Bishop Thomas,
Here's my big coming out moment: I'm not an Orthodox Christian anymore. Maybe that automatically disqualifies me from this conversation, but I did once consider myself an Orthodox Christian and I was a parishioner at St. George's in Bridgeville, PA during my adolescence. I left the church for reasons some would consider less egregious than this recent statement, but it disappoints me nonetheless that in the wake of this momentous human rights decision which was met with celebration and acceptance by so many Christians--my wonderful family among them--the church I once called home has dug its heels into the mud of intolerance and is determined to stay rooted in antiquity--by which I mean eventual obsolescence.
Many of the church's objections to homosexuality are farcical...
Lifestyle
Dear Adorable Young Couple:
A little while back, our paths crossed on a rock in the middle of San Francisco Bay: specifically, Alcatraz, the federal-prison-turned-federal-park that sits, foreboding yet irresistible, just off the shore of San Francisco. I was there with my family and two visiting nephews from Upstate New York, whose wish list of Bay Area sites was topped by a visit to the famous jail.
You were there with his and hers selfie sticks.
I had actually only seen my first selfie stick about an hour earlier, while we were milling around Tourist Central in San Francisco, a.k.a. Fisherman's Wharf. Near where the sea lions and their eau de poo scent entrance foreign visitors, people were attaching their cameras and smartphones to extendable metal rods and taking pictures of...
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Dear Bill
At the Juneteenth celebrations in Englewood, I was speaking to African-American parents who were decrying the state of the public school system in our town. We spend approximately $23k per child per year, but still have a failure rate of about one third. I was amazed at how many parents were telling me they preferred to send their children to private school but could not afford it. I asked them if they would support school vouchers that would empower them to do just that: take their own hard-earned money and use it to send their children to the school of their choice. Overwhelmingly, they said yes. They were adamant that they had the right to override the public school system if they so chose.
You and I, Bill, have the capacity to do something unique. We can join...
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Dear Class of 2013,
Sending my deepest congratulations from San Francisco. So sorry I am not able to be there with all of you to celebrate this incredible achievement. Several of you I have had in my International Negotiations and Women's Leadership classes and I feel privileged to have been a small part of your MBA journey. Each of you, in your own special way has enriched my life and for that I am grateful. As you celebrate today and plan for tomorrow, I wanted to leave you with some thoughts to take with you. First is one of my favorite quotes from Maria Shriver, former first lady of California and noted journalist, offered at the close of her Women's Conference in 2010. Her mother, Eunice Shriver, during moments of transition and change, would remind her daughter: "Now you have a...
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Dear Son,
Mommy has something important to tell you about your chocolate skin. Please listen carefully. I'm going to start from the beginning.
As a journalism student at The Ohio State University (OSU), I wrote articles about the unjust treatment of African Americans and other races on college campuses and across the country. I remember crying my eyes out as I wrote, "All is equal and freedom rings, right?," which talked about the unspoken prejudices against OSU students.
I graduated from OSU and went on to start a life as a working adult. I stumbled along the way in my career and love, eventually marrying your dad in 2007. We worked hard in those first few years, before you blessed us with your presence and we were able to buy a house in the suburbs to give you a better life...
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Dear Professor Diane Ravitch:
Parents, educators, and education advocates have a lot in common when it comes to a kids-first first agenda. But we can never seize that common ground if those with whom we disagree are deemed to be "evil" and sentenced to Hell, as you did last week in your now infamous blog post.
If we can't start from that basic premise, then we are no more mature than the children we endeavor to serve. We cannot purport to encourage tolerance and discourage bullying on the schoolyard if the adults in charge of the schoolyard can't adhere to those same basic principles.
For the past year, the organization for which I serve as executive director - Parent Revolution - has been working with parents from the Watts neighborhood community school Weigand Avenue Elementary...
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Dear Lamar,
I wish I could be in Washington for the hearings about the reauthorization of NCLB. I can't make it for two reasons: I wasn't invited, and I have a date to speak to parents at P.S. 3 in Manhattan who are outraged about all the testing imposed on their children.
I learned a lot about education policy and federalism after you chose me to serve as your Assistant Secretary of Education in charge of research and improvement and as counsel to the Secretary of Education (you). I am imagining that I am still advising you, as I did from 1991 to 1993 (remember that you and every other top administrator in the Department left a day before the inauguration of Bill Clinton, and you told me I was Acting Secretary for the day?). What I always admired about you was your deliberateness,...
2,478
Sup, Kids Today.
I am a mom, but I'm not your mom, so don't think of me as a parental figure. I'm just trying to figure some stuff out before my own children, both of whom are very young (the worst thing they can think to do online is watch one-click episodes of Dora the Explorer), get to be your age. Also, I should mention that we're technically the same generation, though I am a very old Millennial. At 32, by most definitions, I barely qualify.
I generally think you're all very nice and I appreciate the way you all brought mom jeans back in style right around the time I had a second baby so I can tuck my FUPA under a high waistband while still looking on trend. Thank you for that. I've come to know many of you -- my teenage cousins, former students from back when I was an...
2,486
Dear Sunnie,
You don't know me, but this morning I read an article about you. Ever since then you keep crossing my mind. As I went around town today in my jeans and men's Oxford shirt and sweater, I thought about you. As I came home from the gym tonight, I prayed for you. And all the while, I wished I could write you a letter...the kind of letter I wish someone had written to me.
I don't know how to get one to you, though. I thought about trying to send it to your grandparents for them to read to you, but I'm not sure if it would make it there. So instead I'm writing this and posting it on my blog. Maybe somehow these words will find their way to your grandparents and they will share them with you. Or, maybe years from now you'll find them online, and know that a lot of people were...
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Dear Ms. Svenson,
As a transgender student and a GLSEN Student Ambassador, I am deeply hurt by the statements that you made. You are completely entitled to your own views, but your statements that I read about in this article were extremely inappropriate and hurtful. Regarding transgender students using their preferred bathrooms, you said:
Not in this district. Not until the plumbing's changed. There would have to be a castration in order to pass something like that around here.
Your word choice was not only vulgar, but very offensive. For one, there is a huge difference between sex and gender. "Sex" refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that determine whether people are deemed male or female at birth. "Gender" refers to the socially constructed roles,...
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