Monica: A Film Review

By Mikki

As a kid, Monica couldn’t hide the fact that “he” was a girl. Eventually, her mother took her to the bus station and sent her on her way, telling her, “I can no longer be your mother.” We learn this, as it isn’t shown. It’s good we never hear her dead name.

Monica gets a call as the film starts. It’s from her sister-in-law telling her that her mother is dying from a brain tumor and asking her to come home from California. Monica decides to return home (we aren’t told where she’s going). This will be the first time her mother or brother has seen Monica. 

Monica is very low-key about introducing herself to her mother, who wonders who she is. In addition to her family, the mother has a Latina caregiver. It’s clear early on that Monica has considerable love for her mother. She’s very attentive and caring with plenty of touching. 

So, will she tell her mother? Will her mother figure it out? I'll give you a bit of a spoiler -- Monica’s brother, after getting over the initial shock of seeing his sister, sees the loving care and warms up to Monica. Will Monica fit/be welcomed into the family? Do we think she'll eventually move back to California? 

Trace Lysette does a wonderful job and as always, Patricia Clarkson knocks it out of the park. Everyone in the post-film discussion had positive things to say about the film  except for the “Too slow’ comments. 

I highly recommend the film.

(You can view the film’s trailer by clicking here.)

Wearing Boston Proper

Tony Bill femulating in the 1963 film Soldier in the Rain.

Memorial Day

My father was a Marine. He fought in three battles in the Pacific during World War II and brought home two Purple Hearts and shrapnel in his arm.

He was a great father and was proud of his kids. Although I was far from being the “All-American Boy,” he never had a problem with me even when I started to dress en femme whenever I was invited out for Halloween. 

Except for those Halloween forays, I was closeted, but in retrospect, I know that my parents knew something was amiss with their son, but they never commented in a negative way. And I am sure they would have been supportive if I ever came out. 

I’ll never forget one Halloween as I was getting ready to go out en femme, my father warned me to watch out for boys!

Thank you for everything you did, Pop!

 

Wearing Cinq à Sept

Someday Funnies: Just Do It!

Wearing Elisabetta Franchi

Richard Simmons

Better Late Than En Homme

Today’s post is late because instead of writing this post last night, I watched the Celtics-Heat playoff game.

This morning’s mail included a flickr update pointing to some new cartoons from jerseygirlangie. I laughed out loud when I viewed this one:

Click here to view jerseygirlangie’s other cartoons (I love her sense of humor).

In light of my recent “You, Me and Bullies” posts, LGBTQ Nation published a related article yesterday titled “First they came for the LGBTQ+ books: How the Nazis started burning books 90 years ago this month.” Click here to view this informative article written by Greg Owen.

Since I am already late, I am going to keep this post short.

And so it goes.

Wearing Bebe

Zach Woods femulates Lady GaGa for Halloween in the “Costume Contest” episode of The Office.

Someday Funnies: A Different Perspective

Wearing Boston Proper

A mature modern couple

You, Me and Bullies Revisited

 First they came for the drag queens, and I did not speak out—

     Because I was not a drag queen.

Then they came for the transgenders, and I did not speak out—

     Because I was not a transgender.

Then they came for gay marriages, and I did not speak out—

     Because I was not in a gay marriage.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

I received some pushback over Friday’s post, You, Me and Bullies. 

Some of the pushback was knee-jerk anti-George Soros reaction (just mention Soros in a positive light and some peoples’ heads explode). 

The majority of the pushback was related to actor Charlize Theron’s unfettered support of drag queens. 

Theron is the parent of a trans-child and my guess is like any mother, she is standing up for and protecting her kid. Thus, she is supporting drag queens because after they come for drag queens, they may come for trans-kids (although, in some ways, they are already coming after trans-kids).

I have written here in the past that I am not a big fan of drag, but they have my full support. If you don’t care if they go after drag queens, please be aware that some of the anti-drag laws do not call out "drag queens" per se, but use terms like “female impersonators” instead. That means you and me, Bucko. 

Wearing Ann Taylor

Gaurav Gera femulating on Indian television

Staying Home

Booth Babe, 2015

I am OK now, but last week was difficult as I missed going to Hamvention.

Hamvention is the biggest ham radio convention this side of the North Pole and I have lost count how many times I have attended along with 30,000 other hams. 

I usually drive (about 750 miles one way to Dayton, Ohio). Going, the drive is not bad because I am looking forward to the event, but driving home is a drag and I swear that I will fly next year. But by the time Hamvention rolls along, I convince myself that driving is not so bad, so forget flying.

In the past, Saturday night in Dayton was en femme night. I’d return to my hotel after the day’s event, dress pretty and go to a nightclub solo or with local transgirls I met online. 

Starting in 2010, Hamvention became a real life experience (RLE). I spent the whole Hamvention weekend en femme – even traveling pretty to and from Ohio.

In case you don’t know, I was well-known in the ham radio community writing magazine columns and books for the national ham radio organization. I also am a director, secretary and newsletter editor for another ham radio organization. So attending Hamvention for the first time en femme was a real trip. 

I had forewarned my editors and fellow directors and officers beforehand, so they were not surprised. I also did not surprise many civilians unless they recognized my name and/or callsign displayed on the admissions ticket clipped to my clothing because I figure most assumed I was a middle-aged female ham or the significant other of some male ham.   

I repeated RLE every year until Hamvention was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID19. Same thing happened in 2021. And although Hamvention did take place in 2022, I was COVID19-leery and stayed home.

I intended to go this year until my doctor advised me to have total knee replacement surgery. Surgery occurred January 30. Would I be sufficiently recovered from surgery by mid-May to attend Hamvention?

The literature on the subject said six months was about the minimum time for recovery and 12 months was more likely. So I decided to forget about attending Hamvention.

As luck would have it, I recovered quickly and maybe attending Hamvention was in the cards after all. The only question was how my knee would hold up driving 750 miles from here to there and back. 

The knee in question was my left knee – on the leg I use for the the clutch of my standard transmission Subaru. My knee has been OK driving half hours or so locally, but how would it hold up for 11 hours or so? I decided not to take a chance and stayed home suffering from Hamvention withdrawal syndrome all weekend long!

On a positive note, I didn't have to drive home from Dayton!  

Wearing The Frankie Shop

Petra, a German reader

Ask Me Something

Paula Gaikowski wrote, “Growing up in the times that we did transition was not an option, even if we had supportive parents and support from the medical community, the social acceptance of transitioning was just not available

“If things were similar to the environment we have today, where teenagers are given the option to crossdress and or transition, do you think you would have transitioned if you had supportive parents? Also, had you transitioned, what do you envision your life as a woman would have been like? What would your career path of been? Would you have gone on hormones? Would you have had surgeries, also marriage and sexuality? Inquiring minds want to know.”

Thank you for the questions, Paula.

Transition? I always said that if could do it over again, I would live full-time as a woman and I would have done so whether my parents supported me or not.

Career path? I love writing and am good at it, so I believe that I would have been a professional writer just as I had been on Earth One. Since I have always been a tech sort, I might have been a technical writer, but who knows – I became a tech writer by accident, so anything could have happened on Earth Two.

Hormones? I would probably do hormones to feminize my image.

Surgery?  No surgery because I don’t believe going under the knife unless absolutely necessary. (In my 72 years, I only had surgery when needed.)

Marriage? Only to another woman. (I am not attracted to guys.)

Sexuality? I would be a very tall lesbian.

Ask me something else.

Wearing Cinq à Sept

Yet another modern couple (boy and girl)

Someday Funnies: Girls’ Day Out

Wearing Prabul Gurung

The Real “Girls” of Casa Susanna

You, Me and Bullies

By Bocha Blue

I want to talk about bullying. Or, more specifically — republican bullying. I want to speak about it because this sort of bullying has become pervasive, and it’s not healthy. Nor is it good for our society. There is a particular style all these bullies follow. Allow me to illustrate:

1) Pick your target.

2) start a discussion about how that target is “woke” or odd or ruining the country or whatever the bully wants to say about the target.

3) tweet about it.

4) wait for braindead followers to pick up the mantra.

This is the way they do it. This is the art of the bully — the GOP bully. This story makes my skin crawl and makes me want to shower immediately because of its sleaze. But I believe it’s important to talk about.

I will cite, in my article, two examples of such bullies. Both are people you probably don’t like. Both are people seemingly addicted to s##t-posting on Twitter. Both of these people seem to have extremely low self-esteem, which causes them to lash out at others.

Megyn Kelly is working hard trying to shame Academy Award winner Charlize Theron. Why? Because Theron is an activist for the Transgender community. And at a “Drag isn’t dangerous” telethon, Theron spoke out against transphobia.

Apparently, Megyn Kelly didn’t like that. Kelly is one of the biggest LGBTQ trolls I’ve seen. So Megyn decided she’d like to fight Theron. “Why doesn’t Charlize Theron come and f### me up” she has been demanded shrilly. It didn’t take long.

Kelly’s followers got entirely on board, with many calling out Theron’s mothering skills and calling her vicious and vile names. This is ALL because of what Kelly said.

The other bully is Elon Musk. Musk, who is clearly right-wing while trying to pretend he’s in the middle, announced that Democratic philanthropist George Soros “hates humanity.” Now it’s essential to know Musk has millions of followers. And, of course, some of them were happy to get on board and start to insult and denigrate Soros.

When writing an article, I like to have a solution to whatever issue in writing about. It is tough with this one. Bullying’s been around forever, but this particular type of bullying is dangerous and can lead to harm. I would ask anyone on social media to speak out against bullying of this type when they see it and also to speak out FOR the targets of the bullying. I’d ask that you report any tweets you think are over the line and let others know what these trolls are doing.

(This article originally appeared in Palmer Report.) 

Wearing New York & Company

 

The Los Angeles cast of Casa Valentina