June is Pride Month. June is also the month most high schools around the country have their graduation ceremonies. There is an intersection between these two events that might slip past the awareness of many people: How schools treat gender non-conforming students (see the glossary at the end for italicized words). ◊♦◊ Dead-naming in yearbooks…
Author: Clio
Impact > Intent
As a teacher, I see it a lot: Students will be horse-playing in the hallway, and I’ll tell them to stop. “But he’s my cousin! We’re just playing!” they’ll insist. In their mind, this justifies all sorts of reckless behavior: They don’t intend harm. In adults, the same sentiment shows up in a more nuanced…
when i was a boy
when i was a boy, i was a fragile boy who shattered in the slightest breeze my storms came quickly and violently and even on the sunniest days, the clouds still hung low when i was a man, i was an angry man who screamed and flailed in private in public, i wore a mask,…
The Day is Not as Hopeless as it Seems
As in the fading of my childish dreams, When trees bore fruit of sorrows grim, The day is not as hopeless as it seems. All that yearning filling sloppy reams, But paper yellows and ink will slowly dim As in the fading of my childish dreams. The child is grown, the light that gleams Once…
broken men crawled down the wires
broken men crawled down the wires that weave that were woven labyrinthine overhead bloated shadows of yesterday’s dream dissolving until there are only wisps of what was i had taken it all for granted and now the canopy of wires and wasn’t-wasses blocked out the miserly sun time to pause, to tear down, to rebuild,…
Men and Abortion
Emboldened by the placement of two Conservative justices on the Supreme Court, state legislatures have begun racing to become the test case for overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade case. Alabama has passed perhaps the most extreme of these laws, effectively banning all abortions without exception. Georgia’s law appears to cover miscarriages as well as…
An Open Letter to Tomorrow’s Men
Current and future sons of America, we have failed you. Two weeks ago, a white man entered a college classroom and started shooting. Another man, Riley Howell, charged at him. Howell died in the process of stopping the shooting. Last week, two white men entered high school classrooms and started shooting. Another man, Kendrick Castillo,…
Are We Men, Or Are We People?
I used to think the solution to toxic masculinity was to rebuild the traditional gender binary in a healthy way. Now I’m not so sure. On the one hand, I don’t know that there’s anything intrinsically wrong with archetypes of “protector” and “nurturer,” with whatever characteristics we wish to assign to those categories. And I…
What Giving Felons the Right to Vote Says About Us
Should incarcerated felons be allowed to vote? Vermont Senator and Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders set off a firestorm recently by stating an unequivocal, unconditional “yes.” Even the Boston Marathon bomber. Even rapists and murderers. Even “terrible people,” Sanders insisted, deserve to vote. I know what my argument would have been when I was more idealistic. And…
Policing in Black and White
I’ve changed how I think about the police. When I was younger, I used to think that the police were there to protect us from crimes, and to keep the peace. Now, my thoughts are more complicated than that. I still think the police are there to protect me from crimes. But that’s because I’m…