Monday, January 23, 2012
Ice Skating vs. Civics Lesson: A Tale of Two Field Trips
Check out this great post by Jennifer Levi, GLAD's Transgender Rights Project director.
http://blog.glad.org/2012/01/ice-skating-vs-civics-lesson-tale-of.htmlFor some reason, I felt compelled to bring my kids to the governor's ceremonial signing of the Transgender Equal Rights Bill last Thursday. They patiently (well, pretty patiently) listened to nearly an hour of speeches by legislators, officials, and advocates. That afternoon, I took them ice skating at Frog Pond on the Boston Common. On the ride home that night, I asked them what they thought of the day, imagining they might say something enthusiastic about Governor Deval Patrick giving them a pen after signing the bill. Maybe I thought one of them would say that it was cool to be in the State House or to get to shake Attorney General Martha Coakley's hand. Instead, my daughter said that the signing was boring. My son said the best part of the day was ice skating.
Their responses really came as no surprise to me. I knew ahead of time that the ceremony would be a bit long for their attention spans, that they would not really be able to understand all that was said, and that their motivation for choosing to go (they did have a choice) might largely have been about getting the day off from school to take a trip to Boston. Still, I felt compelled to bring them and I finally think I know why.
