I was pretty surprised to read this actually.  I knew there was bias in media, but I guess I hadn’t thought about how much of it there really was until this article and the linked one here at USA TODAY opened my eyes.   As  I mentioned in my post regarding D (please click here to scoot back to that post) it’s really not so important that D was transgendered or that Ms. Figueroa was Hispanic.  What matters is that these are people.  They are valuable, they are not throw away.  They all deserve to get as much respect, attention and justice as we can give them seeing that their perpetrators preferred to treat them as objects of contempt.

And the media bias is really troubling.  Why is it that this kind of bias exists.  Perhaps the quote by Michael Bass, as I have copied in here from the USA TODAY article holds the key:

Michael Bass, senior executive producer at The Early Show
on CBS, echoed on Thursday comments made previously by television
producers when asked about whether they favor stories about white
women.
“It’s the story that drives our decision (on
coverage) rather than the gender or race,” he said. Bass said his staff
heard about the case from the CBS affiliate in Philadelphia, “though we
look at the web, too. … It’s possible someone in our group saw it
there first.”

So in some sense the coverage (and perhaps any attention from the authorities?) was a function of consumption – that is – consumer consumption of news.   And if that’s the source driver for news choice, then, what does that say about our society?  Maybe it says we still have a long way to go to accept all our citizens as people.   Maybe it says that you have to be “pretty” to get justice.  I don’t really like those conclusions; they scare me.  They bring to light that our society, (as blessed as it is here in the U.S.A. and as grateful as I am to live and work here), has a ways to go to accept, support and love one another.   I think Marin Luther’s dream (which you can hear by clicking  here) still has some room before it’s reality – for all of us: white, Hispanic, transgendered, gay, Asian or any other denomination you’d like.

A new on-line community might fill a void for you: Transdentity. Transdentity exists as a supportive community for the creative exploration of identity for all individuals. The site hosts a forum, chat line and bulletin board. The chat line can be found on the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) Undernet system. The channel is #transdentity. You can get to Transdentity’s chatroom by clicking on this link here.

When the log-in screen pops up type in your nickname (use the one you have at Yahoo if you’d like!), then type in #transdentity for you Favourite channel. If a pop up window appears with a Java Security Warning, asking you to accept or deny, click accept. The site is secure and shouldn’t pose a problem (or hasn’t for me anyway).

How do you use IRC and what is it? IRC is one of the original chat systems, predating Yahoo Chat. If you used Yahoo, you can easily use IRC. If you have an Internet connection, then it’s easy (and free) to get to IRC and Undernet. IRC is a simple chat system that won’t take you any time at all to learn about it if you’ve used Yahoo. You can use a java web client like the link in the previous paragraph allows or you can download a standalone IRC chat program (like you may have with Yahoo Chat, Skype or AIM). Download a chat client (for free) at MIRC (http://www.mirc.com). Of if you have the Firefox browser (getFirefox) you can download the Chatzilla plug-in to access IRC as well from this link here. You can learn about IRC here at this link: IRCInfo (dead link) or at this link here IRCHelp. You can learn about Undernet at this link here: Whatis Undernet

—————————————-
Update for 12-20-09:  Transdentity is off line and apparently permanently.   Transdentity’s goal of being a supportive community for the creative exploration of identity for all individuals was a great one and as necessary now as it was then. The site hosted a forum, chat line and bulletin board. The chat line used the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) Undernet system so anyone could access it.   So, if you miss being able to get on-line at Transdentity there are some great options out there today to fill that space.  Pink Essence is a relatively new community that boasts similar features to what Transdentity had.  U R Not Alone, or URNA, has been around strong for years and with 60K users they might be the biggest and strongest.  Finally there is TG Forum that is another long standing on-line group that has been helpful to many.

Update for 11-27-07:   Transdentity is back online.   See update from Glenda herself  in her comment below.

Update for 9-24-07: It appears that the Undernet IRC Channel #transdentity and web site has been taken down

Salad of Love (also known a pile ofstuff whipped into a pot that magically produces potatoessalad)

* 1 bag potatoes boiled, then peeled (boiling ‘em first makes the peeling easier)

* Throw in two eggs while potatoes are cooking, to make them hardboiled

* Take peeled potatoes, cube ‘em and then toss into a bowl

* Shell eggs, dice, toss in same bowl with potatoes

* Finely chop &5 carrots and toss in

* Finely chop about 6 celery stocks & toss in

* Finely chop one onion, dice it up, toss it in to the same bowl

* Toss in some extra macaroni, or any other edible substance that has not grown mold or generated a smell reminiscent of your local waste management station.

* Toss it all together – if you use your bare hands it’s best.

* Take your fav mayo and put in about 5 big spoonfuls (big being your definition of big spoon)

* Add in some Italian dressing – just make it go around in a circle on top….your guess is as good as anyone’s as to how much is the best amount

* cover, refrigerate overnight – then whip out the next day at lunch and eat!

Calories? who the heck knows, and who’s counting! Serving size? By the plate! Taste? all children give this a thumbs up.

Salad of Science

(From page 107, Weight Watchers, “Simply The Best” recipe book)

Ingredients
(measurements are precise)

- 1/4 Cup plain non-fat yogurt

- 2 tablespoons reduced-calorie mayonnaise

- 2 teaspoons minced dill

- 1 teaspoon cider vinegar

- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

- 1 celery stalk, diced up

- 1/2 red bell pepper, seeded & diced

- 2 hard cooked eggs chopped

- 2 scallions thinly sliced

- 2 small red potatoes, cooked and cubed

In a medium bowl, combine the yogurt, mayonnaise, dill, vinegar and black pepper. Add the celery, bell pepper, eggs and scallions; toss with a pair of salad tongs to lightly coat. Ad the potatoes and toss gently, again with the tongs.

Calories? 130

Service Size? One third of the batch as listed, serves 3. Taste? All children look at me questioning if this is potatoe salad, egg salad, or craft paste.

You may recall my Asiatics “disappeard” (see Link above).   My digital camera has returned, so hopefully I’ll be able to nab the culprit (at least on film!).  It’s likely the deer.  It’s not like we live in the boonies, but, with reduced predators deer need to go someplace.  Apparently they need to eat someplace too!

Maybe I should get in on this deal to re-release big-game predators into the U.S. ecosystem…

This is a great read with excellent advice – had to share!  (now I guess I need to take that advice).

I’m so messed up right now I can barely think straight, let alone string together words cogently enough to make sense. I have no idea
why these “dips” happen. The best I can make of them, they happen when I don’t take care of myself, burying my being transgendered deep inside me to the degree that it drives me to a depression that I can’t really deal with. I know there are medications for this soft of thing. And my therapist has recommended them on more than one occasion. So why not avail myself of them and get back to some normalcy? Mainly, I think, because I don’t like the side effects, the increased tendency for suicide, the unknowns of taking them for so long. So I chose to ride out these periods and then I come to my senses after two days of not sleeping, of hiding, and realize I’m really in a bad sorts, pull myself together and drag myself up and out and see that the sun really is shining, the air really is filled with oxygen and that maybe things aren’t so bad after all.

Expressing my transgendered nature really does help me in these situations. Generally, it’s about crossdressing. In doing that, I am able to bring some level of congruity between my body and my mind and that makes all the difference, calming me, making my little world line up and then letting me sort of just go on with life. That going on with life is what most if not all folk who are transgendered really want. They just want some measure of peace and then to live and work and love. It’s pretty simple stuff really. I don’t know a single transgendered man or woman who would ask to have Gender Identity Dysphoria (GID). The general complications that it causes are just mind boggling. MOST of those complications are the result of societal pressure that being transgendered is somehow so weird that it demands stomping out or to be relegated to some sensational talk show. Many of those complications are caused by the transgendered persons own fears as well.

So it’s nice to be out and about. I don’t feel particularly comfortable in my own skin right now, but I’m not in some darkcavernous place at least.

Though French Toast was fun for a "season" the real draw in my kitchen was (and still is) PANCAKES.  Pancakes are the ONE thing I can trust to get my brood up and around the kitchen table TOGETHER.  They may mutter something vaguely distinguishable as English when they ask for "coffee", or  look at each other through bloodshot eyes and grunt, acknowledging there is another body in the room.  But the key is we are all together around the table.  Pancakes get us there.

Here’s the recipe I’ve used for years, and just thought I’d share the pancake love with ya’ll:

These are from scratch   WHAT no Aunt Jemima?   Nah, I gave her the day off for this recipe.  This recipe is adapted from the recipe "Old Fashion Pancakes" on page 94 of "The New Laurel’s Kitchen".  Note, these are hearty whole wheat pancakes.  A few go a LONG way!

Ingredients:
1 Cups whole wheat flour
1 Cup white flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 egg whites
2 3/4 c. 1% fat milk
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil or 2 Tablespoons applesauce (this makes the pancakes moister.  The oil makes a yummier pancake, but the applesauce is a bit healthier and cuts the calories some).

1. In a LARGE bowl, stir together all the dry ingredients.
2. Beat the eggs lightly & combine with the milk, then add to the dry ingredients & stir briefly.  Stir in the oil (or applesauce).
3. Heat the griddle. It should be hot enough so that when you sprinkle water drops on the surface, they dance or bubble about.  I find that on an electric stove, a setting of about 6 makes the surface hot without making it too hot that the cakes burn on the outside and then are mushy on the inside (sort of a stuffed pancake thing – very gross tasting unless you are hungover from the night before, then you have no idea whether your eating your tongue or your pancake).
   1. You probably won’t need any grease on the griddle unless you, a loved one, or a friendly neighbor have used it to smelt iron ore or burnt the surface horribly in some heat fetish for cooking food to a blackend char ("say honey, how about some Cajun blackened pancakes today?").
   2. Pour the batter onto the now nicely hot griddle.  I put 2 Tablespoons down and they come out nice and big and deeelicious.
   3. How the heck do you know when to turn them?   Well, after the initial pouring down onto the hot griddle top, the edges of the now nicely cooking cake should be a dry brown and the top should be all bubbly like the surface of Venus.  That means the heat has cooked through the batter!   Turn quick with a large spatula.

I always heat up some real maple syrup (not that bizarre food fad from the food lab, Maple Like Syrup they have in the asiles of our local grocery stores!).   Real maple syrup is not cheap – BUT – when heated a little goes a long way.  Give it a shot, hey it’s only a couple of bucks you cheapskate!!

If you feel very adventurous, once you try this recipe for a while, play with your food    Add blueberries or other lovelies to the mix.  Note, the more stuff you add, careful to add enough milk to keep the batter pourable, or else it hardens like concrete!

Okay, so who could be the culprit. The day commuting woodchuck that has her daily apples from our apple trees? Hmmm, she might be able to get up on her hind legs. The coyotes? No, he’d be chasing the day commuting groundhog. It could only be deer (well, it could be elk, but we don’t have elk in these parts). Hmm, once my digital camera has been fixed I’ll have to see if I can get a pic of the perp, bud in mouth!

These were way too funny to pass up posting over my steaming mug of hazelnut coffee…see the whole list at this link here

1. The Swiss
  Spaghetti Harvest

In 1957 the respected BBC news show Panorama announced that thanks
  to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination of the dreaded
  spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti
  crop. It accompanied this announcement with footage of Swiss peasants
  pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees. Huge numbers of viewers
  were taken in, and many called up wanting to know how they could
  grow their own spaghetti trees. To this question, the BBC diplomatically
  replied that they should "place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin
  of tomato sauce and hope for the best."

15. The Case of the Interfering
  Brassieres

In 1982 the Daily Mail reported that a local manufacturer had sold
  10,000 "rogue bras" that were causing a unique and unprecedented
  problem, not to the wearers but to the public at large. Apparently
  the support wire in these bras had been made out of a kind of copper
  originally designed for use in fire alarms. When this copper came
  into contact with nylon and body heat, it produced static electricity
  which, in turn, was interfering with local television and radio
  broadcasts. The chief engineer of British Telecom, upon reading
  the article, immediately ordered that all his female laboratory
  employees disclose what type of bra they were wearing.

22. Arm the Homeless

In 1999 the Phoenix New Times ran a story announcing the formation
  of a new charity to benefit the homeless. There was just one catch.
  Instead of providing the homeless with food and shelter, this charity
  would provide them with guns and ammunition. It was named ‘The Arm
  the Homeless Coalition.’ The story received coverage from 60 Minutes
  II, the Associated Press, and numerous local radio stations before
  everyone realized it was a joke. The Phoenix New Times’s joke was
  actually a reprise of a 1993 prank perpetrated by students at Ohio
  State University.

For more of the fun, click here