In the Media
A New Woman
The Register-Guard (Eugene, Ore.). March 26, 2017
It’s difficult to miss the enthusiasm, smile and swagger of 48-year-old Bethany Grace Howe.
Usually spotted in brightly colored skirts or floral-patterned gowns, the University of Oregon School of Journalism doctoral student and graduate employee bustles from classes to studying to dress-up “princess days” with her daughter, all while cracking jokes and emanating confidence.
On Facebook, a Place for Civil Discussion
The New York Times. June 12, 2018.
In the run-up to the 2016 election, Russian trolls wielding ads and memes used Facebook as a tool to darken lines of division. More recently, one corner of Facebook has emerged in pursuit of the opposite: civil conversation, even among those who disagree. It has become part of Bethany Grace Howe’s morning routine, right alongside her yogurt and cup of tea.
This column is about transgender people and it’s perfectly ordinary
Toronto Star. April 14, 2018.
Last year, U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to bar “transgender individuals” from serving in the U.S. military because in his mind, they “burden” an institution that “must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory.”
This year, the U.S. Department of Defence appeared to reiterate this odious assessment when it wrote in a memorandum to the president that there are “substantial risks associated with allowing the accession and retention of individuals with a history or diagnosis of gender dysphoria and require, or have already undertaken, a course of treatment to change their gender.”
“What we see in media is well intentioned,” says Howe, who is transgender herself. “But it’s about the battles — the movement. Even positive coverage tends to be wrapped around ‘transgender person rallying against the world.’”
Bring on the Waves
Eugene Weekly. August 11, 2016.
It would be cliché to say that transitioning is no day at the beach. It would also be wrong.
I went to Maui once. What I remember most was the sand, the finest I’d ever encountered.
I remember it most in the breaking surf. Omnipresent, it surrounded me, pummeled me, though I refused to acknowledge it. I love the surf, and I was having fun.