Trans Ohio Part III

First of all I understood the demographics this year were a little different. The 9th Trans Ohio Symposium drew over 250 plus attendees this year which was a record and could create the need for more space in the already huge The Ohio State University student union.

The attendee's seemed to be a bit more diverse this year. Not too young, not too old (like me) and quite a few middle age folks and couples. But a nice contingent of youthful attendees enjoying the safe space I assume.

Clothing wise, most dressed in comfortable attire (jeans or slacks) with the occasional dress mixed in. I must point out though, the weather was terrible with tons of rain and a huge marathon which basically ran past the front of the campus main drag (no pun intended.)  So, heels and hose would have been tough to pull off.

Racially, per norm, the audience was overwhelmingly white.

Sure, there were some fashion mistakes, but I thought from my basically conservative perspective that this was the best year yet. I enjoyed the fact there were a number of quests that I couldn't tell were transgender or ally's.

In fact, I thought this whole year was the best I have attended out of four and I know from my back ground how much work it took to put it on.

All I can say is Wow! and thanks to the organizers!

Trans Ohio Part II

It's interesting to me that looking back on the Trans Ohio Symposium, workshop wise, I basically only remember the poor presentations except for one (by a transgender man) on positive and negative attitudes as you transition.

Being a history degree holder in college, I should have known better than to even try to go to the "Trans History" presentation as most history professors obtained their degrees by excelling in making paint dry. (That interesting!) I envisioned the person who lectured us as one of those undergraduate profs at The Ohio State University who teach (?) those huge courses with a microphone and "Power Point" screen.

Oh well, another hour out of my life I won't get back. Connie, though had a thought for next year:

"It sounds as though you need to think about filling the trans history slot for next year's symposium. You are, after all, both a historian and a transgender woman. I've thought about doing something like that, but I'm afraid I'd come across more as an "add junk" professor (it wouldn't be boring, anyway:-)"

Liz and I have been talking about coming up wit a more interactive workshop. Hopefully expanding on the participants knowledge in the room and calling it something like "It's been a Dark Closet, A Half Century of Transition."

Thanks Connie, I too can add my share of junk :).

I am thinking too of taking this all a step further and volunteering to help with the whole symposium after I found out how active Trans Ohio has been on the state wide scene. But we will have to see on that as there already is a representative from the Cincinnati area.

One way or another, the call for presenters for next year's event is only about six to eight months away, which will slip by before I know it! 

Trans Ohio Part I

There will be quite a bit of ground to cover about the Trans Ohio Symposium, so let me see what I can do, to do it right.

First of all, we did find time to do our nails and I went for the regular manicure with a dark mahogany polish, that I love! We will see now how long I can take care of them under normal wear and tear.

Columbus is only about a hundred miles or so from Cincinnati, so we had a chance to stop for a leisurely lunch and to stop at a metaphysical shop on the way to drop off one of our Ohio Valley Witches Ball brochures. From there, it was off to our hotel room and to relax, meet a trans guy friend and get ready for the nightly mixer at a laid back bar called Club Diversity in Columbus.

Diversity is a very laid back and enjoyable place south of downtown in an old mansion and we loved our annual visit again. (Especially Liz and the the Martini's,) From there it was off in the rain to Thurman's and one of their famous burgers. The hour wait for a seat was worth it!

Because we are old and had an early morning at the Symposium, we went back to the hotel and to sleep. As luck would have it, a major storm system nearly rained out the major running marathon Columbus holds every year and made it extremely difficult to get to The Ohio State University Student Union where the event was being held again. After showing up looking every bit the part of the wet dog, we got our coffee and settled into our first seminar.

Each hour or so we had our choice of at least three different workshops to chose from, and of course we chose the wrong one out of the chute. (Transgender history) Immediately,  this person pulls out about 30 pieces of paper and proceeds to read from them for an hour in a monotone voice. About 15 min into it, I am thinking was I back in college in one of the most boring courses ever? I had a heavy suspicion this person was some sort of an educator somewhere who specialized in making an interesting transgender topic BORING.

At any rate, our time was up, after about three peeps had to add in their comments and I was desperately hoping my choice of workshops would improve. And, they did.

Dramatically!  Plus, by the way, the presenter was some sort of an adjunct professor somewhere. I love it when I am right.

More coming up later :)