Thursday, January 06, 2011

My Story Part 59 – Burgers & Politics

One of the things that I enjoy now that was missing in my life before I transitioned, was going out to lunch with a friend and talking politics. As I have mentioned before, I never really went out to lunch or dinner with friends until I transitioned. Now one of my pleasures in life is to go out with friends and have a leisurely lunch (much to the detriment of my waistline). Last week was one of those days. I went out to eat with a friend at Marlborough Tavern in Colchester; the last time I went out to lunch with her was when she was just laid off last summer. Then we went to the Skippers Dock in Stonington, we talked about her job options in today’s economy and one of the options was to go into teaching. Well she just got a job teaching at a local community college, so we went out to celebrate her new job. Over lunch, among the topics that we talked about was next year’s legislative session, how the new co-chairs of will affect our chances of passing an anti-discrimination bill.

My interest in politics came about because of a desire to pass the gender inclusive anti-discrimination legislation. Which require to have an understanding of the legislative process and to be knowledgeable of what is happening at the state Capitol. In workshops on lobbying, one of the ways that always came up was to work for a candidate, which I have and as result, I gotten to know a number of legislators. In addition, my concentration in school is community organizing which required me to take several classes on activism and know my way around the legislative office building.

My interest in food, well I have always been interested in food, but not in dinning out or cooking. I joke about that the reason why I like to cook is because of all the chemistry classes that I had to take to finally pass the class, but really, it is just because I like good food. My mother was from the school of cooking that you cook meat until it is not pink inside and it became like shoe leather, plus the fact that back then there was no fresh vegetable, therefore everything came from cans and was mushy. Once I found that food can taste great and was easily prepared, I started cooking.

Therefore, the natural combination was a marriage of politics and food.

2 comments:

  1. Diana,

    I can completely relate to your growing up with Mom. I never ate real fish until college. Mrs. Paul's fish sticks was lobster in my house. ; )

    Regarding politics, thanks for your efforts and how you are going about them. Though I live in another state, I may benefit from them someday.

    Just in case and I am not assuming anything, please don't hesitate to call on and try to work with the Republicans in your legislature. We can't rely on the Democrats to carry all of our water anymore. Most R's are open-minded enough to hear you and sit down with you. That can be a great start. It can also help get the D's to see that you and the "T" community aren't sitting around waiting for the phone to ring.

    I believe that the R's are worth the long-term work. Admittedly, in my case, I ain't able to help right now because of things like ENDA not being put up for a vote and passing in Congress. Hope that will change some day.

    Anyway, thanks again and good luck. Or... kick butt! : )

    Best,

    Karin ("I'm Just A Girl (I Think)" Blog)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Karin
    Actually, Connecticut Republicans are a different bred than most of the other states. Many of them do support the gender inclusive anti-discrimination bill.

    ReplyDelete