It all starts with a step...

I have lived in Lexington a long time. It has been a great home for me filled with joys and sorrows. While growing up, moving away and then coming back, I have noticed some drastic silences in the town. To me, the most prominent and the most personal of the silences is surrounding gender. As a community there are so many assumptions about how we present our gender, how we interact through our genders and how we perceive our genders. I am hoping that through this blog I can start a conversation locally about gender issues and how they affect people. Through discussion, learning and compassion we can become a better community.

Granted, gender does not exist in a vacuum. No identity does. It is affected by all of the other identities that we each hold as human beings. I am interested in discussion from all sides and topics that relate to gender. Think broadly and I will too. Also, I realize that my privilege as a white, able-bodied, middle class, educated person can lead me to assume certain things about situations and ideas. I will try and be aware of my universal assumptions, but feel free to call me out also if you notice something. I am always learning and hope to help others too.

Welcome to this online community! Thanks for reading and contributing.

Mervin Sue