Lotsa news...

I have a A in ESCI 230, a B in CMST 192 and an A in HURL 102. This is good.

The *F* in POL 195 sucks hard.

As it stands right now...I have a 2.64GPA (AMEN!) which is higher than the 2.3 I have to carry to avoid academic suspension and the Financial Aid department mandated 2.5 *dances happily*

This is not to imply that I'm happy with a 2.6GPA for the semester, rather I'm happy to have gotten over the threshold. I was shooting for a 3.2 or higher for the semester. Considering everything I've had to deal with coming into and during this semester, I'm quite happy to have not just said "fuck it all" and gone back to the real world. I'm actually enjoying being back in school. I never realized how much I truly enjoy learning and having my brain stimulated.

HURL 102 is a prime example of this. "Human Relationships and Race" is the title of the class. It's a very deep class looking at the social injustices against minorities in Western society and the thought and power structures that keep the minorites marginalized.

It's a profound awakening to realize how much is just "given" to you as a white male. I've never though about it, but then again, I don't see it as it's all just given to me. However, when the "gay factor" is brought into it, I see it plainly. My own understanding of Native American issues brought that issue to light. I've seen how all the power structures all inter-relate and how the epistimololgy of Western thought structure works.

The more I look around me and the more I watch/listen to the mass media, I see the disproportionate representation of Caucausians.

In other news, from the GLBT Services Coordinator:

[I] just wanted to make the campus community aware of some recent bias-motivated occurrences at SCSU. Recently, GLBT Services has been the targeted. We received a voice mail message yesterday that included explicit language stating that we should keep our "fag magazines" to ourselves because for some reason his five year old had gotten a hold of one. Then yesterday we found five notes in our suggestion box that included language like: Die fag, gay bashing at 12:45, G(ot) A(ids) Y(et), and so on. Today there was a Lavender Magazine left that had "not even God likes fags" written on it. And our brochures and handouts that are placed outside our office have been scattered.

Reports have been filed with Public Safety. I wanted to make you all aware of these occurrences for several reasons. First, if you have witnessed these or other occurrences on campus please report them as well. Secondly, if you have information about who may have done these things please let Public Safety and/or GLBT Services know. Finally, to remind us all to address homophobic and heterosexist attitudes because these attitudes lead to actions that create an unsafe environment for GLBT students, faculty, and staff.

These incidents are also a reminder that issues of oppression affect us all. One of the messages we received stated "we must secure the existence of our race and the future for WHITE children." I believe we must secure the future for all children by creating spaces for everyone to be who they want to be.

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Now that's some powerful comments. What I find even more disturbing about this is that I heard about it tonight in my HURL 102 class. I'm involved with OUTLoud (our campus GLBT activisit organization) and I read the University Chronicle today. Neither the OUTLoud mailing list nor the Chronicle have had a word about these incidents.

If this kind of activity can go on, and the members of the affected community aren't being told....

It's not in the campus newspaper...

How am I supposed to know that there is an increase of anti-gay sentiment on campus?

The lack of visibility for OUTLoud, the lack of "services" for the older students on campus, and the lack of work towards battling the ageism and sizeism in the campus GLBT community has me really thinking of getting much more involved and even running for office.

I know I'm going to run for Hall President in the fall. Depending on the time constraints of my classes and Hall Presidency, I'll decided on working on the OUTLoud leadership.

Granite City Bears will still exist. I'm starting to seriously ponder a "Husky Ursine Group" for on campus to battle the ageism and sizeism that exists. Plus with an acronym like "H.U.G." how can you go wrong? "H.U.G. a Teddy" could be a booth...

This is a long blog I know, so I'm gonna wrap it up. I'm going to work on my novel for a little while, then I'm heading to bed early tonight.