It’s Time to Rise.
Today calls for a special edition of the Beautiful Disaster Blog. Yesterday the world paused for the debut of Caitlyn Jenner (Formerly Bruce Jenner). Some had wonderful things to say and some were cruel. I want to welcome Caitlyn Jenner to the Beautiful Disaster Tribe and make her an honorary member. She may never see this blog or know that we exist, but that isn’t important. What is important here is tolerance, kindness, acceptance and love. Every Beautiful Disaster has a common thread (no clothing pun intended lol) – a story of trials and triumphs, battles and breakthroughs.
Many of us have experienced what it is like to live a life that is not true to who you really are, to live a life where you feel trapped, to live a life where for some reason you keep choosing to stay stuck.
Beautiful Disaster celebrates the men & women who break the shackles, believe in themselves and set themselves free. Caitlyn Jenner is one of us.
From Vanity Fair: Caitlyn Jenner compares her emotional two-day photo shoot with Annie Leibovitz for the July cover of Vanity Fair to winning the gold medal for the decathlon at the 1976 Olympics. She tells Pulitzer Prize–winning V.F. contributing editor and author of Friday Night Lights Buzz Bissinger, “That was a good day, but the last couple of days were better. . . . This shoot was about my life and who I am as a person. It’s not about the fanfare, it’s not about people cheering in the stadium, it’s not about going down the street and everybody giving you ‘that a boy, Bruce,’ pat on the back, O.K. This is about your life.”
Caitlyn will be shamed. Caitlyn will be bullied.
I personally send so much praise her way, she is willing to walk through the fire to be free.
Caitlyn Jenner is speaking for a part of our population that often times has to hide, boys and girls, men and women who feel bound and gagged.
Here are a few of their stories. (source:http://www.supportallstudents.org/personal_stories )
Ashton is a 16-year-old transgender boy from Manteca. He lives as a boy, but was assigned to girls’ gym class—this singled him out, since he was the only boy in a class full of girls, and made him feel so devastated he couldn’t focus in his other classes. After learning about the law, his school administrators met with him and his parents and made a plan for him to join the boys’ physical education class. Now, Ashton is able to be himself and he is happily going to school with his friends.
Zoey is a 12-year-old transgender girl from the Los Angeles area who transferred out of her school after administrators there refused to acknowledge her as a girl or allow her to use the girls’ restroom. Her mom, Ofelia Barba, says that the law makes it easier for her daughter to go to school and be herself.
Logan Henderson graduated from Santa Monica High School last year and now attends Dartmouth College. He came out as a transgender boy his first year of high school, and he had to walk across campus to the nurse’s office to change for PE, making him regularly late to class. Ultimately, his administrators worked with him so that he could do well, and he’s hopeful that the guidelines provided by AB 1266 will help the school support the younger transgender youth who are still at his high school.
Dean is a 17-year-old transgender boy from Bakersfield and takes online classes instead of going to a traditional campus. He stopped going to regular high school because he was forced into girls’ activities and bathrooms even though he is transgender and he lives as a boy in all other parts of his life. He wishes he could go back to traditional school because he misses being around other kids, going to school with his friends, and being able to join clubs and participate in activities on campus.
These stories make me think of an amazing song from Pantera.
At Beautiful Disaster we love extreme music because we are extreme people! Here are the Lyrics:
“Rise”
We’ve got no time to lose
Your news is old news
Hate this, hate me, hate this
Right approach for the wrong
It’s time to spread the word
Let the voice be heard
All of us, one of us, all of us
Dominate and take the motherfucking world
Mass prediction, unification
Breathing life into our lungs
EVERY creed and EVERY kind
To give us depth for strength
Taught when we’re young to hate one another
It’s time to have a new reign of power
Make pride universal so no one gives in
Turn our backs on those who oppose
Then when confronted we ask them the question
What’s wrong with their mind?
What’s wrong with your mind?[Chorus]
It’s time to RISE
We’ve lived with past mistakes
And we’ve lived with our own
Forgive, forget forgive
Be a man, not a child
There are no tears for peace
Of the common sympathies
Educate, reinstate, educate
A thing of past
The trouble in the states
It’s time to rise
We bless ALL BEAUTIFUL DISASTERS.
Original Post Date: 6/2/15
Would you like to share your story and be featured on the Beautiful Disaster Blog? Please email christie@bdrocks.com