Gender pronouns

Awhile ago when we got new nametags, we were encouraged to include our preferred pronouns (she/her/hers; he/him/his; they/their/theirs). I didn't want to, so didn't. In the past few days, I've been able to articulate more about this. My initial post about my thoughts is at: 
https://quakerlibn.blogspot.com/2015/03/my-androgynous-journey.html.

I definitely don't feel male, yet not totally female either, and not plural. Not cisgender or transgender. Identifying as androgynous, liking the pronouns per, per, pers (as in person), where does that leave me? It seems like when groups are trying to learn, being taught by transgender folks, there isn't always as much breathing space for people who, like me, don't really have a set of pronouns they use.

I've been told there are a lot of conversations in the online world about this but I haven't seen them.

Today I chose to annotate one of my email signature files with "we, our, ours" pronouns. Feels ok. Will see how it goes. (Note: lasted one day.)


4/1/19

I've still been struggling with the pronoun thing - I use "I/me/my" to refer to myself. When people address me, I expect "you, your, yours" unless you are a Plain Quaker, and then I listen for "thee, thy, thine." When we're discussing something, I hope for "we, our, ours." I don't feel plural "they, them, theirs," but I don't constantly think of gender either. I often think of myself as other, in-between but singular - androgynous - in my roles. If I want to direct how people refer to me when I can hear them (because I really don't care when I don't know), I'm ok with "she, her, hers" although the abbreviation for person works "per, per, pers" too. I wanted to make it clear that it isn't easy, cut-and-dried, for many of us, and the constant question about how I want others to refer to me is more bothersome.

Futher conversation welcome, here or elsewhere.

Birding 2019

December 18, 2019, GVSU arboretum, Allendale campus:
male & female Cardinals, House Finches, Juncos, Bluejays, Titmice, a male Red-bellied Woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatch, Mourning Dove; Fox and Black Squirrels.

November 4, 2019, GVSU arboretum, Allendale campus:
1st junco of the season.

September 2019:
In late August at our front feeders, I saw a bald adolescent cardinal, then read the Bald-headed Birds post on Feederwatch: they've "dropped their head feathers simultaneously during molting, resulting in individuals being nearly bald for about a week."

In the backyard, I saw a black and white juvenile with a huge head and eyes but no crest (like juvenile titmice but much larger). Finally, its mom perched nearby - a female Cedar Waxwing, so I knew what the juvenile was.

While driving home from work, I saw a single Cattle Egret for a couple of days, then a whole flock of them on the pond just west of 4463 Leonard St NW (West Michigan Academy of Environmental Science). The start of fall migration! On 9/5 I saw a Great Blue Heron and a Great Egret.

3/12, traveling in car, Georgetown township:
Sandhill crane flying!
Home, walking:
robin, cardinal, titmice, European starlings.

3/16, home:
Turkey vultures

4/6, home a.m., Blandford 5:40-6:40 p.m.
Mourning doves, bluejays, goldfinches, house finches, cardinals, red-bellied woodpecker, hairy woodpecker, downy woodpeckers, chickadees, white- and red-breasted nuthatches, titmice, robins, European starlings, red-winged blackbirds, crows, turkey vultures, Canada geese, herring gulls, house sparrows, red-tailed hawks, phoebes (!). Also - spring peepers & frogs chuckling.

Kalamazoo: Killdeer

On the way to work this past week: wild turkeys, Sandhill cranes

Indigenizing the libraries

A group of librarians met with a classroom faculty member this morning to talk about relationality, indigenous knowledge, potential library projects, such as how would we highlight the materials created by Michigan Tribal Nations people, mostly Anishinaabeg? How do we help instructors prioritize Native perspectives in all fields? How do we frame outsider/settler perspectives, especially in the Termination-policy era, for example? We could create a new library guide informed by NAAC or the Little Traverse Bay Band curriculum specialist Amanda Weinert (http://www.ltbbodawa-nsn.gov/EDU/EDU.html).

Language to use:

• "Tribal Nations people," "Sovereign nations," "First Nations" in Canada, band names such as "Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians." 
• Explain reasoning to learners, e.g., "American Indian," "Native American," "tribe" are all government-imposed terms, whereas a band name is the way that people refer to themselves. Another example is "Hispanic," also a government-imposed term instead of "Latino, Latina, Latinos, Latinas, Latin@ or LatinX." 
• "Settlers" to refer to more recent peoples in the Americas - from the early 1600s C.E./A.D. onward to the present day. 
• "Indigenizing" instead of "decolonializing."

Teaching and learning

https://www.retrievalpractice.org/strategies/2017/free-recall

Brain Dumps: A small strategy with a big impact. Pooja K. Agarwal. Nov. 30, 2017.

"Free recall is also known as a 'brain dump,' 'show what you know,' and a 'stop and jot.'"

1. Pause your lesson, lecture, or activity.
2. Ask students to write down everything they can remember.
3. Continue your lesson, lecture, or activity."

Use this as a formative, not summative activity. Set a time limit or # of items. "To quickly add feedback, have students discuss their similarities and differences with each other ('turn and talk') for only a minute or two before moving on."