News & Politics

Understand the Internet Strike: SOPA, PIPA and a Free Internet

Julie Ross Godar — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:01:37 +0000

Today, January 18, 2012, a number of web sites are going dark to protest two bills currently before Congress that, if passed, could have a chilling effect on freedom of the intenet. The bill in the House is H.R. 3261: The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), while the Senate bill, S.968: PROTECT-IP Act of 2011, is commonly known as PIPA. Both bills address the crime of Internet piracy by proposing to allow the Department of Justice more authority to order internet service providers to block access to domain names that infringe copyright; to order search engines, blogs, and other sites to remove links to infringing content; and to allow individuals and companies to sue when they believe their copyright is infringed.

The New York Times reports that supporters of the legislation include lobbying group The Motion Picture Association of America, Rupert Murdoch, and music companies, while opponents include the founders of Google, Twitter, and YouTube.

Stating, "While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet," the Obama administration came out strongly against the legislation this past weekend.

Also this weekend, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) promised he would not bring SOPA to the floor; however, the bill's author, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Tex.), announced today he expects the committee to continue work on SOPA in February. The Senate is still on track to vote on PIPA as soon as January 24.

UPDATE 1:15 PST: The New York Times reports that a number of the bill's cosponsors have withdrawn support today for PIPA as written, including Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who took to Twitter to call the legislation "simply not ready for prime time." On Facebook, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) posted that he has withdrawn his support.

Many web sites have announced their intention to go dark, or restrict the display of content, on January 18 to protest these two bills. Most site owners who have specified a timeline say they'll be down from 8AM to 8PM EST, though some went dark at midnight EST. BlogHer is following this as a news story, since so many of our members depend on the internet for its livelihood and more. We will be posting updates as news breaks throughout the day, as we have been doing since the story starting building.

Some of the Sites Going Dark Jan. 18

The English version of Wikipedia will be blacked out worldwide for 24 hours starting at 05:00 UTC.
The WordPress.org blackout should not affect your WordPress blog -- but you can install plugins to join the strike.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation
Reddit
Craigslist
The Cheezburger Network
The Oatmeal (with a hysterical explanation)
BoingBoing
Cake Wrecks
Creative Commons
Smart Bitches Trashy Books
Regretsy

In addition, Google has blacked out its logo and is pointing to SOPA resources on its home page all day today. The homepage of the Huffington Post also features a prominently blacked-out area. See a more complete list of site owners who have pledged to go dark at SOPAstrike.com, AmericanCensorship.org, and Mashable.

Coverage and Analysis

Read danah boyd's take on SOPA: Piracy is a problem; this legislation is a bigger one.
This Blog Has Been [Redacted] on Gigabiting
SOPA Blackout Aims to Block Internet Censorship Bill on the Huffington Post
Everything You Need to Know About Congress's Online Piracy Bills, in One Post on the Washington Post
Mom in a Million: On Copyright, SOPA and Pipa
Tumblr's Stand Against Censorship
The Author of SOPA Is a Copyright Violator on Vice.com
Reports of Wikipedia-dependent kids desperately tweeting for an extension on their homework.
Twitter users have been posting made-up #factswithoutwikipedia to demonstrate the site's importance.

If You Want to Take Action:

SopaStrike and Stop American Censorship have lists of actions to take to get involved, including ways to black out your blog.
WordPress bloggers can install blackout plugins.
BlackoutSopa allows you to change your Twitter icon in support.
ProPublica.org has a page called SOPA Opera, which lists which members of Congress support SOPA and PIPA (you may be surprised) -- and contact information.
Read the text of SOPA on Open Congress
Read the text of PIPA on Open Congress

If you're participating in the SOPA strike today—or if you've got an opinion on it—let us know in the comments! We'll be updating this story throughout the day, and we stand in support of both copyright protection and the right for a free internet.

Rolling Stone, The Anoka-Hennepin Suicide Cluster & "No Homo Promo"

Rita Arens — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 22:51:17 +0000

"Growing up is hard." That was the email I got from my husband this morning after I told him how my seven-year-old spent the fifteen minutes before the bus came sobbing on my shoulder about how she only got one PTA Valentine fundraiser glow stick even though she sent six to six different friends.

"Other people got more than one. Why don't they like me? I was nice to them," she howled. I didn't ask if other kids got none, because that sort perspective is lost on seven-year-olds. She was concerned with her experience. She needed me to focus on her experience, which at this point was MOMMY I AM IN PAIN.

It was such a little thing, such an unimportant hurt in the grand scheme of things, but it took me to a new place as a mother. It reminded me of the day one of her friends told her she liked the new girl THIIIIIS MUUUUUCH and my daughter (thismuch). But it's one thing when one particular friend causes a hurt and something else entirely when your child feels just generally unloved and unappreciated and there's nothing to be done about it. I wasn't sure how to respond. Hurts happen, and this wasn't a hurt of grand proportions. Nobody was hurting her, she just felt hurt. Having people hurt you on purpose is something altogether different.

Fast-forward several hours. I saw a tweet with this Rolling Stone article about the "No Homo Promo" policy in the Anoka-Hennepin school district in Minnesota. I clicked on it and found my eyes dashing down to the page count, because even though it was really long, I knew I was going to read the entire thing.

Here's the gist:

At the close of the seven-month-long sex-ed review, Anderson and her colleagues wrote a memo to the Anoka-Hennepin school board, concluding, "The majority of parents do not wish to have there [sic] children taught that the gay lifestyle is a normal acceptable alternative." Surprisingly, the six-member board voted to adopt the measure by a four-to-two majority, even borrowing the memo's language to fashion the resulting districtwide policy, which pronounced that within the health curriculum, "homosexuality not be taught/addressed as a normal, valid lifestyle."

The policy became unofficially known as "No Homo Promo" and passed unannounced to parents and unpublished in the policy handbooks; most teachers were told about it by their principals.

It gets worse. Apparently since the teachers had been instructed not to discuss homosexuality AT ALL, they did nothing when they heard kids being called all manner of anti-homosexual slurs or even coming to them for help with the bullying. They just looked at the kids and ... didn't discuss it.

Credit Image: Professor Batty on Flickr

Even when the kids were coming to them for help. From the article:

Just to be on the safe side, however, the district held PowerPoint presentations in a handful of schools to train teachers how to defend gay students from harassment while also remaining neutral on homosexuality. One slide instructed teachers that if they hear gay slurs – say, the word "fag" – the best response is a tepid "That language is unacceptable in this school." ("If a more authoritative response is needed," the slide added, the teacher could continue with the stilted, almost apologetic explanation, "In this school we are required to welcome all people and to make them feel safe.") But teachers were, of course, reminded to never show "personal support for GLBT people" in the classroom.

In researching this post, I stumbled upon PokerLawyer's response. It's amazing and worth a read. Her argument is best summed up with this:

As a lawyer, I have a deep respect for the law and recognize that, for all its flaws, it is sometimes the last best bastion against craziness that we have in this world. And even then, it's not always enough. Unfortunately, not near enough. (And speaking of the law and craziness, ya gotta, gotta, gotta watch this documentary.)

But here's the thing...in that minuscule, infinitesimal part of the universe, where law and humanity intersects, there is only you. And me. And a kabazillion other people. And how we get along begins with you. And me. And each of us.

What I'm trying, not very well, to say and convey, is that it's not enough to say, "Where are the parents???"

Sometimes I think we all forget what it's like to be a kid. I know I was struggling to remember what it felt like to not get a special whatever from friends at school this morning as my daughter was sobbing as though her heart would break. When I was her age, I was more obsessed by the comments kids made about me being fat, which were specific to me and not sort of vague and possibly explained by so many factors from forgetfulness to lack of funds for glow stick valentines. But I could sense she needed an explanation from me, not just comfort. She needed a reason she could overcome or cling to, and that reason could not be: "You are unlovable."

More than anything, kids need to know they are lovable and that they can trust the adults in charge of their lives to look out for their best interests. They are deserving of respect and the protection of adults just by existing. They don't have to do anything to earn it. It is their right as children to be protected until they are old enough to protect themselves. We as a society agree on that -- we have a different court system for kids, we have laws about sex and abuse and child labor. We as a society agree agree children are different than adults.

How did the officials at Anoka-Hennepin not see that teachers and counselors struggling to interpret "don't discuss homosexuality at all" was resulting in "don't stop bullying related to homosexuality or perceived homosexuality" or "don't comfort or counsel or even alert the parents if a child comes to you for help"? Or when they did see -- because I'm not so naive as to think none of them did see it and agree with it -- how did they forget these were children?

There is a lot in the Rolling Stone article about Michele Bachmann and the extreme right and churches in the area that think being gay is some sort of abomination, which is why I really love that PokerLawyer invoked the fruits of the spirit in her post imploring for us as people to practice them. I could spend several thousand words ranting about that, because I have been a Lutheran for the past 38 years and I'm fairly certain the main point of the New Testament was "judge not lest ye be judged" when you pull back from the details and take the 10,000-foot view. I personally don't believe people have any right to judge each other's sexuality unless someone is raping or abusing someone else. I personally am very strongly in the LGBT support camp. So yes, I could rant. About the gay-bashing. About the suicide cluster and whether or not we can inextricably link it to the bullying. About all of the politics we've assigned to love and whom people love.

But I'm not going to, because I think what's worse about this whole story is the teachers who were so terrified of losing their jobs that they interpreted this rule to mean they couldn't protect students from their peers. I find it impossible to believe in the entire school district there was not one teacher who went in the bathroom and cried after she heard one student call another a fag and did nothing.

What about all the teachers and administrators who didn't agree with any of it but allowed themselves to be paralyzed by a school board ruling called "No Homo Promo"? Had they all forgotten what it feels like to be a kid and think no one has your back? Because regardless of why this "don't ask/don't tell"-smacking bit of handwashing was put into play, someone on the school board clearly had.

Whether or not they did it out of homophobia or they did it out of wanting to get some local anti-gay parents off their backs, the school board let kids hang out to dry. And it was a district with a five-page anti-bullying policy, not a district where anything goes, according to Rolling Stone. Regardless, the policy of saying nothing became a policy of saying nothing when kids got peed on in the bathroom or barred from the girls' locker room. On Monday, the school board repealed the policy, but only after Rolling Stone focused attention on it. And at the vote, the adults were still bickering with each other over whether being gay is a legitimate way to be a human being in front of the students, some of whom may have been gay, once again failing to protect children from having their very existance called into question for race, religion or sexual orientation.

Adults, we've got to get it together. Maybe I don't agree with your politics. Maybe you don't agree with mine. Maybe you don't agree with the way I am a Christian. Maybe I don't like your views on capital taxation. Maybe I'm worried about your kid influencing my kid to wear tasseled loafers and you're worried about my kid telling your kid that tattoos are okay because her mom has two. We adults can disagree all we want on any manner of things of any manner of importance.

However. Regardless of our feelings, we have to always be ready to put them aside and stand together to protect our kids and make sure they make it safely to adulthood together. We have to have enough confidence in our own parenting abilities to sit down and talk through any social issues our kids ask about and give them our point of view. And then we have to have enough confidence in their decision-making skills to allow them to figure out the world when they exit high school and walk out of our houses smack into it, with all its influences and fast highways and tall buildlings. Maybe they'll agree with our beliefs. Maybe they won't. Hopefully by that point they'll have been allowed to grow into their own sense of self and think that self is okay and ready to face the world.

If we want that for them -- for all of them -- we can't be lazy about our school policies. Kids' shells haven't hardened yet. They care a lot more about what their peers think of them than you or I do, because we have the benefit of experience and hindsight. They live in the here and now and everything that happens in school is so very important to their development as people.

We can't allow kids to see adults observing them being bullied -- for any reason -- and doing nothing. I don't care about your politics. I don't care about my politics. They are children until they are 18. They deserve for us to act like the adults we are and look past our own feelings and protect them when they are harmed mentally or physically by their peers, just as we must if we see them being abused by other adults.

I hate that this story is going to become all gay/not gay, because I fear that this part of it will get lost: They are children. They are human beings who haven't matured yet. And they deserve to know that we will listen and protect them when they ask for help.

Here's a link to the It Gets Better Project if you or anyone you know needs resources .

BlogHer is nonpartisan, but I am not.

Rita Arens authors Surrender, Dorothy and is the editor of the award-winning parenting anthology Sleep is for the Weak. She is the senior editor for BlogHer.com.

A Morning with Rick Santorum in North Texas

DomesticDyke — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 22:24:16 +0000

As seen this week on TheNextFamily.com (2/15/2012):

So as most people already know, we are well into an election year. We have been watching for weeks as various Conservatives battle for the position of Republican party candidate. It seems as if each passing week brings us new levels of crazy among them, and I shudder at the thought of any of them in a position of power or leadership.

Among the candidacy-seeking, we find Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, and Rick Santorum (thank God Rick Perry has already dropped out of the race). Last week, Santorum visited our area and met with local pastors. I was planning on going to cover the event in person, take photos, and try to get a question in to the ultra-conservative campaigner. When I couldn’t find anyone to watch the baby, I thought about taking her and introducing her to all the fundies as our gaybie, but ultimately decided to just stay home and watch the live feed.

The event was to be at the Bella Donna Chapel in McKinney, Texas. It’s not a church but a beautiful event and wedding venue not too far from where I live. It was supposed to start at 9:30 AM, but Santorum was late. Once he did finally arrive, they ushered him in where he and his wife, Karen, were seated on the first row pew. One of the chapel owners, Donna, introduced the event and Santorum by talking about plans for painting angels in the arches of the chapel. She revealed a painting of Santorum’s daughter (who battles with a childhood disability), and told them that she was to be painted on one of the arches in the ceiling (her name is Bella). She said it was a “God thing,” and also gave Bella a key to the chapel on a necklace, saying that the family was always welcome there. After this presentation, she introduced Rick Santorum and he stepped up to take the microphone.

Santorum started off saying that he really believes that the foundation of our country rests on two institutions: the family and the church. He said, “Without those two institutions, we can’t be free. Faith + Family = Freedom.” Now once upon a time I would have believed every word that this man said, simply because he claims to be a “man of God.” I’m so thankful that I woke up to the blind follower that I had been raised to be, and now think for myself. He also said that he doesn’t like the term “freedom of worship” instead of “freedom of religion” that is often used. He says it’s not about just WHEN you worship, but what you do in public. He says that the Obama administration’s “attack on religion” is about trying to stop people from living their faith in public. Every time I hear one of these candidates speaking of “Obama’s attack, or war, on religion,” I am always surprised! I have never gotten that impression from him or his family, and I thought I had been paying attention! Silly me!
Santorum soon moved into his topic of choice: abortion. He said, “I don’t think that God will bless this country when this country chooses to take over one million innocent lives per year through abortion. There’s one thing about VOTING pro-life, and there’s another thing about TALKING pro-life. You can be the most conservative person ever, vote for no government, and you’re fine. But once you speak out on moral issues, you will have your head out of the trenches, and you will be shot at.” But wait a minute…didn’t Santorum’s wife have an abortion?

While fighting for moral issues and against partial-birth abortion, Santorum’s wife became pregnant with their fourth child. When they had the sonogram, the doctor told them that the baby was going to die. They went to a children’s hospital and had a doctor perform surgery on the baby in utero – it was successful. Everything would be fine, the doctors warned, unless his wife got a fever, which would indicate an infection in her uterus. Ultimately, she DID get an infection and developed a fever, and Santorum was called home. They were told that she was going to die if she didn’t “deliver,” and the baby boy was going to die. She labored and she delivered him alive, where he lived for two hours; they named him Gabriel. So is it an abortion if he was born alive, just way too early and unable to sustain life? The definition of abortion, in the dictionary, includes the following: the removal of an embryo or fetus from the uterus in order to end a pregnancy; any of various surgical methods for terminating a pregnancy, especially during the first six months; an immature and nonviable fetus. In the Santorums’ case, it was technically an abortion, because all parties involved knew that the baby would NOT survive once extracted from the womb. And this is the same man who has publicly said that even in the event of rape or health crisis, that a pregnancy resulting from it should be carried to term no matter what.

He then started sharing about his daughter, Bella. They found out about her disability four days after her birth, and were told that they were lucky that she was alive because babies usually die in utero from this particular condition. They were told to let her go. Bella lived for ten days in the NICU, and they brought her home on hospice care; they celebrated her birthday every week. But she didn’t die. Santorum said that he had to be “the rock, and had to detach from Bella a little. I loved her, but I had to detach from her, treat her a little different.” When she almost died, he was reminded by his other daughter that he hadn’t done anything to save her. This woke him up and he decided that he couldn’t hold back from her any longer. This is why, according to him, he is SO outspoken about abortion – because of his disabled daughter. Even for a dude that I absolutely cannot stand, and I believe that he is a homophobic bigot who is brainwashed, I was still touched by his stories about his children.

Once he finished, he was supposed to take questions from the pastors and then go outside to take questions from the media and his constituents. I guess because he was late, he was only able to take a couple of questions from the pastors. The first question, which I couldn’t hear, was something about intolerance. His answer started out talking about the 9^th circuit court decision regarding Prop 8 the day before in California. He said that “it is intolerance to say that people are bigots and haters if you believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. The intolerance of the left, the intolerance of the secular ideology is a religion unto itself – it is just not a religious-based religion. It is completely intolerant of dissent. They want their worldview to be accepted without question.” He was talking, and I just kept hearing “blah blah blah” and watching as countless sheep blindly nodded in agreement.

The second question was asking Santorum who his favorite Supreme Court Justice is, to which he answered Clarence Thomas. “Because he [Thomas] sees the Constitution itself, but also sees the Constitution in relation to the Declaration. Because he sees that there is more to America than just the Constitution itself. Scalia seems to focus a little too much on the original words of the Constitution and its meaning….” What the what??? Are you kidding me Rick Santorum??? See, I knew that this yahoo has probably never even read the original Constitution – well, and he and his kind are constantly trying to amend and change it to fit their beliefs.

After this, the group of pastors gathered around Santorum, laid hands on him and prayed for him. He then went back out the side door; was supposed to answer media and voter questions outside, but the feed went dark, so I assume that it didn’t happen.

Wow. It was pretty insightful to watch him speaking in a small forum, versus the large crowds that we typically see him in front of on television. I’m glad I didn’t go. It would have been hard to keep my mouth shut. I’m very afraid for the future of equality in our country if this man has even a remote chance of becoming President here. He has openly declared that if he were to win, he would reverse virtually every act of legislature that has occurred in the name of marriage equality, or equality in general. I have plenty of friends and family who are hardcore Republicans, having grown up both in the south AND in the church. It gets really hard to choke down the knowledge that people who claim to love me and my family will vote for whomever is the Republican candidate, simply because they are Republican. The question is constantly swirling around: If you love me, love my family, and believe in equality, why and HOW can you possibly give your vote away to a person who is openly and blatantly against ME, my family, and equality??? Just because they are Republican? Shouldn’t our vote be behind the person who represents the closest of those values that we hold dear to our hearts?

Needless to say…it should be interesting indeed.

Be the change that you want to see in the world. ~ Gandhi

BlogHer Freelancers

A Morning with Rick Santorum in North Texas

DomesticDyke — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 22:24:10 +0000

As seen this week on TheNextFamily.com (2/15/2012):

Needless to say…it should be interesting indeed.

Be the change that you want to see in the world. ~ Gandhi

BlogHer Freelancers

Happy Valentine's Day! Virginia Passes Draconian Bills Against Women

Mona Gable — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 21:39:16 +0000

[Editor's note: Virginia wants to invade your vagina. I am not exaggerating. This is what it has come down to. Yesterday the Virginia House pushed through two anti-abortion bills, both of which would essentially deprive women of their civil rights. Under one measure a fertilized egg would have more rights than you. Jessica Wakeman at The Frisky lays out the bills and explains why you should be alarmed.--Mona]

She writes:

Unfortunately, the “fetal personhood” bill wasn’t the only nutty and frightening piece of legislation that Virginia’s House of Delegates passed. Another bill was advanced requiring a woman undergoing an abortion to have a “transvaginal ultrasound” — i.e., to require a doctor to insert a speculum and then an ultrasound probe into a her vagina against her will and reflect that image onscreen. Not only is a bill like this rather rape-y in its forcefulness — and yes, I realize that is a strong statement, and I mean it strongly — but there is no medically necessary reason to do so. And there are no exceptions. Gov. McDonnell has stated his intention to sign the “transvaginal ultrasound” bill if it lands on his desk.

Credit Image: © Jules Mattsson/Lnp/London News Pictures/ZUMAPRESS.com/

Are You Registered to Vote?

Dawn Sticklen — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:12:52 +0000

All month long over at Since You Asked I will be discussing good citizenship via the challenges set about by GOODis.org - "30 Days of Doing Good". Over the past few days, GOOD has been discussing voter registration and the importance of exercising our right to vote.

In Missouri, and elsewhere in the United States, it is relatively easy to register to vote. You can visit the Secretary of State's website, the Department of Motor Vehicles, or even your local WIC office to obtain an application.

Of course, it's not really enough just to register to vote - you must actually go out and vote if you want to be heard. You need to use your vote to help make your voice be heard by local policy makers. Additionally, consider getting more involved in your local government. Apply for a position on an advisory board, attend a City Council meeting, run for a local office. You don't necessarily have to become a politician in order to become a better, more involved (and more informed) citizen. However, if you want to make a positive impact on the world around you, you DO have to make an effort to make a difference in your own back yard.

Dawn Sticklen

www.sinceyouaskeddawn.com

Alleged Special Ed Abuse and the Court of Public Opinion

Shannon Des Roches Rosa — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:00:00 +0000

I already had a spitfire six-year-old daughter and a boisterous four-year-old autistic son when my youngest, Mali, was born. Though I had scoffed at family and friends who suggested enlisting extra hands when our herd expanded, it was soon clear that I could really use some backup. That was when Alexia Bogdis entered our lives. She became one of Leo's best friends. She worked with him for almost three years -- his most difficult years. She brought our home life out of crisis -- like a Mary Poppins, but for an autism family.

You may wonder why I'm using Alexia's real name, instead of protecting her privacy with "Therapist X" or "Babysitter X" as is my usual blogging practice for the many people who have worked with Leo. But Alexia no longer has the privilege of privacy -- last week, she was charged with mistreating children in our school district's early intervention preschool.

While it was shocking to hear about the charges, I understand completely why the matter proceeded as it has. Our children's safety should always be our top priority, and if classroom abuse is reported, what happened to Alexia is the procedure that must and should be followed. We cannot knowingly expose our children to risk.

We can, however, remain aware that allegations are not verdicts -- as difficult as maintaining that awareness is, especially when headline writers are forced to prioritize sensationalism over fairness, and when mugshots of people who have yet to see their day in court are nevertheless made available to news services. Alexia's story spread at near-viral speed from Internet news services to the special needs email lists and blogs in my communities.

I spoke up about the difference between allegations and verdicts whenever the story hit my inbox or my screen, and some folks appreciated the reminder. I did not speculate about the charges -- nor will I here -- because I did not visit the class during the time frame in question, and I have not spoken with Alexia about the allegations. This is a legal matter now, so I can only comment on that which I have personally observed.

But I can vouch for her character. And here's what I've personally witnessed, and documented: Every one of my friends and family members is as shocked by the allegations as I am. We have known Alexia for seven years; we know she is the sort of person who literally gives others the shirt off her back. We've seen her set aside her own vacations and weekends to accompany Leo to events and on family trips that would otherwise be un-doable. We know she was there for him when he struggled with self-care hiccups. When he was trying so hard to make sense of the world and sometimes just couldn't, despite his and all our best efforts -- and kept lashing out at it, and us, instead.

I can also tell you that the allegations are now affecting more than just Alexia and her class. Due to national and state child welfare regulations regarding Mandated Reporters -- people within the district who are legally obligated to report child abuse -- several other special ed department folks have been placed on administrative leave. They will stay there until it is determined what exactly happened and whether or not said people had any awareness of Alexia's alleged incidences. These are good people who serve critical roles, and we have to remember that their being placed on leave is a matter of procedure -- again, to do everything possible to protect students -- rather than evidence of wrongdoing. Those administrative leave changes have the potential to disrupt learning, IEP, placements, and classroom for every child who receives special education services from our districts, which leaves me even more upset: those changes could possibly circle around and affect Leo.

But again, I understand why people -- especially parents, as I am one -- get so upset when stories like Alexia's allegations emerge. I seethe with fire and vengeance when my children are treated badly -- in fact my story in the 2010 book My Baby Rides the Short Bus is partially a big FU to the teacher and school that banned Leo from recess when he was a kindergartener. It's easy for parents to get paranoid, start thinking mistreatment of special education kids happens all the time. We need to keep in mind what an anonymous commenter wrote on the recent CafeMom post It's Time to Stop Teacher Abuse of Autistic Kids:

"Please understand these cases are few and far between. I am a special education teacher and I work with autistic kids and I know this doesn't happen in my district. Please stop fear mongering and making teachers looks like monsters. 99% of us are good people who want the best for all kids."

It would be easy to keep silent about Alexia's story, to distance my family from it -- but it would also be wrong, and cowardly. I owe Alexia too much not to speak up about the good I've seen her do, and the years she spent helping my family and my son, even when it wasn't easy at all. While our first obligation should absolutely be to protect our children -- especially our children with communication special needs -- I can only remind you that Alexia has been charged, not convicted, and that her case has yet to be heard. She deserves to have a positive testimonial balance out the negative headlines and mug shots that now pop up whenever her name is Googled.

----

Shannon Des Roches Rosa is far too distressed right now to think up quips for ThinkingAutismGuide.com, BlogHer.com, or Squidalicious.com.

Photo Credit: usembassymanila.

Parenting Children with Special Needs

FOX News Moves Left?

admin — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 11:30:04 +0000

I admit, I don’t watch FOX News except if it’s on at a place I happen to be. I don’t know that I’ve ever actually watched more than 15 minutes at a time, so I missed the sudden shift to the left that FOX has made. Wow, who knew? Politico broke the story on as it’s lead story this morning. Politico’s story quotes people lamenting FOX’s fall into liberalism and dreaming of the good old days and blaming some . . .

Strong People Don’t Have Needs and Other Myths That Can Kill You

admin — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 11:30:01 +0000

Strong People Don’t Have Needs & Other Myths That Can Kill You Posted by: karnythia Category: America the Crazy, Angry in General, Feminism, Society & Culture, Things You Need To Understand February 13th, 2012 I’ve been tweeting all morning about #rapeculture & #abuseculture, and someone asked me what I meant when I referred to Strong People Myths. I think some/most of us are familiar with the Strong Black Woman Trope right? Right. For those that are unfamiliar with it, . . .

Jeremy Lin: What He Means to Asians, Athletes, and Dreamers

Grace Hwang Lynch — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:23:01 +0000

I’ve been watching the whole Linsanity phenomenon with a mixture of exhilaration and anxiety. While I don’t generally follow basketball, I am certain that Linsanity means something—to Asian Americans, to the world of sports, to anyone who’s ever had a dream and been told no. I watch and follow and devour any analysis, because Lin is part of my community — I am, like Jeremy Lin, a second generation Taiwanese American, raised in Silicon Valley by engineers. He’d fit right in at a family reunion or church potluck. At least a dozen of my Asian male friends have changed their Facebook avatars to photos of Jeremy.

Feb. 10, 2012 - New York, NY, USA - Jeremy Lin (17) of the New York Knicks drives against Steve Blake of the Los Angeles Lakers at Madison Square Garden in New York on Friday, February 10, 2012. The Knicks knocked off the Lakers, 92-85.

What I can relate to is the experience of being told “No” – not explicitly because of race (no one says those things so directly in this day and age), but never really knowing if that was the reason. And I can relate to being denied athletic opportunities, even if the only time I even dared to venture in that arena was during my freshman year of high school.

HIgh School Sports Reject

Not that I was any good at sports. Skinny and uncoordinated, I was always last picked for any team in P.E. class. Our coach, a formidable woman who was rumored to have played on the LPGA tour, looked the other way when other kids heckled my nervous attempts to catch and throw. Most of my friends were exempt from P.E., having made it on some sort of school team, leaving me at the mercy of 19-year old seniors who melted eyeliners in the locker room with the same Bics they used to light their joints.

Knowing that I had one more year of state mandated abuse ahead of me, that spring I made a Hail Mary to get out of P.E. – by trying out for the badminton team. It didn’t require years of training or athletic prowess. What it did require was a signature from my P.E. teacher to try out.

As I slipped out of my navy gym shorts and into my stirrup pants that day, I grabbed the green permission slip out of my backpack and marched upstairs to the glass coaches’ office. Cigarette smoke mingled with the metallic odor of a hot curling iron. The coach jumped up from her seat and met me at the doorway.

“Could you —” I stammered, shoving the paper towards her.

“No.” Coach interrupted. She stood there and smiled, her formidable body guarding the entrance to her sanctuary. Perhaps she had misunderstood me, and thought I wanted something else − perhaps to use her phone? Mooch a can of orange soda? Borrow her curling iron?

“Could you sign this form? So I could try out for badminton?” I attempted again. All she did was stare me down with her beady blue eyes and nicotine stained smile. I stood there for a few seconds. Then it finally hit me: she was not going to help. I was being told “No” by a teacher.

Is It About Race?

It’s been a long time since I was denied the opportunity of trying out for the team. Closed that door and locked away the key. But I don’t need to reach back that far to identify that nagging feeling of being told “No”.

Not being promoted from field reporter to news anchor.

Not being having my query letters answered by editors.

Not being acknowledged by a hostess at a swanky restaurant.

Of course, those things happen to a lot of people. And (with the exception of the restaurant) it could very well be that I just wasn’t that good. But when a person is doing something that isn’t typical of their people of their ethnicity, there’s always that nagging doubt. Could it be… because of race?

While at the gym this morning (I still manage to make it to yoga and group exercise classes) I mulled this over as I attempted to balance myself on a giant rubber ball – while holding a plank for a full minute. I fell off the ball after about fifteen seconds.

What would Jeremy do?

Jeremy Lin was not offered a spot on a single college team upon graduating from high school. Clearly, he was good -- he was the state all-star in basketball! -- and he was smart. But at 6'3", his size wasn't notable, neither did he have a flashy playing style. Still, he didn't didn’t walk away with his tail between his legs. He sent his stats and his videos to Ivy League recruiters, and was ultimately admitted to Harvard where he played on the basketball team.

Even though he was a star at Harvard, Lin wasn’t drafted initially by the NBA, although he was eventually picked up and bounced around several teams, including his hometown Golden State Warriors, who left him on bench most of the time, then traded him off. When he finally made his breakthrough, he was a non-contracted D-lister sleeping on his brother’s couch while continuing to practice with the Knicks. He’s famously quipped that the Madison Square Garden doorman asked him if he was a trainer. At least they didn’t ask him if he was delivering Chinese food.

Although I share the same Christian faith as Lin, I have to admit, I don’t have that kind of faith. I’m a doubter -- always anxious for the bubble to burst, for the other shoe to fall. And most of all, I’m apprehensive about fairy tales, especially ones that promise a color-blind society. We’ll see. Will his popularity be written off simply as a novelty? The racially charged Twitter smack talk has already begun. Will there be Jeremy Lin sneakers and branded basketballs? Will he go on to have a long career as a commentator? Or like the handful of Asian American athletes who have gone before him, will he be passed over the lucrative promotional opportunities and retire into obscurity?

I’m also realistic enough to know that sometimes as a minority in America, you have to cherish each victory. Storms they will be coming. But like Lin clings to his faith, I think we can all look at his accomplishments as a sign of what was, and is, and is to come.

Portions of this post were originally published in "Mamas and Papas: On the Sublime and Heartbreaking Art of Parenting" (San Diego City Works Press)

Race and Ethnicity Section Editor Grace Hwang Lynch blogs at HapaMama and A Year (Almost) Without Shopping.

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