Yeah, I know we women aren't supposed to tell our age, but it's a Big Fracking Deal and a blessing to hit this milestone birthday.
I'm a Kennedy baby who was born at 10:45 PM CDT in the Lone Star State and has been on the planet long enough to witness desegregation occur 'with all deliberate speed', the African-American Civil Rights movement, women's rights, gay rights and trans rights movements.
The space race happened with the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs rapidly culminated to a July 20, 1969 moon landing and several more after that, the Skylab program, and the space shuttle and international Space Stations.
I witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union, the Vietnam War, two Gulf Wars, the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Sen. Robert Kennedy and the Rev Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Watergate, gas lines in the 70's, Motown, the Philly Sound, disco, rap, hip-hop Neo-Soul, 8-track tapes, the CD, the iPod, color TV, cable, the Internet and the election of an African-American president.
And yeah, my body did a little morphing over the years as well to where I not only became a Phenomenal Transwoman, but a respected trailblazing award winning thought leader in the trans human rights movement.
I was also just six months old when the Cuban Missile Crisis broke out and the all too real specter of nuclear war threatened to end my life and the lives of millions of people around the world
During my lifetime so far my beloved hometown has grown from 700,000 people to a world class international city with over 2 million residents. I have seen an African-American and two female mayors be elected to lead it. Annise Parker is the current one who is doing a damned good job of handling our city's business and she happens to have cut her activist teeth in our LGBT community as well.
And to my disgust, I have seen my beloved Lone Star State move from progressive Democratic control and leaders we could be proud of such as Sen.Ralph Yarborough, Sen Lloyd Bentsen, Rep. Sam Rayburn, President Lyndon B. Johnson, Rep. Barbara Jordan, Gov. Ann Richards and Rep. Mickey Leland to Republifool control and national embarrassments like Rep Louie Gohmert, George W Bush and Gov Rick Perry.
So while I haven't gotten that AARP card in the mail yet, or had some of my past and present birthday wishes for the trans community become a reality, what I have received and continue to receive is the blessing of you peeps showering me with love and birthday wishes from both sides of the International Date Line
Thanks y'all. Happy birthday to me and may I be blessed to live to see many more..
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