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I read the story of the 15 year old in California who was shot in the head for being just who he was. He had been “ out” since the age of 10. As a result of his exploration of self and sexual identity, his behavior and visual presentation at times played havoc on the senses of those around him. One fellow student viewed this 15 year old's behavior as particularly invasive and libelous and shot him in the head and killed him on the school campus. This incident and others like it cannot loose its shock value. There must be a loud outcry in kind.

As a human race we had better get off our duffs and soap boxes and be true to us. That is too much hatred to conceive of coming from young children. Both youth present with their own set of critical life issues. They were both victims primarily of the lack of human compassion. What images, speeches, teaching, and conversations were the children that participated in some of the negative antics privy to that would provide the foundation for such hatred and blatant disregard for a human life?

We would like to think that we are a progressive society in reference to openly discussing, tolerating differences, and accepting the sum total of human sexuality; we are far from that goal post. The only real talk that takes place is to reiterate what is considered to be “ normal”. There is much talk about it if there is a political and economic profit behind it. There are people in this society that don't fit the normal status quo. No one has the right to take another's life because they offend the senses or alters one perception.

The adults, the authority, bear the responsibility for socializing our children. Through our various institutionalized systems we send the images and messages. We provide the tools and skills for love and hate. It is surely the baggage that we inherited. It truly does not have to be the legacy that we give them. We have choices as those before us. We also have additional information that puts us in a position of responsibility and accountability.

Now is the time to take a stand. The time is long overdue for us to educate and re-educate ourselves. There is a great need for our social systems, our health systems, our law-enforcement systems, and our criminal justice systems to come together. A clearer understanding of the issues is necessary. Children are dying in the streets. They are dying in places that were designed to nurture and guide them. That is so sad and it is not acceptable for any reason.

We need to learn and become aware of how the lack of knowledge of human sexuality and gender identification has shaped our environment. It is imperative that we realize that down through the ages human sexuality has been used as leverage to control or even steal the resources of others. It has been used to force belief systems, instill fear, cast damnation, and to commit cold blooded murder.

The school officials, teachers, counselors, parents, and the community residents were all running around as if “Chicken Little” had paid them a visit with his timeless message. This incident brought many things into focus for all involved. It was abundantly clear that none of them really had the tools necessary to handle such a situation. In the face of this tragedy they began to work hard to protect themselves by transferring the responsibility to anyone who would take it. Due to their lack of skills they were truly at their wits end with this situation. Their own biases against homosexuals lead them to overlook the one person, the lesbian staff person, who may have had useable information to deter such an incident.

If the story reads right, and there is no reason to think it doesn't, then the issues operating in this scenario to be addressed are clear. They are bullying, sexual harassment, gun violence among our youth, pre-adolescent and adolescent identity exploration, and guidance for straight parents in particular with children openly exploring gay identities, campus security. and hatred against diverse groups. Persons who have charge over children for six or eight hours a day or longer should be equipped with information and skills relative to these issues. This is core course work and training that should be mandatory. It should be mandatory for persons from many others disciplines and fields whom make decisions reguarding the youth.

How many wake-up calls does it take?

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1. Hans Christian Anderson: 70-Year-Old Virgin

   
   
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   Who is he?

   Author of classic stories, including: The Little Mermaid, The Emperors New Clothes, The Ugly Duckling, and The Princess and the Pea.

   What's his story?

   It turns out that Hans Christian Anderson (hereafter refered to as HCA) was a crazy pervert that frequented brothels, even though he never touched the women. Good ole HCA would just look at them and return home to write about it all in his diary.
   
   Aside from that, he often tried (unsuccessfully) to convince people (both men and women) that he was in love with them. He even wrote “The Nightingale” about an opera singer he later proposed to named Jenny Lind. She refused his proposal, so he set his sights on a man named Edvard Colvin.
   
   “I languish for you as for a pretty Calabrian wench... my sentiments for you are those of a woman. The femininity of my nature and our friendship must remain a mystery," HCA wrote in one of the gayest letters I have ever read. He missed the mark, as Colvin described in his memoirs “I found myself unable to respond to this love, and this caused the author much suffering.”
   
   He never could get anyone to fall in love with him, and for the last three years of his life he was in constant pain from injuries sustained when he fell out of the thing he could never get a women (or man) in, his bed.

2. Ed Gein: 77-Year-Old Virgin

   
   
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   Who is he?

   The real life man that was the basis for Buffalo Bill (from The Silence of the Lambs), Norman Bates (from Psycho), and Leatherface (from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre).

   What's his story?

   As you probably guessed, his story is filled with insanity and some murder. He grew up on a farm with his brother and parents, and was basically driven crazy by his mother. She refused to allow his to have any friends, so he spent most of the time at home or at school.
   
   After murdering his brother and getting away with it, Gein stayed home with his mother until she died when he was 39. After that, Gein went guano crazy and boarded up most of his house. He would also frequent graveyards and babysat local kids.
   
   In 1957 the police went inside Ed Geins house and discovered a dead women and a variety of crazy things made from women's skin and body parts, including a full women's skin suit that he would wear around the house. This was enough evidence to lead to a trial, but he was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
   
   Gein eventually died in a mental hospital that he was sent to after his trial. Gein never had a girlfirend, and he also said that he never had sex with corpses, which is good because I do not have to argue whether or not a necrophiliac was a virgin.

3. Charles Dodgson: 65-Year-Old Virgin

   
   
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   Who is he?

   Perhaps you know him as Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland.

   What's his story?

   Lewis Carroll is famous for his wonderful and nonsensical style of writing. He was also just as famous in his time for a lack of interest in being in a relationship with adult women (or men for that matter). No it turns out that Lewis was more interested in children, in particular little girls.
   
   While no one claims that he had sex with children, he did have an extremely creepy habit of drawing or taking pictures of them naked. Author Martin Cohen says in his book, Lewis Carroll: A biography:
   
   “We cannot know to what extent sexual urges lay behind Charles's preference for drawing and photographing children in the nude. He contended the preference was entirely aesthetic. But given his emotional attachment to children as well as his aesthetic appreciation of their forms, his assertion that his interest was strictly artistic is naive.”
   
   Carroll remained single and later died from influenza at his sisters home.

4. Isaac Newton: 84-Year-Old Virgin

   
   
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   Who is he?

   Discovered the three laws of motion and described universal gravitation.

   What's his story?

   Thankfully he was not a killer or a pedophile or insane, just really busy. Sir Isaac the Apple-headed was in love once though, to a woman named Anne Storer, and they even got engaged before he went off to college.
   
   In college he had more important things to do than to think about never having sex for the rest of his life. He cared more about studying than Anne, so their engagement was called off.
   
   Isaac never got around to having another relationship with a woman, instead devoting himself to revolutionizing the field of science and creating the nerd-virgin stereotype that has since been avenged by Robert Carradine.

5. Emily Dickinson: 56-Year-Old Virgin

   
   
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   Who is she?

   Famous female poet

   What's her story?

   Did you see her picture? Just joking, it turns out that she was just awkward and hermetic, referring to the few men that she admired or loved as “Master”. It also did not help that many of the people she was close to seemed to keep dying on her at young ages.
   
   Her mother eventually became bedridden, causing Emily to care for her full time. After her fathers death, her mother got even worse.
   
   Surrounded by all this death and personal responsibility, Emily just had no time to meet many new people let alone have sex with them.
   
   She died in her home of Bright's disease.

6. Nikola Tesla: 86-Year-Old Virgin

   
   
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   Who is he?

   Famous inventor

   What's his story?

   Tesla is considered by some to be the patron saint of modern electricity. His ideas were the basis of AC current technology amongst other things that are very boring but incredibly important.
   
   Tesla is said to have suffered from OCD, to the point that he could not stand the touch of another humans hair. This alone would be an obstacle on the path to getting laid today, and practically impossible in a time without electric razors, Nair and punk rock. Also, he was not very good with his money, and died poor, and we all know women hate poor people.
   
   While he refused to have sex, he did end up getting screwed by Thomas Edison a few times. So, there's that.

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Here's a shot of the Mahlum Architects offices, where I am waiting for our 9:00 meeting for the Catlin Gabel Creative Arts
Center. Note the central tables for discussion and sharing documents. The staff rearrange themselves periodically so that architects sit with their project teams.

Today, we take planning for data and audiovisual support to the next level. We are seeking to plan for future capacity without exceeding the budget, include flexible audiovisual solutions for classroom and gallery space, and ensure sufficient power everywhere for the laptop program.

To start the project, we will need to meet specific fundraising goals this year.No tag for this post.

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Here's a shot of the Mahlum Architects offices, where I am waiting for our 9:00 meeting for the Catlin Gabel Creative Arts
Center. Note the central tables for discussion and sharing documents. The staff rearrange themselves periodically so that architects sit with their project teams.

Today, we take planning for data and audiovisual support to the next level. We are seeking to plan for future capacity without exceeding the budget, include flexible audiovisual solutions for classroom and gallery space, and ensure sufficient power everywhere for the laptop program.

To start the project, we will need to meet specific fundraising goals this year.No tag for this post.

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