Homosexuality and AWARE

Well, the AWARE Singapore saga -- an interesting case of old-school thinking versus new-school, has finally come to an end.  It was a heated affair and very dramatic - more drama than local tv serial. In short, very wayang.

It all started when a woman found that the sex education programs conducted by AWARE for secondary school students do not use negative words to describe homosexuality, and decided that no negative words on homosexuality means promoting homosexuality. (What a nuisance!)  Then she went on to tell her church friends that their children will grow up being homosexuals if they attend such programs.  Don't you think the reasoning is mighty outrageous ?!.  Anyway, the biggest joke is that her church friends really believe all these nonsenses.  Thus, they mounted a "holy crusade" in March to infiltrate and take over a secular NGO  -- Apparently, this bunch of narrow-minded fundies just joined AWARE, showed up in large numbers to AGM, nominated for committee positions and voted themselves in. 

Thankfully, the crusade has eventually and thoroughly failed.  Skepticism over the motives of these crusaders led hundreds of women signing up as new members of AWARE.  The ousted pro-gay leadership then launched a no-confidence vote against the new board and finally won a landslide victory. (Phew!)  The saga once again proves that though majority of people are heterosexuals, it doesn't mean that they should discriminate against gays and lesbians. Homosexuals are entitled to all the rights and respects as human beings too.  Their homosexual behaviors do not make them less humans, do they ?

You may want to take a peep at these crusaders' private emails about their take-over plan.

It is a pity that even though they may have lost the battle, the fundies appear to have won a moral victory. The Ministry of Education said in a statement on Wednesday it had suspended sex education programs provided by AWARE and other external vendors to government schools because parts of the curriculum did not conform to guidelines.  I find the following statement very questionable. 

"In particular, some suggested responses in the instructor guide are explicit and inappropriate, and convey messages which could promote homosexuality or suggest approval of pre-marital sex."

What can you say ?  Yes, I do agree our DPM Teo Chee Hean's statement : "There are people in our society with different views and if ... we push them too hard, there will be a push back from the other side.  You are not going to resolve some of these differences because they are strongly held, and you risk polarizing society if you push too hard."

It takes time. Whether you like it or not, gays and lesbians exist and have always existed.  It is part of the nature.  Do you know that animals show homosexualism too ?

"Education is one of the most powerful tools for ending prejudice. Teaching in schools that homosexuality exists will help prevent prejudice. If you think it will some how ‘turn’ your children into a gay, then perhaps you need to learn more about sexual identity yourself." ~ apu @ wayangparty.com

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I'm from the mainstream --  a mother with a 10 years old son. I do sometimes wonder what if one day I discover that my son leads an alternative lifestyle ?  I surely don't want the society to discriminate against him.  Of course, i am definitely against promotion of lesbian/gay mentality toward kids in primary/secondary schools as well as promotion of religious agendas.  There is a big difference between teaching TOLERANCE/ACCEPTANCE and pushing an agenda.  We should teach in a neutral way (no demonisation!), but not promoting.

Boissens' Work

Come across this stunning engraving by Cornelis Dirckszoon Boissens today.  I always wonder how much time and effort a illustrator or engraver needs to put in to produce such a detailed piece ?  It seems forever to me. (I must confess, I'm not patient enough.)

A Monster's Notes

I was first attracted by the book cover design by Peter Mendelsund. The author is Laurie Sheck, and the title will be released on June 23, 2009.

"What if Mary Shelley had not invented Frankenstein’s monster but had met him when she was a girl of eight, sitting by her mother’s grave, and he came to her unbidden? What if their secret bond left her forever changed, obsessed with the strange being whom she had discovered at a time of need? What if he were still alive in the twenty-first century?"  ~ product description

This bold, genre-defying book suggests that Mary Shelley didn't invent the monster, but meets him when she's a young girl and after he's been abandoned by Victor Frankenstein ; this is the monster's account of his and Shelley's lives.

You will see Mary Shelley’s life from her childhood through her elopement with the married poet Percy Bysshe Shelley at 16, her writing of Frankenstein, the births and deaths of her children, Shelley’s famous drowning at 29, her widowhood, her subsequent travels and life’s work, and finally her death from a brain tumor at 54. 

The book can be pre-ordered from amazon.com.  You may be interested to read the other book The Monsters : Mary Shelley and the Curse of Frankenstein which also tells the riveting story of Mary Shelley, the famous English poet Lord Byron,  Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary's stepsister Claire Claremont and Byron's physician, John William Polidori who wrote the first Vampire novel.

Sex Instruction Book for Toddlers

Happen to find out that there is such a controversial book, titled "Where Did I Really Come From？", which teaches children as young as two about lesbian mums getting pregnant using sperm donors.  According to the News, the book which includes in-depth descriptions of sexual intercourse, also features a drawing of two gay men holding a baby in a chapter about surrogacy.

In a chapter on assisted conception, the book tells children :
"Sometimes, a woman really wants to have a baby but she doesn't want to have intercourse with a man."
"Some women want to bring up a baby by themselves, or with another woman, so the baby gets two mums."

Surprisingly, the book was actually first penned in the early 1990s, but has been updated for this latest publication in Sept 2008.

In my opinion, kids can barely even speak properly at 2 years old, so how in the world do you expect children to understand words as big as "sexual intercourse"?  They are simply not old enough.  I think the suitable age for sex education is at least 6 years old or older.  For one thing, I'm not bias and got no discrimination against Gay and Lesbian couples, every individual has his/her own right to choose his/her sexual partner.  The only thing that is different here is that the kids have two dads or two moms, and that's all.  It's not like 'homosexual" people are freaking aliens.  (Oh! I don't think kids at 2 years old understand what is the word "homosexual" stands for.)  At least, they are not harmful.  They don't kill, do they ?  But one thing to be sure, children who are growing up in so-called "strange" environment like that, more or less, they will suffer humiliation and school bullying, making them even more unbalanced.  The majority of people (heterosexuals?!) still don't believe in gay marriage.

The author, Narelle Wickham, says the book is only trying to normalise to children that there are many ways to conceive a child. At first glance of the book cover, I would say the illustration is kind of cute and innocent.

I recall asking my 10 years old son few days ago while watching the tv series Casino :

Does he know the difference between "I want to sign your ball" and "I want you to sign my ball", when a female fan asking her basketball idol (a guy, of course) with a basketball in her hands.

He just smiled shyly.

Light & Shadow

I've recently came across these nice Greenpeace ads at adsoftheworld. The advertising agency is TBWA/Vietnam. The concept looks familiar, I've a strong impression that I had saw something mighty similar a while ago but dunno where.  After much "googling", I finally found Japanese artist Kumi Yamashita's works.

She is good at placing objects (eg. wood blocks) of various sizes and widths on the wall,  lit them from an angle, and casts a silhouette of a man or woman.  Some eye-catching installations are achieved by a mere thin metal object with her clever use of light and shadow.

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Greenpeace Ads

For the ads, the execution is nice, but you can still see the telltale sign of "mistakes" in digital retouching :

• around the head and feet's areas of 1st ad "greenpeaceremotes", the angles of shadow on both ends don't look right (very forced)
  
• the casted hand of 2nd ad "greenpeacejunkmail" doesn't look that natural either 
  
• 3rd ad "greenpeacebulbs" is my favourite.  My only comment is to add another 1 or 2 bulbs for the shadow of his left foot.
  

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Kumi Yamashita's works

Book Bags

Oh Gosh! These are simply gorgeous.  They are all hand-made by Caitlin Phillips.

According to Nell Greenfieldboyce's feature Judging A Book (Bag) By Its Cover on NPR, Phillips goes through 500 to 750 books every year. But not because she's a speed reader. Instead, she cuts out all the pages and replaces them with beautiful fabric, to transform old books into stylish purses.

Why purses?

"The book kind of pretty much decided what form it was going to be," she says. "The spine becomes the bottom of the purse, because I keep the cover completely intact." She adds handles and a vintage button to match."

I wouldn't want to say much. Just go to Rebound Designs to view all the beautiful bags.  Prices range from USD130 - USD160.  Shown here are my favourite.

23rd of April

In case you don't remember, yesterday, 23rd of April,  is the international reading day - a day which is hard to ignore by me.   The day William Shakespeare, the greatest poet in the English language, was born in 1564 and that it's the day he died in 1616. It's the very same day that William Wordsworth wandered his last lonely walk, as did the great Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes, the writer of western classic Don Quixote.

Now I've learned that it's also the day that Henry Vaughan ( the Welsh metaphysical poet), Rupert Brooke (an English poet known for his idealistic war sonnets written during the First World War) and Harold Arlen (an American Jewish composer of popular music) took their last breath. As if not enough ..... it's also the date of birth or death of other prominent authors such as Maurice Druon, K.Laxness, Vladimir Nabokov, Josep Pla and Manuel Mejía Vallejo.

It was a natural choice for UNESCO to pay a world-wide tribute to books and authors on this date, encouraging everyone, and in particular young people, to discover the pleasure of reading and gain a renewed respect for the irreplaceable contributions of those who have furthered the social and cultural progress of humanity.

Lastly, it's the birth date of a friend (ex-collègue, to be exact) as well.