Trans Ohio

It's hard to believe but sign up time for the 2019 version of the "Trans Ohio Symposium" is here.

My only real decision at this point is if I am going to present another workshop of some sort this year. At this point I am thinking of one of two topics. the first is a variation of last year's presentation called "Fifty Years of Hitting Transgender Walls" or, "Gender Dysphoria, the Root of all Evil?" It's probably going to be a "game time decision" when I send my application in.

A decision on choosing the presentation on gender dysphoria may appeal to more people simply due to the number of transgender men who attend, plus it may appeal more to a younger audience. Also, if I use the blog as an example, MtF transgender dysphoric posts have always had a good response.

One way or another, the presentation has to be accepted anyway, so there is no guarantee I would be doing it anyway.

We will see!

Now it's the Wind

Today Liz and I are headed out in 40 mile per hour wind gusts to what could be a contentious Cincinnati Witches Ball meeting. The main organizer of the event has overstepped her power and will meet up today with the head of the organization which loosely backs it.

FYI...the ball is really a huge themed Halloween party. The theme this year is going to be "Steam Punk."

Example of "Steam Punk" costume.

Since I really don't do much, I don't/shouldn't have much to add or subtract.

As far as the upcoming week goes, I have a Doctor's appointment Tuesday and we have another cross dresser - transgender karaoke social Friday.

Plus one of these days I have to quit my procrastination and schedule my mammogram. My excuse is I am waiting for better weather in March. The problem is, March weather around here can be as unpredictable as February.

It's my excuse and I am sticking to it. As far as the mammogram goes, I don't mind it as much as the long walk I have to take to get from the parking garage to the clinic.

Enough whining...have a great week!

Young and Transgender

I could go into great detail about the problems young transgender girls or boys go through in the majority of cases. Of course we all know the instances of increased suicide rates mis-understood trans kids go through.

On the other side of the coin is the teen aged transgender girl who has basically grown up before our eyes...Jazz Jennings. Jazz of course is an example of a white, attractive child who happened to be part of a very accepting family.

If you have a story to share of your upbringing, please comment here on the blog or email me at Cyrstih@yahoo.com. 

In the meantime, here is Connie's:

FABULOUS CONNIE DEE February 22, 2019 at 12:58 PM
"I hope to live long enough to see how the current generation of young transgender people will fare as they move into adulthood. There will still be pitfalls for them, but not having to deal with the shame is a definite advantage. For those who have parental acceptance and support, there will be a much more solid foundation.

I didn't have to tell my mother; she figured it out when she discovered some of her clothing was missing when I was about 12-years-old. Beyond a swift beating of my ass and a warning to never do it again, we never discussed it, either - unless you count subsequent reprises of the same interaction as being an on-going discussion. It's almost impossible, as a child, not to feel the shame in yourself when your parents express their own shame for you. It is so much more than, say, a feeling of guilt a child may get from getting caught with stealing a cookie. If my guilt was the cookie, my shame was the whole cookie jar; the cookie my gender expression, the jar my gender identity.

I have forgiven my mother, too. Neither of us knew what was going on, and "transgender" was something years away. It's said that knowledge is power, and there is so much more information that is readily available to both trans kids and their parents these days. I hold hope and prayer that both will avail themselves of that information and learn there is nothing for which to be ashamed - neither for the trans child or the parents of a trans child."

Well written, thanks!

Ashamed to be Transgender?

Yesterday, I happened to come across a blog post called "I am Not Ashamed to be Transgender" on a very extensive web site called "T-Central". By extensive, I mean the site is a compilation of many transgender - cross dressing blogs. You can follow the link above to check it out.

The post I am mentioning here is from a mother with a trans child. Here is a brief excerpt:

 "When I asked my son (who is transgender) what kind of impact our support had, he looked me straight in the eye (which teenagers generally don’t do) and said, “I don’t feel ashamed of who I am.” Several years later and I can still feel the power behind that statement that he uttered with such conviction, not a moment’s hesitation."

I thought "Wow", how great it would have been to tell my Mom that when I was a teen-ager and for her to accept it, or at least think about it. You see, I didn't have one of those mothers who subconsciously would let me be a girl in any way shape or form. Ironically, I did come out to her when I got out of the Army when I was twenty five. I told her about the same thing, I was not going to feel ashamed of myself anymore. Which wasn't true and I wish it was.

The fact of the matter was, my Mom slammed the closet door in my face that night so long ago (1975) and we never mentioned it again. She passed away several years later.

I really admire the younger generation of transgender children who have the conviction to stand up for who they are and possibly respect even more the parents who accept them. 

FYI...I have forgiven my Mom and even legally changed my middle name to her first name. It turned out, she did get the daughter she never had and in so many ways we turned out so much alike.

Shoe Time?

Thanks to several of you, we have gotten plenty of response here in Cyrsti's Condo to a short series of posts we did on the closing of Payless Shoes. Responses ranged from no interest at all from Shelle, to heading there during lunch (Sally) to Connie's reference to her visits at DSW , an upscale competitor to Payless who undoubtedly led to their demise:

"I've not had much luck with Payless, myself. Many years ago, I bought two pair of shoes there, and I only got the second pair because it was a BOGO sale. That's a 50% discount...sorta. I imagine that what has made Payless a go-to for trans women is that they do carry some larger sizes, but they also are basically a self-service outfit. I have found that DSW works better for me, and I can get better quality at pretty good discounts (becoming a VIP shopper yields even more discounts). I usually go to the back of the store first, which is where they have the clearance shoes grouped by size. The nice leather boots I'm wearing this winter were purchased last spring, and they cost me only $12.00 ($160-80%=$32.00, and a $20.00 coupon)."

I literally have not been to a DSW Shoes for years, due to the fact I could never find my size there. I would imagine in today's world though, with the overall increase in size of women's feet, things may be different now.

Overall, I am not the shoe fanatic many transgender/cross dresser women are. So my shoe buying experiences aren't as frequent. I also can't wear heels, so I have to "manufacture" the power women get from their heels in other ways. As long as my MtF gender dysphoria isn't working against me, I normally don't have a problem with confidence which doesn't have anything thing to do with shoes. Plus, I so love it when the others (trans or CD) have to bend down to hug me or talk to me.

Finally, speaking (writing) of frequent, tonight I will have a chance to wear one of my new pairs of shoes when we go out to yet another transgender - cross dresser social. I find this one to be more relaxing than the karaoke one we go to once a month. It is quieter and easier to communicate at the venue. 

I will let you know how it goes.

Just a Little Piece of Plastic

Yesterday when my hematologist was checking me over, he asked me to raise my sweater so he could check my stomach. Along the way, he noticed my two estrodial patches on my sides and asked what they were.

He didn't ask what they were for. If he did, the simplest answer would have been, the patches make me the person I am today. Then I began to think about it on the way home, maybe he didn't realize I was transgender. 

For sure, all the long term positive feminizing effects of the hormones have kicked in, allowing me more gender freedom than I have ever known. Plus, the debilitating effects of my MtF gender dysphoria have decreased. Normally, I thank a higher power for my opportunity to go on HRT (hormone replacement treatment) daily.

Then I began to think of all of those trans people who for whatever reason can't go on the hormonal journey I did. I wanted to write you have all my respect. I know many are restricted medically from taking the HRT route and just as many have potential lifestyle issues with family and employment. Neither a great way to address gender dysphoria.

Now I have to worry about the VA changing my patches to a lesser effective generic brand of patch like they did to the trans woman I had lunch with yesterday. I have heard there was a shortage. I have enough patches to get through the next couple of months, so we shall see!

On the Road Again

Just ahead of another big winter storm, I was able to safely navigate my way over the 150 plus mile round trip to see my Hematologist today (Tuesday). 

I made the trip up the highway to keep my doctors appointment at the Dayton, Ohio Veterans Hospital.  The same ones who nursed me back to health when I was diagnosed with a very high iron level in my blood over two years ago.

Today proved to be a very beneficial day. Most importantly, my blood work turned out fine again as my iron level was within the prescribed levels. As I always say, I am nothing without my health.

When I get my blood labs done, it takes approximately an hour or so to get the results to my doctor. I usually spend the time eating a much needed lunch. As I am very hungry after fasting for twelve hours so they can get a reliable test.

I was already feeling good about myself when after a considerable wait for blood labs, two guys who were sitting across from me began to talk. As they began to discuss how long one of them had waited, he said, "not as long as she has." Referring to me. He didn't know of course how much that meant to me. Years ago, in the same place was where I was referred to as a "fa--ot" by a bigot who was sitting near me.

The cafeteria continued my run of proper pronouns when I was in one of the custom sandwich lines. The guy making my sub sandwich called me mam, as did the cashier as I was headed to find a table. Lunch proved to be more pleasant when I ran into another transgender woman who I had met previously at my LGBTQ support group meeting.  We sat together and chatted until it was time for my appointment.

Even the interstates today seemed to be more mellow, even though it was because my time on the road was at non peak times. Because, I chose not to wait over for today's' support group meeting. 

They just had to carry on without me :) 

Payless

In yesterday's Cyrsti's Condo post, I mentioned Payless Shoes was closing all of it's stores.

We promptly went out to our very new Payless Super Store, waded in to the crowd and found three good buys in my 11W women's size. I even had the available finances to buy the shoes. The selection was very good and yes I did see one man looking at the larger size women's shoes.

Even though the stores are expected to be open through March (according to Connie), I wanted to get the best of discounts and selection. I ended up buying a new pair of black flats, a pair of summer sandals to wear with my maxi dresses and a new pair of girls tennis shoes.  So now, I very much have my warm weather footwear needs taken care of.

If you are wondering, the initial discounts were between twenty and forty percent. Since I rarely buy on line due to sizing issues, I don't know what Payless maybe offering discount wise in their on line store. 

Bored

Yesterday was almost the complete boring day. Liz's brother came for his birthday but wanted to spend it at our house. So, after I went with her to martial arts, we then came home for a brief cleaning of the house and waited for him to show up.

Once he did get here, he sat down on the couch for a seven hour stay. To make matters worse, he is not a conversationalist at all. At least we were home and didn't tie up a servers' table for a couple hours. Plus, I could get up and move around a bit when I felt like the chair was becoming part of my body.

So much for an exciting blog post!

Changing gears now, perhaps those of you in the United States have heard, Payless Shoes is closing all of it's 2000 plus stores. Over the years, on occasion, I have been able to find good shoes in my size (11Wide) at Payless. I am sad to see them go.

We are heading there today to see what is available.