On the 26th of January, we went to the Housing Works thrift shop to volunteer and learn more about what they do. Housing works is an organizations that raises money through bookstores and thrift shops for HIV prevention. They also give free medical attention, a place to stay for LGBTQ people and more. We volunteered…
On January 9th we had an interview with Randi Reynolds a transgender man that works in the after school programs at LREI. We used the same questions that we asked Chap because we wanted two different viewpoints. Randi had the same ideas at Chap about educating kids about these issues and more. Randi was also…
Monday, the 23rd we had an exclusive interview with Chap, the director of diversity at LREI. We asked her questions about the school’s opinions on LGBTQ issues and her own. She even showed us a video on an open community that has different genders. She also told us about her story being a lesbian, and…
On Thursday the 19th, we went to an assembly at the high school about LGBTQ equality at our school, and others. There was a panel of LGBTQ students from our school and the assembly run by a lower school transgender teacher; Joel. There were two high schoolers from Elizabeth Irwin, and three high schoolers from…
On Thursday, the 12th my Social Justice group went to Staten Island for an interview with a worker at the Staten Island Pride Center. First we made sure we would have plenty of time to get there, so we left early from school. We went to take the 1 train to the ferry station to…
On Tuesday, January 10th we had an interview with Suzanne Cohen about her experience being a gay woman, and about LGBTQ topics today. We asked her the questions about her life, and her opinion on LGBTQ issues in our school. Suzanne answered all of our questions diligently and she gave us a lot of very useful…
After reading the book, Being Jazz: My Life as a Transgender Teen, we emailed the organization that Jazz co-founded; Transkids Purple Rainbow Foundation. In return Jazz’s mom emailed us back asking if we had any specific questions for Jazz. She would then email Jazz our questions for her to answer and get back to us.…
On Friday, December 2nd, my Social Justice group showed the whole 8th grade a short film called, “Trevor”. We made an introduction explaining why we were showing them the film, and what the plot was. There were a few technical difficulties, but it mainly went smoothly. We planned questions in advance that we would ask…
On Tuesday, November 22, we went to the cafeteria in the middle school to observe a talk hosted by a mother of 5, Jodie Patterson. She is a transgender ally and speaks at many events and places like she did at LREI. She gives advice to people going through the same things, and is happy…
On Wednesday, November 16th we went to a lecture and Q&A with Moisés Kaufman, the writer of “The Laramie Project.” The lecture was at the high school on Charlton Street, after school. Moisés Kaufman talked about his inspiration with the play, and the how and why of him going to Laramie, Wyoming to conduct the…
Thursday November 10th, we went to a play at the high school called “The Laramie Project”. It’s about a boy named Matthew Shepard who was brutally murdered by two men because he was gay. The play written by Moises Kaufman and it was made up from interviews made by Moises and his team. They went…
On Thursday November 10th, our group went up to the Bronx on the D train for an hour to get to an organization called FIERCE. They help with LGBTQ youth and kids of color with helping them be more adaptable and comfortable in their own skin. We met Mustafa Sullivan, the executive director, to learn…
