Wednesday, 30 March 2011
A few days ago, my wife and I finished editing and uploading some recent home videos of Isla and I keep forgetting to post them here. So, here they are:
This one was filmed earlier this month. Something just tickled Isla about her brother’s yelling. She thought it was hilarious and even waved her hand in imitation of him (presumably to get him to keep doing it). We finally pulled out the camera and caught some of her laughing:
Here’s another video of her laughing. Jennifer recorded this with her iPhone, so the image quality isn’t as good, but it’s good enough:
And here she is clapping. This video was recorded over a month ago – she’s much more vigorous about it now:
Thursday, 31 March 2011
Today I attended a “How to be a straight ally” meeting and luncheon put on by PFLAG (a really terrible acronym that stands for “Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians And Gays”). I figured that I should attend since I am such a strong supporter of free lunches.
The main point of the meeting was that, even if you’re straight, you can still be an ally of the gay-rights movement. She noted that people often don’t like to defend GLBTs because then their co-workers might think that they are GLB or T, too. It’s like this: Let’s say that I say to my co-workers, “Hey, I don’t like that joke, it’s demeaning to women.” Well, no one’s going to think that I’m a woman. And if I say, “Woe, that joke’s kind of racist,” no one is going to think that I am black (or whatever race is being ridiculed at the moment). But if I say, “Um, I don’t really like jokes against gays,” then people might start thinking…”hey, is he gay?”
The speaker noted that in some states it is still legal to fire people for being gay or lesbian. In some states, it’s even legal to fire employees simply for expressing their sexuality in a non-traditional manner (e.g., A woman who wears men’s shirts, or a guy who uses a ‘man bag‘).
She continued by offering some ways in which straight people can be an ally and gave everyone resources for continuing support. I got a rainbow-colored magnet to put up in my cube that says “I support Equality at [name of employer].”
After the PLFAG representative completed her talk, the employee who had set up the event got up and gave some closing remarks. After telling us to take the papers on the table and to visit the website, she announced – whilst getting choked up – that she was bisexual. Wow. I’ve never actually been there before when someone ‘came out.’
The kids laughing at the table is really cute. It is fun to capture video of them now and show it to them when they are older. They will get a real kick out of it then.
I was hoping that I was not the only dad that scooped some food off my baby’s chest at then fed it to her. But you put the food back in the bowl like a good parent.
Thanks, Cory.
Yeah, I try to save the food that doesn’t make it into her mouth. If I didn’t, I’d end up wasting about 90% of the food we give her. I figure since she sucks on her own feet, she probably wouldn’t be grossed out by eating food that had previously fallen onto her chest.