Coffee with Stana

Thursday afternoon I did get to meet with Stana who writes the Femulate blog for a cup of coffee!
This was remarkable for several different reasons.

The first of course was geography. She lives nearly twelve hours away by car and airline connections are so loose between our two cities, it's quicker for her to drive than fly.
The second of which is the extreme rarity of meeting another transgender women who actually shares a number of life experiences with me.
The third is she is a blogging superstar. Her "Femulate" just went over some seven and a half million hits...Okay, I told you I was a 'groupie"!

Impressions? She is gorgeous! But more importantly though she seemed to be a genuinely nice person who radiates woman. You can jump over to her blog here to check out what she was wearing when we had coffee. With all those legs of hers, there was a poor guy trying to check in who couldn't seem to concentrate on staying in line.

But enough of all of that. Sharing a "cup o joe" with her was a true pleasure!

Victim is Spelled Many Ways

The En Gender Blog written by "My Wife Betty" author Helen Boyd comes up with quite a few "Damn I wish I had written that" thoughts. Here's one:

"I wrote this recently in response to a question, or an assertion, that nobody chooses to be born trans, but that often, the advice is that you can choose what to do about it. My wife says that a lot, and it makes some trans people unhappy.

 The way she puts it: you got a shit hand, but you still get to decide how to play it. Whether or not transition itself is a choice is an idea I will leave for another day. But here, in a nutshell, are some basic tenets I hope are useful. does it matter why? i don’t know what trans is – genetic, medical condition, etc. no one makes any distinction between nature/nurture anymore. nature is what? DNA? as in, something made out of protein that is created within a physical environment which is impacted by all our culture. just forget it. that binary is over, done with.

 Are people trans? yes. do they need to transition? yes. should they own their shit & do so as responsibly as possible? yes. should cis people start to fucking understand transness is not going anywhere, that it IS, in the same way that, say, queerness IS? yes.

 If you got married & you’re trans & you’re going to transition you’re going to wreck your wife’s life, pretty much. own it. minimize the damage however you can. your life was already wrecked by transphobia and represssion and who knows what else. your transition will give you the chance to change in a way that you’re looking forward to. your wife may, in turn, change her life into something she wants, too, but in either case, you will both experience a great deal of loss. none of it is fair, not a damn thing about it, & not for anyone. but stop, STOP, making it all about you.

 If there is anything i say to trans people all the time that none of you listen to – & that includes my lovely spouse – that is it. as she likes to say: trans people make Narcissus weep."

Enough said!

She Will Say It All!

I've followed this young transgender woman on YouTube for awhile and have been entertained with many of her videos which are a bit "out there" but all in all very entertaining.
The one I'm passing along on the Cyrsti's Condo big screen is when she slows down a bit and explains who she is.  I find soooo many YouTube peeps who have no idea of how they identify or want to hide it it.
Enjoy one who doesn't:

A look at my Other Half

I live in Ohio. Middle America USA. Sure it has it's drawbacks and it's strengths.  I'm over 60 and causcasian and transgender.  Many love to hate on me because I supposedly lived male privilege to the max and now I'm trying to change.

Regardless of all of that I do not know how young transgender women of color live. The women whose names all too often show up in the news as the victims of extreme violence. The closest I have come in person was a young trans girl I met in person who was originally from Detroit, migrated to the west coast and in her own words spent some "fun" nights in Los Angeles's "tranny jail". Toss a heroin addiction on top of all of that and here she was standing in front of me...proud as hell. Wow! I was impressed and told her so but then again words are cheap.

Recently Out News & Opinion presented a fantastic look at how my other half lives in an area I know A little about since I lived in the NYC area several years ago:

"Transgender immigrants flock to Jackson Heights in pursuit of a dream. Prostitution, drugs, and violence trap the unwary. Chadwick Moore spent three months with the girls to find out why they still come. Photography by Kevin Amato Arena’s been at it for three years. It’s nearly midnight on a frigid Thursday in January. She looks like someone’s daughter awaiting a ride to the mall, sitting perpendicularly on her twin-size bed with her back against the wall and her size 11 feet dangling over the edge. Her pink sheets are patterned with Betty Boop lip prints. In about four hours Arena will hit the streets, which she hates doing. It’s dangerous and lowly, but no clients have called today. Arena is Spanish for “sand.” Tonight she’s nostalgic. “I was in Indiana when I began the transition with hormones,” she says. The change occurred quickly and caught her off-guard. One afternoon she passed a mirror and became tearful. “I thought, Oh my god, I look just like my mother.” It was the happiest moment of her life. Arena’s V-neck shirt betrays a rash spreading over her torso -- large, red abscesses that look concerning -- but she likes this shirt because it buoys her modest cleavage. And this cleavage is what brought Arena to Queens and funneled her into the sex trade. Once she makes enough money for breast implants, she’s out of here. She’s not built for city life -- she downright hates it. It’s apparent in her hypnotic gentleness. She moves like a shy teenage girl adjusting to a sudden growth spurt. Her face is soft and round, her gaze thoughtful and submissive, and small patches of acne kiss each cheek. Her eyes periodically meet mine, and I wonder how much of her coquettish innocence is calculated."

This is a long post with many pictures and you can visit it here.

Million Dollar Candis Cayne

"Bravo" Television has a show called Million Dollar Listing".
I'm always interested in the show because the basis is a group of very high end real estate sales brokers selling property in New York and Los Angeles I could only dream of ever buying.

Today's show got my attention though when one of the prospective buyers was none other than the beautiful transgender actress Candis Cayne".

Candis if possible is even more beautiful in this show.
Go here for more pix! Many of the shows are rebroadcast on satellite television so you may be able to see her episode relatively easily.

Follow the Bouncing Hormones

I hate being in the "I think" mode as far as my HRT meds go.
As I passed along to you recently, I was making my medication transition again between my endocrinologist and the Veteran's Administration.
As far as I can tell by talking to my VA nurse is the new prescriptions have been filled and are in the system.

That should be all good....but....in the system means another possible ten days before the new estrogen and spiro can get to me. Plus I will have to wait until the meds get here until I can tell for sure if the new dosages are correct.

I'm having a problem with the old prescriptions cancelling out until the new ones will start.
While this process sorts itself out, I'm carefully monitoring my dwindling supplies of both meds. On the good side,  I seem to have a couple nurses in both offices on my side I can communicate with. So "I think" all is okay.

In the meantime the spiking up or down of my hormones has not made me a happy camper the last couple of days. I even had a fairly decent hot flash yesterday which is tied into hormonal imbalance.

Am I sending myself through a HRT menopause?

Just For Fun!

Plastic Surgery and Gender Reassignment and Beyond

This is the second time recently Behold-The Photo Blog has featured several transgender or cross dresser photos.  Here is the latest:

"Michelle Sank is interested in young people and the issues they face. One of her early projects, called "Bye Bye-Baby," explores the way boys and girls interpret their understanding of masculinity and femininity. Following suit, her more recent series, “In My Skin,” deals with the pressure young people feel from media and pop culture to achieve a specific physical standard."

And of course a couple of the featured photos. The first on the right is MtF transgender Cambell.

The second is John  transgender FtM (below) and now identifies gender neutral.

Here are a couple links for more. The first is Michelle Sank's and the second is The Photo Blog.

Quote of the Day

‘You can’t live a lie and spend your life feeling sad’ – Pammy Rose.

Who is Pammy Rose? She is a transgender finalist in the Sunderland Echo "Face of 2013" competition.

" Now Pammy Rose wants to tell her story of transformation, courage and determination in a bid to inspire other young people to just be themselves. Cara Houchen reports. TRANNY, puff, sick, freak – I’ve had every vile insult you can think of shouted at me over the years,” explained Pammy Rose.  Born Paul Witten, the 20-year-old from Seaham always knew she was different and when I went to meet her and her mum Julie Olds, she explained why she now feels ready to tell her story.  “I want to stand up and speak out so hopefully people like me can stop hiding who they are, stop being afraid and just be happy and feel accepted,” she said.  “I’m in a good place at the minute, but it hasn’t always been like that.”

Go here for more.