Log #6

Book: When Breath Becomes Air

Author: Paul Kalanithi

    I have finished two thirds of this book, most of the time I could feel the atmosphere of sorrow while reading, since what the author talked about were all surrounded by “death.” What is DEATH then? Is it dead to live a life of muddle along without any aim? Or is it alive to stay in bed with intubation for the rest of the life? What makes people feel death so frightful but also so meaningful at the same time?

    DREAM, I would say, death able us to have the courage to pursue our dreams.

Paul, the well-respected neurosurgeon who used to have bright future and successful career until he was diagnosed to have lung cancer, as a doctor he knew that the survival rate is low, however he didn’t give up on his dream to be a writer, this is why I got the chance to read this book. To me, “dream” is an important element in my life, but the path to achieve dreams is never easy.

    I started to pursue my dream when I was in vocational high school. I studied advertisement design just because I LOVE to draw, hoping that I would become a graphic designer someday, though deeply in my heart I knew what I really wanted to be is an artist, however we need to be practical sometimes so as to have a better quality of life in the future. Dream changed because of what we had seen, what we had heard and what we had learned. I studied art, fashion and design history, which caused new dreams appeared in my mind that I would like to become a fashion magazine editor or an interior designer. At the time in high school, I knew interior designer is more suitable for me since I was already in the field of design. I studied hard, everything went smoothly, I was the beloved student among teachers, I entered Department of Architecture in NTUST, I thought my future will be as bright as high school life until I sank into serious depression as a sophomore.

    Lack of understanding, interior and architecture design is totally different from my thought, I gave up in the field of  design, I felt like a walking dead without hope, going to school everyday to attend courses that I wasn't interest at all. Until I started to pick up my interest again, which is drawing and read the history of art and fashion, and it was also the time that I decided to transform my major to foreign language. The other dream I had in high school came up my mind again, which is to be a fashion magazine editor. The more I learned in literature, in history, in writing, the more interest I felt. It seems that my life started to sparkle again, and finally as a senior I am able to pursue my true dream.

Log #5

    Third year in university, as a transfer I am not able to graduate in four years but five. Since the last project is about self-exploring, I know that I must to face my biggest weakness: time management. “Lack of time” is always the excuse for me whenever I face my friends, family, or even my interest. But that’s not true. I sleep late, so my time isn’t enough, I shop online and do homework at the same time, so my schedule is often delay. Sometimes I even convince myself that I am only in my early twenties, I have one extra year to graduate and I have enough time. However I learned from one of my close friends recently that his junior just passed away due to a car accident. This remind me of the water park fire(八仙塵爆) happened two years ago, which caused to fifteen young lives vanished from the world forever. Life is unpredictable. I feel like my life just started yet, I am going to enjoy all the happiness in college and do my dream job after graduate, but somebody at the same age as me will no longer has the chance to understand the joyful of life.

    The time is never enough if I am always greedy to do so many things at the same time. I started to read a book When Breath Becomes Air, written by a doctor Paul Kalanithi, it's about his life and the process of chasing his dream after found out he had cancer. Though I haven't finish yet, a question appeared in my mind: how come people often regret on something they didn't do when they had time or they were young? Prevent me from facing the same problem in the future, I know I need to self-discipline and focus one thing at a time. Furthermore, I expect to learn more from Dr. Kalanithi. At last, I want to remind myself with the quote from Harvey MacKay.

    "Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't own it, but you can use it. You can't keep it, but you can spend it. Once you have lost it you can never get it back.”  — Harvey MacKay

Log #3

Topic:Problems that trans people face

"Bathrooms issue" let us know that most of the transgender people face mental health problem, such as gender dysphoria. However this is not the only challenge that trans people face in their lives. Thus, in addition to health care, I search for more information about obstacles that is common seen in trans community. The result have surprised me a lot.

I believe the biggest problem transgender face is discrimination, especially on job. The shock moment is when I found out that in U.S.A 33 of the 50 states have no state-level gender identity protection. Which means it is legal for employer to fire their trans employees just because they are transgender. Furthermore, unemployment of transgender is at twice the rate of the population as a whole. Without a job, trans people might face two major problems. First,according to research 11% of transgender have been evicted, with no economic base these people might can't afford to buy or even rent a house and this will lead to homelessness. Second, they are probably lack of health insurance, which mean they can't accept sex reassignment surgery, and this is serious because without the surgery they might experience self-hatred. This is what I never thought about while read Becoming Nicole. Not every trans is as lucky as Nicole, she has a family who support her and have the ability to afford the cost of the therapy, but most of them don't.

"A lack of understanding is at the root of all the levels of discrimination" said the policy director from National Center for Transgender Equality in Washington, D.C. Transgender people are everywhere among us, they exist and are the underprivileged who need our help. After knowing the major obstacles they face during their lifetime, we can let the society understand more about transgender community through our voice. Decrease the misunderstanding, they can gain help not only from us but the whole world.

Link: http://www.journalnow.com/news/local/transgender-people-face-unique-problems/article_636c92f0-891c-11e2-8ed4-001a4bcf6878.html

Log #2

Book: Becoming Nicole:The Transformation of an American Family
Author: Amy Ellis Nutt

After reading several articles about introduction of trans people, I'm willing to learn much more about their lives, something that will influence their living or even the deepest thought in their mind. Thus, I tried to find a non-fiction about transgender and this is it, a true story of a trans girl who is just two-year younger than us which take place in America.

Can you imagine of being disgusted by your own genitals every time when you are taking a shower or even trying to answer the call of nature? This is what Nicole, the main character of the story, had thought before accepting the sex reassignment surgery. Unlike sex is decided by our genes, gender identity is influenced by our brain. Research had shown that the putamen (which is the structure of the deep brain) of transgender people is actually different from general public. The size is smaller so it cause them to have the thought of living in the "wrong" body since they were born. Due to this mental problem we call it as gender dysphoria.

So how about the physical problem? Closely related to gender dysphoria, the issue of physical health is which bathroom should a transgender person use? On Nicole's case, when she was still too young to accept the reassignment surgery she used to choose the bathroom base on gender identity. The decision she made was accepted by some girls but against by most of the students even the Christian Civic League.

Transgender people didn't choose to be a trans but born this way. The foundation of  Maslow's  hierarchy of need is physiological. Easy thing such as going to the bathroom might cause a problem to them. Although setting up gender neutral toilet can ease the problem, however it's not the solution. Since Donald Trump had revoked the guideline on transgender bathrooms, trans people still need a lots of support and help from us, and it is everyone's business to defend  human rights.

Log #1

   Topic: So do transgender people have the right to live

    When we heard about LGBT the first thing that comes to our mind might be lesbian or gay, it just won't be transgender and why do this happen? The rights of  transgender have been neglected since we no the term "LGBT."

    

    Some militants might say that transgender is the disobedience of nature or even the will of God's. Though this issue have been gradually known by people since the promotion of celebrities, there are still a lot to struggle and concern for transgender people. It is surprised to find out that neither lesbian nor gay but transgender individuals are the most persecuted and least protected people in our society. More than seventy percent of students experience verbal disturbance at school. What's worst is among three transgender people there is one that had occur the idea of suicide in their lifetime, and the mental health of theirs have been long concern. 

    Everyone has the right to live and to be treated fairly, it is not depends on their look nor their sex. Transforming gender issue have been spread by media, intimate vignettes and even famous film that based on novel, such as The Danish Girl. People got the chance to understand what kind of group it is. However violence is still continuously happened.

    Various group of people fight for their rights and so do trans people. They should be treated fairly just like any of us. No matter you like them or not they all deserve our respect. Give them a hand they will live better with our support.

Link: http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/episodes/transforming-gender