Cassidy Lynn Campbell

If you recall, Cassidy was the young transgender woman who won the homecoming queen title at her high school recently.  I thought you might be interested in following along with her feminization on HRT.  Here's a look on the Cyrsti's Condo big screen:

Lessons in the Sandbox

I'm fond of referring to transition as "playing in the girl's sandbox." The process is the time of your life when appearing as a woman takes a back seat to living as one.  All sorts of sand is being kicked in your direction and it is hard to keep up!

I've written here in Cyrsti's Condo many times of my "sandbox experiences" which by the way are far from over. Ironically, as I do transition, I look back and remember experiences which were more important than I gave them credit for initially.

Here's an example:  Years ago, my second wife accompanied me to a Tri-Ess meeting before we were actually married.  We drove quite a distance but still arrived plenty early before the nightly meeting/mixer. Instead of hanging out in our hotel room, we decided to get out and explore a little bit as two girls. We found that not too far away was a sort of a neighborhood tavern that advertised a mixed crowd and even drag shows on occasion. We sought it out and went in for a drink.

Not long after we sat down, a guy literally rolled up to the door on his Harley motorcycle and sat down a couple seats down from my future wife and began to flirt with her. My first thought was a feeling of being powerless in the situation, I had no control as a man or a woman.. I had the sinking suspicion she was going to prove to me I was a mirror "Princess" and knew nothing about being a real woman.. I was right.

Before long she was returning the flirt ever so slightly and the first time he looked past her to me I could see the change in her eyes. I ceased to be her guy in a dress and became a feminine competitor for the attention of this guy and stay the hell out of it. Believe me, I was in way over my head and she could have rode off with him - I was powerless anyhow but in no uncertain terms I knew what she meant. Then almost as fast, she snapped back and he took off,  leaving me with a rather scary first experience with feminine competition in the sandbox.

The problem became, I was way too early into my transition to understand what had just happened.  I never experienced a similar situation with her again.

Cyrsti's Condo "Sunday Edition" Front Cover

Here we go again, Thanksgiving week is behind us and the legal Christmas season is allowed to start. We have a lot to cover this week!

Entertainment Section:

Last night I was the social "butterfly" and made stops at two events. The first was at the Rubi Girls Show in Dayton, Ohio, compliments of my daughter.  I have mentioned this group before and hesitate to even call their work "drag shows".  Drag "production" is a far better word.  The Rubi Girls don't perform much but have been around for years and have raised over a million dollars for AIDS research. One of them was even my oldest grandson's teacher last year.  That fact alone would seemingly make me biased but with the Rubi Girls I don't have to be.  They are absolutely the funniest and most enjoyable drag group in our area.  If you have a chance to see them...DO IT!

Also last night was the Equality Springfield Ohio show/fundraiser.  I took off from the Rubi Girls and made it in time to finish my evening close to home.  What the Equality bunch lacked in "stage" talent, the group made up for in plain old hospitality.  If you remember, I started attending meetings last Spring and announced I seemingly was the invisible transgender woman in town because they never even went to the "T" in G & L.  From then on I was welcomed with open arms and last night was even more special because I was able to point out to them, there were two more "T's" in the house.  My transgender girlfriend Racquel and her boyfriend Draco (transgender man).  The event was well attended and was held in a small gay venue called Diesel's in Springfield (Ohio).

As closing time drew near, the "butterfly" or beat up moth,  had to fold her wings and head home,  What I didn't mention was, what I was doing before all of this.


Sports Section:  Yesterday was the titanic grudge football battle between The Ohio State University and those "Woverini's" up north.  Most of you know, yes I am one of millions of overbearing Buckeye fans.  Yes, Buckeye Nation is huge and want's you all to know "Don't hate us because we win and win and win." Regardless of all of that, the "other team" played well and set off more than a couple celebrations when Ohio State scored and finally won - including a shot of moonshine.  at my brothers house.  If you aren't familiar with "The Shine" follow the link above for more information but the short description is a clear very high alcohol proof liquor made just south of us in Kentucky and other points south of Ohio...legally and illegally.

The game started at noon and five shots later around four, I was scrambling for any food I could find to calm the beer and moonshine buzz and get started on my evening! I did and was safe doing it but the only thing I can say is, "I'm too damn old for days like yesterday!"

Commentary section:

Im going to bring the mood down and feature a very sad and alarming post from the blog "Raising my Rainbow" called "When The Boys' Room Isn't Safe For A Boy": Here's an excerpt:

My son is six and a half years old. He’s been potty trained with nary an accident since exactly his third birthday. Last week, in his first grade classroom, he peed his pants. He sat in his urine until the dismissal bell rang. His pants were soaked and cold when he got out of school. He was uncomfortable and he smelled. He didn’t want anybody to know. It was his secret. He started crying in the car. “I’m so ashamed of myself,” he said over and over again. Tears rolled down his face, even though he willed them not to. He couldn’t hold them back. 

Come to find out, my son — with his long auburn hair, pink and purple fitted clothes, feminine backpack and wrist full of rainbow-colored loom bracelets – is terrified to use the boys’ bathroom at school. photo 1On his first visit to the boys’ bathroom, he headed straight for the safety of the stall. Boys started peeking through the cracks in the stall to see if he was going pee or poop. Pooping at school is an embarrassment. He avoided the bathroom for as long as he could. The next time he had to go, he, again, walked straight to the stall. He locked the door behind him. He lifted the toilet seat lid and unzipped his pants. He could hear them talking. He could hear them looking. He turned around. Boys were peeking through cracks again. This time they were trying to see his genitals. They wanted to know if my son has a penis or a vagina. 

I talked to my mom about it. Weeks ago she left her bible study in tears. A fellow church-going Christian claimed to have insider information and knew that my son was using the girls’ bathroom at school. There would be hell to pay when “everybody else” found out about it. My son isn’t using the boys’ bathroom, he’s not using the girls’ bathroom, he’s hardly using a bathroom at all. I worry every day. Going to the bathroom should be the easiest part of the school day. But, for my son, it’s not. 

For the entire story, go here.

This story is all so more tragic because of the youth of the child involved.  Sadly, I too know all so well the paranoia of planning my activities on the availability of "safe bathrooms" , fluid intake and even certain meds which encourage peeing. Last night was a perfect example at the Rubi Girls show. Before I left I was sure if I had to go or not but if I did would I get in trouble for using the women's room? The reason being, like it or not, I could have been tossed into the drag queen category. Last night none of them were using the women's room so I ended up heading on home with no problems and not creating a potential scene.

Knock on wood,  the more I transition, the fewer restroom problems I have had but I think the paranoia may linger forever.

Well kids, that is going to do it for this version of the Cyrsti's Condo "Sunday Edition" hope you have a great week!

Cyrsti's Condo "Cover Girl of the Day"

Trans singer/songwriter, actress, dancer, artist, and writer Cadence Matthews stops by "the Condo"

The Future is Now?

For a transgender person of my age demographic, stories such as this from Yahoo News  simply are amazing.  It seems, groups of younger people are working to broaden or eliminate the whole idea of the gender spectrum.  All of the sudden, the old transexual, transgender and crossdresser hierarchy, is becoming irrevelant according to Genny Beemyn, director of the Stonewall Center at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst who recently wrote:  " the vast majority of students who identify under the trans umbrella identify in some way outside the binary, and that's really causing a shift on college campuses" .  Of course there is much more to the story from Yahoo:

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The weekly meetings of Mouthing Off!, (left) a group for students at Mills College in Oakland, Calif., who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, always start the same way. Members take turns going around the room saying their names and the personal pronouns they want others to use when referring to them — she, he or something else.

 It's an exercise that might seem superfluous given that Mills, a small and leafy liberal arts school historically referred to as the Vassar of the West, only admits women as undergraduates. Yet increasingly, the "shes" and "hers" that dominate the introductions are keeping third-person company with "they," ''ze" and other neutral alternatives meant to convey a more generous notion of gender. "Because I go to an all-women's college, a lot of people are like, 'If you don't identify as a woman, how did you get in?'" said sophomore Skylar Crownover, 19, who is president of Mouthing Off! and prefers to be mentioned as a singular they, but also answers to he. "I just tell them the application asks you to mark your sex and I did. It didn't ask me for my gender." 

Of course the transgender topic was involved too:

The nods to novel pronouns and nonconformity are an outgrowth of campaigns for gender-neutral bathrooms and housing that were aimed at making campuses more welcoming for transgender students moving from one side of the gender spectrum to the other. But as fewer young people choose to undergo sex reassignment surgery, such students are slowly being outnumbered by peers who refuse to be limited.


What's the world coming too??? A MUCH better place!   And just when you think this pronoun/language issue is getting to be a bit too complex:

Mel Goodwin, youth program director at the gay and lesbian community center in Las Vegas, said getting the hang of alternative pronouns can be tricky in conversation. Goodwin, 28, claimed they as a preferred pronoun four years ago and it took time "to unlearn what I had been taught about gender." Yet when people object to they as being grammatically incorrect, Goodwin counters that modern English is to blame and that scholars, writers and linguists have spent more than a century trying to come up with gender-neutral pronouns that stick. In public presentations, Goodwin also refers to a map that shows historic and contemporary cultures around the world that have recognized more than two genders. "This is not about young people in the U.S. over the last 20 years kind of coming out of the woodwork and making up labels that aren't real," Goodwin said. "This is a real variation among humans, period."

Well, it's time for old dinosaurs such as me to head off for my nap- feeling good about the future!

Cyrsti's Condo "Cover Girl of the Day"

From Wikipedia:


"Patricia Araujo was born into a middle-class family in Governador Island (Rio de Janeiro), Brazil, and named Felipe. At 12, Araujo kissed a classmate, Andre, inside the public school where she studied. This event generated rumours that came to the school board's attention, and Patricia was persecuted by the supervisor. Thinking that the employee's intention was only to help her, Araujo confessed she was gay. As a result she was expelled from school in 1997 whilst still in seventh grade. After the incident, Patricia confessed to her parents, Severino Araujo and stay-at-home Terezinha Araujo, both evangelicals, that she saw herself as a woman, not a man and was attracted to boys.

Her older brother, whose name she does not disclose, wanted her to be expelled from the house because of it, but her parents supported her. Patricia began to dress as a woman, and guided by a transvestite who lived near her home, began taking birth control pills to become more feminised.

Slip Sliding Away

On the Cyrsti's Condo big screen, a video MtF transition video from Asley Jones.  A classic example of one gender sliding away and a new one beginning:

Kelly Summers

I can safely say I have never ran across a video which had such a powerful effect on me. Immediately I noticed Kelly didn't have the thin "female ready" body style so many video MtF transgender women are blessed with. In addition, she wasn't very young which also adds to the ease of transition. All of that aside though, I was mesmerized with her lifestyle which in many ways mirrors what mine is - or could be. In rapid succession, I smiled and cried with Kelly. I dedicate this video to Liz...she will know what I'm feeling!


 

My First Black Friday

Before "Black Friday" exploded into it's present day shopping mania, it was the day the women I knew bonded together and attacked the malls and stores of the world searching for their favorite gift or gifts.

Of course I placed the chance of finally being able to shop the Black Friday madness as a woman very high on my "feminine bucket list".  Years ago the sun, the moon and the cross dressing stars aligned and I had my chance.  My wife worked retail and she was working and I wasn't, so I used the excuse of buying a gift for her and went "Black Friday" shopping.

I bundled up in one of my favorite over sized soft sweaters which were so in fashion, added low ankle boots, jeans and gloves and off I went into the world.

By that time, this experience was far from being my first "shopping rodeo" so I was experiencing little or no anxiety about navigating the crowd as a woman. Of course I was just doing my best to blend, shop and soak in the estrogen charged atmosphere.

I was "out and about"  for about four hours and it was time for me to head home.  As with most other experiences you fantasize about for years, Black Friday wasn't as good as I imagined but then again, all I thought it could be. The majority of the other shoppers were women and were hell bent on gift buying and could care less about any potential cross dressers or trans women in the crowd - unless I got in their way. I was able to do a little shopping, buy a few gifts and enjoy the experience.  However, similar to my thoughts about the "sanctity" of the womens rest room, I didn't see what the fuss was all about.  The same way I'm sure many women feel about male bonding and sports.

Ironically, I have never felt the need since to venture out into the shopping madness which is "Black Friday" again. I did however begin to do almost all of my Christmas shopping as a woman from that point on.

Those experiences are coming up in future posts here in Cyrsti's Condo.