For something a little bit lighter check out this video:
My thanks to Thought in My Pants , where I found this video by following a random link.
Filed under: Blogging | Tagged: Humor | 1 Comment »
Video Interview – Introducing MARI AND ABBY
Posted on May 11, 2008 by loriannetucson
Lori’s Life Transgender Episode 15 – MARI AND ABBY
I wanted to introduce you to two people on the blogroll, one of whom has been quite active around these neck of the woods lately (and I like it!).
Mari and Abby paid a visit to Tucson last week to attend the Tucson Folk Music Festival, and I had the opportunity to get out of the house and catch some great tunes with some terrific friends that evening.
Hope you like.
Lori
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Tags: transgender, transsexual, mari, abby, tucson, folk music, epic cafe, gender, prescott, las vegas, qsquaredyouth,
Filed under: Introduction | Tagged: abby, epic cafe, folk music, Introduction, mari, transexual, Transgender, transsexual, tucson | 3 Comments »
Educating the World – Person to Person
Posted on May 11, 2008 by Khyri
I had a rather cool experience recently which showed me how small the world is – and how the right approach can cause people to be accepting even when you don’t expect it. My friend Abby suggested I share it with you all.
It all started one day at work – I was at lunch with my boss, co-worker G. and my trusty retirement-age volunteer worker D.
G. was talking about practicing guitar with his Tucson-based death metal band the night before and his musical history and aspirations. After some time, D. said to G. “You don’t happen to know a musician called something Blackstone, do you?”
G: “No, I don’t think so…”
D: “I forget his first name… something beginning with B…”
Me: “Bruce, perhaps?”
D: “That might be it. Yes, because the interesting thing about him was that he was in the paper recently…”
Me: “Oh, yes – I know him.”
D: “Yes, the paper wrote about him – he came out as a cross-dresser. So, how do you know him?”
Me: “Um… oh, the paper my husband worked for wrote an article about the band he is in…”
D: “Maybe that was the article!”
Me: “Oh, no… you read the recent one about the IFGE conference. The other one was back last year some time.”
D: “Oh, okay. Anyway, he does wonderful cabinetry. He did our whole kitchen. Very nice guy.”
Me: “Yes, he is.”
And that might have been the end of it. Except that, of course, it wasn’t. On reflection, I sent this email to D. after he’d left for the day:
You might be amused by this video that a friend of ours made, interviewing Bruce right after he’d talked to the Arizona Daily Star reporter
D. only volunteers for us one day a week, and he didn’t return my email, so I was a little apprehensive going in to work the next Wednesday. As I was walking up from the parking lot, I saw him, and he stopped to wait for me to catch up. He had a broad grin on his face and the first thing he said to me was:
“Thank you for that video link you sent me with Bruce in it. We really enjoyed watching that one! Yup, that’s our Bruce!”
I felt so happy to have been a part of helping educate the straight, white middle-class neighborhoods of Northeast Tucson!
On hearing of the reaction of D. and his wife, Bruce said:
Thank you for letting me know about [D. and J.] They are repeat clients of mine and great people.
Since I am becoming more and more out, I realize that eventually the knowledge of who I really am will inevitably creep into my work life sometimes. This has caused me a little bit of concern because I am self employed and loss of income can be frightening … so far as I can tell there have been no consequences to my business by my being out. So , thank you for letting me know about [D. and J.] – it’s also good in that [they] are now far less likely to have a negative reaction to other trans people.
The message I hope to get across is that it is truly worth it to share your true selves and those of your friends with others, even if you think they may not be accepting. Their reaction will often depend upon your demeanor as you talk to them. I tried to be as matter-of-fact as I could be, presenting the fact that I knew “that side” of Bruce as perfectly normal and natural. Whether you are yourself transgendered, or a SOFFA, you have a role to play, large or small, in educating the rest of the world.
Filed under: Blogging, Commentary, Life Experiences, Transgender | Tagged: awareness, coming out, crossdress, crossdresser, Education, gender, glbt, Humor, ifge, job, life, Reach out, tmi, tmi-band, tucson, understanding, Video | 4 Comments »
TRANScend GENDER 
Happiness
Ok, so I have finally decided that the time was right for me to step up and say something here.
Why are so many of us so afraid to feel happy? It is guilt? Is it that nagging feeling that everything is in the process of falling, or about to fall apart? Do we worry so much about everyone else that we lose sight of ourselves through all of this?
Yes, transition is a stressful and often painful thing. But why do we do it? To be ourselves of course, but also to find personal happiness. I find that far too often we spend the majority of our time talking about the negatives of transition and how bad things are either for ourselves or the others around us. I’m not discounting the fact that many people lose everything to this, but in the end are we not happier than when we began? And if not, why?
I can truly say that before transition I did not know what happiness really was. I may have thought I did, but I really didn’t. If I recall all of the times I thought I was happy, none of them hold a candle to how I feel now. Now before I go on I should probably mention a few things for those who don’t know. I’m 33 years old, MTF, been transitioning since September 2007, and have been on HRT for 7 weeks.
In the last week or so I have begun to see the world in a different way, and begun to thing differently about things. Difficult to articulate all that I feel right now, but the overriding thing has been the tremendous amount of joy and happiness I am feeling. Granted I have been much happier than ever before since beginning transition, but the last little while has been completely off the scale.
It feels like living inside joy. As if joy itself were something tangible that you could just reach out and grab! I have my share of challenges and difficulties through all of this, but I am so happy with my life now that is doesn’t get me down for very long anymore. I see my future, and its very bright.
People have often accused me of seeing things in an overly positive light. To that I say, “Why not?” Keeping a positive attitude about things has truly saved my life. I wake up everyday and tell myself how amazing it is to be alive, and how great the day is going to be. And you know what? It usually is.
Take today for example. I was standing in the flower section of my local supermarket looking for fresh flowers for my Mom when I was approached by a very nice man who, to make a long story short, told me I was beautiful and asked if I would be interested in grabbing a coffee with him at the cafe in the store. Now even though I turned him down, it made my whole day to get that kind of attention! It let me know that I really have arrived and my path is the right one.
So I say take the time to feel the happiness and joy that transition brings to you. After suffering through all the dark years that we do, I think we deserve to let ourselves be happy. Don’t let the fear and guilt stop you. Life is too short for that. Don’t you agree?
Filed under: Commentary, Transgender | Tagged: happiness, joy, positivity, transition | 9 Comments »