Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Silverman Gretchen Peters Writes About Her Transgender Child on HuffPo
Posted by Jack Silverman on Tue, Nov 22, 2011 at 2:04 PM
She's also got a great gift for the written word, as evidenced by this very frank, touching and heartfelt story she wrote for Huffington Post about what it's like to learn that your child is transgendered.
Here's an excerpt:
I wrote, and wrote, and wrote. I thought about my struggle to own my identity as an artist in the world. I thought about my son's struggle to stand up and be seen for who he is. So many people prefer you to assume a role that makes them comfortable. But life is not about making other people comfortable. This idea seeped into the songs that were coming out of me — the old adage, "Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." I wanted to say what seemed unsayable. That life is tough, heartbreaking, unfair — and short. And that there is unspeakable beauty to be found. My son unknowingly gave me a tremendous gift last year when he bravely shared his truth with me. He gave me the courage to share mine.
Read the whole thing here.
Comments (1)
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Gretchen is very articulate and she did a very good job expressing her emotions in the article. I hope she continues to have a great relationship with her kid! That's the best a parent can hope for with adult children. / We all have a male and female side...I'm a woman and I dispise wearing dresses and make-up. Growing up, I preferred to be a"tom-boy", accompanying my Dad and brothers, playing baseball, fishing, hanging out at the parks, etc. , which was a lot more fun than playing with dolls and dressing up. Ya gotta live the life ya feel comfortable in. / Extra note: A few years back when I went to see Bryan Adams at the Ryman I was really surprised when he invited local songwriter, Gretchen Peters out to perform some songs with him that they had co-written together. I had seen her name on the Bluebird Cafe calender but had never seen her before or known her work. That sure was exciting to see Bryan Adams for the first time and then learn he's good friends with a local Nashvillian songwriter. I was sitting there in the Ryman and I was thinking I could go to the Bluebird Cafe, get to know Gretchen, be friends with her and then get to be friends with Bryan Adams. I have always loved his music, especially his singing. [After hanging out at the Bluebird Cafe a few times, I realized I'm not fond of the place at all since I'm not into the "shhhhhhh" atmoshere enforced there. So I'm never interested in going there again no matter who is performing.] I signed up for Gretchen's email newsletter after I saw her performing with Bryan Adams. One of these days I'll have to catch her performing "live" again somewhere and ask her to invite her Canadian rock star friend back to lovely Music City, USA. Gretchen is good friends with Matraca Berg (Did I spell that right?) who is good friends with Randy Scruggs , who I met back in 1972 in my hometown, Cincinnati, OH when we were both teenagers. Maybe Gretchen and Matraca can get Randy to come out and do some gigs with them. It was Earl Scruggs and his sons coming to my hometown and performing all those years ago that inspired me to want to move to their hometown someday. / Life's just about making friends and having special moments to share with them, remember with them and remeber them by...in my humble opinion.
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