Are the "Good Ol' Days" Now?

Sure, as chronological years go, I hope my "double sixes"- 66 years continue to serve me fairly well. This time I am writing about the remembrances of a simpler time when all I had to do was obsess about when I was going to sneak out and what was I going to wear.

  An example is the picture to the left, which I call an ancient "photo shopped" mirror selfie.

Well, the good old days are now with me. In fact when one one the Eagles' songs came on the radio the other day, it took me back to an extremely dark and ugly time in my past.

I knew I had severe gender issues but in the mid 1970's I had no idea of what to do about them except try to drink them away. Which in turn, made it worse.

If it wasn't for my infant daughter, I don't know how I did make it then. She was grown with kids of her own when I tried an actual weak attempt at suicide. I say "weak" because I know now taking a full bottles  of certain pills won't kill me.

So, these are the good old days and sometimes I think I need to write posts like this to remind myself and others of how desperate being transgender can be,

Go Cincinnati!!!

I know many of you must think I get some sort of a stipend from Cincinnati when I write something good about them, wish I did.

Embattled Governor McCrory,  North Carolina

The fact remains though, Cincinnati was considered the poor step child when it came to LGBTQ rights, behind state capital Columbus and even nearby Dayton, Ohio.

All of the sudden a year or so ago that began to change and continues to.

It was announced today the city was going to try to pass an ordinance to ban un- necessary travel to North Carolina, until the state repeals it's swift and shady anti LGBT rights bill.

"Go Natti!!!"

Orange or White?

As I finally got around to coloring my hair yesterday, (dark auburn) as I was applying it I panicked a bit when it came out orange.


I got to thinking if I had orange hair, I would take a step to the right and take after Donald Trump. Then I thought if the color didn't cover my gray, I would take a step to the left with Bernie Sanders.

Paris Lees:Dear Ian McEwan:

From across the pond, the "Daily Telegraph" and Paris Lees:

"Everyone seems to have an opinion on transgender people these days - from Germaine Greer to Jeremy Clarkson, they have all offered up their thoughts on trans people.  Ian McEwan is the latest

. As a fan of his books and a trans woman myself, I’m (Paris) very grateful. After all, he seems to have spent a whole five minutes thinking about people like me before sharing all his ill-informed ideas about us with the rest of the world.

“The self, like a consumer desirable, may be plucked from the shelves of a personal identity supermarket, a ready-to-wear little black number,” he said. “For example, some men in full possession of a penis are now identifying as women and demanding entry to women-only colleges, and the right to change in women’s dressing rooms.”

There is a ton of good reading here. Follow the link for more!

Paris Lees CREDIT: NEIL DAWSON FOR ATTITUDE

Is the Cat Out of the Bag?

All of a sudden it seems more and more people know of/a transgender woman or man. The tipping point it's called.

As more of the world knows the truth about us, that we are not the restroom rapists we are drawn to be, will the bully on the other side of the teeter totter take off running?

As you have probably have read, Mississippi is the latest state to legislate the worst legislation against the LGBT community yet. Then again, it's tough to expect much more from a state with a Confederate Flag incorporated in it's flag.

As I understand it, Mississippi's law even dictates an employer can impose a dress code. Does that mean a genetic woman can't wear pants to work?

With all this activity I thought it may be a good idea to see where your state stacks up.

Plus there are states like Kentucky where anti LGBT bills have ground to a halt in session, and Georgia has not been up dated on this map.

It's important to note too, how much impact all of us can have one on one with the world. Especially with our dollars. In fact, yesterday I emailed Asheville, NorthCarolina (billed as one of the most liberal towns in North Carolina) that I had taken them off our possible vacation plans. 

I will let you know if I receive a message!

An Incredible Idea

Yesterday when I got back from playing ping pong with my therapist (she wins everytime!) I received an email which (I paraphrase) asked me to be part of a artist collaboration of how contemporary Cincinnati women use their heads. The piece will be in response to a photo in the "Lloyd's archives of two women in the 1800's posing with baskets on their heads. (No cheap shots about my flat head!)

Regardless of flat, I have a problem on occasion of overthinking things to the point of missing the point all together.

I immediately wondered why me for a photo shoot/interview. Finally it came to me what the artist wanted, a different perspective on how a woman does use her head from one who has lived life from a gender fence. Sometimes finding a lofty view, sometimes getting buried in my own gutter.

I still feel HRT has been the big difference for me. The readjustment of gender hormones in my body has allowed me to find the feminine rainbow which I always knew existed but had such a difficult time fulfilling. 

Needless to say, I can't wait until next Thursday and in the meantime, it will be time to use my hair color and the free hair styling I won (to help the budget.)

Ideally, if the whole project gets accepted, it will be accepted at a bigger show in October.

Coincidence or Divine Intervention?

If you follow sports at all, you will know last night was the finale of the NCAA men's basketball tournament. The two teams were Villanova (small Catholic school from Philadelphia) and North Carolina.

Normally, I am not the biggest fan of basketball and really didn't have a dog in this hunt, until North Carolina pretty much slipped in under the cover of darkness to legislate the most nefarious anti LGBT laws in the country.

As the game went back and forth, I began to think what if North Carolina lost because their coach is a jerk and the state won't let me potty where I want to.

Then my prayers were answered when Villanova drove down the court and shot an improbable three point shot to win the National Championship at the buzzer. (End of the game.)

For the next couple of minutes, I became a Catholic.

Cyrsti's Condo "Sunday Edition"

KerPlunk! Another Sunday edition is hitting your virtual front porch. It's sunny here in Southwestern Ohio but around 30 degrees with winds yesterday around sixty three miles per hour, As things calm down, it's time to grab a hot "cup-o-joe" and get started.
Page One:The Week That Was or Wasn't: As the North Carolina Governor signed the worst LGBT bill in the country, battle zones were settling up or fought in many other states. Currently, over one hundred companies have protested the law alone-not to mention the general public. Unfortunately, this is only the tip of the ice berg.
Page Two: Yesterday's Coffee-Opinion: Last week (three times) we mentioned the Go Fund Me page for Kristin Beck. Kristin of course is the former Navy Seal who came out as transgender and now is running against one of most powerful Democrats in the U.S Congress. After she wins the election, I am going to try to ask her some specific questions about her transition I haven't heard asked. Being a transgender veteran myself, I just wonder what it must be like to bring the respect and even power (my word) of being a Navy Seal to the public. If you can donate to her election you can by going to the "Go Fund Me" page.
Page Three: What's in a Name? Quite a bit when it comes to transgender women and transgender men, It's a rare chance to change our name to fit a new gender. I ran into a name buzz saw when I had established myself as Cyrsti when all of a sudden I had my daughter ask me why and what would the grand kids call me, At that point, I decided to look back on some family names and came up with two which come up with the initials J.J. Now the name is on my legal markers and Cyrsti has become more of a "stage name." Plus, since it is a legal deal for the first time in my life, I know I have to be a little careful on how far I go here on Al Gore's internet.
Page Four: The Back Page: Chilly or not kids, it's time to go face a busy Sunday and always, thanks for stopping by Cyrsti's Condo

Rite of Passage?

Just returned from one of our group meetups this afternoon, and quickly was very much rendered speechles, which is difficult for me. Before we got started on a very interesting program, one of the other woman asked me if I had come to any decisions on what some of us had discussed. I just said what?

She said had I figured out anything I wanted the group to do to help me celebrate my gender passage from male to female, Actually, while I have had some ideas, life has gotten in the way and I have not given the idea much more thought.

I told her I was humbled about them caring and  please just surprise me, if they want to go through the effort. Also, I can't truthfully say enough how much their acceptance as a group has meant to me.

Basically what it has meant is, I have been added into and accepted by a group of 30 people or so who accept me completely for what I am. As I said, I can't say how appreciative and flattered I am.