother for forwarding me this alert. Thanks Mom!

Posted by Lythande (formerly T) at 01:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Found this great article on Big Fat Blog.

I wonder if medical schools have yet started to teach that being fat is not a moral failure. Or am I deluding myself that this could ever happen?

Posted by Lythande (formerly T) at 09:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

FAIR has a summary of their findings that many CNN personalities are making commentary on the immigration protests that is way out of line. Read the report and then e-mail CNN if you agree that these are comments are inappropriate on a news network.

And for anyone who can get out of work and cares to join the protests, there's a march in Oakland on Monday....

Posted by Lythande (formerly T) at 01:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Apparently, according to Google maps, Tibet no longer exists. At all.

Go to Google maps and type Nepal into the search bar. Note that while Tibet and Nepal are generally known to be neighbors, there is no mention of Tibet on this map. At all.

Now type in Tibet.

---------
Here's another interesting one...WorldAtlas doesn't allow you pick Tibet from its list of countries.

So, OK. I know it's not recognized as a country, so this is understandable, if transparent. But as far as I can tell, Tibet does not exist on this site at all.

There's even an apologia on this page that explains why you might not find Palestine or Taiwan on the list, but Tibet? Nope, never heard of 'em. Not even on this list of dependencies and territories!

So here's my question. I feel that an atlas should have Tibet in its search terms, even if it is only described with something like "the former name for this disputed chunk of land, which the Chinese Government claims is part of China, and Tibetan people claim should be an independent country."

Am I off? Is it the job of an atlas only to describe government-sponsored entities, and not lands whose governance is disputed? It seems to me that analysis (or at least passing mention!) of cultural and geopolitical conflicts are very rightly placed on an atlas.

How about Taiwan? Is there any salient difference between Taiwan's situation and Tibet's...other than fifty years of memory and resistance to the Chinese Government? Will Taiwan cease to exist in atlases in fifty years?

In case you'd like to actually read about Never Never Land...I mean, Tibet, Wikipedia actually discusses the matter.

Until Google buys them out.

Posted by Lythande (formerly T) at 04:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So what will I blog about? Hmmmm...heteronormativity...well, how about kids?

if 10% of kids are queer/questioning/will be queer someday, let's help them feel safe and normal, and help other kids learn that this is normal. Parents, uncles, aunts, babysitters, make at least 10% of books on your kid's shelves about queer kids or queer families. And especially, let's have a few out there like M or F? which (although I haven't read it yet, as I just found it on amazon) purports to actually be a happy story about queer youth, which is a narrative we desperately need.

What? You say there aren't enough books about queer families/kids? Moon blogger (and Amazon) to the rescue!

Here are some options that I found. I have not read them all so I cannot vouch for the quality, but I'm assuming that most of them should be pretty great:

For little kids:

Heather Has Two Mommies
Daddy's Roommate
ABC A Family Alphabet Book
The Family Book
It's Okay To Be Different
Emma and Meesha My Boy: A Two Mom Story
One Dad, Two Dads, Brown Dad, Blue Dads
Who's in a Family?

For older kids:
Geography Club
GLBTQ: The Survival Guide for Queer and Questioning Teens
Totally Joe
How It Feels to Have a Gay or Lesbian Parent: A Book by Kids for Kids of All Ages
The Heart Has Its Reasons : Young Adult Literature with Gay/Lesbian/Queer Content, 1969-2004
M or F?

Lullabies to Sing at Night:
Everything's Possible by Fred Small, on his album No Limit

Happy shopping! Go wild!

Two other quick notes:
- All these books should also be available on more small-family busness friendly bookstore websites like Powell's, so don't feel obligated to use my Amazon links. I'm just being lazy, and I will stop soon. :)
- This list does not have enough teen fic with strong female queer characters, but I'm assuming these would be easy enough to find at a good feminist bookstore or website.

... I'm going to bed now!

Posted by Lythande (formerly T) at 04:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Found out about a new organization today that I think I'm gonna love. GPAC - the Gender Public Advocacy Commission.

Here's their vision: "To ensure every American can participate in the workplace, the classroom, and the community regardless of whether they meet ideals for masculinity or femininity."

Ahhhhhh...a breath of real air!

-----

Why did I hear about them today? Because I got an e-mail about their reaction to this awful ruling that "upheld an employer's right to compel female employees to wear make-up."

Unbelievable.

Posted by Lythande (formerly T) at 03:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

The cockles of my heart are distinctly warmer after reading all the coverage of the gay families who showed up at the White House for the Easter Egg Roll, and were not burned at the stake. It's so odd to me that the President thinks he needs to speak about limiting our civil rights in the State of The Union Address for *** sake, but when we actually show up at his front door, he has better things to do.

Anyway, when queer families show up in public and nobody dies, it is a good thing and I hope that soon this sort of event is normal and not newsworthy anymore!

___

This is also definitely a BOTH/AND moment. BOTH I am glad this happened, AND I am frustrated with the media coverage.

Why? Because the photos available on the web of this event portrayed overwhelmingly white-appearing gay families - and 100% white-appearing gay parents.

I say "white-appearing" because I obviously can't assume people's racial background or identity from outside appearances, but/and at the same time, when the media only publish photos of white-appearing people, they reinforce the stereotype that all members (or, just as troublesome, all newsworthy or photogenic members) of that community look white.

I searched on google (easter white house gay & easter egg hunt white house gay, because I am not very efficient. I didn't try "roll" as I didn't know at the time it was part of the title of the event) and opened every article I could find after the event. Here is the rundown:

The Advocate showed two all-white-appearing families
CNN shows one of the same all-white-appearing families as the Advocate
The Age showed two white-appearing dads with a child who appears to be of color
The SF Chronicle showed two children, one of whom could be of color (and not even any of their parents!)
The LA Times showed an all-white-appearing family.

Sigh. So many intersecting oppressions. Our community is not all white by a long shot, and I bet neither were the families at this event.

Posted by Lythande (formerly T) at 08:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Nubian points out one of the many ways in which the Duke rape case is bring told with inherent racism and sexism: comparing this women's story to that of Tawana Brawley.

A quote:

"when the media and other folks continue to compare her story to tawana's, they yet again, reinforce the idea that if a black woman claims rape, she must be lying. that black women cannot be trusted. that black women who tell their story of sexual assault, have a secret agenda. that black women are out to get white men. bullshit. these two cases are exceedingly different on many, many levels and we must remember that.

it's also interesting to note that, no one rushes to evoke the numerous stories of lynched black men who were accussed of raping white women. when white women lie about being raped by black men, no one resurrects photographs of black bodies hanging from trees, or the mangled and bloated body of young emmitt till who only whistled at a white woman."

Posted by Lythande (formerly T) at 08:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

CODEPINK has just published a report documenting that life for women in Iraq is much, much worse than before, and that Americans are DISTINCTLY making the problem worse...read it all here.

(and keep up on all their great work here.)

from the e-mail I received describing the report:

"The report shows that from 1958 to the 1990s, Iraq provided more rights and freedoms for women and girls than most of its neighbors. Though Saddam Hussein's dictatorial government and 12 years of severe sanctions reduced these opportunities, Iraqi women were active in all aspects of their society. After the occupation, with the exception of women in Iraqi Kurdistan, women's daily lives have been reduced to a mere struggle for survival."

A choice section from the report:

"THE U.S. IS PART OF THE PROBLEM. Some U.S. military personnel have committed crimes of sexual
abuse and physical assault against women. Many women have told stories about rapes and routine sexual humiliation, particularly at detainment centers....U.S. military tactics have also victimized women and their families—displacing them from their homes, subjecting them to aerial assaults, and occasionally using women as bargaining chips in exchange for suspected male insurgents."

Posted by Lythande (formerly T) at 09:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I loved this post in response to an opinion piece in The Advocate.

Nubian blows me away. :)

Posted by Lythande (formerly T) at 09:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This book was deeply moving. made me shiver. It goes so far beyond "won't our kids just get along" to some of the awful, deeply challenging questions that I see us all encountering every day, and that have no easy answers. There are horror stories, including a mother whose son was treated badly while he was under anesthesia because of his race...and stories of brilliant comebacks...it's a road map to doing "the work" while raising kids, and all the mess and sorrow and joy that entails.

You can buy it anywhere, including here.

Posted by Lythande (formerly T) at 08:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Read it here.

Especially disturbing:

"Portland, considered to be a top women’s basketball coach, has faced allegations of anti-lesbian bias in the past, even admitting she did not want lesbians on her team..."

It's always sadly surprising to me when people even IMAGINE that this would be an appropriate attitude to hold!

Posted by Lythande (formerly T) at 04:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I put together a list I've been saving up for years of great books with strong, complicated, interesting, and smart girl protagonists. I wanted to make sure that these books were on my children's shelves - kids of any gender - to reinforce the idea that girls can be powerful and smart and strong.

The good thing is that these books were wonderful, fabulous, fun, and empowering. They taught me that being strong and smart (and Jewish, some of them!) was OK.

The problem is that it is also a list of all WHITE, able-bodied, American or European girls. Sexuality was, of course, never mentioned.

It's really remarkable to me to look back and see how my book choices were exclusively about white girls. I even remember reading pretty much every Judy Blume book except Iggy's House, which I seem to remember was the one where the typical white girl protagonist (gasp) encounters racism! no!

How young I internalized the concept of "other," and my society's racism. That wasn't my story, and I wasn't interested in it.

...I'm definitely going to have to broaden this list. Off to the bookstore and library! Here are some with more diverse characters that have been recommended to me that I plan to read:

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Island of the Blue Dolphins and Zia

And here is a website that seems to have some very promising leads...I will update as I find more sites and books.

Other recommendations? Our bookshelves will need strong, smart queer girls, disabled girls, immigrant girls, girls of color, and more...

Oh...and here is the original totally racially biased list (but still books which, as part of a more diverse list, are beloved favorites of mine that i recommend highly), for your reference:

A Wrinkle In Time and other Meg Murray books by Madeline L'Engle
Someday Angeline by Louis Sachar
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
Caddie Woodlawn and Magical Melons by Carol Ryrie Brink
Anastasia Krupnik (and all the other Anastasia books) by Lois Lowry
The Laura Ingalls Wilder books
The All-of-a-Kind Family series by Sydney Taylor
The Real Me by Betsy Byars
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
A Summer to Die by Lois Lowry
Beat the Turtle Drum by Constance C. Greene (although I don't remember this one as well, I need to reread it)
The Westing Game (which does have diversity in it, just not the bright girl character) by Ellen Raskin

More books of all kinds to be added as we go.

Posted by Lythande (formerly T) at 04:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

So...this is it. I've caved in to the 21st century...and have deluded myself into thinking my thoughts and activism might be useful to compile and publish...

...but when such an insightful blogger as nubian is promoting something called Blog Against Heteronormativity day, how can I possibly resist?

Join us. You have nothing to lose but your outdated binary gender paradigm.

Posted by Lythande (formerly T) at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)