Saturday, November 17, 2012

Trans/Gender Awareness Week

Editorial: all opinions expressed are of the author and not necessarily that of the Middletown Insider Editorial Staff.

Oh dear, I seem not to have noticed Trans/Gender Awareness Week (Nov 2-16)* until the declaration of such a period was brought to my attention by members of my family.   


My elder daughter and her mother have been ragging on me that I should "take notice" of "Transgender Awareness Week" which, by that time however, the period so designated had already passed. In a  post in another forum my daughter took offense at my describing TransGender folk as "Trannys" (or should that be "Trannies"?). She said that a term such as I used is frowned upon and should only be used by TransGender people themselves, just as people of pallor are not to use the "N" word about people of color. My pictorial take on the entire affair:


Photobucket



*(Trans/gender Awareness Week at Yale (fondly referred to as "Trans Week") is an annual series of events held on the Yale campus each fall semester, usually in November.  Founded in 2004 to create a space on campus for exploring issues related to gender identity, it has expanded into a two-week long exploration and celebration of trans and gender non-conforming identities, experiences, and communities.)

13 comments:

  1. Your lack of sensitivity and complete ignorance is Disapointing. Are you not aware of a transgender issue at the police department. Apparently the city continues to live in the dark ages. No wonder so many will sue the city for its bad behaviors. Disgraceful.

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  2. Wow! How would we be aware of what goes on inside the police station? Perhaps you should write it up.

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  3. Your republican blog will never be taken seriously because you make a joke out of everything. While its good to find humor in negative circumstances, the insider seems to just "get off" making fun or putting down serious issues. I for one actually was a big fan, or hoped to be. I thought eventually you would expose some bad or negative issues that need exposing. However, you are only the flip side to the same political coin. You've finally exposed that to me. Others will eventually follow. Middletown Insider? Really? I think not. More fitting would be middletown outcasts? Pathetic ....
    You seem to know about everything else that goes on inside the PD, how surprising that with this issue you are clueless? I am leading towards not really believing that. But will give you the benefit of the doubt. Since it is possible the insider can be clueless about things.

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  4. @ Middletown Insider, how about you dont request a write up. In fact I think you and I should talk in person about you trying to make a requst or anything of the sort. I am sure you will be very unpleased with my comunication skills but I will deffinetly show you the art of arguing a point with out saying a word. Leave it alone.

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  5. Dear Anon: If you don't like the site you don't have to read it. It's stil a free country, but assume we know everything that goes on inside and around (insert prepositions) the Middletown Police Station is insane.

    Can you define?: "I am sure you will be very unpleased with my communication skills but I will deffinetly (sic) show you the art of arguing a point without saying a word"."

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  6. Argument without words, pantomime perhaps?

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  7. I'm not sure about how other readers feel. But the insider does try to "act" that they know "inside" information very often it seems. Just like other blogs about the PD, and city hall etc etc. they have posted. You could have known......And just played dumb? One will never know. But that's something they city and its cronie politicans can't handle anyway. Truth. But they sure do play dumb it seems.
    I do respect the fact that you still post the opinions anonymous or not. I'm glad you shed light on "stuff". Thing is you seem to be more of a republican site then a "real for the Middletown people site" but that ok, I life you take the good with the bad.

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  8. Hello:
    The people of Middletown , all 45,000 plus are in the dark about the underhanded ruthless issues of Middletown politics (dems and reps) which are destroying a once great honesty city. Please, do us.

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  9. A reader who graciously emailed us informed us about some possible transgender issues happening in the City currently. This post was by a respected blogger SteadyJohn and it is his opinion & commentary which is his responsibility, and while may or may not reflect the position of the entire staff, we have chosen to allow the post to remain. It is SteadyJohn's right to express his views and at this blog, unlike most, we welcome all opinions for civil discussion.

    The Staff was not aware of ongoing discussions about transgender issues within any particular City department,the unintentional timing of this post was not meant to offend. Hopefully, as a result it will generate discussion that can educate us all.

    The question and root of the post, we believe is the word and connotation- SteadyJohn appears to be pointing out his own honest confusion about whether or not "tranny" was derogatory or had been recaptured as a term embraced by the community as a positive identifying accolade. This is a valuable discussion on the progression of language and identity.

    We hope for a positive outcome benefiting all involved regarding recent transgender City policies.
    Staff has only been recently made aware of these- we can't be everywhere, we are not Santa Claus.

    There are many, many City practices and political on-goings that are negatively effecting employees and tax payers that we hope to cover asap after the Thanksgiving Holiday. For now, we would like to shed light on some positive seasonal happenings that other sources are not covering. We welcome and in fact need reader submissions and emailed tips for issues needing attention.

    As far as intentional slant- we are no more slanted to a particular view than the Eye, Patch, Press, Courant and alike- if you believe them unbiased then so are we. The Insider encourages readers to read as much media as they can- and derive their OWN opinions from multiple sources.

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  10. Middletown Insider correctly points out that the issue of language and identity was the main point of my post. However, I did attempt to address the Trans/Gender issue by adopting a rather jocular, some might even say mocking, tone. Perhaps the image accompanying the post offended. But come on people, lighten up!

    The debasement of our language consists in, just to mention one problem, the inhibitions and constrictions on public speech and thought by political correctness in all its forms. This topic deserves a post of its own so I will address it in due course.

    Particularly at this time of year one cannot help but note the attempts by various groups to curtail or mock established traditions. These attacks, first directed at The Christmas holiday, have now expanded to include the Thanksgiving tradition.

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  11. You can really see the different personalities in the two posts from the insider here. One is a knee-jerk and the other is well spoken.

    Yes there is an issue the the MPD. I have myself been interested in writing a story about it but I work closely with officers on the MPD and I believe many on the force want to keep the subject quiet.

    Middletown has a way of putting itself in the spotlight. I'm not sure if thats a good or bad thing though.

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  12. I appreciate your honesty, if you need to post something on this site feel free. -MI-

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