Friday, March 31, 2017

Trans-Up!

 (Another newsletter submission from our November 19 meeting)

Sally Jackson was, at different times, a band director, trumpet player, and professional photographer before she moved to New Orleans from Houston and subsequently began to express herself through writing novels and poetry. That was also the time she transitioned at the mature age of of 57, though she had known she was different at the age of four. Caroline L’huillier was born into a military family two months premature on All Saint’s Day, and thus had a special remembrance of Halloween, when she liked costuming as woman. She married and had a child, but could no longer keep her identity from her wife, and the marriage was ended. She spent 18 years enlisted in the military herself, but was ignobly discharged because of her sexuality. Maxx Sizeler knew at three he wanted to marry a girl; he knew he was different, but decided on taking the process slowly, spending half of his life in the gay community. He finally had chest surgery, and has spent the other half in the trans community.

NOSHA members got an introduction to one of the newest human rights issues that has been gaining ground in the quest for resolution in media and cultural discussions and political legislation—transgender sexuality. It has typically been bunched together with gay, lesbian, and other non-traditional sexual orientations, but was the topic of a panel discussion “Transgender 101” at the November meeting in Metairie. The three panelists backgrounds were as varied as their experiences; but there was a common thread of the rational, intellectual decision-making on initiating the transition process to the gender identity each knew was the only correct one. But the transgender cause remains one with no national spokesperson; and the legal support groups are in their infancy.

Religious or just conservative lawmakers and enforcers seem to have their heels dug in against what is the last barrier for hetero- and cis-gender bigotry have to defend. Jackson said that even though the name changes, employment opportunities, and public accommodations are difficult, the emotional changes are the hardest of all, even with the best reasoned plans. When asked about Caitlyn Jenner, the Olympic gold medalist decathlete and current co-matriarch of the celebrity (famous for being famous) family, the Kardashians, Jackson said she was really not typical because of the money and celebrity, but that she should be given a chance.

L’huiller became emotional as she said it would have been so much easier for herself to have remained the sex her body agreed with, but…She then continued with an introductory overview of the terminology everyone needs to know: cis- and transgender; gender identity vs. gender expression, sexuality, and the “gray area” that most people could be placed in—one’s identity and expression are never black and white. And sexuality (who your really loved loving) adds another element to the complexity. Caroline updated the definition of the procedures that had previously be termed “sex change ” to “gender confirmation”— which makes much more sense. She herself had agonized on going through with it, but realized immediately after waking up in the hospital room she had done the right thing.

Sizeler addressed a question about the same topic from another perspective: “When I hear the word transsexual, I think of changing one’s genitalia. Is that always to be expected?” asked one from the audience. “No,” said Sizeler, “...that change is no longer that important...it’s not about what’s between your legs but what’s up here,” he said pointing to his head.

A young lady in the audience from a more rural suburb asked what the panel would recommend for support for a young person who would be dealing with parents, friends, and schoolmates. Jackson and L’huillier recommended Louisiana Trans Advocates, which has been around for about 6 years and has 1250 members. Support groups like this one will be essential, along with other non-specific human rights and humanist groups to overcome the societal stigma and all its dehumanizing consequences placed on these brave souls who were born with bodies unrepresentative of their true sexuality.

~Marty Bankson

Saturday, March 18, 2017

Just a Walk in the Park

To follow is an article from our current newsletter, The Humanist Advocate (Issue 1, 2017)

September 24


The “Unholy Strollers,” the unofficial walking (and parading) group of the also unofficial NOSHA Social Aid and Pleasure Club turned out a good participation for The 27th Chevron No/AIDS Walk—a yearly fall fundraising event organized by the No/AIDS Task Force. Not only did 11 walkers make the two-lap trip around Audubon Park, but the NOSHA group pledged at least $650, both of which are probably records since NOSHA has been active in this community project for about the last five years.

Marshall Harris, also one of our own, was chosen as the Grand Marshall (not a pun) and Master of Ceremonies of this year’s rendition of the fundraiser. He turned in a strong performance singing the national anthem at the Newman Bandstand; and then led the way in his trademark plumed tophat and baton in hand, to begin the 3-mile trek around the park’s walking and biking path.

Friday, March 3, 2017

A Cornucopia, Through Research

To follow is an article from our current newsletter, The Humanist Advocate (Issue 1, 2017)

October 15

A research director with the U. S. Department of Agriculture brought a large, open-mouth shopping bag with him for his presentation to our October meeting. In the bag were many of the products the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), a branch of the USDA is credited with developing.

The director, K. Thomas Klasson, Ph.D, has been known to the regulars and some occasional guests of NOSHA meetings as the husband of NOSHA President Charlotte Klasson. He broke the speaker-audience ice by quipping that although many knew him as such, he corrected it to “Dr. Charlotte’s Husband”. His educational background is deep with a Masters Degree from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and a doctorate from the University of Arkansas.

***

He worked for both UA and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory before joining USDA in 2004. His contributions to research papers are extensive.. His subtle and wry sense of humor emerged frequently throughout the presentation, and complimented the reserved and soft-spoken polite manner common in those with a Swedish heritage. He solved the problem of a cumbersome microphone by tying it to what looked like a piece of thick yarn and looped it around his neck. Before he began pulling examples from the shopping bag, he presented his shirt sleeve to a lady in the audience.
“Check out the shirt. See that nice crease right here? Pretty nice? It’s wrinkle-free cotton. This was invented right here in New Orleans!” The fabric, also know as permanent press, was created by the ARS which added a chemical to cotton that binds the molecules of the fiber so that once ironed,
they stayed in place.

Back to the bag: one by one, Klasson gave a short background narrative on each of the familiar and ubiquitous products he pulled from the bag (after the obligatory disclaimer of endorsement for the commercially branded articles), including: a vial of penicillin, a spray can of insect repellent, a can of tomato sauce, baby formula, a box of butter, a loaf of sourdough bread, a bunch of red, seedless grapes, a potato, blueberries, a can of frozen orange juice, a box of instantmashed potatoes. All these, and more, are pictured and explained in a colorful booklet published by the USDA entitled Science in
Your Shopping Cart; and all courtesy of your hard-working tax dollars at the ARS; and some, like the perma-press fabric, coming from right here at the Southern Regional Research Center campus of the USDA located on federal land in City Park.

The New Orleans location is one of four regional centers in the U. S. and is home to 50 scientists (Ph.D.s and post-docs) and 100 employees, and has an annual budget of 21 million dollars. The complex also houses the local offices FEMA and the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry. The USDA currently has about 750 ongoing projects; the ones that our local ARS is involved with fall into one of six major categories: Cotton Structure and Quality; Cotton Fiber Bioscience; Cotton Chemistry and Utilization; Commodity Utilization (which Klasson heads up); Food and Feed Safety; and Food Processing and Sensory Quality. The ARS is considered the “in house” research branch of the USDA because some of its research is done by “external” entities such as universities through grants and contracts.

Those research headings may sound like wordy bureaucratese, but from those or similar projects they have developed a process for freezing orange juice for worldwide distribution; bred the Roma tomato, which seems to be the only tomato that remains tasty throughout the year and is used exclusively in tomato paste; and invented a healthier cooking oil by a crystallization of cotton seed oil (hence the acronym “Crisco”). That single-serve cup of fresh fruit great for brown bag lunches or anytime snacks? Kept fresh longer by adding a calcium salt and vitamin C. In 1935, Dupont Corporation came up with an advertising slogan that ran, with modifications, for almost 50 years. We have all heard it: “Better Things for Better Living...Through Chemistry”.

It could well have been adopted by the USDA and its Agricultural Research Service.


~Marty Bankson