You can’t have another isolated incident without having a pattern. Behaviors just don’t work that way. First, you have an Isolated Incident. If the same situation happens, perhaps you can justify it as a coincidence. If there is a third instance, it is a pattern. Fear of acknowledging patterns is how we collectively keep the status quo in place. It is my responsibility to pull up my rugs, put down my broom, and really claim my responsibility for these patterns that I live.

Jess

Extra Opportunity
From Bryce:
Hello all! This message is for any transmen post and pre-op and any and all other female body born male identified individuals. I am a student at Towson University and am doing an internship this semester that focuses on the Transgender community. The number of trans identified persons on Towson's campus is constantly growing and because of this I have decided that for my internship I will be putting together a resource guide for trans male identified individuals.

What do I need from you? Your help/input/experiences. I need to know any information you are willing to share with me about your experiences with certain transition related processes.

If you have had top and/or bottom surgery I'd like to know who your surgeon was, what type of surgery you had and what your experience was with this person/company. Where are they located (state or out of country)? Would you recommend them, why or why not? I'd like to know the same for any therapists you have seen. Do you know of any trans friendly doctors/gynecologists in the MD, DC, and VA area? Do you have any tips for binding and/or packing? I'd also like to know any tips you may have for passing in general for example, I've been told by someone that you should clench your jaw to appear more masculine. Lastly, do you know of any websites that are a good place to order transition supplies from (STP's, packers, binders...)?

I have been doing my own research on all of these things so I don't want you to feel like you're doing it for me but I can look at what I want on the internet and it will never be the same as information based on personal experience. Feel free to offer any information you are comfortable with sharing, anything I didn't cover, or to just ignore this completely if you aren't interested. Names from anyone I receive responses from will NOT be mentioned at all! If you know anyone who this applies to that might be interested in sharing please pass it on. Responses can be sent to me on Facebook or in my email. Bedwar3@students.towson.edu

Thanks so much for at least taking the time to read this!
~Bryce

Reflections from the Road: Job Security
Grr… Eeek… Gasp… Rolling of eyes… Turning away… Really!?!?

I am baffled. Again. I was asked a number of times after President Obama won the popular and electoral vote what I would do now. Looking puzzled, I would ask for clarification. The person would follow up with a supportive tone encouraging me to look into a new career, since social justice trainings won’t be needed now.

Grr… Eeek… Gasp… Rolling of eyes… Turning away… Really!?!?

So here we are 2010. I’m busier than ever and even more baffled. A Presidential Candidate won the popular vote AND the Electoral Vote. A whole bunch of members of Congress won their seats. Even with the limitations of who is permitted to vote, has access to voting processes, and errors in the counting of votes, it seems to be that our representative based form of government has spoken, continues to speak, and even sets the agenda for conversation. So who is being silenced? Who is outraged? For full transparency, I voted for President Obama and pay attention to national politics more than state or local issues. I also believe that there are LOTS of fringe groups on the left and on the right. Now, reports of militias being formed, an increase in the amount of organized hate based groups, armed marches, conspiracy theories, vandalism, graffiti, and alarming messages being stated by representatives and community members.

Grr… Eeek… Gasp… Rolling of eyes… Turning away… Really!?!?

What is even more baffling to me is the lack of claimed responsibility. I am not going to point my fingers at the usual suspects – or the expanded version of the usuals… This series “of isolated incidents” are not the actions of fringe zealots freaks that should be shipped to a private island – what would environmentalists say – think of the species of plants and animals that exist on that private island – not to mention the inhabitants that might live on said island in a manner in which they define as civilized. “Those” people (insert pointed fingers and a nasty face here) are people. I am one of them. I am a people, a person, a people person at that. Cue Barbara Streisand here, People. People who need people are the luckiest people in the world… I agree with this. We need each other. I am needed by people and I need them. I therefore, am claiming the responsibility for the “isolated incidents” that keep occurring by people that people voted for, live next door to, and are family members. Those people should be saying the same thing.

Grr… Eeek… Gasp… Rolling of eyes… Turning away… Really!?!?

From where I sit it is my responsibility to acknowledge my privilege and claim responsibility for this inherited power. Now, don’t get me wrong… I have spent hours lately obsessively drooling over Rachel Maddow. She also has a news show where I have been closely following politics and patterns of hate. I have also been following patterns of change. Change isn’t doing the same thing over and over again. Change can be subtle and swift. Change is just that – change. There are things that are happening that aren’t changing enough, fast enough, fair enough, and cheaply enough. There are also things happening that haven’t ever changed. Throwing words, bricks, filibuster parties, and fundraisers aren’t new. What needs to be new – what needs to change – is that we (and in we is and I or me) must get in the habit of claiming our responsibility for the hate, violence, and road blocks set in front of equity, access, and fairness.

Grr… Eeek… Gasp… Rolling of eyes… Turning away… Really!?!?

What’s baffling is that this hasn’t caught on. This still seems revolutionary. This is direct evidence of my job security. Here’s to my privilege of being self employed and even being able to travel and live a life I couldn’t have imagined possible in a time where so many are unemployed, under employed, under paid, over worked, multiply employed, those working under the table, and don’t forget the indentured servant, child laborers, and modern day slaves. I am responsible for this reality as it is the only one I will ever get.

Top 10 Issues I Get To Address While Holding A Microphone… That You Might Regret Asking Me
One of the scariest truths is that once I am given a microphone, I can and am often encouraged to "speak my truth with care." This section highlights some of my most passionate thoughts about some of the toughest questions I get asked. Enjoy.

How do I reconcile faith with sexuality?
Personally, I don’t. I recognize that there are incongruent pieces of my life that don’t fit together and instead of forcing either side to fit the other, I relish in the moment where they rub against one another resulting in confusion, discomfort, and newness. I believe in multiple loves, family with many variables, sexual diversity, wide varieties of gender expressions, and a neverending line of things I haven’t even thought of yet. I believe that a loud few, or as the political refer to as the “fringe”, give all groups that they thread their base from an unrealistic definition and popular representations. I know a lot of healthy families and relationships grounding in faith and many that aren’t. I know several dysfunctional families and abusive relationships that use their faith to create violence or lean on their faith to survive. I also have the good fortune of being friends with many people, some of whom consider themselves persons of faith and others not. To the great dissatisfaction of many, I am agnostic on any bottom line in this line of thinking in that I believe faith, sexuality, and expression of love is an ever changing gloriously confusing and complicated journey that we all embark on backwards and blindly being lead by our fears, hopes, best intentions, and desires. Like politicians, I believe we are all doing the best we can with what we got.

On Health Care (USA 2010) by Alexey Timbul
Dearest American friends,

Some among you express concern and confusion about the state of healthcare and the reforms’ hypothetical impact upon abstract constructs such as political power, economic progress, religious rights.

There is nothing political in the efforts of a broken bone to regain its ability to give support; No economics in the way cancer spreads throughout your neighbor’s body undetected; Nothing of any religion in a drop of your loved one’s blood spilled at the scene of an accident or a crime.

Your own health and wellness of your community are ancient inseparable matters, A balanced state of being that predates myopic ideals of this so-called-democracy by forever. Do not be swayed by the rhetoric of capitalism for it triumphs on a premise logical to itself only.

Turn to nature…
Do waves forecast profits from the wind’s desire to fill all sails with power to reach home? Do flowers commission feasibility studies of the sun so as to reimburse its warmth with their fragrance? Does your heart count its beats so its capacity for love can be measured in the next progress report?

Turn to science…
Does a ray of light map in advance its path so as to predetermine efficacy of illumination? Do atoms cross-reference their credit ratings prior to forming objects and phenomena so diverse? Is there a formula for a raindrop’s success rate as it commits to water’s endless cycles?

Turn to the sacred…
Do ancestors see their descendants as a target demographic and guidance as marketable service? Do the faithful undertake the cost-benefit analysis of a miracle before turning to prayer for mercy and healing? What gods have ever asked their messengers, gatekeepers, or saints, “Can you afford your fate?”

Turn to your selves, each other and those chosen to represent you best…
Ask why should your body’s health and wellness of your community
continue to be valued only as commodities exchanging gamblers’ hands?

Do right. Be well.
Sincerely, your many friends near and far.

I wrote this poem for the 2010 Common Folk Concert Series: The Voices of a Movement. Part I: Taking Care of Our Health hosted in Washington, DC by a great local organization One Common Unity. The poem was first performed live on Thursday, March 25th at Bus Boys and Poets.

PART 1 -- TRANSGENDER: WHAT EVERY STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONAL SHOULD KNOW
WHEN: Thursday, April 22, 2010 :: 5:00 p.m. EST
WHO: Jessica Pettitt will help you make sense of a complex, potentially confusing issues. Eliminate the worry and prepare student affairs staff for this emerging issue.
COST: Only $75 (payable when you register)

PART 2 -- FACING TRANS: INCLUSION, ADVOCACY AND EMPOWERMENT WHEN: Thursday, April 22, 2010 :: 7:00 p.m. EST
WHO: Jessica Pettitt will help you be a leader by identifying the needs of and advocating effectively for trans people, and empowering all community members to take action.
COST: Only $75 (payable when you register)

SOCIAL JUSTICE: WHEN DIVERSITY ISN'T ENOUGH -- PRIMER
WHEN: Thursday, April 29, 2010 :: 4:00 p.m. EST
WHO: What is the difference between Social Justice and Diversity? For leaders, change agents, really for any person working and living with other people -- this difference is imperative. Jessica Pettitt will help you learn the difference and stretch you out of your comfort zone as you become more aware of privilege, power and place of dominance within institutional and systematic forms of oppression.
COST: Only $75 (payable when you register)