tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post5251958974880784392..comments2024-03-27T09:27:33.931+00:00Comments on Idiotic Hat: The Tallest Short Man & the Shortest Tall ManMike C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-2403686940534783652018-03-15T21:31:51.529+00:002018-03-15T21:31:51.529+00:00Carl,
That's very interesting, thanks for the...Carl,<br /><br />That's very interesting, thanks for the comment. I've heard similar things from kids who were overweight when young, and then lost it in late adolescence; inside, they were always a "fat kid". Funnily (?) enough, something very similar happened to three of my classmates at school. We'd all been at the small end of the class spectrum, then those three suddenly shot up to six foot or over (not quite in months, but relatively fast) -- one of them requiring Achilles tendon surgery, while I barely achieved 5' 6"... It always seemed rather unfair, but you have added a new perspective. Maybe this is why I have remained such an all-round balanced person...<br /><br />MikeMike C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-52318781492379942812018-03-15T21:09:45.210+00:002018-03-15T21:09:45.210+00:00I have some direct experience with an aspect of th...I have some direct experience with an aspect of this. Until nearly sixteen (that was 1965) I was among the smallest, shortest boys in my classes. While sixteen year olds certainly aren't adults, I think we establish a great deal of our personalities by then, like in my case, having decided to pursue photography. Then I grew nearly a foot in a few horrendous months, landing in the hospital with arrhythmia. It took months of exercise and voracious eating to grow into my new 6'4" height. Part of my psychological makeup remains short, not tall. Once in a while I encounter someone who is clearly jealous of my height or assumes I must be proud or vain about it, and this attitude just amazes me, partly because I don't quite fully identify with being tall. The new growth actually forced me to relearn important aspects of my approach to photography because I'd suddenly become conspicuous.<br /><br />So I think it is unlikely that someone raised as one gender can, by sheer force of will and surgery, fully become something else. Perhaps when someone identifies as a trans-woman or man that's being acknowledged. I know that after more than fifty years of being tall, I've never completely lost the sense of being "one of the little kids."Carl Weesehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12291898089206705608noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-65009223001471571412018-03-14T20:58:25.877+00:002018-03-14T20:58:25.877+00:00Martyn,
Treasure that child's specialness!
M...Martyn,<br /><br />Treasure that child's specialness!<br /><br />MikeMike C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-46496139452603842652018-03-14T20:43:59.573+00:002018-03-14T20:43:59.573+00:00As the father of a left-hander ...
As the father of a left-hander ...<br /><br />Martyn Cornellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16843357962176591317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-22977174245259350922018-03-14T15:00:17.865+00:002018-03-14T15:00:17.865+00:00Thanks, Chris, for these thoughtful comments.
I h...Thanks, Chris, for these thoughtful comments.<br /><br />I had a similar reflection to your 2nd para while watching a programme about the "first nation" tribes of the Canadian and American Northwest. The tribal spokesfolk looked distinctly European, especially compared to 19th century photographs of their ancestors (who actually looked oddly Japanese). Well, they don't call it the "missionary position" for nothing, I suppose...<br /><br />My father was very liberal in his attitudes for a man born in 1918, but had a horror of "effeminacy" that went very deep, and had no doubt been inculcated by his own father, going on back through history. The ch-ch-changes we have gone through since 1960 are astonishing, when you step back and look at them.<br /><br />MikeMike C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-40709086535806760572018-03-14T14:43:32.161+00:002018-03-14T14:43:32.161+00:00A very nice essay, Mike, ad well worth posting. An...A very nice essay, Mike, ad well worth posting. And darn it, the essay's gone away when I get to the comment box! <br /><br />Couple of things I remember. I spent 20 years plus living in Australia, through the 70s into the 90s. As you might expect given its appalling past, the treatment of Aborigines was a big issue. I don't think they were entitles to vote or recognised as citizens until well into the last century! So there was naturally a continuous and public struggle as to how to deal fairly with the community and the problems that had grown up. But it always seemed odd to me that the most vocal, self-identified Aborigines were to me visually indistinguishable from the rest of the (very mixed) Australian population. I don't think this was only because there were benefits accessible to Aborigines that weren't available to the rest of the population, either. (And I've been away long enough not to be certain that I'm using socially acceptable terms here, but no offence meant.) Anyway, it led me to be suspicious of the categorisation of those labels.<br /><br />Secondly, I did meet, and work with over an extended period, a person who changed gender while I knew him/her. Nigel became Nicky. He had a wife and children before the transformation (and lived in Northern Ireland); not sure how long any of those relationships lasted afterwards. One thing that did become clear; you need an inner core of steel to undertake it and live with it, but the emotional cost was very high. It's also certainly not easy for those around, although it was handled very well as far as I could see. It would be interesting to ask her what she felt about that period.<br /><br />But thinking about the attitudes of my father and his father compared to my own, it's not surprising we're facing these apparently weird issues. No doubt my son and his son will face equally troubling but even more bizarre issues later in their lives. Thankfully we may never know what these are!Chris Rusbridgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06087447503626434385noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-18589122949486733832018-03-13T13:59:20.202+00:002018-03-13T13:59:20.202+00:00I'm sure you're right (based on no more ev...I'm sure you're right (based on no more evidence, etc.), although it is curious to me that sexuality and gender have taken front stage with the young folk like this in recent times. You'd have thought there were more urgent problems to address. It must surely be an expression of some deeper issue in society that "to identify as" X, Y or Z has even become a thing.<br /><br />Easy to mock, though, more difficult to understand! As I say, my view was changed, somewhat, by meeting my old friend's daughter-turned-son. I rebel at anyone choosing their own pronoun, though, especially if it's "they".<br /><br />MikeMike C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-31836940962262034592018-03-13T13:35:13.185+00:002018-03-13T13:35:13.185+00:00There are some peculiar fringes in the trans commu...There are some peculiar fringes in the trans community (to the extent of demanding that medical professionals treat the biologically male aspiring woman as a woman which strikes me as the height of madness).<br /><br />But I am pretty sure, based on no evidence except a broad experience of humans, that the majority of transgender people recognize perhaps with a depressed sigh, that they are something a little different. Not quite something "new" because after all they have always been about. I assume, again based on no evidence, that most trans people muddle along as best they can, taking what joy they find and trying not to step on too many toes along the way.<br />amolitorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15743439184763617516noreply@blogger.com