I felt moved to finally share this video since I am going to see Hamilton on Wednesday! I'm so excited. I think this video makes an already great song incredibly powerful. The U.S. has been built upon the back of immigrants. And yet, today, many immigrants live in fear, surrounded by hate and xenophobia. It doesn't matter if they are a doctor or a waitor, it doesn't matter if they are documented or not- they don't deserve to live that way. Still, you might know that they are some of the most patriotic people around. Every day, my immigrant father will point out something "amazing" about the US, something that he's grateful for. Sometimes I roll my eyes and tell him he's idealizing an imperfect system and other times I listen. He talks about roads a lot, how often there is construction and how fast they finish. I would never think of that, otherwise. The world as we know it wouldn’t function without the service industry. Some of the people who are rude to waiters and mock the notion of raising the minimum rage are the same people who want to be able to buy coffee at odd hours, who enjoy the clean, organized shelfs at grocery stores, and who don’t want to dry clean their own clothes or harvest their own vegetables.
Immigrants aren't "stealing American jobs." The truth is, they are willing to do jobs Americans aren't, for less money. Let’s treat service workers better and with the respect they deserve (hint: it’s as much as anyone else). Let's treat immigrants better and with the respect they deserve (hint: refer back to previous hint).
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I studied the poem “Casabianca” by Felicia Dorothea Hemans (1826), briefly, for my English class. All that was required was a short analysis, which I wrote days ago, yet I cannot stop thinking about it, so I decided to share my thoughts here. This poem is powerful. You may need to re-read it once or twice.
[Click “Read Below” to see the poem.] I knew there must be a bigger story than I could see. I soon found that there was. The boy in the poem may have not been on the battlefield depected, but his father, Admiral Brueys, was, as the commander of the French. The battle described took place on August 1, 1798, between Napoleon and the English. It was called the Battle of the Nile (qtd. by "Poetry Archive). There is a theme of war and peace, which is all I saw at first. Then, I found an explanation which gave me a fresh lens to read the poem through, again, “...feminist scholars began to interpret ‘Casabianca’ as a subtle critique of patriotism,” (Gilbert and Gubar 481). In my second reading, I was able to clearly see where that interpretation comes from. The little boy was so loyal that it killed him. On the surface, his loyalty belonged to his father, but he symbolizes a country. I can also see how the poem can be twisted as a story of bravery, rather than tragedy. The line that most clearly demonstrates this is the last stanza, which ends with, “But the noblest thing which perish’d there / Was that young faithful heart!” (li. 39-40). I don’t think Hemans wrote those lines sincerely, after reading the pain in the rest of the poem. This is what she is seeing people choosing to focus on. Here, she mocks those crowds. He should not have died, and if he weren’t so loyal, he would not have. Yet, again, I can see how the meaning of the poem can be twisted. I would like to do more reading on the history behind this poem. The poem felt extremely emotional to me. I felt anguish in my gut when I was reading it. That proved to be just one layer. The first time I read it, I was left in shock. It is a beautiful poem and deeply haunting. I could see the flames getting higher and closer to the boy every time he called out for his father. Each time the boy called for his father, that he grew more desperate each time. He starts with, “He call’d aloud:-‘Say, Father, say / If yet my test is done?’” (li. 13-14), then, “‘Speak, Father!’ once again he cried, / ‘If I may yet be gone!’” (16-17), and finally “And shouted once more aloud, / ‘My Father! must I stay?’” (25-26). Hemans so clearly illustrates the fear the boy must have been feeling. It is truly heartbreaking. Gender dysphoria. Whether you experience it yourself and feel like an expert or you have no idea what I’m talking about: that’s okay, please, keep reading. What is gender dysphoria? “For some transgender people, the difference between the gender they are thought to be at birth and the gender they know themselves to be can lead to serious emotional distress that affects their health and everyday lives if not addressed. Gender dysphoria is the medical diagnosis for someone who experiences this distress” (National Center for Transgender Equality, FAQs). “Gender dysphoria is extreme discomfort caused by a discrepancy between a person’s gender at birth (called assigned gender) and the gender they feel themselves to be (affirmed gender). Children with gender dysphoria experience great anguish as a result of feeling “trapped” inside a body that does not match the gender that feels right to them” (Child Mind Institute). I found this lovley little graphic on Instagram @stop_imgay I, personally, feel social dysphoria the most when I’m meeting new people. I sweat bullets every time I think about telling someone about my pronouns (they/them), I hate knowing most people assume I’m a girl but am unsure of what I would do if someone assumed I was a boy. I don’t know, cry, probably. I feel like body dysphoria is the most discussed type of gender dysphoria. It’s not a 24/7 worry, for me, but it pops up in certain situations like if I’m in front of a mirror (yes, every time), getting my photo taken, or picking out my clothes. It also mixes with social dysphoria a lot. I think body dysphoria is hard as a still-half-in-the-closet disabled teenager because I am stressed out about:
Mind. That’s the hardest. Not just to explain, but to deal with. I basically just question everything I say or do with “Was that too girly? Stop, you’re allowed to be girly. Well, maybe I don’t wanna be. It totally was. Am I not trans enough? Back to the original question….” There are different kinds of gender dysphoria and each one feels different for everyone. Lots of transgender people don’t experience gender dysphoria. Strangely, that is a controversial topic because some people think a person must experience dysphoria to be trans, ie. that without it, they aren’t really trans. And I want to clear that up, right now: plenty of transgender people don’t feel any gender dysphoria at all. Having gender dysphoria doesn’t make you transgender, just like not having doesn’t make you cisgender. Read more: “Not All Transgender People Have Dysphoria – And Here Are 6 Reasons Why That Matters” by Sam Dylan Finch (Everyday Feminism)
Some people chose to use hormones and/or to physically change their body to better fit their gender identity. Not all people who are transgender want top and/or bottom gender reassignment surgery. These surgeries can be invasive and expensive. Some people just never want one. It does not make them more or less transgender. (Sidenote: never, ever ask anyone, especially not someone you don’t know, what kind of genitals they have. I shouldn’t have to explain this. Just. Don’t.) All major medical organizations in the United States recognize that living according to one’s gender identity is an effective, safe and medically necessary treatment for many people who have gender dysphoria” (National Center for Transgender Equality, FAQs). How young can you know you're trans?I saw a screenshotted Reddit post on Instagram that I’d like to talk about. Some people know they are transgender their whole lives, since they were a kid. You’ve probably heard someone say something along the lines of, “Kids are too young to know they’re trans!” And maybe, if you’re lucky, “I identified as a dinosaur when I was that age! Kids don’t know what they are talking about!” The thing is, they are so very wrong. For starters, they didn’t “identify as a dinosaur” as a kid. They may have been obsessed with learning about them and even pretending to be one, but they didn’t think they were a dinosaur. To quote the mysterious Reddit user: “You didn’t cry yourself to sleep because you couldn’t figure out why you had no tail. You didn’t feel an inexplicable sense of shame at your lack of claws. When you looked in the mirror, in a dinosaur costume, you weren’t upset about all the non-dinosaur bits you could still see. When others saw the costume, you weren’t brought to tears by them treating you like a child-wearing-a-costume instead of a real dinosaur.” Kids play make-believe all the time and sometimes it feels really real to them, at the moment, and that’s okay. But, being transgender just isn’t something kids play make-believe about. “If a child told you that they were hearing voices, you wouldn’t care that they were too young to understand schizophrenia.” There's a lot of ways to "understand" gender. It's a complicated part of identity, especially if you are trans. But, the knowledge in your heart and soul that you are [your gender] is always there. There’s rarely a question that a child can be sure of their gender identity when it aligns with their biological sex. We make it pretty clear to kids what a girl is vs. what a boy is in school and with toys and TV. They pick up on that. We can’t keep kids from exploring themselves and loving themselves. Feeling sure of your gender and knowing how you want to express yourself is a truly wonderful feeling. Another thing...This came up in my research and I just want to leave it here. “Being transgender is not considered a medical condition [however] many transgender people [still] need to deal with physical and mental health problems because of widespread discrimination and stigma. Many transgender people live in a society that tells them that their deeply held identity is wrong or deviant. Some transgender people have lost their families, their jobs, their homes, and their support, and some experience harassment and even violence. Transgender children may experience rejection or even emotional or physical abuse at home, at school, or in their communities. These kinds of experiences can be challenging for anyone, and for some people, it can lead to anxiety disorders, depression, and other mental health conditions. But these conditions are not caused by having a transgender identity: they're a result of the intolerance many transgender people have to deal with. Many transgender people – especially transgender people who are accepted and valued in their communities – are able to live healthy and fulfilling lives” (National Center for Transgender Equality, FAQs). Every Monday through Thursday, I go to school. I park in the parking garage, take the elevator to the second floor from wherever I am, roll less than 300 yards into the building, 100 yards more to the elevators, go up, and both my classrooms are right outside the elevator doors. This is an extremely short trip with only a few minutes ever actually standing near anyone. I want to emphasize how little time it takes me. And yet, without fail, someone always asks me “What happened to your leg?”
Or, “Are you okay?” “I hurt my leg once.” “Is it broken?” “How long have you been in the wheelchair?” “How long until you can walk again?” No one ever says “hello” to me anymore. On Tuesday, we were working in partners in math class. It was nice, I ended up with someone I’d spoken to before who I liked. So, I wouldn’t have minded a question about my legs from him as much as from a total stranger, hell, I expected it. I noticed him staring at my foot propped up on the leg of the wheelchair and tried to focus on the worksheet. But, I was waiting for it. “Are those All Birds?” he asks, “I’m thinking about getting some.” |
Who Am I?Hi there! I'm Whit, my pronouns are they/them, and I write a lot.
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Painting by Whit Acrylics on masonite April 20th, 2019 Words are a Quaker saying. George Fox? |