Earlier this week, I received an email about a new class that was going to be offered during the fall 2006 semester titled, “Sex and Addiction.” Of course, I had to sign up, especially when I read that the course will include:

a mixture of discussion, lecture and experiential content for this course which will focus on:

• The effects of drugs on sexuality and relationships
• The effects of sexuality and relationships on addiction and relapse
• Sexual addiction: definition, causes, levels, relationships with drug use
• The core issues that are usually shared among people addicted to sex, drugs or relationships
• The addictive nature of some relationships

Good stuff, no?

College Life, UNT

I just got notice that I was selected for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Ally (GLBTA) Scholarship in Honor of Mary Finley at the University of North Texas. Today, just got all that much better!

GLBT Issues, UNT

Thursday evening, B.D. Wong was at the University of North Texas as part of their annual Diversity and Equity Conference. I was only planning on going to the presentation, but my boss asked if I was interested in attending the dinner first (a small affair), and I decided that it might be fun. It was!

As for the presentation itself, I had heard that B.D. was not a great presenter, and while he appears to be more comfortable when his words have been scripted, he spoke to the crowd as if it was just a small group of people in his living room. The rawness of his talk gave an insight into the man that was sitting in front of this group, as he shifted – at times, almost uncomfortably – around on his stool (at one point he was kneeling on this rotating stool, as if it were an overstuffed reading chair).

Part of his presentation focused on how he became more comfortable with who he was. One of the comments that he made was how there are so many components within a person's being, that the secret was to create a balance within your own self, and have all these elements synchronize with each other. Each element needed to be an accepted, and welcomed, part of the self prior to obtaining this balance.

I'm not sure why, but this commentary really sunk in with me. It was confirming a belief that I have held for a long time, that not one part of me, actually defines who a person is. A person's experiences, feelings, and thoughts are what makes a person, and these often define the types of roles that we take on during our lives.

I thoroughly enjoyed what was on offer, and am looking forward to tomorrow night's presentation with Yolanda King.

(Also posted at http://aboutequality.com/archives/28)

GLBT Issues, UNT

In my class tonight (Sociological Theories) we discussed – at length – the subject of suicide, specifically as it relates to Emile Durkheim's writings on the subject, and as it related to a film/movie that we watched called “Human Weapon.”  The movie is

For those unsatisfied with sensational television coverage featuring “terrorism experts,” HUMAN WEAPON provides the first sober, in-depth examination of the complexities of the suicide bombing phenomenon.

The movie itself did provide an insight into the rationale behind suicide bombers, and their belief that their actions will provide a pathway to paradise.  It was a little frightening to see calm individuals explain what they were planning, and how their actions were being praised by Allah.

It is this last part that I had (have) a great deal of difficulty understanding.  During another course that I took while at CCCCD, I learnt that Islam is an extremely peaceful religious tradition, and that the followers of Islam, and the prophet Mohammed believed in the writings of the Koran.  One of those writings is that Islam forbids suicide.  In the movie, we learn that some Islamic spiritual leaders have clarified this part of the Koran to enable suicide bombers to do what they are doing.  They say that what Mohammed meant was that if a person had lost the will to live (selfish suicide), then this is the suicide that is against the teachings of Mohammed.  If a person was willing to give their live in the name of Islam, then this was okay and that person would be deemed a martyr, and granted entry to paradise.  (I may not have done justice to the commentary given in the movie, but this is a very raw gist of it.)

What this movie highlighted to me – I guess I was naive – was how clerics and spiritual leaders appear to be using their position to justify their political actions, and if something doesn't quite fit with the actions, and the teachings of Mohammed, then a clarification will be issued that makes it right.  I don't profess to understand the Islamic tradition very well, but as the most recent, and most pure of the traditions (pure in the sense that it has not been interpreted and rewritten many times), it is saddening to see the Koran being misused like it is.

Of course, what I also realized is that the Israelis have been abusing their religious writings as well, just as much.  Don't even get me started on the Christians

UNT