http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/feature/2009/07/16/trans_bathrooms/index.html?source=rss&aim=/mwt/broadsheet/feature
vocab
cisgender: another word for gender conforming, or a person whose gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth.
transgender: umbrella term for anyone whose gender expression or gender identity is not the same as the sex they were assigned at birth
transphobia: fear, hatred, or discomfort with people who are or appear to be transgender
trans man: a person who was assigned female sex at birth but feels more comfortable as a male
trans woman: a person who was assigned male sex at birth, but feels more comfortable as a female
genderqueer: a gender varient person whose gender identity is neither male or female, between genders, or some combination of genders
It was absolutely idiotic for Salon, a mainstream feminist-lite website, to post an article entitled 'The trans bathroom debate'. This 'debate' was manufactured by transphobic people and institutions who saw creating a panic about "men in women's bathrooms" as the best way to keep transgender people from being protected under hate crime and discrimination laws.
The fear tactic relies on the incorrect belief that trans women are men in disguise (correct belief: trans women are women) and giving trans people equal protection will allow these "men in disguise" to use women's restrooms. It often includes some lies about trans people being mentally unstable, sex offenders, or child molesters as well (the same rhetoric used to justify the persecution of gays and lesbians). Nowhere in the article is it mentioned that while trans women are not actually a risk to women, many cisgender men pose a very serious, even life threatening, risk to trans people. While I don't know any trans people who are sex offenders, I know a few guys who might punch a girl if they found out she was transgendered.
Instead of offering any sort of valuable critique or pointing out that basic rights ought not be debated, the article asks readers (most of whom are probably unfamiliar with what it means to be transgender) what they think about this issue (which impacts the transgendered people the readers probably don't know anything about). The question is framed: Are single-sex bathrooms prudish, antiquated and insensitive to trans people? Or are these spaces still necessary to protect the privacy of both genders? This is pretty stupid, considering we could just keep two bathrooms and make them inclusive and safe for trans people. Or, we could have all three- male, female, and gender neutral bathrooms. This isn't, and doesn't need to be a one-or-the-other, two genders or no genders situation. Salon fails by portraying it like this. And, Salon fails by talking about "both genders" (read: two. male and female.) in an article about issues surrounding other forms (read: could be more than two!) of gender expression.
July 16, 2009
July 8, 2009
french keyboards are wierd
this is what happens when you try to type m: ,
and you dont have to hit shift to type ; or : or !, but you do need to hit shift to type a .
and to type numbers. all of the numbers at the top are capital. shift123456789
the z is in the top left corner, and a q occuppies the a spot.
its bqsicqlly i,possible for ,e to qvoid typos zhen this is zhat i have to zork zith
to more important matters:
ive decided its 100 percent safe for a young woman to travel alone in europe, as long as she is a smarty pants. so: anna! betsy! fuck college: get a ticket to europe for a hundred bucks at studentuniverse.com and go!
and you dont have to hit shift to type ; or : or !, but you do need to hit shift to type a .
and to type numbers. all of the numbers at the top are capital. shift123456789
the z is in the top left corner, and a q occuppies the a spot.
its bqsicqlly i,possible for ,e to qvoid typos zhen this is zhat i have to zork zith
to more important matters:
ive decided its 100 percent safe for a young woman to travel alone in europe, as long as she is a smarty pants. so: anna! betsy! fuck college: get a ticket to europe for a hundred bucks at studentuniverse.com and go!
July 6, 2009
assorted:
1 post secret this week: i apologized to you for saying what you did to me was rape, but it was rape, and i`m done apologizing. go check out the postcard at postsecret.com
2 i'm in paris. yesterday i went to the louvre, a picasso museum, the pompidou center, and notre dame. the pompidou center has the contemporary and modern art museum in it and the whole museum connects these art periods to feminism. there was a quote from a falous feminist on every doorway and the pieces inside all dealt with the quote. more details and pics soon
3 speaking of pics check out my movies! http://seanmcclay.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/more-vids/ and http://seanmcclay.wordpress.com/2009/07/03/yet-another-video/
4 today i'm going to see every pretty building and moulin rouge
5 au revoir? or something?
2 i'm in paris. yesterday i went to the louvre, a picasso museum, the pompidou center, and notre dame. the pompidou center has the contemporary and modern art museum in it and the whole museum connects these art periods to feminism. there was a quote from a falous feminist on every doorway and the pieces inside all dealt with the quote. more details and pics soon
3 speaking of pics check out my movies! http://seanmcclay.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/more-vids/ and http://seanmcclay.wordpress.com/2009/07/03/yet-another-video/
4 today i'm going to see every pretty building and moulin rouge
5 au revoir? or something?
June 28, 2009
Zeitzuegen
Monday, June 15th
Basic school things- hw hand in rate of 6b continues to be terrible but this is hardly surprising since they already know what school they got into for next year and the work they do no isn’t going to change that, 5c was looking good though (one student ran up to me before school started to tell me he had done his!). In 3b we took half the class to another room (Gabbi stayed with the other half) and on the way there so many of them were hitting, stealing pencil bags, kicking… Two of them continue to take turns kicking each other well into the lesson, and since Sarah was only half heartedly telling them to stop and they were definitely not listening, I eventually just asked one of the boys to stand up, moved his chair five feet away, and asked him to take a seat again (all with a smile that said ‘try and kick him from here’)…yay for effective discipline where both students and teachers are happy.
We had an outing this afternoon to the Haus der Wahnsee Konferenz, where the genocide of European Jews was planned on January 20, 1942. The museum housed there is regarded as a ‘site of the perpetrators’ and consequently displays detailed information about the aims and activities of different branches of the SS, and the effects this had on European Jews. We met with two Zeitzeugen, or Witnesses of that Time, above the museum. Mary Louise Gericke, 84, said she was lucky to have grown up in a non nazi family and to attend a school where the headmaster wore the swastika but allowed several ‘suspect’ teachers to work. She did try once, when she was young, to go on a swimming trip with the Junge Madels but her parents forbid it. Later, she was asked to become a Fuhrerin of a youth group and denied, luckily without repercussions. She had one good friend at the time who was jewish, and she remembered her (Pauline) wearing the star on her jacket, and hiding it with a pocketbook when they walked together. The doorman of Pauline’s apartment asked her if she really wanted to visit those Jews again, she said, and there was one time when her mother forbade her to go to Pauline’s- the day that would later be remembered as krystalnacht. Pauline and her family belonged to the lucky group of 9000 Jewish Berliners who were able to emigrate and she later sent Mary Louise a package from California. 1600 other Jewish Berliners survived the war in Berlin, and 6000 perished. After the war, Mary Louise and her aunt obtained fake papers and left the Russian Sector for West Berlin. She first learned about the Holocaust after the war- previously she had been aware of deportation but not the camps. In the time since, she has met one person who said, “I am happy my father died in action, because he was an ardent Nazi” and another who was told by his father, a German officer, that people were gassed- when he was 15 years old.
The man who spoke was less interesting to me- he talked about the Jung Volk, said his grandfather had hid jewels in their home for Jewish friends, said he used to illegally listen to BBC. He did describe one night, in 1942, when his father told him to get his Hitler uniform and they drove to a burning building that he later learned was a synagogue. He watched many people carrying backpacks walking to it, silently- so silently. And his father said, “Listen.” The group, once assembled, was deported. This man had watched Jews being deported in the same city where someone in my family was deported. I am the descendant of the sister of one of Auschwitz’s victims, and I was sitting in the building where Hitler decided how to kill the Jews, across from a man who had watched these plans being implemented.
I spoke to Mary Louise briefly after the talk, and told her. She said it isn’t trendy in Deutschland anymore to speak of this time- that it’s already too far away and the students only care about the fall of the wall now. “There’s too many terrible things- and too many people don’t want to speak of it- I was also raped, you know, when the Russians came,” she said, “But we didn’t speak of it.”
The Second World War was not a time for Jews or Germans. And it’s terrible to think about the things that haven’t changed:
Prejudice against gays, lesbians, and bisexuals. Persecution of Trans people. Discomfort with disability. Violence against women. The abuse of civilians, including those in Palestine and Iran. Silence and inactivity in the face of all this.
Sean was very kind and walked with me until my mood picked up again, and we all went as a group back to the city and Hooka-ed, got lost, ate Mexican food, and came home late.
Basic school things- hw hand in rate of 6b continues to be terrible but this is hardly surprising since they already know what school they got into for next year and the work they do no isn’t going to change that, 5c was looking good though (one student ran up to me before school started to tell me he had done his!). In 3b we took half the class to another room (Gabbi stayed with the other half) and on the way there so many of them were hitting, stealing pencil bags, kicking… Two of them continue to take turns kicking each other well into the lesson, and since Sarah was only half heartedly telling them to stop and they were definitely not listening, I eventually just asked one of the boys to stand up, moved his chair five feet away, and asked him to take a seat again (all with a smile that said ‘try and kick him from here’)…yay for effective discipline where both students and teachers are happy.
We had an outing this afternoon to the Haus der Wahnsee Konferenz, where the genocide of European Jews was planned on January 20, 1942. The museum housed there is regarded as a ‘site of the perpetrators’ and consequently displays detailed information about the aims and activities of different branches of the SS, and the effects this had on European Jews. We met with two Zeitzeugen, or Witnesses of that Time, above the museum. Mary Louise Gericke, 84, said she was lucky to have grown up in a non nazi family and to attend a school where the headmaster wore the swastika but allowed several ‘suspect’ teachers to work. She did try once, when she was young, to go on a swimming trip with the Junge Madels but her parents forbid it. Later, she was asked to become a Fuhrerin of a youth group and denied, luckily without repercussions. She had one good friend at the time who was jewish, and she remembered her (Pauline) wearing the star on her jacket, and hiding it with a pocketbook when they walked together. The doorman of Pauline’s apartment asked her if she really wanted to visit those Jews again, she said, and there was one time when her mother forbade her to go to Pauline’s- the day that would later be remembered as krystalnacht. Pauline and her family belonged to the lucky group of 9000 Jewish Berliners who were able to emigrate and she later sent Mary Louise a package from California. 1600 other Jewish Berliners survived the war in Berlin, and 6000 perished. After the war, Mary Louise and her aunt obtained fake papers and left the Russian Sector for West Berlin. She first learned about the Holocaust after the war- previously she had been aware of deportation but not the camps. In the time since, she has met one person who said, “I am happy my father died in action, because he was an ardent Nazi” and another who was told by his father, a German officer, that people were gassed- when he was 15 years old.
The man who spoke was less interesting to me- he talked about the Jung Volk, said his grandfather had hid jewels in their home for Jewish friends, said he used to illegally listen to BBC. He did describe one night, in 1942, when his father told him to get his Hitler uniform and they drove to a burning building that he later learned was a synagogue. He watched many people carrying backpacks walking to it, silently- so silently. And his father said, “Listen.” The group, once assembled, was deported. This man had watched Jews being deported in the same city where someone in my family was deported. I am the descendant of the sister of one of Auschwitz’s victims, and I was sitting in the building where Hitler decided how to kill the Jews, across from a man who had watched these plans being implemented.
I spoke to Mary Louise briefly after the talk, and told her. She said it isn’t trendy in Deutschland anymore to speak of this time- that it’s already too far away and the students only care about the fall of the wall now. “There’s too many terrible things- and too many people don’t want to speak of it- I was also raped, you know, when the Russians came,” she said, “But we didn’t speak of it.”
The Second World War was not a time for Jews or Germans. And it’s terrible to think about the things that haven’t changed:
Prejudice against gays, lesbians, and bisexuals. Persecution of Trans people. Discomfort with disability. Violence against women. The abuse of civilians, including those in Palestine and Iran. Silence and inactivity in the face of all this.
Sean was very kind and walked with me until my mood picked up again, and we all went as a group back to the city and Hooka-ed, got lost, ate Mexican food, and came home late.
June 23, 2009
um days 11 12 13 and 14 maybs
Thursday, June 11th
Had coffee across from Greg’s favorite spot- still haven’t been up to the top of the Dom because it wasn’t open. Met with Heidrun Suhr, went around in a circle and introduced our projects and got some tips from her. The tips were really helpful, so I definitely appreciated the meeting with her but I think it should have been one at a time, since we’ve each heard the others proposals three times now and I think most of us would have rather been at the school, researching, or enjoying the city. We’re going to present what we have in pairs the last two weeks- Hannah and I are partners, I’m going the first week while Sabine is in, she’s going the second.
Spent the afternoon in the city with the others- sushi, irish pub, c&a and a mall, Mexican, and a nice relaxed bar (except Adam got the nastiest drink).
Friday, June 12th
In one of the classes a woman came in to talk to the kids about dental hygiene. It was pretty low-key, and pretty similar to American kiddie-health lectures. Each of the kids got a toothbrush, and they all brushed their teeth as a class, which was cute. Less cute was the fact they all spit out the toothpaste and rinses the brushes in the terrifyingly unkept bathrooms. Sarah had told me not to use the girls bathroom cuz it was gross, but I thought she was overreacting and I went in their the other day out ofconveinence- it stank of bathroom things, the only toilet paper was on the floor, and wet, and shredded, and there wasn’t hot water (as if that mattered by that point). Jeez.
Clowns, other basic school things in 4th and 5th classes.
Then, lecture about German School System: (Quick sidenote- a former house squatter teaches at our school. I think this is actually pretty cool.) Fed Govt no authority in school matters, Europa School heisst bilingual school-gibts in neun Sprachen, of 3.4 mi people in berlin 14 percent have non german background, 850 schools with 335000 students 25 percent of which have non german background, kindergarten is optional but 82 percent go and school becomes compulsory at five and a half, “usually in german families one parent works and the woman tries to work as well”, “wear the veil or whatever its called”, Turkish men don’t want to marry Germanized Turkish girls so they return home to pick up (young) Turkish wives and their children start at zero again as far as German culture goes, woman shot by 3 brothers for wanting to get abitur, ethics class introduced to address qualms about lack of family values in schools, ethics teaches tolerance, bullying no nos, democratic values, respect, positive attitude/love, ave marriage age of 34 sinking again.
After the lecture I went to services at the Oranienburger Str Synagogue. It wasn’t hard to get in after all- just walked up and said I was there for services and they pointed me in the right direction. I’m glad the security guards are striking such a good balance between keeping people safe and remaining respectful of those who wish to use the building. I was excited to recognize a few songs from services at school, and I enjoyed the German transliteration of the Hebrew (Adonai was written ‘Adonaj’ because the j makes a y sound in German). I briefly introduced myself to Rabbi Gesa but we didn’t have much time to talk- hopefully she’ll respond to my email. Next week I want to get there earlier and talk to the rest of the people more- and I especially need to remember to wish them a happy Shabbat…it’s not a reflex for me and I feel rude/like a dunce when I forget to.
After that, went to Hannah’s, and a bar, and Berghain. Would have probably been cooler if Berghain and Panorama Bar were open and if Greg was there. People weren’t too cute, Hannah and Adam made out, etc, etc. Stayed at Sean’s cuz we left at 6 am (jeez).
Saturday, June 13th
Woke up early ish and laid around for a while before heading home around noon. Stopped at Zoologischer Garter and walked around a little, bought some five dollar awesome shoes and tried on awesome jeans that were not available in my size- bummer. Got back home around 2, and waited until Sarah at Peter got home to let me in. Spent most of the afternoon sleeping, reading, and finally talked to Greg a little before I went back to sleep.
Sunday, June 14th
Went to Postdam! Went on a boat tour of the river first, and saw a bunch of castles. Then we walked over to the main streets, grabbed some Doner/Pommes for lunch, and headed to the pretty yellow palace. From there we walked down a long alley to the pink palace, passing by the Chinese Tea House on the way. I took some photos of the sculptures of the women for my next next tattoo- of “justice is a woman with a sword”. I liked the quote, considering women always have bow & arrows, dagger, poison rings, and other ladylike weapons. Anyways, we took a tour of the pink castle and it was incredible. The first room was called ‘the grotto’ and the entire walls were made or seashells- there were dragons, and roses, and borders, and seaweed- all made from a mosaic of shells. The marble floor had a seaweedy pattern too. The next room I really liked had hot pink fabric patterned walls, and gold rocco? style detail on the ceiling and walls. Rocco style incorporates these C shapes, often has natural themes (this room had a spider in a web in one of the ceiling corners, and herons catching dragonflies in another), and is not necessarily symmetric. I’m going to take another look at The Long Rain section of my scifi tattoo tonight and see if I want to work in any of these types of shapes. Some of the other interesting rooms had silver detail instead of gold, because the kind actually preferred silver, and I found that really interesting. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that effect in silver before, and it completely changed the feel of the room- much cooler/crisper/more steely. Often, the detail was carried down and worked into the doors, mirrors, and even grandfather clocks. The other great thing was the beds- they were usually recessed back into the walls, with two or three headboards, and oftentimes their own canopy and curtain.
After we finished we took the bus and the trains back, and Sean and I stopped at Zoog. Garten for some cheap subway lo mein, saw the Gedachtnis Kirche, walked around, and had a coffee. He’s pretty solid one on one, like I was realizing Saturday, but he does play magic. ;) Anyways, he's cool, quite chivalrous which I am a sucker for, and he verbally asked for consent which was maybe the hottest thing ever.
Now- reading (The Souls of Black Folk…great analysis of the fact that Blacks after Emancipation saw the value of book learning and started to, but they were studying a essentially white discipline, beginning centuries after its inception, and there was therefore a cultural disjunction of sorts. This seems comparable to Wendy Brown’s argument that our democratic capitalist state is inherently masculinist, in that it was conceived of and founded by men.) and going to clean my room, maybe make a bingo for the kids, and talk to my sweetheart. Also- waiting for the soup to be finished and going to try making soup when I get home.
Had coffee across from Greg’s favorite spot- still haven’t been up to the top of the Dom because it wasn’t open. Met with Heidrun Suhr, went around in a circle and introduced our projects and got some tips from her. The tips were really helpful, so I definitely appreciated the meeting with her but I think it should have been one at a time, since we’ve each heard the others proposals three times now and I think most of us would have rather been at the school, researching, or enjoying the city. We’re going to present what we have in pairs the last two weeks- Hannah and I are partners, I’m going the first week while Sabine is in, she’s going the second.
Spent the afternoon in the city with the others- sushi, irish pub, c&a and a mall, Mexican, and a nice relaxed bar (except Adam got the nastiest drink).
Friday, June 12th
In one of the classes a woman came in to talk to the kids about dental hygiene. It was pretty low-key, and pretty similar to American kiddie-health lectures. Each of the kids got a toothbrush, and they all brushed their teeth as a class, which was cute. Less cute was the fact they all spit out the toothpaste and rinses the brushes in the terrifyingly unkept bathrooms. Sarah had told me not to use the girls bathroom cuz it was gross, but I thought she was overreacting and I went in their the other day out ofconveinence- it stank of bathroom things, the only toilet paper was on the floor, and wet, and shredded, and there wasn’t hot water (as if that mattered by that point). Jeez.
Clowns, other basic school things in 4th and 5th classes.
Then, lecture about German School System: (Quick sidenote- a former house squatter teaches at our school. I think this is actually pretty cool.) Fed Govt no authority in school matters, Europa School heisst bilingual school-gibts in neun Sprachen, of 3.4 mi people in berlin 14 percent have non german background, 850 schools with 335000 students 25 percent of which have non german background, kindergarten is optional but 82 percent go and school becomes compulsory at five and a half, “usually in german families one parent works and the woman tries to work as well”, “wear the veil or whatever its called”, Turkish men don’t want to marry Germanized Turkish girls so they return home to pick up (young) Turkish wives and their children start at zero again as far as German culture goes, woman shot by 3 brothers for wanting to get abitur, ethics class introduced to address qualms about lack of family values in schools, ethics teaches tolerance, bullying no nos, democratic values, respect, positive attitude/love, ave marriage age of 34 sinking again.
After the lecture I went to services at the Oranienburger Str Synagogue. It wasn’t hard to get in after all- just walked up and said I was there for services and they pointed me in the right direction. I’m glad the security guards are striking such a good balance between keeping people safe and remaining respectful of those who wish to use the building. I was excited to recognize a few songs from services at school, and I enjoyed the German transliteration of the Hebrew (Adonai was written ‘Adonaj’ because the j makes a y sound in German). I briefly introduced myself to Rabbi Gesa but we didn’t have much time to talk- hopefully she’ll respond to my email. Next week I want to get there earlier and talk to the rest of the people more- and I especially need to remember to wish them a happy Shabbat…it’s not a reflex for me and I feel rude/like a dunce when I forget to.
After that, went to Hannah’s, and a bar, and Berghain. Would have probably been cooler if Berghain and Panorama Bar were open and if Greg was there. People weren’t too cute, Hannah and Adam made out, etc, etc. Stayed at Sean’s cuz we left at 6 am (jeez).
Saturday, June 13th
Woke up early ish and laid around for a while before heading home around noon. Stopped at Zoologischer Garter and walked around a little, bought some five dollar awesome shoes and tried on awesome jeans that were not available in my size- bummer. Got back home around 2, and waited until Sarah at Peter got home to let me in. Spent most of the afternoon sleeping, reading, and finally talked to Greg a little before I went back to sleep.
Sunday, June 14th
Went to Postdam! Went on a boat tour of the river first, and saw a bunch of castles. Then we walked over to the main streets, grabbed some Doner/Pommes for lunch, and headed to the pretty yellow palace. From there we walked down a long alley to the pink palace, passing by the Chinese Tea House on the way. I took some photos of the sculptures of the women for my next next tattoo- of “justice is a woman with a sword”. I liked the quote, considering women always have bow & arrows, dagger, poison rings, and other ladylike weapons. Anyways, we took a tour of the pink castle and it was incredible. The first room was called ‘the grotto’ and the entire walls were made or seashells- there were dragons, and roses, and borders, and seaweed- all made from a mosaic of shells. The marble floor had a seaweedy pattern too. The next room I really liked had hot pink fabric patterned walls, and gold rocco? style detail on the ceiling and walls. Rocco style incorporates these C shapes, often has natural themes (this room had a spider in a web in one of the ceiling corners, and herons catching dragonflies in another), and is not necessarily symmetric. I’m going to take another look at The Long Rain section of my scifi tattoo tonight and see if I want to work in any of these types of shapes. Some of the other interesting rooms had silver detail instead of gold, because the kind actually preferred silver, and I found that really interesting. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that effect in silver before, and it completely changed the feel of the room- much cooler/crisper/more steely. Often, the detail was carried down and worked into the doors, mirrors, and even grandfather clocks. The other great thing was the beds- they were usually recessed back into the walls, with two or three headboards, and oftentimes their own canopy and curtain.
After we finished we took the bus and the trains back, and Sean and I stopped at Zoog. Garten for some cheap subway lo mein, saw the Gedachtnis Kirche, walked around, and had a coffee. He’s pretty solid one on one, like I was realizing Saturday, but he does play magic. ;) Anyways, he's cool, quite chivalrous which I am a sucker for, and he verbally asked for consent which was maybe the hottest thing ever.
Now- reading (The Souls of Black Folk…great analysis of the fact that Blacks after Emancipation saw the value of book learning and started to, but they were studying a essentially white discipline, beginning centuries after its inception, and there was therefore a cultural disjunction of sorts. This seems comparable to Wendy Brown’s argument that our democratic capitalist state is inherently masculinist, in that it was conceived of and founded by men.) and going to clean my room, maybe make a bingo for the kids, and talk to my sweetheart. Also- waiting for the soup to be finished and going to try making soup when I get home.
June 20, 2009
IMPORTANT
Since my internet access is pretty limited, I have not really been following the news in Iran and I definitely have not been blogging, tweeting, facebooking or emailing about it. So keep an eye on Joe Leadley, twitter, and the news and do your part to make sure the people around you (friends, family, coworkers) know whats happening.
less important: i didnt bother to edit my journal before i posted it. hopefully its ok.
pretty impotant: mom, if you're reading this I'm sorry about the tattoo, the boys, the girls, the drugs, and the rock music. <3 i love you!
totally unimportant: sean (not my step brother) calls iuds 'uterus ninjas'. funny.
less important: i didnt bother to edit my journal before i posted it. hopefully its ok.
pretty impotant: mom, if you're reading this I'm sorry about the tattoo, the boys, the girls, the drugs, and the rock music. <3 i love you!
totally unimportant: sean (not my step brother) calls iuds 'uterus ninjas'. funny.
First Week of School (Days 7 to 10)
Sunday, June 7th
Woke up at a decent hour thankfully. We had a little German breakfast- tomatoes, ham, brotchen, and jam. [Make yummy German breakfast at home: assorted? bread rolls, two types of jam, liverwurst, german style ham, german style salami, iceberg lettuce and tomato salad with olive oil and some salt, cheese?]. Then, we went to the City Hall and climbed up to the tower to look around. There was a million signature peace pact on display, which had traveled around the US and boasted the names of Americans in all states who supported a free Berlin. From the very top we looked around and Sarah and Peter pointed of various attractions. After that we had a detour to a falafel place, in the neighborhood where Sarah’s brother and most of the Queer Berliners live. There were rainbow stickers in every single shop window, flags in some of the apartment windows, a leather and rubber store. It was great. I might look for a place around there to get my tattoo- we’ll see what seems safe and classy.
Oh! Our car got stuck in the middle of the Berlin Bicycle Club’s city wide bike ride demonstration. Hundreds of bike riders blew across the street in front of us- I was inspired, and am going to seriously bring a bike to school next chance I get.
Over the course of the day, Sarah told me about some of the problems she faces in the German school system as a teacher. Apparently, German teachers are traditionally considered government officials. But just recently, in Berlin, new teachers have ceased to be accorded this status so the city could pay them less (1000 a month less), due to financial difficulties. So Sarah and Regina, the two new teachers, are paid significantly less for the same work and this upsets her. Also, she says the East German teachers are very strict and this can be problematic because when she gets to a class with one of these teachers, they go crazy once the normal teacher leaves the room. On top of that, she doesn’t really like being at this school in general- unlike me, she is not a fan of rambunctious trouble making kids- they exhaust and frustrate her, and [I saw later] she doesn’t seem to have a very successful strategy for controlling them (i.e. joking or smiling rather than shouting and frowning)
Monday, June 8th
First day of school! I think the fist thing I noticed was how dirty the school was. Every wall is vaguely grey from pencil smears, every corner has a little pile of dust in it, and the students don’t have lockers or desks with storage, so their backpacks and lunches and pencil pouches and folders are scattered all around their spots. It wasn’t gross or unhealthy or anything- and I think I remember Lilli’s high school being kind of similarly grey, but it was so different from Richards Elementary School, where I went, or Glen Hills Middle School, where I was a janitor. I feel like students might focus more and value their work more, if the environment they’re working in looks more important (bright, well cared for, clean).
Another thing that I think contributes to the general disorder is that the students stay in the same room all day, and the teachers move around from class to class. This seems to sort of imply that the students ‘own’ the room- thus the teachers have no special incentive to keep ‘their’ room clean, and the students fell more in charge and less inclined to defer to the teacher. This is amplified by the fact that while the teachers are switching, the kids are left alone in the rooms to do whatever- throw things, play tag, stand up and talk. I think it’s better in America where the chaotic space is the hallways, and once you enter the classrooms everyone calms down. One last problem is that the teachers have to carry all of their materials around all day, which makes it easy to forget or lose things and hard to do special things like listen to cds and watch movies because of all the equipment needed.
The bell system at the German school was different too- only one bell to signify class ending, compared to our ending and starting bells at home. This is just one more small detail that impacted how ready students were to begin each class.
Anyway, problems aside, it was a really fun day- the kids asked me interview questions about who I am and what America is like and I had a lot of fun getting to know them a little too. Being me, I noticed that a couple classes asked “Do you have a boyfriend?” and thought about how if I was a teacher I would teach my kids the more gender neutral “Are you in a relationship?” – which is both more subtle than “Do you have a boyfriend or girlfriend?” and more inclusive in that it not only accommodates LGB folk, but also poly people. (Win!) I also noticed later that when class 6 was learning jobs, there were housewives and firemen, but no housedads, stay at home parents, firewomen, etc. Most of the pictures accompanying the job words were pretty unsurprising gender-wise too…but there was a female doctor like Joe’s mom!
Tuesday, June 9th
Today there was a school-wide Sport competition all day long. The 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grade kids competed in a bunch of different events including one long run, a relay race, a long jump, and a ball throw. Sarah and I supervised the ball throw and recorded how far each student had managed to hurl the ball.
Over the course of the day, a lot of the students I had met on Monday came up to say hi to me, which was nice. Very few of them had good enough English to make it past ‘hi’ to ‘how are you?’ so they just stood around for a bit and then ran off again.
One really interesting thing I noticed was that very few single kids finished last in the long races. There was always one bigger kid way behind everyone- but hir friends were walking next to hir and talking and not worrying at all about coming in last too! This was radically different than my school- where there was always one person left running after everyone finished and the whole class sat there watching them slowly make it to the end.
Since I wasn’t doing much and had lots of time during the day to think, I came up with a few ideas of what to do in each of the classes. For the older students, I decided to make homework charts- so, a sheet of paper with everyone’s name, and ‘Homework Rockstars!’ at the top. Then, if a student does their work, I’ll give them a sticker so they get a little reward and can visibly see if they are doing really well, or if they might want to try harder to keep up with the others’ sticker collections. On top of that, I’m going to tell each whole class that they are competing against each other, and whichever class does the best job will win a prize (either to take me to their other classes for a day, a cooking hour as Sarah proposed, or something else).
A day or two after I introduce the homework charts, I’m going to start giving one kid a ‘way to go!’ card every hour. I’ll make little cards with flowers or stars or something pretty, write ‘way to go’ at the top, and leave space to fill in why they got the card (for example, you gave so many good answers, or you helped another student, etc.).
I’m not going to make a homework chart for the third grade because I only see them once a week. But I thought a little bit about what I might be able to contribute in those classes and I talked to Sarah and we decided next week I could make them a bingo game and practice their new vocab words with it, and the weeks after we will work on interviews with all the vocab words from the year in order to prepare them for their last test. I plan on giving them the way to go cards as well.
In the afternoon I met Jeremy Minsberg, Sabine’s friend and the Berlin Expert, and we talked about some of the sights I might see over coffee. He gave me a few book recommendations, a list of the very best museums and memorials, some tips on how to go about setting up a meeting with someone at the Jewish museum, and some other contacts. In addition, he had some thoughts about the nature of and problems of the Jewish community in Berlin, which I thought was incredibly interesting. So, pretty productive coffee overall! After we finished with business we talked a little bit about Prop 8 and he expressed his frustration with the black voters and I argued that religious voters was really a more accurate label for the people who voted yes. He was pretty ticked off about the whole ordeal but I don’t know- I’m an optimist and I’m pretty sure we’re going to win the whole country in the next ten or twenty years. One last thing- the Berlin Expert did not have any tattoo shop recommendations- a serious oversight (haha).
Wednesday, June 10th
Back to normal school- In the first hour we practiced North, South, East and West and then sent a few kids ‘on a vacation’ around the US with the directions. Every time they stopped we told the class a little bit about where they were and what it was like there. Then we switched to right, left, forward, and backward and I had one kid at a time stand up and follow my directions (two steps forward, one small step right, etc). Once they had the hang of it, we had all the girls and then all the boys try together. After the activity, we tried this god-awful labyrinth activity in their books again and they were more able to follow the directions through the maze but I still didn’t think it was a very good worksheet.
In the second hour I introduced the homework chart, gave stickers to the kids who earned them, and told them about the challenge. Hopefully it makes a difference!
Third hour we did one last review of job vocab (‘Authoress’ was suggested for a female author…) and switched to future tense. Sarah played Que Sera Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be), which I thought was a great introduction. Then the kids practiced writing future sentences about what they will and will not do, and then about other’s future plans too.
Fourth hour we practiced ‘How are you?’ and did the Lonely Ghost Story. I learned that Great Britain is not the same as England, but also includes Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
Fifth hour we tried the labyrinth activity in the last class, with practice beforehand. Basically a catastrophe- not a fan of activities that are way beyond kids grasp not because of the English, but because they are poorly designed. If I had been the teacher, I would have not done it after the first class and made up another way to learn the same lesson.
Woke up at a decent hour thankfully. We had a little German breakfast- tomatoes, ham, brotchen, and jam. [Make yummy German breakfast at home: assorted? bread rolls, two types of jam, liverwurst, german style ham, german style salami, iceberg lettuce and tomato salad with olive oil and some salt, cheese?]. Then, we went to the City Hall and climbed up to the tower to look around. There was a million signature peace pact on display, which had traveled around the US and boasted the names of Americans in all states who supported a free Berlin. From the very top we looked around and Sarah and Peter pointed of various attractions. After that we had a detour to a falafel place, in the neighborhood where Sarah’s brother and most of the Queer Berliners live. There were rainbow stickers in every single shop window, flags in some of the apartment windows, a leather and rubber store. It was great. I might look for a place around there to get my tattoo- we’ll see what seems safe and classy.
Oh! Our car got stuck in the middle of the Berlin Bicycle Club’s city wide bike ride demonstration. Hundreds of bike riders blew across the street in front of us- I was inspired, and am going to seriously bring a bike to school next chance I get.
Over the course of the day, Sarah told me about some of the problems she faces in the German school system as a teacher. Apparently, German teachers are traditionally considered government officials. But just recently, in Berlin, new teachers have ceased to be accorded this status so the city could pay them less (1000 a month less), due to financial difficulties. So Sarah and Regina, the two new teachers, are paid significantly less for the same work and this upsets her. Also, she says the East German teachers are very strict and this can be problematic because when she gets to a class with one of these teachers, they go crazy once the normal teacher leaves the room. On top of that, she doesn’t really like being at this school in general- unlike me, she is not a fan of rambunctious trouble making kids- they exhaust and frustrate her, and [I saw later] she doesn’t seem to have a very successful strategy for controlling them (i.e. joking or smiling rather than shouting and frowning)
Monday, June 8th
First day of school! I think the fist thing I noticed was how dirty the school was. Every wall is vaguely grey from pencil smears, every corner has a little pile of dust in it, and the students don’t have lockers or desks with storage, so their backpacks and lunches and pencil pouches and folders are scattered all around their spots. It wasn’t gross or unhealthy or anything- and I think I remember Lilli’s high school being kind of similarly grey, but it was so different from Richards Elementary School, where I went, or Glen Hills Middle School, where I was a janitor. I feel like students might focus more and value their work more, if the environment they’re working in looks more important (bright, well cared for, clean).
Another thing that I think contributes to the general disorder is that the students stay in the same room all day, and the teachers move around from class to class. This seems to sort of imply that the students ‘own’ the room- thus the teachers have no special incentive to keep ‘their’ room clean, and the students fell more in charge and less inclined to defer to the teacher. This is amplified by the fact that while the teachers are switching, the kids are left alone in the rooms to do whatever- throw things, play tag, stand up and talk. I think it’s better in America where the chaotic space is the hallways, and once you enter the classrooms everyone calms down. One last problem is that the teachers have to carry all of their materials around all day, which makes it easy to forget or lose things and hard to do special things like listen to cds and watch movies because of all the equipment needed.
The bell system at the German school was different too- only one bell to signify class ending, compared to our ending and starting bells at home. This is just one more small detail that impacted how ready students were to begin each class.
Anyway, problems aside, it was a really fun day- the kids asked me interview questions about who I am and what America is like and I had a lot of fun getting to know them a little too. Being me, I noticed that a couple classes asked “Do you have a boyfriend?” and thought about how if I was a teacher I would teach my kids the more gender neutral “Are you in a relationship?” – which is both more subtle than “Do you have a boyfriend or girlfriend?” and more inclusive in that it not only accommodates LGB folk, but also poly people. (Win!) I also noticed later that when class 6 was learning jobs, there were housewives and firemen, but no housedads, stay at home parents, firewomen, etc. Most of the pictures accompanying the job words were pretty unsurprising gender-wise too…but there was a female doctor like Joe’s mom!
Tuesday, June 9th
Today there was a school-wide Sport competition all day long. The 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grade kids competed in a bunch of different events including one long run, a relay race, a long jump, and a ball throw. Sarah and I supervised the ball throw and recorded how far each student had managed to hurl the ball.
Over the course of the day, a lot of the students I had met on Monday came up to say hi to me, which was nice. Very few of them had good enough English to make it past ‘hi’ to ‘how are you?’ so they just stood around for a bit and then ran off again.
One really interesting thing I noticed was that very few single kids finished last in the long races. There was always one bigger kid way behind everyone- but hir friends were walking next to hir and talking and not worrying at all about coming in last too! This was radically different than my school- where there was always one person left running after everyone finished and the whole class sat there watching them slowly make it to the end.
Since I wasn’t doing much and had lots of time during the day to think, I came up with a few ideas of what to do in each of the classes. For the older students, I decided to make homework charts- so, a sheet of paper with everyone’s name, and ‘Homework Rockstars!’ at the top. Then, if a student does their work, I’ll give them a sticker so they get a little reward and can visibly see if they are doing really well, or if they might want to try harder to keep up with the others’ sticker collections. On top of that, I’m going to tell each whole class that they are competing against each other, and whichever class does the best job will win a prize (either to take me to their other classes for a day, a cooking hour as Sarah proposed, or something else).
A day or two after I introduce the homework charts, I’m going to start giving one kid a ‘way to go!’ card every hour. I’ll make little cards with flowers or stars or something pretty, write ‘way to go’ at the top, and leave space to fill in why they got the card (for example, you gave so many good answers, or you helped another student, etc.).
I’m not going to make a homework chart for the third grade because I only see them once a week. But I thought a little bit about what I might be able to contribute in those classes and I talked to Sarah and we decided next week I could make them a bingo game and practice their new vocab words with it, and the weeks after we will work on interviews with all the vocab words from the year in order to prepare them for their last test. I plan on giving them the way to go cards as well.
In the afternoon I met Jeremy Minsberg, Sabine’s friend and the Berlin Expert, and we talked about some of the sights I might see over coffee. He gave me a few book recommendations, a list of the very best museums and memorials, some tips on how to go about setting up a meeting with someone at the Jewish museum, and some other contacts. In addition, he had some thoughts about the nature of and problems of the Jewish community in Berlin, which I thought was incredibly interesting. So, pretty productive coffee overall! After we finished with business we talked a little bit about Prop 8 and he expressed his frustration with the black voters and I argued that religious voters was really a more accurate label for the people who voted yes. He was pretty ticked off about the whole ordeal but I don’t know- I’m an optimist and I’m pretty sure we’re going to win the whole country in the next ten or twenty years. One last thing- the Berlin Expert did not have any tattoo shop recommendations- a serious oversight (haha).
Wednesday, June 10th
Back to normal school- In the first hour we practiced North, South, East and West and then sent a few kids ‘on a vacation’ around the US with the directions. Every time they stopped we told the class a little bit about where they were and what it was like there. Then we switched to right, left, forward, and backward and I had one kid at a time stand up and follow my directions (two steps forward, one small step right, etc). Once they had the hang of it, we had all the girls and then all the boys try together. After the activity, we tried this god-awful labyrinth activity in their books again and they were more able to follow the directions through the maze but I still didn’t think it was a very good worksheet.
In the second hour I introduced the homework chart, gave stickers to the kids who earned them, and told them about the challenge. Hopefully it makes a difference!
Third hour we did one last review of job vocab (‘Authoress’ was suggested for a female author…) and switched to future tense. Sarah played Que Sera Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be), which I thought was a great introduction. Then the kids practiced writing future sentences about what they will and will not do, and then about other’s future plans too.
Fourth hour we practiced ‘How are you?’ and did the Lonely Ghost Story. I learned that Great Britain is not the same as England, but also includes Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
Fifth hour we tried the labyrinth activity in the last class, with practice beforehand. Basically a catastrophe- not a fan of activities that are way beyond kids grasp not because of the English, but because they are poorly designed. If I had been the teacher, I would have not done it after the first class and made up another way to learn the same lesson.
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