
Sorry about the gap between Anonymous Postings, I've been busy with personal stuff. This means that we have a LOT of posts for today. Much love to everyone who wrote in.
Now, notes from OC:
#1
Why I dislike the term "gay pride" It seems to me to be a gross misuse of language, a distortion of the way words work. But it's understandable that this term, "pride," is so widely misused by our community. It's American. We grow up in a society where people feel national pride, racial pride, cultural pride. But this doesn't make it forgivable. Pride is a concept that belongs to the idea of achievement. If you work really hard and you accomplish something, develop a skill, succeed in some respect, then you are entitled to be prideful. But using the term pride to refer to your racial identity, national identity, or sexual identity is nothing more than to take the accomplishments of others as your own. People who claim to be proud to be white ride off the success of other white people. How can you take pride in the success of someone else solely based on an accidental feature you two share? The same thing belongs to national pride. Getting wrapped up in being proud to be an American *usually* means taking the success of other Americans and applying that to yourself (there are exceptions where it is a group effort that you are in fact a part of). The thing these two share in common is that one finds satisfaction in a feature of oneself that one had no control over. You didn't choose to be American and you didn't work towards your American identity. You didn't choose your race and you didn't do anything whatsoever to be able to identify with that race. The concept of pride simply does not belong. Pride is reserved for endeavors you, yourself strive for. With regard to gay pride, I don't even understand what one means by saying that one is "proud to be gay." In fact, that sounds inane to me. Why are you proud of this feature? Are you proud that you have a penis? Are you proud that you have a left arm? Are you proud that your hair is brown? Are you proud of your green eyes? Are you proud that you have both a functioning thumb AND pinky? These are features of you that you had no part in. I suppose one could say that they are proud that they had the courage to come out in the face of adversity. That is a perfectly legitimate thing to be proud of. However, that is not what one says when one says "I'm proud to be gay."
#2
I feel in love with a girl and she broke m heart. I'm ready to do it again
#3
I'm an incoming freshman at Duke. I'm gay, but I'm only out to a couple of people back home, and I'm confused as to what to do once I get on campus. I haven't reached the point where I am comfortable enough to be out to everyone, but I really don't want to enter college under the disguise of a heterosexual (like I've been doing my whole life) and have to go through the coming out process later. I want to get to campus in August with comfort in who I am and no need to put on an act. But, like I said, I don't think I'm quite ready to do that at the moment. Advice?
#4
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/2012/07/18/macklemore_n_1684116.html this song is really good! I love that it doesn't sound like he's forcing the material into the music... It flows really well.
#5
[sigh] So, I'm an incoming first-year student, and I'd like to say I love every single thing about Duke and I'm so super duper excited to be a Blue Devil (like everyone here seems to do). However as of late, I've had some concerns. Right before applying and right after I got accepted, I had this notion inside my head that Duke was sooooo accepting of the LGBT community, and that as soon as I step on campus, I will be engulfed by a progressive castle-like wonderland of open-mindedness. My reasoning for this being Duke's selective-nature (I guess the correlation of college selectivity and open-mindedness really DOESN'T imply causation haha) This is important to me because I've been in the closet for my entire life and only out to a handful of gay guys that I know. I thought that coming to college, I'd be given a chance to be more open and happier about my sexuality. However in the last few weeks, I've started being more realistic and coming to terms with the fact that Duke has a reasonable presence of bigoted students. I guess I shouldn't have gone to CollegiateACB (I was so disappointed in the Duke student body for this) and I guess I shouldn't have read the June 18th anonymous post for this site. I'm just worried that I'm not going to be as comfortable on campus as I'd like to be and frankly, I've been flirting with the idea of transferring. I just want to get some input from current students. Is it really as bad as I think it is (PLEASE BE HONEST)? Is the (small) LGBT community here cliquey? I already have strikes against me with Duke being that I am not really a party monster, not really into hookups, and that I am a QPOC. Ugh this is frustrating!
#6
Anyone else down to get the chick-fil-a off our campus? It's not like they're ever open anyways, amiright?
Please remember that there are a number of resources available on campus and in the local community. resources are available over breaks and throughout the school year. If you or a friend are experiencing thoughts or urges to harm yourself or somebody else, please reach out to the following resources: In an emergency, please don't hesitate to call CAPS at any time, including "after hours" at (919) 966-3820. Ask to speak to the advice nurse and tell them you are a Duke student. You may also call the Trevor Project, a national hotline specifically for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and questioning youth (college students included). Their number is 866-4-U-TREVOR (866-488-7386).