Hello Everyone,

So...I am here with my dear AFY Angel William and just wanted to take a few minutes to update everyone on today's activities are Creating Change. I don't have my notebook on me so more reflection of the workshops will have to wait to later but for now, lets talk about some thoughts that are flowing in my head.

First thing...

• This was an idea that was brought to us by a collegue here in a conference in response to our conversation about yesterdays White Supremacy Session. The notion that to be REAL Wold Changers, we as activist, we as people need to be prepared to give up and risk the privilege we have. That is to say, that as activtist and people who work in this field, whenever we are working for a cause or a movement, the privilege we bring as educated, talented, and fierce activist must be put on the line in order to gain success!

More...

With some time between activities, I wanted to take the time to reflect on a couple of things.

So yesterday's Institute was a very interesting one. Titled "Challenging and Transforming White Supremacy in Our Work: Our Vision, Our Roles," the conference program listed it as this:

This Institute will focus on white folks working in building liberation movements. What are the systems and analysis we need to do this work? How are we reflecting individually and collective on our work with other white folks and with folks of color? How are we working and sharing tools to build anti-racism and anti-imperialist work as white LGBTQ activist across lines of ability, race, class, culture, gender, sexuality, and all other identities?

So I decided alongside my two partners in crime Daniel and William to attend this workshop because we felt that as young poc's who are working in this very field, we could see, hear and learn from the perspective of white folks who are working on this issue and who are trying to grow in their knowledge of and understanding of poc's.

For me personally, coming to conferences like this is always exciting in a sense that we often get to hear about some of the great work people are doing in the very fields that we are working on. Yet at the same time, coming to conferences like this can sometimes be so...boring...because you often times just go from workshop to workshop listening to folks talk about the work you are already doing, the facts ands stats you already know and tell you things you have heard a million times over. In essence, it becomes a great old exercise of "you are great, we are great, thing are wonderful, let's keep working on it with passion and see you next year!!" So, in order to avoid having those instances, I try to attend workshops where I challenge myself to look at this from a perspective I don’t have or just to hear and learn about something I don’t know.

Well.... after attending this workshop, let's just say, I should maybe follow dear Durryle’s advice and stick to what I know. I mean, this institute was for lack of a better word “wack.” Every single possible thing you are NOT supposed to do was done at this training. One hour for introductions! 15 minutes group discussion on a single question! No set agenda! No set goal! The whole thing was tragic from beginning to end. What most bothered us about this workshop was the fact during the entire course of the workshop, there was no discussion of concrete tools which folks can utilize. No discussion of how folks can approach their work with poc’s. Nothing! Nothing at all! There was a lot of reflection, there was a lot of self-analysis but absolutely no concrete tools! I just don’t understand how you can have a workshop on transforming white supremacy without actually talking about specific things we can do.

So…lets just say day one was disappointed workshop wise. Yet at the same time, I am so excited to be here! Even more excited to start to reconnect with some wonderful folks I have met over the years. So for now, we will continue to learn, continue to grow, and continue to make change at Creating Change...

In the mean time, enjoy our quick reflection of the day's event below:

Hello Everyone,

So by now I hope you are all well aware of the fact that Advocates for Youth & Youth Resource are representing at this year's Creating Change Conference in the great state of Texas! We have all been working and learning and growing in our knowledge of Queer issues.

Today's Institute on Best Practices for Queer Youth Work had some great discussion on youth empowerment and equitable partnerships between adults and youth. As someone who works in the youth development field, I found the discussion to be quite exciting. I think what we have come to realize is that a lot of work still needs to be done in this area and it's especially difficult to achieve equatiable relationships in youth work within organizations that have been long established. Nontheless, we do need to come to a greater understanding and embrace the idea that youth development IS community organizing! That idea right there was my "AHA" moment of the workshop!

A shout-out is well deserved to the folks from The Boston Alliance of GLBT Youth and FIERCE for putting on a great discussion.

On a side note, all of us here (William, Daniel, Ernesto and myself) have jumped on the social networking bandwagon as a tool for social change and are Facebooking, Twittering, Youtubing, blogging and so forth while we are here in Texas. Keep up with all of us here on Amplify or through our videos on YouTube!

Until Laters World Changers!!

Ariel

 Transgender Man Elected Mayor of Silverton

 

09:40 PM PST on Thursday, November 6, 2008

 

By JACK PENNING, for kgw.com

 

The first African-American President. The first time in 40 years an Oregon Senate candidate beat an incumbent Senator. And in tiny Silverton, Oregon, residents have elected the man who's believed to be the first ever openly transgender mayor in the United States.

kgw.com

Stu Rasmussen was recently elected the mayor of Silverton. He is believed to be America's first openly transgender Mayor.

Stu Rasmussen served two terms as the Mayor of Silverton in the 1990s. But he hadn't admitted to being transgender. He's not the same man now that he was then. Today he wears a skirt and high heels. He has breast implants, and long red hair. He looks like a woman - but he's not.

"I indentify mostly as a heterosexual male," Rasmussen said. "But I just like to look like a female."

Rasmussen is a man. He even has a girlfriend. He says he's always been transgender, but he only "came out" a few years ago.

"Some guys mid-life crisis is motorcycles or sports cars or climbing mountains or throphy wives or whatever." Rasmussen said his mid-life crisis was quite different. "I always wanted cleavage, so I went out and aquired some."

With the way he looks, he wasn't sure how his run for Mayor would go.

"The first 30 seconds they think, am I in a freakshow? Is there a camera behind me? What's going on here?" Rasmussen told NewsChannel 8. "And then we get down to dicussing whatever the issue is - city business or business or whatever - and they figure out this guy's different, but he knows what he's talking about."

It's Rasmussen's knowledge of the issues, and of the town, that won over so many voters. As one voter said, "Stu's very devoted to this town."

Rasmussen won by a hefty margin - 13 points. It really wasn't close.

"He wants to maintain the intergrity of Silverton," voter Gail Frassenei said. And she said she isn't sure Rasmussen would be elected anywhere else. "I think it's amazing a small town like this can be so open-minded, to elect someone that's made a life change."

"I'm prejudiced, but I think this is just about the coolest town on Earth," Rasmussen said, just before he broke down, a tear gently running through his eyeliner, and onto his cheek. He can't wait to take office in January. He said he's finally confident enough to be himself, as he runs his hometown, wearning his signature heels.