Beware the Pure Spirit, Let the Flesh Instruct the Mind

What a great class Tuesday evening! Your questions and comments were spot on and appreciated. Our speakers were informative, thoughtful, and funny. Sometimes a little humor can go a long way in breaking down barriers with challenging topics. You’ll have to consider that although they are there to talk about life from their perspective, it still can be a nervous and somewhat challenging experience because they are “putting themselves out there.” That being said, I thought you as a class were more nervous than our speakers. I hope you found the discussion to be helpful in understanding how people operate and experience life. These things might be useful when considering how health providers might market to LGBT groups for their services, and how to be more welcoming and thorough when engaged with sexual minority populations. I hope you noticed the various ways that our presenters identified themselves, gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer, transgender…it’s important to note how folks identify ...

I like to eat. I like people who eat. Perhaps it’s all wrapped up in Southern Culture, sharing food with others. Eating with others seems to be the way to go, a way to facilitate being the social animals that we are. I found some King Cakes (at least Kroger’s version of these tasty cakes) and brought them to class this past Tuesday. I was looking forward to learning whoever would find the hidden baby Jesus in their slice; it’s supposed to be a good luck thing. Plastered on the carton they came in were warnings not to eat the plastic ornamentation (beads and baby Jesus) as they could cause choking and asphyxiation. Well, where’s the fun in that? Baby Jesus perched out for the entire world to see.  Well the cake was a hit, I was worried that I’d be taking some home, but I forgot how hungry college students are, and they got in line during our break and sliced those cakes up. And some were not shy in slicing large portions of this up…little piggies. I was happy that this w...

My blog entry to my class for the week: I felt as though there was a lot of synchronicity surrounding our class this past week. For example, in trying to come up with ways to approach the topic of stereotypes, I am acutely aware of the power of these labels, these words and images that are associated with this important topic.  While many in the class can easily brush these things aside, I do recognize that some cannot. Stereotyping hurts. I don’t say this theoretically, but as someone who has at different times in my life has had to endure hurtful assumptions made about me, my family, or with cultural groups that I identified with. Until I found my “voice”, I let it slide, but it was hurtful. During those times, I never sought to actively challenge what was being said, that is, challenge folks on their most wrong of assumptions. Whoever came up with the adage “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me” lied to us. These cognitive shortcuts hurt, they wo...