Brave

I have a tendency to be extremely stubborn.  I'll explain what I mean in a minute. Maybe you've seen some crowdfunding going on in a serious way on social media lately. A few examples? My friend and colleague Amy Sequenzia : Image is a photograph of Amy with a monochromatic scarf in shared of yellow to chartreuse on the left and a donation amount of $865 with a contribute button to the right. The title of the image is black on a white field and reads "Help me go present at TASH Conference Amy is a poet activist. She is a nonspeaker and types to communicate. She needs $2000 to help her support person and herself meet all the expenses of presenting at TASH 2014. Or maybe you've seen Cara Liebowitz 's fundraiser. also a colleague and friend of mine: Image is a photo of Cara Liebowitz speaking into a microphone while seated. On the right of the photo is a donation tracker with the amount $225 . A donate now button appears below the tracker with white print o...

New York Times reporter Jens Erik Gould did a self evaluation of his role in journalism. His soul searching resulted in a decision to begin reporting on people living tremendously couragous lives in the face of overwhelming adversity. He wanted to report about these people, and thus began the Bravery Tapes project. I haven''t seen this human side of journalism for a very long time and it is welcome. Click the link below that says the Bravery Project and view the lives of these incredible individuals. My Valentine's Day gift to you is to help you see past all the charity fatigue and media content overload. See a world in which everyday people make bravery a way of life. The Bravery Tapes Jens Erik Gould in Good  Image is of a tall white male in a t-shirt and fatigues walking away from a stone hovel with a woman of color  a young girl and an toddler standing at the open door How Questioning My Role in Journalism Lead Me to Bravery Tapes : Click Here :D

I am not a fan for appropriating the photos, history, or any portion of one movement to represent another. In this case however, there is an insidious agenda that has been creeping across our conservative regions since the Supreme Court's unfortunate decision on the Voting Rights Act. Under the guise of religious freedom, various attempts to reestablish Jim Crow laws are being made. Ostensibly targeting the LGBTQUAI community and using religion to gain the endorsement of devout Christian minorities, the true purpose behind these attempts is to restore discriminatory laws that work against all marginalized populations. It is a frightening thing to see for me, a person who was child at the beginning of the changes that so many of us died to make a reality. This is not a fight for freedom of religion. It is a surreptitious attempt to inject a viral infection of hate back into American life. I don't want that back. I don't want to go backwards. I don't want our freedoms an...

Miss International of 2012, Ikumi Yoshimatsu has been quietly fighting a year long battle against some very powerful people. While the problem with media coverage of everything is you never quite get the entire story, I think The Independent does a good job of summing things up with this headline: " Miss Japan Ikumi Yoshimatsu joins battle against mafia in the media" Ms. Yoshimatsu did not want to sign with a powerful talent agency. An executive in that agency won't take no for an answer. And what followed was a year of threats, harassment, and fear for Ms. Yoshimatsu and her family. For more details on the incidents themselves and her decision to file criminal and civil charges click this link here  IKUMI YOSHIMATSU 吉松育美  Image Description a  young Japanese woman with long dark hair tearful and raising a hand to her face  while seated in front of a microphone. Ms. Yoshimatsu is now in hiding. Going public with her plight has cost her everything. Here s...

Image Description. Portrait of Black Boxer Jack Johnson Standing next to his white wife Etta Terry Duryea Johnson. They married in January of 1911. "Boxing has fallen into disfavor. . . The reason is clear: Jack Johnson . . . has out-sparred an Irishman. He did it with little brutality, the utmost fairness and great good nature. He did not "knock" his opponent senseless. . . Neither he nor his race invented prize fighting or particularly like it. Why then this thrill of national disgust? Because Johnson is black. Of course some pretend to object to Johnson's character. But we have yet to hear, in the case of White America, that marital troubles have disqualified prize fighters or ball players or even statesmen. It comes down, then, after all to this unforgivable blackness." W.E.B. DuBois , The Crisis (1914) Jack johnson's undisputed world boxing championship, combined with his interracial  marriage caused such a furor that members of the  ...

This is the first post in a one year blog. This blog is my New Year's Resolution. It is here to emphasize the sense of urgency that is repressed about so many things. Today's topic is something that needs those of us who parent autistic children and ally autistic disability rights advocates  and to be, well, BRAVE.  Sara Bareilles , with uncanny timing, hit me with her song about the time I was asking myself what else I can do to wake parents up.  I have so many examples of parents silently allowing injustices against their children to continue. Horror stories they call them. Horrible because justice is never on the side of their children. Crimes go unpunished. I had one mother tell me how it felt to watch a school principal who knowingly allowed a teacher to abuse her child win an award. This mom kept silent. The next victim was my son.  To quote Sara's song:  "And since your history of silence,  won't do you any good,  did you think it w...