(no subject)
Jun. 18th, 2010 12:46 pmGail Simone's comic gets called out for heterosexist tropes, so she flames everyone, then flounces and deletes her DreamWidth
lolol
lolol
(no subject)
Feb. 10th, 2010 11:57 pmI posted this in my livejournal the other day and completely forgot to post it here.
Transcript:
Transcript:
I can say that hate crime has always been a part of my life and earlier life.
I was beaten by family, in their attempt to beat it out of me.
I was beaten every year at school, every year--it never failed, i got beat up.
And it was because of my gender expression.
But for me, though, the one thing that really stands out for me, as an adult, was here in MARTA. I was coming home from work, and it was a late night, in retail sometimes you have to stay really late at night, and it looked like i was catching the last train around one, one-thirty in the morning.
I was waiting for the last train on the east-bound platform, and a little group of men came up behind me. Now i immediately got nervous, and was like "okayyyy i don't know what their motives are" just in general, you know they looked kind of shifty.
What happened, one of the gentlemen, i guess he found me attractive. So he was trying to approach me to talk to me. Now, keep in mind that he had no problem in the conversation that we had, i was just like "i'm good, i'm in a relationship, i'm okay." And he was just like, you know, he was insistent.
And one of his friends, i guess, felt the need to clue him into the fact that i'm transgender. And he became embarrassed, i guess because he felt like i had publicly duped him. Now keep in mind that i'm rejecting him the whole time!
Then he started screaming things at me on the platform, you know, "you faggot, you tried to trick me" and i'm like "mmmm no i didn't, i'm not interested."
Of course, you know, any kind of crazy, you try to avoid the situation, so i walked away to the other end of the platform. Now keep in mind, i ordinarily would've just left the platform altogether, but i'm thinking this may be the last train and i gotta get on. So i move to the other end of the platform and the young man proceeds to follow me up the platform. Now keep in mind his entire entourage is with him, and i'm just trying to avoid the situation getting worse.
No one, by the way, on the train or on the platform offered to help or tried to tell them to leave me alone; as a matter of fact, people are kind of chuckling.
So the train comes and i faked him out, i went on the train ran out the other door ran back down and tried to get back on. I try to find a seat; it's actually kind of crowded. I was trying to find a seat and i hear the driver say "please don't hold the doors, stop holding the doors, the train cannot move while you're holding the doors". What it actually was, was his friends holding the door for him so he could find me.
I ran like three cars up, i'm thinking i've avoided the situation, i'm good, and he follows me through, along the train, and comes on the train. Now he's running behind me and i don't see him, and then the people around me are like "behind you look out!"
And i turned around and he'd turned his rings around, and he slaps me in the face as hard as he could.
Now he hit me hard enough to where i actually hit the side of the train window, because i was standing. And he left marks in my face, i had ring marks in my face.
Now, the horrible part of it was that i got attacked, but the thing that really sticks out most to me is that, what happened on the train is people began to laugh. No one offered me any assistance, no one said "oh my god are you okay;" people began to laugh.
So in shame, i left the train because i'm like "okay, what am i gonna do." I think, first thing, that i need to call the police. Now i'm thinking that, as the train does finally pull off, that okay, he's accomplished what he wanted to accomplish, i'm good.
As i'm dialing 911 he's coming up the platform toward me. And i'm like "oh god oh god." So i'm talking to the police and i'm making it clear at the payphone that i'm talking to the police and i'm like "yes, i'm reporting an incident and he's walking towards me, he's a black male" and, you know, i'm describing him. And he hears me on the phone, and i guess he gets scared and he runs, it's cool. But i'm talking through the phone and they referred me to the MARTA police.
The MARTA police finally came... Now, i've just gotten attacked, i got laughed at on the train, so a cop comes up. Initially, he's concerned for my well-being. He's like "are you okay ma'am, deh deh-deh deh-deh." So then, out of the blue, he goes "well can i see some ID?"
And i'm like "okay" so i show him my ID. Now keep in mind that this was before i was able to get my name changed and all that stuff, and he goes "oh my god you're a man." And i'm like "noooo, i used to be, but you know not really." And he's like "well um so what did you do to get slapped?" His whole approach changed: "So what did you do to deserve it? Are you sure you weren't trying to hit on him? 'Cause i know i'd knock you out if you were trying to hit on me." Officer, MARTA police officer. And i'm like "no, no sir," and he starts laughing, he thinks it's funny.
Now this female police officer who's with him, she's consoling me she's like "okay, please ignore him, he's ignorant, we're going to file a report". So i'm walking back to the MARTA police station, and this officer thinks it's hilarious, so he proceeds to talk to every man on the platform on the way there: "Are you the one who slapped him? Are you the one who slapped him?" And he's cracking up like it's just so funny to him.
Now i don't know what radio calls were made between the time that he initially met up with me and the time that we got to the station, but when we got to the station all the officers stared at me, and they bust out laughing at me again. Now these are the officers.
And the officer that trapped me, he goes: "before i search you do you have any weapons?" And i'm like "why are you searching me? I'm just here to file a report." He's like, "well any time you come to the police precinct we have the right to search you." And i'm like "um well there is a knife" [laughter] "there is a knife in my purse, but i did not pull it when the man attacked me, it was just there."
So then they get an even bigger smile; only in Atlanta does the victim become the perpetrator, and they just think this is so funny. So he actually threatened to take me to jail because i had a knife.
So they put me in a low holding area and i'm waiting thinking "oh my god i can't believe i just got attacked and now i'm going to go to jail;" i was just completely flabbergasted by it. But in any case, the woman police officer comes in and she goes, "i'm sorry, i'm so sorry you're going through this," and she goes "i want you to file a report of every thing that's going on, and i'm going to take it." No one else had offered to take my report. So she gives me a piece of paper, and i write down everything that had happened all the way up to that second. And she has tears in her eyes, and she's like "i'm so sorry, i can't imagine what you're going through i'm so sorry."
So, hate crimes are those things that, when someone is attacked for being in a perceived group--and that night i was perceived as trans, gay, whatever, and because of that i was attacked, and no one at any point, on the train, on the platform, from the officer, at the precinct, no one offered to help. And that is a hate crime. And i'm here tonight to let you know it happens; it happened here on campus; my friend Annette was attacked here, verbally attacked on this campus and they threatened to shoot her.
And we need to understand that it's borne out of ignorance, and it's condoned by people who have a problem with our lifestyles and they think that it's okay to hurt us.
And at the end of the day, what we do should have no effect on other people. and i think if we leave people alone, to each his own, a lot of this stuff will be avoided.
helo i am here to inflict pain on my flist
Feb. 3rd, 2010 02:33 pmFound via ![[personal profile]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cheshire, what. the fuck. is. this shit.
cheshire, what. the fuck. is. this shit.Director’s Note - Things are getting very strange for women these days. More and more often we see young heterosexual women carving their bodies into porno Barbie dolls and lesbian women altering themselves into transmen. Our distorted cultural norms are making women feel compelled to use medical advances to change themselves, instead of working to change the world. This is one story, showing one possible scary future. I am hopeful that this movie will foster discussion about female body modification and medical ethics.
(no subject)
Dec. 11th, 2009 11:03 pmI am super posty today. Making up for lost time, i guess. Sorry about your flist, flist
lol
Fuck You and Fuck Your Fucking Thesis: Why I Will Not Participate in Trans Studies
Def worth reading.
lol
Fuck You and Fuck Your Fucking Thesis: Why I Will Not Participate in Trans Studies
Def worth reading.
(no subject)
Dec. 11th, 2009 10:54 pmScientists find single ‘on-off’ gene that can change gender traits
"When this gene was artificially 'switched off' in adult female mice their ovaries began to turn into testes and they started to produce a level of testosterone found in healthy male mice.
"The discovery could eventually revolutionise gender reassignment therapy and improve treatments for babies who are born with a mixed gender."
Thoughts?
I like this article because it goes beyond "oh hey we've discovered this gene that may explain [x kind of queerness or whatever], that's interesting!" and into how it may impact those of us who are not cis...well, those who can afford high-end (e.g., surgery) transition-related health care. For example, even if such a thing were available in the here and now, i somehow doubt my medicaid-having ass would be able to access it.
But still. Cool.
Edited to add: When i was a kid of maybe eleven or twelve, i read this short sci fi story about the invention of a pill (called, i believe, "Reboot") that did something like this, except a little less science-y and a little more fiction-y than the irl situation, obviously.
And, as you might predict, reading something like that in a relatively mainstream sf collection made a pretty big impact on me as a kid who was struggling with thinking that being a girl was an unattainable wish.
So reading this is like, "hey, i'm living in the future!"
Edited again to add: A little googling turned up the short story i was talking about; it was actually a story called Changes in the Neil Gaiman collection Smoke and Mirrors.
Honestly, i liked it better as a memory without knowing that he's the one who wrote it; Gaiman's pretty creepy about trans women :/
"When this gene was artificially 'switched off' in adult female mice their ovaries began to turn into testes and they started to produce a level of testosterone found in healthy male mice.
"The discovery could eventually revolutionise gender reassignment therapy and improve treatments for babies who are born with a mixed gender."
Thoughts?
I like this article because it goes beyond "oh hey we've discovered this gene that may explain [x kind of queerness or whatever], that's interesting!" and into how it may impact those of us who are not cis...well, those who can afford high-end (e.g., surgery) transition-related health care. For example, even if such a thing were available in the here and now, i somehow doubt my medicaid-having ass would be able to access it.
But still. Cool.
Edited to add: When i was a kid of maybe eleven or twelve, i read this short sci fi story about the invention of a pill (called, i believe, "Reboot") that did something like this, except a little less science-y and a little more fiction-y than the irl situation, obviously.
And, as you might predict, reading something like that in a relatively mainstream sf collection made a pretty big impact on me as a kid who was struggling with thinking that being a girl was an unattainable wish.
So reading this is like, "hey, i'm living in the future!"
Edited again to add: A little googling turned up the short story i was talking about; it was actually a story called Changes in the Neil Gaiman collection Smoke and Mirrors.
Honestly, i liked it better as a memory without knowing that he's the one who wrote it; Gaiman's pretty creepy about trans women :/
Transgender Day of Remembrance
Nov. 20th, 2009 10:31 amHere is a list of the dead being remembered this year.
The list is much longer than it was in past years not because there are more people being murdered, but because we are keeping better track of those murdered who had lived outside of the United States--especially trans women in Latin American countries. Of the one hundred sixty two trans women reported murdered last year alone, seventy-nine were in either Honduras, Venezuela, or Brazil according to the breakdown on that site.
Almost all of the trans people murdered have been trans women of color, and like years past, there are murders that have gone unreported.
Today is not a day for upper/middle-class white cis GLB people to get together and throw a mother fucking party
Last year, the Capital District Gay and Lesbian Community Council (CDGLCC) had a fucking potluck.
This year, it looks like they've gotten their shit together and worked with (or at least gave the rubberstamp and spread the word for) two trans people, Hawk R. Stone and Jaye McBride, to organize a candlelight vigil with the collaboration between themselves and In Our Own Voices (IOOV), an organization for queer and trans people of color in the capital district, as well as two other organizations, the Empire State Pride Agenda and the NY State Coalition Against Sexual Violence.
But this year, the Gay Alliance of Genesee Valley (GAGV), as i said in my previous post, is having a former drag king do a comedy act with a $15 door charge (oh but if you're a college student you can get a discount!). (Facebook page for the event)
Please stop disrespecting the dead and murdered by dancing on their graves like this.
snugglebitch has a post worth reading about this year's TDoR celebration being had by the GAGV.
There is also a post about TDoR at Questioning Transphobia.
The list is much longer than it was in past years not because there are more people being murdered, but because we are keeping better track of those murdered who had lived outside of the United States--especially trans women in Latin American countries. Of the one hundred sixty two trans women reported murdered last year alone, seventy-nine were in either Honduras, Venezuela, or Brazil according to the breakdown on that site.
Almost all of the trans people murdered have been trans women of color, and like years past, there are murders that have gone unreported.
Today is not a day for upper/middle-class white cis GLB people to get together and throw a mother fucking party
Last year, the Capital District Gay and Lesbian Community Council (CDGLCC) had a fucking potluck.
This year, it looks like they've gotten their shit together and worked with (or at least gave the rubberstamp and spread the word for) two trans people, Hawk R. Stone and Jaye McBride, to organize a candlelight vigil with the collaboration between themselves and In Our Own Voices (IOOV), an organization for queer and trans people of color in the capital district, as well as two other organizations, the Empire State Pride Agenda and the NY State Coalition Against Sexual Violence.
But this year, the Gay Alliance of Genesee Valley (GAGV), as i said in my previous post, is having a former drag king do a comedy act with a $15 door charge (oh but if you're a college student you can get a discount!). (Facebook page for the event)
Please stop disrespecting the dead and murdered by dancing on their graves like this.
snugglebitch has a post worth reading about this year's TDoR celebration being had by the GAGV.There is also a post about TDoR at Questioning Transphobia.
(no subject)
Nov. 20th, 2009 12:59 amHaving a (former) drag king do a comedy act is a great way to honor Transgender Day of Remembrance, Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley.
The kicker is that there's a $15 admission fee.
The kicker is that there's a $15 admission fee.
![[community profile]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Sep. 29th, 2009 10:49 amSo Lambda has stated that they will take into consideration the sexual orientation and "gender identity" of the authors when deciding who to give their Literary Awards. Cue the anguished wailing of many anguished straight cis women (and a few straight cis men as well as a handful of self-hating token queers), plenty of whom are just in it for the sweet, sweet man-on-man sex scenes and heartstrings-pulling tropes that don't actually reflect the lives of queer people.
If you think that you're an "ally" to queer people--which you must think of yourself as if you're a straight cis person looking for accolades from queer people for your work w.r.t. queer people--then why would you find it necessary to take awards for queer literature from a queer organization that could--and should--be going to queer people?
If you're going to claim that you're writing a book to "give representation" or "raise awareness" or "tell their stories" or whatever for queer people, why would it bother you that the words of a person who is actually queer is getting recognition instead of your own?
The answer is because you don't really care about queer people. The straight cis people who are doing all this whining are co-opting queer identities, lives, and experiences (or rather, their often incorrect opinion of what queer people are, do, experience, or should be), and they're doing it for their own personal gratification (M/M sex scenes or otherwise), to feel good about how open-minded (or whatever they want to think of themselves as) they are, and to further their own careers--and, as we've seen, they're perfectly willing to further their own careers at the expense of the queers they love to write about so much.
There is a reason that the only people i welcome into my life, into my personal space, are (with a few notable exceptions) queer, and it is because the rest of you fucking suck.
If you think that you're an "ally" to queer people--which you must think of yourself as if you're a straight cis person looking for accolades from queer people for your work w.r.t. queer people--then why would you find it necessary to take awards for queer literature from a queer organization that could--and should--be going to queer people?
If you're going to claim that you're writing a book to "give representation" or "raise awareness" or "tell their stories" or whatever for queer people, why would it bother you that the words of a person who is actually queer is getting recognition instead of your own?
The answer is because you don't really care about queer people. The straight cis people who are doing all this whining are co-opting queer identities, lives, and experiences (or rather, their often incorrect opinion of what queer people are, do, experience, or should be), and they're doing it for their own personal gratification (M/M sex scenes or otherwise), to feel good about how open-minded (or whatever they want to think of themselves as) they are, and to further their own careers--and, as we've seen, they're perfectly willing to further their own careers at the expense of the queers they love to write about so much.
There is a reason that the only people i welcome into my life, into my personal space, are (with a few notable exceptions) queer, and it is because the rest of you fucking suck.
The idea that there is a "shared women's experience" is a sort of important premise behind radical feminism, isn't it?
The problem is, it's an incorrect and privileged misconception.
That premise is a big part of the reason that there was an attempt, albeit an unsuccessful one, by people who identified as feminists who were trans women, women of color, and/or sex workers to have a new, third wave of feminism wherein the assumption wasn't made that all women share the experiences of the upper/middle-class, cis, white women who shaped and controlled the second-wave radical feminist movement and the issues that were put on the front burners.
Of course, the idea of "third wave feminism" was grossly misinterpreted by those in positions of power.
The attempt to move past the vilification of sex workers, the perpetuation and ignoring of racism and intersectional oppression, to allow for trans women to be part of a women's movement and to label their experiences as "women's experiences" as well--all of it was taken away and turned into yet another debate between otherwise-privileged women about "what a feminist looks like" and "what a feminist does" at the superficial level of circle-jerking over body hair, being a stay-at-home-mom, the way that having a lot of sex and doing porn (a certain kind of porn made for and by a certain class of women) and stripper pole aerobics, and (white collar) career vs. family and reclaiming the word "Bitch" and doing radikewl genderfucking through clothes and hairstyles--in other words, it became the "choice feminism" of Amanda Marcotte versus the "radical feminism" of Gloria Steinem.*
Sexism isn't the only, or the most hurtful, kind of oppression experienced by all women, sexism isn't a stand-alone oppression that works independently of other oppressions; this is something that gets lost in the discussion between otherwise-privileged women who take it upon themselves to be the voice of women everywhere when talking about sexism and patriarchy and being a woman, which is what has ultimately happened the brief third wave of feminism, which has been destroyed because of it.
So it's gone full circle, from the speaking out against the assumption of a shared, privileged experience to the appropriation, misunderstanding, and ultimately the silencing of those voices and words right back to the assumption of a shared women's experience that leaves out the same people who spoke out against that erasure in the first place.
And it's the reason why you have people who will say in one breath that they "don't believe in gender" or that "gender is ~just~ a social construct" in one breath but who say that they feel uncomfortable with the idea of peeing next to, being in the same jail cell as, being in the same rape/DV shelter as, sharing women's space with women with penises in the next breath.
* On a personal note, this is why i don't identify as a feminist at all
The problem is, it's an incorrect and privileged misconception.
That premise is a big part of the reason that there was an attempt, albeit an unsuccessful one, by people who identified as feminists who were trans women, women of color, and/or sex workers to have a new, third wave of feminism wherein the assumption wasn't made that all women share the experiences of the upper/middle-class, cis, white women who shaped and controlled the second-wave radical feminist movement and the issues that were put on the front burners.
Of course, the idea of "third wave feminism" was grossly misinterpreted by those in positions of power.
The attempt to move past the vilification of sex workers, the perpetuation and ignoring of racism and intersectional oppression, to allow for trans women to be part of a women's movement and to label their experiences as "women's experiences" as well--all of it was taken away and turned into yet another debate between otherwise-privileged women about "what a feminist looks like" and "what a feminist does" at the superficial level of circle-jerking over body hair, being a stay-at-home-mom, the way that having a lot of sex and doing porn (a certain kind of porn made for and by a certain class of women) and stripper pole aerobics, and (white collar) career vs. family and reclaiming the word "Bitch" and doing radikewl genderfucking through clothes and hairstyles--in other words, it became the "choice feminism" of Amanda Marcotte versus the "radical feminism" of Gloria Steinem.*
Sexism isn't the only, or the most hurtful, kind of oppression experienced by all women, sexism isn't a stand-alone oppression that works independently of other oppressions; this is something that gets lost in the discussion between otherwise-privileged women who take it upon themselves to be the voice of women everywhere when talking about sexism and patriarchy and being a woman, which is what has ultimately happened the brief third wave of feminism, which has been destroyed because of it.
So it's gone full circle, from the speaking out against the assumption of a shared, privileged experience to the appropriation, misunderstanding, and ultimately the silencing of those voices and words right back to the assumption of a shared women's experience that leaves out the same people who spoke out against that erasure in the first place.
And it's the reason why you have people who will say in one breath that they "don't believe in gender" or that "gender is ~just~ a social construct" in one breath but who say that they feel uncomfortable with the idea of peeing next to, being in the same jail cell as, being in the same rape/DV shelter as, sharing women's space with women with penises in the next breath.
* On a personal note, this is why i don't identify as a feminist at all
Apropos this post,
"Is it just my imagination, or are all the Happy Tranny stories about trans men and four-year-old trans girls?"
"It's not just you, but there's only a small handful of the four-year-old trans girl stories."
Why do you think that is, flist?
"Is it just my imagination, or are all the Happy Tranny stories about trans men and four-year-old trans girls?"
"It's not just you, but there's only a small handful of the four-year-old trans girl stories."
Why do you think that is, flist?
(no subject)
Aug. 25th, 2009 01:22 pmOh hey big thanks to whoever bought me a paid account for a year :D
<3
<3
(no subject)
May. 19th, 2009 11:26 amI haven't been using LJ a lot lately, so at this point a lot of you have probably heard all about this, so i will try (and, apparently, fail) to keep it short:
I am a fan of speculative fiction (sci fi/fantasy).
As a child, my introduction to SF/F was through my mother, who is white, and who is also a fan of the genres.
She is, i think, an accurate representation of the white SF/F fans, writers, and editors who i've interacted with or read, in that writers and artists--and fans--of color don't cross her mind.
When i, late in my teens and now as a young adult, started trying to work out my feelings about being someone of mixed ethnicity, about being Latino after having ignored that part of me for years, i eventually--and fairly recently--started taking more of an interest in seeing people with similar backgrounds reflected in the fiction i read.
But it's been difficult, because of the disproportionate attention given to white people involved in SF/F, not just in the press and by fandom, but by publishers as well, who pass authors of color over for white ones.
To this day, i've only read the work of handful of Latino & Latina authors--although this may in part be a shortcoming on behalf of my ability to search for them--and i've read exponentially more fiction that's had characters who are mixed white and [dragon/fairy/wizard/god/space alien/genetically modified superhuman/being from a plane or dimension above us/whatever] people than those who are mixed race or ethnicity.
And that's not because they don't exist, despite what Lois McMaster Bujold may think. It's because fans, authors, and artists of color are ignored, silenced, and rejected by an industry that devalues their work, favoring, instead, complete garbage like Patricia Wrede's The Thirteenth Child about Americas which were devoid of human life before European colonists arrived.
![[livejournal.com profile]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
neo_prodigy started a community, ![[livejournal.com profile]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
foc_u, where people involved in speculative fiction--be they authors, editors, artists, or just fans--can talk about racism in the industry, and also to "[serve] as a place to celebrate and affirm POCs of the speculative fiction genre, celebrate our favorite POC characters and storytellers, and it's also intended to be a fun place where we can come and discuss our fandoms, recommend movies, books, authors, etc."
Also, a question from me to you all: who are your favorite Latina or Latino speculative fiction authors?
I am a fan of speculative fiction (sci fi/fantasy).
As a child, my introduction to SF/F was through my mother, who is white, and who is also a fan of the genres.
She is, i think, an accurate representation of the white SF/F fans, writers, and editors who i've interacted with or read, in that writers and artists--and fans--of color don't cross her mind.
When i, late in my teens and now as a young adult, started trying to work out my feelings about being someone of mixed ethnicity, about being Latino after having ignored that part of me for years, i eventually--and fairly recently--started taking more of an interest in seeing people with similar backgrounds reflected in the fiction i read.
But it's been difficult, because of the disproportionate attention given to white people involved in SF/F, not just in the press and by fandom, but by publishers as well, who pass authors of color over for white ones.
To this day, i've only read the work of handful of Latino & Latina authors--although this may in part be a shortcoming on behalf of my ability to search for them--and i've read exponentially more fiction that's had characters who are mixed white and [dragon/fairy/wizard/god/space alien/genetically modified superhuman/being from a plane or dimension above us/whatever] people than those who are mixed race or ethnicity.
And that's not because they don't exist, despite what Lois McMaster Bujold may think. It's because fans, authors, and artists of color are ignored, silenced, and rejected by an industry that devalues their work, favoring, instead, complete garbage like Patricia Wrede's The Thirteenth Child about Americas which were devoid of human life before European colonists arrived.
neo_prodigy started a community, foc_u, where people involved in speculative fiction--be they authors, editors, artists, or just fans--can talk about racism in the industry, and also to "[serve] as a place to celebrate and affirm POCs of the speculative fiction genre, celebrate our favorite POC characters and storytellers, and it's also intended to be a fun place where we can come and discuss our fandoms, recommend movies, books, authors, etc."Also, a question from me to you all: who are your favorite Latina or Latino speculative fiction authors?
(no subject)
May. 5th, 2009 03:50 pmSo i'm applying for a job at MassMutual Financial Architects here in Rochester, and I've done two interviews in their "hiring process" already, and today, during the third interview with them, as the guy i'm talking to is going over the kind of things I'd be doing as a beginning employee, how employees are paid, and all that, he casually informs me that everyone, before they're hired, needs to pay them fifteen hundred dollars up front.
I tell them that i don't have money and ask if there's an alternative there (you know, one that involves them paying me for working for them), and i'm informed that part the company's screening process adheres to the notion that people who don't already have money won't be as good as employees as people who do, and if i really wanted to work there, even if i didn't have the money, i'd say "sure Bill, i'll see you in a week with the money" and go out and make it in time. And "blah blah blah this is a Darwinian industry, i've never broken that policy but i guess i'll talk to Heather and see if there's another solution blah blah don't let the door hit you."
Oh, and they also charge you for using their office space at an increasing scale as your employment with them goes on. ~Because that's just how they roll~
This fucking company not only led me on for two interviews, but led me on for two months and had me do an assignment for them where i went out and surveyed people on their experiences with the financial services industry.
Upside: I got a free 1GB flash drive for my troubles?
ETA: I've informed the Better Business Bureau and sent emails politely informing everyone I've surveyed for them that I appreciated the time that they spent talking to me, but that I will not be pursuing a career with MassMutual because they want to charge me fifteen hundred fucking dollars to hire me. lulz.
I tell them that i don't have money and ask if there's an alternative there (you know, one that involves them paying me for working for them), and i'm informed that part the company's screening process adheres to the notion that people who don't already have money won't be as good as employees as people who do, and if i really wanted to work there, even if i didn't have the money, i'd say "sure Bill, i'll see you in a week with the money" and go out and make it in time. And "blah blah blah this is a Darwinian industry, i've never broken that policy but i guess i'll talk to Heather and see if there's another solution blah blah don't let the door hit you."
Oh, and they also charge you for using their office space at an increasing scale as your employment with them goes on. ~Because that's just how they roll~
This fucking company not only led me on for two interviews, but led me on for two months and had me do an assignment for them where i went out and surveyed people on their experiences with the financial services industry.
Upside: I got a free 1GB flash drive for my troubles?
ETA: I've informed the Better Business Bureau and sent emails politely informing everyone I've surveyed for them that I appreciated the time that they spent talking to me, but that I will not be pursuing a career with MassMutual because they want to charge me fifteen hundred fucking dollars to hire me. lulz.
(no subject)
May. 5th, 2009 09:41 amMore on the way Latino lives are valued by the media, the "justice" system: For her an uproar, for him a whisper
viaprincessrugger
via
princessrugger(no subject)
May. 4th, 2009 12:03 pmOh, my fucking god
Four white teens beat Luis Ramirez, a Latino man, to death while spewing racist slurs, only one of them gets charged with third-degree murder, one is released without charges, one pleads guilty to "violating civil rights" and may get out of jail in four years, and an all white jury acquits two of them of every single charge except simple assault. They weren't even found guilty of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, or ethnic intimidation.
"The jurors here [are] sending the message that you can brutally beat a person, without regard to their life, and get away with it, continue with your life uninterrupted," said Gladys Limon, a representative of the Mexican Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF). "This was murder. Luis Ramirez was murdered. A father, a son, a brother, a partner was murdered. The message the verdict sends is you can kill a person, you can stomp on their head until the person dies, based on their national heritage."
"The jury has spoken. We’re deeply gratified with the verdict," Frederick J. Fanelli, the defense lawyer, said. Disgusting.
Four white teens beat Luis Ramirez, a Latino man, to death while spewing racist slurs, only one of them gets charged with third-degree murder, one is released without charges, one pleads guilty to "violating civil rights" and may get out of jail in four years, and an all white jury acquits two of them of every single charge except simple assault. They weren't even found guilty of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, or ethnic intimidation.
"The jurors here [are] sending the message that you can brutally beat a person, without regard to their life, and get away with it, continue with your life uninterrupted," said Gladys Limon, a representative of the Mexican Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF). "This was murder. Luis Ramirez was murdered. A father, a son, a brother, a partner was murdered. The message the verdict sends is you can kill a person, you can stomp on their head until the person dies, based on their national heritage."
"The jury has spoken. We’re deeply gratified with the verdict," Frederick J. Fanelli, the defense lawyer, said. Disgusting.
What the hell LJ
May. 3rd, 2009 11:29 amLJ slathered my partner's journal with homophobic ads from NOM, like this:
You stay classy LiveJournal. You stay classy.
You stay classy LiveJournal. You stay classy.
