I Am Thankful for Logan
Tonight isn’t the first time my friend Logan inspired a blog post. A few weeks after I met her, I happened upon this article that she wrote for the Huffington Post (how cool is it that she blogs on the Huffington Post?), which talks about the use of a certain derogatory word - a word that makes me cringe as if someone just scraped their fingernails across a chalkboard. I’m not big on censorship, but I have a list of words I just can’t stand to have said in front of me.
So I started writing a post about the power of words - how the words we use shape the way we feel about others, and even how others feel about themselves. What’s more powerful than that? When I was a kid, my dad was big on that “sticks and stones” saying: Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never hurt me. But of course that’s not really true. Names can hurt, very, very bad. In fact, name-calling and harassment were part of what led fifteen-year-old Phoebe Prince to kill herself in January.
When I read over what I’d written, I felt self-conscious. Logan had basically said what I’d wanted to say, and said it better. I ended up not even posting it. This brings up the thing about having friends who are writers and deciding to write about them: It increases the pressure to write in the exact right way.
But I resolved to write about Logan tonight because she did something super brave on Monday - she appeared on TV and went head-to-head with this guy Peter Sprigg, who works with an organization called the Family Research Council. The description on the website talks about promoting the "traditional family unit," but it seems to me that what it really promotes is intolerance. Mr. Sprigg had a problem with certain parts of a health education program proposed in Helena, Montana. For example, he really hated the part about teaching first graders that there are all kinds of families out there; some have a mom and dad, some have a single parent, and some have two moms or two dads. Mr. Sprigg also had a big issue with “teasing and taunting being possible sexual harassment in fourth grade.” That’s not exactly what the program proposes, but I assume he doesn’t like the idea that kids would be taught not to use that word I hate so much.
I’m a big believer in staying silent if you don’t have anything nice to say. Like I won’t ever blog or tweet about having a fight with a friend, or about not liking a particular book or movie. My heart has been thump-thumping as I’ve been typing because I’m afraid I’m breaking my own rule by writing that I disagreed with Mr. Sprigg. But I’m an even bigger believer in speaking up for what you believe in.
Logan speaks up, even when it’s not so easy - even when the people in the room with her are trying to shut her down. I guess that comes with her job description: She’s a sexologist and sex educator, and if there’s one subject people like to avoid, it’s sex - especially when it comes to teaching children. It’s really not my favorite topic, but I’ve brought it up to my teenaged brother and niece again and again, because it’s so necessary.
You should have seen Logan on Monday (and if you want, you can watch the segment here) - standing her ground and insisting to Mr. Sprigg that talking honestly to kids doesn’t put ideas in their heads; rather, it helps them make sense of the world around them and gives them a foundation to make smart decisions in the future. I write books for kids, and I think a lot about the content of those books - particularly Positively, which is about a girl with HIV. I know that’s a tough topic - you can’t really write about HIV without bringing up sex and death - and I wrote about it as honestly as I could. It’s not that I’m trying to force things on kids that they’re not ready for; I just think the hard topics are sometimes the most important ones. Besides, as Logan pointed out, if you don’t educate your kids, they’re going to find a way to get information anyway - from their friends, from the media. Last year my eight-year-old nephew watched Baby Mama, and came home with a really interesting theory on how babies are born. And as my friend Courtney pointed out, the play Spring Awakening is basically about the consequences of not being honest with your kids about their sexuality - by the way, it was written in 1891. (I love when I can use a Broadway show to help make my point.)
Logan did get the last word the other day, and what she said summed it up perfectly: It’s health. Isn’t she amazing?
It was just by stroke of luck and coincidence that I even got to meet Logan. When I was in law school, I had a friend named Liz. After graduation, she was one of those people I wished I’d done a better job at keeping in touch with. Sometime last December, I bumped into Liz on the street, and we talked for a few minutes about what we were each up to (notably, neither of us were still practicing law). When I told her I was writing, she said I should invite her to my next book event. In January, I had a reading at Housing Works with my friend Regan, and I sent the info on to Liz. And what a small world, because it turned out Liz knew Regan through her friend Logan. Liz and Logan came to the reading together, and we went out for dinner afterward. By the end of the night I knew I’d made another important friend.
I am so thankful for my friend Logan. She is smart and funny and courageous. She’s always up for sushi lunches. She introduced me to a great new cookie place last week. She is a brilliant writer and advocate. Oh, and she's gorgeous, too. I’m more than thankful for her, actually; I’m absolutely honored to be her friend. I was nervous about this post tonight, but really, the least I could do was be brave enough to write it.
Read About All My Friends:
Amy
Courtney
Ally
Mom
Lindsay
Amanda
Brody
Arielle
Llen
Gayle
So I started writing a post about the power of words - how the words we use shape the way we feel about others, and even how others feel about themselves. What’s more powerful than that? When I was a kid, my dad was big on that “sticks and stones” saying: Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never hurt me. But of course that’s not really true. Names can hurt, very, very bad. In fact, name-calling and harassment were part of what led fifteen-year-old Phoebe Prince to kill herself in January.
When I read over what I’d written, I felt self-conscious. Logan had basically said what I’d wanted to say, and said it better. I ended up not even posting it. This brings up the thing about having friends who are writers and deciding to write about them: It increases the pressure to write in the exact right way.
But I resolved to write about Logan tonight because she did something super brave on Monday - she appeared on TV and went head-to-head with this guy Peter Sprigg, who works with an organization called the Family Research Council. The description on the website talks about promoting the "traditional family unit," but it seems to me that what it really promotes is intolerance. Mr. Sprigg had a problem with certain parts of a health education program proposed in Helena, Montana. For example, he really hated the part about teaching first graders that there are all kinds of families out there; some have a mom and dad, some have a single parent, and some have two moms or two dads. Mr. Sprigg also had a big issue with “teasing and taunting being possible sexual harassment in fourth grade.” That’s not exactly what the program proposes, but I assume he doesn’t like the idea that kids would be taught not to use that word I hate so much.
I’m a big believer in staying silent if you don’t have anything nice to say. Like I won’t ever blog or tweet about having a fight with a friend, or about not liking a particular book or movie. My heart has been thump-thumping as I’ve been typing because I’m afraid I’m breaking my own rule by writing that I disagreed with Mr. Sprigg. But I’m an even bigger believer in speaking up for what you believe in.
Logan speaks up, even when it’s not so easy - even when the people in the room with her are trying to shut her down. I guess that comes with her job description: She’s a sexologist and sex educator, and if there’s one subject people like to avoid, it’s sex - especially when it comes to teaching children. It’s really not my favorite topic, but I’ve brought it up to my teenaged brother and niece again and again, because it’s so necessary.
You should have seen Logan on Monday (and if you want, you can watch the segment here) - standing her ground and insisting to Mr. Sprigg that talking honestly to kids doesn’t put ideas in their heads; rather, it helps them make sense of the world around them and gives them a foundation to make smart decisions in the future. I write books for kids, and I think a lot about the content of those books - particularly Positively, which is about a girl with HIV. I know that’s a tough topic - you can’t really write about HIV without bringing up sex and death - and I wrote about it as honestly as I could. It’s not that I’m trying to force things on kids that they’re not ready for; I just think the hard topics are sometimes the most important ones. Besides, as Logan pointed out, if you don’t educate your kids, they’re going to find a way to get information anyway - from their friends, from the media. Last year my eight-year-old nephew watched Baby Mama, and came home with a really interesting theory on how babies are born. And as my friend Courtney pointed out, the play Spring Awakening is basically about the consequences of not being honest with your kids about their sexuality - by the way, it was written in 1891. (I love when I can use a Broadway show to help make my point.)
Logan did get the last word the other day, and what she said summed it up perfectly: It’s health. Isn’t she amazing?
It was just by stroke of luck and coincidence that I even got to meet Logan. When I was in law school, I had a friend named Liz. After graduation, she was one of those people I wished I’d done a better job at keeping in touch with. Sometime last December, I bumped into Liz on the street, and we talked for a few minutes about what we were each up to (notably, neither of us were still practicing law). When I told her I was writing, she said I should invite her to my next book event. In January, I had a reading at Housing Works with my friend Regan, and I sent the info on to Liz. And what a small world, because it turned out Liz knew Regan through her friend Logan. Liz and Logan came to the reading together, and we went out for dinner afterward. By the end of the night I knew I’d made another important friend.
I am so thankful for my friend Logan. She is smart and funny and courageous. She’s always up for sushi lunches. She introduced me to a great new cookie place last week. She is a brilliant writer and advocate. Oh, and she's gorgeous, too. I’m more than thankful for her, actually; I’m absolutely honored to be her friend. I was nervous about this post tonight, but really, the least I could do was be brave enough to write it.
Read About All My Friends:
Amy
Courtney
Ally
Mom
Lindsay
Amanda
Brody
Arielle
Llen
Gayle