Leaving New York

Well Texans, I'm about to type the words y'all love to see me write anytime I'm doing one of these out of town trips and write posts about them.

Moni's on her way back to Houston.

Had a wonderful and informative time while attending the 2012 GLAAD National POC Media Institute and I learned some things that will serve me well in future public speaking engagements and media opportunities.

I also highly recommend that POC rainbow community activists who wish to improve their public speaking skills and media presence consider attending it when the application process opens up for the ones that will take place in New York and Los Angeles next year.

To the peeps attending the 2012 Los Angeles one September 7-9, you're in for a treat.   

I got to at least see one of my girls like us while I was here in Janet Mock. Unfortunately I just missed connections with others but I'm confident we'll see each other somewhere down the line either at a conference or the next time my travels bring me to New York.   

And speaking of travels to New York, the clock is ticking,  it's getting close to time for me to check out of my hotel and make the return trip to Hobby via Chicago Midway.   

I leave here with tools to make me a better activist communications wise, being able to connect faces with the names of some of the people I have communicated with at GLAAD and seeing firsthand how hard they work to improve the media images of people of color.   The bonus was leaving here with a few more friends than I had when I arrived.

I also get to rest for a few weeks before I make another trip to the East Coast in September for the 2012 edition of Out On The Hill

Later New York.   Time for me to head back to the Lone Star State 

I'm In NY (Finally)

It took me a little longer than I anticipated, but I'm finally in the Big Apple city limits for the first time since May 2000.

But not without some travel drama I'm going to break down for you in this post.

Due to thunderstorms building around the Hobby airport area my airplane for my Southwest flight to LGA was delayed from Austin and didn't get to my gate until close to the12:30 PM CDT scheduled departure time.  We boarded the aircraft and pushed off the gate only to experience an ATC delay that had us getting airborne one hour late

And thanks to that local weather, it was a slightly bumpy ride for most of the initial leg to St Louis.  I also had the woman in the seat behind me on that initial leg annoyingly sticking her knees into my seat to where I felt them in my lower back.   Thankfully she got off in St Louis, but we didn't make up much time on that leg or the subsequent STL-LGA one either. 

So we were an hour late when I got to LGA, buit what made up for it was on final appraach we flew over the still under consturction Freedom Tower and the World Trade Center Memorial and up the Hudson side of Manhattan before we made the sweeping right turn over the Westchester County burbs and into LGA. 

After picking up the bag I checked, next task was to call my friend who was supposed to pick me up, but my phone call to her rolled over to her voicemail box.  No problem, so I go to Plan B and decide to get a MetroPass to catch the bus and subway to my hotel.

I get to my station on 28th Street from the 6 train, but discover I made a wrong turn that had me walking in the opposite direction from my hotel on W 28th Street.   By the time I discover my error, I've burned another twenty minutes and had to double back from whence I came.  

I finally get to the hotel at 9 PM EDT tired, frustrated and a little embarassed, and find out I just missed Melissa Sklarz who intended to surprise me.   

So I finally get a stress relieving and well deserved hot shower after checking into my 6th floor hotel room and get a call from my expat Houston homegirl Stacey Langley literally moments after I get out of the shower.

She picks me up twenty minutes later and as I get a late night bite to eat nearby I recount my travel day in addition to filling her in on all the latest back home political news and happening before I head back to the hotel to get some sleep.

And yep, sleep is the operative word, because I'm writing this post after midnight New York time, I have a busy day tomorrow and I don't want to be doing so with bags under my eyes.

I also get to find out in afew short hours who else is taking this GLAAD National POC Media Instiutute training class with me .        

Leaving On A Jet Plane-To New York

Seems like I just wrote one of these posts last week at the start of my weekend trip to Charlotte for the just concluded TransFaith In Color Conference.

This time I'm headed to New York for the GLAAD National POC Media Institute that will start tomorrow and runs through August 26. 

Thinking about keeping a diary for this one, even though this is going to be a whirlwind trip and as of yet much of my writing in it might be in the HOU and MDW airports and on the flights up to New York and back to Houston..

It's the first time I've been in New York City since May 2000.  That vacation trip ended up with me having an unexpected but pleasant meeting with Sylvia Rivera. .  

And Mayhem, if you're reading this post, I discovered my New York hotel is within walking distance of several Tim Horton's locations so I'll finally get a chance to sample Timmy's fare and see if it's all that as several bags of ketchup flavored chips.

While I'm there I'm going to try and catch up with my New York area homegirls.once I'm finished with my GLAAD business.  

Well New Yorkers, you've wanted Moni to come to the Big Apple for awhile now.   You're about to get your wish.  See y'all in a few hours.

Thank You For The 2012 NYC Black Pride Heritage Award

TransGriot Note: I'll be in New York next week for GLAAD's POC Media Institute, but not in time for tonight's awards event that is taking place at the Schomburg Center For Research In Black Culture and is a kickoff event for NYC Black Pride.  

In case you missed the earlier post I wrote about it, I'm getting a NYC Black Pride Heritage Award from Gay Men of African Descent in their Literary Excellence Category.   I also wanted to congratulate my homegirl Tona Brown who is getting the Marsha P. Johnson Award as well. 

So here's my acceptance letter and thank you GMAD for the honor.

It is indeed an honor an a privilege to be receiving this unexpected award for Literary Excellence from GMAD.   Ever since I stated TransGriot in 2006, I have strived  to live up to the mission statement and the name of this blog, to be a 21st century griot for our community.

I wish I could be there in person at the Schomburg Center to pick up that award for a variety of reasons.  I would have loved to have sat in the same place where my late historian godmother spent many hours during her time as an NYU student.   It would have been mice to meet many of you in the New York area who have let me know throughout the time I'm been publishing the blog how much you love and appreciate it and my tell it like it T-I-S is Afrocentric flavored commentary on unfolding events in the world around us. 

And finally, it's a chance to go to New York!   

I'm honored and touched that GMAD thinks so highly of my work chronicling the history of the African descended trans community here and across the Diaspora.  I believe it is vitally important now just as it was on January 1, 2006 when I founded the blog that we African-American transpeople had a FUBU space of our own on the Net that unapologetically refleced our culture, our heritage, and began to fight back aginst the ignorance and lies propagated aout us inside and outside the rainbow community.

It was also critically important for our young trans people to know they have a proud history, and heroes and sheroes to look up to.  It was important as well for African-American cisgender people to know that transsexuality isn't a 21st century phenomenon.

So to GMAD, thank you once again for bestowing this 2012 NYC Black Pride Heritage Award on me for Literary Excellence.   

Xtravaganza Powah!

It was two years before Paris Is Burning hit the theaters in 1990, but this photo of members of the House of Xtravaganza hit Vogue magazine in its December 1988 issue.

I not only saw Paris Is Burning at the River Oaks theater during its run, that movie is in my DVD collection 

That Jennie Livingston documentary led to the iconic ballroom community house became internationally famous, but as you can see, they were already starting to blow up and make a name for themselves in the New York area before that movie debuted.

Seeing the photo reminded me of this New York Times article discussing the recent 30th anniversary House of Xtravaganza Ball (yes, people they are still having balls).   It also remnded me there's a lot of history in the ballroom community, and sadly we've lost more than a few of the people that were chronicled in that 1990 film.

HT Koko and Karl Xtravaganza

NY Latina Trans Activist Starts LBCF Community Fund

As I've stated more than a few times on this blog over the last now six years and Amnesty International has cosigned on that point, Officer Friendly ain't exactly friendly at times to the trans community, and especially trans people of color. 

There have been more than a few times these negative interactions have turned into highly publicized court cases.

My trans sisters in New York are dealing with the disproportionate fallout of the odious NYPD 'stop and frisk' policies   Because the po-po's assume they are sex workers, if during one of those stops the transperson in question has more than three condoms on them, according to local activist that transperson can find themselves arrested for prostitution

Interesting story about long time New York trans activist Lorena Borjas, who started the Lorena Borjas Community Fund.  

The LBCF provides legal assistance and funding to pay bail for low income and immigrant members of the Queens community in which she has resided for over 25 years.

NY Trans Community Speaking Out Against Stop And Frisk

The NAACP is planning a silent march tomorrow against the odious racial profiling  stop and frisk policy that the New York po-po's are using in a way to disproportionate manner against now white people in the Big Apple.

87% of the people being stopped and frisked are non-white, with a large chunk of those non whites being  stopped and frisked are you guessed it, non-white trans people.

Check out Agnes Chung's report about transpeople in the Jackson Heights area calling out the NYPD stop and frisk policy and how it is deleteriously affecting them.

There was also a meeting at the historic Stonewall Inn involving Rev Al Sharpton and Benjamin Jealous of the NAACP.discussing this issue as well that reported in the Village Voice.

GENDA Passes NY Assembly For Fifth Time

The New York state trans community is justifiably happy that GENDA, the Gender Expression Non Discrimination Act got out of the New York State Assembly for the fifth consecutive session on an 81-59 vote.

Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, Ithaca, New York City and Rochester have passed transgender-inclusive non-discrimination laws, along with Westchester, Suffolk and Tompkins Counties.

But now GENDA goes to the Republican controlled Senate, where it has died in the last four consecutive sessions, including most gallingly last year when there was a major push by the GL community to get same gender marriage passed.

Where are those four Republican senators who crossed the aisle to vote yes for same gender marriage and are regarded as heroes by the GL community on human rights coverage for trans New Yorkers?   Mayor Bloomberg?  Gov. Andrew Cuomo?

And oh yeah, where is Lady Gaga for her trans little monsters when you need her?    She was front and center in the 2011 same gender marriage battle, but is MIA in 2012 when it comes to exerting the same energy to pass rights coverge for trans people in New York state.

This GENDA passage for the fifth time also comes on the heels of a groundbreaking EEOC trans employment ruling as well, but will it be enough to get the votes we need in the NY Senate to finally get GENDA passed and to Gov Cuomo's desk for his signature? 

The national trans community is watching and hoping it happens for our New York state trans brothers and trans sisters, but it remains to be seen if it does.

'Queens Of New York' Documentary

Here's another interesting documentary by Kara David that focuses on the transpinays living in New York.