by Laika Pupkino
In the current chapter (#14) of Tyla Flowers' powerful gritty tale SECONDARY EDUCATION, her young
transsexual heroine Tyla is enrolled in a Los Angeles high school for gay & transgender youth called EAGLES.
It's a real place, and here's a link to an article, actually a chapter from a book (Transparent, by Chris Beam...) that tells about EAGLES. It is not a school any caring parent would want to send their kid to, but as described in both Tyla's story and this book most of these kids have no parents, or their folks kicked them out to go live on the street, or et cetera. The funding for this institution sounds like it's next to nil, the curriculum haphazard; about the best thing you can say about EAGLES is that here the gay and t.g. and t.s. kids are not freaks,
and they have each other for support. Anyway, the article is quite an eye opening read, and here it is:
Comments
Really loved the article.
Hey, thanks Laika,
Well, I'd say it was very well written. I guess that's expected from a professional journalist. EAGLES was very realistically described, especially the varied students. I kept thinking if I could have survived in those circumstances. I don't believe I could. Through college, I was terrified of being outed. I was pretty messed up, but I slowly got more confident and braver.
I was surprised by the end of the article. The class seemed so chaotic and the kids so distracted or disinterested in doing work, that I supposed that no decent writing occurred. I guess I was wrong. On the other hand, I'm also under the impression that most TSs are way smarter than average.
Hugs and Bright Blessings,
Renee