JJ's Guest Quote of the Day

On turning 65:  Finally old enough to know better. Too Old to do anything about it! 

Connie Malone

Memorial Day Invite

If your memory is better than mine, perhaps you will remember the post I wrote about a woman coming up to me in the Hall at the VA and alerting/inviting me to a Memorial Day event, they call "Patriot Days." She also gave me her phone number to call for questions. (The Dayton, Ohio VA.)

About a week or so again, I called the number and got an answering machine. I left all my pertinent info and didn't expect much else.

Then, all of the sudden, yesterday she called me back and asked if I was coming. I thought sure, how could I back out now?

My only real problems are I can't find anyone to go with me since Liz has to work, because I need to be there. Even for the ones who have called me a "fu-king queer- in fact especially for them. 

Check out these numbers:

 15,500

Transgender individuals who are currently on active duty or in the Guard or Reserve forces

150,000
Transgender individuals who have served, or currently serve, in the U.S. armed forces

1.6
Times more likely that transgender women will serve than all adult men

3
Times more likely that transgender men will serve than all adult women

*Figures per a 2014 Williams Institute report on transgender military service in the U.S.

So Sunday it will be!!!

Transgender Israel Co-existence Contest

From Tel Aviv and the "Times of Israel" 12 finalists are aiming to become Israel’s first “Miss Trans Israel.” They have spent long hours this week practicing their routines, strutting in stiletto heels and modeling evening gowns and swim wear.

The competition is more than a show of beauty and pride.

It also is a display of coexistence and tolerance, bringing together contestants from Israel’s Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities. The contestants describe themselves as a family of sorts, saying they find strength in one another.

“I’m happy that the competition is bringing together all of the ethnic groups, and together they are a model of coexistence,” said Israela Stephanie Lev, the pageant’s organizer. “I hope this model can be an example for our society, for the Middle East and the world.

   

Takin' Care of Business and Workin' Overtime!

Well, not really. I am retired so sincerely, I work more than I did.

Recently, I wrote an informational post on the the blog about what's called monetization or Google running ads. For example from Connie:  "Hey, I keep putting in my two cents worth, and I get nothing in return!!!! :-)

I believe the ads are geared toward the individual user, are they not? Mine, today, are for "4 signs of heart trouble", "Senior Cruises", and one for REI. So, someone (or some thing) knows I'm old (still two years younger than you until tomorrow :)."

OLD Picture

The ads are indeed tailored and I get some crazy ones, recently plugging trips to Florida and on line degrees. (They must read the blog?) 


"Do you really get haters and trolls?"

Yes, I do get trolls and haters occasionally, just not much lately. My all time classic was when someone called me "just another old guy on hormones." :)

Since I don't get nearly the daily hits I used to on the blog, I think I'm less visible. When I started it years ago, there were fewer blogs. Now everyone and their "Mama" has one.

"Just Fab!"

I casually follow a fashion site/blog called Just Fab which "indirectly" carries my style of clothes. I love the "Bohemia" fringe colorful looks.

Frankly, I can't wear or afford most, but it's fun to "window shop."

Actually too, a long maxi skirt and tank top give me a nice slimming line I am always looking for.

So, I'm comfortable, and feeling attractive at the same time. I am approximately 5'11" too, so I am not terribly tall. 

Check it out! 

Takin Care of Business

I have had several friends I see on a regular basis tell me they can't make a comment on the blog and what's up with the advertisements?

It is my understanding,you have to become a member of the blog to make a comment.(no charge) The spot to do it is on the right hand side about 2/3's of the way down.(Almost clear to the bottom.) The only right I have is to censure any haters or trolls.

Now, the ad's...Google pretty much has total say on which ad's you will see. Sometimes they are worthwhile for you sometimes not. An example was the ad I had today from some obscure university I had never heard of. Perhaps they have read my writing?

Why have ad's at all? Bluntly, like Connie, I need the cash and while I know you can make some sort of respectful return on the time you put into a blog, I haven't seen it yet. Easily, I put an hour a day into JJ's for a very small return.

How is the return figured you ask? Good question. Say you like "Joe Blow's Burger Rama" and an ad shows up on the blog and you you check out the ad, I get an itty bitty kick back.

The ad for the book is a good deal, I get a nice kick back from that, while Frock Magazine is an exchange.

So, if you have paid attention, every once in a while, I position the ads in a different place to create more much needed revenue from a community which is notoriously broke.

Then there are those who fund their blogs through a Paypal account (donation). I have always felt bad about that. It seems to put more pressure on something I started doing for fun.

So there you you go, I hope some of this info helps!!!!! 

Transgender Working World

Connie wrote in via the cyrstih@yahoo.com email account about her experiences in Seattle where she works with an Hispanic crew and a boss who considers her an abomination. 

Her leg is swelling from blood clots again and she desperately needs the money so my thoughts go out to her. In her words :I'm working along this job and have an interesting story; not the nature of the work, but the nature of the people on the job. 

My job is to maintain large hanging flower baskets in some of the business districts around town - mostly watering - in the early morning hours. Last week, I was involved in the installation of the new summer baskets.

The foreman is a Latino, which means nothing to me except that he obviously is engrossed enough in his culture that I am an abomination to him. Still, he's at least "tolerant" of my existence there; tolerant to a point. It's his pronoun usage when talking about and to me that is the problem. It's always "he,his,or Amigo not Amiga."

I made one subtle remark about it to him, but he either refuses to give me the proper respect or he didn't get the message. So, after a week of this, I brought the subject up with the owner. He was not comprehending what I was telling him at all, and couldn't understand why his foreman would be using male pronouns when  he didn't do so with, or to, other women. Ha! I had to tell my boss that I was a transgender woman, because for all the time he's known me he has thought that I was a cis woman!!! (with a rather low voice, he said)

The whole thing is not worth a battle to me, as this is just a temporary seasonal job I've taken, while this guy has been working there for fifteen years. I believe that I would even have legal grounds for making a stink about this, but I'm more interested in searching out avenues of positive energy. I know that there are those who think I'm giving in here, but I prefer to see the positivity in the fact the owner is happy to have me be a face for his business, working and dealing with the people in the districts he serves. Besides, who wouldn't be pleased to be able to work independently without a foreman looking over her back all the time. Also, if he mis-genders me to someone, he's only going to be confusing them. I win all the way around!

Feel free to use any or all of this. I just think it's an amusing twist of sorts on the "transgenders in the workplace" issues that are usually reported."

First of all Connie, I wish you good health! And second of all what an inspiring story. I had a difficult time lifting it from yahoo over to here for some reason, hope everyone got the meaning!

From India

"In a highly unusual move, a designer in the southern Indian state of Kerala has launched her new collection of saris, featuring two transgender models, writes the BBC's Geeta Pandey in Delhi.

Sharmila Nair's collection is called Mazhavil - or, the rainbow - and it's "dedicated to transgender people because globally they are represented by rainbow flags".

In India, where transgender people are looked down upon by the larger society and are considered as the in-between people who are to be ridiculed and shunned, Ms Nair's choice of models is attracting a lot of attention."

The models - Maya Menon and Gowri Savitri - have no previous experience in modelling and Ms Nair says she found them through Queerala, an organisation that works with the LGBT (lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender) people in Kerala.

"I was thinking about how I was going to showcase this collection of handloom saris and I saw a Facebook post about the state government's new policy to better the lives of transgender people.

"I thought since the government was doing so much for the LGBT people, I should also do something," Ms Nair told the BBC on phone from Cochin."

Follow the link for more.

Strut!

Comedian and actress Whoopi Goldberg will serve as executive producer on an upcoming show called Strut.

Strut will follow the day-to-day lives of a group of trans fashion models.

Focusing on Slay Model Management, the show will tell the story of the world’s first exclusively transgender modelling agency, People reports.

“This show is important right now, because for all of the positive advances the community has made and continues to make, transgender is still a hot-button word that gets people hysterical,” Goldberg in a statement.

“People tend to focus on the stereotype instead of the person,” she added.

“This series will give viewers a unique opportunity to spend time with real people who are struggling with the same challenges we all face as we make our way through the world.

“You may even be surprised to discover that you have been seeing and interacting with transgender men and women in ways you didn’t even realiSe!”

Strut will premiere later this year on the Oxygen network.