Showing posts with label Entertainment Weekly. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Entertainment Weekly. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Busy-Busy-Busy

All kinds of positive things are happening in the transgender community-regardless of what Bruce Jenner's upcoming Diane Sawyer interview turns out to be. Here are a couple to look for:  The first from the Windy City Media Group:

( San Francisco ) - At a time when transgender and gender nonconforming people across the U.S. and around the world have achieved unprecedented visibility in popular culture, but continue to suffer extreme violence, harassment, discrimination, and isolation, Independent Lens presents Kumu Hina,
a moving film from Hawaii that offers a bold new perspective on gender diversity and inclusion through cultural empowerment. Directed and produced by Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson, Kumu Hina premieres on Independent Lens Monday, May 4, 2015, 10:00-11:00 PM ET ( check local listings ) as part of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month programming on PBS.
Kumu Hina is the inspiring story of Hina Wong-Kalu, a transgender native Hawaiian teacher and cultural icon who brings to life Hawaii's traditional embrace of mahu — those who embody both male and female spirit. The film traces Hina's evolution from a timid high school boy to her position as a married woman and cultural director of a school in one of Honolulu's grittier neighborhoods. As she contemplates who should lead the school's all-male hula troupe in their final performance, a surprising candidate presents herself: Ho'onani, a sixth grader who is proud to be seen as a mixture of boy and girl. As Kumu Hina helps Ho'onani to negotiate the mixed reactions of her classmates and her family, the power of culture to instill a sense of pride and acceptance becomes clear.

Then, there is the Entertainment Weekly piece we mentioned in a previous Cyrsti's Condo post.

And finally, for this post-there is yet another post concerning issues with the Thailand Army draft (left). Check it out here from Rueters. 

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Cyrsti's Condo "Sunday Edition"

Ker Plunk!!! Another edition of Cyrsti's Condo "Sunday Edition" is hitting your front porch! "Momma Nature" is still teasing us around here in Ohio with a day of spring followed by two days of winter, so a hot "cup-o-joe" is my beverage of choice this morning. Sure, it's great to see you, but where the hell is the coffee???  Lets get started!

Page 1.-  The Week That Was or Wasn't: I'm not sure it surprised me totally but, on the other hand, it didn't make it any easier when the state of Indiana joined a number of states stepping backward and using religion to discriminate. Under the "Right of Religious Freedom Act" (as I understand it) an owner of a business can decide who to serve or not in their business. So, very simply, this opens the door for we LGBT peeps having to use the backdoor at many businesses-if the door isn't locked. So Liz and I could be kicked out of a religious freak's business in Indiana if he or she thinks I am trans? Really? We don't like your kind in here. If there is a bright side, a rather sizable social media and public protest is coming along. The Twitter hashtag is #BoycottIndiana and the mayor of Cincinnati,(which partially neighbors Indiana) has volunteered to "take" all of Indiana's business. At press time, Indiana is going to propose another law which defines the first sometime this week. (Shelle and others in Indiana-Good luck!!!)

Page 2.- Building the Future? Yesterday was a busy day. Liz went with me back up to Springfield (a hour and a half trip one way) to ship and sell a couple of my sister in laws vintage items. As some of you know, I make a couple of extra "sheckles"selling on line vintage items. Yesterday was some sort of a milestone of sorts. I have been slowly changing my gender markers on the sites but never have had the opportunity to sell and meet someone with the piece not in male drag. (Most of my items are shipped.) As it turned out, similar to the whole day yesterday, the buyer didn't even give me a second look. Which, basically is how the whole day went - except a young boy who had been brought into a woman's room by Mom at a store where we were shopping.  As both of us looked at each other as we waited for his Mom to pee, I wondered what he thought. Remembering the days of "if you can pass young kids and teens, you can pass anyone" I halfway worried about him screaming "Mom there is a man in here!" He didn't and I wondered if he thought if I wondered what he was doing in there. Later I thought if the experience would would make him more diverse in his thinking as he got older.

Page 3.- All that Jazz and "Mo"! All of a sudden we transgender women and trans men are finding a home on "Reality TV." Before the trans community itself begins to slice and dice all the activity, Jazz Jennings (left) and Laverne Cox are leading the charge once again to the chagrin of those in our community who think they have "too much passing privilege". However, a couple of the other shows show a representation of the rest of us who may not be so passable.
The April 3 issue of Entertainment Magazine has examples in an article of page 16 called "Trans Stories Find a Home on Reality TV." Before you come down too hard on Jazz for looking too good-find her recent interview with Meredith Vieria, She said among many other things, she could be arrested for using the woman's room in her home state of Florida and without her parents assistance with transitioning, she most likely wouldn't be alive at all.


Page 4.- The Back Page: As always, thanks soooooo much for stopping by Cyrsti's Condo! No one appreciates you all more than me!!!

Creative Gender Tensions?

  Image from Levi Stute on UnSplash As I moved along my long and bumpy gender path, seemingly I created many gender tensions which were over...