letter to Congressman Barney Frank

Read this excellent letter to Congressman Barney Frank regarding his bailing on the transgender community.

doldrums

I am in the crossdressing doldrums.

For the past two or three days, my interest in crossdressing has been very low. I don't know why and I don't know how long it will last.

I have these doldrums about once or twice a year. I am sure they will pass and soon I will be looking forward to an opportunity to pass.

And so it goes.

it's about time!!!

I received the following by e-mail from Dru Levasseur (drulevasseur@hotmail.com):

Hello everyone,

You are receiving this email because I need your leadership and your voice in organizing the area's first ever Transgender Pride March and Rally in 2008. It's time to bring the transgender communities in the western Massachusetts, southern Vermont, and Connecticut areas together and have a day of celebration and organizing.

Why?

Because it's not enough to be "included" in the Gay Pride Parades. Because the Transgender Day of Remembrance should not be the only time we get together and have a community rally. Because we have important trans-inclusive legislation pending in Connecticut and Massachusetts that we need to pass to protect ourselves.

I'm counting on you to forward this email to all trans-related groups in the area, including all five colleges queer/trans groups, East Coast Female to Male Group, Unity of the Pioneer Valley, TREE, Twenty Club, Sunshine Club, Brattleboro Trans Group, MTPC, and any organizations or groups that I missed.

The first organizational meeting is on NOVEMBER 1, 2007, 7pm-9pm
Media Education Foundation
60 Masonic Street
Northampton, Massachusetts 01060

In solidarity,

Dru

GUTLESS: Nancy Pelosi, George Miller, Barney Frank, & Tammy Baldwin

House cuts transgender people from hate crimes bill

Even as the Senate passed a hate crimes bill sought for a decade by gays and lesbians, House Democratic leaders decided Thursday to strip transgender people from another long-languishing civil rights bill, generating dismay in the gay community and furious but fruitless lobbying for more time.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco and Reps. George Miller, D-Martinez, Barney Frank, D-Mass., and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., believe they lack the votes in the Democrat-controlled House to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act if it includes gender identity along with sexual orientation as a prohibited ground for firing an employee.

Oddly enough, the hate crimes bill that passed the Senate Thursday includes transgender people and won 60-39, the supermajority necessary to beat a Republican filibuster. All 49 Senate Democrats voted for it, along with two independents and nine Republicans.

Read the whole story here.

1000 words

it's too hot!

We planned to go to the Big E today, but it's just too hot!

It is also too hot to wear a wig, makeup, and a girdle!

most popular photos

There is a feature on flickr that ranks your most popular photos by the number of times people have viewed a photo, the number of times that people have dubbed a particular photo one of their "favorites," and the number of comments that people have left about a particular photo.

Those three categories (views, favorites, and comments) are simple statistical counts.

Flickr also has a category called "interestingness" and I have no idea how they calculate it. According to flickr's own blog, "interestingness is a ranking algorithm based on user behavior around the photos taking into account some obvious things like how many users add the photo to their favorites and some subtle things like the relationship between the person who uploaded the photo and the people who are commenting (plus a whole bunch of secret sauce)."

Go figure!

Anyway, as of today, here are my most popular photos on flickr.

Interestingness

Why this photo is considered to be most interesting stumps me! I admit it is a good photo and I look OK in it, but there are other photos that are just as good, if not better in my humble opinion.















Views and Favorites

This photo is ranked as having the most views (7288) and as being named a "favorite" by other people (27). It is not a very good photo. My eyes are half-closed and I am not looking at the camera, but show a little leg and I guess that does the trick. By the way, my second most popular photo in these two categories is also a leggy shot: me posing in my Playboy bunny Halloween costume.















Comments

This photo has received the most comments (12) and it is one of my favorite photos, so there will be no arguments from me!

fall break

I am on vacation this week, so I may not be posting as often as I usually do.

I do hope to have one day out in girl mode this week and if I do get out, you can expect me to post some new tales here real soon now.

my friend Robyn

Pic1
Originally uploaded by Robyn1967

Out of the blue, I received a flickr e-mail informing me that someone on flickr named "Robyn1967" had dubbed me as one of their Contacts. The e-mail asked if I would like to dub Robyn1967 as one of my Contacts, too.

I get these new Contact e-mails about four or five times per week and when I do, I check out the person's flickr profile to decide whether to make them my Contact, too.

When I arrived at Robyn1967's flickr profile, I was surprised. Most of my Contacts are other crossdressers; very few are genetic woman. It was obvious from her photos that Robyn1967 was a genetic woman; so I thought, until I started reading her photo captions.

I was "Wow'd." Her photos were wonderful and her story was fascinating. Among other things, Robyn lived and worked as a woman, which is one of my unfulfilled dreams.

I quickly added Robyn as a Contact and made plans to read her blog bio later.

Out of the blue, I received an e-mail from Robyn. She thanked me for reciprocating Contact-wise, then complimented my flickr photos. "You look REAL, sis, which from me is the ultimate compliment in that area." Boy, I'll say!

I dropped everything and read Robyn's bio. I found that we had a lot in common, not only the usual crossdresser life experience stuff, but other things crossdressing and non-crossdressing related.

We exchanged more e-mails and upgraded each other's status from Contact to Friend. I hope this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. I highly recommend viewing her photos and reading her story.

arms too long or sleeves too short

I ran some errands during lunch in boy mode. My errands took me to the mall. The Torrid store where I bought my outfits for the fashion show is in the mall. I had photos from the fashion show that I wanted to show them to Jo, the manager of the store, who was so helpful when I picked out the outfits to model.

Entering the store, I did not see the Jo, but another saleswoman, Tiffany, greeted me. I asked for Jo, but she was on another assignment. I explained I had photos to show Jo and Tiffany seemed interested, so I asked if she wanted to see them. She did.

She gushed over the photos and told me when Jo would be back so that I could show her the photos, too.

Since I was in the store, I asked what was new and Tiffany showed me a plaid belted coat to die for. I tried it on, but my arms are too long or the coat sleeves too short. Too bad... I would have bought the coat on the spot.

international audience

I use StatCounter to provide the number of "Hits" that appears in the counter (at the lower right corner of this page) and to log real-time detailed web statistics.

I check the statistics everyday and it is interesting to see the international audience of this blog. For example, during the past 24 hours, this blog had visitors from the following countries: Algeria, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Nepal, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and United States.

I was a little surprised to see war-torn Iraq in the list!

ten minutes with Rebecca Romijn

Rebecca Romijn is one of my faves. I enjoy her acting and love the way she looks. (She is 5'11" tall; if I were 20 years younger, I'd be femulating her.)

Currently, Ms. Romijn plays a post-op male-to-female transsexual on the ABC television series Ugly Betty.

Today, GayWired.com has an interesting story about Ms. Romijn and her portrayal of a transwoman on Ugly Betty. Here is the link to the story titled Ten Minutes with Rebecca Romijn.

our female admirers redux

Yesterday, I wondered why women are often very enthusiastic when they encounter a crossdresser that is not their spouse or SO.

After posting yesterday's blog entry, I searched the Internet for answers and found an excellent article on the Gender Evolve web site, which is an excellent site for male-to-female transwomen.

The article is called What do Genetic Women really think about us? If you read the article, also read the comments after the article; they are well worth reading.

our female admirers

I understand why a spouse or significant other (SO) would not embrace crossdressing by their partner. Among other things, she may feel that her man is less of a man if he crossdresses.

I don't understand why the other women are often very enthusiastic when they encounter a crossdresser that is not their spouse or SO (not that there is anything wrong with that).

I frequently encounter other women who gush over my crossdressing. Believe me, I love their appreciation for what I am doing, but I am at a loss as to the reason for their appreciation.

Maybe some of the women who gush over crossdressers get some satisfaction from the fact that a member of the so-called "dominant sex" is trying to emulate a member of the so-called "weaker sex." ("Welcome to our club.")

Maybe some women admire crossdressers for being true to themselves.

I dunno. It's just another conundrum in a long line of conundrums that crossdressers encounter.

fashion show redux

I just reread the blog posting that I wrote Saturday morning after the fashion show and fixed the spelling and grammatical errors that I missed because of the cobwebs that were in my head when I wrote it.

That blog posting sounds like I am bragging, but I really did receive a lot of nice comments about my appearance Friday night and that makes me feel good about my en femme self. There is too much guilt and self-hatred among transpeople and I just want to spread the word that a transperson can also feel great about herself; how can you not help feeling great about yourself when you receive compliments! Friday night, I felt good about myself... real good!

Other random thoughts about Friday night...

The shoes I wore were surprisingly comfortable despite their 4-3/4-inch heels. I could not wear them while driving my car to and from the event because it was impossible and probably dangerous to manipulate the brake, clutch, and gas pedals wearing those shoes (I wore more sensible high heels for the trip), but I wore them all night at the fashion show and was not hobbled like I have been by shorter high heels.

I live in the boonies and don't have many neighbors. As a result, except for silver/gray SUVs (they all look alike to me), I recognize the vehicles my neighbors drive and I am sure they recognize my Subaru (it's the only green vehicle in the neighborhood).

Friday night, as I drove away from home on my way to the fashion show, I recognized a vehicle coming from the opposite direction. Due to its darkened windshield, I could not see the driver, but I am sure whoever was driving recognized my car, but I wonder if they recognized the driver. If the wife was driving, she might ask me about it because I often run into her walking her dog when I walk our dogs.

I met a young woman at the show, who has the same name as my daughter except that she spells it differently than my daughter, who was named after Halley's Comet. Turns out they are the same age, too, born only 9 days apart. Small world!

more fashion show photos

Here is an article that includes more photos from the fashion show.

fashion show photos

Here are 53 photos from the fashion show I modeled in last night including two of me:

product recommendations

I am an Avon lady, so I get a chance to try the beauty products that Avon sells.

Avon just came out with a new mascara called Uplifting. I tried it for the first time yesterday and I think it is the best mascara product I have ever used (and I have used a lot of mascara over the years). Uplifting goes on smoothly and the applicator separates the eyelashes so that the lashes do not stick together. Even after multiple applications, the lashes remain separated.

Also, I recommend an Avon lipstick that is new, but not brand new. It is called Glazewear. I tried it for the first time yesterday and I like it because it has a gloss like lip gloss without having to use a lip gloss and the gloss is not overpowering like some lip glosses.

random thoughts regarding last night

Last night, I modeled two outfits in a fundraiser fashion show sponsored by the Connecticut TransAdvocacy Coalition and Love Makes A Family.

The event took place in the bar of Tommy's Restaurant in Middletown, CT. The bar itself stretched the length of the building. Next to the bar were two rows of tables. There was also a deck at the rear of the building.

We were supposed to model by walking down the aisle between the tables, up the aisle next to the bar, then outside on the deck. There were three marks where we were supposed to stop briefly to let everyone get a better look at what we were wearing.

By show time, the place was packed. It was so crowded that it was difficult to get through the crowd. I practiced walking like a model for weeks, but it was all for naught because I could only walk a few steps, then I would have to slow down or stop to negotiate around people blocking the path. I never saw the second mark and the third mark was blocked each time I modeled. The crowd was enthusiastic and cheered us on, but I was disappointed in the set-up that we models had to endure.

I wore two outfits, but I only have photos of one to show you. The photos of the second outfit are too poor. Other people were taking photos of the event and perhaps, I will show up in one of those.

It was an interesting crowd. The majority were women. The minority were male or transpeople.

I had some interesting conversations with some of the women. They were all very friendly. Four or five complimented my nails. They thought they were acrylics that I had done in a nail shop. Actually, my nails are the pre-glued press-on nails that Revlon sells (their "Maximum Speed" brand). They take about five minutes to put on, look great, and usually stay on until I want to take them off (by soaking my hands in warm water).

I also received a lot of compliments about my overall look. "Gorgeous," "fabulous," "I love it," and "you were the best" were words that I recall.

Both my outfits had revealing necklines, so I had to have something to reveal. In the past, I've taped my breasts to simulate cleavage. However, no matter what kind of tape I used, there was always slippage and my cleavage would fade away as time marched on. And when I removed the tape, I almost always tore some of my skin.

Years ago, I bought a specialty bra for women like me. Instead of cups like a normal bra, this bra has pads that you position on the outer side of each breast, then when you hook the bra, the pads press the breasts together to create cleavage. You wear a low cut real bra over that with your favorite choice of breast forms. The concept is good, but the slippage was worse than with tape.

I thought about how to improve that bra and came up with the idea to use spirit gum to prevent slippage. I tried it for the first time yesterday. I applied spirit gum on each breast in the area where they mated with the pads to cause the pads stick to my breasts and, voila! there was no slippage. I had more cleavage than anyone else in that bar and it lasted all night long!

I met a couple (women), who complimented me (they said I was the "best" in the fashion show). They were both tall. One was actually 6'2" (same as me) and she told me that she is afraid to wear heels because she is so tall. I encouraged her to showcase her long legs with a pair of heels, but she did not seem convinced.

That's all I have for now. Maybe I will have additional thoughts after I get the cobwebs out of my head.

tonight

Tonight, I will be modeling in the Busted! trans fashion show.

I am so not ready!

I practiced the walk and I think I have that down pat.

I lost weight, so now I am anorexic thin like your typical catwalk model. Not quite, but I did drop some weight and am thinner than I have been in over a year.

But I have a slight case of stage fright.

The show received publicity in Hartford Courant, so there is likely to be a good turnout of strangers!

In the past, I have lipsynched en femme at my support group's annual banquet, but that was in front of a crowd composed mostly of forgiving friends and acquaintances. Tonight, the crowd will mostly be strangers, the general public. In other words, this will be my first public performance.

I am scaring myself just writing this! So, I will stop now, get through a half-day of work, then go home to get ready for the show.

Wish me luck!