Resource List for the LREDA Fall Conference 2006

 

General Interest

 

DVD:  “Paper Clips” (2004)

 

84 minutes/English, rated “G”

 

This documentary describes the experiences of a middle school in Whitwell, TN, where the principal and two 8th-grade teachers wanted to help their students learn something about diversity and about the larger world outside of their homogeneous little town in Tennessee.  They succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.  Lynn Hooper, the principal, and the two teachers, David Smith and Sandra Roberts, set about teaching 8th-graders about the Holocaust.  Students and teachers together came up with the idea of collecting 6,000,000 paper clips, one for each Jew put to death by the Nazis.  They contacted celebrities and survivors, and over a four-year period, were visited by groups of Holocaust survivors who told students and the entire town about their experiences under the Nazis.  They ended up with 24,000,000 paper clips and untold numbers of documents, and decided to try to find one of the original cattle cars used to take Jews to Auschwitz.  Peter Schroeder and Dagmar Schroeder Hildebrand, reporters for The Washington Post, did just that.  The car now sits on a siding in Whitwell, where it houses 11,000,000 paper clips, representing the 6,000,000 Jews and 5,000,000 homosexuals, Gypsies, Poles, people with disabilities, and other groups whom the Nazis attempted to exterminate.  This is an incredibly powerful documentary, demonstrating quite vividly what a difference a person of any age can make if s/he decides to do so.  The project’s motto was “Changing the world, one class at a time.”  They did.

 

Abilities

 

Children with special needs

 

Patton, Sally (2004).  Welcoming Children with Special Needs: A Guidebook

          for Faith Communities.  Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association.

          ISBN 1-55896-479-7.

 

This comprehensive and invaluable guide, intended for religious educators and other professionals who work with special-needs children and their families, includes developmental and learning disabilities, psychiatric and psychological disorders, physical conditions, and chronic illnesses.  She includes an extensive bibliography and resources.  The author also provides workshops and training for religious professionals, and is a member of the Winchester Unitarian Society in Massachusetts.

 

Psychiatric/psychological conditions/developmental disabilities

 

Antonetta, Susanne (2005).  A Mind Apart: Travels in a Neurodiverse World.

          New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin.  ISBN 1-58542-382-3.

 

Susanne Antonetta won the American Book Award, and writes poetry and nonfiction.  She is “neuroatypical,” having been diagnosed with bipolarity, and writes lyrically of the role in terms of diversity that neuroatypical people play in the neurotypical culture of the Caribbean and the United States.  In this book, her areas of focus are on bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, autism, and multiple personalities.  She asks, “Could scholars not be a library’s way of making another library?”  Perhaps religious educators are a just society’s way of moving justice along.

 

Haddon, Mark (2004).  The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

          New York: Doubleday.  ISBN 0-38551-210-4.

 

This is a novel, written in narrative style from the perspective of a 15-year-old British autistic boy.  It’s well-written and an easy read, with the boy, Christopher, working to solve the question of who killed a neighbor’s dog and relates family circumstances as part of a world of social interactions that are closed to him.  Offers insights into the workings of an high-functioning autistic mind – some people might describe this boy as having Asperger’s syndrome, as well as the workings of what an autistic reviewer defined as “neurotypicals.”  Highly recommended.

Wagner, Pamela Spiro & Spiro, Carolyn S. (2005).  Divided Minds: Twin

Sisters and their Journey Through Schizophrenia.  New York: St.

Martin’s Press.  ISBN 0-312-32064-7.

 

These two women, who are identical twins, wrote alternating experiences of what it is like to live with a chronic psychiatric disability and what it is like to be3 a family member of someone living with such a disability.  Pamela is an award-winning poet, and Carolyn is a psychiatrist, and the two women have written a memoir that includes individual first-hand experiences of being the patient and being an ally.

 

DVD/VHS:    “A Beautiful Mind” (2005)

 

136 minutes

 

English/Rated “PG-13” for thematic material and a scene of violence in

          relation to delusional thinking

 

Ron Howard directed Russell Crowe in the role of mathematician and Nobel Laureate John Forbes Nash Jr., who has schizophrenia along with mathematical genius. Reviewers gave it four stars out of five, and it earned four Academy Awards, including one for Best Picture.  Although questions have been raised about the accuracy with which the script followed Nash’s life, few depictions of schizophrenia have raised awareness as well as this one.

 

Web site: http://www.nimh.nih.gov, National Institute for Mental

          Health

 

One of 27 components of the National Institute of Health, this government- operated website offers pages on all aspects of mental illnesses including learning disabilities: danger signs, prevention, identification, diagnosis, treatment, living skills, and research. The site also contains information about service and funding options for medications.

 

Most publications are available free by mail or may be downloaded directly form the website and many are available in Spanish. Resources include a 206-page curriculum on mental illnesses for grades 6 – 8, downloadable as a PDF file.

 

Physical abilities

 

Clare, Eli (1999),  Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness and Liberation. 

          Cambridge, MA: South End Press.  ISBN 0-89608-605-4.

 

Eli Clare is a poet with cerebral palsy who grew up in rural Oregon in a family in which her father abused her sexually, and also taught her to frame a house and use a chain saw.  Her book touches on radical gender, abilities, class, race, and environmental issues, and calls for readers to leave the culture of the freak show behind.  In a review quoted on amazon.com, Clare remarks, "I think of the words crip, queer, freak, redneck. . .None of these are easy words. They mark the jagged edge between self-hatred and pride, the chasm between how the dominant culture views marginalized peoples and how we view ourselves, the razor between finding home, finding our bodies, and living in exile, living on the metaphoric mountain."

 

Mairs, Nancy (1996).  Waist-High in the World.  Boston: Beacon Press. 

ISBN 0-8070-7086-6,

 

Nancy Mairs is a white Roman Catholic woman who has had multiple sclerosis for many years.  She presented a workshop at General Assembly in Phoenix, AZ in 1997.  In this book, she discusses life from the perspective of a person using a wheelchair, including art, faith, marriage and sex, ethics, obstacles, travel, and more.  Mairs is a riveting presenter and writer, and this book is a “must read” for people interested in the lives of people with physical disabilities.

 

DVD/VHS:  Murderball” (2005)

 

86 minutes

English/Rated “R” for adult content and language

 

This documentary focuses on the United States Quadriplegic Rugby team, which played rugby using wheelchairs at the 2004 Paralympics in Athens.  Team members discuss their injuries, families, love of sports, and ways of dealing with issues such as sex.  With an “R” rating, the film could serve as the focal point for a discussion or religious education program for adults.  With appropriate preparation and parental permission, it could be considered for use with senior high youth.

 

See also: “Sound and Fury” (1999), discussed under “Languages Other Than English” below.

 

Learning disabilities

 

Levine, Mel (2002).  A Mind At A Time.  New York: Simon & Shuster.

ISBN 0-74320-223-6.

 

Dr. Levine is a professor of pediatrics who also writes for the New York Times.  He has written several books on working with children with learning disabilities.  In this book, he describes eight separate “mind systems” (attention, higher thinking, memory, motor skills, language, sequential thinking, social thinking, and spatial ordering) all of which affect a child’s functioning in school.  Can’t take the time to include all those systems for each class?  “TRY HARDER!” says Dr. Levine, arguing for “neurodevelopmental pluralism.”

 

DVD/VHS:  “Last One Picked, First One Picked On” (1994)

 

62 minutes

 

English with a Spanish-language track

 

Children with learning disabilities often end up isolated and rejected, lacking social skills that could help them make and keep friends.  According to a reviewer for pbs.org, Rick Lavoie “shows how to help these kids succeed in everyday situations.”  Available through pbs.org for $49.95.

 

Web site:  www.interdys,org

 

This web site is sponsored by the International Dyslexic Association, formerly called the Orton Society.  It provides information about learning disabilities for teens, parents, educators, caregivers and allies, including local branches of IDA and conferences/workshops.

 

Web site: http://www.Idanatl.org, Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDAA): 888-300-6710, 412-341-1515;

 

This web site contains resources for families, and self help for people with a wide range of learning disabilities.  It is a source for information on advocacy, legislation, diagnosis, and treatment. It contains helpful information for parents, teachers, and professionals. It contains sources for information on educational strategies and opportunities, individual rights, and a wide range of services. Many resources are free and downloadable as PDF files and many are available in Spanish.

 

Affectional Orientation/Identity

 

Brawley, Robert L. (Ed.)(1966).  Biblical Ethics and Homosexuality: Listening

to Scripture.  Louisville, KY: Westminster John Know Press.  ISBN

0-66425-638-4.

 

Since so much of the cultural oppression of gay, bisexual, lesbian and transgender (GBLT) people in modern societies in the west is attributed to the religious heritage of Jewish and Christian tradition, an in-depth understanding of what those documents contain is critical to the debate that ultimately seeks to undermine that same discrimination.  Several writers from different faith traditions come together to share the latest research and thinking on what the Bible does, and more importantly does not, say about LGBT identity.

 

Glaser, Chris (1988).  Uncommon Calling:  A Gay Man's Struggle to Serve the

Church.  San Francisco: Harper Row.  ISBN 0-06063-122-8.

 

Chris Glaser is a Yale Divinity School Graduate and one of two ministerial candidates to challenge the ban against gay and lesbian ordination in the Presbyterian Church U. S. A. in 1979-80.  Uncommon Calling is the personal story of tragedy and triumph behind all the scriptural debates and political posturing -- one person's struggle to be authentic to his creation and a gay man and answer his spiritual call as an ordained minister.  Malcolm Boyd wrote of this book," A compelling, deeply personal odyssey of a young gay Christian's spiritual, sexual and political awakening."

 

Hazel, Dann (1999).  Witness: Gay and Lesbian Clergy Report From the

          Front.  Knoxville, TN: Westminster John Knox Press.  ISBN

          0-66425-787-9.

 

According to reviewer Maureen Frescott, this is an affirming account of how lesbians and gay men experience a call to ministry, remaining true both to their faith and also to their identities and affectional orientation.  The book includes stories from traditional and progressive Christian communities. 

 

Hutchins, Loraine, and Lani Ka’ahumanu (Eds.)(1991).  Bi Any Other Name:

          Bisexual People Speak Out.  New York: Alyson Books.  ISBN

          1-55583-174-5.

 

This book is divided into four areas: coming out stories, person stories, community, and political issues as they existed 25 years ago.  This was one of the first books to provide space where bisexual people could share their perspectives, and still has much to offer to today’s readers.

 

DVD/VHS:  “Priest” (1995) 

 

98 minutes, Miramax Classics

 

English/Rated “R” for mature themes including incest and a relationship

          between a Roman Catholic priest and another man

 

The story of the film is that of a homosexual man attempting to suppress his nature to serve his church.  Praised as "one of the best films of 1995" by Rolling Stone Magazine, the brilliance of the text and the acting plumbs the depths of a place where the world's wounded ultimately find affirmation and atonement -- and it is seldom where we search!

 

DVD/VHS:  “Torch Song Trilogy” (1988)

 

120 minutes

 

English/Rated “R” for adult themes

 

Harvey Fierstein wrote the script for the Tony-winning Broadway production, and in this screen adaptation plays the role of Arnold Beckoff, a drag queen who began cross-dressing as a young boy.  His mother, played by Anne Bancroft, loves her son and has difficulty accepting him as a gay man who dresses as a woman for the joy of it, as well as to make a living.  The movie was one of the earliest presentations of a positive gay character.

 

DVD:  “Trembling Before G-D” (2001)

 

84 minutes

 

English, with optional Hebrew, Yiddish and Spanish subtitles

 

In this documentary, people in Jerusalem, the United States, and England tell their stories of attempting to reconcile their identities as Hasidic or Orthodox Jews with their identities as lesbians or gay men.  One person is the first openly gay Orthodox rabbi.  Many have been rejected by their families of origin, and all are deeply connected with their spiritual lives as Jews.  This film won awards at the Berlin Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival, and won the GLAAD Media Award in 2003.

 

Web site:  www.hmi.org

 

This URL will take you to the web site of the Hetrick-Martin Institute, sponsor of the Harvey Milk School in New York City, where lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, questioning and heterosexual youth can go to school in safety.  As of July 6, 2006, a lawsuit filed by a conservative group against the Board of Education, which has taken over the school, has been settled with the understanding that the school is open to students of any gender or affectional identity or orientation.  You may also be interested in a compact disc called “Wig in a Box,” whose proceeds go to support the Harvey Milk School.  The recording features artists such as Yoko Ono, Rufus Wainwright, Cyndi Lauper, the Polyphonic Spree, and others singing material related to an off-Broadway musical called “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” the story of a transgendered person from East Germany who comes to the United States to perform.  This is the sound track of a new Sundance documentary called “Follow my Voice: With the Music of Hedwig,” in which the music is interspersed with the stories of four LGBTQ students at the Harvey Milk School.

 

Music

          Emma’s Revolution (Pat Humphries and Sandy O)

Ronnie Gilbert

          Holly Near

          Libby Roderick

          The Rev. Jason Shelton, in Singing the Journey (2005, UUA)

          The Rev. Fred Small, in Singing the Journey

          Judy Small

          Chris Williamson

 

Classism

 

Johnson, Allan G. (2001).  Privilege, Power and Difference.  New York:

          McGraw-Hill.  ISBN 0-76742-254-6.

 

According to amazon.com’s review, “This brief supplemental book provides students with an easily applied theoretical model for thinking about systems of privilege and difference. Writing in accessible, conversational prose, Johnson joins theory with engaging examples in ways that enable students to see the nature and consequences of privilege and their connection to it.”  The book is highly recommended by people who reviewed it for amazon.com as something that presents the systemic nature of privilege, particularly in relation to race, gender, and affectional orientation.

 

Kadi, Joanna (1996).  Thinking Class:  Sketches from a Cultural

          Worker.  Cambridge, MA: South End Press.  ISBN 0-89608-547-3.

 

The reviewer for amazon.com describes this book as a rejection of “working class” as “non-thinking class.”  The author creates a mix of autobiography and observation, linking oppression by class with marginalization of race and gender, and affirms working class culture in America today.

 

McNatt, Rosemary Bray (1999).  Unafraid of the Dark.  New York: Anchor.

          ISBN 0-38549-475-0.

 

Rosemary Bray McNatt is an African-American Unitarian Universalist minister who grew up in Chicago in the 1960s, one of four children in a family that used Aid to Families with Dependent Children to survive as their father, a gambler prone to violence, worked occasionally and took his rage out on his family.  With AFDC, McNatt’s mother sent Rosemary to Catholic school, where nuns observed her potential and “pushed her on to a private, liberal high school,” according to the reviewer for amazon.com.  McNatt went on to Yale, then became editor of the New York Times Book Review before attending Drew Theological School, earning an M.Div., being ordained and then called as the minister of the Fourth Universalist Society in New York City.  In this memoir, she lets people know the cost of welfare reform and this culture’s neglect of children growing up in poverty.

 

Stout, Linda (1996).  Bridging the Class Divide and Other Lessons for

          Grassroots Organizing.  Boston, MA: Beacon Press.  ISBN

          0-8070-4309-5.

 

The author is a white lesbian who identifies herself as having grown up in a low-income, working class family.  She provides guidance on language, organizational models, decision-making, strategic planning, marketing and fundraising from the perspective of a working-class activist who frequently finds herself working with middle-class people who want to organize low-income and working-class people.  Her materials are pragmatic, useful and relevant.  The Piedmont Peace Project can be reached at 406 Jackson Park Road, Kannapolis NC 28083, 704/938-5090.

 

VHS:  “Stories of Change” (New Day Films)

 

57 minutes

 

English

 

This film can be ordered from New Day Films (www.newday.com), where their reviewer wrote, “A timely and compelling story of survival, ‘Stories of Change’ presents portraits of four ethnically diverse women--Hispanic, Caucasian, Vietnamese and African-American--who surmount alcoholism, drug abuse, poverty, illiteracy and cultural barriers. Reaching deep inside themselves, these courageous women find self-confidence, dignity, and a renewed sense of purpose.  ‘Stories of Change’ gives hope and inspiration to all people facing difficult challenges in their lives.”  The film’s director is Theresa Tollini, who also directed “Breaking Silence.”

 

Appropriate for:  College/University

 

Website:     http://classmatters.org/resources/

 

This web site includes materials on Class Matters: Cross-Class Alliance Building for Middle-Class Activists, advocates for cross-class advocacy, organizing and coalition-building, links class and other identities, and raises the question of whether “class culture” is a legitimate concept.

 

Ethnocentrism/Languages Other than English

 

Allende, Isabel, and Rodden, John (2004).  Conversations with Isabel

Allende.  Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.  ISBN #

0-29270-211-6.

         

Isabel Allende was born and raised in Chile, where she lived until Augusto Pinochet deposed her father, Salvador Allende, and took over as Chilean president in 1973.  After living for two years under his brutal dictatorship, she emigrated to Venezuela, where she and her family spent the next thirteen years.  She moved to the United States after marrying an American, and now she lives in exile in northern California.  Her nonfiction books are lyrical accounts of her life, and her fiction appears on best-seller lists soon after publication.  This book includes 34 essays, arranged chronologically, demonstrating her development as a writer.

 

Eoyang, Eugene (1995).  Coat of Many Colors: Reflections on Diversity by a

          Minority of One.  Boston, MA: Beacon Press.  ISBN 0-80700-420-0.

 

Dr. Eoyang is an American of Chinese ancestry, and Professor of Comparative Literature and East Asian Languages and Culture at Indiana University.  In this book, he deconstructs current dialogues on languages (with a request for people to study “other” languages, rather than “foreign” languages), oral cultures that do not use written language, and immigration.  He writes, "the essence of being American is neither racial nor cultural nor political: those who seek a common thread overlook the most obvious--[we are] cultural exiles unified by the belief in the ultimate worth of each individual and the conviction that our strength as a country lies precisely in the diversity of its citizens."

 

Moore, MariJo (Ed.)(2003).  Genocide of the Mind: New Native American

          Writing.  New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press.  ISBN 1-56025-511-0.

 

Native American writers prepared essays on how indigenous people work to maintain identities and cultural ties in urban settings, strengthen fast-disappearing languages, and deal with misconceptions about who they are in American culture today.  They present the history behind the stereotypes of Indians as mascots, and provide critical information for “mainstream” Americans who want to be their allies.

 

Wu, Frank (2002).  Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White.  New

          York: Basic Books.  ISBN 0-46500-640-X.

 

This book is recommended by the Asian/Pacific Islanders caucus of DRUUMM (Diverse Revolutionary Unitarian Universalist Multicultural Ministries) as a way to expand the dialogue on ethnocentrism and racism.  Wu teaches law at Howard University, is a member of All Souls UU Church in Washington DC, and includes issues faced by Asian-Americans, Native Americans and Latino/as in his discussion.  He includes case studies, stories, court cases and anecdotes in what Publishers Weekly describes as his “sobering, astute, compelling investigation.”

 

DVD:  “Crash” (2005)

 

See review under “Racism”

 

DVD:  “A Day Without a Mexican,” “Un Dia Sin Mexicanos” (2004)

 

English or Spanish/Rated “R” for adult language and sexuality

 

This film is based on the premise that people in California wake up on May 14 and discover that every Latino/a has disappeared from the state.  The film can be purchased in English or Spanish, and reviewers generally gave it 2 1/2 out of a maximum of 5 stars.

 

DVD: “Mojados: Through the Night” (2005).

 

70 minutes

 

English and Spanish

 

This documentary tells the story of four men from Mexico who attempt to cross the border into the United States illegally.  Reviewers gave this film four stars out of five for its evenhanded treatment of an inflammatory subject – the English translation of the title is “wetbacks.”

 

DVD/VHS:  “Sound and Fury” (1999)

 

80 minutes

 

English, close-captioned

 

In this documentary, director Josh Aronson takes an unexpected approach to the "medical miracle" film by examining the political and emotional turmoil that erupts between brothers over the cochlear implant that might allow their deaf children to hear. The ways in which a so-called “miracle cure” can divide as well as heal families and communities is the focus of “Sound and Fury,” which received an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Feature. This conflict is ongoing, as members of the Deaf community anticipate the loss of language (i.e., American Sign Language) and identification with Deaf culture that may occur as a result of widespread use of the cochlear implant.  This film could be used as the basis for a discussion or religious education program about language, culture, and technological advances in medicine.

 

Web site: http://apiuu.org/InternetLink.htm

 

This site, which focuses on issues of interest to the Asian/Pacific Islanders Caucus (A/PIC) of DRUUMM, was put together by former chair of the UUA Nominating Committee Young Kim, a Korean-American who is a member of the Brookfield UU Church in Wisconsin.  Kim includes web sites related to many of the issues of linked oppression being considered at the 2006 LREDA Fall Conference.

 

Web site: http://www.uua.org/TRUS/jan06/C2d-luuna.pdf

 

This is the report to the UUA board on the first Hispanic Ministers conference, held at Meadville/Lombard Theological School in 2005, with generous support from the UU Funding Panel.  The report describes experiences within our faith community of seminarians and ordained clergy who describe themselves as Hispanic, and includes a bibliography.  With generous support from the UU Funding Program, a video of the conference was also produced, and can be obtained by contacting:

Rev. Patricia Jimenez

revjimenez@earthlink.net

612 554-7881

5115 Excelsior Blvd. #248

Minneapolis, MN  55416

 

Web site:  http://www.pbs.org/americanfamily/latino2.html

 

This URL will take you to an essay by Dr. Otto Santa Ana, Associate Professor, César Chavez Center for Chicana and Chicano Studies, UCLA , titled “Is There Such as Thing as Latino Identity?” which examines the premise that there may not be any such thing.  Dr. Santa Ana argues that the term “Latino identity” is meaningless for several reasons: 1) it fails to recognize that identity, rather than being fixed for life as Immanuel Kant believed, develops in relation to social factors within a particular culture – more like the stages of a flower than like a stone; 2) it doesn’t take someone’s family of origin into account, so that “Nurorican” families (families that originated in Puerto Rico and are currently resident in New York City) are profoundly different from Guatamalan-American families or Cuban-American families; and 3) the term “Latino” developed in relation to changes in what it means to include Indians/Native Americans in one’s family as well as people who use Spanish as one of their primary languages, and is different from the term “Hispanic” in relation to understandings of Anglo-Americans or Americans of European descent.  This essay will get you thinking on the relationship between an individual and a family, and between families and the larger culture, on what the term “identity” means in relation to cultural competencies, and on how very complex these issues are in everyday life. 

 

Music

          Sheila Chandra

          Carlos Guillermo, in Singing the Journey

          Tish Hinojosa

          Mercedes Sosa

          Sami Yusuf

 

Gender Identity/Expression

 

Boylan, Jennifer (2004).  She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders.

          New York: Broadway.  ISBN 0-76791-429-5.

 

A reviewer for amazon.com wrote, “She's Not There is the story of a person changing genders. By turns hilarious and deeply moving, Jennifer Finney Boylan explores the territory that lies between men and women, examines changing friendships, and rejoices in the redeeming power of family. Above all, it is a love story--the love of James for his wife, Grace, and--against all odds--the enduring love of Grace for the woman who becomes her "sister," Jenny.  Told in Boylan's humorous, fresh voice, She's Not There is also the story of a person bearing and finally revealing a complex secret. While Boylan's secret was undeniably unusual, her feeling of needing to hide an important fact, her fear of being recognized by others, and her feeling of being out of sync with her surroundings are startlingly familiar.  Through Boylan's clear eyes, She's Not There provides a new window on the confounding process of accepting our true selves.”

 

Colapinto, John (2000).  As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who was

Raised as a Girl.  San Francisco: HarperCollins. ISBN

0-06092-959-6.

 

Bruce was born one of identical twin boys in Canada in 1965.  His parents requested that he be circumcised, but the physician performing the operation botched it, resulting in the loss of Bruce’s penis.  Dr. John Money, who headed the Psychohormonal Research Unit at Johns Hopkins University, then recommended to his parents that his testicles be removed and that Bruce be re-named Brenda and raised as a female.  Dr. Money used this case as an example of how malleable gender is, and described Brenda as a well-adjusted girl.  The truth was far different.  As a child, “Brenda” got into frequent fights in school, resisted wearing girl’s clothes, and eventually was put into counseling, insisting that he was really a boy.  Once “Brenda” learned what had happened, “she” demanded that “she” be allowed to live as a male, and took the name “David.”  He underwent reconstructive surgery and married a woman who had children of her own, making his living as a butcher.  The question of “nature vs. nurture” is clearly more complex than Dr. Money portrayed it, and amazon.com’s reviewer stated that Colapinto wrote a book that is “illuminating, frightening and moving.”

 

Feinberg, Leslie (2006).  Drag King Dreams.  New York: Carroll & Graf.

          ISBN 0-78671-763-7.

 

Best-selling author Feinberg tells the story of Max Rabinowitz, a butch lesbiam bartender working in an East Village club where drag kings (lesbians dressed as men) perform.  Max is uncertain about her future, especially after September 11, and is shaken even more when her friend Vickie is found murdered on her way home.  Max rediscovers her activist spirit as she works with the community of cross-dressers, drag queens, lesbians, gay men, and “genderqueers” of all kinds as they deal with the circumstances of Vickie’s death.

 

Green, Jamison (2004).  The Invisible Man.  Knoxville, TN: Vanderbilt

          University Press.  ISBN 0-82651-457-X.

 

According to a reviewer for amazon.com, “Written by a leading activist in the transgender movement, Becoming a Visible Man is an artful and compelling inquiry into the politics of gender. Jamison Green combines candid autobiography with informed analysis to offer unique insight into the multiple challenges of the female-to-male transsexual experience, ranging from encounters with prejudice and strained relationships with family to the development of an FTM community and the realities of surgical sex reassignment.

 

For more than a decade, Green has provided educational programs on gender-variance issues for corporations, law-enforcement agencies, social-science conferences and classes, continuing legal education, religious education, and medical venues. His comprehensive knowledge of the processes and problems encountered by transgendered and transsexual people—as well as his legal advocacy work to help ensure that gender-variant people have access to the same rights and opportunities as others—enable him to explain the issues as no transsexual author has previously done.

Brimming with frank and often poignant recollections of Green’s own experiences—including his childhood struggles with identity and his years as a lesbian parent prior to his sex-reassignment surgery—the book examines transsexualism as a human condition, and sex reassignment as one of the choices that some people feel compelled to make in order to manage their gender variance. Relating the FTM psyche and experience to the social and political forces at work in American society, Becoming a Visible Man also speaks consciously of universal principles that concern us all, particularly the need to live one’s life honestly, openly, and passionately.”

 

Morris, Jan (1987).  Conundrum, New York: Henry Holt and Company.  ISBN

          0-15122-563-X.

         

Jan Morris, who lives in Wales, appeared to be male when she was born, and her parents named her James.  As James Morris, she became a noted travel writer, lecturer, and journalist for the London Times, covering Sir Edmund Hillary’s ascent with Tenzing Norgay of Mount Everest.  As an adult, she decided that she could no longer live as a woman in a man’s body, and took steps to be recognized legally as female.  Jan lives with her wife, Elizabeth.  In this book, she describes the journey she took to realize her identity as a woman named Jan.

 

Namaste, Viviane (2000).  Invisible Lives: The Erasure of Transsexual

          and Transgendered People.  Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

          ISBN 0-22656-810-5.

 

From a reviewer at amazon.com, “Invisible Lives is the first scholarly study of transgendered people--cross-dressers, drag queens and transsexuals--and their everyday lives.  Through combined theoretical and empirical study, Viviane K. Namaste argues that transgendered people are not so much produced by medicine or psychiatry as they are erased, or made invisible, in a variety of institutional and cultural settings. Namaste begins her work by analyzing two theoretical perspectives on transgendered people--queer theory and the social sciences--displaying how neither of these has adequately addressed the issues most relevant to sex change: everything from employment to health care to identity papers. Namaste then examines some of the rhetorical and semiotic inscriptions of transgendered figures in culture, including studies of early punk and glam rock subcultures, to illustrate how the effacement of transgendered people is organized in different cultural sites. Invisible Lives concludes with new research on some of the day-to-day concerns of transgendered people, offering case studies in violence, health care, gender identity clinics, and the law.”

 

This book includes references to the lives of transgendered and transsexual people in Canada as well as the United States.

 

DVD/VHS:  “Ma Vie En Rose” (1997)

 

88 minutes

 

French (subtitled in English and Spanish)/Rated “R” for adult language

 

This film tells the story of a boy named Ludovic who is convinced that he is a girl in a boy’s body.  He daydreams, dresses in girl’s clothes, and provokes hysteria in the adults around him.  Reviewers gave it 4 1/2 stars out of 5.

 

DVD:  TransAmerica” (2005)

 

113 minutes

 

English/Rated “R” for nudity, drug use, language, sexuality

 

Felicity Huffman won an Academy Award nomination for her role as Bree, a male-to-female transsexual who has gender reassignment surgery scheduled in a week and discovers that she has a teenage son she knew nothing about.  She bails him out of jail and sets out on a cross-country journey that ends up riddled with bumps as the boy learns to relate to the woman who is also his biological father.  Huffman’s portrayal of a woman living in a man’s body is outstanding.

 

DVD:  TransGeneration,” produced jointly by Sundance and LOGO

 

5 hours + extras, available from Amazon.com or

Sundancechannelhomeentertainment.com

 

This eight-part documentary, which has been shown on LOGO and Sundance channels, follows four young adults, two of whom identify themselves as male-to-female and two of whom identify themselves as female-to-male.  Raci, who is MTF, is also Filapina-American with profound hearing loss, and TJ, who is FTM, is Cypriot from an Armenian family.  Each of the subjects deals with reactions from their families of origin, responses from the colleges or universities they attend, and questions of surgery and hormones.  This is a riveting documentary that could serve as the basis for a discussion group or religious education program for senior high youth or adults.

 

Web sites

 

www.ifge.org

 (International Foundation for Gender Education)

 

IFGE advocates for freedom of gender expression.  We promote the understanding and acceptance of All People: Transgender, Transsexual, Crossdresser, Agender, Gender Queer, Intersex, Two Spirit, Drag King, Drag Queen, Queer, Straight, Butch, Femme, Homosexual, Bisexual, Heterosexual, and of course - You!”

 

www.ntac.org

 (National Transgender Advocacy Coalition)

 

“NTAC works for the advancement of understanding and the attainment of full civil rights for all transgender and gender variant people in every aspect of society and actively opposes discriminatory acts by all means legally available.

 

Believing that no person is more equal than another, is more entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, is more worthy of love or respect, NTAC works to achieve equality for all transgender people.”

 

www.symposion.com/ijt/

 (International Journal of Transgenderism)

 

This journal is the official publication of the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association, and publishes articles on all aspects of transgender life.

 

http://www.tsroadmap.com/wisdom/sex-identity.html

 

This article, by clinical social worker Lisa M. Hartley, ACSW-DCSW, explores the question of whether transgendered people have a psychological disorder,  Ms. Hartley believes they do not, and describes seven stages of the journey undertaken by transgendered people as they come to terms with themselves and their lives.  The article includes an extensive bibliography.

 

www.isna.org (Intersexual Society of North America)

 

As soon as someone in the delivery room hears a newborn gasp and begin to cry, the very next words are, “Is it a boy or a girl?”  In something like 1 in 100 births, the infant’s body differs in some regard from what would standardly be described as “male” or “female.”  This web site includes frequently-asked questions, recommendations for parents and caregivers who have to deal with medical practioners, and suggestions for managing conditions involving genitalia that are indeterminate in some way.

 

http://www.uua.org/obgltc/resource/cp.pdf (Crossing Paths: Where

Transgender and Religion Meet)

 

This URL takes you to a 119-oage book prepared by Unitarian Universalist ministers, laypeople, staff of the UUA, and others who have resources to offer in this area.  Mr. Barb Greve wrote the Preface, and the book includes resources such as renaming ceremonies, and workshop sessions for people interested in exploring transgender issues in their congregations.  Highly recommended!

 

http://www.uua.org/obgltc/resource/tgpc.pdf (Transgender Pastoral Care)

 

Unitarian Universalist minister Sarah Gibb, now a member of the UUA staff, wrote this essay, “Pastoral Care With Transgender People,” as part of her work in seminary.  She had three goals in the paper: “to familiarize pastors with characteristics of transgender people and communities, to address and critique the prevalent models of pastoral care that transgender people experience, and to apply Donald M. Cinula’s four tasks of pastoral care to construct a healing and libratory model of pastoral care with transgender people.”  The paper will be of particular interest to everyone who may be called on to provide pastoral care to a transgender person.

 

http://www.nctequality.org/ (National Center for Transgender Equality)

 

The National Center for Transgender Equality is an advocacy group seeking justice and civil rights for transgender people.  This web site describes current issues facing transgender people, includes recommendations for working effectively with media, and provides links to legislative resources.

         

Racism

 

Bowens-Wheatley, Marjorie, and Nancy Palmer Jones (Eds.)(2003) 

SoulWork: Anti-Racist Theologies in Dialogue.  Boston, MA: Skinner

House.  ISBN 1-55896-445-2.

 

The editors worked with nine papers presented by academics, activists, ministers and laypeople during a conference on theology and antiracism held in Boston in 2001, and have created a text that provides a solid foundation for the work of anti-racism by Unitarian Universalists.  They present a call to base anti-oppression work firmly within the theological traditions of this faith community, and have created the text with which to do it.

 

Coleman, Jonatnah (1997).  Long Way To Go: Black and White in America,

          New York: Atlantic Monthly Press.  ISBN 9-87113-692-9.

 

Jonathan Coleman, a white journalist with CBS News and former senior editor, focused on Milwaukee, WI as a springboard for discussion of the content of interviews, diaries, letters and journals on race in the United States at the end of the 20th century. 

 

Farrow, Anne, Lang, Joel, and Frank, Jenifer (2005).  Complicity: How the

          North Promoted, Prolonged, and Profited from Slavery.  New York:

          Ballantine.  ISBN 0-345-46782-5.

 

The authors, all journalists who work for the Hartford Courant, examined how slavery was fundamentally entwined in the economic systems of the Northern states of America from their establishment onward.  They looked at farming, industrialization, education, movement of influential individuals between the North and the South, and the role that Northern “race scientists” played in maintaining the intellectual underpinnings of slavery.  They also connected slavery in America with genocide on the African continent in such industries as piano-making, in which five Africans are estimated to have died or been enslaved for every tusk used for the veneer of piano keys in the 19th century.  Photographs and an historical time line add interest to the text and make it more difficult to discount the conclusions the authors reached.  The series of articles on which the book is based have been distributed to every high school in Connecticut.

 

Kivel, Paul (2002).  Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial

Justice.  Gabriola Island, British Columbia: New Society Publishers.  ISBN 0-86571-459-2.

 

This book is on the reading lists for all levels of credentialing for religious educators.  The author, who lives in Oakland, CA, goes beyond definitions to provide concrete examples of racism in the culture of the United States, and to suggest ways in which people can challenge the status quo.  The updated edition includes anti-Arab and anti-Muslim prejudice, as well as economic issues and health care policies in relation to white privilege and racism. 

 

Loewen, James W. (2005).  Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American

          Racism.  New York: New Press.  ISBN 1-56584-887-X.

 

Dr. Loewen makes a compelling case for the continued existence of “sundown towns” and “sundown suburbs,” defined as “any organized jurisdiction that for decades kept out African Americans (or others)” (p. 213).  He describes the evidence, rationale, and means by which such whites-only communities were created and maintained, states that there are many more such communities in the North than in the South, and describes the role of violence in the continued existence of these towns and suburbs.  He suggests remedies that are within everyone’s reach.

 

Sue, Derald Wing (2003).  Overcoming Our Racism: The Journey to

          Liberation.  San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.  ISBN 0-78796-744-0.

 

Dr. Sue is a Chinese-American psychologist, and in this book he describes the role of subtle examples of white privilege in the maintenance of racism in the United States.  He includes the tendency of white women to grab their purses when a person of color sits down nearby, of white men to flinch when they enter an elevator full of people of color, and assumptions made by white teachers working with children of color.  He includes activities and exercises to help people understand and combat institutionalized racism in the United States.

 

Thandeka (2000).  Learning to Be White: Money, Race, and God in America.

          New York: Continuum International Publishing Group.  ISBN

          0 82641 292 0.

 

Thandeka, who is a UU minister and on the faculty of Meadville/Lombard Theological School in Chicago, presents stories of how white Americans are punished by their families and friends if they attempt to make friends with children of color.  She uses these stories to make the case that white Americans are rewarded for being racist, and experience shame for moving outside their own European-based cultures.

 

Tyson, Timothy B. (2004).  Blood Done Sign My Name: A True Story.

          New York: Crown Publishers.  ISBN 0-609-61058-9.

 

Tim Tyson was a white ten-year-old in Oxford, North Carolina in 1970, when a white convenience store owner and his two sons beat and killed Henry Marrow, a black veteran who entered their store.  Tyson. the son of a United Methodist pastor who lost a church when he refused to keep it segregated, has written a riveting account, part history, part memoir, and part call to action to acknowledge the history of racial violence in the United States.  Dr. Tyson is now professor of Afro-American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

 

Van Jordan, A. (2004).  MacNolia.  New York: W.W. Norton.  ISBN

          0-303-05907-3.

 

In 1963, MacNolia Cox, an African-American girl from Ohio, won the district spelling bee in Akron and the right to compete in the National Spelling Bee in Washington DC.  The girl, aged 13, became the first black person to reach the final round, and stood a good chance of winning the competition until Southern judges presented her with a word that was not on the official list of the Bee.  The word that tripped her up was nemesis.  In this book, Van Jordan wrote a series of poems to bring MacNolia’s family, life and times into vivid relief.  Dr. Van Jordan is Assistant Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

 

DVD:  “Crash” (2005)

 

113 minutes

 

English/Spanish, with subtitles available in English and Spanish/Rated “R”

for adult content, language and violence

 

This film won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2005.  It tells the stories of interlocking lives in Los Angeles, including African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Latino/as, whites, and people who would check the “Other” box on the United States census form because of their multiple ethnic and racial origins.  Certain to engage viewers, and could be used as the basis for a discussion group or a religious education program for adults.

 

DVD:  “Four Little Girls,” produced and directed for HBO by Spike Lee

 

102 minutes, available from the Civil Rights Institute in Birmingham, AL and Amazon.com

 

English

 

Spike Lee uses his awesome skills in developing this documentary to tell the story of the civil rights movement in Birmingham, AL where white members of the Ku Klux Klan dynamited the 16th Street Baptist Church on September 15, 1963, resulting in the deaths of Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Addie Mae Collins.  Lee combines archival footage of news broadcasts with interviews of surviving family members and former Alabama governor George Wallace to demonstrate the role that young people played in the civ