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jfwright's picture

The Stories We Tell Ourselves: A Continuation of Web Event #2

http://thestorieswetellourselves.tumblr.com/

This webpaper expands on the children's book I started for web event #2. While this book isn't finished - and isn't meant to be - I sincerely hope you enjoy the work I've put into it! I certainly have been.

LittleItaly's picture

Class Slam -The Final Question

So over the past weeks I've been feeling differently about how our society is. I'm beginning to believe that nothing can change. I think that is what I wanted to express in my slam poetry last Sunday. I feel like most of time we forget that ESEM is just another required class and while this was a great class, taught by great teacher, that provoked so many ideas and emotions, I sit here wondering what will be different. These will only become memories that we carry along with the rest of our accumulating baggage and we will reflect back on it once in a while. But has it really touched any of us? Are the people who sat their quiet during this process suppressing their thought, hesitating what to let go and share with us, really any more open? Or are they that much more closeted? Are the people that came to this class oblivious of many classed ideas really feeling the empowerment? Or was it just one of those little 'take a chance' moments we tell our kids about one day? With my poem I wished to have people think about the question, can we really change? I think as a group, we described our class on 'class' the way the people in the world do - differently. All these differen't connections and emotions that fill up a room, that create tension, silence, noice, freedom; I though were all conveyed in our group slam. I just wonder if anyone really heard us.

ssaludades's picture

In Class

For those of you still revisiting the forum, I just came upon this NYtimes article which rejuvenates the power of college education admist the end of semester season. I found that it touched based on some issues that we talked about in class. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/14/what-is-college-for/

Katie Randall's picture

Shifting Standards of Care and Right Relationships

 Back in October I posted a paper on this site exploring the relation between the medicalization of disability (as seen in Eli Claire's Exile & Pride) and the pathologization of transsexuality (as seen in Rachel Ann Heath’s The Praeger Handbook of Transsexuality: Changing Gender to Match Mindset.

(read the full paper here: /exchange/node/11075 )

In The Praeger Handbook of Transsexuality: Changing Gender to Match Mindset a lot of Heath's discussion of the medicalization of disability revolved around the standards of care (SOC), standards written by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health to guide doctors with transsexual patients. The Praeger Handbook was published in 2006 and critiqued the 6th edition of the SOC, published in 2001. It was this critique that I incorporated into my own work.

But right around the same time that I posted my thoughts, something happened that I didn’t know about until later. A new and revised SOC was published.

Amophrast's picture

Full Interview with M.T.HHS

This is the full text of the interview I conducted via Skype chat with a freshman at Haverford High School.

[7:45:05 PM] Amophrast: Feel free to talk openly and freely about yourself and your experiences. This information will be published on Serendip, a website that is publicly accessible, but at this point or any point in the future you can choose an alias to go by or request that certain information or excerpts is/are made private. If you do not specify a particular alias, you will be assigned one based on your name, preferred gender (hypen will be used if preferred gender is none), and school. Example, my sister is C.F.HHS

[7:45:25 PM] Amophrast: do you have any questions?

[7:45:28 PM] M.T.HHS: Hmm

[7:45:44 PM] M.T.HHS: Can you have me be M.T.HHS or something with M first

[7:46:36 PM] Amophrast: sure, I will use M.T.HHS

[7:46:47 PM] M.T.HHS: Okay, thanks no more questions!

[7:47:07 PM] Amophrast: How do you perceive of the environment at Haverford High School?

think of it as kind of a campus climate report, and in terms of LGBTQ issues/individuals. For example, comments on bullying, freedom of gender expression, availability of safe spaces, other issues revolving around LGBTQ youth or individuals involved with LGBTQ issues

Amophrast's picture

Full Interview with CL.M.HHS

This is the full text of the interview I conducted via Skype chat with a gay, male-identifying freshman at Haverford High School.

I think the questions flow a bit more smoothly than the first interview

[3:52:02 PM] Amophrast: okay, going to start with my official intro message

[3:54:07 PM] Amophrast: Feel free to talk openly and freely about yourself and your experiences. This information will be published on Serendip, a website that is publicly accessible, but at this point or any point in the future you can choose an alias to go by or request that certain information or excerpts is/are made private. If you do not specify a particular alias, you will be assigned one based on your name, preferred gender (hypen will be used if preferred gender is none), and school. Example, C.F.HHS

[3:54:25 PM] Amophrast: do you have any questions?

[3:54:56 PM] CL.M.HHS: not right now

[3:55:06 PM] Amophrast: alright

[3:56:40 PM] Amophrast: How do you perceive of the environment at Haverford High School?

think of it as kind of a campus climate report, and in terms of LGBTQ issues/individuals. For example, comments on bullying, freedom of gender expression, availability of safe spaces, other issues revolving around LGBTQ youth or individuals involved with LGBTQ issues

Amophrast's picture

Full Interview with C.F.HHS

This is the full text of the interview I conducted via Skype chat with a female-identifying freshman at Haverford High School.

The general interview:

[3:21:53 PM] Amophrast: So I'm going to give you my intro message again even though i already said most of it

[3:22:49 PM] Amophrast: Feel free to talk openly and freely about yourself and your experiences. This information will be published on Serendip, a website that is publicly accessible, but at this point or any point in the future you can choose an alias to go by or request that certain information or excerpts is/are made private

[3:22:58 PM] Amophrast: do you have any questions before we begin?

[3:23:15 PM] C.F.HHS: nope

[3:23:59 PM] Amophrast: do you wish to use an alias, abbreviation, or different name for the purpose of this interview?

[3:24:26 PM] C.F.HHS: nope

[3:25:03 PM] Amophrast: ok.

[3:25:36 PM] Amophrast: How do you perceive of the environment at Haverford High School?

[3:27:24 PM] Amophrast: think of it as a kind of campus climate report--either in regards to bullying, freedom of gender expression, availability of safe spaces, other issues revolving around LGBTQ youth or individuals involved with LGBTQ issues

[3:34:23 PM] C.F.HHS: I find it decently peaceful. It's laid-back and everyone goes about minding their own business.

S. Yaeger's picture

Reconsidering Women's Colleges Through Butler, Barad, Kaleb, Dalke, and Ourselves.

Often, when writing a paper, I feel like I am travelling down a rabbit hole.  I feel like I am being led, by the theorists and ideas with which I am engaging, into a strange and un-understandable world.  In thinking about this paper, that feeling has been stronger and more pronounced than it has with any other project.  Perhaps this heightened feeling of confusion and journey can be chalked up to the fact that I am writing it in a new place for me: a women’s college.  Or, it could be because this paper is something of a quarrel with the idea that there is one way to be a woman, and, by extension, one way to be a women’s college.  Alternately, it could be because I am writing about a topic with which I have nearly no personal experience. 

Amophrast's picture

Final Webpaper

This is an extension of my third webpaper: /exchange/node/11451

I have changed the names of the interviewees to First letter of first name (or initials) [dot] Initial (or hypen) noting gender [dot] abbreviation of school. So if I converted Kaye's information into this format, it would be K.F.HC. Anne would be A.F.BMC.

I also acknowledge that this project will be a work in progress and is not anywhere near finished, seeing as it's just barely started.

sel209's picture

Entangling and Enabling: A handbook for BSA that encourages right relationships despite a disabling culture

For my final project, I chose to expand upon my third web event, which explored the idea of forming a right relationship between the Boy Scouts of American and the LGBTQ community. A restatement of my original introduction is useful in understanding the issue at hand: 

“The Boy Scouts of America’s website is covered in testaments to the organization’s commitment to the betterment of America’s male youth. Its mission statement professes dedication to building active and conscientious citizens, its parent portal promises that it is the best organization to reinforce ethical standards and promote self-confidence, and its timeline gleams with the success of past service projects and awards from numerous presidents. What the website neglects to publicize, however, is perhaps the most telling statement of all about BSA’s moral and ethical belief system: the Boy Scouts do not allow openly gay members to join their ranks.”

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