On the Transgender Day of Remembrance, I often think of this speech/article, written by Michelle O at Deadletters.biz.

"To speak of mourning, to speak of the dead, is never simple, never straightforward, never easy. The dead are not symbols or themes for my lecture; they were each people; living, complex, real people...  the dead can rarely speak back, can’t stand up from the audience and insist that I have misspoken, they can’t correct a false assumption or insist on another story. They can’t, any longer, define their own identities and their paths. 

So to try to speak of the dead asks for trust, trust that I am capable of honoring their memories, respecting their lives. Trust that I will not compound and reproduce the anti-trans hatred and violence that fuels these murders. Trust too isn’t always so easy....

I am here to speak of communities in mourning, of a rage that tears at our present, of trauma that haunts our lives. I don’t know if I am able or ready. I don’t know, really, if I have the legitimacy to stand right here and try to speak of remembering those past.

But I have to try."

• Last day of work before the weekend - Beau and I are headed down to DC tomorrow to view some apartments and neighborhoods, celebrate Mama's day, and crunch ridiculous amounts of family and baby time into 48 hours.

• Very loud garbage truck at 4 in the morning unloading bins at the post office across the street from our apartment. It woke up all the animals who proceeded to think it was 7 am, my usual waking time, and kicked off a three hour crying and whining and tap-dancing festival which I barely slept through.

• DC Peeps - do you have a favorite Ethiopian restaurant? I'm looking for a good one to take Beau on Saturday night as an innagural, welcome to DC kinda thing.

Hi People, especially all you spiritual types!

My aunt is in a small Internet feminist spiritual group in
which one person's community has been experiencing a
lot of homophobia. This person suggested to her minister that
the church sponsor a healing/reconciliation service
for the community - which I think is a really beautiful idea. 

She asked her group for any links, ideas, or songs that they 
may use, and my aunt contacted me, wondering if I had any resources.

So dear, smart readers, any ideas? personal experiences with reconciliation
events? links or essays on said topics? 

Would love to hear from you! 

Pentagon Challenged on Lynch and Tillman

Military and other administration officials created a heroic story about the death of Cpl. Pat Tillman to distract attention from setbacks in Iraq and the mistreatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, the slain man’s younger brother, Kevin Tillman, said today.

Testifying before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Mr. Tillman said the military knew almost immediately that Corporal Tillman, an Army Ranger who left a career as a pro football player to enlist, had been killed accidentally in Afghanistan in April 2004 by fire from his own unit. But officials chose to put a “patriotic glow” on his death, he said.

Mr. Tillman said the decision to award his brother a Silver Star and to say that he died heroically fighting the enemy was “utter fiction” that was intended to “exploit Pat’s death.”

I'm really upset and disturbed by this unfolding story. I don't understand how 2 hours passed between the first shooting (with only 2 casualties) and the second shooting which killed more than 30. It is just horrifying. I hear what this journalist is saying, too, about how scripted tragedy has become for us as a society.

Deadly Rampage and No Loss for Words

Television anchors said over and over that the shooting rampage at Virginia Tech was the deadliest in American history, but that was not the only shocking aspect of yesterday’s continual coverage.

The amazing thing is how familiar campus shootings have become.

ANNIE SPRINKLE and ELIZABETH STEPHENS

are coming to New York City

and YOU are invited to the East Coast premiere of

EXPOSED: EXPERIMENTS IN LOVE, SEX, DEATH & ART