A Pause to Reflect

The Utah State Legislature is at it again. This time they signed a letter supporting Utah university volleyball teams that refused to play San Jose State University because they have a trans woman on the team. One woman—who just happens to be trans. This woman, in order to play on the team had to pass hormonal tests dictated by the NCAA, that certified that she was well into her physical transition, and therefore had no inherent testosterone-based advantage.

In addition, volleyball is not a contact sport. The only thing that players contact is the volleyball itself, the ground, and other players on the same team. If anything, trans women athletes have a harder hurdle to overcome because their body is responding to the influx of greater female hormones, and a reduction to practically non-existent male hormones. Their bodies are morphing constantly, losing any natural potential they once had, and have to train at least as hard to keep up. Furthermore, women can spike the ball just as hard as men.

Our legislators did not come from a loving, compassionate place when they signed that letter. They came from an ideological, misinformed place that does not give fair and equal access to trans folks, and does not even seek to understand the dynamics at play. They come from a place that refuses to see that maybe they have been misled, maybe there is more information out there, maybe they should do a little bit of personal research of actual trans cases, before dismissing trans people as some inherent danger.

The appropriate response of the legislators should have been to show compassion for the trans athlete, and to censure the spiteful actions of the university teams that refused to play with a trans athlete. It should have been an admonishment to become better informed, that the team members should feel ashamed for openly displaying such unacceptance and inhospitality. But what can we expect from a party that seeks to use trans people as a political football?

On election day, I expected many people would be crying: some for sheer relief and joy, others for disappointment and fear. The news from the Iowa poll was encouraging. As a reliably accurate poll, it gave Kamala the edge.

I mistakenly had the feeling that the polls were biasing too far to the right in general. I believed people who were voting for Harris were playing it close to the chest. In 2016, when there seemed to be such an outpouring of support for Clinton, the polls actually belied the actual results. I heard on the grapevine that a significant number of supporters for Trump wouldn’t talk with pollsters or would lie to them. Given the false confidence on the Democratic side, many would be voters may have stayed home thinking Hilary had it in the bag. The effect was tremendous. Handfuls of votes in key states gave Trump the presidency.

It seemed like the tides had turned. Trump supporters were definitely more in the spotlight, and the race appeared to be neck in neck. I thought a significant number of people who are voting for Harris, were remaining mum about their vote, in order to underscore the need to keep voting as long as the race appears to be a dead heat. I believed the support was out there, and as long as people made it to the polls and had their vote counted.

Trump won. I went to a wedding.

Tuesday evening, a friend and I went to the Election Night Party at the Woodbine Food Hall. The place was packed, noisy, and hard to find a seat. As we walked in, I saw someone walking out with an Italian pasta dish. We searched all of the food court and couldn’t find any that sold pasta. I settled on a shop that had pork schnitzel sandwiches and dark chocolate brownies. Unfortunately, they sold their last pork schnitzel, so I settled for a BLAT sandwich and one of their brownies.

There were a lot of people I knew there, and I reconnected with people who knew me from belly dancing, my teacher Jaime and her parents. It was nice to have an intellectual discussion, and for some reason I talked about the rise of Sapiens and how they were not a distinct species, but probably wiped out the other family groups as viral carriers.

My legislative district seems to have picked up seat with the election of Jake Fitisemanu as my new representative. That makes two districts that I have been a part of that switched from red to blue. Overall, the vote in Utah for Democrats was better that it was four years ago. Every county showed a higher percentage that voted for Kamala than voted Biden in the prior election.

The following morning, I found out the election did not go as expected. The national turnout did not follow Utah’s trend. Less people overall voted than in years past, giving the election to Donald Trump. I listened to his victory speech, and Kamala Harris’s concession speech, and noted the marked contrast. In one run-on sentence, Trump said America was the greatest country in the world, and that we were going to make America great again, making absolutely zero sense. America never was great, but has been working toward a great promise of what she can be, based on principles and rights laid out in the Declaration of Independence, the manifesto on which this country was founded. He also said that he was going to give one of the most blatant science deniers free reign, and was going to open up more drilling for oil. He also promised Elon Musk a prominent spot in his administration.

Trump’s proposed tariff’s will result in increased consumer prices and lower quality. I assume there are a lot of people like me that shop for quality. If the better quality item originates overseas, that will mean that I will have to pay more for it, because the company will pass the costs to the consumers. Because people will not be able to afford the higher quality item, they will then purchase the lower-priced, lower-quality domestic item. This increase in demand will drive prices up, so people are paying more for less, and one of the prime motivators for innovation is stifled. In a nutshell, less for more.

Kamala Harris’s concession speech on the other hand was inspiring. She spoke of conceding the election, but not conceding the fight. She spoke about the need to honor peaceful transfers of power. While we may transfer administrations, we still have our work cut out for us, to hold back the incursions on our liberties and on our rights, and to continue to move forward fighting injustice. We can’t give up at this point we have to fight harder.

We know how to fight. Eight year ago this was new, it was a shock. But we fought back then and we will fight back now. This is no longer new. The coalitions that we have built can and must continue to stand strong against adversity. Our people, our planet deserve better.

With these election results and the current president of the ACLU of Utah wanting to serve another term as President of the ACLU, I am considering running for the position of National Rep for our board. That would give me the chance to serve up to a full four years for our affiliate.

Two nights ago, two of my friends got married in a quasi-traditional wedding, with our Utah State Senator presiding. There were lots of Indiana Jones and Star Wars references, and encouragement to “hoop and holler” for the couple. The guest book was voice mail with a phone interface, and they had all kinds of sweets for the reception.

While there, I wasn’t able to completely sidestep political conversations—well, primarily because of what happened, and most of my friends there I met in various political venues. One woman approached me with concern about her non-binary daughter, and just needed someone to talk to. This is happening a lot now, and it is the best thing we can do for the anxiety. We have been here before. We know what needs to be done, so we take a breather, reconnect, listen to one another, and then roll up our sleeves and get to work.

In Eden’s Trial, by Barry Kirwan, Jen seethes with anger. She remembers the first time she feels she really killed someone. She feels like she needs to be looking for a weapon, not a place to hide.

In Eden’s Revenge, Sister Esma calms her breathing as she arrives at the bridge. She calls for a report. Serena tells her the quarantine is down two days early, and the residents of the planet are sitting ducks.

Through the Hohash that belonged to Kalarash, a voice asks Gabriel to listen to her. Unable to turn around, he asks if the voice belongs to his Aunt Jennifer, the only woman he knew of linked to the Kalarash.

In Eden’s Endgame, Jura, one of the two remaining Alicians is unaware of what is happening to the rest of the ship. He tells Louise that the sentient spider they are analysing is impenetrable to magnetic wave imaging. She has missed contact with other Alicians for the last 18 years.

Sandy, held prisoner by Louise, asks her why she should cooperate. Louise tells her it’s because she has unfinished business with Micah. Sandy replies that her question still stands.

In More Stars than Grains of Sand, Al Forsyth explores animal exceptionality. Looking at the world of non-human animals through the five senses helps puts things in perspective. As an example, a grizzly bear can smell a carcass 18 miles away.