Is this a Friday forum email? If so, that means that Dean Guy and Dean Gary will probably be there leading the discussion...
I remember a really awkward class discussion in HS in Colorado where we tried to have a discussion about the use of the word 'nigger' in Huck Finn in a group of students who had grown up in 'Lilly white Loveland' and had /no idea/ about the level of connotations the word could carry. That experience convinced me that discussions like the one above at least have /potential/ to actually be useful. Whether or not it will be is another question entirely.
The word has negative connotations when you're using it in place of "stupid." In the phrase "Gay and Lesbian Student Association", there's not really any connotation. In the sentence "I can't believe that boss killed me! That's so gay!", the speaker is clearly using "gay" to mean "stupid" (or something similar
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My issues are with the negative connotations that occur when used in the place of stupid. The fact is it really shouldn't be used in place of stupid at all, because it leads towards negative connotations towards the word. And I don't think it should have any negative connotations with it.
As for the rest: I'm making dinner. Will respond to rest after.
Anyway, I may have phrased it that way, but I'm not meaning to imply that the only possible consistent standard is that the word itself should be all banned or nobody should care
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I was wondering why the "that's so gay" example is the only one that ended in a question mark.
This also reminds me of the mini-discussion we had in PRISM about how Gary is kind of homophobic and if he should really be the head of a group that's supposed to be about diversity and opinions on him expressing his opinion. I think if we ever actually get around to making discussion questions, I'm going to turn that into an actual discussion.
When I talked with Dean Guy about Dean Gary, Dean Guy sounded a bit offput that Dean Gary was saying these things to students. I mean, Dean Guy is also irritated that OID apparently translates into "for black/Latino people only; queers don't exist".
I find it interesting that Dean Gary's email annoyed me more as I thought about it.
I'm not entirely sure about the full story (many people were talking at once, so it was hard to tell what the facts were. This is partially why I'd like a more formal discussion of the issue), but I heard that at least one of the times Dean Gary was specifically asked how he felt about Prop 8.
Also, we have been getting a lot more support from OID this year. I heard it's because someone may have bitched them out about it. And because of the new Dean person (Maggie?). We have a rainbow flag now. Although I don't think anyone really knows what to do with it.... And more awesomely, OID bought a bunch of "Gay? Fine by me" shirts to give out.
In a semi-random (AKA not gay, but kind of related to this entry) note, I heard that some guy once gave a speech and used the word "niggardly" and people were like, "ZOMGWTF?!?!" Which kind of amuses me.
I'm really irritated that we hired Dean Gary for OID in the first place, whether he shares his opinion with students or not. The school wouldn't hire a white racist as head of OID, regardless of whether he told students how he felt about black people, because that shit wouldn't fly. But apparently a homophobic Dean of "Diversity" is A-OK. If I could only point to one thing to back up that a lot of the Mudd administration doesn't give a fuck about queer students, it would be that. Dean Maggie is helping some, but unless she replaces a lot of the trustees and fires Dean Gary I'm still not going to be convinced.
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I remember a really awkward class discussion in HS in Colorado where we tried to have a discussion about the use of the word 'nigger' in Huck Finn in a group of students who had grown up in 'Lilly white Loveland' and had /no idea/ about the level of connotations the word could carry. That experience convinced me that discussions like the one above at least have /potential/ to actually be useful. Whether or not it will be is another question entirely.
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As for the rest: I'm making dinner. Will respond to rest after.
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This also reminds me of the mini-discussion we had in PRISM about how Gary is kind of homophobic and if he should really be the head of a group that's supposed to be about diversity and opinions on him expressing his opinion. I think if we ever actually get around to making discussion questions, I'm going to turn that into an actual discussion.
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I'm not entirely sure about the full story (many people were talking at once, so it was hard to tell what the facts were. This is partially why I'd like a more formal discussion of the issue), but I heard that at least one of the times Dean Gary was specifically asked how he felt about Prop 8.
Also, we have been getting a lot more support from OID this year. I heard it's because someone may have bitched them out about it. And because of the new Dean person (Maggie?). We have a rainbow flag now. Although I don't think anyone really knows what to do with it.... And more awesomely, OID bought a bunch of "Gay? Fine by me" shirts to give out.
In a semi-random (AKA not gay, but kind of related to this entry) note, I heard that some guy once gave a speech and used the word "niggardly" and people were like, "ZOMGWTF?!?!" Which kind of amuses me.
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