I have few friendships outside of the internet. However, when considering the content I view online and the people I am connected with, I realize there are some key figures I know that already fill the mentor roles for me.

1. The master of craft

The master of the craft that I have been studying is Levy Rozman. He has many similarities with me but also has a lot more professional experience than I do. He is both a streamer and a chess coach who wrote a book titled “How to Win at Chess”. Part of what makes him a mentor to me is that he is doing all the right marketing strategies and is one of the most famous people in the world of chess.

What makes Levi so effective is that he provides hundreds of hours of free content on YouTube and Twitch, teaching people the principles of chess and example games. But he is really more than that because he is also a comedian, in my opinion, because he includes recurring jokes that make his audience laugh and people go crazy in the comments. Such recurring themes include mentioning Magnus Carlson in every video, phrases such as “and then he sacrificed THE ROOK!” and showing ridiculous games that never should have happened but did! Doing this style of comedy is perfect when combined with the most played board game in the world. Levy (also known by the username GothamChess) has made use of everything he has to bring the knowledge of chess to players and entertain the internet for over ten years.

2. The champion of your cause

According to the article I read, this type of mentor is someone in my current workplace. In this case, I would like to mention 2 people who are both my team leads at Walmart. I really feel like Carl and Cendahl have my back, and they also communicate with others about my work ethic. I love them both as mentors who share their experience and wisdom that I rarely find in a grocery store job. That being said, if I had to choose only one of them as a mentor, I would choose Carl because he always tells me to prioritize my schoolwork, even over my job. I couldn’t forget this because right now, I am taking his advice and writing this post while I take a night off. Carl is the man who knows what takes priority. I don’t know the full story, but he was previously a Rocket Scientist who changed careers so he could raise his kids better.

3. The copilot

The copilot I would like to mention at my current Walmart job is Tina. Of all the people I have worked with before in either the Frozen or Grocery departments, Tina shares the same work ethic as I do. I know that we fully support each other and do our fair share of the work. I specifically remember how she told me the team leads noticed my work ethic and wanted to make me a team lead. I told her I already knew, but I also felt like she was just as much qualified to be a team lead as I was, if not more. We build each other up, and there are no two people in the store who work together better than the two of us. Beyond that, we also have the same taste in music, with the exception of Taylor Swift, who Tina believes is overplayed!

4. The anchor

My number one friend and family member has always been my mom. She raised me as a single mother, and we only have each other to lean on in our daily lives. Even though she doesn’t understand anything I talk about, she loves me, and I will do just about anything I can to help her. The reason I know she is so important to me is that I often fear what will happen when I lose her because I have never been without her support my entire life, with the exception of Navy Boot Camp when I could not talk to her at all. That was a hard time, but not as hard as it will be when she dies.

To this day, the username for her email is navyboymom. I may no longer be in the Navy, and I’m not a boy anymore (I am transgender), but she is still my mom. Some things change, but some things never do. I have a feeling that not even death can separate me from her love.

Most importantly, she accepted me when I came out as transgender, and I realized that she loved me for who I actually was rather than what body I happened to be born into at the time. I should have known she would, but still, I was afraid because I had heard stories of those who were not so lucky and were rejected by their family.

5. The reverse mentor

I don’t actually have an example of a reverse mentor based on the required TED article I read. I have never been a mentor or teacher to someone else before in my life. So, instead, I will tell you what I first guessed a reverse mentor is!

I would guess that a reverse mentor is someone who is the opposite kind of teacher who teaches you the kind of person you DO NOT want to be. I would like to mention my father. He taught me that I do not want to be the kind of person who beats their spouse, lies and never keeps promises, divorces their wife who has been faithful to them for 18 years even when putting up with abuse, and then has the nerve to contact me and recommend a book on how to be a man.

He even had the nerve to tell me that I am self-centered. Am I? Well, in that case, I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree! I will give him credit where it is due. He taught me everything about who I don’t want to be. I vowed when I was a child to speak the truth and be the opposite of my dad. As I live my life, I often think about how I will be successful in spite of the bad start I got from having a lack of a father. Instead, I followed the example of my mother because she was the man!

Sources

[GothamChess]. (2023, October 8). SACRIFICE THE ROOOOOOOOKS!!!!!!!! [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye1p_x60Hlg

Klebs, J. L. (2013). From Rejection to Love (and other poems). Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Rejection-Love-other-poems-collection/dp/1492789062/

I don’t write on my blog nearly enough. This is mostly just due to having all my writing energy dedicated to schoolwork. For today I am sharing two posts I was required to write for a school assignment. Many hours were put into these, and I don’t want to lose them. They also go together.

Discussion: Current Issues: Post 1

For this assignment, I was torn between “Gender Equality in Gaming” and “Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in Games”. However, I finally realized that Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in Games covered more kinds of people than just Gender Equality itself.

Moreover, I am interested in how well video games and the companies who make them represent the LGBTQIA community because I am transgender, and I found that my preferences in gaming tended to be toward games that don’t include human characters at all. Part of this is because, most of the time, there are no characters in video games that I can connect with personally.

Because the assignment instructions suggested Nexis Uni as a good source for current news, I decided to use it, and I searched for “diversity and inclusion in video games”. I was pleased to find 11 results in the news category, although I expected there would be a lot more.

The article I first read was by CE Noticias Financieras. They mentioned how Grand Theft Auto 6 was the first in the series to allow playing as a female main character. I don’t know anything about the series, but it greatly surprised me that it took until the 6th game before they considered this. But then I remembered that it was not until Pokemon Crystal came out that people could play as a girl in the Pokemon series.

But that was only the first thing that caught me by surprise. The second thing was that there was an actual petition with over 50,000 signatures protesting against the game Animal Crossing for not including afro hairstyles in the options for hairstyles when customizing game characters. Nintendo corrected this and later added this hair type into their games. I never considered before reading this just how important it can be to some people for the characters they are playing in video games to have their characters look like them. I also would never have guessed that the afro hairstyle would be so important because I am white, and my hair can’t do what the hair of black people can!

Because I remembered from my days of playing Pokemon that the Crystal version allowed playing as a girl, I decided to search for a source with information on females in Pokemon games. I found a good article that not only mentioned what I remembered about Pokemon Crystal but also information about games in the series that I haven’t even played, where female characters took on roles for the first time as part of the non-playable characters.

I only needed to do two searches to find my sources. The first was on Nexis Uni, as described above. The second was a Bing search for “Pokemon first game to allow female player”. The important thing is that I knew exactly what I was looking for, and I had no problem using these tools to find and read the information that I thought was most relevant!

(December 5, 2023 Tuesday). Inclusive videogames, with more feminism and diversity, are in the eye of some studios. CE Noticias Financieras English. https://advance-lexis-com.oclc.fullsail.edu/api/document?collection=news&id=urn:contentItem:69T8-XNK1-DYY9-02FY-00000-00&context=1516831.

Schutze, K. (2024, April 1). Pokémon’s most impressive female characters, ranked. CBR. https://www.cbr.com/pokemon-best-female-characters/

—

Discussion: Current Issues: Post 2

After writing my previous post, I was very curious to see what other sources are saying about LGBTQIA inclusion in video games. I repeated the same searches I had before, but I read from different sources. However, I remembered that there was a specific incident that happened in Runescape years ago. I used Pink News as one of my sources because they had an article with the best information covering the Pride controversy of 2017.

In a Newstex blog, Rachel Kaser cited a report by GLAAD that 17% of surveyed gamers identify as LGBTQ. In spite of this, only 2% of video games contain characters that are LGBTQ.

Blair Durkee, GLAAD’s associate director of gaming, stated their opinion that people are more likely to express themselves in single-player games to avoid the harassment that they might receive if they were playing online multiplayer games. This is only an opinion, but it is certainly one that matches my own experience of being someone who played single-player games. The few online experiences I had in my teen years were not always positive because of online bullying of other people more than myself.

I will defend video game companies for their decision not to include LGBQIA characters. Although many players, myself included, would enjoy seeing more characters who are like us, I also can see the other side of the coin. If someone is a video game developer or publisher, they risk losing a lot of income if people accuse them of being too “woke” or “political”. The hatred of gay and transgender characters is a real thing happening both inside and outside the gaming world. Therefore, it is extremely risky for any company to take the chance of boycotts or lawsuits against them.

However, in spite of this risk, some companies are including LGBTQIA representation the best they know how, even though they are criticized for it. For example, Jagex, the company behind Runescape, has had Pride Month events in Old School Runescape since 2017.

A user on Reddit accused the developers of “shoving your opinions about stuff down my throat.”. Others decided to state their disagreement with Jagex in the game by walking around and typing “We Pay No Gay”.

I cannot say I am surprised because I have seen anti-gay messages on Runescape back when I played in my teen years. What I didn’t know is that Jagex would turn out to be such a supportive company.

Jagex responded to these negative criticisms with a statement:

“Pride is about bringing communities together and celebrating love and understanding: sentiment that’s close to RuneScape’s heart.

There’s no political statement here. Our only aim is to acknowledge and honour an event that promotes empathy, acceptance and love.

We are disappointed to see some hateful and abusive comments targeting individual members of staff and players from a small sub-section of the community.

We stand side by side with those targeted, in support of them, and in support of this cause. There is absolutely no place for hateful behaviour in our community and we will not tolerate abuse or harassment.

Pride 2017 is something we wholeheartedly agree with and are proud to support.

We know the community stand with us in support of the cause. If you want to show your support, all you have to do is take part in the event when it launches!” (Duffy, 2021)

Although I am very connected with the LGBTQIA population (who I like to call the Rainbow people) and am very aware of the need for representation in video games and other media, I also think that it is difficult to represent these characters in many video games unless they are heavily story oriented as RuneScape is. For many games, such advanced and complex topics would not even have a context to be present.

As a player and advocate of LGBTQIA inclusion, I would suggest that developers include such content in their games when it is relevant and that they are financially well-off enough to survive the blow when they are attacked for doing so.

As a final note, I would like to say that I had little to no trouble finding the information I needed for this post. What I did have trouble with was keeping myself going as I became very sad at some of the hateful things I read while doing my research.

But don’t be sad for me, for I have a secret weapon against this wave of hatred and discrimination! I will go and play Tetris, the most inclusive of all video games, because it has all the colors of the rainbow. Thank you for reading my post.

“Be excellent to each other, and party on dudes!” (Bill and Ted, 1989)

Rachel Kaser. (February 13, 2024 Tuesday). Nearly 1 in 5 gamers are LGBTQ according to GLAAD. Newstex Blogs VentureBeat. https://advance-lexis-com.oclc.fullsail.edu/api/document?collection=news&id=urn:contentItem:6BB1-PGK1-JCMN-Y3G1-00000-00&context=1516831.

Duffy, N. (2021, September 20). This is what happened when RuneScape announced an in-game pride event. PinkNews. https://www.thepinknews.com/2017/06/06/this-is-what-happened-when-runescape-announced-an-in-game-pride-event/

I made this picture awhile back and it made me realize how good the Progress Flag looks either in its original dimensions or as a square!

Original Progress Flag Rectangle

Progress Flag Square version for social media profiles!

The full meaning of the progress flag to me is complex and when I have more time I will write about it. However, I am providing this image I designed in Inkscape to anyone who wants to use it. This is a symbol that unites all the LGBTQIA people, or as I recently said in one of my Instagram live videos, the Rainbow people. Some also call us the alphabet people. The important thing is that we know who we are.

Have a fabulous day everyone. Be excellent to each other, and party on dudes!

For this post I am sharing a post I had to make for my Portfolio 1 class. I had to pick a company and write about how well it lived up to its stated values. Then I had to write my own list of personal values and describe them. Also, as a special exercise, I want anyone who reads this to look at the 5 values I listed and tell me where else you will find them all.

Chess.com Company Values

The gaming company I have chosen for this post may seem like a strange one, but it is rather unique in that it focuses only on the game of chess. Chess.com is the number one site for playing online chess because it was developed at a time when there were not as many good options for playing chess. Their stated values are Kindness, Learning, and Joy. They also state that they aim to be more than just a site for playing chess but a community in which players can feel safe and happy. Although not stated directly in their values, they also care about fair play and will do things to correct ratings when players are cheating. I know this from experience because they send me private messages, which I get telling me when an opponent cheats.

https://www.chess.com/about

While I believe that chess.com lives up to all its stated values, I believe that the one it lives up to the most is Learning. The site has countless courses, articles, and mobile apps designed to teach people how to play chess better, and some focus on specific openings. For example, here is a link to the article about Queen’s Gambit, which explains most of what I have learned about it. It explains the history, pros and cons, main responses, and even a link to a course about the Queen’s Gambit Declined response.

https://www.chess.com/openings/Queens-Gambit

Another great example of the emphasis on learning is that many coaches are available to contact people who learn in ways other than just reading or playing games alone.

https://www.chess.com/coaches

Chastity’s Personal Values

I strive to be consistent with many values, whether in my job or my personal life.

1. Honesty

I always speak the truth, even when it costs me friends and job opportunities. I believe a world where it is acceptable to tell “white lies” is a world not worth living in. It was because of this that I published a series of books titled “Chandler’s Honesty” which detail my faults and how I wrestle with my weaknesses as I make hard decisions. In fact, it’s important to note that the reason it’s not called “Chastity’s Honesty” is because I do not attempt to hide who I was. Being transgender is a rather hard concept for people to understand, but through the years, I have never attempted to pretend that I was not born a boy named Chandler. However, my mentor, Honesty the Unicorn, told me that there are two truths to tell. There is the truth of who I was and the truth of who I have become. To leave either part out would be dishonest and only telling half the truth.

Chandler’s Honesty

2. Kindness

If I had to define kindness, it is the kind of selfless act that you do for someone even when they never ask, nor is there any kind of reward for it. I live as a kind person every day by being a Vegan who does my best not to harm the animals as well as maintain respect for all life forms, even the humans I don’t like very much. I believe that the Golden Rule is the best guide to living a life of kindness. Everything I believe about gaming, religion, or politics starts with the requirement that I must treat others the way I wish they treated me if the roles were reversed. Also, kindness never conflicts with Honesty. I can’t lie to make someone feel better, but I need to hold my tongue sometimes when I am angry and could easily hurt them by telling them the truth at the wrong time.

3. Generosity

Generosity can be a form of kindness, but it most often requires giving something away that you will never get back or getting something in return. I distinctly remember the time before I went to Navy Boot Camp when I gave all of my video game systems and television to my childhood friend. I knew that I would have very little time to enjoy my video games because I was planning to be away for quite some time. To this day, I hope that she and her children are enjoying the classic video games I grew up playing. There have also been other times where I have donated to either charity organizations or individuals in need. As I reflect upon this, I remember the words of Philosopher Peter Singer in his TED Talk about Effective Altruism. Although giving is a good thing, it’s also important to be wise in how I can do the most good. I never regret giving my time or money, but I sometimes regret that I could have given something better or different.

4. Laughter

I believe that God put me on this planet to bring people joy and make them laugh. I have always entertained people around me without even trying. I have often dreamed of being a comedian who entertains many people. This has inspired me to become a podcaster and streamer, focusing on gaming but also entertainment and talking about important topics that match my other values.

5. Loyalty

I believe that part of loyalty is keeping the promises you have made to people and not just going back on your word. In a sense, loyalty is a type of Honesty, especially when you have made a promise to someone. If you don’t keep your word, then you will not only lose your reputation but also turn your back on loved ones who expect to be part of your life. But I also think that loyalty is more than keeping promises. I think that the way I take care of my mother is a form of loyalty and is indeed an obligation. I owe my mother for raising me and homeschooling me because it has led to the success I have today. Therefore, I believe that one can be loyal to one’s family, friends, employer, or even country. I believe that people should honor those who have helped shape the good parts of who they are. However, I don’t believe loyalty is ever an excuse to break the other values. For example, people should be loyal or faithful to their partner in a marriage, but this does not mean blind obedience to them or allowing them to abuse them or their children. I don’t know anything about marriage, but it seems like a good example of how things should be. I believe that divorce happens because of dishonesty and at least one person not caring enough about the relationship they have built.

This post was saved in my drafts from February 27. I decided to just go ahead and post it. It was exactly what I was feeling and thinking at the time.

The recent banning of my YouTube account really made me angry. It’s been restored after my appeal, and I got an email that it was an error and that I didn’t break the community standards. But for how long? Censorship is getting a lot worse on social media. Anyone telling the truth about important issues is going to be silenced.

If you can’t handle what I have posted online, then you are not ready to hear what I think and don’t say. So, before America turns into complete soviet Russia, I would like to say that I believe in God. Nobody will understand this unless they read my Chandler’s Honesty story. And maybe nobody cares. That is totally okay. But what I do know is that I cry when I hear true things that I know are meant for me. This happened many times when Honesty spoke to me in my dreams and when I read my book.

Humans believe many lies. Here are just a few of them.

The lie that Pro-Life people are only older men who hate women and want to control their bodies.

The lie that transwomen are only trying to invade women’s spaces for easy sports victories or to rape them in women’s restrooms.

The lie that we won’t get protein without eating meat.

The lie that people choose to be gay as some rebellion against God.

I could give a TED talk about how these are demonstrably false. In fact, I probably will because telling the truth is what I do. I will be making changes to how I use social media because I lack the time to get into arguments with people online who don’t listen. I expect that I will still occasionally post my gaming and programming videos when I find time to work on my creative projects. Very rarely do I have the chance between work and school. My real friends can ask me about other topics, but I am so done with trying to explain myself over and over just to have people say the same hateful and false things about the topics I have mentioned in this post.