The Air Marshal Is In San Diego!

After an uneventful three  hour flight to get to the Left Coast, the Air Marshal has landed after her first out of state trip of 2020 and this new decade.

I'm here chilling in San Diego getting ready for a Queer Black History Month event I'll be speaking at tomorrow.  It will be at the San Diego History Center from 11-4 PM PST, and so looking forward to seeing all my San Diego trans family in the house.

The San Diego History Center is located at 1049 El Prado St, and hope you will check out this event centering the voices of Black trans people.

This isn't my first time visiting San Diego.   The last time I was here was for the 2017 San Diego Comic Con, in which I not only got to do two panels, but call out along with Faith Cheltenham someone who was doing a blackface Guinan.

Hopefully this trip will be less drama filled.

I also discovered I have a 7 Eleven in easy walking distance of this hotel, so I'm about to go on a Slurpee run.

But looking forward to the event tomorrow and doing my TransGriot duty dropping knowledge about your Black trans history

Moni's Headed To San Diego

You Cali folks and other Left Coasters keep asking me when will I start showing up in your state.  Well, the Air Marshal is about to be in Southern California soon.   

Looking forward to making my first trip to San Diego since 2017 for this event.

I'll be joining Tracie Jada O'Brien, Libra Audacious Valentino,  Jelecia King,  Amber St James,  Samsara, Pamuela Halliwell, Savion Cooper and Kenya Trahan for this Black History Month event fousing on honoring and protetcing the lives of Black trans women.   

Deeply appreciate the opportunity to spend some quality time with my San Diego fam and my trans elder Mama Tracie. thanks to the Gender Phluid Collective.

Always love to talk to my trans elders about what it was like back in the day to transition, and honor peeps like her who paved the way for my generation of trans peeps

And yes, always down to talk to the new generation of trans and GNC peeps as well

It will be taking place next Saturday, February 22, at the San Diego History Center from 11 AM-4 PM PST.   I hope to see many of you peeps in the San Diego area either there at the event or while I'm in town. 

Getting On The (Bougie) Bus To Dallas

I'm starting this 2020 year of travel the same way I ended 2019, by riding a Vonlane luxury bus to or from a Lone Star State destination.

This will be my longest trip ever on a Vonlane, or what I loving call The Bougie Bus'.  I usually end up taking them to and from Austin or San Antonio, but this is the first time I've done one to Dallas. 

Why do I love them so much?   WiFi that works, satellite TV,  a bus attendant that brings snacks to my seat, and oh did I mention that reserved leather seat?

This reclining leather seat is what I get to chillax in all the way to Dallas and back to Houston.   The best part is I'm not doing any of the 3.5 hour drive up and back.

So why am I traveling to Dallas this time?    It's to attend the Creating Change Conference that will kick off tomorrow at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel.  It will be my first one I've attended since the 2017 one in Philadelphia and my sixth overall.   

Y'all also might have heard I'm getting an award while I'm there during the opening Thursday night plenary session starting at 7 PM in addition to the two panel discussions I'll be taking part in.

One of those is on Thursday at 10 AM as part of the Trans Institute,  and the second is on Friday at 3 PM entitled 'Building Trans Political Power.' 

I'm looking forward to seeing old friends, and meeting new ones.

But I'm also looking forward to this latest ride on the 'Bougie Bus' in addition to seeing all you peeps when I arrive in Dallas.
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Chilling In Louisville For The Holidays!

My not so secret anymore location for this holiday trip is Louisville.

It has been five years since my last visit to Da Ville and ten years since I last broke bread with my chosen family up here in Kentuckiana during Thanksgiving.

But it started with major airline drama.  After my nonstop flight took off on time from Hobby Monday morning, about 160 miles out from Houston there was  an indicator light in the cockpit of an issue that while it wasn't dangerous and wouldn't impede us from safely landing, it did necessitate us turning around, flying lazy circles over east Texas to burn excess fuel, and returning to Houston Hobby.   

We were walking off our now grounded plane at Hobby at the 12:45 CST time I would have arrived in Louisville. 

Fortunately they had another 737-700 aircraft waiting for us across the hall from my return arrival gate at C-44 and we swiftly boarded it.  I was majorly happy I'd gotten my aisle seat in 3C back.

They brought it back to Houston because there's a Southwest maintenance base there, and they would rather deal with it there than have the plane stuck in Louisville canceling a trip it was supposed to do to Dallas Love Field

To add to my drama, after I called to let Dawn and Polar know that I was going to be two hours late,  my beloved LG K10 smart phone I had received as a birthday present three years ago from Nikki Araguz Loyd, finally died after I boarded the new plane.

That meant I now had to get a new phone when I arrived in Da Ville, because there's no way I could walk around Louisville for a week without one.

So I arrive in Louisville around 4 PM EST at Muhammad Ali International Airport, I get my bag, and we grab something to eat because at this point the only thing I've had to eat is two bags of peanuts.

I handle the new phone business, but discover to my horror they can't transfer my phone contact list, and the cloud update didn't have all the numbers that I've input into that phone over the three years I've owned it. 

And I now have to not only download my critical apps, I now have to remember what password I used when I signed up for the app.   I also have to get acclimated to working my new LG Stylo  phone.

Nevertheless despite the drama, I made it to Da Vilee and Dawn's crib in one piece, and I'm now hanging out with my Louisville fam that did stay here for the holiday.

And I also received a $100 LUV travel certificate to use on Southwest next year for my trouble

Moni's Leaving On A Jet Plane To- A Secret Destination

If my flight left on time, I should be close to landing at my destination where I'll spend Thanksgiving week reconnecting with some of my chosen family.

Been a while since I spent some time here, and a decade since i broke bread with them at a Thanksgiving holiday table.

So looking forward to that happening, and once I get settled i reveal what the secret destination is if y'all haven't guessed it already., 

The clue I can give y'all right now is that my final destination is in the borders of the United States.

Headed To Austin Again!

Well, for once I'm doing an ATX trip that doesn't involve me spending most of my day at the Pink Dome.   But it's a little unique in how I'm getting there.

For the first time in 20 years, back in my Air Marshal days, I'm flying to Austin for an event.   It's also the first time I will fly into Austin Bergstrom Airport, which opened back in May 1999 and has been expanded since then to house 34 gates. 

It used to be Bergstrom Air Force Base until it closed in 1993.  Austin's tiny local airport on the north side of town was generating increasing citizen noise complaints, and the city asked to Air Force to consider making Bergstrom a joint civilian-military field.  Those requests were rejected until the base closed. 

Bergstrom was also where Air Force One repeatedly flew into from Washington DC when Lyndon B. Johnson was president and enjoying time on his nearby LBJ Ranch in Johnson City, TX.

The city of Austin eventually acquired it, demolished all the old base structures except the runway and the circular 12th Air Force HQ building that got converted into a hotel. 

The main terminal at the ABIA airport is named after trailblazing Texas legislator Barbara Jordan, and there's a statue of her in it. 

Most of the time when I go to Austin from Houston I'm rolling past the airport on TX 71 either as a bus or car passenger.   But since I was in a United hub city in San Francisco and I needed to be in the ATX, decided to save myself a trip and just fly nonstop to Austin instead of flying back home to IAH,  heading to downtown Houston, then taking a nearly 2 hour bus ride back to the ATX.

It was going to be a 'Bougie bus', AKA a Vonlane, but still, why do that to myself?

I will be taking the bus back home to Houston when I'm done up here

What is that business?   I'm here for the 30th anniversary gala for Equality Texas that's happening on Saturday night, and they're giving me an award.

And yes, I will have room on my trophy shelf for it.

That 30th anniversary gala will happen at the AT&T Conference Center in downtown Austin on Saturday night, and looking forward to seeing and spending some time with my ATX family 

I'm Chilling In San Francisco!

After a crowded flight, I'm now in my hotel and chilling as I get ready for my TDOR event tomorrow.

The interesting thing about San Francisco is that it has a lot of small hotels sprinkled throughout its downtown area, and I'm staying at one called the Herbert Hotel.

It opened in 1909, and definitely has been renovated since then with a flat screen TV in my room and comp WiFi.

It's on Powell Street, overlooking Union Square and two blocks from the turnaround for the San Francisco cable car line.   The Powell Street BART station is two blocks from here, which was definitely a blessing that meant I didn't have to schlep my bag too far from the subway station to the hotel 

Since I arrived a little after noon Pacific time, have the rest of the day and evening to hang out, and that's the plan so far.

Leaving On A Jet Plane To: SFO

If my flight left on time, I should be as you're reading this airborne and headed toward San Francisco and a TDOR event taking place on Thursday thanks to United.

This time I had to go to the big airport as we refer to IAH down here because the org sponsoring the trip had United vouchers for me to travel on, and United has a hub at IAH.

And yes, I love it any time I get to see my former coworkers that are still working at IAH and counting the days to retirement in some cases.

But traveling on United also means it's necessary for me to get there an hour to two hours earlier than I normally would for a flight because I still know half the airport.  I'm stopping every five to ten minutes running into Houston based flight attendants, coworkers, and even the shoe shine guys on my way to my departure gates in either Terminal C or Terminal E.

It's also a deja vu experience because I transitioned in that building.  While the south side of Terminal C is basically the same as when I was working there, the renovations they have done since I left in 2001 have also made it look vastly different from the Terminal C I used to know.

The bars and shops in there now remind me of a shopping mall.   Even the food courts and what they offer are light years different from when I was working there.    When I was working there, we had more locally based chains contracted to be in our airport terminals.

The new Terminal C north side gates are close enough now to Terminal B that you can walk to them from the north side C gates.

That's especially true when I have a flight out of the north side of Terminal C, which is not even close to the one I used to work in.  The massive Terminal E, which connects to the south side of Terminal C and Terminal D (AKA the International Arrivals Building) on its north side, didn't even exist when I was there,

But back to discussing my trip.   Destination this time is San Francisco, and this will be the first time I've been back since 2016, when I attended the GLAAD Gala San Francisco, picked up an award and made a little speech at it.

Thus time I along with Toni Newman will be speaking at a Commonwealth Club of California, Gilead Sciences and SFPride sponsored TDOR event taking place on November 14.

looking forward to spending some time in the Bay Area, and hope i get to see some of my trans fam living here while I'm in San Francisco.

Moni's In The Excellence In Journalism Conference House

It's been a few weeks since my last instate road trip to Dallas, and I've hit the road again for an unprecedented for me third trip to San Antonio in the same calendar year.

Unlike my birthday trip to the Alamo City back in May, this one is business. 

I'm here to attend the Excellence In Journalism Conference  that started yesterday and is being held through September 7 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in downtown San Antonio on the Riverwalk

This 2019 edition of the conference is jointly sponsored by the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA), the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ).

The Excellence In Journalism Conference was started in 2011 by the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) and the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) to provide an industry event that would provide the best training and networking opportunities. 

The NAHJ had previously been a partner for this conference in 2013, 2015 and 2017, and is now in the house again this year. 

Like the other media Conferences I have attended such as the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), NLGJA, the Unity Conference held every four years in Washington DC jointly sponsored by the NABJ and NAHJ, and the LGBT Media Journalists Convening, it's an opportunity to not only get more training to get better at what I do, but also give me an opportunity to network with other media professionals.

It also goes without saying I get an opportunity to rep the trans community at the same time in those media conference spaces.

Major thanks to NAHJ for the invitation to be here, and I'm looking forward to spending a few days in San Antonio getting my learn on and networking with the people in attendance here.
 

Hopefully since the Alamo is not far from the conference hotel, I'll finally get to do more than just drive by it before they do the renovation and redesign of the area in front of that historical landmark and site of a crucial 1836 Texas Revolution battle.

I also hope I get some time to actually check out the Riverwalk for the first time ever.   I have been coming to San Antonio since 1981.   Because many of my San Antonio trips have either been day trips or I had other business when I came here and a too tight schedule that had no room for a trip to the Riverwalk, I have yet to spend any time exploring it.

And yes, y'all already know I'm not leaving the 210 without making another tasty stop by Wayne's Wings.

Moni's Getting On The Bus To-San Antonio

I took my longest Megabus ride ever to NOLA and back to Houston last week for the just concluded NLGJA conference.   Now for the second consecutive week I get to do a bus trip on I-10.

But it won't be on Megabus this time. 

This time I'm going west to San Antonio, and even better, it will be a nonstop luxury bus trip on Vonlane for another conference.

I fell in love with the Vonlane buses on my lobbying trips to Austin, and who wouldn't love a reclining assigned leather seat, unlimited soft drinks and juices, snacks, WiFi that works and an attendant to bring them to your seat as you roll towards your destination?

This will be an unprecedented for me third trip this year to San Antonio, which is the second largest city in Texas.   This will also be the first time I've attended the Excellence in Journalism Conference, and looking forward to it. 

It's also the first time I've been to the Grand Hyatt San Antonio hotel, and looking forward to checking it out and everything the nearby Riverwalk has to offer.

Looking forward to meeting everyone at #EIJ19, and hopefully seeing some of my San Antonio trans fam while I'm in the 210 area code.

Back In NOLA For The NLGJA Convention

It was touch and go in terms of whether or not I'd actually get here, but thanks to a major assist from BTAC, I'm here for #NLGJA18!

After missing out on the NABJ one in Miami, I was determined to at least make this one since it was this close (385 miles) to my Houston stomping grounds. 

My Megabus trip from Houston started out on a less than promising note, with us having to swap the bus out before we could start our eastward trek down I-10.  But better to have them handle that problem in Houston than having us break down along the route. 

I-10 in Louisiana includes major stretches of it going through swamp in the Atchafalaya Basin west of Baton Rouge and in St Charles, St John and St Martin Parishes as you approach New Orleans..

Still ended up getting to New Orleans an hour late, but in one piece with my luggage.

It's ironic to me that after not having visited New Orleans since the 1990 Mardi Gras, since then I have been to a 2018 BTAC Leadership Institute here, the 2018 Netroots Nation, and now this NLGJA conference.in the span of 14 months.   

I have a Saturday panel I'm on, so looking forward to not only handling my business on it, but also getting my learn on.  And yes, looking forward to seeing a few friends and some of the NLGJA leadership team while I;m wandering the convention hotel.

I also want to catch up with my NOLA trans fam before I have to hit I-10 west on Sunday

I still have to get registered before that happens, but will deal with it in a few hours.

I'll also be tweeting and posting to my Facebook while I'm here, and you can also check out the #NLGJA19 hashtag for the latest news.

Moni Is Going To San Antonio!

Going to San Antonio for the second time this year, and this time it's for two purposes.

May 4 is election day here in the Lone Star State.  San Antonio, Dallas and other municipalities across the state will have elections on that day. 

One of the election campaigns I'm watching is a San Antonio city council race which pits Frankie Gonzales Wolfe against an incumbent council member in District 8.

If Wolfe wins, she would become the first trans Texan elected to public office in the Lone Star State, and possibly the first out trans Latina elected nationally to any office.  I definitely want to be there to witness that history should it happen.

It goes without saying that I enthusiastically endorse Frankie Gonzales Wolfe for that San Antonio city council seat

May 4 is also my birthday and I wanted to do something on my birthday this year besides chilling in my apartment.   

So that's just a few of the reasons why I'll be spending it on the San Antonio end of I-10.   I hope I'll have a lot to celebrate before that day is over.     

Testifying For HB 1513

Been resting after spending  ten days away from Houston for BTAC and another trip to state capitol to testify in favor of a trans positive bill.

After the 9 AM CDT press conference, I spent  the rest of the day visiting a few House and senate offices to kill time before the 2 PM scheduled start of the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee meeting was scheduled to start. 

But because we're mercifully getting close to the end of this Texas legislative session, the House session didn't adjourn until 6 PM, with the committee meeting not starting until 6:30 PM

By the time I and Claire Bow, Danielle Skidmore, Ash Hall, and Leslie McMurry finally got to testify it was two hours later. 

Only one hater from Texas Values showed up, but it wasn't who I expected.   Instead of Jonathan Saenz doing his hatemongering personally, he sent a Black woman to try and fail do the job.

Sadly, the bill was left pending in committee despite our compelling testimony as to why trans Texans should be added to the Byrd hate Crimes Act.   That means if it doesn't pass out of committee and by the full House by Friday, it dies for this session. 

While I'm disappointed by that result,  Rep Garnet Coleman (D-Houston) has made it clear he will introduce that bill when the next session takes place in 2021.

And I and my Texas trans community will be there in force when it's time to testify in favor of it

Leaving On A Jet Plane-To Minneapolis

It's a travel day in which I get to take a jet plane out of Hobby and head to Minneapolis for the Andrea Jenkins Lecture I'll be participating in tomorrow with Dr C Riley Snorton on the UM campus.

Already have a shot of me next to the Bronze Fonz, and Minneapolis has its own iconic statue of a fictional TV character in Mary Tyler Moore at Nicollett Mall. 

It recreates the scene from the Mary Tyler Moore Show opening credits in which her Mary Richards character throws her tam in the air in front of the downtown mall along with scenes from the show. 

I was a huge fan of the Mary Tyler Moore show growing up that put Minneapolis in the public consciousness before His Royal Badness came along later..

I'm looking forward to seeing as many of the Minneapolis based trans peeps I know while I'm there, and hope everyone can come to check out the event at the Mayo Auditorium on the University of Minnesota campus.

Also looking forward to spending some quality time with D. Snorton.

The interesting thing is I have to fly to Denver first and then catch my connecting flight out of there to Minneapolis.   Here's hoping I have no drama or ATC delays.

If it's Monday It's Austin, Tuesday It's San Antonio

One of the things about odd numbered years is that going into them, I know I'll be doing a lot of travel inside and outside of the state of Texas.

An odd numbered year on the calendar means that the Texas Legislature is in session, and I'll be doing a lot of scheduled and unscheduled trips to Austin to lobby or testify for and against bills.

Monday afternoon was one of those unscheduled trips, as TENT's ED Emmett Schelling invited me to come to the ATX to do battle against SB 17.

It is the unjust bill sponsored by Sen.Charles Perry (R-Lubbock) that would allow anyone with a professional license to discriminate against people based on their 'sincerely held religious beliefs' and not face repercussions for doing so.

Translation, it's the 'religious freedom' BS once again.   Perry is also the conservafool who stated that 'being Christian in America is like being Jewish in Nazi Germany.'

Yep, that was the level of conservaidiocy we were taking on Monday.

That meant for the fourth time this session I would make the 175 mile trip from Houston to Austin to handle some political business under the Pink Dome.  This was the first time this session I would get to testify for or against a bill.

In case you're wondering, my personal record for Austin trips during a session is eight, set during the 2017 session.  I 'missed a ninth trip because I was handling San Diego Comic Con business during the special session, and Senate State Affairs called for a hearing on SB 6 while I was on the Left Coast.

The joke running around in the Texas activist community about me not being there for that ninth time is that the TXGOP heard I was leaving the state for a few days and decided to call that SB 6 hearing while I was in Cali because they didn't want to see or deal with me calling their conservaazzes out

Emmett, his family, Brad Pritchett, Lou Weaver and I piled into a minivan and rolled from Houston late Sunday afternoon for the hearing that was scheduled to take place at 9 AM the next day in the Senate State Affairs Committee.

But interestingly enough, this hearing took place on the floor of the Texas Senate chamber since as you probably guessed, committee hearing rooms are hard to get this time of year.

You can watch here as I said my piece along with other Texans opposed to it about that unjust bill.   It was also nice to spend some quality time talking to peeps in the community like Ashley Smith, Claire Bow, Finn Jones, Ash Hall, Fran Watson and my high school classmate Lawrence Allen, Jr

He was with his Omega Psi Phi frat brothers for their advocacy day, and also sits on the State Board of Education.  It was also nice bumping into Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo, Rep. Ron Reynolds, Rep Shawn Thierry, and spending some quality time with my own state senator Borris Miles.

In case you're wondering, he's opposed to SB 17

The next day instead of going back to Houston, since I was riding with Emmett and had nothing important scheduled back home, I made the short drive down I-35 south with them to San Antonio.

It was actually the first time I'd done the drive to San Antonio from that direction, and noted all the home and other construction going on along I-35.

While I was in Bexar County, Emmett, Andrea and I stopped by the northwest San Antonio campaign office of Frankie Gonzales Wolfe, who is running for the District 8 seat on the San Antonio City Council against an unpopular incumbent.

Frankie, should she be successful in doing so on May 4, would become the first out trans person elected to public office in the Lone Star State.  She'd also become if it happens the first trans Latina elected to public office anywhere in the United States. 

Was happy to hear that her campaign is starting to pick up positive momentum in the Alamo City, but our trans sister could still use some donation dollars from y'all who pride yourselves on helping to build trans political power.

So after allowing for some time for Andrea to hang out with her mom Elsa, and grabbing a bite to eat to allow for San Antonio rush hour traffic to die down, we hit I-10 east for the journey back to Houston and to get a few days of rest before it was time for me next Monday to head back to Austin for another lobby day.

And nope, I didn't get to destroy any Slurpees in either Austin or San Antonio despite the plethora of 7 Eleven locations in both cities.

Well, maybe next time.