Book Review- 'My Sister'

One of the things I love to do is grab a good book and take the time to read it.   But because of my busy schedule I haven't to my chagrin been doing much of that lately.

The COVID-19 social distancing and sheltering in place has given me an opportunity to sit down and wade through that pile of trans themed books on my to read list.

Just in time for Transgender Day Of Visibility (TDOV) on March 31 is the release of the book by Selenis and Marizol Leyva entitled  My Sister- How One Sibling's Transition Changed Us Both.  

I finally received my copy yesterday and read the book in five hours.   Yes peeps I can actually read that fast.  It's a trait I inherited from my mom.

Also didn't hurt that there's not much to watch on TV these days.

The 248 page book is broken up into three sections, in which Part One focuses on Selenis' and Marizol's life before transition.  Part Two, as she transitioned, and Part Three life as Marizol's true self, told in alternating .chapters by Selenis and Marizol.

There are times when their life journeys were similar as a cis and a trans woman, and times where there were challenges unique to both.

In Selenis' case, she had to deal with the internalized issues of not being seen as pretty because of her Afro-Latinx heritage by extended family members and society.  The challenges of fitting in as a high school student at the famed La Guardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts.

Her struggle to make her acting career work before she blew up with her award winning role as Gloria Mendoza on Orange Is The New Black.  Dealing with marriage and motherhood and at times depression.

Selenis is now on the Disney Plus show Diary Of A Future President, playing the single attorney mom of two kids, one who grows up to become the POTUS. 

As Selenis was dealing with all of this challenging stuff going on in her own life,, she was also concerned about the baby sister she loved in Marizol.  Being annoyed at times when her clothes and shoe closet got raided by Marizol who was exploring her femininity

And grieving the loss of her baby brother while getting adjusted to Marizol being in her world

Selenis is also an ally to our trans and SGL community.



Marizol' had some challenges similar to her elder sister in terms of trying to fit in, but others that were all too familiar to those of us who are transgender.   The frustration of being in a body that wasn't congruent to the person on the inside.  The bullying not only at school but outside of it by society
.

Learning that there was a term that described that disconnect.   Finding other trans people and hanging out in New York's TBLGQ plus community.

And there was the ugly side of it.  Marizol talks about being in an abusive relationship.  Dealing with the fallout from being molested as a child by her birth father.  Overcoming depression, alcohol and drug abuse.  Navigating the challenges that come with a social and physical transition.

She talks about her time living at the Ali Forney Center,  and eventually getting comfortable in her own skin while being supported and loved by Selenis .

She also talks about the challenges of being trans and Latinx

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and getting some insight on both Selenis' and Marizol's lives.
I'm looking forward to eventually meeting them and one day getting this book autographed.

.

Janet Mock's New Book 'Surpassing Certainty' Out Today

The last time I spent some quality time with my amazing sis was when we were making history together last summer at Chautauqua Institute.   She was telling me about her latest book she was writing at the time as we waited to go on that historic amphitheater stage

That book she was telling about in the green room, Surpassing Certainty, goes on sale today and is available in hardcopy and e-book formats.  

The latest book picks up from where Redefining Realness left off and covers Janet's twenties and navigating college, the corporate world and trying to find her purpose and place in the world without a roadmap to guide her along the way.

I know I'm looking forward to reading it and getting my copy autographed by her the next time i get to spend quality time with her.

Best of luck Janet with Surpassing Certainty, and hope it is another New York Times Best Seller for you.  

'Stacey's Not A Girl' Book Launch Event

While I'm here in Nacogdoches, my heart will also be with Dr. Colt Keo-Meier as he finally launches his trans themed children's book Stacey's Not A Girl.

It is a compilation of stories from not only Colt's childhood, but the childhood of several trans masculine persons.  An Indiegogo campaign raised the over $9,000 to get it published,

I got to read an advance copy of it and loved the book.  I also thought about the trans kids who will enjoy reading something that has a character in it like them

The book is now available for purchase, and you can check out the book launch event for it at The Montrose Center from 2-4 PM.

Good luck, hope it's successful and you sell out all the available copies of it.

Janet Mock's New Book 'Surpassing Certainty' Coming In June

When we spent some quality time together at Chautauqua Institute making some history back in August as the first out trans people to ever grace a CHQ tage that has had former presidents, senators and other luminaries and thought leaders on it,  in the quiet moments we had before that historic event, she told me that she was working on a new book.

That book my New York Times bestselling author sis was telling me about during that quality time we spent in Western New York I was happy to discover this weekend will be out in June.

It is entitled Surpassing Certainty, What :My Twenties Taught Me. is a memoir that focused on a young woman searching for purpose and place in the world without a roadmap to guide her on how to move forward.

This sounds interesting already.

Before she could become an advocate for others, she had to first become an advocate for herself, and through trial and error, she did,

From Janet's website about the upcoming book.

Surpassing Certainty begins a few months before Janet Mock’s twentieth birthday.

She is adjusting to her days as a first-generation college student at the University of Hawaii and her nights as a dancer at a club. Finally content in her body, she vacillates between flaunting and concealing herself as she navigates dating and disclosure, sex and intimacy, and most important being truly seen. Under the neon lights of Club Nu, Janet meets Troy, a yeoman stationed at Pearl Harbor Naval Base, who becomes her first. The pleasures and perils of their union serve as a backdrop for Janet’s progression through her early twenties with all the universal growing pains – falling in and out of love, living away from home, and figuring out what she wants to do with her life.

Fueled by her dreams and an inimitable drive, a woman with few advantages plots her way through New York City while holding her truth close. She builds a career in the highly competitive world of New York magazine publishing – within the unique context of being trans, a woman and a person of color.

Long before she became one of the world’s most respected voices in media and lauded leaders for equality and justice, Janet was a girl taking the time she needed to just be – to learn how to advocate for herself before becoming an advocate for others. Surpassing Certainty will embolden you as you witness Janet’s slow-won successes and painful failures, shift the way you see others, and affirm you as you seek certainty in yourself.

You already knew I was going to put the link up so that you can preorder it and get what I am certain will be Janet's next New York Times bestselling book.  

I'm looking forward to reading this one just like I did with Redefining Realness, Hope you purchase Surpassing Certainty and get a few extra copies to donate to TBLGQ centers, libraries or as a gift to that trans person in your life. 

I'm also looking forward to the next time we're in the same area code.

'Stacey's Not A Girl' Indiegogo Campaign Has Four Days Left

I've talked about the book Stacey's Not A Girl and the Indiegogo campaign to raise $9,000 to get the book published.

Thanks to all of you who shared my post, the link to Colt's site, the link to the book's Facebook page , who preordered it, or just for supporting this effort to bring this book to life, I'm happy to report that with four days left the Indiegogo campaign has hit and exceeded its target.

Thanks to all of you who contributed toward making that happen, and if you still wish to chip in something toward the publishing costs or order the book, please do so.    

'Stacey's Not A Girl' Book Indiegogo Campaign

There's a reason why I'm constantly popping my collar about my Houston trans community, and it's because we have some amazing advocates in it, families that are a part of it, and allies supporting us.

One of those amazing people is Dr, Colt Keo-Meier.  In addition to being a psychologist, he and his spouse Becca Keo-Meier are the founders of the Gender Infinity support group for our Houston area trans kids and their parents.

I've met some of those parents when I've been in town and had the opportunity to check out their meetings, and looking forward to the Gender Infinity conference next month at the University of Houston student center September 16-17 that also has a professional seminar track that offers CME's and CEU's.

You can add children's book author to the long list of things that Colt has done, and I'm pleased to announce that his children's book Stacey's Not A Girl is ready to be printed.

I had a chance to read an advance copy of it from his laptop when I ran into Colt during the recent Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit in Killeen and loved it.

Stacey's Not A Girl has been in the works for a year, and is a compilation of stories from not only Colt's childhood, but three other Houston area trans masculine and gender nonconforming persons, their loved ones and families.





The book is focused on the title character Stacey, who has in this gender binary driven society never felt like a girl, and in the pages of this book undergoes an unforgettable gender journey with a diverse group of friends and supportive people.

The book is ready to be printed, but needs to raise $9,000 to get published, for promotion and marketing, and to get it in the hands of the public for purchase.   They are almost halfway to their fundraising goal, and anything you can contribute o get to that goal will be definitely appreciated.

Here's the link to the Indiegogo fundraising page to help Stacey's Not A Girl make it to a bookshelf and the hands of a transgender child near you

Still Musing About Marcus Major

Back in July 2011 I wrote a post asking the question what happened to author Marcus Major? 

After writing the short story Kenya and Amir and the bestselling novels Good Peoples, 4 Guys And Trouble, A Man Most Worthy and A Family Affair from 2000-2003, it seemed as though he just vanished from the literary world and hasn't written a new novel since 2003.

Basically myself and ofter fans of Major who grew to love the characters in his Philly-Newark-DC centered writing universe have been wondering ever since what's happened not only to him, but the characters populating his novels?

When Major's last novel A Family Affair was published, we discovered Marisa and Myles were married.  Mike had just gotten married to now Dr. Erika.Truitt.  Carlos and Jackie Roque were the parents of adorable toddler CJ. Kenya and Amir were married and dealing with their now eight year old twins Deja and Jade, and everyone's fave playa player Ibn Barrington is still hilariously single.

Eleven years has elapsed since A Family Affair was published.   For those of us Marcus Major fans musing about Marisa and Myles, not only do we wonder if our fave couple had a boy or girl, did that at this point 11 year old child receive a name starting with 'M'?  

If their child is a girl, would Marisa name the baby for her late Cuban mother or if a boy, would he be a Myles Jr or some other male name?   Would the career obsessed Cubana slow down her legal, media and advocacy track for mommyhood or would Myles be more of the stay at home dad as they discussed at the end of Good Peoples? 

Speaking of juniors, what's up with Carlos Roque, Jr?   How is he progressing under the parental guidance of Jackie and Carlos Sr?   Is the group home that Jackie and Kenya were running still active?    What's up not only with Kenya and Amir Moore, but with their twin daughters Deja and Jade who would now be about college age at 19?   What's their Aunt Tanzania up to?   Did Jasmine and Darius stay together or move on to other people as Jasmine pursued her college education?  

As for the questions focused on the characters from 4 Guys and Trouble, we know that Mike and Bunches AKA Dr Erika Truitt got married, and Ibn's being Ibn, but did the same thing happen for the other characters in that novel? 

Did Tiffany get married to Maryland state senator Harold Hawkins III and repair her friendship with Erika?  Are Colin and Stephanie still together and did that newly blossoming relationship result in them getting married?  Did Dexter find someone else in the wake of his breakup with Denise?   Did she marry Kwame?.

What happened to Sharice?  Terence?   Did Erika keep her promise and adopt Tiana who would now be in her early twenties?  

We know Stacy went on to cause the end of a Moore family marriage in A Family Affair , but is she still wrecking homes?  

And Ibn, Ibn, Ibn?   Has Ibn finally met the woman that made him want to give up his playa playa card?  Does he still think about losing Tiffany?   If he hasn't given up his playa card, what other wild situations did Ibn find himself in as alluded to in the A Man Most Worthy book when he showed up at Adele's with his frat neophytes who had just gone over, and his hilarious cameos in Amir's barbershop in A Family Affair? 

As for the Newark based characters in A Man Most Worthy, we can probably presume that John and Josephine Sebastian and Gloria and Jules Anthony are still together because both couples had seriously rocky roads to their dual  reconciliations and marriages.   But there's still questions you can ask related to that novel.

How did Gloria adjust to being the stepmother to Jules' then seven year old daughter Nakira, and what's Nakira doing now that she's 18?  

Did the now 34 year old Scent get her doctorate and find love?   Are Hakeem and Rashahn still living up to the motto of their problem solving business and dishing out well deserved beatdowns?  

In case you forgot:  "No problem too big or too small to be fixed, no azz too big or too small to be kicked."

Going back to Nakira, would be interesting to see a novel in which Tiana,  Nakira, Jade and Deja bumped into each other at college with Scent or Jasmine as one of their professors,  Marisa doing a guest lecture, and Ibn making a hilarious appearance doing his usual frat mentoring.

But then again, that's up to Marcus Major.   Would be nice of him to unleash another book for his devoted fans like moi who would love to once again immerse themselves into his Philly-DC-Newark centric character universe and see what's transpiring in the 2k10's.    

Hey, Ibn Barrington's exploits are worth two novels and a movie by himself.

Denny's New Book 'West Of Sunset'

You know I've had the pleasure of having novelist Denny Upkins as a guest poster here at TransGriot from time to time.

But Denny's also a talented author in addition to being a fierce human rights warrior, and since I believe in supporting the people who support my community, definitely wanted to talk about Mr. Upkins new book that dropped April 30 entitled West of Sunset

West of Sunset is Mr. Upkins' second novel and follows the release of his debut novel Hollowstone, also available through Parker Publishing.. 

West of Sunset tells the story of Brecken Everett, for whom life never contains dull moments. 

When he’s not dealing with a demanding course load and honing his magic as top student at Lightmage University, he’s working as a private investigator and using his skills to protect the innocent from the darkest forces. In two action-packed adventures, Breck demonstrates that outnumbered and outgunned is when he’s at his best:

(Part One): Brecken is enlisted to aid Jacob and Joshua Phoenix; twins who are the last Pyrians, an ancient race of beings who mysteriously vanished from Earth eons prior. Along with their friends Elroy and the seraph Nemesis, the Brothers Phoenix have been on a quest to uncover clues to their past. The biggest clue to date leads them to Scotland where they recover and research a lost relic. After obtaining their prize, it appears as though Brecken, the twins and the others are in for a fun-filled vacation until they receive a visit from a pair of demons with designs on the relic. With Brecken’s aid, the twins are determined to stop the imminent threat, but are also determined to have some fun in the process.

West of Sunset will be available in both print and digital format and TransGriot will be one of the blogs that proudly hosts a guest post from him on his virtual book tour once it commences.

Looking forward to that when it happens, and much success Denny with this new novel.

#RedefiningRealness Conversation With Janet Mock

Looks like I'm going to have to hurry up and install a camera on my computer since post Creating Change I'm getting more people asking me if I would or can participate in Google Hangouts like this one.

Here was a recent conversation about her now New York Times bestselling and groundbreaking book Redefining Realness.

Janet's A New York Times Bestselling Author

Congratulations to my sis Janet Mock whose book tour is not only packing venues, but is selling books at a historic and rapid pace as well.

Janet may have made a little Black trans history as well.  With the debut of Redefining Realness at #19, she may have become the first Black trans author to have her memoir make it to the New York Times Best Seller List.

Will probably have to double check that to be certain, but there is no denying that Redefining Realness is a historic and game changing book that people are snapping off the shelves to eagerly read. 

Janet Mock On CNN Tomorrow

Our trans TV appearances runneth over lately.  It was Tiq and Christina today, and will be Janet Mock tomorrow on CNN. 

She'll be on Piers Morgan's show st 8 PM CST to talk about her book Redefining Realness which will be released February 4. 

I'm so looking forward to reading her book and hope that you folks will show her some love when she shows up in your neck of the woods during her book tour. 

Let's also do our part to make this book a New York Times best Seller.

Looking forward to hearing what Janet has to say on Piers' show, and yes, as soon as the video is available, I'll post it to my blog.


TransGriot Update:  Janet's appearance has now been postponed until Wednesday night.

Janet Mock's 'Redefining Realness' Due In February

Despite the fact I get a chance to converse with her from time to time when both our busy schedules allow it, I'm still like many of you megaexcited that her book Redefining Realness is being released one month from now on February 4.

These are some of the early reviews about her book.

“Of the book’s many strengths, the most notable is its political bite. Mock defies the historically apolitical confines of the transgender memoir…[and] take[s] the uninitiated, non-transgender reader with her.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Undercurrents of strong emotion swirl throughout this well-written book…An enlightening, much-needed perspective on transgender identity.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Redefining Realness is loving, searing, and true.”
—Jennifer Finney Boylan, New York Times bestselling author of She’s Not There

“Redefining Realness is a classic American autobiography. Like Richard Wright and Maya Angelou, Janet Mock brings us into a world we may not know.”
—Barbara Smith, author of The Truth That Never Hurts

“Redefining Realness is a riveting, emotional, crisply written testimony. I couldn’t put it down!”
—Laverne Cox, actress, advocate and star of Orange Is the New Black

“Redefining Realness overflows with the everyday magic of survival and resiliency.”
—Susan Stryker, author of Transgender History

I'm looking forward to reading it, and hope you will pick it up when it hits your fave local bookstore.  If you have local independent bookstores, support Janet and them by purchasing it from them or hit your fave online retailer or chain bookstore to do so as well.

Let's do our part to push this book toward the New York Times Best Seller List.

Also looking forward to seeing her in H-town when her book tour finally makes it to my part of the country

Sorry Toni, Sharon Davis' Book Was The First Written And Published About A Black Transperson's Transistion

I posted a comment over at The Luckey Star blog which points out an incorrect assertion in a post on that blog about African American trans firsts.   The author of it claims that Toni Newman's I Rise book is the first one written by an African American transperson about their transition.

Umm no, it isn't.   Sharon Davis beat her to that historic distinction by over a decade.   Davis' book A Finer Specimen Of Womanhood: A Transsexual Speaks Out was published in 1986.

Me making that point stirred up the Toni Newman defenders to come rushing to the post in which the erroneous comment was made and people in the comment threads went to some interesting lengths to furiously spin, obfuscate, belittle Davis' book and outright try to erase that inconvenient and irrefutable fact.

ISBN numbers don't lie.    Neither does this July 1, 1999 Amazon.com review someone wrote about Davis' book or the JET magazine article written about her..

Format: Hardcover
ISBN-10: 0533061784
ISBN-13: 9780533061785
Publisher: Vantage Press
Language: English

Here's the October 16, 1983 JET magazine article which is available for your perusal in the online EBONY/JET magazine digital archives in which Ms. Davis talks about her book.

As Davis said in the foreword to that book:

"The aim of my story is to provide courage and offer hope to those human beings caught in bodies their souls cannot accommodate.  I was one of those unhappy persons who as a transsexual, found a new life and the happiness that had eluded me in my previous body."

Sharon Davis' book was available for purchase for several years like many books by trans authors were courtesy of the International Foundation For Gender Education's Synchronicity bookstore during the 90's.  

Let me make it clear to you people rushing to Toni Newman's defense on that blog.  I have nothing against her.  Brava and props to Ms. Newman for writing her book, doing what she needed to do to get it published and the rumored screenplay that may be coming out of it.    

What I have a severe problem with as an IFGE Trinity Award winning trailblazing activist who happens to be the child and godchild of historians is when you erroneously claim yours is the first to be written by an African American transsexual when it demonstrably isn't. 

There's also another autobiographical book about a Black transwoman that's being ignored that was written about The Lady Chablis in 1996 called Hiding My Candy.

But what I'm not happy about is the erasure of our history.   Just as I have a problem with it and call it out when it is done unto us by non-Black people, I have just as much problem with it when Black people engage in it.   

Our history as transpeople of African descent needs to be told and I'm deliriously happy when people do so.  But don't erase someone else's accomplishment to put your own in a better light.  .