Sitting at a bar (for only the 2nd time in a year) eating a quick lunch.
Meathead 1 comes in by himself. Meathead 2 eventually arrives.
They have now been talking about transgender kids in their circle of friends for 15 minutes.
And it has been... adorable.
1/
As soon as I heard ‘transgender’, I braced for some asinine slew of backwards, bigoted, dumbfuckery.
Instead, Meathead #2 led Meathead #1 through a catch up about a mutual friend’s child who is transgender and another friend’s child who is gender fluid.
2/
Meathead #2 knows what he’s talking about. These aren’t the awkward fumblings of someone who doesn’t have the language for a topic.
He is lowkeying it but he has thought about this. Processed it. Worked through it. Came out the other side where the job is to be an ally.
3/
It is legit heartwarming.
I literally brace myself when I’m even within earshot of people like these two and a subject ripe for bigotry comes up.
I brace for the collision between public asshattery in my midst and my inability to say nothing.
4/
It was at this very bar that I got into it with Ricoh while Ocean Spray looked on. (That’s a deep cut for long-time readers)
But today, there will be no grinding my teeth to nubs before saying what I was always going to say.
5/
Nope, today, I’m overhearing a delight.
At one point, Meathead #1 said something uneducated but without any apparent malice. Suggested their mutual friend’s child might not stick with their new gender identity.
6/
But then Meathead #2 gently, deftly, explained that by the time a transgender person comes out, they *know* who they are - and their only uncertainty was about telling others.
And Meathead #1 listened and nodded with the look of someone who was, in fact, listening.
And
7/
I was in a hurry and couldn’t stay but I wish I could have. I’ve missed these bar-overhears.
Paid my tab. Slipped the bartender an extra $20 to get their next round after I left.
Sometimes people surprise you.
Sometimes, in a good way.
8/8
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
Happy Mother’s Day to every mom who has ever made their kids a hot breakfast but not eaten their own until was cold.
Happy Mother’s Day to the moms who put their kids first.
1/
Biological or adoptive; parent or stepparent; a mother is the one who shows up - no matter what the birth certificate says.
If you are that kid’s shoulder, a parent they trust who comes through and cares, who hurts when they hurt and takes joy in their joy, you are a mom.
2/
A mom isn’t someone who just performs tasks; a mom is someone who loves from way down deep and who shows it.
Happy Mother’s Day to all of the moms who don’t just perform the function but instead inhabit the role.
3/
Broad also established The Broad Academy which churned out a string of disastrous, incompetent public education administrators who wreaked havoc on large public school districts.
And while everyone is praising Broad, his Academy’s model was somewhere between ignorant and racist.
Broad’s attempts to hijack control of public ed. by churning out unqualified disciples was nothing short of an unmitigated disaster for city after city.
Yeah, sorry, let’s not anoint a rich guy for being a patron of the arts while also doing harm to disadvantaged schools.
Oof, haven’t thought about this in years. Totally brought back the pitched, vitriolic battle in my town over his disciple’s “improvements.”
At one pt, thanks to Broad’s “teach to the test” obsession with standardized testing, my son had six straight periods of math and English.