Upcoming 'Swapping Stories' Event On U of L Campus

TransGriot Note: An interesting announcement of an upcoming event on the U of L campus from Brian Buford that I'd thought I'd share with you and my Kentuckiana TransGriot readers.

Next week we are kicking off an award-winning project we created with the Baptist Campus Ministries (BCM) to explore how people on opposite sides of an issue come together in respect and friendship. It's called "Swapping Stories" and the title refers to the common experience among people who identify as Christian or LGBT (or both!) of telling a story about their lives. If you are LGBT, it's your coming out experience. If you're Christian, it might be your spiritual transformation or testimony. If you identify as both, it could include elements of both stories from your life.

The world tells us that these two groups can never come together unless it's in conflict, arguments, and hurt feelings. But Swapping Stories is all about setting aside agendas and learning to listen to another person's story. This experience demonstrates that we more alike than different. It's social justice and peace making in their truest sense, challenging some of the most basic societal rules and assumptions that have developed from years of misunderstanding.

So how does it work? Here's a brief description:

Students who choose to participate will attend a kick-off session next Thursday, October 28, at 7 p.m. in the Cultural Center. After a short training on the principles of Swapping Stories, you'll be paired up with a lunch partner and we'll give you $10 to spend on a meal together. Your job is to go out to eat, share your stories with one another, and see what happens! It's as easy as that. Your assignment will be to listen without judgment, honor one another's experience, and look for common ground. Everyone will come back together for dinner on November 9 at 8:30 (right after commonGround and BCM meetings conclude that night) to talk about how it went and what we learned.

REAL change happens when we step outside our comfort zone, and I know that for many of us, this is a big step. Come learn more about it at the kick off, and hear from the leaders of both groups who practiced earlier this week, as well as those who swapped stories in 2008. We won a "Spirit of Diversity" award that year for this project, and we expect another successful year!

(One important addition: We are committed to making this a safe, affirming, positive experience for everyone involved and making certain that your identity is respected. If at any point you have concerns, the Office for LGBT Services is here to intervene and help you resolve them. Participation is voluntary and it's always your choice whether to continue or not.)

Swapping Stories Kick Off
Thursday, October 28, 2010
7 p.m.EDT
Cultural Center

First preference for participating will be given to students who are members of the BCM or an LGBT student organization at U of L. Light refreshments will be served!

President While Black

Seems that Moni isn't the only one seeing the Grand Canyon sized double standard that President Obama is operating under and the overt and covert racism he's having to battle while doing so, even amongst his so-called allies.

And calling out that double standard and the hair trigger knee jerk reactions to anything President Obama does they don't like does not make me an Obamatron, Obamagist or whatever derisive names Obamahaters come up with.

I'm having to do on an almost daily basis call out the white GLBT community on this and point out how much this double standard is pissing off the African American GLBT community and our allies.

But hey, to make the point I'm not the only person of African descent pissed off about the presidential double standard I see,  peep what Gerald A McIntosh wrote about it.

I expected that his winning the Presidency would bring out some ugliness, but it's been far worse than I imagined. The racism coming from the Right is obviously clear and shameless, but there's also some hidden and maybe subconscious and disturbing underline tone behind some of the things that I read here and throughout the Left blogosphere, even before the end of Obama's first year - 'He's weak, he's spineless, he's got no balls, primary him in 2012'. It'll be dishonest to deny that.

The fact is that for millions in America , Barack Obama is this uppity black man (Not even a "real" black), who received good education only due to affirmative action, and has no right to litter the sacred Oval Office with his skin color. They just can't accept the fact that the president is a black man, who unlike his predecessor, was actually legally elected. But what's really sad is that it's not just the fringe, its deep deep in mainstream America .

Here's a link to the full post from Gerald A. McIntosh courtesy of the Chris' Rants and Raves Blog and  Things According To Me.   


H/T Chris' Rants and Raves, Things According To Me

Shut Up Fool! Awards- 2010 Election Homestretch Edition

We are less than two weeks to election day here in the States and both parties are making that final push to the November 2 finish line as early voting starts in several states including Texas.

We already have the Tea Klux Klan trying to suppress the votes of Latino and African American people here in Harris County at predominately African American early voting locations.

So that leads me to ask this question.  If you're so sure you're going to win and 'the American people' (translation 'scurred' neo-Confederate white voters) are down with your kiss corporate behind policies and will be swarming the polls, then why you all up in my neighborhood trying to prevent me from voting?  

While those knuckle dragging political missing links are trying to figure out the answer to that question, let's segue into this week's Shut Up Fool Awards.

We had a bumper crop of fools to choose from this week.   Juan Williams, who finally got fired from NPR for his anti Muslim remarks on Faux News (and got a raise at Fox) , Michele Bachmann, Glenn Beck, Christine O'Donnell, Sharron Angle, Bill O'Reilly, Rand Paul, and Sarah Palin 

And at the rate Christine O'Donnell is going, she's one of the leading candidates for this year's Shut Up, Fool! of the Year award..

But this week's winner is Alaska Tea Klux Klan Senate candidate Joe Miller.   When asked for his suggestions at a Fairbanks town hall on what we should do to stop the flow of undocumented immigration into the country, Miller brought up the dearly departed DDR.

"The first thing that has to be done is secure the border. . .  East Germany was very, very able to reduce the flow.  Now, obviously, other things were involved.  We have the capacity to, as a great nation, secure the border.  If East Germany could, we could."

Um Joe, maybe it escaped your attention, but the Deutsche Demokratische Republik built the 'Antifascist protection barrier' to keep its people IN. 

Oh, by the way, the fortified border worked so well East Germany went out of business 20 years ago this month.

But then again, you Republicans always admired repressive regimes.    Maybe I should get you a copy of 1378 (km) for Christmas.

Joe Miller, shut up fool!

Victoria Carmen White Update

There's a welcome update in the Victoria Carmen White saga    According to CNN  two suspects have been identified and police are searching for them.

Victoria's murder is also being investigated as a bias crime. 


The Maplewood, NJ police are looking for 25year old Marquise L. Foster, of North Plainfield and 23 year old Alrashim N. Chambers, of Newark, NJ.  

To help expedite their capture, Garden State Equality is offering a $2000 reward for informtion that leads to one or both of these wastes of DNA being apprehended.

We also have more details as to the events leading up to White's September 12 death.   

Assocring to Essex County Prosecutior's Office spokesperson Katherine Carter, suspects Foster and Chambers met White at an Irvington, NJ nightclub,  then returned with her and two other people to the Maplewood, NJ apartment "to continue partying."    An altercation occurred and White was killed."

Foster, of North Plainfield, is described as about 5-feet, 6-inches tall and weighing 130 pounds; Chambers, of Newark, is 5-feet, 10-inches and approximately 165 pounds.

Okay Jersey peeps, if you see these guys, give the Essex County or Maplewood po-po's a call.   There's $2000 dollars in it for you and the gratitude of the friends, family and all who loved Victoria Carmen White.

And once these peeps are caught, Victoria will be one step closer to receiving justice.
 

President Obama-It Gets Better

When the 'It Gets Better' campaign started, the President's white gay haters started griping because in their estimation, he hadn't spoken out on this bullying issue in a timely enough fashion for them.

Now that this video is out, they have flipped the script and are bitching because he HAS done one.  


Arrrgh.

This is the kind of wishy-washy flip-flopping crap that exasperates and pisses of the African-American TBLG/SGL community and our allies.  You give this president no credit, time, or wiggle room to advocate on behalf of this community, but you gave the previous two occupants more than enough slack to do so, make mistakes or sat silently in the corner as the GOP one screwed you.

Make up your fracking minds.  Either you wanted him to do an anti-bullying video or you didn't .

Now that I've finished venting, here's the POTUS.