We're Still Watching You, Smith College

Smith's dean of admissions, Debra Shaver, announced a committee would form to address the needs of prospective trans students at Smith. The committee will begin meeting in September, and in the interim, Smith will stop denying admissions to trans girls and women listed as male on their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms, which is what happened to Wong.

TransGriot  September 1, 'Smith College, Don't Assume The Trans Community Forgot About What Happened To Calliope "


The Fall 2013 semester is rapidly drawing to a close on the Smith College campus and this article that popped up in the University of Connecticut student newspaper concerning Calliope Wong reminded me about the controversy that erupted last May when her application for admission was denied twice.

That firestorm led to the announcement at the time by Smith Dean of Admissions Debra Shaver that a committee would be formed that would start work in the fall to address the needs of prospective trans students at Smith.

Calliope is now a freshman English major at UConn and was named to the OUT100 List as a trans teen advocate along with Jazz and Zachary Kerr.  

And Smith could have been reaping the benefits of Calliope's presence on their campus.

But this is the question we all want to know the answer to Trans World because there has been cricket chirping silence coming out of Northampton since the semester started.

What's going on with the committee that was supposed to start work on this trans admission issue?

I asked that question on my Facebook page, and JoJo Thomas, a Smith alum who is one of my longtime TransGriot readers was kind enough to send an e-mail asking that same question on the alumni listserv. 

JoJo did get a quick response to her query.  According to her, a fellow alum advised her that according to the student group working on this issue Audrey Smith (the VP of Enrollment--head of Office of Admissions and Student Financial Services) would be making announcements "soon" about changes in the policies.

How soon is "soon" in terms of a definitive date that a policy change announcement will happen, we don't know yet.  But if there more feet dragging until the end of the 2014 spring semester, Mama Moni ain't gonna be happy and the volume is going to be cranked up on this issue by moi.

Rice Wins 2013 C-USA Football Title!

Some of my local TransGriot readers are Rice University students, and despite the fact as a Cougar alum they are one of our big rivals and we UH fans enjoy (and vice versa) beating the crap out of them in whatever sport we play them in, (baseball is a different story because Rice dominates us) us), have to give them a major TransGriot shoutout  for winning the C-USA title game that was played in Houston yesterday. 

The Owls knocked off C-USA East Champ Marshall 41-24 at Rice Stadium to go 10-3 on the season, earn a invite to the Liberty Bowl against a soon to be named SEC opponent and win their first outright conference championship since they were members of the dearly departed (sniff sniff) Southwest Conference in 1957.

So there was probably some celebrating happening on their South Main campus.   Even this die hard UH Cougar fan has to show them some love after winning their first outright conference football title in 56 years and their first since they joined C-USA in 2005.

Congrats to Rice and good luck in the Liberty Bowl!
 

2013 UH Cougar Watch-Halloween Treat For The Coogs

My fave collegiate football team had a short week because this Halloween night American Athletic Conference game against the University of South Florida Bulls was being nationally televised on ESPN.  

It also had all the earmarks of being a potential trick instead of a treat for unbeaten in conference play UH but didn't start that way.

The Cougars took just three plays to score on their opening drive and sprinted out to a 21-10 halftime lead before the script flipped in the second half.

UH came into this game as the nation's leading team in turnover ratio at +20 but coughed the ball up in the end zone on the opening third quarter drive that would have given them a 28-10 lead.  The Cougars started shooting themselves in the foot on offense with mistakes, mental breakdowns and a personal foul penalty by Kenneth Farrow that stalled another drive as the Bulls mustered enough offense after going a month with scoring touchdowns to narrow their deficit to 28-23.

But the Bulls (2-6, 2-2 AAC) committed 19 penalties for 170 yards, with the most backbreaking one happening with UH clinging to a five point lead deep into in the fourth quarter.  USF's true freshman QB Mike White tossed a pass along the right sideline to Bulls receiver Andre Davis that had him stepping out of bounds just short of the goal line but was flagged for offensive pass interference for pushing off on UH cornerback William Jackson. 

The penalty wiped out a 27 yard gain and pushed the Bulls back to the UH 42 yard line.  On the very next play Cougar defensive end Tyus Bowser sacked White and forced a fumble that was recovered by Jeremiah Farley for their first and most critical turnover of the game.  

UH then put the game away with a drive capped off by a determined Kenneth Farrow 5 yard TD run and a late interception to help the Coogs close out the 35-23 win and go to a spotless 4-0 in AAC play.

It was also the 16th straight game that the Cougars have had 2+ turnovers. 

Next week the 7-1 Cougars travel to Orlando to take on their first ranked opponent of the season in the 6-1 University of Central Florida Knights.   The Knights are no slouches with their lone loss being a narrow 28-25 non conference one to South Carolina.  UCF is also unbeaten in AAC play and walked into the Pizzeria October 18 and knocked off then number 8 ranked Louisville 38-35. 

So I hope UH got the sloppy play out of their system because they better be ready to play against the Knights.    This upcoming game and the one next week at Louisville will probably determine whether the Cougars stay on track for that BCS bowl berth and the inaugural AAC title. 
  

2013 UH Cougar Watch-Routing Rutgers

Before the season started the media covering the American Athletic Conference picked the Cougars to finish sixth in the inaugural AAC season poll. 

That dissing didn't sit too well with the UH football players, and as they started their season 5-0 the Cougar players continued to be incensed by the lack of media love and perceived disrespect.

"I was watching the Louisville (Central Florida) game and the ESPN commentators were talking about they were going to run the conference and do this and do that," said Cougar safety Adrian McDonald.  "They didn't even say anything about us. Coach talked about it. This is motivation. We're coming from the bottom and we're just going to work our way up."

If the media wasn't paying attention to UH.and ignoring them when it comes to ranking them, they most certainly are now. 

McDonald had two of the NCAA leading Cougar defense's five interceptions that turned a tight game into a 49-14 rout over Rutgers in Piscataway, NJ. 


True freshman quarterback John O'Korn led a high octane Cougar offense that amassed 611 yards of total offense.  O'Korn was 24 of 30 for 364 yards and 5 touchdowns as the Cougars rebounded from last week's narrow loss to BYU in a major way.    

The Cougar offense scored two second quarter touchdowns in the span of 58 seconds, one being a 83 yard strike from O'Korn to Deontay Greenberry that broke open the game and gave UH a 28-14 halftime lead.

The Cougar defense came into this game having forced 24 turnovers and a +14 turnover margin and added to it with the six turnovers they forced in this conference matchup.

With the win the Cougars are now 6-1 on the season (3-0 in AAC play) and bowl eligible but have bigger goals in mind.

The AAC champ is eligible for a BCS bowl, and after narrowly mission out on one in that near BCS busting season in 2011, definitely have their eyes on that prize in addition to the inaugural AAC title.

Next up is another AAC game in Reliant Stadium against the 2-5 (2-1) South Florida Bulls on Halloween night that will be televised on ESPN.

Hopefully the Cougars after that game will be one step closer to a BCS bowl and an AAC title that no one thought this freshman and sophomore laden squad would be able to win.   

Nikki Goes To Prairie View

Nikki Araguz Loyd took another road trip inside the borders of the Lone Star State Tuesday, but this time it was up US 290 to speak on the campus of  Prairie View A&M University.

She was invited to the suburban Houston HBCU school as part of their Students Participating In Transcending Knowledge (SPIT) Lecture Series

She was introduced by junior psychology student and #girllikeus Londyn Williams before taking the stage at the Opal Johnson Auditorium to a crowd according to PV Panther reporters Amanda Leon and Joshua Bennett unsure of how to react to Nikki, but her larger than life personality and her compelling story quickly changed that dynamic.

Nikki not only discussed the traumatic sexual assault she endured at age 13, she talked about the drama surrounding the death of her husband Thomas Araguz and the subsequent legal case now winding its way through the Texas legal system.

And when she departed the stage, it was to rave reviews..

Senior sociology major LaFredrick Smith said, “The event was wonderful to have on a campus that was created in results of equality issues. I wish more people would have attended the event due to the fact that more people on this campus need to be educated on the subject. But then again the ignorant will be ignorant and not open to expanding their ways of thinking. Nikki Araguz-Loyd was amazing. I love how open and down to earth she was. She left nothing out. That’s what we look for at S.P.I.T Knowledge! My favorite quotes from Nikki were: “Love shouldn’t have to be defended” and “My vagina says I’m a woman.”

Prairie View,, I'm amazed that you invited any trans woman up to your campus period for a chat about trans issues and hope that trend continues. 

So when will another conversation continuing the discussion that Nikki helped start happen?

ConGRADulations Class of 2013!

Seems like I just wrote that post a few months ago that ushered in the start of the 2012-13 school year. 

It's now May, and that means it's not only prom season, but time for kids all over the country to make that walk across the stage to get their high school or collegiate diplomas.  

For others it signals that promotion to the next elementary, middle or high school grade.   There are other students eagerly awaiting making the jump from elementary to middle/intermediate or junior high school, or from middle school to high school that awaits at the end of this month. 

Wanted to take a moment to salute the members of the Class of 2013 and give a special shout out to my transpeeps who are making that high school commencement walk such as Issak Wolfe in Pennsylvania, Calliope Wong in Connecticut and my Houston area homegirl Toni Zamazal. 

You made it!   You're leaving high school and moving on to the next big step in your lives.   Also sending love to my trans, same gender loving (SGL) and allied readers who are graduating this year as well.  


I also want to give a shout out to all my readers who are graduating from their various college campuses and taking that step into a world far different than the one you've gotten intimately familiar with when you first entered your various campuses as eager freshmen.

For you high schoolers about to make that jump from your beloved high school campus to a collegiate one, enjoy the experience.  Once it's over you'll be talking about it for the next thirty to forty years of your life good, bad and indifferent.  

For those of you who are trans, lesbian, bi or gay, as soon as you get your collegiate class schedules and finish orientation, find out where your campus LGBT center is located if they have one.  It'll help you navigate the tricky waters of going through college as an TBLG student.

And yes HBCU's, haven't forgotten about (and neither has the National Black Justice Coalition) the issues that pertain to LGBT students on your campuses.  There are 300,000 students matriculating on the 105 historically Black Colleges and University (HBCU) campuses and you can bet that Black trans and SGL students are part of that mix. 

It's either get with the program and add inclusive gender identity and sexual orientation language in your non-discrimination and employment policies along with policies that make their on campus lives better or lose those students to predominately white campuses.  Their top 20 scores on the Campus Pride Index and being proud of it will trump family and cultural ties to your institution if you continue to have hostile climates for Black trans and SGL students.

I also want to thank those colleges and universities who invited me to their campuses during this 2012-13 school year to speak about or participate in panel discussions about trans issues, and hope I get the opportunity and invitation to do more of them inside and outside Loop 610 in the 2013-14 school year. 

ConGRADulations Class of 2013!   May you have much success in whatever you plan to do with the rest of your lives . 

Campus Pride's First Ever Top 10 Trans Friendly College and University List

The organization Campus Pride has been compiling  LGBT friendly campus lists through its Campus Climate Index  for several years now.  

With the increasing numbers of campuses adding gender identity and expression language to their mission statements and non discrimination policies (even here in Texas) and the fact that trans kids transitioning at earlier ages will one day become trans collegians,  I was happy to discover via an Advocate.com article that Campus Pride has compiled a first ever list of its Top Ten Trans Friendly Colleges and Universities.

This initial Top Ten list is heavy on northeastern and west coast schools with one in the midwestern US.     We can only hope over time that this Top Ten Trans Friendly List will grow to a Top Twenty List and become more regionally diversified.  I would also like to one day see some HBCU campuses on this list as well as some from my birth state.  

The Top Ten Trans Friendly Colleges and Universities for 2012

Ithaca College,  Ithaca, NY
New York University, New York, NY
Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
University of California Riverside, Riverside,CA
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
University of Vermont, Burlington, VT

ConGRADulations Class of 2012

In addition to May being my birthday month, it's also the month in which commencement ceremonies are taking place all over the country.   

Not only is my cousin Cyril graduating from Alief Taylor High School this month and moving on to college, but I have some friends graduating from college this year as well.  

Chelsea, one of my Texas Aggie fam who was one of the peeps who spoiled me rotten during my November 2010 visit up there is getting her degree. 

I also discovered that Amirage, one of my Louisville sisters is getting her bachelors in social work from U of L

So to all of my readers who happen to be in the Class of 2012 be it at the middle, high school, collegiate or post-graduate level, conGRADulations 

Best of luck in your future academic or life endeavors and keep me posted.  

The Lady Bears Are The Unbeaten 2012 NCAA Womens Champs

Told y'all the Lady Bears would win it all!  

Last night in Denver the NCAA women's basketball title stayed in Texas and moved up the Brazos River to Waco after the dominating 80-61 win of the Baylor Lady Bears over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to cap an undefeated and unprecedented 40-0 season    

It was Baylor's first title since 2005 and no NCAA team mens or women's have ever gone 40-0.  Baylor is the seventh team to go through their season unbeaten..

Was fun watching Brittney dominate in the paint after being held to only nine points in the first half.  Only wish she'd gotten a dunk in the title game.

Oh well, maybe she'll get one in Olympic women's basketball play later this summer in London, (hint, hint to Geno Auriemma and USA Basketball)

And bad news for you NCAA women's b-ball teams.   Brittney's coming back for her senior year.

Moni's 2012 NCAA Women's B-Ball Bracket

Since 2008 in honor of Women's History Month I do a women's NCAA Tournament bracket in addition to the one I do for 'the menz' and had so much fun doing so I repeated it in 2009 and 2010  


I've actually done a better job picking the women's NCAA tournament champion than I have for the men.   Then again, UConn was on The Streak' 

Last year I expected my Houston homegirl Brittney Griner and the Lady Bears to make it to the Final Four but had another set of Houston homegirls in the Ogwumike sisters and Stanford winning the title. 

The NCAA title did come back to Texas and along the Brazos River, but it's residing in College Station instead of Waco. 

After being beaten by the Lady Bears three times in the 2011 season, the Aggies upset Baylor in the Dallas Regional final to punch their ticket to their first ever Final Four.  Once they arrived in Indianapolis, the Aggies knocked off Stanford and 'home team' and Indiana home girl Skylar Diggins Notre Dame squad, who beat Tennessee and their nemesis UConn to get to the title game for the championship.. 

Baylor hasn't forgotten that loss and it's fueled them to an unbeaten record so far, the Big 12 regular season and tournament titles and the number one overall seed.   And yep, Brittney and company are determined to bring that trophy back to Waco for the first time since 2005.  But can the Lady Bears take that last step and be the team cutting down the nets at the Pepsi Center in Denver?  

I think so, but that's why you play the games..

Des Moines Regional

1st Round
Baylor, Ohio State, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Nebraska, Delaware, DePaul, Tennessee 

2nd Round
Baylor, Georgetown, Nebraska, Tennessee

Elite Eight
Baylor, Tennessee


Des Moines Regional Champion
Baylor

Fresno Regional
1st Round
Stanford, West Virginia, South Carolina, Purdue, Oklahoma, St John's, Vanderbilt, Duke

2nd Round
Stanford, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Duke

Elite Eight
Stanford, Oklahoma

Fresno Region Champs
Stanford

Raleigh Regional
1st Round
Notre Dame, California, St Bonaventure, Georgia, Arkansas, Texas A&M, Louisville, Maryland

2nd Round
Notre Dame, Georgia, Arkansas, Maryland

Elite Eight
Notre Dame, Maryland

Raleigh Regional Champs
Notre Dame

Kingston Regional
1st Round
Connecticut, Kansas State, LSU, Penn State, Rutgers, Miami (FL), Iowa State, Kentucky

2nd Round
Connecticut, LSU, Miami (FL), Kentucky

Elite Eight
Connecticut, Kentucky

Kingston Regional Champs
Connecticut

Final Four Teams
Baylor, Stanford, Notre Dame, Connecticut 

Championship Game
Baylor, Notre Dame

2012 NCAA Champion
Baylor

    

2011 UH Cougar Watch- Fighting For Respect In Dallas

Being a University of Houston football player, student or alum is a constant battle for respect against the constant sneers of t-shirt wearing Longhorn and Aggie fans.  At times we feel we don't even get it from the hometown media who cover our team.

When UH was agonizingly close to becoming a BCS buster and reeling off 12 straight wins the detractors were sipping hateraid from 55 gallon drums as the Cougars rose to Number 6 in the polls and the BCS rankings before falling in a painful nationally televised 49-28 C-USA title game loss at home to Southern Mississippi.

The players aren't happy about what transpired in the last game they played and are looking for redemption respect and to change some minds about the UH football program.

“We want to show everybody that we can play with the best,” senior receiver Tyron Carrier said in a Chronicle interview. “The first thing people say is ‘Y’all don’t play anybody.’ Well now we’ve got somebody. We want to show everybody what we can do with this spread offense and the type of skilled players we have.”

They are in Dallas at the Ticket City Bowl with a chance for redemption against a number 20 ranked 9-3 Penn State squad that tied for the eighth toughest schedule in the country with Alabama, one of the teams they played, and is a member of the automatic AQ qualifying Big Ten..

It's also at the Cotton Bowl, a stadium with a mixed 2-2 record in Cougar football history.   In their previous wins in the stadium UH top five  football squads under Bill Yeoman knocked off number 5 ranked and unbeaten Maryland 30-21 in the 1977 Cotton Bowl to complete their successful run through their first SWC season and finish ranked number four in the nation.  In the 1980 Cotton Bowl the number 6 Cougars beat top five ranked Nebraska on a 6 yard Elston to Herring TD pass with 12 seconds to go for a 17-14 win and the number 5 ranking to conclude the season..

In 1979 number 9 ranked UH lost a heartbreaking 35-34 Cotton Bowl 'Ice Bowl' game to number 10 Notre Dame.  After building a 34-12 lead, a sick Joe Montana came off the bench to make the Cougars ill by leading a furious fourth quarter comeback over the last 7:32 of the quarter for the Fighting Irish victory.

In the 1985 Cotton Bowl an unranked UH fell 45-28 to number 8 ranked Doug Flutie led Boston College.

That was then, this is 2012.  Judging by what Tyron Carrier had to say, the Cougars are determined to erase the bad memories of that C-USA title game loss. 

“We said it amongst ourselves the whole season,” Carrier continued. “They were waiting for us to fall. As soon as we failed, we dropped from top 10 to (out of the top 15). We just want to show everybody that we can really play. It just so happened that we had an off game. We don’t plan on ending the season like that.” 

“I think it’s extremely important,” said coach Tony Levine. “We got to as high as No. 6 in the country and there were still people out there that were skeptics whether it was the schedule or the conference. I think having drawn an opponent like Penn State, the tradition is as good as any in the country. The season they’ve had, the success they’ve had, it’s a great stage for us to go out and show that the 12 wins were not the fluke but the one loss was the fluke. Our kids are looking forward to that.”

The game kicks off at 11 AM CST on Monday.   I'm hoping they have a better result in this game than the one back on December 1.

2011 UH Cougar Watch- Ouch!

Now that I've gotten past my finite disappointment over the Coogs losing the C-USA Championship game and a BCS Sugar Bowl berth in that 49-28 upset Southern Miss sprung on them, time to reflect on what happened yesterday.

It's simple.  They picked a bad time to have a lousy day on offense and defense with a Southern Miss team that felt disrespected and more than ready.to play in front of a national television audience.

I hadn't felt that badly about a UH loss since a certain NCAA basketball title game in 1983.   Add to that pain burnt orange hateraid drinkers gloating about it and other BCS conference schools sniffing around our coach is only ratcheting up the anxiety level that UH fans are feeling right now..

There was some potential Black history that died with that upset loss.   Had the Coogs won the game Kevin Sumlin would have become the first African-American FBS head coach to lead a non-AQ school BCS buster squad.

Thanks to the job Sumlin has done in building on what Art Briles had done to resurrect the UH program, Texas A&M in the wake of them firing Mike Sherman wants to have a chat with him to see if he'll come up to College Station to coach the Aggies as they get ready to move to the SEC in 2012.

UH AD Mack Rhoades says they will do everything possible to keep him, and Coach K says that he's happy at UH.

"At this point in my career, I'm very happy at the University of Houston," Sumlin said. "I think there's a lot of things that can happen with us. I think the conference realignment issue is critical and the stadium issue is critical for us to move forward. And there are some limitations if those things don't happen."

But the facts are that the Cougars still had an amazing year and they are still going to a bowl game, it's just not the BCS one they wanted.  My 12-1 squad will head up I-45 to play Penn State in the Ticket City Bowl on January 2 in Dallas.


But like every other Cougar fan, student, player and alum, I think deep down  we'd all rather be going to New Orleans again.   But the Cotton Bowl will be the destination instead.