Yet another gift of my work

Today I stopped at the bookstore, and among some other things, purchased: UnDrunk: A Skeptic’s Guide to AA; Crave: Why You Binge Eat and How to Stop; and Cutting: Understanding and Overcoming Self-Mutilation. I paid for my purchase, left the store, and it never even occurred to me until I was out of the store that in the past I probably would have wondered whether the shop clerk was thinking, “God, that poor girl must be one heavy-drinking, binge-eating, razor-blade-licking sad mo-fo to be needing all three of these books at one time!” That’s certainly been one of the many gifts of my job, a complete and total loss of self-consciousness around the purchasing of self-help books with embarrassing titles. Probably among the best was How to Start Conversations and Make Friends, but there are plenty of other contenders, including Guide to Getting It On (you need a guide?) and the many, many books on my shelves with titles having to do with Sexual Addiction. It’s probably nothing short of astonishing that I give the buying of these books about as much self-conscious thought as I do the purchasing of, say, Guide to Mid-Atlantic Gardening.

Transgender children

Just heard a great 17-minute audio piece ("Tom Girls") on transgender children on the "This American Life" episode of 2-16-09. I've never before heard 7-year-old transgender children interviewed, nor had I met any children of that description/age , and it was both heartrending and as well as just plain interesting to hear both the children and their parents talk about their struggles. One family was actually doing pretty well coping with the parenting task that life had handed to them, so that was a nice angle to hear, and made you think about all the kids who didn't get that.

Listen here (skip ahead to "Act Two"):
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1283