As Pride Month Continues:2 Pamphlets for Queer Youth and You

Discovering once again the limitations of dear old FirstClass Embanet — of course, after having first spent 3+ hours formatting the full text of my marketing proposal report in the mail editor only to find that it doesn't like full formatting and has a definite size restriction — I thrilled to discover that I couldn't actually include the pamphlets (at any size) even though I referenced them specifically in the paper.

A few days later it hit me that I could use the blog to finish that off, and offer something of potential use to others as well. With everything else doing, it took me more than a few days to find the time to upload these.

While I was wrong about the possibility of embedding DOC or PDF files (thanks for that info, Gail, I just assumed it was my ignorance) — and I can't afford to host them anywhere else for the time being — I can forward the Word file version of these to anyone interested.

I created the original versions of these back in 2000 while working as volunteer Library Coordinator at the Rainbow Resource Centre, and followed up on them with substantial reformatting for a library school assignment.

The text itself, as is noted, is from OutProud and is re-used and modified under the terms given when that text was first downloaded and adapted. Under current copyright laws, those conditions remain in force. Any further alterations should thus be sure to give the original source and allow further permission to continue modification.

(Saying all that now, I wonder if I might be able to upload the DOC files to Creative Commons? If so, I'll modify this post to let interested folks know.)

In the meantime, here are the reduced-size images of the 2 pamphlets in question. They are still legible ... with a little effort.

The first is a list of websites of potential interest to queer youth, officially entitled Some Cool Sites for Queer Youth (also given the deliberately exaggerated and silly title — ad usum vulgum — of Chillin' Cyberspotz 4 Rad Boiz and Kewl Grrlz!!):

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The second, geared more to younger queer teens, is an exhortation to safe surfing, entitled: Watching Out For Yourself In Online Relationships: Some Tips for LesBiGay Teens:

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Bargain Buy at Dollarama Now

Just a real quick note to let you know that if you have a few extra dollars to spend, various of the Dollarama franchises have copies of the Time for Kids Almanac 2006.

Yes, it may be a year late, but for $1.13, it is worth it to satisfy the trivia fans. Perfect for elementary and middle school audiences.

Check it out while supplies last!

Pesky Paleogeographic Problem: On Comets, and Dinos and Extinctions (oh my!)

Does this image look at all familiar to you?



How about this one?



No, these are not images of the newest extra-solar planets. We're probably about a decade or two away from imaging our newly discovered neighbour in Gliese this well.

If they're not terribly familiar, don't be too hard on yourself. There's a good reason.

Not nearly enough textbooks — or any books for young people for that matter — show proper images of what the Earth actually looked like according to our best science when the dinosaurs lived (or earlier).

One book I consulted at Elwick Library while subbing recently for Hilary March, implied — through omission, actually — that North America was the same then as now. (It had a very misleading passage on dinosaurs being located in Texas, neglecting to mention that 'Texas' was actually coastline and underwater at that point.)

As the substitute teacher I was talking with about this agreed, all this becomes very confusing when you try to explain to children where things like the KT impact actually took place. That's the Cretaceous (K) Tertiary (T) impact, where a large object (let's not argue over what for the time being) struck the Earth and caused an extinction level event (ELE), ending the reign of the dinosaurs (and 90+% of all life on Earth).

It's all very nice that there are lovely interpretative illustrations in most children's books showing fleeing or frightened or frying dinosaurs. (Of course, my sympathies are with the mammals.) It's just that it doesn't help to let children develop a notion that they won't be disabused of until they take a university course in paleontology or geology in 10 or more years time (if ever).

In the meantime, would it kill publishers to include an actual image from a real science text? I remember quite well that my history textbooks used to have reproductions of historic paintings and photographs of famous historical sites. And colour printing has come a long way in those 20+ years.

Next year, when you are providing resources to classes working on dinosaur projects, or Earth history, do remind your patrons that the Earth was changing right along with the life living on it.

The images above and many other marvellous recreations, the work of a real scientist, Prof. Christopher R. Scotese, can be found at

     Earth History: The Paleomap Project
       URL <http://www.scotese.com/earth.htm>

And if you want to find a fantastic video to show off — something that will make the kids think you totally rock and the teachers think you really know your stuff — check out these two animations.

The first — what I was originally looking for but couldn't find when first writing this post — is on GoogleVideo, a quite scientific animation, created and uploaded by Radek Michalik of the Science Institute, Columbia College, Chicago.

It is one of very few that actually tries to show a timeline of the impact and its consequences. If you watch very closely, you'll also see that it respects the true paleogeography of the era: when it pans over the 'Yucatan' area (point of impact), it shows it as it was, underwater, along with the middle sea of North America.



KT Asteroid Impact [Animation]
URL <http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-1226636845358052872>

The second — the one I was able to find when first writing this post — is a YouTube video uploaded by Art Techuk (and purportedly from NASA) which offers some incredible animations of the ELE that took out the dinosaurs 65 mya and what we might do to prevent a similar catastrophe:



     Earth Impact [Animation]
       URL <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbXDRJtL3d8>

While I think these are the two best, with a little exploration on GoogleVideo and YouTube, you'll find a half dozen more, each with something interesting to offer. (There are many truly amateur videos by kids that show that creativity, imagination and the inspiration of this subject matter are all alive and well.)

Good digging!


(revised June 6, 2007)

That Ten Thousand Villages is an excellent source for books on multi-cultural topics (especially the Third World/Developing World countries), environmental consciousness (ecology and Earth Day) and human rights (children's rights included). Check it out.

They will even arrange a discount and they do accept P/O's. (The closest store to our division located across from the River East Health Care Centre off Henderson Hwy.)

Good news for GCCI! East and West Come Together At Last

As some in Seven Oaks might have missed the front page article from The Times (Thursday, May 17, 2007), — especially if you don't live in the division — I thought I could archive an image of the article here.

(If I remember correctly, the publishing group has given a waiver for non-commercial reproduction directly related to school business. It can't get more related than this.)





I was so happy for the staff and students when I read this. I bumped into Principal Medwick outside the G.C. Staples just before the long weekend and he looked like he was still floating on air (of course, the long weekend probably helped with that, too).

It'll be great for the students to have all that extra space. And a real cafeteria.

And I couldn't help thinking that that would no doubt be welcome news for Glory Boyce, given the kids' terrible habits of grinding food into the carpet and hiding refuse on the shelves (or do they only do that to subs, Glory?).

Anyway, congratulations to G.C.C.I.

Stet fortuna domum!

Happy Pride Month to All & Antihomophobia All Year Long!

Given that it is, — no, check that, was, — the opening weekend of Winnipeg's Pride Week festivities this past weekend — "Pride" for those of you unclear is the annual celebration of being alive for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, two-spirited and otherwise queer folk and their friends and supporters — I should probably honour the occasion with something appropriately queer-positive here.

It's not like I got out this weekend and had any fun. The computer made sure of that.

(Oh, who am I kidding anyway?! Anyone who knows me knows I'm basically agoraphobic, terrified of crowds, hate parades and can't stand loud parties. Only the desperation to flight fueled by fighting for the last 72+ hours with this obstinate silicon beastie would make braving Pride celebrations seem something desirable. Well, that and the prospect to see a few old friends and visit the book tent and see the tchotchelekhs on display this year. And that funny word is Yiddish, BTW, not gay code for anything untoward).

Anyway, back to the queer-positive thing.

Since I was fighting away earlier with the computer just trying to submit my late marketing assignment — promoting library services for queer youth at a slightly fictionalised and idealised version of the Rainbow Resource Centre Library — I had it in mind that I should probably include something in the blog (besides the eye candy in the header image) that would help out some queer youth.

Of course, all of this is really due to our instructor Gail Shackleton's endorsement of FaceBook. (Thanks for that introduction, Gail: I am now completely addicted, although I understand there's a FaceBook Group for FaceBook Addiction called FaceBook Anonymous ... will have to look into that.) In any case, I spent several of the increasingly few hours this monstrous computer cooperated in the past week poking about FaceBook (not in the FB sense mind you), seeing who's out there.

And lo and behold I came across the profile of a handsome young lad (no smarmy thoughts, please) by the name of Jonny Sopotiuk — who even had a guest appearance on our local Breakfast Television show, though he did seem a tad bleary-eyed, as I would have been if I had to get up at 6:00 a.m. to be there (a detail noted from his FB status, BTW) — and young Jonny had just been hired as the Youth Liaison summer student for the Rainbow Resource Centre! (His "dream job" selon his FB profile. Congrats, Jonny! If you like it, may it last forever!)

And this reminded me of my years there as volunteer library coordinator. And the youth I had worked with and enjoyed helping then, as well as the queer youth I encounter in Seven Oaks schools these days.

So inspired by this circuitous path of logic (let's pretend), I dug up a sheet that I had prepared for a presentation way back in Red River College days, something that I had hoped would help inspire my classmates then towards a little more sensitivity and tolerance. Here's hoping this may help some of you ... and thus some of the queer youth who are in the libraries around you, whether you know it or not.

Since I haven't figured out how to link a PDF or DOC file yet (if that is possible; probably it is), I'll just have to rely on good-fashioned typing to relate


WHAT YOU CAN DO ...

As an individual straight person, there are lots of things you can do to demonstrate your opposition to homophobia, heterosexism and other discrimination against queer people.
You don't have to be an activist or in-your-face confrontationalist to help change the world.

Here are 10 simple things you can do
to fight hatred everyday:
1. Make no assumptions about a person's sexuality or sexual orientation.


2. Have something gay-related and queer positive visible in your office or workspace.
A "Straight But Not Narrow" postcard from PFLAG is ideal!
A fridgie magnet like the one to the right works great on a file cabinet or metal door or window casement


3. Validate others' feelings about their sexual identity.
Something as simple as thanking someone who has just come out to you for sharing who they are and trusting you has an enormous impact on self-esteem

4. Respect people's confidences. (Outing is outlawed!)

5. Challenge homophobia — immediately, sincerely, consistently.
You don't have to put yourself at risk or try to cause a scene,
but bigots, like bugs, can only keep buzzing when no one stands up to swat them!


6. Educate yourself! Read a book on queer life!
Try starting with a biography of someone you admire who you just
found out is queer.
Or, if you are a cinema fan, try a film: there are hundreds now. Many straight librarians are lucky enough to have access to a fantastic book, actually written for queer youth, but of relevance to anyone who works with them or supports them in their struggles. It is called Free Your Mind. Check to see if it is in your collection and add at least a part of it to your summer reading list!

7. Learn about and refer others to community organisations or groups.
One straight librarian in the U.S. even put bookmarks with contact information for her community's queer youth group in books in her public library! (God bless the ALA!) In after session discussion at the Manitoba Library Association Conference back in 2000, our then CLA president remarked that she thought this was an excellent practice, in keeping with the best policies on intellectual freedom that the CLA consistently tries to promote and support!

8. Confront heterosexism in others and in yourself: start by being sensitive to your own language-use.
Words do hurt and can make people feel excluded, even if you don't mean to.

9. Encourage adoption and enforcement of anti-discrimination policies explicitly including sexual orientation in schools and other group environments.
Make it clear that you don't want your kids or their friends to be victimised by any form of intolerance.

10. Be a role model of acceptance by being visibily supportive.
(Hey, this one is easy! If you try to do any of the above, you've already got it down!)



Okay. PSA done. Stepping off the soapbox now. Go in peace.
Pax vobiscum. Barukhechem ba-bayim, barukhechem ba-tzetekhem.

Inaugural blog-gerel!

Well, better late than never I suppose.

Truly, if anybody from class actually does read this — which ain't all that likely now, this being so late and all — I really am wondering if I am the only person whose computer really hates him in the world.

And don't even get me started on FirstClass. For another course, we're told we can't submit things as attachments, fine, but that we can format to our little hearts content within the context of a message. But wait! Not too much.

How much is too much? Well, let's say I think the limit must be somewhere before 3 hours worth of reformatting!!!

(We won't even talk about the number of computer crashes this weekend, or the hours spent typing and retyping. I think I'm going to cry.)

Yes, that's how long I spent fighting to get the formatting from my original RTF saved document into an e-mail that should have been able to be sent to an instructor's Embanet mailbox.

Alas, not.

Even with reduction, it wouldn't work. (BTW: did anyone else find that FirstClass tries to upload and attach the original image even if you only tried to insert a reduced-size version in an e-mail message?)

But, hey, I don't feel too bad. Not only were the online manual instructions wrong (verified with technical support: thanks, Samir!) but even technical support had trouble getting the blasted thing into the Submissions folder.

And now, class, for a little Latin lesson before I devolve and decline completely:

Stephanus odet abacum modernum suum in aeternum.

Bonus marks to anyone who can translate that or otherwise gets it empathically.

A gift certificate to your choice of the Keg or the Olive Garden (or whatever you have out your way that you might like) if you did it or think you could have without a dictionary at 3:00 a.m.!

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<panting from near heart attack>

I thought I just lost this. Darn anti-virus shield, anti-pop-up thing .... <grumble, grumble>