Becoming Max: Confronting gender identity disorder
It wasn't that he hadn't memorized it, or that he had stage fright. It was that what he was going to say might rock his world, change what his friends thought about him, possibly even freak them out.
The teacher, Craig Kosnik, thought he knew what Max was about to reveal and told him he could still switch topics. Max thought about it that night, but decided he had to go ahead with it.
"It's such a big part of me. I felt like it needed to be said," he says. "Anything else would have been a lie."
"Are you sure?" Mr. Kosnik asked the next day. Max was sure.
Onstage, he pushed up his glasses, took a deep breath, and began:
"June 20, 1996. Makenzie Ann Janssen."
And then Max simply said that he had been born on that day, a baby girl.
His eyes wandered over his classmates, who were seated in neat rows of black folding chairs, to where his teacher sat in the production booth in the back, near the red exit sign, nodding.
Max said that for as long as he could remember, who he is on the inside didn't match the body he had on the outside.
Make A Wish Foundation of Michigan grants 7000th wish to Newaygo's Saria Brooks
GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- What little girl doesn't wish for a fairy tale evening dressed up as a princess? Those wishes hold much more weight when they are made by children battling a life-threatening condition like Saria Brooks.
Four year old Saria, from Newaygo, is battling leukemia.
This courageous little girl is getting her wish tonight at the Make A Wish Gala at DeVos Place. And it happens to be Make A Wish Foundation of Michigan's 7,000th wish granted.
The whole family was transported via limousine to a top floor suite at the Amway Grand Hotel and Plaza. Saria's day then started with the red carpet treatment at Design One Day Spa for manicures and pedicures. Saria chose the sparkly pink polish. Then a horse drawn carriage ride transported them to DeVos Place where the big gala involved fanfare from the Grand Rapids Symphony, dancing prince escorts from Grand Rapids Ballet, and a live make over with make up and hairstyles (updos complete with a tiara) for Saria and her sisters (Elizabeth 9, and Gabriella 6) from Design One.
