Mathematics is beautiful. Mathematical notation, meanwhile, is a horrid mess second only to English itself for its arbitrariness. For instance, basic arithmetic operators have three levels: Addition, Multiplication, and Exponentiation. Addition notation is tidy: We add forward (a + b) or backward (a – b). We call these “addition” and “subtraction” for historical reasons, but…
Month: November 2019
Remembering the Victims of Anti-Transgender Hatred
November 20th is the Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR). This year marks the 20th Anniversary of the original TDOR, established in the memory of Rita Hester, who was killed in 1998. The week before TDOR is Transgender Awareness Week. And while awareness of transgender issues has improved dramatically since 1999, several recent events demonstrate that…
like an old pair of jeans
i slip depression on like an old pair of jeans softened and pliable with the familiarity of time this tear on the knee is where i scraped it when i fell down on the concrete that was harder than it looked that patch covers the place where the fabric was worn through by time and…
Leviathan
leviathan is a tapeworm inside my skull devouring the me that it finds it rises, roils, recoils, and leaves me hollow and alone as i stand against it, it warns me: boy, don’t make me destroy you and i ask: what if i’ve never been a boy? what would you have to destroy? — ptkh…
Reflecting on School Lockdown Drills
I am a public school teacher. As a result, I have experienced what is becoming a frequent event in public schools: The Active Shooter Lockdown Drill. I will begin by pointing out that there is not a single drill; it is a spectrum event, from the relatively boring to the downright terrifying. On the boring…
Misrepresentation Also Matters
I was a child in the 1970s and a teen in the 1980s. These days, LGBTQIA characters have a solid, increasingly even-handed presence in mainstream entertainment. In my childhood, they didn’t. I can remember three TV shows in particular that shaped my perspective on gay and transgender men: All were sitcoms, and only one featured…