Bonnie Who?

Sorry Bonnie Raitt but a friend pointed this out to me!
Love your singing!!!       

First in a Series?

The more I work on Book #2 and see some of the ideas which I didn't use when I wrote  "Stiletto's on Thin Ice" I have come to the realization they couldn't because they hadn't happened yet.

While I love a crystal ball as well as the next girl, life just doesn't work for me that way. This time though I began to think of a series of ideas I could use here in Cyrsti's Condo and the new book (title undecided). 

First of all a disclaimer...This worked for me, barely, and is only my take on a very difficult journey. Also, my age is a factor too. There was no internet or super social media for most of my 67 years.

So, my first stage was as a cross dresser or transvestite. I did my best to sneak around and hide my habit from the world, while at the same time doing my best to accumulate a small collection of girl's clothing and makeup etc. 

I separate my crossdressing stage from a different level of awareness when I began to feel just looking at myself in the mirror wasn't enough. There had to be more. Increasing a little voice was growing in my head telling me "There just had to be." 

I also equate this time of my life with leaving a fetish stage of my life. Perhaps you read many cross dressers/transvestites who seem to cling to a specific article of women's clothing. (Like hose for an example.) I am not saying it is right or wrong, to each their own, but I just didn't. I wanted to look the best I could, but increasingly being a woman was overcoming looking like one in my mind. Sure shaved legs and panty hose felt great for a while until the world awaited to see you as a total person.

Looking back, this part of my life was equally scary, exciting and confusing, all in one huge hot mess. Unfortunately, the "hot mess" was to continue for nearly fifty years before I had enough courage to look inside my soul for real answers.

In the meantime, stage two for me was taking tentative looks out side the closet to see what the world was, or could be like for me.

Cyrsti's Condo "Sunday Edition"

Ker Plunk! Another Sunday Edition has hit your virtual front porch! It's a beautiful day around here in Southwestern Ohio, so grab a cup of joe (coffee) or tea and lets get started!

Page One: The Week that Was -or Wasn't: As poor Japan continues to sort through the devastation from a series of major earthquakes and aftershocks...North Carolina continues to go through their own. Following the close to unprecedented anti LGBT law passed there, companies, organizations and entertainers continue to announce boycotts against the state. Make no mistake about it, this is a huge fight which goes far beyond the borders of North Carolina. As you remember, Georgia's outgoing governor vetoed a similar bill, and rumblings have started in South Carolina and Tennessee. I would think Tennessee in particular would have to tread lightly because of a huge tourism industry. Stay tuned!

Rachel Dovel

Page Two: Yesterday's Coffee - Opinion: Here in Cincinnati, in some sort of brain vacuum, the Hamilton County Library has turned down a transgender employee's request (Rachel Dovel) to have her SRS covered by the library's insurance. 

Currently the Library Board is giving her request the "sand test." Otherwise known as we will stick our head in the sand and see if it goes away. 

The problem the board has is that the building is the background (white) I believe in the Kroger's headquarters and in the other direction is the Macy's headquarters and finally down the street is Cincinnati City Hall-all of which cover transgender transitions in their insurance. 

It's time to say, "Really Library-REALLY????"

Page Three: Such a Week! From a short stint on a public radio station to a full fledged photo shoot (not to mention a paranormal evening) this week was a blast! For such an unsymmetrical person, I just am fascinated when things in my life line up, symmetrically. Recently I learned a little about doing a "Soul Collage" from my dear friend (and muse) Trish.


During the afternoon, we paused to do an animal meditation to see if one appeared. An owl appeared in mine clear as day.Then, last night, Liz was doing some sort of "Goddess" spin on Facebook and who showed up? Athena and an Owl!
Needless to say, I was dazzled. Ok, my disclaimer here is I am still really new to much of this so if I lead you the wrong way, calm down!

Page Four: The Back Page: Before we take the dogs and us! out to enjoy this glorious day, it's time to point out too, I am a transgender woman. So, while it may not seem to be as important to me as having a run in my hose or wearing the right set of heels, it still is. Just in differing ways. An example? I don't wear panty hose but I need to be careful about getting to much sun light. Which drives my iron level thru the roof. (Not good.) So trans or not, I have a bit of a different way I have to set up my wardrobe.

At any rate, another story for another day!!!!! Everyone be good (or safe). I love you all and thanks for stopping by Cyrsti's Condo!

What The Hell Just Happened?

Such a day! I was able to sneak in a blog post before lunch, aggravate one of my readers (sorry) and have time to accept a last minute invite on a local radio show here in Cincinnati (WAIF). It's hosted by a guy who is certain the Christian faith (his) is under attack and indirectly, the LGBT movement seemingly has something to do with that.

It's my second stint on his show and I didn't see/hear much progress from a guy who when approached about the extremely high rate of transgender suicide, simply said all teenagers kill themselves. The worst part is this guy is a therapist of sorts.

At any rate, fantasy time was over. The other two panelists and him went on and I had another appointment, which was the photo shoot I have told you all about.

First of all, this was the real deal and I guarantee I have never had that many pictures taken of me in my life-total. The pix are being taken with me and six other women for a gallery showing from the photographer this fall. I have no idea if I was the only trans woman, or if all were. At any rate, it was yet another unique and special day, compliments of being trans (for a change). I do know she will be compiling a book later too. As soon as I can get any ideas of when and how, I will send them along!


Finally, I tagged along with a paranormal team Liz works with, and that my friends is an experience for another day!

Sometimes Life Goes Too Fast

First of all, I really like your input on my email, but if you want it not to go on the blog, just tell me too. Be up front as it doesn't bother me, I'm just not the sharpest tack in the box sometimes.

This week alone, I had breakfast with my daughter who has her hands more than full with three kids. I am fairly sure I am the last one to offer up a whole lot of advice. Except when my mind is screaming advise!

Then, today, Thursday, is when I have been invited to a photo shoot of sorts for an art exhibit here in Cincinnati which explains the differing roles of women. I have been fairly vague about it here because I am not totally sure what to expect. Which is my favorite scenario.

Plus I just received an invitation to go back on a local radio show here discussing all the recent LGBT turmoil from laws passed and proposed.

Thinking ahead to my "talking point" on the show, it's all fairly simple. Our opponents can't get past the fact we don't see ourselves as men or women and instead keep falling back on the well worn "man in a women's restroom." 

The problem being, many so called transgender allies can't see past it either.

Now, back to John Kasich. I think he would make a good candidate because he is a "centrist" Republican. Plus no one really has had a chance to know the guy because of all the dust storms stirred up by other candidates. Like any other politician, there are a lot of peeps here in Ohio like him and some don't!

Our Guy?

If you are not familiar, there is a third Republican presidential candidate who has been lost in the circus dust from the two remaining candidates and he is Ohio's Governor John Kasich. The other two , Trump and Cruz have been able to cloud the issues so much that Kasich's flaws just kind of slip through the huge cracks. Like this one:

From TheEdgeMediaNetwork:



During a recent campaign stop in Troy, New York, GOP presidential hopeful John Kasich was asked about Leelah Alcorn, the trans teen from Ohio who made headlines after she took her own life by walking into traffic after her family refused to accept her and wanted her to undergo conversion therapy.

Though the Ohio governor was "not familiar" with Alcon's tragic story, he took the moment to talk about same-sex marriage, LGBT rights and the anti-LGBT "religious freedom" measures popping up in a number of states, ABC News reports.

"This is a very tough issue for people, and let me tell you my view of it: First of all, I'm not familiar with that case," Kasich told a crowd of supporters. "But I've been watching what's happening in North Carolina what happened in Indiana - I'm not watching it closely - but what happened in Mississippi. We have all this legislation that people are proposing... I don't want any discrimination against anybody. I'm not in favor of discrimination, period, end of story."

"Secondly, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of gay marriage," he continued."I'm a traditional marriage guy, but the court ruled. I'm allowing the court ruling to stand. I'm not looking for some constitutional amendment - it's done."

Actually, I think Kasich is more of the consummate politician and he knows how a North Carolina law would fly in Ohio, into the nearest wall. However, for him to claim he knew nothing about Leelah Alcorn's tragic suicide about 100 miles south of him on I-71 is tragic as well.

Maybe he was already out of the state looking for money? 

Uber Safety?

We have not discussed the need for safety here in Cyrsti's Condo nearly enough! As we transition from men to women, no matter how effeminate we used to be, there still is a huge change in safety. It's bad enough violence against cis women is on the rise, multiply it farther for transgender women.

Now, in certain parts of the country,  Chariots for Women is an up and coming "Uber Service" designed for women only - including trans women.

My partner Liz gets the "way to go girl" for seeing this one on TechCrunch.com. :“The premise is the same as all the other ridesharing services,”  (Founder Micheal)Pelletz said in a phone interview. “There’s a driver app and a client app, except that what makes us unique is our safety feature that other apps forgot to do.” The service’s patent-pending technology gives the driver and the client a code in the app after a ride request has been made. When the car arrives, the driver and passenger make sure their codes match before the passenger gets in the car. Chariot for Women donates 2 percent of every fare to charity, and the company does not use surge charging.

In addition to only having women as drivers, Pelletz uses Safer Places, which has a reputation for performing the most stringent background checks. Chariot for Women also requires that all drivers pass Massachusetts’ Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) check, the same deep background check used in daycare centers and schools. Chariot for Women pays for the CORI check and will add fingerprinting for its drivers as soon as it’s possible.

The service will also pick up kids of any gender under age 13, as well as anyone of any age who identifies as a woman. “If they’re trans and identify as a woman, they can drive and ride with us, no problem at all,” Pelletz said."

Pelletz goes on to say: "“We’re doing this because there is such inequality when it comes to security that afflicts driver and rider due to gender,” Pelletz reiterated. “Women are across the world the ones being harassed and assaulted by male drivers. In my eight months as an Uber driver, I didn’t hear any negative feedback from men.”

At the time when you are (or have transitioned) into a woman, you will know this is yet another very needed tool, such as wage equality, you will be facing.

Cyrsti's Condo "Quote of the Day"

"I'll tell you what's at the bottom of it. If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."

Lyndon B. Johnson

Monday Monday?

It's days like today I struggle to find something to write about. Life goes on, transgender or not. Which still seems to be of some interest to many and often tedious to me. I "yam what I yam" Popeye said it best!

Last night was different though. An example was the young transgender guy (Schuyler Bailar) who switched from the Harvard women's to men's swim team in (I can't help it) mid stream. Of course, much of the key to his successful transition was an accepting family and coaches at Harvard.

Then there was the story of Martine Rothblatt on a later show. The ultra successful CEO just happens to be one of America's highest paid C.E.O's and a transgender woman-sort of:


Martine prefers not to limit herself to available words: She’s suggested using “Pn.,” for “person,” in place of “Mr.” and “Ms.,” and “spice” to mean husband or wife. But “trans” is a prefix she likes a lot, for it contains her self-image as an explorer who crosses barriers into strange new lands. (When she feels a connection to a new acquaintance, she says that she “transcends.”) And these days Martine sees herself less as transgender and more as what is known as transhumanist, a particular kind of futurist who believes that technology can liberate humans from the limits of their biology—including infertility, disease, and decay, but also, incredibly, death. 

Martine and her partner were on an episode of Nat Geo's God , the story of the Ftm swimmer is called "Switching Teams" on 60 Minutes

After watching both of these shows, I understood again why the rightest red necks can't understand us. You only have to try.

Schuyler Bailar

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