Remembering both Christine Daniels and Mike Penner

[Shana A]

Remembering both Christine Daniels and Mike Penner
Posted on November 30, 2009 by inafried

http://nlgjareact.wordpress.com/2009/11/30/remembering-both-christine-daniels-and-mike-penner/

Covering this past week's tragic death of a sportswriter who apparently committed suicide presents quite a challenge for reporters and not just because the loss hits so close to home.

snip

That leaves a lot of questions for those who knew the writer, much less those trying to write an obituary on deadline, an issue noted in this piece in the Washington City Paper. I wanted to offer my thoughts on how journalists might handle this situation. I think it is appropriate to remember both Christine and Mike, because both personas had a tremendous impact on the world.

[Janet_Girl]

Why is it that the is no mention of both of them in the major news groups?  Because we don't seem to matter in the scheme of things.

Just another pervert died.  Who cares?  They should all take their lives.

But what about the families?  How do they cope?   Do they just go on?  Or do they remember the passing of a loved one, even if they were disowned?

Who cares?  I do. And she was not just another pervert.  She was a person, who mattered.  She mattered to her friends, family, fellow writers and to the human community as a whole.  She was a woman, not a pervert.  She was a fellow human being that was murdered by ignorance , bigotry and intolerance.

When will it stop?  When everyone who is different is died?  And who will be the last one standing?  A very lonely, depressed person who just might have been the one who could have stopped the genocide.

When I hear of someone who was that depressed as to take their own life, I have to ask when will it stop?  One of our own is gone now.  We have lost a loving caring peron.  We have all been touched by suicide in one way or another.

Take a minute and remember anyone who have lost who was close, and then remember all those who have been lost or taken by the hands of another.  And then reply to me.

I did not know her, but I shall miss her.  Another sister lost.



Blessed Be
Hugs and Love
Janet

[Pippa]

Why does the media keep referring to her male name.  It is almost as if her transition didn't happen surely the headlines should have read 'Death of Christine Daniels formally Mike Penner'.

It seems to me to be insensitive at best if not actually insulting to her memory.  It is remembering her how others viewed her and not how she viewed herself.

[Allamakee]

Why does the media keep referring to her male name.  It is almost as if her transition didn't happen surely the headlines should have read 'Death of Christine Daniels formally Mike Penner'.

It seems to me to be insensitive at best if not actually insulting to her memory.  It is remembering her how others viewed her and not how she viewed herself.

Pippa, please excuse me if you have mentioned this and I missed it.... I haven't been reading much here.  But do you know Christine/Mike?  I'm wondering how you know how s/he identified at the time of death?

We all know that Mike transitioned to Christine.  And then, a year ago, transitioned back to Mike.  But what we don't know, at least I haven't seen a public discussion of it, is why Christine returned to living as Mike.  Was it because living as Christine was too difficult to bear?  Or was it because Mike was closer to his true identity? 

I remember the distress I felt when Christine returned to living as Mike.  My first thought was that stress had overwhelmed her.  But later I realized I was imposing my own desires, and giving my own interpretation, to Mike's life.  Respect for the individual suggest we should go with the gender identity he seemed to embrace at the time of his death.

[Flan]

But what we don't know, at least I haven't seen a public discussion of it, is why Christine returned to living as Mike.  Was it because living as Christine was too difficult to bear?  Or was it because Mike was closer to his true identity?

That point (why detransition) has been taken to the grave with them. Autumn Sandeen was up close and got alot of personal details during their transition. (pronoun use is intentional on my part) While Sandeen and I (in the wiki) would love to acknowledge the true inner identity of Mike/Christine, it would be a lie to not also acknowledge the choices made that shaped his destiny.

He made the choice to start the transition process, she made the choice in not digging deeper into the issues at heart, because it might have opened up old wounds thought to have made "go away". She then made the choice to try (imho) to make everything "go away" (all the deamons of the past out and ready to pour salt in the said wounds) by reverting back to "male".

Wither this presumption is correct, may never be known, but my point of the majority of the things that affect our lives are the result of a choice, sometimes not acting is worse then not being able to decide, sometimes one doesn't want to make a choice because of the feared consequences, that's not for me to judge.

[Pippa]

I only read about the transition back to Mike Penner after I had posted.   To be honest I felt a bit of a fool.  But that is often what happens when you don't have all the facts.   Being on the other side of the pond doesn't help either