Mike and I initially got in contact when I contacted them about providing support to Edcamp Magic. They have tweeted with our class when we've been sharing our learning about gender. We have a Muppet in our class, Syd, who is ungendered and my grade 3/4 students have been very interested to learn about people who don't fit into the binary gender model.
After Mike tweeted at us, impressed about what we were learning, we tweeted back, asking them questions about preferred pronouns. Mike prefers "they", but understands that members of their family are still more comfortable using "he" when speaking about them.
We have been so impressed by Mike's braveness in sharing about their gender and facial disfigurement. When we recorded this video, we shared it with Mike (along with Dancing Man!) and they shared a song with us.
We listened to and really enjoyed Mike's song (also called "Brave"). When we requested a copy of the lyrics, they shared them with us. I was moved to learn that Mike wrote this song for a young friend with a similar facial disfigurement.
I've seen my share of hospital beds
(You've seen them all)
With the myriad of coloured cards
Crawling across the wall
They came to my bedside
With fresh sympathy
Did I ever realise,
"They're as scared as me..."?
They called me 'brave'
Was I brave?
Am I brave?
Were they brave?
I was just a little person once
Not anymore
Now, you're just a little person, yet
You're opening doors
That I could never have opened
When I was your age
Sitting back in that purple chair
Composed like a sage
They called me brave
But you are brave
You are brave
Oh, you are brave
They see my face, they stop and stare
You know it's true
I think I deal with it better every time
And so do you
'cause that's just us on the outside
And eventually they see
Friends have X-ray vision
They see inside
And that's quite brave
Your friends are brave
Your folks are brave
They're all quite brave
Your head has the scars
The bumps and the lines
You may think it's ugly
I think it's fine
It's your face to love
As much as mine's mine
And they all will too
If they take the time
The headlines will say
'It's All in the Head!'
And so take this
With your daily bread
You've come this far
So didn't you know?
You are brave
You know you're brave
I know I'm brave
Yeah, we're all brave
Your folks are brave
Your friends are brave
You and I are brave
We're all so brave
Thanks so much to Mike for being so open and willing to share with my students. We have been really moved and inspired by your bravery.
