Meanwhile, I got through high school, college and law school still not sure what I wanted to do when I grew up. I had no love of the law and only went to law school because I did not know what to do after I graduated from college. My father suggested I follow his brother/my uncle's footsteps and become a lawyer. Although I got my law degree, I never practiced, but I did follow my uncle’s footsteps because he was a crossdresser, too.
My father worked at the comic book factory and brought home comic books and Sunday funnies that the factory produced. That influenced me to write and illustrate my own books, culminating is a Mad magazine copycat called Crazy.
My drawing skills were OK, but my writing skills were very good and many of my teachers and professors complimented me on my writing. So I took a journalism course in college and it did not take long to realize I did not want to be a journalist (although, as a class assignment, I got to see and report on Christine Jorgensen’s appearance at UCONN).
I continued to draw and write through law school and after graduation, I got a job writing for the ham radio organization, ARRL, and its prestigious magazine QST, a job I held for over three decades!
After two years on the staff at ARRL, I was recruited to work as a technical writer for General DataComm or as I called it “Modems ‘R’ Us.” So I freelanced for the ARRL and technically wrote manuals for various companies until I retired in 2017.
My writing for ARRL (including best selling books) made me well known throughout ham radio world... a “ham radio legend,” which is what a fellow ham called me right to my face one day.
All during that time, I crossdressed. Eventually joining a support group where, of course, I edited the group’s newsletter. And eventually doing outreach and mixing it up with the civilians in public with me en femme and them en whatever.
Then I became a blogger. Invented the word “femulate” to give my blog a name and have been writing it for the past 17, going on 18 years!
I’m still not sure what I want to be when I grow up, but I do enjoy being a femulating blogger, so maybe that is what I want to be when I grow up.
And so it goes.
 |
| Wearing Venus |
 |
Rhonda Williams in the lobby of the Palm Beach Hotel. (Rhonda blogs at Rhonda's Escape) |
Just wanted to thank you for the blog. Been following and enjoying since Circa 2006 or so......
ReplyDeleteBut lurked for the first decade....
Or So.
Sara
Congrats on the blogging history 👏
ReplyDeleteLove those boots!
ReplyDeleteAt the age of 64 I am just at the starting stage of my fifth career, it's all very exciting and not really planed at all. I've been a banker, a clerk, a manager, a salesperson, a refuse collector, an administrator, a Chartered Wastes Manager, a self employed gardener and a musician (I may have missed a few) but I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up.
ReplyDeleteHow did you know that your uncle was not a civilian? Paula G
ReplyDeleteToo many clues over the years that only girls like us would pick up on. The most telling was when we were passing around photos from a Halloween party I attended in office girl drag and he studied my photo for an inordinate period of time.
DeleteIt takes one to know one 😂😀💄❤️👠👗
DeleteHi Paula, I got confused when I saw this right under my comment, I'm a Paula G as well. Every now and then I come across a "man" who I suspect has an "interesting hobby" it could be the finger nails, shaved legs, or just a way of holding themselves. There have been a few occasions when later my suspicions were confirmed.
DeleteYou father worked for Charlton Comics...or at least its printing division?
ReplyDeleteNo. Pop worked for Eastern Color, where the comic book was invented.
Delete2 things: first, that is my absolute all time picture of you. You seem unaware that your pic is being taken, yet so naturally feminen in your posture. You look like a total babe! Second, I've been reading you for a long time but I never remember your Uncle being a crossdresser. This was wildly known within the family? Dd your parents accept or frown upon it?
ReplyDeleteThank you for the kind words. That is one of my favorite photos and it was a candid shot! Regarding my uncle, I dunno who knew. It was never discussed in my presence, but over the years, I picked up clues and saw two photos (one in his high school yearbook) that indicated to me that something was amiss (or someone was a Miss).
DeleteI believe this has a genetic component
DeleteI'm sure that all of us greatly appreciate your dedication to publishing this very special journal every day!! Thank you!!
ReplyDeleteI assume he was a maternal uncle? These things tend to run in the female line.
ReplyDeletePenny from Edinburgh.
No. A paternal uncle.
DeleteThanks for the background. It appears that you kind of stumbled around until you found your niche. Kind of like crossdressers; we stumble around until we find our "look".
ReplyDeleteReading blogs like yours (and posters on internet forums) finally convinced me to say "Why not me?"
Thanks for being a friend to many of us out in readership land.
I enjoy you blog immensely. It's nice to read of peoples fulfillment. When reaching the end of the road (75, here) you do ponder the "What If's?" External pressures seem to counter act personal needs.
ReplyDeleteThe decision-time for me came while I was in SW CO acclimating for a big trail run about 12 years ago. A cell-phone carrier was a rarity, and wi-fi was only a newfangled rumor, so I was pretty much cut-off from work, family, and my normal routine. I had time to contemplate what I had known for years, that I was wired differently from most of my male friends, but without the severe body dysphoria that some of the TG friends I've made in recent years suffered through all their lives. I'm somewhere near the middle of the gender spectrum-- a little of XX and little of XY. Then in my 50s, I knew it was now or never.
DeleteWhen I came home, I went public, outing myself to family and friends, and embracing Rachel. Fortunately, my marriage survived. As for everyone else, I was prepared to lose friends, but happily none disavowed me.
Now retired and in the "Autumn of my years", I can have Rachel-time whenever I want to, which is about 1/3 of the time. I'm glad that I live in a time and a place where that doesn't even warrant a second glance from most people.
My only regret is that I never even tried to dress in my 20s. I was lean, athletic, and had great skin; I think I would have been HOT.
Stana I just wanted to say I love all your pictures and postings. You always look stunning and it makes me want to replicate your looks. I have now become a major fan of Boston Proper and Venus dresses. I honestly hid for too long and in the last 2 years I have emerged from my cocoon so thank you for all the tips and advice you post it has been very beneficial to me. Honestly, you help so many of us ladies that are slowly sticking our stocking glad legs out the front door. Have a blessed Holiday Season.
ReplyDeleteSusan Talbot