rm101

Delayed follow up

2004-03-15T08:09:00.000-08:00

No excuses worth posting for the delay in update---(if you look at a calendar you'll note spring break was in the middle of all this quiet time).

Back to the door issue and the campus response:

The 25th of Feb was the next meeting for the Phoenix. We had two guests from the University who came to speak with us about the defacement and discuss how we wanted to proceed and what we needed from them and the offices they represented. This was an amazing and incredibly supportive event for us, primarily because their presence had not been solicited. (I am avoiding posting names and office specifics simply because we open every Phoenix meeting with a safety statement that indicates names and specifics discussed will not be made public.) The upshot of that meeting was an assurance of University support and some very proactive solutions to addressing hate as a whole rather than focusing on just lgbt issues. the Phoenix is not just about lgbt and allies, it is also about human rights and equality.

The following Tuesday, the 2nd of March, several Phoenix members attended the Student Senate Diversity Council meeting--the results of that meeting are still being finalized, I will update with those as I receive them.

Suffice it to say that this campus, the BSU Student Senate, the University Administration, and Campus Security and Phoenix members have all come together to treat this event as not a catastrophic occurance, but as a significantly teachable moment-one from which all of us have learned not only that we hear one another but that we truly have common concerns.

I do not know how many folks wrote to our University President or to the Director of Student Affairs, but to all those who did, thank-you.
And to those of you who did not but held out hope for a quality resolution, thank-you too.

The rest of the work now begins--the nitty-gritty of actually bringing about the ideas that came out of both the Feb 25th Phoenix meeting and the March 2nd Diversity Council meeting. This is the good stuff, the stuff that makes the changes in societies, that allows folks minds to open and that helps to eradicate fearful, uninformed reactions. This is the stuff that opens doors for those that are still affraid, that empowers the disenfranchised--this is the stuff that builds strong multi-cultural diverse communities of acceptance.

I'll keep you posted on our progress.

siochain,
Hunter

Good news follow up

2004-02-24T16:31:00.000-08:00

Yes there is some--and in the interest of encouraging others to take proactive steps and find ways to create teachable moments from this event I will share it with you.

Mere moments after encountering the student union personnel's anger a research paper on hate crimes, homophobia and the need to address said issues was presented to them. The response we received regarding the paper and its contents was a heartfelt thank-you. The reader acknowledged that they had heretofore been unaware of the the realities surrounding hate crimes, their perpetration and the damage such crimes do to a community as a whole, as well as to individuals. The paper's author was directly thanked for the information provided.

I am deeply grateful to the author for being willing to immediately present the work in order to educate an invaluable ally to the bemidji state glbt community. And I am profoundly grateful that said ally took the time to read the paper and to get the message.

One more example of why it is paramount that if you object to hateful words and homophobic rhetoric you speak up and speak out.

Please still make your voice heard as previously suggested.
Intolerance and hate can only be eradicated through education and honesty.

siochain,
Hunter

More good fun

2004-02-24T16:29:00.000-08:00

The plot thickens...
the words which were engraved into our door were: "fag", "homo', "lezbos" and "dumb".
The artist did not have a very good sense of spatial relations, the letters for"dumb" had to be stacked with the "du" on top pf the "mb", and "lezbos" sort of drooped down along the window frame on the door.

The plot thickening aspect to this whole issue centers around the "let's not make a big deal out of this" attitude encountered by our organization's representatives from staff at the student union. More problematic than not wanting to make a big deal out of this was the direct anger expressed over our public relations officer making a proper report to campus security and campus police about the vandalism to school property and the specific nature of the vandalism. Our office is located in the student union and the student union help desk personnel/management folk are our first line of recourse for any issues or problems that arise. This fact made the reaction we encountered that much more troubling, particularily when additional anger was directed against actually calling this act of vandalism a hate crime.

For the record, this particualr graffitti falls under the federal definition of hate crime activity due to both the word choice and the location of the graffitti. The nature of the words chosen coupled with the location of their display constitute intimidation of persons who frequent the office as well as the members of the organization.

The FBI defines hate crime as follows:
Hate crime is the violence of intolerance and bigotry, intended to hurt and intimidate someone because of their race, ethnicity, national origin, religious, sexual orientation, or disability.

The power to name--to call an action exactly what it is and thereby bring it out of the shadows and into the open drastically improves the chances of honest discourse and makes real the possibility of resolution. To cover up inappropriate actions, to quietly handle the situation and not make it known, is to send the message that this campus condones and allows such activities. Persons who specifically engage in this type of hate driven action are almost always operating with the belief that they have the tacit support of their respective communities. The only way to make that not be true is to speak up, speak out and let it be known that you will not tolerate this kind of derisive actvity on your campus.

You don't have to attend or work at bemidji state to make your view known or for your voice to count. If you find this kind of behavior deplorable (the graffitti job) write a letter condeming the vandal's actions to the editor of the school newspaper, The Northern Student, or send a letter to the director of student affairs, Jon Blessing or to the college president, Dr. Jon Quistgaard. Let them know what you think about hate, bigotry and intolerance on this campus--point out that by FBI defintion this little occurance is a hate crime--and this is real.

To remain silent is to participate.

siochain,
Hunter

Grafitti from cowards

2004-02-23T14:48:00.000-08:00

Interesting bit of news for yon blogging world...perhaps some of you out there will see this as an over reaction or even humorous...hopefully for any who are familiar with the remoteness and relative urban isolation of our little city of bemidji you will grok the impact of this incident.

First some background:

October 2002 when I stopped to inquire about the student organization known as Delta Phoenix (bemidji state university's gay, lesbain, bisexual and transgender and allies student organization) I was asked to sign my name as the president for the organization in order to kep it afloat. I did--and we changed the name to "the Phoenix@BSU" and began to revamp it into a gay-straight alliance with the goal of creating a safe, inclusive, accepting atmosphere for ALL students on this campus as well as for folks in the larger community.

Laughing? Think it wasn't needed?

Within 24 hours I had two messages on my answering machine with people afraid--note afraid- to say why they were calling or what they were calling about. Neither caller left a call back number or other contact information. Within the first week of my name and number being available I had nearly all anonymous calls, people would not give their names or contact information and I had to repeatedly reassure the callers that it was ok to talk to me and the phone line was safe.
Things got abit better--we have been slowly growing in membership and last year for the first time in the entire history of this campus we were actually permitted a small office space--no more than an old closet, litterally. This semester we were granted a larger office space on a main hallway where folks can drop in if they wish to for information, somewhere safe to chat, stop by and let it be known that they support lgbt issues and are proud to be allies. We are gradually building a library as well as a resource/referal list for community resources that are lgbt friendly.
The only assumption ever made about anyone who comes to our events or meetings is that he or she is an ally to the concerns and people in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered communities.

So who cares, right?
Why am I wasting your time and precious blog space with this mundane and borderline self congratulatory yarn?

Because today the door to the Phoenix office was found with homophobic derogatory words scratched into the wood.

Maybe all those folks who were so damn afraid were right after all.

peace,
Hunter

blog as censor

2004-02-15T17:32:00.000-08:00

Interesting--last posting date and this one, oh so very far apart.
What could be causing this silence?

After I noticed this and sat wondering why it might be I began to cruise around to other folks' blogs.
I was cyberstrolling along, behaving myself, observing the scenery complete with dog poo on the green green grass of free form prose writing, when it suddenly sturck me--a thought, not the dog poo.

So many bloggish posts seem oh so vapid, self centered and without redeeming moral quality---no wonder I haven't been stirring up trouble--there's nothing to stir!!
Wierd...this media format is working as a censor..talk about controlled by technology!!!

Damn it! So much for the lofty ideal of bein' the Dennis Leary of blogville....
back to the find-my-fifteen-minutes-of-fame drawing board......

*sigh* an agitator's work is never done

sat·ire: n.
1. A literary work in which human vice or folly is attacked through irony, derision, or wit.
2.The branch of literature constituting such works. See Synonyms at caricature.
3.Irony, sarcasm, or caustic wit used to attack or expose folly, vice, or stupidity.

Insider blogs #s 1 & 2

2004-01-29T21:49:00.000-08:00

Ah!
back at the bat cave.....

So while cruising around etherial inner blog-space (read: classroom blogs/classmates bloggishness) I encountered numerous beautified blog pages. Lovely color alterations and contrasting text choices--tasty, kind of like very wierd fruit--you know the kind I mean, the hybrids grown it seems as much for public consumption as for public entertainment. How very bloggish indeed!!!
Ensconced in amongst the kaleidoscopic chameleon offerings were a few offerings of monochromatic tendencies---odd how that these were the ones I found myself reading every scrap of. Perhaps it was a function of the somewhat somber, easier on the eyes color schemes that drew me. Perhaps it was a function of the content driven page--sort of like character driven stories. Ah well, whatever the subliminal reason (if there is one) I found Mary's blog engaging--I really appreciated the link to The Homeless Guy and was intrigued by learning about
Dr.Daphne Sheldrick and Madiba. Nicely readable blog--not too many bells and whistles to distract my wandering attention. I really felt drawn to the human interest side presented here.

Another fine near monochromatic (a good thing when well executed) color-schemed blog is Audrey'sblog. Very striking in background choice. Excellent visual effect to use all drop out type accentuated by the looming moon in the upper left corner. The whole design sets an odd gently ominous yet mysterious tone--hinting at the unpredictability of the velvet night. Your posts echo this same feeling--well designed.

This was a tough assignment--the requirement to select only a few of the blogs for discussion was arduous. (tangent: I wonder if the root for arduous is the same as the root for ardor--wierd. I'll have to investigate.) Frankly, I thought that just about all the class offerings were at least entertaining enough to return to and read more often than once. There were way too many excellent links provided throughout to follow all of 'em. The ones I did traverse were (for the most part) entertaining or otherwise intelleectually stimulating. (yes, I really do speak this way. Though I have been known to revert to more cromagnon communications at times.)

Enough already--I thought I learned the shorter posts are better rule.....

siochain,
Hunter

Odd titling order

2004-01-29T21:40:00.000-08:00

No you are not blind or insane, there is no part 1 & 2 of Insider blogging available.
Seems the first part of the tri-part insider blog disappeared on me.

Lucky for you, the non-existant reading audience, and not so lucky for me, the intrepid college retread trying to fulfill professorial directives.

Since the great and nebulous ether was apparently one blog entry short of full yesternight, I shall doggedly try yet again to deliver two, count them two entries on classmates' blogs.

Here we go....

Part II--blogging insider blogs

2004-01-28T22:26:00.000-08:00

I'm back--late, as usual, but back.
(I'm living a theory here; I figure if I keep practicing the art of not being on time,
I'll have it perfected by the time I'm s'pposed to die.
Hell by then I oughta be a master procastinator!
I'm figuring it'll buy me a few extra years on the planet-alive!)

Back to the bloggin':

Classquip #3: In The Life
Ok-maybe I am just wired to read. I gotta hand it to you Simon,
I was drawn into the writing--content, quality and imagery.
Regarding the post where you're feeling compelled to represent people you've never met:
do all of us you've never met a favor--don't represent what you are not familiar with.
It's kind of like taxation without representation, only in this dynamic it's representation without familiarity--doesn't sound like a good plan to me.
And about that underlying gay mindset--what underlying gay mindset?
Far as I can figure out--and I've been figuring a few years (read:since about 1975)--
there is no one gay mindset about any damn thing.
There are stereotypes and numerous myths,
but so far I have not encountered a unifying gay mindset.

I dig the ringing pants bit--sweet economy of words, excellent image (and it was mom!)
Very engaging writing--keep it flowing.

siochain,
Hunter

Fnork! (a stand-in for @!$#*%!!)

2004-01-28T22:12:00.000-08:00

I've been reading class blogs and neglected the clock!
Well, that and I 've been tryin' to figure out what I wanted to say about which blog.

Ya know I can't recall a class asignment that felt more like a loaded pistol than this!
Perhaps the time our speech class was required to do persuasive oral presentations---no, no, this is definitely far more hazardous. Piss somebody off with what ya say here and you're gonna be paying for it all semester long.

Idle musing: wonder how that affected what people actually said and who they chose to write about?

OK OK--on to the blogging of blogs.

lesson learned

2004-01-28T21:51:00.000-08:00

I know one thing I've been doing wrong--too damn many words per entry!
Lordy lordy the fast food, fasttrack, immediate gratification generation strikes again.

Very well, only a few words per entry--got it.

Second observation: personally anecdotal entries.
No way. To quote one of my kids--NunYa.

Well that does pose a problem doesn't it--a more-or less public venue for writing and a writer who doesn't want to "share" about the writer's day to day shenanigans. I'll be sticking to things at least
two degrees removed (probably more like 5 or 10 degrees to be completely truthful).

Next observation: different coloring makes for more interesting reading---yeah, that's why I picked the already other than white background template.
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." green is good, o.d. green I am used to--the template stays(for now).

And of course, the next observed lesson: cool links, pics and "doo-dads" always help improve readership.
Hmm...sounds like marketing. Very reminiscent of Package Designers or Advertising Design. I s'ppose a really great blog has such items all of which have some real, significant substance to 'em. Of course, "real" and "significant" are highly subjective....

yet more bloggish wanderings

2004-01-26T08:10:00.000-08:00

Yesterday's multi-hour cyber tour turned up a couple of interesting blogs worth meandering through, if nothing else for the opportunity to view things from another side. The request punched into google was for blogs related to social activism. Scrolling down the replete listings I stumbled across
Am ha-Aretz a blog detailed as being Judaism for the masses.

How does this relate you may ask, and I will tell you, Tradition! O.k., I really like the Fiddler on the Roof--Tevye was a childhood hero of mine--but it is really the truth. Go have a look and check out the bit refering to Jewish values and debunking some of the myths about what Jews believe.

I swam back across the Mediterannean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean to wash-up on the summery ,thirdcoast of Austin, TX. Social activism is alive and kicking in central tejas! I skimmed this site, 'cause nowhere did it claim bloggizenship. On I surfed...

I paused to rest in the armchair of activism, and there discovered a blog replete with numerous shorty articles, some of urgent societal relevance some not so, er, critical to the nation's social health. Very readable blog with a laundry list of bloggy links well worth clickitty-clacking through. Embedded in said laundry list I quarried out two gems of connection.

In the first, A Mixed Blog, I found a well worded, considered eloquent series of discourses that neatly describe and depict some of the key issues facing our society today--the need for new langauge to describe the social scaffold of our nation, the regretably everpresent spectre of racism and hating, and the call for a termination of racial referencing/typing/identifying of persons as a cornerstone in our society. The thematic thread woven through the postings I read centered on language--the power of language through defining groups, othering people and silencing multitudes of voices. Kindred voices at last!!

The second, The Mahablog, is conversational in structure and offers an insightful yet highly critical view of this nation under the bush administration. It is replete with links to more dissenting voices, and offers writing and reporting of a very high caliber on current political events. The insightful chronicling of the current administrations stumbling and fumbling is a delightful read.

After breathlessly diving through the full length of both these deep wells of information, I surfaced back in toe freezing discomfort of my subterranean retreat--wishing for a mug of something hot and frothy.

I'll get back to the inside classspace blogs after decompression.

Hunter

late night teeth gnashing

2004-01-25T20:29:00.001-08:00

Technology makes life easier right?

I am still waiting for the proof to that statement.

Ah well--probably won't ever get it...ok I am truly just woofing, I know, email is faster than snail mail and I do like the research time saved by computer work....so I s'ppose I need to quit the bitchin and get on with it. Right.

Earlier, during those 3.5 hrs I spent shooting around cyberspace catapulting from one side of the globe to anohter in a matter of seconds ( now that is truly cool), I stumbled across some intriguing sites/blogs and such. I started my explorations down in the somewhat balmier nation of Texas (yes, nation, just ask a texas born redneck)--thought I'd drop in and see what the hippie trail head full of zombie Austin Tx activists were up to if anyhting in these dubious political days. I am pleased to report the thirdcoasters are alive and well and raising at least a few hairs along the way.From there I found my way to numerous way cool connections to even more political and social progressivism through armchair activist.
Somewhere in all this delicious progressivism I stubbed my cybering big toe on some sidebar laying info re: Dennis Kucinich. If the man is as bold as his current rhetoric is and he actually made it to D.C. as HMFIC and were able to walk what he's talking all the way, we'd be in great shape as a country. We mgiht actually get ourselves back living in the land of legitimate government again. Yeah I know sounds pretty unlikely to me too. I suppose there are always alternatives if we can't manage to repair our D.C. leadership debacle--though I have my doubts as to the success potential on the issue of impeachment.

My cybersurfing ticket has expired for the night.

siochain

late night teeth gnashing

2004-01-25T20:29:00.000-08:00

back at it

2004-01-25T12:44:00.000-08:00

hmmm...It is three pm, 1500 hrs and I have been sitting on my ass at a desk staring at a computer screen for 3.5 hours--way more time than I ever wanted to in my life. And...the results? I have cold hands, an insistent near deafening ringing in my ears and zero interest in staying chained to this frigging electronic torture device even one second longer....

I located numerous blogs and interesting sites at 'em....if I can regain human composure I will sit back down at this god-for-saken desk and subject myself to yet another round of non-consenual yet bizarrely self inflicted techno torture.

You know how much writing, reading or chemistry I could have gotten done in 3.5 hrs?
Or how valuable those few hours could have been to my kids, spending time actually being with them--oh lordy no,not actual human interaction!!!! But it is so much safer from behind a computer, behind a desk with no face--hidden in a room somewhere away from the actual world...floating around an electronically created intangible universe.....even when you ad pictures and web cams there is still a degree of separation that makes it all so nice and neat and not really all that risky...especially if one stays the hell away from the dicey subjects......the risk becomes someone watching what you're seeing, noting where you're going, tracking your activity. I suppose we can accept that as a neccessary trade off for the privilege of such instantaneous global communication. Still squiggs me though.

I keep recalling,in rapid fire succession, the imagery from countless scifi stories I've read of some hapless character, plugged into a network of wires and electronic info system highways. The individual's self, consciousness and awareness stripped from them. The poor sap is completely entwined in the system....slight variations to the stories create a reason for the "plug-in" being anywhere from pleasure to the humanoid being an "integral part of the system".

Who the hell says technology is our salvation?

siochain

Two daze later

2004-01-18T13:31:00.000-08:00

people are strange...

Recently I completed a class in Men's Studies....now there's an interesting concept. Men's Studies--would that indicate a detailed study of how to be a man, what it meant/means to be a man, the study of men as seperate from women...would it be, I had wondered before the first class meeting, an odyssey of some younger than me punk prof expounding on....what? the trials and tribulations post modern men face with being male and not loosing their sense of masculinty while trying to uphold the politically correct supportive of women attitudes spawned as necessary, courtesy the women's liberation movement? Would it be 16 weeks filled with a bunch of whining about how maligned we poor men are in todays world and how little men understand women or women understand men? Or, horrors of horrors would we be faced with a revolting travesty of getting in touch with ourselves and have to suffer an unneccessary display of drum beating and pseudo male bonding rituals played out in a make believe forest? I was skeptical at best about the value this class would actually present.

I am pleased to report that none of the above occured...well almost none..therre was a little bit of bitching about lack of understanding--both directions--and some of that male bonding stuff went on, thankfully without the addition of drums, semi nudity or body paint. Mostly the darkness of our uninformed minds was illuminated as to the continued need for a deconstruction of hegemonic masculinity, coupled with clear description ( with salient examples even!) of the damage done to society as a whole ( both men and women) from sexism, either/or thinking regarding gender, gender bias and discriminatory tendecies still prevalent in todays society....and that ever present gut twisting anxiety so many male bodied people suffer from--fear of feminization. Oh yeah, and that "younger than me punk prof" I was concerned about turned out to be one year my senior and from a relatively similar socio economic and political background. The class allowed us to gain a vocabulary regarding gendered thinking and therefore provided us with excellent tools of rhetoric. Coupled with our prof's skill at leading us into the uncharted waters of introspection and self examintation he expertly lead us through some very real critical rethinking of our own perspectives and attitudes in relation to the "normed" world around us. Naturally not all the students arrived at the same exit station by the end of the semester, but we certainly all had travelled away down that self-knowledge track.

SO what's my point? I am not done setting the scene--be patient.

The problem came in not from the aspect of the professor's abiliity to lead us through this quagmire of dicey isssues, but from the outdated articles in the book we were reading. Granted, the text was designed with the idea of getting class members to discuss the content, so some of it was a bit controversial and not dedicated to being the most current of opinions in social theory. Some of the articles were designed to strike emotional cords--oh and they did, rest assured! None the less, for all of us, regardless of where we were starting, many, no nigh unto all, of the articles suffered from the same fundamental short coming of not seeming to apply to today's real experience of maleness and masculinity.

I had 8 years on the next youngest student in class and then a whopping 16 years on the next youngest after him. My childhood and teen years encompassed living the equal rights, civil rights, gay rights and women's liberation movements as they were happening. I was privy to the reason's these actions came about in the era in which they were occurring--none of the things discussed in the articles in our text were history separate from experience for me. I was in the maelstrom surrounding the intial phases of AIDS activism...the frightening silences and the gross lack of understanding......to sit in a room with young men for whom all of these moments were history book experiences was an unnerving eye-opener.
Unnerving because I came to realise how extremely stilted and lacking the history they had all been taught (except for the young man who was a history major and interested in the social development of the 20th century) really was. They did not know the history of all of these changes, as far as having a complete picture of the immensity of what was being struggled against or for that matter why the struggles were necessary. They had text-book views on the what of the various movements...provided the particular movement had not been deemed either too controversial or insignificant by their previous teachers--but no experience of them. Interestingly, rather than that lack causing these young men to be extremely conservative, close-minded or leading to unbendable sexist views, they were open to new information and the at times difficult discussions that ensued. Even more interestingly the major queries that continually reared their ugly heads in class were: "Why aren't these researchers asking currently relevant questions? Where is the data that reflects who we (young american males) really are right now? If these premises being stated in these articles are supposed to be representative of me and my behaviors/thoughts, why don't I see my views reflected in them?"

I heard them. And here's my point:

Why aren't we asking the youth of america what they think about masculinity?
about feminity? about gender? about equal rights? about government? about world politics? about domestic policy? about religion? about sexuality? What are we afraid of?
If we don't have the courage to ask them, how can we even concieve to make blanket statements about what they think or how they act or who they are or what they want? If we don't have the capacity to get out there and observe, query and listen to the future of our society, how can we possibly pretend to come up with relevant social theory?

Who's afraid of the new youth?

later that same day....

2004-01-16T09:30:00.000-08:00

so maybe most onions aren't pleasant or at least most folks wouldn't consider an onion something that falls under the pleasant category...but then that is the point isn't it? taking a critical look at what "most folks" would consider or think about life, the universe and everything.

"Most folks"....who the hell sets the parameters that define the persons who make up the "most folks" being examined anyway?
DO you suppose there is a bureau of "most folks" defining? Perhaps a Cabinet of Standards and Averages...a whole gov't body dedicated to the exacting science of determining the calibration curve for any particular subject thereby allowing a rhetoric of averages.

The problem I see with applying the calibration curve process to discussions focused on any aspect of the human equation or human condition is that pesky presence of an element known as "outliers"--anything that falls outside of the neat and tidy world of the bell curve. Statisticians have developed a nasty habit of ignoring those little devils.

Seems to me that these days the outliers are begining to outweigh the inliers, at least when it comes to things human & social. There seem to be more exceptions than adherents to the "rule"--whichever rule it is. Perhaps what has to happen is a redefining of the parameters being used to describe the sectors being looked at; i.e. we need to reframe the questions being asked.

This opens whole new vistas for social, socio-political, socio-religio and socio-economic deifinition.
Imagine the potential for human freedom if the lines are reset, if the "measuring sticks" are changed.

Day 1

2004-01-16T08:41:00.001-08:00

OK--questioning absolutely everything is a bit much for one blog I suppose...
but then challenging endeavors rarely loose their shiny newness.

take the blog title seriously...I have every intention of peeling apart the pleasant onion of socially acceptable behavior, attitudes and widely accepted beliefs/views so many take as truth.

here there be monsters

Day 1

2004-01-16T08:41:00.000-08:00