Boring?

I was going through my transgender relevant emails and came across a surprising and confusing story about the clothing chain New Look:
Recently,  A young trans woman was left upset and puzzled after being told she couldn't use the changing rooms at international fashion chain store, New Look. According to Gay Star News.
A confusing story because at least in my section of the world most women's clothing stores welcome cross dressers or transgender shoppers with welcome arms. My theory is in retail business today we all are green under the sun...as in money.

But, seemingly not so much with "New Look":

"M (whose name has been withheld at her request) was visiting the chain’s branch in Brixton, south London, England where she spent half an hour browsing, picking up clothes before heading to the changing room. There, she says, her way was barred by a staff member who challenged her explicitly, stating: ‘Oh, you are a man.’ M attempted to explain she was transgender and just wanted to try on clothes like anyone else. However, the response was the same: ‘This is a women’s changing room, we don’t have any changing rooms for men."

I am not here to slam the "New Look" chain. The company tried to "spin" the story by calling the incident a mistake caused by poorly written memo. More than likely a better written memo has already been issued. If not shame on them. If they carried clothes in my size, I can certainly take my business to their competitors. The same as I do with a certain well known chicken food chain.

More interesting to me was "M"s boring comment:

‘All trans people want to be is boring. ‘All I have ever wanted was to wake up one day and be a cis gendered girl. And I guess the reason I was so taken aback by the incident was because in my head, at that point, I was the girl. Not 100%, but I was pretty damned close. ‘But [New Look’s] official policy is that I am someone who their store managers have to make special arrangements for because, in their eyes, I am not a woman and will never, ever be a woman. And I will never be boring. I will always stand out. And I will always make other customers feel uncomfortable in using a closed changing room whilst I use a separate closed changing room several feet away. ‘Still, I cannot get over the thought of, what if this happened to someone who was very early in their transition? Who has only just got out of the closet hell? This sort of thing could set someone back months in their transition.’

So true! I'm fairly certain boring does not describe me as a person at all. Even if you leave the transgender part of my personality out.
Plus when you do venture out of the closet the last thing you need is some narrow minded bigoted clerk setting you back with a dressing room ban.
Everytime a "M" steps up, it helps us all!

My Husband Betty

On the Cyrsti's Condo big screen I'm passing along a classic video from the days when Helen Boyd was promoting her book called "My Husband Betty":



Helen writes a very active blog which I have a permanent link to on the blog or you can go here for more.

Horror Scope!

As the time flies by here in Cyrsti's Condo and the stars move across the sky...it's time for another look at what's in store for all of us Libra girls:


(September 23-October 22): You only have yourself to answer to at the end of the day, and if what you want matches your boo’s agenda, then hurrah, you will have a very happy few weeks. If it’s not, then woe is you, as you will be all sorts of irritated as you try to work as a team. Of course, peace of mind and balance doesn’t always have to come in twos.

Wow! I better send my agenda to my boo. So she can adjust hers!  Just kidding!!!!
Please remember the "Horror Scope" term is my own and you can look to the stars for your scope from theFrisky  here.

Trans Ohio Symposium

In the recent months here in Cyrsti's Condo, I have mentioned I am going to be a presenter at this year's Trans Ohio Symposium.
The conference is scheduled for April the 26th through the 28th in Columbus, Ohio. My workshop will be based on transitioning later in life but much, much more will be happening!

If you live close and are interested,   the keynote speaker this year is writer and poet Andrea Jenkins . In addition to Andrea's keynote, she'll be presenting two workshops: Issues for Transpeople of Color and The Role of Art in Transgender Movement, so plan to attend! Andrea is the author of two chapbooks, “tributaries: poems celebrating black history and “Pieces of Scream”. Recently elected to chair the newly established GLBT Caucus of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs, Andrea is lives in Minneapolis and works as a Senior Policy Aide for the 8th Ward City Councilmember, Elizabeth Glidden.

For more information on the weekend, go here.

Emma

On the Cyrsti's Condo big screen is transvestite Emma who I have also followed on YouTube for awhile:

Heidi

I have followed this girl for awhile and the least I can say is she is gorgeous!
Of interest to me is how she has changed her stated identity fairly recently from cross dresser to MtF. Here she is on the Cyrstt's Condo big screen:

Owning It

Here it is again. It's 3 o clock in the morning in Cyrsti's Condo.  I'm curled up watching "The Graduate". from 1967 (the year I graduated from high school). Naturally, it's one of the "movin' picture shows" my generation owns.

As I watched it again though, I found I didn't own any of it. Of course the non-war (Viet Nam) was going on in all it's tortured glory and taking us with it. We were stuck between our parents from the WWII era who had no understanding of why we would fight so hard against serving our country-when in fact we weren't. I never saw the Viet Cong attacking my town...but this is not a late night political rant.

What I really didn't own was my transgender identity.
The soft clear angst of a few of the Simon and Garfunkle  songs from the movie took me back to the  normal uncertainties of my age compounded by this pesky idea that I wanted to be a girl sometimes. Hind sight is always 20-20 but I do wonder (outside of the obvious) how my life would have changed had I faced myself so long ago. As my late wife once told me "be man enough to be a woman".

Who knows? Of course I have all the excuses in the world of how I went on to lead a fairly successful male life and all the while constructing a huge patch to run it all.

I want to think if I had faced it all then, I would I saved myself a tremendous amount of pain and suffering. Then again running away led me to some of the very special people and experiences of my life. As I sit here writing this, all the angst of my graduation years has faded and reality is setting back in. Life has a way of doing that I suppose.

Someone once told me if you are lucky enough to live long enough you can divide your life into 30 year cycles. Many times my path to the final 30 and out cycle was very tenuous. The reassuring fact is now I'm at last at peace with my entire self. If the force above took me away today, I'd have to say "thanks for the trip".

In the meantime Dustin Hoffman married Katherine Ross in the Graduate and all is right with the world and I own it.

Quote of he Day

"You know it's going to be a good day when you drop your toast and it lands butter side up".
                                                                        Cyrsti Hart

A Long Way in a Short Time

Any card carrying American (draft card) back in the day, learned to dislike Cuba and Fidel Castro if for nothing else sending us to the brink of nuclear destruction or making it impossible to import a quality cigar.

Times have changed in Cuba. Read more from the NewYork Times:


 JOSÉ AGUSTÍN HERNÁNDEZ may not be precisely the kind of New Man whom Che Guevara pictured shaping Cuban socialism.
 Ms. Hernández, (above left)  48, who identifies as a woman and goes by Adela, would sooner cut a lazy bureaucrat to size with her sharp tongue than chop sugar cane with a machete. And you would more likely catch her hauling water to her house in platform heels than trudging the streets in fatigues and work boots. So Ms. Hernández was more than a little tickled when she became the first transgender person to be elected to public office in Cuba, a country whose government once viewed homosexuality as a dangerous aberration and, in the 1960s, packed gay men off to labor camps. “It’s a huge achievement,” said Ms. Hernández, referring to her election in November to the municipal council in this coastal town where she represents the 2,000 or so residents of her destitute neighborhood. She raised her painted eyebrows, saying, “For a country that has been so homophobic to change so dramatically — it’s unheard of.”