Ooooof. Wow. My jaw dropped. This is an important document for history, to show what is going on in schools. Fifth grade? Ten years old?!? Among my 5th grade assignments was writing a letter to a celebrity and I chose The Fonz. (Henry Winkler sent me a nice autographed photo.) Compare that wholesomeness to THIS. YIKES. The concepts are sooooo inappropriate for a ten-year-old. I bet the teacher gave her an A too!
Ayyyyyyyy 👍🏼👍🏼 I want to see that letter. Do you think you’d remember it if you didn’t get an autographed picture? I can’t remember a thing I did in fifth grade. Except that we sang Rainbow Connection at our graduation. Overall I’m impressed with your elementary school stylings. Back then we kept it real. This whole culture today, it jumped the shark.
But seriously I really thought it was so innocent at the time. And even though the T and the G are (woefully) joined in the “movement” I remember being taught that trans is not about sexuality. As if that makes it more appropriate for kids? And then there’s the tiny detail that trans is a medical green light for the mutilation of sex organs.
I remember A LOT about 5th and 6th grade! I went to a magnet school for those two grades and it was pretty cool. But I remember Fonzie mostly because of how it transpired: I went through all of 5th grade without getting a response from him. On the first day of 6th grade I went to my new class and discovered I had a male teacher. This was a shock to me because I didn't know men could have this job. He called my name and told me I had to go see my previous teacher. I walked down the halls fearing the worst (Did I get sent back to 5th grade? Was I that stupid? My parents were going to be so ashamed! ). I got to my old classroom to see my 5th grade teacher and a new, younger group of kids that I was now convinced I would be joining. Nervous as all get-out, I told her my new teacher had instructed me to go see my old teacher. She made a joke, acting horrified at being called 'old', and all the kids laughed. She then pulled from her desk an envelope from Hollywood, addressed to me via the school. It had arrived during the summer. I opened the letter with photo inside, and boy, was I relieved! Then I looked up and saw she was holding a Henry Winkler 8x10 of her own. "I got one too!" she swooned.
That Jazz show really did so much damage. I've never seen it (I don't think I could stomach it) but I had a friend who watched it and I remember her talking about it. When something like that is on TV week after week, under the heading of 'reality show', it locks in to the viewers the concept of child transition as being 'real' and 'necessary'. And it all becomes about Jazz's 'journey'...no matter the horrors shown. (She's so brave! What a hero! We must support this community!) And wasn't it on TLC? 'The Learning Channel'? I'm sure millions of people watched, proud of the fact that they were 'learning' about something important through this 'edutaining' show. Uggghhh. I love the alternate universe you describe in the last paragraph, and wish that was our reality!
If that happened to me I would have remembered too. Seared it right into my brain.
The funny thing is, we don’t have cable tv. She never watched the show, at least I don’t think she has. But she didn’t really need to with the culture so gung ho. I used to watch a drag contest show with her all the time and we loved it—dragula. One contestant came out as trans but the rest were good old gay guys. And one token drag king one season. She loves the theatrics.
I got to the 1st photo of the project and thought.... Wow!.... This was on a 10 yr old's mind! And the total admiration for Jazz and the trans 'script' rhetoric being stated.
Ooooof. Wow. My jaw dropped. This is an important document for history, to show what is going on in schools. Fifth grade? Ten years old?!? Among my 5th grade assignments was writing a letter to a celebrity and I chose The Fonz. (Henry Winkler sent me a nice autographed photo.) Compare that wholesomeness to THIS. YIKES. The concepts are sooooo inappropriate for a ten-year-old. I bet the teacher gave her an A too!
Ayyyyyyyy 👍🏼👍🏼 I want to see that letter. Do you think you’d remember it if you didn’t get an autographed picture? I can’t remember a thing I did in fifth grade. Except that we sang Rainbow Connection at our graduation. Overall I’m impressed with your elementary school stylings. Back then we kept it real. This whole culture today, it jumped the shark.
But seriously I really thought it was so innocent at the time. And even though the T and the G are (woefully) joined in the “movement” I remember being taught that trans is not about sexuality. As if that makes it more appropriate for kids? And then there’s the tiny detail that trans is a medical green light for the mutilation of sex organs.
I remember A LOT about 5th and 6th grade! I went to a magnet school for those two grades and it was pretty cool. But I remember Fonzie mostly because of how it transpired: I went through all of 5th grade without getting a response from him. On the first day of 6th grade I went to my new class and discovered I had a male teacher. This was a shock to me because I didn't know men could have this job. He called my name and told me I had to go see my previous teacher. I walked down the halls fearing the worst (Did I get sent back to 5th grade? Was I that stupid? My parents were going to be so ashamed! ). I got to my old classroom to see my 5th grade teacher and a new, younger group of kids that I was now convinced I would be joining. Nervous as all get-out, I told her my new teacher had instructed me to go see my old teacher. She made a joke, acting horrified at being called 'old', and all the kids laughed. She then pulled from her desk an envelope from Hollywood, addressed to me via the school. It had arrived during the summer. I opened the letter with photo inside, and boy, was I relieved! Then I looked up and saw she was holding a Henry Winkler 8x10 of her own. "I got one too!" she swooned.
That Jazz show really did so much damage. I've never seen it (I don't think I could stomach it) but I had a friend who watched it and I remember her talking about it. When something like that is on TV week after week, under the heading of 'reality show', it locks in to the viewers the concept of child transition as being 'real' and 'necessary'. And it all becomes about Jazz's 'journey'...no matter the horrors shown. (She's so brave! What a hero! We must support this community!) And wasn't it on TLC? 'The Learning Channel'? I'm sure millions of people watched, proud of the fact that they were 'learning' about something important through this 'edutaining' show. Uggghhh. I love the alternate universe you describe in the last paragraph, and wish that was our reality!
If that happened to me I would have remembered too. Seared it right into my brain.
The funny thing is, we don’t have cable tv. She never watched the show, at least I don’t think she has. But she didn’t really need to with the culture so gung ho. I used to watch a drag contest show with her all the time and we loved it—dragula. One contestant came out as trans but the rest were good old gay guys. And one token drag king one season. She loves the theatrics.
I got to the 1st photo of the project and thought.... Wow!.... This was on a 10 yr old's mind! And the total admiration for Jazz and the trans 'script' rhetoric being stated.