march 2021 donation

this month I donated to waterstations.org, an organization that provides water to "reduce the risk of heat related death of any individuals crossing the Southern California desert and surrounding areas."

I felt like I should probably have donated to an aapi org because of all the recent attacks, but I donate to whatever is pulling my heartstrings at the moment, and right now that's the crazy immigration situation at our southern border. 

there was a tweet from Rania Khalek last week about how kids are still being locked in cages. "Everyone wanted to pretend this was an outcome of Trump being an evil person when the real issue is our immigration and border system is cruel and evil no matter who is in charge and both parties are complicit."

gender

Podcast: Knowledge Gaps in Intersex Health Care (undark.org)

I always thought that if I had kids I'd want to raise them fairly gender neutral. I would allow them to decide what they want to wear, play with, participate in. tho I admit, I will cringe my little girl will only wear pink and play with dolls, or if my little boy only wants to play with guns and wear camo. 

this extends to if i had an intersex child. unless it was medically necessary, I wouldn't want to have my child undergo gender "assignment" surgery. like, what if I make the wrong decision? what if I choose for my child to be a boy and they grow up feeling like a girl? or what if they never want to choose? ugh. no thanks. kid, you can decide and I'll support you no matter what.

I understand that childhood will be much harder for an intersex kid. for some reason people are obsessed with sex and gender. people apologize to me and roux when they mislabel him as a girl. like, what difference does it make? least of all to him! but I think being honest with my child, and allowing them to make their own decisions is the most respectful thing I can do. this is their life and I don't think I should be able to, basically unilaterally, decide this for them.