1495 Transmentalism

1495 Transmentalism

All this fuss about Caitlyn Jenner. S/he is all over, like pigeons in the park.  S/he’s bringing new attention to the problems of transsexuals.  But what about us Transmentalists?

I am a math professor in the body of a reporter.  

I long for the freedom to explore Fermat's Theorem. But here I am, retired from covering school board meetings, scandals, wars and market crashes. I long for a projected manifold.  But the best I can do is balance my checkbook (+/- 5%.) What a life.

Why, I can't even understand the difference between interest and annual percentage rates ... or why there IS a difference. Or how to subtract, well, anything from anything.

If one can change genders, why not mindsets?

Oh, being a reporter, then a commentator then a blogger has its high points.  But when you come right down to it, every news story is the same:  Who, what, when, where, why, how.  

Doesn’t matter whether it’s a meeting of the local sewer authority or the start of WWIII.  It doesn’t matter if it’s a gas station stick up or a global ponzi scheme.  Wal-mart or Ahmed’s coffee cart.  Any sport on the field or in court.

Opining has its high points, too.  Imagine, getting paid for spouting your opinion! And it’s okay to write while wearing pajamas and not shaving.  But after awhile, a sameness creeps in.

With math, things are different.

There are all kinds of unsolved problems begging for solution, each one different. Topology fascinates.  All you need to work on it is a calculator and a rubber band.  But you have to know what you’re doing.

Math is clean, elegant and usually much simpler than it seems.  E=mc2?  It doesn’t get any more basic than that. But finding it and divining its meaning and implications is endless novelty.

You have to have the right mental perspective.  And here I am, writing a piece about his or her s/he-ness.

I’ve been living my life with the wrong mind.  Maybe you have, too.  With sex changes, you remove and replace a set of body parts, inject glands with various hormones or other chemicals and go into analysis and psychotherapy for ten or 15 years.

Granted all that is expensive, time consuming, risky  and oh so showy.  But it’s simple compared to attempted transmentalism.

You can't imagine the conflicts that could be resolved with some hormones and an operation or two.  Meantime, anyone have a spare inchworm I can borrow?

Shrapnel:

--Yeah, we’re in fine shape.  Four million federal workers’ personal info hacked and the Pentagon assures us that there’s no danger from all that anthrax they sent out.  This gives us the freedom and breathing room to concentrate on the really important minutiae like who can marry whom, who can be forced to carry an unwanted fetus to term and the war on Christianity.

I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®

Please send comments to wesrichards@gmail.com

© WJR 2015