A Good Read

It's worth a "hop, skip and an Internet jump over to the Huffington Post. Check out  this post from Stephanie Mott: "Are you a Boy?"

Can I Book This Flight?

No boring flight on this day as a transgender artist was arrested on a West Jet flight for going topless after an incident.

Arsenault (or plastic look alike) and Sanfino

"This came from the Star.com : Nina Arsenault and Lexi Sanfino wanted to shock a flight attendant when Sanfino performed an impromptu striptease on a WestJet flight to Edmonton Thursday night. But the two prominent Toronto-based transgender artists said the performance was spoiled when they were arrested by Alberta RCMP officers, whom they allege deleted photos from their camera and threatened to throw them in jail with men."

Why?

"Arsenault said the incident was provoked by questions from the flight attendant, which they deemed inappropriate. “She came over and said, ‘You guys have to teach us how to do our makeup,’ ” said the 39-year-old performer. “And then they were like, ‘You know, because you used to be guys, right?’ ” In response, Sanfino decided to strut topless down the aisle. “She walked down the aisle with quite a bit of grace and flamboyance and had her arms out,” said Arsenault. “And then the flight attendants came and covered her up, saying ‘Think about the children!’ ” Contacted via Facebook, Sanfino added: “My actions spoke louder than words.”

Classic!

HorrorScope

I wouldn't kid you! It's time for another honest "HorrorScope" here in Cyrsti's Condo:

 "Libra: September 23-October 22): Manifesting what you want takes a lot more than just talk or filling up your Pinterest. As it goes, honesty is your greatest asset now, so accept yours. All talk and no action is only going to make you look like a fool, and if there is one thing you can’t handle, it’s a bad image. Let go of your fears and understand that when you’re truly on the right wavelength, there are no words."

 Guess I better shut up and work on my makeup! Unfortunately, fool has been associated with me as the other four letter word starting with "f" more than once!

"HorrorScope" is my own term. You can head to theFrisky
for your own scope here - honestly!

Organization and the "Shotgun" Trans Gal

I call my thought pattern a "shotgun" approach. I'm all over the place with ideas until I can finally get one organized and it sticks on the wall here in Cyrsti's Condo.

After many requests and quite a bit of paranoia, I finally redid one of our rooms into a pictorial transition timeline. I think it will be easy for you to figure out which one it is!

Growing up Fast

Coming out as a transgender girl at the age of six means you have to hit the road running.

First of all, the mere fact you are doing it at all is front page news and then the real fun begins. In this case I'm referring to Coy Mathis who was diagnosed as being transgender at the age of four in Colorado. Predictably when she started school, Coy was banned from using the girls bathroom.

Her parents promptly fought back and filed a formal discrimination lawsuit against the school system and they won!  In a landmark decision, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission ruled Coy must be permitted to use the girl's bathroom!

There simply are no words to adequately express admiration for Coy's family (and others)  who are carrying the transgender rights fight to the public and the courts!

Trans Knight

From the Malta Independent :  "She was the first transsexual to be a candidate with the Right of Centre alliance, the first to lead an equal opportunity committee, the first to open a centre in the South of Italy for those suffering from identity issues, and the first transsexual to get her feminine name accepted on her ID Card. Now she has become the first transsexual to be invested as a Dame in the Order of the Knights of Malta. Martina Castellana (left) is a dermatologist from Salerno.

Now, with the Cross of Malta around her neck, she is preparing a second book, following her autobiography, Sulla mia pelle published a year ago."


Yet another- "thank goodness" she never entered the stealth closet!

Anger and the Trans Girl

No big secret as you turn the gender "corner" anger issues or "anger management" if you will change dramatically.   In fact during my transition, it's a major issue for me.

Right or wrong, I played fairly effectively in the "macho sandbox" and I'm the first to say it cost me dearly-but another subject.

Looking back on the experience, I have labeled the male power structure as power one as opposed to the uber effective feminine passive aggressive. Reasonably early in life a male begins to sort out his place in the power grid. He could be a one, two or three. For simplicity, three's stay put.  Due to strength, intelligence, athletic ability or looks-they probably are stuck there and know it. Nothing wrong with that-not making value judgement.  Two's on the other hand can possess and combination of any of the power attributes I mentioned plus the ambition to challenge the front running number ones.  As with any species, it's a simple survival of the fittest basic.

I played in that number 2 sandbox and I have had a difficult time switching from a more direct confrontational view of stress situations with other humans to a passive aggressive.  Very simply put, no I can't (and never did) punch you in the face.  Instead let me smile ever so sweetly and figure out a way to intellectually punish you.

Both power grids define the genders and to a large degree define why on so many levels males and females have a difficult time understanding the other. Each bring the "tools" they have to work with to the table.  When my two young grandson's are off in the corner going crazy on each other, my 12 year old grand daughter watches and listen's to my daughter say: "they are just being boys, stay out of it". That's all good until a group of her friends come over and the battle lines are drawn again-for so many different reasons.

As humans I guess we have been blessed and cursed to witness this gender dynamic. But witnessing the power grids doesn't mean we can do anything about them. We all have to make our way through life the best we can. As transgender folk though we do have a unique chance to sit the middle fence and have a better understanding of how the gender grids work.

I have to say  my perch on the fence has been hard to maintain.

I guess  De Niro  said it best in Taxi Driver :  "You talkin' to me?"

Way Too Macho?

Thank you Alice for the comment on the short lived television show of a couple years ago : He's a Lady.
I do agree yes another show similar would be fun but also think America is way too macho to watch a bunch of sky diving, macho guys even thinking about going over to the other gender side. I'm fairly sure there had to be a resident cross dresser or two at TBS for that show to even get on the air.  Funny, ha ha acts of guys in drag are OK and I think transgender specials are becoming accepted for a totally different reason but He's a Lady wasn't close.

Taking this a step further. Perhaps some of you recognize the name of the show "There's Something About Miriam" from 2007. Since you are reading about it here in Cyrsti's Condo, you probably can guess what that "something" was all about:




 I did not like the premise of this show at all. Beautiful transsexual women tricking men just isn't good public relations.

Damsel in Distress

I have had more than a few struggles with the classic cars I drive breaking down. I have to tell you your car coming to a grinding unforgiving halt as you think you are the most beautiful trans woman ever -is no fun.

Of course the fun meter goes to an all time high when you throw wrecker drivers into the mix! Those rascals! Over the past 5 years I have had to deal with three of them.

The first one I have written about here in Cyrsti's Condo.  He was the first man to strip me of my IQ.  He wouldn't even listen to me telling him how to get to my house!  Silly woman-what did I know? By that time I figured if he thought I was a dumb blond- I would be one and started to ask how this so complicated machinery worked on his "big ol truck". I wasn't sure he ever knew I was trans.

As harmless as the first experience was, the second one wasn't.  The second driver did know I was trans and I think he would have gladly beat me up and left me for dead. He was so bad the company sent someone in another vehicle to follow him.

The third one was OK but made sure I knew he was about the only one who would come and pick up my car from his company.  I didn't care and he got my car home and was gunning for me to send a giant compliment back to the company on him.

I will say times have changed for me and I will not hesitate to report a transphobic driver or company now. Plus it is the dispatcher who basically sets you up for success on these calls.

 Today I thought chances were good for a fourth call as  I was making a fairly lengthy trip.On the way back my car overheated-even though I thought I checked the coolant well before I left.

Approximately fifteen minutes into a two hour trip I had to pull off at an exit, find a parking lot to sit in and let it cool down. Being the prepared person I'm usually not, I even had an extra gallon of coolant with me..provided I had no leaks.

As I waited, a very interesting thought popped into my noggin...did I want a good Samaritan to drive by and stop to offer help.  Every ounce of my spirit was telling me, I was quite capable of doing this job by myself. If I had no leaks I just wanted to get home on a hot humid day...BUT...

Then again, if no one did stop did that mean the way I looked wasn't good enough for an offer of a helping hand to a stranded woman.

What I really did was park in a semi populated big parking lot in the late afternoon, towards the back. The whole time I sat there I think there were only two other cars at all who came close to where I was. I started the car, put the coolant in and all was good and I got home without further incident.

I really didn't start to think much about the other thoughts bouncing around in my ping pong brain until I was safely on the road again. Then again, I didn't even mention the security aspect of a stranger rolling up to help. But all in all the ideas were an interesting relief to a fairly boring drive!