Trans H4CK-Day One

I'm in the Bay Area, Oakland to be precise for the first time since 1999 to attend and be part of the action for the inaugural Trans H4CK at the invitation of organizer Kortney Ryan Ziegler

And yeah, I get to see first hand how my $10 investment in his dream came to fruition.

I got up at 4 AM CDT to head over to Hobby for an uneventful 8:45 AM flight to Oakland in which I arrived to an overcast morning that was gone by noon PDT to reveal a beautiful Northern California late summer day.

I was scooped up at the airport by longtime TransGriot reader Terrilynn Cantlon, who proceeded to take me to lunch in which we had a long conversation about the state of the trans community and other issues at our establishment in the shadow of the Oakland Coliseum, the Raiders home stadium.    Terrilynn also swung me by Lake Merritt when we were done to check out this beautiful urban lakefront and park before we headed downtown and my second floor room at the Washington Inn Hotel.

You know the old saying about the circle of life?   My hotel is across the street from the Oakland Convention center which was where the 1999 edition of Creating Change was hosted.   Talk about deja vu, especially since y'all know yours truly is helping put together the 2014 edition that's coming to H-town in January.

Terrilynn and I finally head over to the Betti Ono Gallery, where I met the owner Anyka Barber who was also excited to be the host venue for this inaugural Trans H4CK.

I finally see Kortney and meet his partner Tasha, which was the first of many introductions and hugs I would get this evening as we wound closer to the 7 PM start time of the event.

Trans H4CK kicked off with Google Hangout chats featuring Janet Mock and two other people. After the hangout chats were completed the over 30 assembled hackers introduced themselves, formed into teams and began the process of creating apps and other computer programs that not only will earn cash prizes for their teams, but also advance the social justice mission of the trans community.

Moni needed her beauty sleep after her long day that ended near 11 PM PDT, but I am headed over to the gallery now to check out the Day 2 goings on and be in the house for the panel discussion that is going to happen at noon.

I also want to see the amazing work of the hackers and it coming to fruition as they embark on the longest day of the hackathon

Tell y'all about it later.

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