Wanted to take a moment to congratulate all the members of the Class of 2011 since the school year is almost over. Hope that you had a wonderful senior year, and that your next steps to college life if you're a high school senior or to adulthood if you're leaving college are filled with blessings for your future endeavors.
Definitely wanted to give a special shout out to the trans high school seniors out there whose stories I chronicled this school year such as Oak Reed, Andy Moreno and Niko Walker. It's been an interesting road for some of you and hope that you were able to enjoy the rest of your senior year and this special time in your lives.
And hope I don't have to write about any discriminatory practices at proms by administrators gone wild either like I've had to do over the last several years..
To those trans students whose stories didn't make the headlines but you persevered and got your paper, congratulations. Know that your trans elders are happy for you, glad you did so, thinking about and praying for you as well.
Congrats Class of 2011. May you have abundant success and less drama in your lives.
Yesterday in many colleges across the country there were commencement ceremonies held for the persons who were graduating during the fall semester.
In my own family I had two cousins graduating from Prairie View A&M and a little over 1000 miles away my Baltimore home girl Cydne was getting her sheepskin from Coppin State.
I bounced out of my undisclosed location for a few hours to attend his graduation party, tell him how proud I was of him and even drop a few words of wisdom to both graduates along with many of our assorted relatives and friends.
So I wanted to take the time to say to my cousins Ray and Patrick, Cydne and all you December college grads who read TransGriot, congratulations.
May your road of life be a superhighway to success with few roads blocks, speed traps and potholes.
TransGriot update: found out Cydne graduated magna cum laude from Coppin State! Way to go sis!
Wanted to take a moment to wish TransGriot reader Nicole Matos my heartfelt congratulations as you graduate from Bryn Mawr College's Class of 2010.
My talented cousin Llayron Adkins is also graduating from Prairie View A&M this December. I'll have to post some of his dance videos on the blog for y'all to check out.
I'm also taking this opportunity to wish my old Section 126 Comets section mate Charles Thibodeaux my congratulations as well. 'King Charles' as I used to call him back in the day has grown a bit taller since I last laid eyes on him and is graduating from high school this year.
I know his family is ecstatic about it, but I'm jumping for joy as well that this young scholar will be headed to Harvard in the fall.
To 'errbody' else in the Class of 2010, whether it be collegiate or the high school level, glad you're getting that paper. Best of luck as you high schoolers move on to tackle the challenges of collegiate life and you college grads tackle the challenges of graduate school or (sniff, sniff0 the cold, cruel world.
Whatever path your life takes, may it be filled with minimal stress and abundant blessings.
TransGriot Note: My latest piece for Global Comment
If I could give any piece of advice to President Obama besides the obvious ones for any transperson lucky enough to get some face time with him would, it would be this:
Next year, give a commencement speech at an HBCU, which stands for Historically Black College and University.
Arizona State University invited him to speak at their May 14 commencement ceremony. It was the first commencement speech he has delivered since becoming president January 20. How does ASU thank him for that historical footnote and the increased media attention their commencement ceremony garnered from the media? By declining to give him an honorary degree.
ASU spokeswoman Sharon Keeler stated, "His body of work is yet to come. That's why we're not recognizing him with a degree at the beginning of his presidency."
Um, you gave former Canadian prime minister Kim Campbell one and she only served 143 days before she was ousted from office by Canadian voters.
Don't you think the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review, the fourth elected African-American US senator, author of two best selling books and the first African-American president of the US rates one?
I, along with many other people see this as disrespect. Much of the Arizona State alumni base agrees with me as well, and they ain't happy about the presidential dissing either.
To President Obama's credit, he joked about the controversy, then flipped the script and used it as a talking point in his commencement speech.
Conservatives and conservative Catholics have their panties in knots because of the commencement speech President Obama is delivering at Notre Dame University. The invitation and the upcoming May 17 speech has also stirred controversy with right wing Catholics and some Notre Dame students who protested the invitation because his stances on abortion rights and stem-cell research don't jibe with the Roman Catholic Church's stance.
Later today President Obama is giving a commencement speech at Notre Dame University in which unlike the May 14 one at Arizona State University, he'll at least be getting an honorary degree for his trouble.
Here's the video of the Arizona State University commencement speech.
