Coutrni Boozer

I love that you have found such a powerful role model in Assata, I relate with your obsession. She is a trail blazer and is showing you that more is possible. I hope that your life is a succession of such discoveries ;) It has been a while since I've had a role model... but, have found a few this year, and it has been inspirational.

I am Able!

--Back when we were talking about classism there was an article on page 179 about financial aid policy issues for students with disabilities, and I feel like it speaks to the misconception surrounding people with disabilities (PWD) abusing the system. If you didn’t read it, it is a quickie.

Disability quotes :

1)"The most striking fact about the disabled population is that it is the most inclusive. I will never be black, and I will never be a woman, but I could become disabled on the drive home tonight."
- George Will

2) Play write Neil Marcus (A PWD) once said: “DISABILITY IS NOT A 'BRAVE STRUGGLE' OR ‘COURAGE IN THE FACE OF ADVERSITY’. DISABILITY IS AN ART. IT’S AN INGENIOUS WAY TO LIVE.”

3) "I decided after 41 years of battling this curse that attacks children of all ages (Muscular Dystorphy), I would put myself in that chair, that steel imprisonment that long has been deemed the dystrophic child's plight. . . . I realize my life is half, so I must learn to do things halfway. I just have to learn to try to be good at being half a person."
From "What if I had Muscular Dystrophy?" Parade magazine, Sept. 2, 1990

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This is my response to Jerry Lewis, written after becoming a PWD and hearing the quote again this past summer. You may want to listen to this song cuz it’s mentioned: Gloria Gaynor I will Survive http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBR2G-iI3-I

I remember watching the in the MDA telethon when I was about eight years old. I was moved to tears by Gloria Gaynor singing I will survive while a montage of poor little crippled kids flashed across the TV screen. I was so moved and motivated to make a difference that I decorated a coffee can and dumped all my piggy bank savings into it and hit the streets.

I knocked on my neighbor's doors asking for donations, asked my mom to take me to the grocery store where I pan-handled in the parking lot and I even asked motorists for donations at the red light for the entrance of my subdivision. I ended up collecting somewhere around $500, and I had my mother drive me to the local affiliate television station broadcasting the telethon to drop off the money I collected. I remember being interviewed by a recognizable TV news anchor (who I greatly admired and wanted to grow up to be), and I remember being patted on the head and told that I was an inspiration.

That was a proud moment for me because I knew that I could make a difference in someone's life who was far less fortunate than me. But, I always wondered why I felt so empty and hollow as I poured the contents of my coffee can into a giant barrel of money that other people had collected. The more I read about and talked to other people with disabilities about telethons and how they impact the way our culture sees disability, I'm transported back to that moment when I poured all of my hope for a better tomorrow in the form of pennies, nickels, and dimes into a patronizing pit of pity.

As an adult it's very clear to me how the language that Jerry Lewis uses to elicit a response in the able-bodied population, could have a negative impact on the lives of the people he attempts to help. Back when I collected the money I was an able-bodied eight year old and aside from the disappointment of having a pat on the head for a job well done from someone I looked up to I didn't think much about it until almost 20 years later when I was diagnosed with RA. I could not get the images of those poor little crippled kids out of my mind, and I will survive was on a constant loop in my head. Along with the idea that Jerry had planted, that from then on I would be half a person living half a life. Because I could also hear Jerry’s voice saying “I just have to learn to try to be good at being half a person."

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Great resource by Mom of child with disab. http://www.disabilityisnatural.com/

Love Rolls On: Disability and Marriage- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lQX_irgy7A

Artists with Disabilities Oral History Project -http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ROHO/projects/artistsdis/

Ron White - Homophobic

I LOVE this joke... and our discussion about homophobia made me think of it.

It's a bit naughty, so be warned.

http://comedians.jokes.com/ron-white/videos/ron-white---homosexuality

augustine monroe

Augustine,

I realized this morning that I've never visited your blog, and enjoyed reading all of your entries-- especially the cookie monster photo. I enjoyed your perspective, and the fact that this week you brought Steve Jobs into the realm of Social Justice. I agree that in order to be a creative genius, you need to have a certain understanding of people, but I often think about Apple products as status symbols that delineate class.

I would be interested to hear her thoughts about this, if you want to share.

Transgender Revolution

I loved reading about the Compton Cafeteria Riot in San Francisco back in 1966. I thought the first riot of the gay rights movement was the Stonewall riot in New York that happened in the summer of 1969. Reading about the riot sparked by police clashing with transgendered individuals of course made me think about the Occupied Movement and what's going on in Oakland. Susan Stryker points out that riots don't happen in a bubble, the Compton riots were spurred by discrimination in housing and employment among other injustices-- which is reminiscent of the 99%.

Great Documentary from PBS: Stonewall Uprising--- watch the trailer http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/trailer/stonewall-trailer/

Christine Jorgensen is a name that I've heard for a long time; however I had never been inspired to Google her until reading about transgender oppression in our text (links below). One of my great friends is a documentary filmmaker Kerthy Fix ,who lives in New York, she has been working on a film about Christine for years-- and I have a performance art friend named Paul who named his raunchy alter ego performance persona CHRISTEENE (link below) in Jorgensen's honor. After reading and researching more about Jorgensen I understand why she is such a hero of my friends, she's a trailblazer who pushed against cultural boundaries that still have not been broken. .. and I have to say she's now a hero of mine to.

Christine Jorgensen on Joe Pyne 1966 or 1967

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyh8BxPxtnw&feature=related

Christine Jorgensen - Hour Magazine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDlGUeF1Bg0&feature=related

The Reluctant Transgender Role Model—Chaz Bono

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/fashion/08CHAZ.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1&ref=fashion

"Worlds Youngest Transsexual" Kim Petras on "This Morning"- 16 yrs old

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDJXR1wXofA&feature=related

WARNING!!! Not for everyone… Naughty words and lovely Raunchiness from CHRISTEEN. If you want to witness the wacky raunch for yourself, type in CHRISTEEN for Music videos on Funny or Die: Titles include: “Fix my D**k”, and “Tears from My P**sy”. http://www.funnyordie.com/

Of course the essay, “Calling All Restroom Revolutionaries!” rocked my world and I loved their acronym PISSAR!!! I didn't realize that was already a movement (pardon the pun), but I constantly prop the doors open to the restrooms in the School of Social Work, because as a woman with a disability (who is much less disabled now than I used to be) I know how frigg’en difficult those doors are open. As the chairperson of the Disability Visibility Initiative, I am working on getting automatic door openers installed, but UT is a bureaucracy and it will take a while.. so help meet with the revolution and keep the doors open. You can be a restroom revolutionary too! Do your part to help make the restrooms in the School of Social Work more accessible to your fellow students with disabilities. It's simple—PLEASE, any time you see the restroom doors closed just take a moment and prop them open, I guarantee you will make a difference in someone's day. Take it from someone who knows, not being able to open the bathroom door is a real PISSAR J

woman protester

I love this and had to share with you all.

Kayleigh Nicholson,

I looked in the back of the room and saw your reaction of shock and horror to the Oakland police brutality. It's so ironic that one of the tear gas canisters hit a protesting Iraq Vet. and it's given the Occupy movement a face and momentum in the media.

I've watched Rachel's show 2 times since we saw that footage in class. Read the article I posted 10/23 on Poverty Rate, it gives a good summery of how we got here.