"Market Penetration?"

Yesterday marked another visit to my endocrinologist at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Dayton, Ohio. To catch some of you up, I am a Vietnam era trans veteran under VA health care-including HRT.

Normally, the journey through the hospital to get to the Doc's is normally an adventure.If you ever have the opportunity to visit a VA medical facility, you will immediately see how tough the Veteran's Administration has it.

Anyway you look at it (or me) I always stand out as a trans woman. The good news is the greatest majority of people have stepped up to make me feel welcome, even when I was petrified. This visit though, I wasn't so much petrified and became even less so when I picked up one of the local free newspapers at the door-to read as I waited. I was dazzled when I saw the headline "If the Shoe Fits-Transgender Lives in the Miami Valley." (here) Fortunately, I was "rocked" through my visit and never had a chance to read it at the hospital.

Then-when I made it to the Doc's office, he had a very quiet and seemingly bored resident doc with him. We talked about the usual, breast development ect and could the resident examine my breasts? As I thought back to some of my Army pre draft physicals I thought sure!!! Actually, he explained to us, there is a real tissue difference in "moobs' (man boobs) and what a transgender woman develops.

Ever so briefly, the Doc mentioned I did trans workshops. Surprisingly, the resident woke right up and said something about Laverne Cox and Caitlin Jenner. 

Wow!!! I was impressed I encountered so much publicity yesterday. This being "trendy" is at the least interesting. Sometimes I compare it with my "fast food" experiences back in the day. I would pick up the trash around my parking lot and judge some of the competitor's market penetration from the number of their empty cups on my lot or in my trash.

Cyrsti's Condo "From the Heart"

Do Pictures Really Tell a Thousand Words?

The worst that can come out of the Caitlin Jenner blow out is if how many people's first thought is "Wow! She is gorgeous."

Very few pause to think Jenner had/has the benefit of the very best of the Hollywood glamour mill.

Then, even more "civilians" are not aware how precious "passing privilege" is to most of us. We just don't have the resources to jump in and do what Jenner did.

How Caitlin Jenner can be an Olympic star again is-is to never let the world know how difficult the rest of the transgender world has it. Certainly, she doesn't have to worry about which rest room she uses only for being trans. Her celeb status will take care of that.

Caitlin will have to remember her roots-no much how coloring she uses. If she doesn't-most of of this hoopla will remain just that-hoopla.

Spindled and Mutilated?

As I have written in a previous post about our Trans Ohio Symposium weekend, the impact of ally's this year was the biggest surprise to me.  Of course the cynical side of me thought "well they only came to see the freaks in the zoo." Again, of course-none of that was true.

I believe many did/do wonder what does make a transgender person "tick." I can tell you I have never had that many strangers reach out to me with a mixture of kindness and sympathy which truthfully made me feel a bit guilty. After all, I have pretty much come to terms of what living a transgender life means to me. Selfishly I thought, where the hell were you when I needed all of you??

 In truth though, we all know where I was-in the closet. Just like all the trans women MIA (Missing in Action) from the weekend. The trans woman turnout was close to tragic. More than likely five or less of my age, five younger and fewer yet trans women of color. (Last year, they formed the biggest group.)

In my opinion there are several reasons. The younger the participant this year, the more gender "labels" they could and did use on themselves. The future is bright. On the other end, I met two "Jacks who became Jill's" and became giant "Jackasses." Finally, there are the stealth dwellers who don't see the need to attend for any number of reasons. Maybe they have another closet to come out of these days or like the "Jackasses" I met-don't give a horse's rear.

To be sure, many deep questions still to be answered. In a couple weeks or so, the Symposium "powers to be" will be sending out survey's. Of course I already have a few suggestions to address broader questions in at least areas which effect trans women-if any more show up next year. Then again, more might with a bigger agenda. Plus, those of you who have ever dealt with a volunteer organization, the rule of thumb is "That's a great idea! YOU do it!"

I also think it is tough because the Trans Ohio Symposium does not do double duty as a "get away" weekend for questioning cross dressers seeking to explore their feminine sides. No organized drag shows or "pub crawls" are part of the weekend.  What you see is what you get-knowledge.

The good thing this year was again I learned much more than I ever even thought I knew.

The picture above is yet another "attempt" at a better than average picture from either of our camera phones. The guy to my right is Lachlan a transman. I think we all know by now pictures are not my forte anyhow! Lachlan was delightful as we registered attendees on Friday.

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due?

One of the potential problems I see coming out of the HUGE Caitlin Jenner coming out is all of the sudden she will get credit for the transgender advances many people have worked very hard to achieve. Here's a prime example from the LEXIE CANNES STATE OF TRANS — 

UPDATE-3 June 2, 2015. According to blogger Monica Roberts, Texas’ various anti-trans bills, including “bathroom bills” have failed to become law following the end of the Texas legislative session. This means “bathroom bills” in all 5 states have failed. Follow the link above for more.

Another very pleasant departure from the recent Jenner hoopla last night was NOT hearing or seeing any jabbering from Zoey Tur on anything I watched. Instead I saw the very credible and experienced trans woman Eden Lane.

Eden Lane

 The transgender community desperately needs to seize the "Jenner/Gender" moment with quality trans women journalists such as Eden Lane-not one who fell on their head out of a helicopter like Zoey Tur.

Waffles and Bikers

Remember the ancient movie "The Poseidon Adventure"? One of the songs from the movie was "There Has to be a Morning After - A perfect description of our Sunday morning.I will write about why in another post about Liz and I's traditional Saturday nights during the Trans Ohio Symposium weekend.  Let's just say plenty of adult beverages and good food are involved.

However, one "pays" for one's good time and Sunday morning, breakfast along with gallons of coffee was in order! The closest place to our motel to get a reasonably priced quick breakfast was a Waffle House. Truly, I was a little sensitive about going there as the "Houses" are good, basic restaurants but aren't known for an upscale clientele in many places. Plus we were quoted a 20 minute wait time. Plenty of time for inquisitive eyes and comments.

I quickly relaxed as not much happened and hunger increased. Hell, I almost asked the hostess if the two seats beside the Bikers from Maine were open. Seemed like a good idea until Liz's elbow landed in my side.

The moral to the story was neither of us climbed on the back of a Harley motorcycle and headed for Maine. We just headed to the nearest "Cup O Joe" Columbus coffee house and ordered our fave "Buckeye". A "Buckeye"" is a decadent blend of coffee, peanut butter and chocolate. Then we headed back to Springfield, Dayton, and finally Cincinnati. Plenty of time to discuss all of the weekend!

Talking Shop

Ideally, the core reason for attending the Trans Ohio Symposium for Liz and I was the hour set aside for my workshop on the transgender senior citizen.  What really happened (again) is I learned as much (or more) than I brought to the Symposium.  Plus, I got to meet a few very fascinating peeps.

My workshop this year was interesting in it's demographics which not unsurprisingly fit the whole group. Fully half of my group were allies but adding in a dash of spice was a person  who had transitioned years ago on the job, worked as a drag queen and contracted HIV. We also had a person who by her own admission, did the life balancing act living as a man, father and husband - and a woman when she could.



The allies? They were there because they had a niece who is trans and a brother who has written a book on having a transgender child.(Who attended.)

As promised, my agenda for the group was a blank piece of paper and I only ended up talking about myself for 15 minutes and let them fill the rest. Only jumping in to "facilitate" the discussion to those most qualified to talk on the subject.

This year at least I was pleased about the outcome and extra pleased from the ally input which was to be a theme throughout the weekend. Not one I expected.

So, there you go. The pic above shows The Ohio State Union building behind me and is from day one when Liz and I volunteered to help check everyone in. As I wrote earlier here in Cyrsti's Condo-the side stories from the weekend were classic!

Meet Caitlyn Jenner

Caitlyn Jenner, photographed by Annie Leibovitz on the cover of June’s Vanity Fair. 

Over Whelmed

Liz and I are back from the Trans Ohio Symposium and she has one final day of vacation to play with. In the meantime, not to be ruder than I can be on occasion, I am going to try to keep my posts here in Cyrsti's Condo to a minimum.

Briefly, here are a few of the future posts: (In no particular order.)

"Letting your hair down with the Blues."
"Where have all the Trans Women Gone?"
"Gone but Not Forgotten."
"Waffles and Bikers from Maine."
"God Bless the Ally's."

Knowing my noggin, these will spur on other ideas and memories from a wonderful weekend of transgender introspection and learning.

Stay tuned!!!