The second annual Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit will be taking place on the Rice University campus July 20-21, 2010 in the Kyle Morrow Room of the Fondren Library. The Houston GLBT Community Center is a sponsor/partner for this summit.
Depending on how her schedule plays out, the TransGriot is about 90% certain she may make that her first local trans event she attends since moving back to the Lone Star State.
The Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit will primarily be focused on the struggle to gain transgender coverage in collegiate policies. One of the goals of the TTNS is to create a statewide supportive network of like minded individuals working to make Lone Star State campuses inclusive for all.
Only a small handful of colleges and universities have made this important acknowledgement of the fact that transgender students matriculating at Texas colleges exist. The University of Texas at Austin, Rice University, South Texas College of Law, Houston Community College System, and the University of Houston System.
Josephine Tittsworth, one of the TTNS organizers points out, "The need for change is very great in order to allow people the freedom of experiencing educational advancement to its fullest extent."
"Transgender faculty, staff, and students experience systemic discrimination in such simply tasks as an expedient and respectful name change on records, housing, facility access, and fair competition among colleagues and students. There is also a serious lack of education on transgender lives and issues on college campuses."
And the need for transgender education is needed at HBCU campuses as well.
TTNS participants will learn what works and what doesn't work in changing policy on college campuses to protect transgender faculty, staff, and students. You'll get the opportunity to make connections with people already doing this important work and learn from their successes and failures.
All Texas Colleges and Universities wishing to gain transgender rights in institution policies should attend this strategy sharing summit in Houston.
I'd like to see some representation from Texas based HBCU's such as Texas Southern and Prairie View A&M as well.
If you're considering coming down from other parts of the state and do so by bus, METRORail's Red Line runs in front of the Greyhound Station and past the Rice University campus, located at 6100 Main St.
Registration is free to all participants, and the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit has a Facebook page that you can direct further questions you have to the event organizers. I'll also update this post with further contact info once I receive it.
I posted the wonderful news a month ago about Gary, IN native Katie Washington, who became the first African-American valedictorian in Notre Dame history.
Today is graduation day at Notre Dame, and she will be giving her highly anticipated valedictory speech this morning. As soon as it's up and posted, I'll add the text or video of it to this post.
In the interim, you can check out this video about a remarkable young woman.
And now, Katie's valedictory address!
Good morning, Mr. Williams, Mr. Gioia, Fr. Jenkins, distinguished faculty and guests, family, friends and loved ones. Thank you all for being here with us to celebrate our commencement. To my fellow classmates, congratulations, again, for making it to this momentous occasion. Our accomplishments during the last four years give us ample reason to celebrate.
But at some point during the next few months, the excitement surrounding our commencement will wane, and many of us will be forced to confront challenging realities. What happens after the applause stops? The spotlight fades, the crowd clears, and there are moments of complete silence. While applause is accompanied by feelings of safety and security, this silence can bring vulnerability and uneasiness. Through my experiences at Notre Dame, I’ve found that these silent, uneasy moments usually spring up right after I get comfortable with self-praise and appreciating my own accomplishments.
Earlier this year, the Notre Dame Voices of Faith Gospel Choir spent our Spring Break touring the East Coast. Although our thirty-four choir members came from many different cultural and religious backgrounds, our unique style of worship originates from African-American Christian traditions. I was a student director this year, and as the week started, I was ready and excited to give my all to an organization that has been part of my college experience since freshman year. During our first concerts, as we sang and worshipped with loud and exuberant praises to God, we met all kinds of people who were willing to sing, clap and worship with us.
Then, during a concert at a church in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, the applause stopped.
There were at least 150 people at the concert, but somehow, no sound or movement seemed to come from the pews. Apparently, the congregation had never experienced a musical ministry quite like ours. We continued with our concert, in spite of the silence, but I wasn’t sure that our rehearsals had prepared us for that moment.
Now, I can reflect upon a conversation that I had with a tearful parishioner after the concert. Had Voices given up when the applause stopped, we might have been gone when the woman arrived late, after sitting for hours at her sick mother’s bedside. She told me that, while we were singing, it seemed like we were talking directly to God. She was so grateful that we were there to pray with her through song.
Over the last four years, I hope that all of us have taken the opportunity to step outside of our own comfort zones to build relationships with people from different places and backgrounds. Through service, time spent abroad, and our experiences with each other right here on campus, we’ve had the chance to find unity in the diversity of gifts with which God has blessed us. We’ve been given many opportunities to let self-acceptance blossom, and to develop mutual respect and understanding for all members of the Notre Dame family. In doing so, we’ve learned to build relationships in light of our differences and in spite of our fear.
After today and beyond the applause, we can continue to escape normative ideals and find the freedom to understand the unique and special qualities that make all of us human. We can put solidarity into action, for love of all our neighbors, near and far.
Last December, after a year and half working in Dr. David Severson’s laboratory, I saw my study of mosquito population genetics in Haiti in its published form, for the first time. Through the collaborative efforts of the members of Dr. Severson’s lab and the Notre Dame Haiti program, we were able to demonstrate that human activities are likely responsible for the distribution of infectious mosquitoes throughout Haiti. Each year, mosquitoes transmit diseases that kill more than 1 million people, mostly in impoverished countries. I was pleased to know that I had made an important contribution to the global health community. But on January 12, after only a few weeks of celebration, an earthquake hit Haiti, and the applause stopped.
At first, it was exciting to know that my work could help solve problems that many people don’t even know about. However, the earthquake reminded me that I had done so from the safety, security and comfort of a lab here, at Notre Dame. The cities that I wrote about in my paper have been reduced to rubble, and many of the lives that I hoped to protect were claimed by immediate and overwhelming tragedy.
Now, I can reflect on conversations with my research advisor and other outstanding scientists at Notre Dame. Over and over again, they have reminded me that our work is not about being celebrated and rewarded. Instead, it gives us an opportunity to add value to a world that has given us much more than our fair share. To do science at a place like Notre Dame, a University where our sense of faith informs everything we do, is to commit to innovation and discovery because of our personal moral convictions. In the College of Science and throughout the entire University, our faculty has committed themselves to the mission statement. And our learning has become service to justice. We learn, we think, and we work in our different disciplines to address tough problems because we all know that it’s the right thing to do.
After today and beyond the applause, we will experience the freedom to challenge the conventional. We can engage in strokes of genius, enlightened moments, and great ideas that will improve planet Earth and heal her inhabitants. Together, we can pool our knowledge to define the undefined, and combine our efforts to prepare for the unexpected.
I started Fall Break of this year in anticipation of all that I hoped to learn during my CSC seminar on Youth Violence. My friend Jeremy and I spent weeks helping Kim, the director of the Indianapolis Peace Institute, to plan our weeklong immersion. I was excited to work with ten other students, and to learn about innovative approaches to address youth and violence. At first, the experience was transformative. I was proud of the work Jeremy and I had done.
Then, on the day our group visited a juvenile re-entry program, the applause stopped.
I realized that I had grown up in the same neighborhood as one of the young men in the program. He had been sent to a juvenile detention center after participating in a series of illegal activities. He’d joined the re-entry program in hopes of building healthier relationships and pursuing goals that would help him to avoid further involvement with the judicial system.
In any other situation, his story of redemption might have left me feeling hopeful for other youths. Instead, my heart ached. All of my reading on urban poverty, structural violence, and peace building seemed meaningless in light of the real obstacles that he faced. At one point during our childhood, I called him my little brother. Meeting again in adulthood, it felt like our lives were worlds apart.
Now, I can reflect upon conversations that I had with him after the seminar was over. If he and the workers at the juvenile re-entry program had given up when the applause stopped, he could have been just another offender, lost in the judicial system. Instead, he is now in college and working to help other young men overcome the challenges that he, himself, faced. I can also reflect upon talks with my fellow seminar participants – my friends. We were 11 Notre Dame students, from different backgrounds with different majors and personal interests. Yet, the young man we met, from my neighborhood, touched each of our lives in a way that we couldn’t have imagined.
After today and beyond the applause, we can continue working to understand our own privilege. We can use real empathy to recognize violence and injustice. We can build relationships with people who are confined to the margins of society. And maybe one day, each and all persons will be able to participate in every dimension of life as they wish.
Throughout my time here at Notre Dame, I’ve grown a bit wary of moments of accolades and applause, because of the unnerving silences that often follow. But our commencement is a momentous occasion worth celebrating. The applause and praise from our friends, family, mentors confirms the value of our hard work, dedication and sacrifice. We have done many things of which we can be proud.
So after all of the applause is over today, I hope that we embrace the silence as much as we’ve embraced our senior week and commencement weekend celebrations. Instead of being afraid, we can cherish the examples set by our often unapplauded heroes: our parents and siblings, professors who have pushed us to do more than we’ve ever dreamed, and you, the members of the Class of 2010 who have set the standard for excellence in and out of the classrooms at the University o Notre Dame.
Too many times people focus on the worst my people produce. In addition, sisters don't get much love for doing something positive.
Today I get to proudly pop my collar on behalf on my people and a lovely young woman for a historic achievement.
21 year old Gary, IN native Katie Washington is a senior at Notre Dame University and has bee accepted to Harvard and four other schools for post graduate studies.
Thanks to her 4.0 GPA in biology major and Catholic social teaching minor, Katie will become the first African-American in the 168 year history of Notre Dame to be crowned as the school's valedictorian.
University officials said they couldn’t recall ever having a black valedictorian, and don’t keep record of their race.
Katie will give that valedictory address on May 16.
'I am humbled,' Katie said to the Northwest Indiana Times. “I am in a mode of gratitude and thanksgiving right now.”
'Katie works so hard,' Washington’s mother Jean Tomlin told the newspaper. 'I told her when she went to Notre Dame, ‘You are representing your family, your church and the city of Gary. Make us proud.’
Katie done more than make her family and the city of Gary proud. She made the entire Black community proud.
She'll be heading to Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University in the fall and plans to pursue a joint M.D./Ph.D.
You may want to file the name Katie Washington away in your memory banks. She's a young scholar who may be on the track of making more history.
Congratulations, Katie on the historic achievement! You're also proof along with our spacefaring sistah Stephanie Wilson that sistahs can and do excel in math and science.
For the first time since 1992, my favorite college basketball team is going to the NCAA tournament!
They beat the C-USA regular season champs and number one seeded UTEP Miners 81-73 to end their 16 game winning streak and take the 2010 C-USA Tournament conference championship for the first time in school history.
They did so despite a 4 for 20 shooting day from NCAA scoring leader Aubrey Coleman
Interestingly enough, my Coogs handed UTEP their last loss back in January at Hofheinz Pavilion.
This one was sweet for us long suffering UH fans. Our program has a proud history with now 17 NCAA tournament appearances and five NCAA Final Four appearances in 1967, 1968, 1982, 1983 and 1984. We played for the NCAA title in 1983 and 1984. It has had some exceptional players wear the red and white such as Hall of Famers Elvin Hayes, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Clyde Drexler.
This year's Coogs overcame a 43-38 halftime deficit and Coleman's ugly shooting day thanks to 28 points from Kelvin Lewis and holding the Miners to 32 percent shooting in the second half.
This is the fourth team that Tom Penders has taken to the NCAA tournament. In another piece of irony, the last time we played in the NCAA tournament we took out a Penders coached Texas team in the Southwest Conference tournament to get there.
Probably one of the many reasons why UT's 'scurred' to play UH in any sport now.
Congratulations to the Cougar men's ballers and may you have a long run in the tournament. Here's hoping it's the beginning of the return of UH to elite level basketball status on the men's side.
The party is definitely starting on Cullen Boulevard and with UH alumni everywhere.
For the first time in 18 years, I'll be paying very close attention to the NCAA tournament selection show.
Houston hosts the South Regional final at Reliant Stadium and it would be nice to see the Coogs go on a long run and crash the party should they be placed in the South Region. It'll also be nice if we get a matchup with Chicken Rick and the UT Wronghorns who've been ducking and dodging us for years.
Over the last few years, there has been a marked increase in the numbers of minorities getting the head coaching jobs at NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division 1) schools. I'm proud to say my alma mater, the University of Houston is one of them.
But the interesting trend that has happened lately on the NCAA African-American head football coaching front is transpiring in Kentucky.
There are three schools in this state, Louisville, Kentucky and Western Kentucky that play at the FBS level. With the recent elevation of offensive coordinator and UK alum Joker Phillips in the wake of the retirement of Rich Brooks, U of L's hiring of Florida defense coordinator Charlie Strong and the hiring of Hilltopper alum and Stanford assistant Willie Taggart at WKU, the state of Kentucky's FBS football programs are all headed by African-Americans.
That means out of the 12 African-American head football coaches in the FBS, Kentucky is home to one quarter of them.
In addition, Joker Phillips' elevation to the position makes him only the second ever African-American head football coach in the SEC. Sylvester Croom broke that barrier when he was hired by Mississippi State in 2004 and held the position until he resigned at the end of the 2008 season.
Kentuckians are taking football as seriously as they do King Basketball in light of the fact these three programs have been making competitive noise.
The Wildcats have been steadily building the foundation since the arrival of Brooks and have become competitive in the SEC East, the toughest division in college football.
The Cards won a BCS bowl in 2005 as Big East champions but have slipped from that elite level.
Western Kentucky won the 2002 Division I-AA National Championship, elevated its program to FBS level and had a rough 0-10 maiden season adjusting to FBS level football.
It's great to see that all three institutions have decided to have these well qualified gentlemen run their programs. Strong was defense coordinator for the NCAA Champion Florida Gators. Phillips has been the offensive coordinator for the Wildcats. Taggart was an assistant coach at WKU for a decade before he moved on to Stanford.
It's even more gratifying to see in Phillips' and Taggart's cases former players who have been given the opportunity to coach at their alma maters. In Taggart's case he is one of only four WKU players in the 91 year football history to have their jersey number retired.
May all three have much success leading their respective programs to the next level of development in the future, unless they're playing Kevin Sumlin and my Cougars.
The sports rivalries between the University of Louisville Cardinals and the University of Kentucky Wildcats are always intense, bitterly contested affairs.
But it is basketball which fans the passionate flames of the Kentucky and Louisville faithful, and this date has been circled on the calendar ever since the basketball schedules for both schools were released.
It's a rivalry that is so big that it divides friends and families. The Louisville Courier-Journal and Lexington Herald-Leader not only print special sections in the paper but devotes space on theirwebpages just to cover it.
I'm no stranger to big rivalry games. I grew up watching the Texas Longhorns and Texas A&M Aggies Thanksgiving Day football hatefest. But this is a rivalry that makes the UT-Texas A&M one look wimpy in comparison.
I even get a taste of the rivalry here in the house. Wildcat fan Dawn and Cardinal fan Polar will be driving the 70 miles down I-64 east to take in the action at Rupp while wearing their respective school colors.
I like both teams and I'm neutral about which team I support as a Texan in exile. But this week the recruiting pitches from fans on both sides trying to get me to join Cats Nation or Cards Nation have been more intense than usual.
Televisions all across the state and a capacity Rupp Arena crowd will be on hand for the latest renewal of the Battle of the Bluegrass. The Number 3 ranked and 14-0 Wildcats will host the 10-3 Cards in Lexington. Kentucky has a 26-14 all time series lead but Louisville has won the last two games.
The Cats are flying high under new coach John Calipari and super freshman John Wall. Of course the UK fans are supremely confident they will win today's matchup that tips off at 3:30 PM EST. They are also popping their collars after becoming the first NCAA school to win 2000 games last month.
But Rick Pitino's Cards and their fans aren't backing down or caring that UK is a 7 point favorite going into this heavyweight basketball tilt. Anything can and does happen in rivalry games, and this one has had its share of fantastic finishes, great players, unsung heroes, and close games regardless of who was ranked at the time.
As former NFL coach and ESPN analyst Herman Edwards said, "That's why you play the games."
I talked about my Houston homegirl Brittney Griner becoming the ninth woman to dunk in NCAA women's competition a month ago.
It's time for Moni to play Final Jeopardy with you.
On December 21, 1984, this 6 foot 7 West Virginia University player became the first woman to dunk in an NCAA game against Morris Harvey University (now the University of Charleston) Name the player who accomplished this feat.
If you said, who is Georgeann Wells-Blackwell, you are correct.
Today is the 25th anniversary of Wells-Blackwell's groundbreaking dunk. What was even more impressive about it is that back in the day, she did so while using the men's regulation ball. She is the only women's player to do so in NCAA competition while using the men's ball.
ESPN was only a fledgling network just beginning to break out of its northeast regional turf and wasn't the dominant sports force it is now.
Wells-Blackwell's dunk was such a big deal back in 1984 that she appeared on network television, in an issue of Sports Illustrated, was honored at a luncheon in New York, had a display put up in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, another one in the Women’s College Basketball Hall of Fame and was given the honor of being inducted in the University of Houston’s Phi Slamma Jamma dunking fraternity.
It took ten years before another woman b-baller joined her in the elite basketball dunking sorority Alpha Slama Dunka.
But Georgeann Wells-Blackwell will forever be known as the first one to do so.
The Coogs climbed up the college football ranking ladders this week in the wake of their 73-14 demolition of the Rice Owls.
They moved up to Number 18 in both the AP and USA Today College Football polls. They jumped two spots on the AP one and seven spots on the USA Today poll.
They also gained ground in the BCS poll, moving up two spots from Number 23 to Number 21.
And best of all, the Bayou Bucket is back where it belongs.
The Coogs play for the C-USA Championship Saturday against the C-USA East Division Champion East Carolina Pirates. Should be a fun game with Case Keenum only needing 50 yards to pass the 5000 yard barrier for the season.
My number 20 ranked fave college football team walked into the game with our crosstown rivals at the Rob with a lot at stake.
Win and they not only gained revenge for last year's 52-45 loss to Rice and reclaim the Bayou Bucket, they clinch a share of the C-USA West title with a 6-2 record and play in next week's C-USA title game.
Tyron Carrier got the game off to a rousing start by taking the opening kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown as the Cougars raced to a 59-0 halftime lead enroute to a 73-14 victory over the Owls.
Case Keenum was 25 of 31 for 323 yards and two touchdowns. He added a first half rushing touchdown as the dark horse Heisman candidate led the 10-2 Cougars to their first 10 win season since 2006.
The Coogs will travel to Greenville, NC to play for their first C-USA championship since 2006 when they take on the East Carolina Pirates at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.
It was only a matter of time before Baylor's 6 foot 8 freshman phenom b-baller Brittney Griner threw down a dunk in NCAA competition, especially in light of the fact she dunked 52 times at Aldine Nimitz.
She's already thrown one down in an NCAA exhibition game, and had missed connections on one handed dunk attempts in two previous games.
Five minutes into the first half of the Number 8 ranked Lady Bears 104-45 victory Tuesday night over Jacksonville State, Griner officially became the seventh woman to do so in an NCAA game.
Oh yeah, she had 20 points, six rebounds and eight blocked shots as well in 21 minutes of playing time.
In case you're wondering who the other six women are in the NCAA collegiate hoops dunking sorority, its West Virginia's Georgeann Wells (the first to do so), Tennessee's Candace Parker (seven times, first to so in the NCAA tournament, and first to do so twice in one game) LSU's Sylvia Fowles, North Carolina's Charlotte Smith, Tennessee's Michelle Snow, and ahem, Houston's Sancho Lyttle.
The Number 24 AP ranked University of Houston Cougars shook off their upset loss to Central Florida last week by beating down Memphis at the Rob 55-14.
It's only the second time since the 1991 season that my fave college football team has won nine games in a season, and they have a chance to hit ten wins next week when they play our crosstown rivals Rice.
Case Keenum made sure it was going to happen today. UH scored on eight of its first nine possessions as he went 29 for 39 for 405 yards and five touchdowns in the rout and broke David Klingler's school record for career touchdowns.
Keenum now has 94 TD's with only the game against our crosstown rival Rice remaining on their C-USA schedule
The Coogs also received some good news in addition to improving their season record to 5-2 in the C-USA West Division. Marshall knocked off the C-USA West Division leading SMU Mustangs 34-31 to drop them into a tie for the West Division lead with SMU.
The Cougars already have the tiebreaker over SMU thanks to the earlier 28-15 homecoming beatdown.
I'm not getting too happy yet. They have to take care of business next week against Rice before I can exhale and get happy about the prospects of my boys playing for the C-ISA title.
If they do that, they win the C-USA West Division Championship and they host the C-USA title game at the Rob.
All these close last second victories for the Cardiac Cougars finally caught up with them this week against the University of Central Florida Knights. Case Keenum couldn't work his last minute magic and the Cougars fell 37-32 to an unranked UCF Knights squad.
This second loss of the season could be potentially fatal to their C-USA title hopes as the Coogs fell to 8-2 on the year and out of a tie for the C-USA West Division lead with SMU. The Mustangs now lead the C-USA West Division with a 5-1 record with two games to play against Marshall and Tulane.
The 4-2 Coogs have the tiebreaker over SMU, but must win their final two games at the Rob with Memphis and our crosstown rivals Rice and hope for an SMU loss in order to make it to and host the C-USA Championship game.
It was also painful to their national rankings. The Cougars fell to Number 24 from their previous ranking of Number 13 in the AP poll and probably killed any outside chance they had of making a BCS bowl.
My fave college football team has an outside chance at winning the C-USA title and allowing me the chance to see my boys in Memphis for the Liberty Bowl
The Number 13 ranked Houston Cougars scored 9 points in the final 21 seconds, including a 51 yard field goal from walk on freshman kicker Matt Hogan to escape with a 46-45 win over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane.
After scoring a touchdown to narrow the deficit to 45-43, Keenum was sacked on the two point conversion play to preserve the Tulsa lead. UH recovered the ensuing onside kick and the stage for the Cardiac Cougar heroics was set.
Case Keenum connected on 40 of 60 passes for 522 years, but the biggest was hitting a 13 yard pass to a wide open Tyron Carrier to get them into field goal range.
hogan had never kicked a field goal beyond 34 yards prior to this game winning heroics, but nailed this one to move the Cougars to 8-1 and stay tied with SMU atop the C-USA West Division standings.
Next up is the University of Central Florida Knights in Orlando.
And fellas, can we wrap up the game before halftime for a change? The last second wins are fun to watch but stress inducing as well.
It was a Halloween weekend full of treats for the University of Houston.
In addition to outlasting a tough Southern Miss team, they are tied with SMU for the C-USA West Division lead after losses by Tulsa and UTEP. The Coogs hold the tiebreaker over SMU thanks to their 38-15 win over the Mustangs.
The polls are out, and the 50-43 win helped the 7-1 Cougars climb to Number 13 in the AP poll and Number 15 in the USA Today and BCS rankings.
But you better believe they are kicking themselves over that meltdown loss to UTEP. They would probably be in the BCS championship chatter if they had handled their business in El Paso.
Oh, what might have been.
But they can take a giant step toward winning the C-USA West Title and the C-USA Championship game by handling their business against Tulsa on Saturday.
My Number 15 ranked University of Houston Cougars won their matchup against the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles, but it wasn't easy. Both teams combined for 93 points and 1,358 yards in a defense optional shootout.
At one point during this wild game UH held a commanding 40-22 lead with 12:25 left, but two Southern Miss touchdown passes from Martevious Young to wide receiver Gerald Baptiste in a span of 5:25 tied the game with 57 seconds left.
It took Heisman Trophy candidate Case Keenum throwing for a personal best 559 yards and five TD's, a 48 yard touchdown throw to Patrick Edwards with 21 seconds remaining to break the tie, and the defense swatting down a Southern Mississippi Hail Mary pass in the end zone to preserve the 50-43 win over one of the C-USA East Division co-leaders.
The win was a Halloween treat for Cougar fans at the Rob as they witnessed the Cougars 13th straight home win.
In addition to the offensive fireworks Keenum provided, the Cougars racked up a season-high 750 yards of total offense as they bumped their season record to 7-1 for the year and 3-1 in C-USA West play.
Next up are road games versus Tulsa and UCF before they return to Robertson Stadium and finish the season at home against Memphis and Rice.
TransGriot Note: This is the article that appeared in today's Bi-College News, the student newspaper for Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges.
I had a great time talking to Kaori, who is an exchange student at Bryn Mawr from Japan majoring in journalism. We had an interesting discussion pre-interview about the developments for transpeople in Japan. Once again, deep appreciation for the invite and all the hard work that went toward making my visit as smooth as possible. I'm glad to hear that the students on campus enjoyed the speech and the discussion afterward.
Bi-College News (Bryn Mawr & Haverford Colleges), PA, USA By Kaori Hatama
Monica Roberts, writer of the blog TransGriot, gave a lecture at Bryn Mawr Tuesday about transgender issues from an African-American perspective.
Roberts, 47, was the third African-American transperson to receive International Foundation for Gender Education Trinity Award in 2006, the "second highest honor” award in the transgender community.
“I’m not just any old blogger,” Roberts said. “I have been a witness to and a chronicler of transgender history.”
Roberts’ blog, TransGriot, contains “news, opinion, commentary [and] history” about the world from her point of view.
“Trans people of color do face higher violence than the Caucasian trans people," said Nicole Matos ‘10, head of the Women’s Center and the organizer of this lecture. "[It] has not been spoken [about] a lot on this campus, so I thought it great to invite a trans activist of color on to campus. I first thought of Monica Roberts because I am a big fan of her blog TransGriot.”
Roberts talked about the history and the people that had not been discussed in GLBT circles—mainly black trans people.
She said the attention to black trans people has been ignored by the mainstream media until recently and explained how hard it was for her to find a role model as an African-American trans person in the 1970s.
“Our problems as African-American trans people mirror those of our parent society," she said. "The only thing tougher than being a black man or black women in this society is being a black man or a black woman in this society with a mismatched body.”
“It was interesting that there is a microcosm of U.S. society in this trans gender community,” said Michelle Smith ’12 who attended because she is part of The Women’s Center and a columnist on gender and sexuality for the college news.
“Like in the gay community, the figurehead [in the trans community] is white, upper middle class, male cisgendered but gay,” she commented.
However, Roberts also pointed out recent positive developments in the black trans community.
“We’re finding more acceptance among our families, ciswomen and fellow African-descended people,” she said.
She thinks her TransGriot blog and other blogs like hers have been succeeding in revealing the myths and lies that had been prevailing wisdom.
“I really enjoyed it," said Christine Head ‘11. "It was refreshing to hear that perspective and I liked the fact that she was really earnest about everything.”
Head, who is a CDA, attended the lecture because she felt minority issues such as differences in race, socioeconomic status or gender identity are forgotten in general Bryn Mawr dialogue.
“Basically, we are human beings too. That is the major lesson that I wanted to impart. Not just for them [students], but to everybody they come [in] contact with. For instance, when they are in a one-on-one conversation with someone who is making derogatory comments, hopefully they would take some of what I pointed out in the lecture and go ‘Hey that’s not the case,’” Roberts said.
After her lecture, there were some time for questions.
“There are some brilliant young minds that are matriculating on this campus that [they] are going to do some great things,” Roberts said. “The fact that they are broadening their minds by taking the time out of their busy schedules to listen to our stories and listen to our issues really gives me great hope for the future.”
The Number 17 ranked University of Houston Cougars came back to the Rob after a month of road games.
They were facing off in a C-USA West Division tilt with our old SWC rivals, the Southern Methodist University Mustangs.
After the homecoming parade, the rain of touchdowns began for my favorite college football team. The number one ranked offense in the NCAA never trailed despite not generating more than 500 yards for the first time all season in their 38-15 win.
The defense stepped up and forced three turnovers that led to 14 first half Cougar points. Linebacker C.J. Cavness had a monster game with 18 tackles, 1.5 sacks, two fumble recoveries and a forced fumble.
The Coogs also opened the second half with a 92 yard kickoff return from Tyron Carrier to make the 31-3.
The Coogs are now 6-1 for the year and 2-1 in C-USA play. With the win they inched up two more spots to number 15 on the AP poll, Number 16 on the USA Today Coaches Poll but fell one spot to Number 18 in the BCS rankings.
Next up is a Halloween matchup at the Rob versus the always tough C-USA East Division leading Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles.
The University of Houston Cougars took a business trip to New Orleans Saturday for a C-USA game in the Louisiana Superdome against the Tulane Green Wave.
They were getting a little tired of hearing the line that they were 2-0 against the Big 12, 1-0 against the SEC and 0-1 in C-USA.
The Coogs average 569.2 yards and 40.2 points per game, but Tulane’s defense was ranked first against the pass in Conference USA.
And as any football fan can tell you, a high powered offense and a hot shot quarterback can't score points to beat you if they're both sitting on the bench.
Tulane executed some long clock eating drives to forge a brief 6-3 lead and eventually trail at the half 9-6.
But the one thing about the Cougars offense is that it doesn't need a lot of time to score. They demonstrated that on their opening second half drive by taking just eight plays and 1:58 to march 60 yards to up their lead to 15-6.
After blocking a Tulane punt deep in Green Wave territory, two plays later the lead was up to 22-6. It was part of a 37 point second half blitz that saw UH score touchdowns on five straight possessions and turn a close game into a 44-16 Cougar victory.
With the win, the Coogs go to 5-1 on the year, even their C-USA west Division record to 1-1 and climb to Number 17 in the AP and USA Today College Coaches polls.
In addition, the Cougars make their first ever appearance in the BCS standings which started in 1998. UH is Number 17 in the BCS rankings as well.
Next up is a game at the Rob Saturday against SMU. Eat 'em up!
I'm writing and rewriting my speech, updating a Power Point presentation, packing, getting divafied and eagerly anticipating my upcoming trip to the Philadelphia metro area and the Bryn Mawr College campus.
I'm heading there to do a 4 PM speech in the M. Carey Thomas Library's Room 224 on Tuesday October 20.
These trips never get old for me because I've always liked public speaking, traveling to different areas of the country and I enjoy doing these events.
It also gives me another opportunity to pick up another college coffee mug and a sweatshirt.
I was blessed last year to speak at CU-Boulder for a gender conference they held on their beautiful campus in the shadow of the Flatiron Mountains. I've already been on the U of L campus this academic year, and I'm looking forward to another trip that I'll be taking in March to SUNY-Oneonta.
I have an upcoming trip next month I'm taking to Long Island in which I'll be the keynote speaker for a November 22 TDOR event being hosted at the UCC Church in Centerport, NY.
Just like the Bryn Mawr and any speaking event I participate in, I want to be on my 'A' speaking game. It's just something about being on a college campus around our future leaders that energizes me.
Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of long time African descended trans activists getting these speaking opportunities at college campuses. Some of that you can attribute to many of us not being as public.
Some of us are doing work locally that doesn't give them a high enough national profile so that academia will seek us out and include our perspectives in these gender conferences and speeches that occur on these campuses.
I'm cognizant of that fact and consider it an honor when they choose me. It's a major reason why I want to give 150% effort in putting together an event that's not only informative but enjoyable as well. I'm keenly aware that I'm not just representing myself, I represent an entire community. I want to make it easier for the next African descended transperson to get that same opportunity I was blessed to get.
I'm also hoping that one day, I and my African descended trans brothers and sisters will begin to get opportunities and invitations to do these speeches and participate in gender conferences on HBCU campuses.
As for the upcoming LI TDOR event, this particular one has had some previous speakers that are a Who's Who of the trans community such as Diego Sanchez, Pauline Park, and Melissa Sklarz.
They are people that I respect and admire, so yeah, I'm honored that this group wanted me to speak at their event.
So if you want me peeps for 2010, start early with your requests.
I had the honor in 2002 and 2003 of speaking at my local TDOR sponsored by the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. I was even more thrilled by the fact the 2002 one was their first annual one.
Time to wrap this post up and get back to work polishing the speech.
For those of you in Philly or on the Bryn Mawr campus, looking forward to seeing you on Tuesday.
My favorite college football team has had an interesting season so far. They started 3-0 and knocked off Big 12 schools Oklahoma State and Texas Tech on national TV to get to and eventually climb to a No 12 ranking in the college football polls for the first time in a decade.
Then came the disastrous trip to El Paso for their C-USA opener. The Coogs played matador defense as the UTEP Miners ran over, around and through them while springing a 58-41 upset that made the Sun Bowl homecoming crowd very happy, knocked us completely out of the college football rankings and may have cost us a shot at a possible BCS bowl bid.
Saturday we got to play on the road against a tough SEC team for their homecoming. This time the Coogs played rude guests as Case Keenum passed for 434 yard and four touchdowns in their 31-24 win against a Mississippi State Bulldogs team in Starkville that came an inches short goal line play of knocking off LSU.
Not bad. 2-0 against the Big 12 and 1-0 against the SEC. If they won't let you join 'em, just beat them.
That victory put the Coogs back in the AP and USA Today Coaches poll rankings at Number 23 on both polls.
Now just handle your C-USA business so we can stay there for the rest of the season this time.
And will somebody at UH please sign Kevin Sumlin to a long term contract?
The second annual Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit will be taking place on the Rice University campus July 20-21, 2010 in the Kyle Morrow Room of the Fondren Library. The Houston GLBT Community Center is a sponsor/partner for this summit.
Depending on how her schedule plays out, the TransGriot is about 90% certain she may make that her first local trans event she attends since moving back to the Lone Star State.
"Transgender faculty, staff, and students experience systemic discrimination in such simply tasks as an expedient and respectful name change on records, housing, facility access, and fair competition among colleagues and students. There is also a serious lack of education on transgender lives and issues on college campuses."
I'd like to see some representation from Texas based HBCU's such as Texas Southern and Prairie View A&M as well. 
