Dear friends,
My mother-in-law’s partner recently reminded me that his gift to Lena for their second birthday was a doctor kit. As a kid, Lena gave many physicals, but only one diagnosis: ambigitis.
Ira and Lena, opening the doctor kit for the first time
I had remembered the doctor kit and my regular check-ups, but had forgotten the diagnosis, somehow. Lena and I had a laugh about this, since ambi- means both. It was only later in life that Lena realized that ambigitis is not really a disease. In fairness, however, they never did try to treat it.
Medical examiners are calling the death of Nex Benedict a suicide. Nex’s family responded with a statement
to provide a summary of those findings which have not yet been released by the Medical Examiner’s office, particularly those that contradict allegations of the assault on Nex being insignificant.
Nex, a nonbinary teen who was assaulted in their school bathroom and died a day later, did have a toxic combination of drugs in their system: an anti-histamine and an anti-depressant.
Their injuries have been characterized as non-lethal, though they included a “right scleral hemorrhage” and “scalp and subgaleal hemorrhages.” And those were just the head injuries.
It is possible to take a toxic combination of medications that interact with serious injuries to cause death. Perhaps both were causes of death.
Being nonbinary should not be fatal; it is not a disease. It is very possible that Nex did not want to die. And they are still, tragically, gone.
President Biden asked Americans to
“recommit to our work to end discrimination and address the suicide crisis impacting too many nonbinary and transgender children.”
The high school that Nex attended is now being investigated for civil rights violations by the US Department of Education due to the bullying that Nex experienced.
On Tuesday, I wrote about the confirmation, for those who needed it, that Biden is still cognitively sharp even though he is definitely old — another condition that is not a disease.
While both the major presidential candidates are old, only one has the cognitive capacity to do the job, not to mention the inclination to preserve democracy.
It is possible to believe that Biden is the only possible option in November AND to feel that he needs to be pressured to do better. So, I want to tell you about the Leave It Blank NY campaign.
While there is no uncommitted or write-in option in New York, blank ballots are counted. Since only 1% of ballots are typically submitted blank in New York elections and the presidency is the only elected office on the ballot April 2nd, submitting blank ballots is a powerful way to make visible the thousands of New Yorkers who want Biden invest our hard earned tax dollars into our communities, not in sending more bombs used to massacre Palestinians.
This won’t affect the number of delegates that Biden receives in our state. It will send a message.
Take the pledge to leave it blank; tell friends to leave it blank; and on April 2, leave it blank.
We will continue to send messages directly to the president and members of Congress concerning US policy toward Israel. It is clearly having an impact.
NY Senator Charles Schumer, majority leader and highest-ranking Jew in the US government, publicly expressed his wish to see a new election in Israel and dissatisfaction with Netanyahu’s leadership. His views reflect public opinion in both Israel and the US.
A former Israeli diplomat, Alon Pinkas, aptly remarked:
“For a Jewish senator from New York, the majority leader, a friend of Netanyahu who’s the most centrist possible Democrat and even leans hawkish on Israel, to voice criticism like this? . . . If you’ve lost Chuck Schumer, you’ve lost America.”
Call on the president (again!) to stop supplying Israel with weapons.
I promised some more good news when I posted earlier in the week:
Some of you were among the signatories who called it “immoral and unacceptable” to promote further settlement of Palestinian lands. Do not feel that signing petitions is useless. It is not.
whose income is less than 400% of the federal poverty level -- $124,800 for a family of four -- or whose debt is more than 5% of their annual income.
Letters to the recipients of what will be $2 billion in medical debt relief are going out from the governor’s office.
Bald eagles are nesting in Toronto
for the first time in the city’s recorded history. Their presence underscores the dramatic return of a bird nearly pushed to extinction and of the improving health of Toronto’s sprawling green spaces and waterways.
RuPaul’s Rainbow Book Bus is touring to celebrate a new online bookstore
to promote underrepresented authors. . . .[T]he Rainbow Book Bus, on its first cross-country tour, [will] deliver titles targeted by book fans to people in Florida and other parts of the South where many school districts have taken books off the shelves.
Here’s a little excerpt from RuPaul’s memoir, The House of Hidden Meanings, in which he discusses his own ambigitis:
Life is full of dualities - night and day, black and white, yin and yang, good and evil, birth and death, love and fear. You can't have one without the other. It takes two to create the magnetic pull to generate energy in the first place. This is the natural order - that everything, in contrast, hangs in perfect balance. I always felt both male and female.
Asked about his childhood, RuPaul said he knew there was nothing wrong with him:
So, you know, for years growing up, people - they didn't know what box to put me in. They didn't know what to do with me. And I was very clear on what I am, but other people weren't.
with love,
L