150th Annversary Of The Start Of 'The War To Perpetuate Slavery'

April 12 lives in American history as the day the 'War To Perpetuate Slavery' (aka the Civil War) started. 

Can't stand the Southern revisionist history types who are always trying to pimp the Civil War as the North starting it or it not being about slavery.

Slavery was the reason they seceded from the Union, and slavery was the reason they committed treason against the United States government by taking up arms against it..

The crisis had been building since the election of Abraham Lincoln and the secession of South Carolina on December 20, 1860.    In January 1861 the states of Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas joined South Carolina with four more considering joining. 

On February 9 the Confederate States of America is formed in Montgomery, AL with Jefferson Davis as President and Alexander Stephens as its vice president and begins seizing federal forts in the territory of the seceding states.  . A supply ship named The Star Of The West that attempted to resupply Fort Sumter in Charleston, SC was repulsed and forced to return to New York.    

A few weeks later on March 4 Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as president of the United States.  During his speech he notes that he has no plans to end slavery ion the states where it exists but will not accept their secession from the Union either.   He wishes to resolve the conflict without bloodshed.  

Lincoln decides to try to resupply Fort Sumter once again and notifies the governor of South Carolina of his intentions to do so.   Brig. General Pierre Beauregard, the local Confederate commander demanded on April 10 that Major Robert Anderson surrender Fort Sumter and he refuses to do so. 

At 4:30 AM fifty Confederate guns surrounding Fort Sumter open fire on it and commence a bombardment that results in its surrender at 2:30 PM the next day.   No one was killed during the bombardment, but two Union soldiers were killed and two wounded in the April 14 surrender ceremony when a cannon exploded prematurely.

They were the first deaths of the over 600,000 to come of soldiers on both sides during the bloody four years of combat that eventually ended on April 9, 1865.

And 150 years later, we're still arguing about it to this day.

Shipley's Donuts Turns 75!

One of the things I missed about Houston and have happily gotten reacquainted with since I moved back home is Shipley's Donuts.

Shipley's is our local iconic donut chain that is such an institution in H-town that when Krispy Kreme tried to enter this market in 2000, they found out they couldn't overcome decades of history with Houstonians and pulled out of this market in 2006.

Krispy Kreme didn't have kolaches on their menu either which was another reason they got slammed in this area..

I have a Shipley's location right up the street from the house in easy walking distance, but since I busted my behind to get my Coke bottle shape back, I'm not going overboard on them like I used to.   Back in the day I'd inhale a dozen without thinking about it or gaining an ounce, but now since my metabolism has slowed down as a estrogen based lifeform, I have to think about it. 

But I will admit to indulging my need for donuts and getting a half dozen glazed or chocolate ones every now and then.

I'm going down donut memory lane again because I discovered while perusing their Facebook page that Shipley's is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year.

I know I've done my part to keep Shipley's in business for most of the 75 years they've been here along with generations of Houstonians and the folks in the rest of Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Oklahoma where they have stores as well. . .   

So happy 75th birthday Shipley's!   May you have many more and I'll be picking up a half dozen glazed donuts very soon.

Happy 8th Birthday TAVA!

Yesterday was the 8th birthday of the Transgender American Veterans Association.   The organization was born in 2003 out of growing concerns of fair and equal treatment of transgender veterans and active duty service members. 

TAVA also serves as an educational organization that seeks to help the Veterans Administration and the Department of Defense better understand the individuals they encounter who identify as being gender-different.   It also points out the fact that trans veterans proudly served in all branches of our country's military.


Have much love and respect for the folks at TAVA, its founders Monica Helms and Angela Brightfeather  and all trans vets.   Thanks for all you have done to advocate for the interests of trans veterans.


On this day I'd like to thank TAVA and you trans vets for your past and continuing service to our nation and community and wish the organization much continued success.

May TAVA continue to have a positive impact on our community and our nation.

TransGriot 5th Anniversary-Now What?

January 1 marked the fifth anniversary of the founding of my blog.   It has grown far larger and more influential as to what it was when I first started it.

Back in 2006 when I founded it, I was looking at a blogging landscape of there being plenty of blogs in the Transosphere, but not one that addressed trans issues from an African-American perspective or that talked about transition from our chocolate flavored viewpoint.    There weren't trans oriented blogs that discussed our history, our trans heroes and sheroes, our leaders, or simply discuss the nuts and bolts of a gender transition rooted in our culture.and how to successfully navigate the process..

They also didn't talk about or ignored how race and class impact a gender transition. 

I noted that the Black transpeople who do start blogs have them quickly fall by the wayside for various reasons.   One of the other problems is that those Black trans blogs that did get started published so infrequently they can't garner a following or build critical mass, much less be in the running for any blog awards..

Well, I've been blessed to be publishing posts on a consistent basis since 2006, be honored with awards from my blogging peers, and be considered as the go to blog when you want info on the African-American trans community or our thoughts about an issue. .

So where do I go from here?  

What, y'all didn't think Moni has a plan?

One of the things I'm planning for this year is to do more guest posts from trans African-American writers.   You've already seen the beginning of that with the Pam's Ponderings posts from Pamela Hayes. I wish to have other African American transvoices speaking through this blog as well.

A priority of mine is to definitely have and get the inputs of African-American transmen in this blogging mix as well.


The TransGriot Ten Questions interviews I've done so far will become a regular feature on this blog.  I have already sent Ten Questions to people such as Kylar Broadus, Ashley Love and have more of them coming so that you can see and get to know the people we consider as our leaders.

And one of the things I'm going to do with this series is to talk to a wide variety of leaders across the country.   There are African-American transleaders on the West Coast, in the Midwest and South who don't get the attention they deserve.    

One of the things my African American trans younglings have asked for is more posts about our trans history makers.  Who are our icons?   What did we do to shape trans, Black and American history?  What did they do to help us get to this point in the 2K10's?   It's a wonderful suggestion and I'll be doing more of that this year and beyond as long as I'm blessed to do it. 


I also want to talk more about the emerging from the shadows trans communities in other parts of the African Diaspora on the African continent and the Caribbean.


And since I'm tired of my transpeeps being ignored and disrespected every time these so called African-American LGB/SGL leadership lists get posted by BET, the Grio and others, and when I call your behinds on it I hear the weak excuse of 'we don't know any African-American trans leaders', I'm going to eliminate that excuse for you this year and beyond.     For the first time the TransGriot is going to compile her own.

And of course, I'm going to continue to speak truth to power inside and outside of the community,  keep talking about race and class issues and the  world outside of it and how we transpeople of African descent fit in it..

As y'all have probably noted here, I can and will talk about a great many things and issues besides trans ones and won't back away from controversy..

And speaking of talk, if you want the TransGriot to speak at your events, conventions or on your college campuses, let me know and we can work out the details to make that happen this year.  

May even get around to doing a little more of that occasional creative writing you'll see on the blog in conjunction with my 2011 resolution to set aside more creative writing days.

And of course there will be some surprises along the way as well.   

Yeah, there are some personal blogging oriented goals in addition to living up to the mission that I articulated in a earlier anniversary post.

That mission is to talk about trans issues from an African American perspective, give voice to my African descended cousins across the African diaspora, document our history, and serve as a platform for me to talk about the issues of the day inside and outside the TBILG community.

I'd like to get my repeat hits up to the 60% level from the 40% it's at now.   I would like to be a repeat winner in the Best LGBT Blog category for the Black Weblog Awards and take a few more in the process.   So to make that happen, I have to step up my blogging came and come up with content that will make y'all  not only want to surf by here on a regular basis and stay a while to read these over 3500 posts and counting  you'll be proud to tell your friends, family and people who unconditionally love you to do so, too.

I'm cognizant of the fact that I picked up the torch and I'm continuing along the trail that the late Roberta Angela Dee started blazing.   I'm just taking it to another level and hope that when I can no longer carry it forward, someone will care enough to pick up the torch where I left off and continue the journey.      


So yeah, have some big plans for the blog this year, and with God's help and your continued loyal support, it's extremely possible that I will be blessed enough to accomplish those lofty goals and exceed them
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