The Paradox of Tolerance

I was speaking with my dad about my wedding and what he wanted his role in it to be, or not to be as it turned out. (He stated he would rather just sit in the back and experience the wedding. Kinda like with a baseball game or concert apparently…). Well, after going back and

Strength in Uncertainty

There’s so much going on in the world that scares me: President-Elect Trump and his daily Cabinet appointments and transition into the White House Ohio State University stabbing A ramp up of hate speech and leaders of anti-LGBT and white supremacy There’s so much going on in my life that I’m working through: Struggling to

Letters

I write this to you as a constituent and fellow Michigander. Gun reform is on every citizen and politician’s mind right now. It is the only tangible course of action we are able to grasp onto, that is able to make us feel like we are doing something, in light of the aftermath of the

What Now?

  I am angry. I am heartbroken. I am annoyed. I am pissed. I am scared. I am confused. I am numb. Orlando was an act of terror on the LGBTQ and Latinx Communities of America. It was a targeted hate crime. Whether or not the individual was dealing with internal homophobia due to conflicting identities,

Great Responsibility

Over the past few months there have been a plethora of conversations surrounding race, sexuality, gender. The context has become very much majority vs. minority, privileged vs. non-privileged, oppressed vs. oppressed, the has and the has nots. In all of these conversations, there has been something that has been bugging me about all of them. I haven’t

A Letter to the Governor

Dear Governor Snyder; First thank you for stepping up and serving the State of Michigan. As Governor, you are the individual we look at to lead our state towards not only prosperity and success but also being an equitable, socially just and compassionate state. That being said, it is disheartening to see that you are not fulfilling your

Heroes

I saw something on Facebook the other day that got me thinking. It ran a range of emotions through me; everything from sorrow to confused. As you can see the image above, the individual on the left is Caitlyn Jenner and on the right is Lance Corporal William Kyle Carpenter and the implications of what is

Nothing’s Black & White Except Pandas

Michigan always keeps things interesting. Late last week a digital billboard appeared in Macomb County here in Michigan: Now, let me just say, that on the surface…No one is born sporting the full ROY G BIV. But let’s be honest, it doesn’t look bad. 🙂 But in conversations on social media and in person over the

My Frustration and Confusion

I’ve been battling some identity issues lately. Now it’s not that uncommon for us to go through these battles through our life journeys, but lately it’s been exacerbated by colleagues and my field. Since #ACPA15 I’ve been dismissed as a person of color (POC) 2 times verbally and 1 time over social media by colleagues in the field. Since

Day of Silence

So the other day I participated in a friend’s photo shoot they do in recognition of GLSEN’s Day of Silence which is April 17th. This initiative in which students across the country vow to take a form of silence to call attention to the silencing effect of anti-LGBT bullying and harassment in schools. FYI, I’d never