Bit of a gap in posting these - unusual amount of social stuff happening, in part.
( Chapter 5: We don't need no education )
( Chapter 5: We don't need no education )
I started writing out a sort of obituary or biography of my dad. It turned into something of a monster, weighing in at about 6,750 words, so I am breaking it down into a number of parts. I don't imagine many folks will have time to read the whole darned thing, but I wanted to get it all down and recorded for posterity.
( Chapter 1: The miseducation of Eddy Freeman )
( Chapter 1: The miseducation of Eddy Freeman )
Easter lockdown
Apr. 11th, 2020 10:23 pmLike many of my fellow Christians, it has been a strange Easter, and I am sad not to have been able to participate in the Triduum - the three services on Maundy Thursday (Last Supper), Good Friday (Crucifixion), and Easter Vigil (first celebration of the resurrection on the night of Easter Saturday.). Much as Jewish friends have been having to make do with virtual Seders.
Still, it's helped that St. John's have put on a full week of online readings and sermons and singing and stuff, and sent round a booklet of readings and prayers.![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ewt has been doing virtual Complines three days a week, streamed via You Tube's Premiere option. She's done most of them, but wildeabandon and I have both done one or more. Anyway, I've managed to have nice little ceremonies at home for the Triduum with the help of this. Though sad not to be at church with other people. But such are the times.
wildeabandon 's weekly Saturday online readthroughs have also been nice. Today we did the Passion from Tony Harrison's series of Mystery plays. In Yorkshire dialect, with rhyming and alliterative verse, and some songs. I think there's supposed to be some grim humour where the four "knights" are crucifying Jesus and arguing about how best to do it and struggling to get the cross in place, though it doesn't work as well over the internet and without props like an actual cross.
After the readthrough and subsequent chat, I cycled to Hampstead Heath for my daily exercise. Lots of hilly work, up to the top end. You can't cycle on Hampstead Heath, so I walked the bike down through the Heath, then cycled home via a different route.
( Photos )
Is it me, or is it a bit early for all the trees to be green. It has been very warm weather of late.
Still, it's helped that St. John's have put on a full week of online readings and sermons and singing and stuff, and sent round a booklet of readings and prayers.
ewt has been doing virtual Complines three days a week, streamed via You Tube's Premiere option. She's done most of them, but wildeabandon and I have both done one or more. Anyway, I've managed to have nice little ceremonies at home for the Triduum with the help of this. Though sad not to be at church with other people. But such are the times.wildeabandon 's weekly Saturday online readthroughs have also been nice. Today we did the Passion from Tony Harrison's series of Mystery plays. In Yorkshire dialect, with rhyming and alliterative verse, and some songs. I think there's supposed to be some grim humour where the four "knights" are crucifying Jesus and arguing about how best to do it and struggling to get the cross in place, though it doesn't work as well over the internet and without props like an actual cross.After the readthrough and subsequent chat, I cycled to Hampstead Heath for my daily exercise. Lots of hilly work, up to the top end. You can't cycle on Hampstead Heath, so I walked the bike down through the Heath, then cycled home via a different route.
( Photos )
Is it me, or is it a bit early for all the trees to be green. It has been very warm weather of late.
Running start
Mar. 28th, 2020 10:41 pmAs I mentioned over at the Face, my idea about going cycling along the River Lea last Sunday proved to be a poor choice in terms of maintaining social distancing; cycling along the road keeps you well away from people, but the towpath was very crowded with walkers and cyclists.
I decided my best bet for (as it was shortly to become) my one daily exercise might be to cycle to Finsbury Park, about 1 mile from me, and then go for a walk in the park.
Or, I thought, why not try a run?
Now, I don't run. I cycle, and I walk; quite a brisk pace, and I almost always make at least my 10,000 steps (failed yesterday, got absorbed in work late in the evening and forgot the time till after midnight). But I have never been in the habit of running. But, if a pandemic-induced lockdown isn't a good chance to take up something new, what is? (At least until they cancel the one daily exercise).
Finsbury Park seems not to be too busy, at least weekday afternoons and early evenings. Reasonably easy to maintain 2m. Anyway, so on Monday I started out with a baseline brisk walk around the peripheral road inside the park, which, judging by the number of steps, is about 2.1km. That took me a shade under 21 minutes.
Then on Wednesday I actually did the run, in a time of 13:22, which I work out at a shade under 6mph. Pretty rubbish, but it was very clear that I was using muscles that I have just not been in the habit of using! Yesterday I did it again, and got it down to 13:10, so, well, some improvement better than none. Was definitely feelings fairly sore later that evening, indeed still today.
Well, I guess it's a start.
One thing I'm perplexed about is, if the temperature is such that one is likely to want to wear more clothes on the way to one's run than on the run itself, how does one handle this if it is not somewhere where there are lockers or something? Clearly wearing a backpack during the run is not the solution most runners adopt. Secrete one's backpack by a tree and cover it over with leaves perhaps? I suppose a shirt can be tied round one's waist. But I guess I know the actual answer is you suck it up and deal with being a bit cold on the way there and back. Ho, hum.
I decided my best bet for (as it was shortly to become) my one daily exercise might be to cycle to Finsbury Park, about 1 mile from me, and then go for a walk in the park.
Or, I thought, why not try a run?
Now, I don't run. I cycle, and I walk; quite a brisk pace, and I almost always make at least my 10,000 steps (failed yesterday, got absorbed in work late in the evening and forgot the time till after midnight). But I have never been in the habit of running. But, if a pandemic-induced lockdown isn't a good chance to take up something new, what is? (At least until they cancel the one daily exercise).
Finsbury Park seems not to be too busy, at least weekday afternoons and early evenings. Reasonably easy to maintain 2m. Anyway, so on Monday I started out with a baseline brisk walk around the peripheral road inside the park, which, judging by the number of steps, is about 2.1km. That took me a shade under 21 minutes.
Then on Wednesday I actually did the run, in a time of 13:22, which I work out at a shade under 6mph. Pretty rubbish, but it was very clear that I was using muscles that I have just not been in the habit of using! Yesterday I did it again, and got it down to 13:10, so, well, some improvement better than none. Was definitely feelings fairly sore later that evening, indeed still today.
Well, I guess it's a start.
One thing I'm perplexed about is, if the temperature is such that one is likely to want to wear more clothes on the way to one's run than on the run itself, how does one handle this if it is not somewhere where there are lockers or something? Clearly wearing a backpack during the run is not the solution most runners adopt. Secrete one's backpack by a tree and cover it over with leaves perhaps? I suppose a shirt can be tied round one's waist. But I guess I know the actual answer is you suck it up and deal with being a bit cold on the way there and back. Ho, hum.
RIP Yaşar Halim 1943-2020
Feb. 1st, 2020 12:21 pmYasar Halim is one of the oldest, largest, and best known of the many Turkish-speaking stores on Green Lanes in Harringay in North London, not far from where I live. It sells a similar range of international products to many of the other grocers along the road, though its olive selection is fantastic and its fruit and vegetable range better than most. But what makes it truly special is the large, separate bakery section next to the grocers, serving all manner of delicious Turkish bread, fresh from the oven, and a whole host of sweet and savoury pastries, including some of the best and cheapest baklava to be had in London. (Though it now has stiff competition in the baklava department from Antepliler across the road).
The area is home to large Turkish, Kurdish, and Turkish Cypriot communities, with dozens of cafés, restuarants, and grocery stores to match. There used to be a substantial Greek Cypriot community too, but apparently most of them have moved further north. But Yasar Halim still announces itself on its store front in 3 languages, Patisserie, Pasathanesi, Ζαχαροπλαστειον.
Walking along Green Lanes this morning, I passed the store, and saw flyers in the window announcing the death of the founder, the eponymous Mr. Yaşar Halim. He died last Tuesday, 2 days after his 77th birthday. A Turkish Cypriot, he came to the UK in 1962, and opened his store in 1987. He says he was delivered by a blind midwife in a baking tray, perhaps explaining his life-long love of baking. He is survived by two sons and various grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Yasar Halim is, and I expect will remain, part of the fabric of the neighbourhood, and part of what makes London a great city.
I used to shop there a lot more when I lived nearer by in the late 90s and early 00s; now it is a bit more out of the way, and there's an all-night supermarket round the corner from me, though its bread is not quite as fresh. But I bought a loaf of Turkish flat bread there today in memory of Mr. Halim, and wrote in the memorial book.
Rest in Peace Yaşar Halim, but long live Yasar Halim, and long live London, strong, open, diverse, and ever changing.
The area is home to large Turkish, Kurdish, and Turkish Cypriot communities, with dozens of cafés, restuarants, and grocery stores to match. There used to be a substantial Greek Cypriot community too, but apparently most of them have moved further north. But Yasar Halim still announces itself on its store front in 3 languages, Patisserie, Pasathanesi, Ζαχαροπλαστειον.
Walking along Green Lanes this morning, I passed the store, and saw flyers in the window announcing the death of the founder, the eponymous Mr. Yaşar Halim. He died last Tuesday, 2 days after his 77th birthday. A Turkish Cypriot, he came to the UK in 1962, and opened his store in 1987. He says he was delivered by a blind midwife in a baking tray, perhaps explaining his life-long love of baking. He is survived by two sons and various grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Yasar Halim is, and I expect will remain, part of the fabric of the neighbourhood, and part of what makes London a great city.
I used to shop there a lot more when I lived nearer by in the late 90s and early 00s; now it is a bit more out of the way, and there's an all-night supermarket round the corner from me, though its bread is not quite as fresh. But I bought a loaf of Turkish flat bread there today in memory of Mr. Halim, and wrote in the memorial book.
Rest in Peace Yaşar Halim, but long live Yasar Halim, and long live London, strong, open, diverse, and ever changing.
Dietary alteration
Nov. 15th, 2017 10:55 pmI have decided to go vegan. It's been about a week and a half now, mostly successfully.
I've been aware for a long time that dairy and eggs, even free-range, are ethically problematic in much the same way as meat, and had no good logical defence against this case. I started reducing dairy back then, about 2000 I think; I stopped taking milk in coffee, tea and cereal, mostly stopped buying cheese at home (except occasionally goat's cheese). But basically I found giving up cheese too much of a hurdle, especially when out and about.
It was Captain Janeway finally convinced me. I realized a little while ago that, while I had seen all of TNG and DS9 (the latter a few times), there was still a lot of Voyager that I had not seen, so I started a watchthrough.
Anyway, there was this episode in season 4, episode 7, "Scientific Method", where a bunch of invisible out-of-phase aliens from a very advanced civilization take over Voyager unbeknownest to the crew and start performing experiments on them, poking and prodding and manipulating and infecting them and sticking all manner of probes into them, with effects of varying severity up to and including death. Janeway is given constant headaches by the probes sticking into her brain, which make her VERY grumpy.
So eventually they find away of detecting these aliens and capture the leader, and put her in the brig. She explains calmly to Janeway that they are performing scientific experiments that could lead to enormous medical progress saving potentially millions of lives, thatthe experiments are "as benign as we can make them", and that if the crew of Voyager only cooperate, the fatality rate should be very low.
Janeway replies "...It's the exploitation of another species for your own benefit. My people decided a long time ago that that was unacceptable, even in the name of scientific progress."
And well, as I've noted in a previous post, sometimes when certain people speak even a very simple truth, the words carry power, and this for me was one of those cases. Of course, the specific referent is animal experiments, but if not for scientific progress, then surely even more so not for culinary pleasure?
Anyhoo, so I've been adopting a vegan diet. Not 100% yet, but getting there. Specifically (1) I have yet to fully exclude non-vegan baked goods, but will get there; and (2) legacy issues, that is to say (a) an event where I'd signed up as vegetarian but not vegan and (b) dairy products already in my fridge, namely (i) the last bit of ice cream left over from my housewarming/Ameriversary party, which I had last night, and (ii) some frozen Indian paneer and vegetable bites which I intend to still eat. However, I think I will attempt to donate the big block of parmesan that my dad decided would be a good idea to buy me back in April, and which has been sitting in my fridge ever since, to my housemate.
Going forward, some specifics about the rules I will be applying:
1) No foods where milk products or eggs are a significant component
1a) I will in some cases make an exception for foods where there is a trace amount of milk/egg product where there is not a good alternative. However, this is to be avoided wherever reasonably possible.
2) At present, I am not excluding honey. While I understand the argument that honey production is injurious to bees' health, the best information at the moment seems to be that bees, while possibly possessing a minimal level of consciousness, are "not good candidates for feeling pain".
3) In keeping with the trace amount issue, I am not interrogating the precise ingredients of my beer.
4) No new leather apparel, but second-hand is OK. (In particular, leather shoes I already have are OK). I will need to find a good source of smart non-leather shoes.
5) I am not yet sure about wool. Hmm, reading around, it seems some sheep-rearing practices are very cruel, but others are treated a lot more ethically. For now, wool is not excluded, but will be careful with sourcing. (It seems Australia and NZ are the worst). This is open to review. But again, second-hand I will be treating as OK.
This does not necessarily mean that I consider these exemptions to be without ethical problems, rather that I am treating them as part of a reasonable and possibly temporary compromise.
I've been aware for a long time that dairy and eggs, even free-range, are ethically problematic in much the same way as meat, and had no good logical defence against this case. I started reducing dairy back then, about 2000 I think; I stopped taking milk in coffee, tea and cereal, mostly stopped buying cheese at home (except occasionally goat's cheese). But basically I found giving up cheese too much of a hurdle, especially when out and about.
It was Captain Janeway finally convinced me. I realized a little while ago that, while I had seen all of TNG and DS9 (the latter a few times), there was still a lot of Voyager that I had not seen, so I started a watchthrough.
Anyway, there was this episode in season 4, episode 7, "Scientific Method", where a bunch of invisible out-of-phase aliens from a very advanced civilization take over Voyager unbeknownest to the crew and start performing experiments on them, poking and prodding and manipulating and infecting them and sticking all manner of probes into them, with effects of varying severity up to and including death. Janeway is given constant headaches by the probes sticking into her brain, which make her VERY grumpy.
So eventually they find away of detecting these aliens and capture the leader, and put her in the brig. She explains calmly to Janeway that they are performing scientific experiments that could lead to enormous medical progress saving potentially millions of lives, thatthe experiments are "as benign as we can make them", and that if the crew of Voyager only cooperate, the fatality rate should be very low.
Janeway replies "...It's the exploitation of another species for your own benefit. My people decided a long time ago that that was unacceptable, even in the name of scientific progress."
And well, as I've noted in a previous post, sometimes when certain people speak even a very simple truth, the words carry power, and this for me was one of those cases. Of course, the specific referent is animal experiments, but if not for scientific progress, then surely even more so not for culinary pleasure?
Anyhoo, so I've been adopting a vegan diet. Not 100% yet, but getting there. Specifically (1) I have yet to fully exclude non-vegan baked goods, but will get there; and (2) legacy issues, that is to say (a) an event where I'd signed up as vegetarian but not vegan and (b) dairy products already in my fridge, namely (i) the last bit of ice cream left over from my housewarming/Ameriversary party, which I had last night, and (ii) some frozen Indian paneer and vegetable bites which I intend to still eat. However, I think I will attempt to donate the big block of parmesan that my dad decided would be a good idea to buy me back in April, and which has been sitting in my fridge ever since, to my housemate.
Going forward, some specifics about the rules I will be applying:
1) No foods where milk products or eggs are a significant component
1a) I will in some cases make an exception for foods where there is a trace amount of milk/egg product where there is not a good alternative. However, this is to be avoided wherever reasonably possible.
2) At present, I am not excluding honey. While I understand the argument that honey production is injurious to bees' health, the best information at the moment seems to be that bees, while possibly possessing a minimal level of consciousness, are "not good candidates for feeling pain".
3) In keeping with the trace amount issue, I am not interrogating the precise ingredients of my beer.
4) No new leather apparel, but second-hand is OK. (In particular, leather shoes I already have are OK). I will need to find a good source of smart non-leather shoes.
5) I am not yet sure about wool. Hmm, reading around, it seems some sheep-rearing practices are very cruel, but others are treated a lot more ethically. For now, wool is not excluded, but will be careful with sourcing. (It seems Australia and NZ are the worst). This is open to review. But again, second-hand I will be treating as OK.
This does not necessarily mean that I consider these exemptions to be without ethical problems, rather that I am treating them as part of a reasonable and possibly temporary compromise.
RIP Carla Henebry
Oct. 7th, 2017 11:09 pmI was singing at the memorial service for one of our congregation at St. James today, Carla Henebry, who died just under two weeks ago, aged 86. A good age, but it was sudden, she had not been ill, and was still very active.
I knew her a little, through the sanctuary work, for which she was a regular volunteer, one of the many political and volunteering activities she'd got involved in, since she moved to Cambridge from Colorado to live with her son and his family, a little over a year ago - not much longer than I've been here.
As I knew a little of, and as was made very clear in the service by Revd. Holly and her family and friends, she was an activist all her life. She was involved in the sanctuary movemement in Colorado in the 1980s, and got involved in the new sanctuary movement here and now. She was very active for Palestinian rights, having found and got involved in two separate groups, a Palestine water justice group and the Cambridge Bethlehem People to People group. She was involved in the St. James prison ministry. She's been involved in the peace movement, the environmental movement, and much else. She was, as her daughter in law said, a Social Justice Warrior long before the phrase became a term of abuse.
She was, Holly and her friends said (and it fits with the little I knew of her), determined and unstoppable (though not moving very fast these days with her arthiritis), but compassionate and without rancour in what she did, and always with a sense of humour and fun. Also a passion for travel.
I don't know if she was ready to move on, but I think the world, and her family, could ill afford to lose her.
She was fighting for justice to her final breath. Rest in Power, Carla Henebry, and Rise in Glory.
I knew her a little, through the sanctuary work, for which she was a regular volunteer, one of the many political and volunteering activities she'd got involved in, since she moved to Cambridge from Colorado to live with her son and his family, a little over a year ago - not much longer than I've been here.
As I knew a little of, and as was made very clear in the service by Revd. Holly and her family and friends, she was an activist all her life. She was involved in the sanctuary movemement in Colorado in the 1980s, and got involved in the new sanctuary movement here and now. She was very active for Palestinian rights, having found and got involved in two separate groups, a Palestine water justice group and the Cambridge Bethlehem People to People group. She was involved in the St. James prison ministry. She's been involved in the peace movement, the environmental movement, and much else. She was, as her daughter in law said, a Social Justice Warrior long before the phrase became a term of abuse.
She was, Holly and her friends said (and it fits with the little I knew of her), determined and unstoppable (though not moving very fast these days with her arthiritis), but compassionate and without rancour in what she did, and always with a sense of humour and fun. Also a passion for travel.
I don't know if she was ready to move on, but I think the world, and her family, could ill afford to lose her.
She was fighting for justice to her final breath. Rest in Power, Carla Henebry, and Rise in Glory.
More on violence and non-violence
Aug. 24th, 2017 12:03 amI am really struggling with what I think about violence and non-violence. For a long time I called myself a Pacifist. I'm not sure I would these days. What this clergyman who was at Charlottesville, and who also considers himself a Pacifist, said, resonates a lot.
"And so I come to this – white liberal Christian friends, I’m talking to you. I’ve seen a lot of condemnation of “violent response,” lots of selective quoting Dr. King, lots of disparagement of antifa and the so-called “alt-left,” a moral equivalency from the depths of Hell if I ever saw one. You want to be nonviolent? That is good and noble. I think…I think I do, too. But I want you to understand what you’re asking of the people who take this necessary stance against white supremacy, the people who go to look evil in the face. You’re asking them to be beaten with brass knuckles, with bats, with fists. To be pounded into the ground, stomped on, and smashed. You’re asking them to bleed on the pavement and the grass. Some of them are going to die. And you’re asking them to do that without defending themselves.
"And so I come to this – white liberal Christian friends, I’m talking to you. I’ve seen a lot of condemnation of “violent response,” lots of selective quoting Dr. King, lots of disparagement of antifa and the so-called “alt-left,” a moral equivalency from the depths of Hell if I ever saw one. You want to be nonviolent? That is good and noble. I think…I think I do, too. But I want you to understand what you’re asking of the people who take this necessary stance against white supremacy, the people who go to look evil in the face. You’re asking them to be beaten with brass knuckles, with bats, with fists. To be pounded into the ground, stomped on, and smashed. You’re asking them to bleed on the pavement and the grass. Some of them are going to die. And you’re asking them to do that without defending themselves.
Are you willing to do that? Are you going to to go out when the Nazis come here, to the Bay Area, next week? Are you going to offer your body to them? No? Are you willing to take a bat to the head? To be surrounded by angry young men who want nothing more than to beat you unconscious, like they did Deandre Harris? Are you going to rely upon a different type of violence – that imposed by the state – to protect you – even knowing it is a danger to your neighbors? To outsource the violence your safety requires to someone else? Or are you just not going to show up, at the rally or afterward? To choose passivity over pacifism – because let’s be clear, nonviolence is still about showing up.
If you are unwilling to risk your bodily integrity to stand against literal Nazis, but you are willing to criticize the people out there who are taking this grave threat seriously but not in a way of which you approve….I just don’t know what to say to you. Truly. Your moral authority is bankrupt and you’re not helping. You’re a hypocrite."
In the end, in this situation, yes, I would rather defned myself, or others, or have others defend me, than be beaten into a pulp by Nazis. I cannot say that pure non-violence is the right answer all the time.
Here's where I still believe in non-violence though:
There is far, far, too much fucking violence in the world. Too many people, even those with good ultimate intentions, are too quick to resort to violence, or to support violence by others, as the solution to problems.
And there is far, far, too little non-violence. By which I mean, active non-violence. There is far too little thinking and praxis about opposing evil without using violence. Lots of people are willing to say "Fight hate with love", but very, very few actually have any clue or willingness about how to put that into practice beyong sharing memes on Facebook. There are people who do this, and who think about it and develop creative ideas, but there are far too few. I think there are a lot of situations where active, creative, large-scale non-violent methods could achieve an enormous amount, ultimately at less cost in lives and pain than violent methods.
You do not have to be a pacifist to engage in active non-violence. A non-violent approach says "I am going to confront you, but I am going to do so, as far as I possibly can, in a way that does not inflict harm and that does not succumb to hate". But one can do this and still say "But if this does not work I am not going to let you beat me or my neighbour to death if I can stop you by whatever means at my disposal".
It is not just about avoiding harm to the other side. It is not just about the state of your soul. It is about what comes next after you have beaten the immediate threat or got rid of the immediate tyranny. If the revolution is achieved by force of arms, then the people in charge after the revolution will not be the ones with the most popular support or the best ideas, but the ones with most firepower. And if the first against the wall are the old regime and their elite cronies, then the second against the wall will be the revolutionaries who are seen as a threat to the ones who gain power.
(The best case, though, is where one never actually faces this dilemma, 'cos you outnumber the fash 1000 to 1 like we did in Boston last weekend, and the fash have to be surrounded by a giant police cordon before being escorted away in a police van with their tails between their legs. Yes, I like that scenario.)
A compendium of arms trade corruption
May. 31st, 2017 02:09 pmA post about work
Today World Peace Foundation is making public the first major output from my work here, a Compendium of Arms Trade Corruption (also known as the Dossier of Dodgy Defense Deals), a collection of 18 cases of arms deals with which serious corruption allegations have been associated, and other examples of military corruption not directly related to major arms deals.
It is not new information, but it is collating together the latest available information on each of the cases in one place, and mostly in a standardized form. It is intended as the first installment of a larger project, whereby we hope to make a comprehensive survey of such arms deals, for which we are seeking further funding.
Some of the cases are quite eyeball-popping. Well worth a read, though I do say so myself.
Today World Peace Foundation is making public the first major output from my work here, a Compendium of Arms Trade Corruption (also known as the Dossier of Dodgy Defense Deals), a collection of 18 cases of arms deals with which serious corruption allegations have been associated, and other examples of military corruption not directly related to major arms deals.
It is not new information, but it is collating together the latest available information on each of the cases in one place, and mostly in a standardized form. It is intended as the first installment of a larger project, whereby we hope to make a comprehensive survey of such arms deals, for which we are seeking further funding.
Some of the cases are quite eyeball-popping. Well worth a read, though I do say so myself.
Final LJ farewell
May. 23rd, 2017 01:37 amI have finally completed the migration of my pics from LJ to Dreamwidth, replacing all the LJ Scrapbook links in past entries with links to my DW image space.
I have also saved all the LJ icons I want to keep to my computer. If I buy a paid account here some time I might bring some of them back.
I think that is everything. I have now deleted my LJ.
{is sad}
I have also saved all the LJ icons I want to keep to my computer. If I buy a paid account here some time I might bring some of them back.
I think that is everything. I have now deleted my LJ.
{is sad}
Transcendence
Apr. 30th, 2017 07:00 pmWe had a really powerful, eye-opening, set of testimonies at St. James last Sunday. We are having various guest preachers for the Easter season (though Holly the Rector preached on Easter Day itself), and this week it was a panel from MaeBright, a local company that
"works with state agencies, service-providing non-profits, businesses, schools, and communities that want to evaluate and improve the services they provide to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) people."
Faith groups are one of the types of organization they focus on, working with congregations that are trying to do better at being genuinely welcoming and inclusive to LGBTQ people; in our case, specifically trans and genderqueer folks.
There were four speakers, starting with the MaeBright Director, who was mainly there to say a bit about the company, and to introduce the other three on the panel, who are all trans people, and practicing Christians, and who were basically telling their stories and experiences. After the service, and the food and chat time, there was a Q&A session with the panel, for which quite a large proportion of the congregation stayed behind.
The stories were powerful and heart-rending, but it is clear that they are very, very, typical of the bullying, discrimination, violence, abuse, sexual violence and worse that trans people go through on a daily basis. And while it may pride itself on being a liberal city, Boston is far, far from being exempt from this. But as is so often the case, they were also stories of people who had come through a whole lot of shit, and still bear the wounds - I won't say they've come out "stronger", because trauma doesn't go away that easily, but with a whole load of compassion and wisdom and determination to fight and support other people going through the same.
C's story [1] struck me in particular. She's an African American trans woman, who came from a low income, very religious family, that initially rejected her when she came out (though now her mother has come round and strongly supports her, and was indeed there in the congregation). She knew she was a girl from childhood, but heard from her church how people like her were an abomination. She went through bullying, abuse, homelessness, rape, was repeatedly sacked from jobs or didn't get them in the first place because of her gender presentation, went into sex work due to a complete lack of alternatives.
She is fortunately in a much better place now, and is an active trans rights campaigner, helping run various advocacy and health advice services. And generally seems to be an utterly awesome person.
Hers was very much a religious as well as a personal and political testimony, and one thing that came through strongly was how she held onto faith throughout this, despite the church very often being the source of much of the prejudice she faced. Just how strongly she remained aware of the presence and love of God throughout it all, and determined to keep practicing her faith, so that even when she was homeless and felt there was no worshipping community where she could be at home, she would put on Gospel music on the radio on a Sunday morning, and sing and pray, and pretend she was at church. (She has now found an inclusive - or at least trying to be inclusive - church community).
The Q&A afterwards was really good I thought, with people engaging in serious discussion and listening, and not being afraid of being uncomfortable. A lot of tough issues, like intersection of race and LGBT issues, transphobia within the LGB community, as well as practical stuff like what should teachers do to support trans students.
Holly asked for a show of hands, to guide the Vestry, on putting the rainbow flag we currently have inside the churchm outside on public display, which received resounding support!
So, St. James is certainly better educated on this than we were before, and hopefully we will be making serious efforts to improve our welcome. For me,a rather belated awakening; while I know some trans andrather more genderqueer people, and thought I had informed myself at least somewhat on some of the issues facing trans people, I think this revealed just how little time I have spent actually listening to trans people's experiences in particular. Well, I hope I will do better.
[1] She did give her name, and indeed is out there in public fora with her full name, but I hesitate to use it in a public post that she has not specifically approved.
"works with state agencies, service-providing non-profits, businesses, schools, and communities that want to evaluate and improve the services they provide to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) people."
Faith groups are one of the types of organization they focus on, working with congregations that are trying to do better at being genuinely welcoming and inclusive to LGBTQ people; in our case, specifically trans and genderqueer folks.
There were four speakers, starting with the MaeBright Director, who was mainly there to say a bit about the company, and to introduce the other three on the panel, who are all trans people, and practicing Christians, and who were basically telling their stories and experiences. After the service, and the food and chat time, there was a Q&A session with the panel, for which quite a large proportion of the congregation stayed behind.
The stories were powerful and heart-rending, but it is clear that they are very, very, typical of the bullying, discrimination, violence, abuse, sexual violence and worse that trans people go through on a daily basis. And while it may pride itself on being a liberal city, Boston is far, far from being exempt from this. But as is so often the case, they were also stories of people who had come through a whole lot of shit, and still bear the wounds - I won't say they've come out "stronger", because trauma doesn't go away that easily, but with a whole load of compassion and wisdom and determination to fight and support other people going through the same.
C's story [1] struck me in particular. She's an African American trans woman, who came from a low income, very religious family, that initially rejected her when she came out (though now her mother has come round and strongly supports her, and was indeed there in the congregation). She knew she was a girl from childhood, but heard from her church how people like her were an abomination. She went through bullying, abuse, homelessness, rape, was repeatedly sacked from jobs or didn't get them in the first place because of her gender presentation, went into sex work due to a complete lack of alternatives.
She is fortunately in a much better place now, and is an active trans rights campaigner, helping run various advocacy and health advice services. And generally seems to be an utterly awesome person.
Hers was very much a religious as well as a personal and political testimony, and one thing that came through strongly was how she held onto faith throughout this, despite the church very often being the source of much of the prejudice she faced. Just how strongly she remained aware of the presence and love of God throughout it all, and determined to keep practicing her faith, so that even when she was homeless and felt there was no worshipping community where she could be at home, she would put on Gospel music on the radio on a Sunday morning, and sing and pray, and pretend she was at church. (She has now found an inclusive - or at least trying to be inclusive - church community).
The Q&A afterwards was really good I thought, with people engaging in serious discussion and listening, and not being afraid of being uncomfortable. A lot of tough issues, like intersection of race and LGBT issues, transphobia within the LGB community, as well as practical stuff like what should teachers do to support trans students.
Holly asked for a show of hands, to guide the Vestry, on putting the rainbow flag we currently have inside the churchm outside on public display, which received resounding support!
So, St. James is certainly better educated on this than we were before, and hopefully we will be making serious efforts to improve our welcome. For me,a rather belated awakening; while I know some trans andrather more genderqueer people, and thought I had informed myself at least somewhat on some of the issues facing trans people, I think this revealed just how little time I have spent actually listening to trans people's experiences in particular. Well, I hope I will do better.
[1] She did give her name, and indeed is out there in public fora with her full name, but I hesitate to use it in a public post that she has not specifically approved.
This whole LJ Migration thing will take a little longer than planned to complete. I realized that all the photos in all my past entries are linked to my LJ Scrapbook. If I want to keep them in my Dreamwidth entries after deleting my LJ, I therefore have to upload them somewhere else, and change the links in the entries.
I have downloaded all the photos from my LJ entries to computer, carefully filed according to date of entry, and have started the process of going through each corresponding DW entry, uploading the photos to my Dreamwidth image hosting space, and replacing the links. So far reached the end of 2005.
Or is there some much easier way of doing this that I'm missing?
I have downloaded all the photos from my LJ entries to computer, carefully filed according to date of entry, and have started the process of going through each corresponding DW entry, uploading the photos to my Dreamwidth image hosting space, and replacing the links. So far reached the end of 2005.
Or is there some much easier way of doing this that I'm missing?
Farewell LJ, Fuck you Putin
Apr. 6th, 2017 11:46 pmThis will be my last LJ post. (Crossposted from Dreamwidth). Following LJ's new ghastly Terms of Service, essentially requiring us to follow Russian censorship laws with all their homophobia and whatever else, I will be abandoning LJ for Dreamwidth, where I am also smhwpf.
Before I go, I just have a few things to say. I realize that I am far more able to say them safely than someone in Russia.
Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Queers, Trans people, Intersex people, Asexual people, and straight cis people, are all equal human beings with equal rights, including the right to love, have sex with, form relationships with, and marry, whomsoever they wish to that wishes likewise.
Same-sex relationships and marriages, or relationships and marriages between people who are gender-queer, have no gender, or define their gender otherwise (or any combination thereof) are as valid, holy, and good as 'conventional' relationships and marriages between cis people of opposite gender.
Trans people are real. Trans men are men. Trans women are women.
Vladimir Putin is a murderous tyrant. He has turned Russia into a totalitarian petro-state. He is guilty of war crimes in Syria, and has powerfully aided and abetted crimes against humanity by the Syrian regime.
He has wrought brutal slaughter in Chechnya, where he has now installed an equally brutal puppet, Ramzan Kadyrov, whose forces are right now rounding up and in some cases murdering gay men.
Putin reigns supreme for now, but one day the Russian people will sicken of him and be sufficiently motivated to do something about it. One day, Putin will fall. May it be sooner rather than later. May he face justice for his crimes when it happens.
Finally, here is a picture of a placard depicting Putin as a gender-non-conforming clown, just because it's been banned in Russia.
I will leave this up for a couple of days (if the overlords don't take it down), and then I will be deleting my LJ.
Farewell LJ, we've had some good times. Sorry you got taken over by assholes.
Before I go, I just have a few things to say. I realize that I am far more able to say them safely than someone in Russia.
Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Queers, Trans people, Intersex people, Asexual people, and straight cis people, are all equal human beings with equal rights, including the right to love, have sex with, form relationships with, and marry, whomsoever they wish to that wishes likewise.
Same-sex relationships and marriages, or relationships and marriages between people who are gender-queer, have no gender, or define their gender otherwise (or any combination thereof) are as valid, holy, and good as 'conventional' relationships and marriages between cis people of opposite gender.
Trans people are real. Trans men are men. Trans women are women.
Vladimir Putin is a murderous tyrant. He has turned Russia into a totalitarian petro-state. He is guilty of war crimes in Syria, and has powerfully aided and abetted crimes against humanity by the Syrian regime.
He has wrought brutal slaughter in Chechnya, where he has now installed an equally brutal puppet, Ramzan Kadyrov, whose forces are right now rounding up and in some cases murdering gay men.
Putin reigns supreme for now, but one day the Russian people will sicken of him and be sufficiently motivated to do something about it. One day, Putin will fall. May it be sooner rather than later. May he face justice for his crimes when it happens.
Finally, here is a picture of a placard depicting Putin as a gender-non-conforming clown, just because it's been banned in Russia.
I will leave this up for a couple of days (if the overlords don't take it down), and then I will be deleting my LJ.
Farewell LJ, we've had some good times. Sorry you got taken over by assholes.
