Luchy

Hank's Oyster Bar has expanded to a few locations now, but I am pretty sure they were at the Dupont Circle location on Q street in DC.

I have sent a few kids off to college in recent years. Every time, the college plans something so that the kids are busy while the parents are in some kind of auditorium and various deans and administrators stand on a stage and firmly tell you how very important is for your child that you NOT stick around. They make it very clear that lurking around those first few weeks is NOT in your child's best interest.

During the end of season 6, when Jazz was sending in a deposit to Harvard, there was a discussion about Jazz was requesting a medical single in order to have privacy for her dilation, so that will fortunately not be an issue.

Don't most home-schoolers tend to be rather religious and conservative? Not necessarily. A lot of homeschoolers have kids who parents thought would be damaged/crushed by formal school -- the kids whose parents thought they were brilliant, creative, often LD or unusual for other reasons (like being trans). Similar population to the virtual school where Jazz ended up. That's the population of New School. It's a little island of nonconformity on the west coast of Florida. But yeah, anywhere less stressful would be better, especially if the kid could live on her own for a while.

Harvard (and some other highly competitive colleges) are known for their "celebrity admits." They have tons of kids applying with perfect GPAs, perfect SATs, 5s on every AP test possible, as well as SGA president/editor of student news/all around athlete, and most of those kids don't even get in! A college like Harvard can pick and choose, so they go for people who might make life interesting or colorful for everyone else. It's no mystery how she got into Harvard -- she is a minor celebrity with an interesting life story, and her grades from her online school were good enough to suggest she could muddle through. That's their prerogative, and it is their way of balancing out the brainiacs. That said, I don't think Harvard, Pomona (a VERY rigorous school in California), or any other super competitive school would have been the right choice for someone with her mental health issues, and I worry for the kid that she will end up feeling like a failure. A few years ago, I had a student go to a school in Florida called New College of Florida. It was small, kind of offbeat, and filled with homeschool kids. That would have been a far better place for her and, since it is a Florida State College, would have allowed her to declare independence and break free from the fam if needed. I would still love to see her check that out.

We know that Jazz is SOMEWHERE this semester (hints from her mother's twitter wishing her a happy birthday from afar, photos from a bedroom that is not in her Florida home, etc), but I'm not convinced that it is Harvard. I still think it would be much better for her mental health to go pretty much anywhere else, and I'm hoping for her sake that she ended up somewhere lower key.

Drag is a theatrical art form. Drag artists pride themselves on their look and on their performance. It isn't my preferred entertainment, but, having seen a few drag shows in my life, I can say that these artists take their art seriously and work hard to perfect their act. A drag show is not family members wearing wigs and prancing around. That's summer camp variety show stuff and no one is going to pay to see it -- much less pay so much that they raise an astonishing $15,000. And a week before the show, they don't even have a venue or a headliner? That makes no sense. Why did Jazz say that this was the only thing she "knows how to do?" Obviously she doesn't know how to do it. If they make any money at all (rather than lose money), it will be because the show's producers stepped in and made it happen.

Jojo is very cute. But why is she not in therapy? If she has issues so severe that she has attempted or thought of attempting suicide, she should be under the continuing care of a mental health professional. A boob job is not going to help. Jojo is also very, very thin. Of course she has small breasts; you need body fat to have breasts! Her mom and grandma are both average to a little chunky, so I suspect she will gain weight as she gets older, and the breast cup size will take care of itself. To get big breasts on such a small frame will look silly and weight gain over time will change the look. I work with a woman who had implants and it isn't a one-time deal. She's had to have them replaced twice and she is dismayed by the scarring (which has gotten worse with each surgery). Surgery is by its very nature an invasive process and I hate how it is pushed on this program. Before even discussing surgery, I would ask her to (1) be getting regular therapy for her self-image issues and depression, and (2) see a bra fitting expert and get a really good figure-enhancing bra (expensive, but nothing compared to the cost of surgery).

With regard to Harvard, these parents are idiots. Lots of students choose not to go to Harvard. It's a big university where the emphasis is on the graduate students and the undergrads are known for their attitude. Given her unhappiness in her high school, I think her "gut feel" may have been absolutely correct here -- a small, highly-ranked liberal arts college where she will get the attention she craves? Sounds like a much better fit. And those connections and close friendships she is likely to find at Pomona will possibly do more for her long term than the Harvard name. I would advise her to go to Pomona undergrad and then Harvard for grad school if she is so inclined. And yes, California is far, but so is Boston. Neither is a reasonable driving distance from Florida, so the time navigating airports ends up making them very similar in terms of getting back and forth. So now the parents are all about her thinking rationally and "considering what she is giving up" even though she has been allowed to rely on her gut feel for pretty much every life-changing decision she has ever made up to this point. If they want to steer her, I would start with steering her away from participating in shows like "What would you do?" which just creates artificial trigger situations that are hard for her. Regarding Jojo's grandma, well of course she doesn't support a boob job for a 14-15 year old! You don't know how things will progress after more time on hormones; Jojo is thin enough that she wouldn't look good with larger breasts. Most 14-15 year old girls, regardless of trans status, are unhappy about their chests. Puberty is hard. Most girls that age who want more cleavage do so with well-made push up bras, which can create an illusion of an ample chest even without much to work with. And Jazz's meltdown seemed strange and I suspect it had more to do with the pressure she is feeling than Jojo's boobs.

She looked good when she had professional makeup done for the TV show -- they used a lip liner and treatment that smoothed out the dark line and made it look all one shade which was pleasing. The look she is adopting for the "sitting on the couch" interviews, the one with the reddish eye shadow and the hair pulled up and on the side, really emphasizing her ears and jaw, isn't her best, but she might just be experimenting with her "look" right now. Goodness knows her mom isn't the best role model for makeup application.

Aw Greg really endeared himself to me tonight. In the talk to the camera part, talking about going shopping for lingerie: Greg (husky voice): Sexy... Jeanette (seeking validation): Even on me? Sexy? Greg (husky voice): It's especially sexy on you... sexy... So I don't see it myself, but hey, he knows exactly what to say!

I feel so bad for Jazz. She seems to be, emotionally, about 13 years old and unchanging, in a world full of adolescents and young adults who are maturing rapidly. What does the future really hold for her? I worry that, over time, we will discover that early use of puberty blockers also blocks all the brain maturation that leads to adulthood. I work with a lot of high school aged students and she seems so very young in comparison. The contrast between Jazz and Victoria is profound. Where does she go from here? She has said so many times that she has no sexual urges. Isn't that something that they should be exploring further before surgery? Not just "hey, kid, figure it out?" I'd love to hear that she dropped TLC, postponed the surgery, and decided to have a private life where she gave herself room to really discover herself and even experiment with going off the blockers for a bit. Just to be sure and maybe reap some of the benefits of natural puberty. The poor thing, I hate how people are treating her because of her weight. I myself had an eating disorder and it took years to move past it. She needs time, but I just feel that being on TLC prevents all of them from realizing that.