Miss Honey Dijon

Another installment in my ongoing series of articles on transgender and non-transgender women who have qualities that I admire.

Since I like to spin from time to time (70's-80's-90's R&B, old school hip-hop and jazz are my favorites) my homegirl Jordana brought this transwoman to my attention during a long IM conversation we were having one night.

Miss Honey Dijon has become one of the most sought after DJ's in New York's party scene.

She grew up in Chicago during the early days of house music exposed to the work of legendary house DJ's Frankie Knuckles AKA The Godfather of House, Ron Hardy and Andrae Hatchett. She would later be inspired and encouraged to become a DJ herself by influential DJs such as Danny Tenaglia and others.

After spending a short time in Washington D.C. she moved to New York in the mid-90's and rapidly became one of New York's top DJ's with her infectious mix of house, acid, hip-hop and new wave. Some peeps describe it as a Chicago house sound with a deep New York underground feel to it. She's been featured in Wigstock: The Movie , articles in various DJ magazines and nominated for several local DJ awards.

Miss Honey Dijon is someone that I am looking forward to meeting one day and hearing her spin. If you are lucky enough to see her in your locale or get to New York don't miss her.

Your dancing feet will be glad you did.

Monica's March Madness Men's Bracket

TransGriot readers,
Here are my 2007 March Madness bracket picks:

Midwest Region

1st Round
Florida, Arizona, Butler, Maryland, Notre Dame, Oregon, Georgia Tech, Wisconsin

Sweet 16
Florida, Maryland, Oregon, Wisconsin

Elite 8
Florida, Wisconsin

Midwest Champion
Florida

West Region

1st Round
Kansas, Kentucky, Virginia Tech, S.Illinois, VA Commonwealth, Pitt, Gonzaga, UCLA

Sweet 16
Kansas, Virginia Tech, VA Commonwealth, UCLA

Elite 8
Kansas, UCLA

West Champion
Kansas

East Region

1st Round
North Carolina, Marquette, Arkansas, Texas, Vanderbilt, Washington State, Texas Tech, Georgetown

Sweet 16
North Carolina, Texas, Vanderbilt, Georgetown

Elite 8
North Carolina, Georgetown

East Champion
North Carolina

South Region

1st Round
Ohio State, Xavier, Tennessee, Virginia, Louisville, Texas A&M, Nevada, Memphis

Sweet 16
Ohio State, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Memphis

Elite 8
Ohio State, Memphis

South Champion
Ohio State


Final Four Teams
North Carolina, Ohio State, Florida, Kansas

Championship Game
Florida vs North Carolina

2007 NCAA Champion
Florida


We'll see starting tomorrow just how accurate my predictions are. ;)

Bathroom Issues

Hunter Coleman was sitting at his ultra modern desk conferring with the Texas Division head of HR Mary Ann Lemons, the Senior VP of Marketing Ryan Harper and their corporate attorney Juanita Robinson when his cell phone rang.
"I'm sorry, I thought I had it on vibrate," he said apologetically. "Let me see if this is Alexis."
"Go right ahead," said Ryan.
"This is Hunter Coleman."
"Hunter, this is Alexis. I'm in town and just leaving Bush Intercontinental now."
"Hi Alexis. How was your flight?"
"Hit some bumpy air over Arkansas but overall it was a good one."
"Good to hear. So what's the problem that you alluded to yesterday?"
"A potentially explosive human resource issue has come to my attention."
"Can you give me some background info on it?" Hunter asked as her limo passed Greenspoint Mall.
"I'd rather discuss this in your office with Ryan and Juanita when I arrive."
"Very good, Alexis."
"My limo's on I-45 right now. When I get downtown I'll call you. Have Samantha Simon and Lauren Schmelter in your office when I arrive. "
"Will do."
"Good. Se you in a few minutes."

Senior VP of Human Resources Alexis Wilson was not a happy camper. She was already upset about downsizing the HR department. She was in the process of analyzing the data and determining which cities would take the hits when the e-mail came from the people at the Ethics Hotline.
She recalled her reaction when she'd heard about the mysterious resignation of Shanita Taylor. She'd already sent her assistant Shelby King down to Houston to talk to the gentleman who called in the complaint. Alexis was incensed when Shelby gave her report on what this gentleman overheard at his church and what the investigation had uncovered.

Her eyes were getting tired from looking at the laptop screen and she decided to rest them for a few minutes. She looked up just as the limo came out of I-45's ten-lane S-curve approaching I-10 and the view of the downtown Houston skyline rapidly grew closer.

Moments later she was pulling in front of the building on Smith Street that used to be Enron's headquarters. She put on her Jimmy Choo pumps and whipped her cell phone out of her purse to make the call announcing her arrival before packing her laptop into the leather briefcase her boyfriend had given her for Christmas.
She cut off her cell phone after talking to Hunter, put it in her Prada purse and waited for the limo driver to park the car and open her door.

As she stretched her stylishly dressed 5'7" frame out of the limo the cranberry juice she'd been drinking on the flight began demanding release from her bladder as she entered the revolving door of the Xavier Young Zeno Corporation Tower. She headed for the bank of elevators as the handsome security guard on duty smiled and waved at her. She had other things on her mind as she gave the bald buffed brother a friendly wave and briskly kept moving.

When Alexis arrived on the 23rd floor she knew she needed to make an immediate pit stop in the ladies room. She knew from previous corporate visits that there was one close to Hunter's office so she quickened her pace, entered it and raced to the nearest stall. I needed to check my makeup anyway, Alexis thought as she handled her business.

Not long after she setlled in she heard the door squeak open and heard two sets of heels click clacking on the floor and stall doors open a few paces away from her.
"Lauren, why are they calling us into this meeting?"
"Beats me. Just stay cool until we find out what's going on."
"You mean they didn't tell you?"
"You know that closet queen Ryan can't stand me because his precious Shanita quit."
"You mean Sheldon don't you?" Samantha said with a sneer.
"Whatever that he-she's name used to be I don't care. I got the job thanks to you."
"You're welcome. Thanks for making me your assistant."
"I believe in rewarding people who are loyal to me."
"Me and my Coach purse thank you."

Both toilets flushed and Alexis heard running water from the sinks as they washed their hands.
"Have you made any progress with Javon yet?'
"No. I can barely get his attention when were at church."
"What's wrong, Samantha?" Lauren cooed. "You can't take a man away from a wannabe bitch with a manufactured pussy?"
"I'm more than woman enough for the job, especially if Sheldon still has his original equipment. I can show Javon what he's been missing," she said as they both laughed.
"You ready?"
"Let's go before Ms. Wilson gets here."

She heard their heels click and the bathroom door squeak as it closed. She waited a few minutes before she rose from her seated position, adjusted her clothes and opened her stall door. She strolled over to the mirror and washed her hands before checking her makeup. She checked her appearance one last time before sauntering
out of the restroom and heading to Hunter's office.
She allowed a smile to crease her ebony-hued face when she thought about the bombs she was going to drop on those conniving heifers.

"Ms. Wilson, so nice to see you." Lauren said as she entered Hunter's office.
"Hunter, can you have Ms. Schmelter and Ms. Simon wait outside until I'm done briefing you?"
"Yes ma'am."
Lauren and Samantha looked puzzled as the got up from the couch in Hunter's office and headed to the office waiting area. Once they exited the room and closed the door she began the meeting.

"I've called you together because I've been apprised of a situation that has exposed our company not only to a possible lawsuit but a potential PR nightmare."
She briefed them about Shelby discovered during her investigation as Ryan, Hunter, Juanita and Mary Ann looked at her and listened in stunned silence.
When she was done she said, "Hunter and Ryan, find Shanita Taylor, have my limo pick her up and bring her here ASAP."
"Yes ma'am."
"Mary Ann, call Ms. Simon in please."

Samantha's nervousness shot up a few more levels when Mary Ann called her into the office. What the hell is going on, she thought as she entered.
"Have a seat, Samantha."
"Yes, ma'am."
"You may be wondering why we called you in here today."
"That thought has crossed my mind, Ms. Wilson."
"It concerns a call the Ethics Hotline received a call three weeks ago."
"Did it involve someone in our department?"
"Yes, it did."
"May I ask who it was?"
"Someone you know very well. I can tell you it was in relation to Shanita Taylor's resignation from our company," Alexis said impassively. "Seems that this gentleman overheard a conversation take place that implicates you in the series of events that led Ms. Taylor to resign."
"Say what?"
"We investigated it and have verified that what he told us was true. What we discovered could put you in jail for a long time."
Samantha tried to stay cool but that icy Fifth Ward bravado broke down and tears started flowing down her caramel-colored face as she told Alexis what happened.
A few moments later she sent Samantha out and called Lauren into the office.

"Sit down, Lauren."
Lauren obeyed but was on guard. She observed her assistant walk out of the office with a look that had a mixture of defeat and fear. She wondered what Alexis could have said that terrified her.
"You may be wondering why I asked you and Samantha to come in."
"I know there are rumors about a downsizing of this department."
"Yes, I can confirm that rumor."
"Do you know mow many people we're going to lose?"
"I'm still crunching the numbers, but right now it looks like only two of you will be leaving," Alexis said as she crossed her legs beneath Hunter's desk.
"May I ask who?"
"I'll let you know in a few moments. But first I have some questions for you."
"Yes, ma'am."
"What do you know about Shanita Taylor's departure?"
"It was most unfortunate. She's a very talented person who would have made a wonderful supervisor for us."
"I agree with you. Did she state a reason as to why she was leaving?"
"No," Lauren said. "We were just as shocked when she quit."
Stop lying tramp, Alexis thought. "So was I. That's why I initiated an investigation."
"An investigation?"
"We received a complaint on the Ethics Hotline that mentioned this situation."
"May I ask what was the nature of that complaint?"

Alexis reached into her briefcase, pulled out a sheet of paper and slid it across the desk for Lauren to read. "I can't believe that Samantha would do something like this."
"Some people will do almost anything for love and revenge," said Alexis.
"It's gonna break my heart to give her the news that she's terminated."
"Don't worry about that, Lauren." said Alexis. "I've already taken care of it."
"Thank you Ms. Wilson….."
"You're going to be busy writing a letter of resignation."
"Are you serious?"
"Deadly. I want your badge and your company keys."
"You can't fire me," she defiantly said.
"Seems like that's exactly what's happening right now."
"Do you know who my Daddy is? I'll have your job."

Alexis' impassive look suddenly turned nasty as she stood up and looked Lauren dead in the eye. "Little girl, you don't know who you're messing with. I make phone calls to two of my sorors and not only will you be facing a stint at Club Fed but your Daddy's political career will be ruined as well.
"You're bluffing."
"You think so?" Alexis said. "Does the name Lanita Turner ring a bell?"
She knows the ABC News reporter, thought Lauren. Who else does she know?
"I know you've heard of Senator Jason Reynolds, the man your daddy lost his US senate race to four years ago." Alexis said as Lauren digested the last comment. "And how could I forget my soror DeAndria Randall, the federal prosecuting attorney for the Southern District of Texas?"

Lauren sullenly sat in her chair as Alexis continued. "I want your resignation letter on this desk in the next thirty minutes. If either you, your father or any of his associates mess with this company or my employment status I will bring a world of hurt down on your ass. Do we understand each other?"
Lauren mumbled under her breath. "What did you say?'
"I said yes ma'am."
"That's what I thought you said."
"Are you finished with me?"
"Not quite. Just want to give you a piece of advice for your next job. Be careful what you say in corporate restrooms. It can come back to haunt you."
Lauren's eyes grew wide with shock as Alexis sat back down in the chair and said, "Especially if your boss has as you so crudely put it a 'manufactured pussy' as well."

Black Playwrights Decry ‘Chitlin Circuit’ Label While Keeping Audiences, Actors Satisfied

March 12, 2007
By William Douglas, Special to BlackAmericaWeb.com
photo-Actor Morris Chestnut

You can call David E. Talbert’s latest production, “Love in the Nick of Tyme,” an urban play or a gospel play. Just don’t call it a “chitlin circuit” show.

“What is the chitlin circuit? I don’t do ‘these plays’ or chitlin circuit,” Talbert, an NAACP-award-winning playwright and producer, told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “My plays are theater, they’re stories. I wouldn’t classify my plays any differently than August Wilson’s plays are classified. My primary focus is to entertain, uplift and inspire those people who look like those people on stage.”

With themes rooted in religious faith and contemporary storylines that rival the juiciest soap operas, black playwrights and producers like Talbert and Tyler Perry are packing them in at playhouses across the country and raking in millions of dollars from their works.

Hollywood has taken notice of the success of shows like Talbert’s “The Fabric of a Man” and “Lawd Ha’ Mercy,” and Perry’s “Dairy of a Mad Black Woman” and “Madea Goes to Jail” -- and is looking to get in on the act.

Lions Gate Films struck a multi-picture deal with Perry that has been pure gold for the company. Perry’s screen adaptation of “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” and “Madea’s Family Reunion,” made on shoestring budgets by Hollywood standards, have brought in more than $100 million in two years, industry analysts say. They will make even more money on DVD sales. “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” sold 2.4 million units in the first week of its DVD release in 2005.

“We’ve got Tyler Perry fever,” Michael Paseornek, Lions Gate’s production head, told Salon.com in February 2006. “As far as we’re concerned, the last weekend of February belongs to Tyler Perry, and we plan to be there every year.”

Lions Gate released “Daddy’s Little Girls,” Perry’s third film, last month on Valentine’s Day. The film raked in more than $18 million since it opened.

The take is less than Perry’s previous movies, which some industry analysts attribute to the absence of Perry or his matronly alter ego Madea from the film. Despite brickbats from movie critics, the movie is scoring well with women and people in all age groups, especially in the 25 to 34 range, The Hollywood Reporter.com reported last week.

“Tyler Perry’s movies are primarily selling out to African-American audiences,” Talbert said. “It’s the same audience that’s going to the theater that's selling out the movies. What it’s saying is the black audience is gravitating toward story lines that they can relate to, that they can identify with, that are real to them.”

Both men have also taken their act to the small screen. The success of Talbert’s plays -- which he estimates have grossed over $75 million -- led him to write and co-produce Jamie Foxx’s NBC special, “Unpredictable: A Musical Journey.” Perry is producing “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne,” a half-hour syndicated sitcom about a multi-generational black family living under one roof.

However, neither man has abandoned the stage. “Love in the Nick of Tyme,” Talbert’s 12th play, is currently touring and features the stage debut of film heartthrob Morris Chestnut, of “Boyz N’ the Hood” fame, who plays an unfaithful father.

Perry’s new show, “What’s Done in the Dark,” is also crisscrossing the country. It’s a rollicking multi-layered story of infidelity and inspiration set in a two-story medical center.

The shows are tinged with morality, music, comedy and drama and are playing to full houses of folks who are looking to be entertained and spiritually uplifted at the same time, according to Duke University professor Mark Anthony Neal. Going to the shows can feel like going to church, with audience members shouting “Amen” or “Go ahead, now” to the characters on stage, he says.

“The money the plays and movies are making speaks to the spending power of the black Bible Belt -- a metaphor for the new generation of middle class, black church goers who support mega-churches and telepreachers like T.D. Jakes,” Neal, an associate professor of black popular culture, told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “Hollywood and Madison Avenue is discovering this.”

Traveling black stage productions aren’t new. Their roots go back to the Jim Crow era when most blacks weren’t allowed in big-city theaters, and black actors could not perform with whites.

To fill the void, plays were produced to appeal to black audiences -- mixing song, dance and message -- and taken on the road. The genre morphed in the 1970s and 1980s with an infusion of gospel found in shows like Vy Higginsen’s “Mama, I Want to Sing.”

The success of “Mama’ and shows like Shelly Garrett’s “Beauty Shop” inspired a new synergistic generation of playwrights/producers/performers like Talbert and Perry, who also found their creative inspiration in the black church.

“I’m a third-generation baby of a preacher. There’s not better place to learn about the impact of love and inspiration and music than in a black church,” Talbert told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “From there, I understood the whole call and response, this whole interactive kind of theater that we do. But in actuality, this was the same thing William Shakespeare was doing when he got started.”

However, some theatrical purists -- black and white -- dismiss the plays as lowbrow “chitlin circuit” productions with over-the-top, overly simplistic, stereotypical portrayal of black characters.

“It’s buffoonish,” Larry Leon Hamlin, producer and artistic director of the National Black Theater Festival in Winston Salem, N.C., told the Detroit News in 2005. “It almost takes us back to Amos and Andy, and we don’t really need that. It’s a degradation of the images of black people.”

The late August Wilson, the black playwright who won Pulitzer Prizes for “Fences” and “The Piano Lesson,” lamented that the “chitlin circuit” could fill theaters across the country with blacks but blacks, for the most part, didn’t attend the theater.

“You know, I hear what people are saying and I understand it, and I'm a huge fan of August Wilson and wonderful people -- Lorraine Hansberry -- who've written incredible plays,” Perry told National Public Radio’s Michel Martin last April. “The important thing for me is, and what I'd like people to know is that, one particular genre does not make it whole. There are many, many different genres, and if you ever gave it an opportunity open mindedly, I think you'd find some pretty interesting things there.”

Talbert says there’s little that separates his shows from top-shelf Broadway productions.

“The only difference is I choose to tour my plays across the country and allow urban audiences that we target to come in and patronize them,” said Talbert, a Morgan State University graduate, “whereas the plays that are presented on Broadway are performed on Broadway, and economically, they make it difficult for the urban audience to come there to attend. I price my tickets so that my audience can see it. I bring the theater to the people, as opposed to making the people then come to the theater.”

Talbert says the traveling black plays do something else that the major Broadway shows don’t: Hire black actors. Over the years, the shows have provided steady gigs to actors on their way up, on their way down, or for performers looking to try something new.

Television stars like Sherman Hemsley of “The Jeffersons,” Lawrence Hilton Jacobs from “Welcome Back, Kotter,” and movie icons like Billy Dee Williams and Richard Roundtree have all worked in black stage shows. Musical artists like Brian McKnight, Morris Day, Ginuwine, Kirk Franklin and the late Gerald Lavert all got their theatrical chops on the black stage.

“Unless you want to play a kangaroo in 'The Lion King,' then you can be a black actor working, or, if occasionally, there’s a wonderful production like 'The Color Purple,' but they are few and far between,” Talbert said. “Black actors don’t work on Broadway.”

For Chestnut, joining the cast of “Love in the Nick of Tyme” offered a change of pace from the sexy leading man movie roles and an opportunity to recharge his batteries.

“I’d gotten into somewhat of a rut. I’ve done a lot of projects in similar type themes and playing the same type of characters,” he told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “I wanted to get excited about the art of acting again, and this does that for me. Approaching theater -- something I’ve never done -- hones your skills, and you’re in front of a live audience and can’t make mistakes. All those elements combine to excite me. It’s a feeling I haven’t had in years.”

Chestnut politely sidestepped questions about critical complaints about the black shows, allowing Talbert to tackle them head-on. The playwright/producer says he and other black theatrical producers are giving the people what they want, just like Shakespeare did way back when.

“Shakespeare, who we hold in such high regard as the premiere playwright, performed his plays in front of people called ‘The Groundlings’ that would sit there in the theater and throw bottles, yell, and cuss and fuss at the stage so much so that they would then change the storylines to make it different,” Talbert said. “Theater was alive, it was interactive. That’s what we do. Theater that is alive and for the people.”

Apologies Become the Latest Legacy of Slavery

Thursday, March 08, 2007
By: Erin Texeira, AP National Writer

America is once again struggling to atone for slavery and its aftermath.

In a nation with an unquenchable need to analyze its racial past, there is now a fresh flow of contrition from public officials for the many wrongs of U.S. history.

Inspired by a resolution apologizing for slavery that Virginia legislators passed last month, Black lawmakers in Georgia said Thursday they plan to introduce a similar measure there. Maryland and Missouri also are discussing an apology. And so far, a white Memphis congressman has gathered 36 co-sponsors for a bill that, if passed, would bring an apology to the federal level.

The FBI announced last week it is actively reinvestigating about a dozen cases of blacks slain in the 1950s and '60s as possible civil rights violations. As many as 100 more cases are being considered for similar treatment.

"Much time has passed on these crimes," Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez told a news conference in Washington. "The wounds they left are deep, and many of them still have not healed."

It's been decades since these crimes were committed. And nearly 142 years since the Civil War ended and Congress ratified the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery.

Why are public officials making amends now?

Because revelations about the past are pushing some people to think about race in America in new ways. Plus, echoes of racial bias remain all too obvious, and politicians may be grasping for new ways to show concern.

Generations after the civil rights movement began, blacks generally remain poorer, less educated and more likely to be in prison than whites.

Many historians, political scientists and public policy experts argue that this is rooted in blacks' unhealed wounds from slavery, combined with widespread tactics during the century or so that followed to keep blacks from equal education, jobs and housing.

"This country is built on their (blacks') backs, so when you talk about some of the ills that we face now in society, I'm sure that some of it's got to trace back to that," said Maryland Sen. Nathaniel Exum, sponsor of his state's resolution, which will likely be voted on this month.

Sometimes a here-and-now incident casts a long shadow.

Since white comedian Michael Richards repeatedly used the n-word and referred to lynching in a rant last November, lawmakers in several cities have passed symbolic moratoriums on the racial slur once used by slave owners. New York City joined the group last week.

Sometimes an anniversary revives the past. On Tuesday, a ceremony in St. Louis marked the 150th anniversary of the Dred Scott case, in which the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a slave's attempt to sue for his freedom.

Modern research techniques also mean that history can come alive in a way that once was not possible.

Take the issue of personal ancestry, a particularly painful one for those blacks whose family ties to Africa were erased during slavery. Sophisticated research efforts, including DNA testing that can trace Americans' African roots, are reviving bonds to the continent - and, in some ways, keeping fresh the painful reminders of slavery.

When the Rev. Al Sharpton, a major civil rights activist, learned that his ancestors once were owned by the forebears of the late Sen. Strom Thurmond, a staunch defender of racial segregation, he was clearly moved. He visited the graves of his slave ancestors in South Carolina on Monday, urging all blacks to explore their personal history despite "the ugly things it might reveal."

Now he's seeking DNA tests to see if he and Thurmond were blood relatives.

"When someone is handing you the actual papers of your blood relatives -- indentured servants' papers and the tax rolls of where they were property -- then it's no longer some objective, nebulous knowledge," Sharpton said.

Another factor driving the recent public displays of contrition is that, with much of the nation's racial history still being written, fresh revelations come every year.

A new book about widespread post-Civil War attacks on blacks, "Buried in the Bitter Waters: The Hidden History of Racial Cleansing in America," by journalist Elliot Jaspin, is due out this month.

Several newspapers looked into their own coverage of civil rights and then apologized last year for making racism worse. Editors at Florida's Tallahassee Democrat wrote: "It is inconceivable that a newspaper, an institution that exists freely only because of the Bill of Rights, could be so wrong on civil rights. But we were."

The research increasingly shows that slavery, Jim Crow and racism were not, as once thought, confined to the South.

They were part of all of America from day one and were kept in place by some of the nation's most powerful -- government officials, big businesses, universities. Several U.S. presidents owned slaves. Slave labor helped build the U.S. Capitol and many other structures around the country.

That includes University Hall, the oldest building at Brown University in Rhode Island, according to a yearlong probe into the school's slavery links. The report found that the Brown family itself owned ships that transported stolen Africans, and profits from slavery helped found the university.

The main reason for such official complicity: The profits - economic and political - of 250-plus years of blacks' free labor and another century of black suppression were enormous. Most found it irresistible.

Today, some question whether public officials' apology resolutions mean much.

"What would it mean to vote against a resolution like this? Would it mean you were racially insensitive?" asked David Pilgrim, a sociologist at Ferris State University in Michigan. "Conversely, I'm not sure what it would mean that you were voting for it."

Some civil rights advocates want an official, federal "I'm sorry" for slavery from the president. It has never come, perhaps because this would raise the logical -- and thorny -- next question: How to repair the damage?

Opponents say that attempts to compensate for racial crimes through reparations would deepen racial divisions.

Pilgrim, who is also curator of the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, hopes the current wave of atonement does the opposite.

"If you look at American history, it wasn't that long ago that you couldn't get the most powerful people in the country talking about slavery," he said. "What is healthy is not the (apology) resolutions but the process of coming to the resolutions. All the discussions and debates get people talking honestly about race."

R.I.P. Hip-Hop 1979-2007

Dearly Beloved,
We are gathered here today to pay our final respects to Hip-Hop Music.

Rap has always been around in African-American culture and in all musical genres. Hip-Hop was created by the street and club DJ's of New York. It was fun, infectious party music that quickly gained a following in the rest of the country thanks to the monster Sugarhill Gang hit 'Rapper's Delight'.

The Sugarhill Gang were quickly followed to hit status by other New York rap pioneers such as Kurtis Blow, Melle Mel, Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Big Daddy Kane and Kool Moe Dee. Hip-Hop began to address social issues in the early 80's as it struggled to gain more mainstream acceptance and airplay and break the pejorative label of radio programmers and music critics that it was 'just a fad'.

The pioneers were eclipsed by emerging talents such as LL Cool J and Run DMC as it continued to evolve and gain new fans. Hip-Hop began to grow from its New York birthplace and expand to Houston, LA, Atlanta, Miami and the rst of the country. Showmanship was added by MC Hammer as the ladies began to step up and rock the mics. The battle of the Roxanne's gave way to Salt and Pepa, Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, Monie Love and Queen Pen as the music began to appeal to groups outside of the African-American community.

The West Coast began to be heard with NWA, Ice Cube and Doctor Dre. Public Enemy not only gave us serious beats but biting social commentary infused with Black pride as they dropped science on us along with KRS One. Digital Underground and Will Smith (AKA the Fresh Prince) gave us humor. De La Soul and others continued to push the creative boundaries of Hip-Hop as West Coast based rappers Ice-T, Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dog became household names.

In ten years Hip-Hop achieved its Holy Grail of mainstream acceptance. Videos were being played on MTV and BET. Arsenio Hall opened the door for mainstream television show appearances by featuring rappers on his Emmy award winning late night talk show. Hip-Hop artists were soon making guest appearances on network TV shows or having shows and movie scripts written for them. Hip-Hop got its own category in the Grammys in the late 80's in addition to its own media magazines, TV shows, formatted radio stations, nationally televised awards shows and clothing lines.

Then the Hip-Hop up-from-the-hood American Dream turned nightmarish. The East Coast-West Coast Hip-Hop War with its focal point being the simmering hostility between Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. It boils over into violence that results in the senseless shooting deaths of both men. Rappers going to and spending more time in jail than they did on concert tours and bragging about it. The positivity of the female pioneer rappers being overshadowed by the antics and raunchiness of Foxy Brown and Lil' Kim just as Eve and Missy Elliott emerged as their creative heirs.

The large record companies bought out the Def Jam's and Sugarhill Records of the world as they sought to shoehorn their way into the music form they dissed earlier in the decade. Unfortunately the quality of Hip-Hop declined as the misogony, homophobia, glorification of criminal life and disrespect of women escalated under corporate ownership.

The late C. Delores Tucker tried to warn rappers in the mid-80's that they were treading on dangerous ground in terms of the content and direction of Hip-Hop. They dismissed her and others as 'haters' and 'sellouts' as they counted their cash and penned their expletive-drenched rhymes glorifying excessive materialism and hypermasculine sexuality liberally sprinkled with unfettered use of the n-word and b-word. The floods of megacash from record breaking sales numbers obscured what Hip-Hop started out to be and warped its base values.

Sadly, Hip-Hop lost its way and became all about the money instead of kicking positive lyrics and good times. Music executives with no emotional, historical and cultural investment in Hip-Hop continued to sign and promote more whacked rappers that deluged the airwaves with more negative rhymes and video imagery.

As Hip-Hop becomes less popular with African-American teens it is bought and listened to in increasing numbers by white teenagers. It has the effect of giving them an even more skewed impression of African-American life and culture than they already possess. Rappers morph into neo-minstrels and live action cartoon characters instead of eloquent street poets.

We increasingly lament the shift in some rap artists attitudes toward women from Sir Mix-A-Lot's ode to Black womanhood to increasingly negative ones. We also deplored the hypocrisy of dissing sistahs while using those same sistahs to pose half naked while shooting soft pornesque videos to promote their CD releases. The outbreaks of violence at Hip-Hop concerts and Hip-Hop awards shows disgusts more and more people.

Today, Hip-Hop is a shadow of its former self with sales down 21% in one year. While you have some artists that recognize what they need to do to resuscitate and restore Hip-Hop to its former glory, others such as 50 Cent refuse to see the light and tragically don't care as long as they 'get paid.'

Farewell, Hip-Hop. I've long since gone back to the music form that some of you boasted was dead in the early 90's. R&B and Soul still lives and is better than ever.

Ashes to ashes, mixers and turntables and dust to dust, we now commit our old friend Hip-Hop to the ground as we pour Cristal on your remains for all the dead homies.

It was an exhilarating ride while it lasted. May Hip-Hop rest in peace.

She Swoopes To Conquer

By Arnold Wayne Jones
Staff Writer, Dallas Voice
Mar 8, 2007, 19:12

WNBA star Sheryl Swoopes, who rocked pro athletics by coming out at the height of her career, has some choice words for Tim Hardaway

More people have probably used the words “gay” and “basketball” in the same breath in the last two months than at any other time in history. And it’s not because of March Madness. The discussion was stirred by retired NBA player Jon Amaechi’s decision to come out, followed soon thereafter by ex-star Tim Hardaway’s proudly homophobic remarks that gay people shouldn’t be allowed to exist.

But the dialogue over gay athletes in basketball really started more than a year ago when WNBA star Sheryl Swoopes came out.

At the time of her admission to being lesbian in October 2005, Swoopes became (and still remains) the only player on a professional team sport to come out as gay or lesbian while still active.

What made her announcement all the more remarkable was that it came not from a minor player or someone hawking a new memoir, but an acknowledged superstar in her field with nothing to sell at all. No, the Texan-bred Swoopes — a three-time MVP with the Houston Comets, three-time Olympic gold medalist and the first woman to have a Nike shoe named for her — had far more to lose financially than to gain. Yet she came out anyway.

Prior to her appearance at several events in Dallas this weekend, Swoopes shared her thoughts about the Amaechi-Hardaway debacle, the state of pro sports for gay athletes and why she chose to come out when she did.

Sheryl Swoopes will appear at a private home at 5214 Livingston Ave. at 6 p.m. on Friday. $350. 972-383-6926. She will also speak at the Lambda Legal Women’s Brunch, “Making the Case for Equality,” at a private home at 8505 Douglas Ave. at 11 a.m. on Saturday. $100 suggested donation. 214-219-8585.


Were you surprised when Jon Amaechi came out — or by Tim Hardaway’s response? No and no. I think what Jon Amaechi did was very courageous. And obviously, I am very supportive of the decision he made. I was not surprised by what Tim said, but it could have been any NBA player to make that comment. That’s how society is, and how sports are. It is kind of disappointing. I have know Tim Hardaway for a while and admired him as an athlete, so to hear his comment made so strongly was more hurtful and disappointing than anything.

Had Tim Hardaway ever said such things to you directly? No. But then I don’t hang out with NBA guys. I saw him in January, and he didn’t treat me any differently than he ever has.

After you came out, did anyone make Hardaway-like comments about you? I haven’t heard any yet. It wouldn’t surprise me if it happened and I just don’t know about it — I’m sure people had comments but everything I’ve heard directly has been very positive and supportive.

You came out while still an active player, a first for a team-sport athlete. Why? It didn’t have anything to do with me saying, “Do I want to do it while I’m still playing or do I want to wait?”

For me, the timing was perfect. I was at a point where I was tired of not being able to be me. I knew I’d have to deal with everything that came along, whether it be good, bad or indifferent. But I didn’t discuss my decision with anyone. I just said, “This is the day.” I could not ask what’s gonna happen, what’s the league is going to say, how my teammates would feel.

That was brave. I think so, too. But there are so many other issues that are bigger and more important in this world than we should be concerned with than dealing with someone’s sexuality. Of course, that’s what people want to read, so that’s what people cover.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban recently said he thinks gay players should come out because it would actually do wonders for their marketability, making them media stars. Agree? I agree — it would be a huge media circus. But I would bet my life that he’d have a hard time selling that to current NBA players. When I made my decision — and to this day I haven’t regretted it — I didn’t say, “These are all the endorsements I could lose.” What I gained was peace of mind and happiness, which outweighs all the money in the world.

But when you talk about male athletes — and not just basketball players but all male professional athletes — their biggest concern is “What about my endorsements? What’s the money I’m going to lose?” It becomes such a huge male-ego thing. Even Jon Amaechi said the NBA is not ready for a current player to come out.

What Tim Hardaway said not only hurt Jon and myself but all the younger people who are dealing with this who think “I can’t do this because this is how people truly feel.” And I think that’s unfortunate. I think what Jon and I did will do the world more good than harm; what Tim Hardaway did is just the opposite.

Do you think it was harder to come out because you did still had to deal with teammates and fans? I think it’s hard, period. There are so many issues you have to deal with. I don’t think it’s any easier for a female athlete than a male. But I got to a point where I didn’t care about those things anymore. The entire time I was being what everybody else thought I should be, I was totally miserable. I would go to bed with a headache or a stomach ache and wake up that way. No one in their right mind could say that was healthy or good.

I have to thank Martina [Navratilova] and Billie Jean [King], because when they made that decision they lost so much money. But they kind of set the bar for other female athletes. They did it and are very successful now — why shouldn’t I? Why couldn’t I?

Aside from the gay issue, what is the state of the WBNA right now? I think there’s always room to grow. When you look at the women’s college game, it’s in a very good place. Look at all the talent and potential that’s there.

As for the WNBA, we have a lot of room to grow and you can only hope that the WNBA is going to be very successful. I do believe it will be around a while because of all the talent.

How do you want to be remembered as an athlete? I’m proud of what I did or helped to do at Texas Tech, which I think will always be remembered. Being on the first team to win four championships in a row, and the first woman to receive three MVP awards, was great. And being able to represent your country [in the Olympics] is phenomenal honor, but three times was a dream come true. One doesn’t mean more to me than another.

But when I’m done playing, whether that’s in a year or two or three, I want people to look back and say I had it all and did it all. Every time I stepped on the floor, I left if all there.



This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition March 09, 2007
© Copyright by DallasVoice.com

Thai Spice Girls Preach Transsexual Power

20th February 2007 17:04
Amy Bourke
From Pink News.co.uk




A girl band of transsexuals who model themselves on the Spice Girls are hoping to change social attitudes and achieve pop chart success in Thailand.

Venus Flytrap's five members were all born males and later underwent gender reassignment surgery.

Like the famous British group, they have onstage personas, namely Cool Venus, Naughty Venus, Posh Venus, Sweet Venus and Hot Venus.

They have achieved the dream of many a struggling artist and been snapped up by Sony BMG Music Entertainment, one of the world's biggest recording companies.

However, this is a purely commercial venture by a company looking to exploit a niche market in Thailand.

Sony auditioned 100 transsexual performers before selecting the final five, who later underwent a year of singing, dancing and acting lessons.

The band hope that their first single, 'Cause I'm Your Lady, will help to promote tolerance and inclusion of transsexuals in Thailand.

Their first album, Visa for Love, was released in December.

It has not had any chart success yet, but has earned the girls a lucrative concert deal, and has enjoyed repeat play on Bangkok's SkyTrain rail network

Sony's director for artists and repertoire Amonrat Homhoul told AFP: "It was not easy.

"Recording was time-consuming because the group members sing as women, but cannot keep their voices at a high pitch for more than a few hours.

"The response has been good, even if their songs aren't in the charts yet."

Thailand is believed to have the largest transsexual population in the world.

Experts estimate at least 10,000 trans people live in Thailand, though some put the figure at 10 times that.

Even the conservative number would mean that per capita, Thailand has many more transsexuals than most developed countries.

Although no-one is sure why Thailand attracts so many, part of the reason may be that medical treatments for sex change operations are extremely cheap.

They cost roughly 150,000 baht, (£2,000).

Some clinics in Pattaya will perform the surgery for as little as £500.

Thai people are often more tolerant of trangender people than other countries.

Transsexuals are known as "kathoey," and have special roles to play in village festivals, usually involving decorations or performances.
Transgender people are also often represented in the media and in public Thai life, but they can still draw negative attention.

More often than not their only option of work is dancing as exotic entertainers in cabaret revues.

Laws in Thailand are also heavily stacked against transgender people. They are not covered by rape laws, and are not allowed to marry.

The band's dream is that the music's appeal will extend to beyond the cabaret clubs tucked away in seedy red-light districts.

"I see being in Venus Flytrap as another chance for me, a ladyboy, to work in another field of entertainment other than cabarets and beauty pageants," Dhanade Ruangroongroj, or Cool Venus told AFP.

Krerkkong, who is studying for a masters in political science, said she hopes her experience with the band will help earn recognition for other transsexuals.

Ploypaitoon Moukprakaaiphed, or Hot Venus, lets us know why transsexuals do it better.

She told AFP she had the edge because, "I can sing both as a woman, and a man."


TransGriot Note: There's a glaring inaccuracy in this report. One of the paragraphs states that Thailand is believed to have the largest transgender population in the world. That's doubtful. The US alone has 300 million peeps and with a conservative estimate of one in 500 births being transgender that translates to roughly 2 million transpeeps in the US.

Happy Birthday Jasmine Guy!

One of my favorite quadruple threats was born on this date in 1964.

I fell in love with Jasmine when she played Hillman's diva princess Whitley Gilbert on NBC's A Different World. But that wasn't her first time in the limelight. She's been performing on stage and screen for over 20 years as a dancer, actress, and singer.

Jasmine was a member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and danced in the TV pilot and on the show Fame with Debbie Allen. In addition to doing Broadway and dance theater, she's appeared in the movies Harlem Nights, Klash, and one of my fave Spike Lee movies School Daze. She also played Velma Kelly in the touring production of Chicago.

She also done television since A Different World with roles and guest spots on Showtime's Dead Like Me, NYPD Blue, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Touched By an Angel , The Parkers and That's So Raven.

You can also call Jasmine an author. She penned the book 'Evolution of a Revolutionary', the story and spiriitual journey of Afeni Shakur. For those of you who are wondering who she is, you've probably heard of her son Tupac.

Jasmine these days is happily married and has a daughter. I'm looking forward to checking out her next multimedia project.

Documentary-American Beauties

Liz sent this link to TSTB about the award-winning documentary film called American Beauties.

The 2005 documentary is a series of interviews with Asian transwomen Amanda, Imani, Kimberly and Kosal. They express themselves on the issues facing them such as discrimination, prostitution, sex reassignment surgery, their former lives, and their dreams for the future.

And here's the YouTube video from that documentary as well:

Part 1



Part 2



Part 3



Part 4

Houston Unity Banquet Tickets Go On Sale

Renowned activist Ray Hill to keynote April 14 event


The Houston Transgender Unity Committee has opened ticket sales for the 15th annual Houston Transgender Unity Banquet, which will be held on Saturday, April 14, at the Westchase Hilton (9999 Westheimer at Briarpark), 6:30 p.m. until 1 a.m.

Tickets are $50 in advance ($60 at the door) and can be purchased through Ticketweb at the Unity Committee website, www.htuc.org. Tickets are also available at Jewel’s Boutique (2404 Taft near Fairview) and by mail (P.O. Box 542287, Houston 77254).

Some proceeds from Unity Banquet ticket sales support the Peggy Rudd Transgender Scholarship Fund. For the second year, the Unity Committee will present a scholarship at the banquet to a transgender-identified student pursuing higher education. The Rudd Scholarship application is available at the Unity Committee website.

The 2007 Unity Banquet, which is the largest single-night transgender event in the nation, is dedicated to the memory of the transgender advocate and HIV/AIDS activist and educator Brenda Thomas (1943-2006). Thomas was the Unity Committee executive director. Among her many achievements and honors, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2002 Unity Banquet and the Trinity Award, which honors transgender heroes, from the International Foundation for Gender Education in 2004.

Ray Hill, the renowned activist for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender rights, is the Unity Banquet keynote speaker. During the banquet, representatives from other local transgender groups will make presentations about their work. These groups include Helping TransGenders Anonymous, Houston Transgender Life Connection/Thursday Night Social Group, STAG/Some Transgenders Are Guys, Tau Chi chapter of Tri-Ess, the Society for the Second Self, and Texas Association for Transsexual Support,

Unity Banquet sponsors (as of March 1) are Charles Armstrong Investments, Nechman, Simoneaux, and Frye, PLLC, Resurrection Metropolitan Community Church, Dr. Pierre Brassard-Clinique de Chirurgies Esthetique St-Joseph, Dr. Suporn Clinic-Thailand, Denise O'Doherty, The Princess Company, Legacy Community Health Services, Tim Brookover & Albert Mata, The Crossings-Austin, Alley Theatre, Houston Symphony, Bruce Kieler, and John Steven Kellett Foundation.

The Houston Transgender Unity Committee is the nonprofit consortium of area trans organizations. In addition to the Unity Banquet, Unity Committee projects include the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance in November and Unity Month in March. Committee representatives frequently speak to schools, businesses, and organizations.

Lobby Day Attracts 210 LGBT Activists To Austin

By David Webb
Staff Writer, Dallas Voice
Mar 8, 2007, 20:36





Transgender activists account for almost one-fourth of people visiting legislators to discuss issues

The turnout for Lobby Day in Austin this year was smaller than in some previous years, but the enthusiasm of the lobbyists made up for the shortage, according to some of the participants.

An estimated 210 members of the LGBT community showed up at the Texas Capitol to visit with legislators and voice their concerns about discrimination in the workplace, housing and schools, said Paul Scott, executive director of Equality Texas. The lobbyists also advocated for the rights of gay and lesbian people who want to adopt children or be foster parents.

“It was very effective,” Scott said. “We were not refused by any office. There were some offices where the conversations were shorter, but that was to be expected.”

Scott said Equality Texas leaders had reached out to the state’s transgender community to participate in the effort, and they were gratified by the response.

“They backed it 100 percent,” said Scott, who noted that almost one-fourth of the lobbyists were transgender people. Scott said the inclusion of transgender people in the lobby effort was useful to the overall LGBT community as well.

“There were many gay and lesbian people who had never had interaction with transgender persons before,” Scott said. “There’s a lot of work to do in our own community on transgender issues as well as within the general community.”

Dallas resident Jessica Davis, a member of Gender Education Advocacy Resources, said transgender lobbyists talked to legislators about a bill allowing gender mark changes and adding transgender language to the state hate crimes law.

“It was empowering,” Davis said. “I’ll be back in 2009, and I’ll be encouraging others to go with me.”

Shannon Bailey, president of Texas Stonewall Democrats, said it was his sixth time to participate in Lobby Day. He first started attending the biannual events in 1997.

“We certainly could have used more people, but I think it was the most successful that I’ve been to,” Bailey said. “To me it was a little more friendly than it has been in the past — even in the less-friendly legislators’ offices. It was not the less-friendly legislators themselves, but their staffs that were certainly willing to listen to our issues.”

Bailey said the staff members today tend to be younger and more open to dialogue than the legislators they represent.

“The staffs seem to have a little softer ear on our issues,” Bailey said. “It’s been interesting over the years to see them change. They ask us to come into the offices and sit down and talk.”

Bailey said he is hopeful that the 2009 Lobby Day will include a large rally to draw more people to Austin.

“I’m sort of a grassroots type,” Bailey said. “I love a good rally and protest. I think it energizes people — makes them feel part of something.”

Protests also help educate the public, Bailey said.

Scott said a rally might be a possibility in 2009.

“We do respect and understand the need for us to come together publicly as a community,” Scott said.

“We’re looking at some ways we can possibly accomplish that in 2009.”

We Don't Want Ann Coulter, Either

I've been amused over the last four years about the 'Mann Coulter' epithet directed at the Queen of Conservamean in addition to the comments, jokes and rumors circulating that she's transgendered.

If she is, I'd like to state for the record that y'all can have her.

While there are many women that we in the transgender community would be estatic to find out are actually one of our sisters and we would welcome them with open arms, please let Ann Coulter NOT be one of them.

Frankly, it's an insult to the transgender community for y'all to call her one. I have T-girlfriends that are much better looking and have far more elegance and class in their pinky fingers than Ann Coulter does in her entire body.

While I'm on this tip, what's up with this trend in the blogosphere and elsewhere to label women you don't like as transsexuals? Paris Hilton has had that comment thrown at her repeatedly along with her sister Nicky by Perez Hilton and others. Even Tina Fey took a recent swipe at Paris using the same attack line. I'm not a big fan of Paris Hilton, but enough is enough. If you wish to insult her, find another way to do it without calling her a transsexual. It really annoys those of us who are transwomen and who are proud of it.

But back to Ann. Every time Coulter opens her mouth something hateful and asinine comes out of it. Oh, her conservative friends were loving it when it was anti-liberal bile spewing from her lips or quotes such as, "My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times Building."

When she attacked 9-11 widows Kristen Breitweiser, Lorie Van Auken, Mindy Kleinberg and Patty Casazza last year by calling them the 'Witches of East Brunswick' among other comments, she found herself being called out by many peeps in her own party.

She put her pumps in her mouth again during the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington D.C. last week when she called 2008 Denmocratic presidential candidate John Edwatds a 'faggot'.

It's not the first time that she's used anti-gay rhetoric to smear Democrats either and they egged her on. Now were entering the 2008 presidential election cycle and the GOP and the rest of the conservative movement is in extreme makeover mode. They're trying to look look less hateful and bigoted than they really are and now they want to disown her.

Too late now. Y'all were the ones enabling her behavior in the first place. Buying those wastes of trees she called books, paying her speaking fees and laughing the loudest at her remarks. Now the chickens have come home to roost.

I don't care if home girl is six feet tall, does have a huge Adam's Apple, a double-digit shoe size and a rather murky background, that does not make Ann Coulter a transsexual unless she makes that declaration. There's a better chance of the Cubs winning the World Series than Ann having a press conference at the Washington Press Club and uttering those four words.

For the record, that's one press conference I hope I'll never see.

Transsexual Pioneer Renee Richards Regrets Fame

Sun Feb 18, 2007 12:07pm ET
By Belinda Goldsmith

NEW YORK (Reuters) - As Renee Richards, the world's most famous transsexual athlete, looks back on her life, she has one regret -- the fame she attained.

Richards, who was born Richard Raskind, had managed to create a new life for herself as a woman after a sex change operation in 1975 but a year later made a decision that was to have an even greater impact.

She decided to take the United States Tennis Association to court for banning her from playing in women's events at the U.S. Open as she was a transsexual -- and she won, winning headlines globally as a pioneer for transsexual rights.

Richards, now 72 and without a partner, said she does not regret the sex change operation at the age of 40 -- although she might have liked to have gone through the process a bit earlier -- but she does have misgivings about her notoriety.

"I made the fateful decision to go and fight the legal battle to be able to play as a woman and stay in the public eye and become this symbol," Richards, an ophthalmologist, told Reuters in an interview in her Manhattan offices.

"I could have gone back to my office and just carried on with my life and the notoriety would have died down. I would have been able to resume the semblance of a normal life. I could have lived a more private life but I chose not to.

"I have misgivings about that. I am nostalgic about what would have happened if I had done it the other way," said the 6-foot-2-inch tall Richards with an unmistakable air of sadness as she folds her man-sized hands in her lap

Richards went on to play tennis professionally until 1981 then coached Martina Navratilova for two years before returning to the practice of ophthalmology.

FLEETING FAME

Fame came at a cost for Richards, who as Richard Raskind graduated from Yale, served in the Navy, become a prominent ophthalmologist and internationally known amateur tennis player. Raskind also married and fathered a son, Nick.

Her son, who is now 34 and still refers to her as "Dad" in private, attended many schools and struggled academically. He bounced between jobs before finally settling into a career as a real estate broker specializing in New York lofts.

"I am sure that had a lot to do with the chaos I went through in his childhood," said Richards, who refers to her son as "the apple of my eye."

Although Richards' mother died before her sex change operation, her father refused to acknowledge her sex change, and her sister still denies Richards' existence to friends.

Richards' former wife, who remarried and had another son, only talks to her when they need to discuss their son.

"We don't have a friendship," said Richards.

Forming relationships with men has proved difficult since she gained such notoriety, with Richards only having a couple of long-term boyfriends.

"With my first romances, they didn't know who I was but then I was found out," she said.

"You have to be a pretty strong character to have a relationship with someone who has been a man originally, and famous. I haven't had any romance in a number of years."

Richards, who spends her time between her home in upstate New York and a Manhattan apartment she shares with her son, found fame was also fleeting.

In the mid-1970s and when her memoir, "Second Serve: The Renee Richards Story," came out in 1983, was treated as an curiosity and besieged by television chat shows.

But with the release this month of her second memoir, "No Way Renee, The Second Half of My Notorious Life," few came knocking and television showed no interest.

"It is annoying to me," said Richards. "I'm so ordinary now; they're not interested. There's lots about transsexuals now."

© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.


TransGriot note: I'm glad Renee did fight the USTA. As someone who was struggling with gender issues during the 70's she was the first concrete evidence I had that transpeople existed. It would take me a few more years before I met some transwomen who shared my ethnic heritage, but she along with local transwomen Phyllis Frye and Toni Mayes put names and faces to what I was feeling emotionally and internally at the time.

Open Letter to Kenneth Eng

Dear Kenneth,
For somebody that graduated from NYU, you are breathtakingly ignorant to paint an entire race of people with a stereotypical brush based on two movies and a rap radio station as you did in your recent February 23 column. (Personally I prefer classic R&B and jazz myself.)

I guess you forgot about the story of Joseph Cinque and the Amistad revolt? That wasn't an isolated incident. Many slave ship voyages didn't get too far away from the African coastline before the rebellions started. There were far more successful slave rebellions and revolts than the 'happy darkie' pro-slavery revisionist forces care to elaborate on and the first one happened in 1733. They feared slave rebellions from 1792 onward. Haiti's slaves liberating themselves from French rule in 1803 made them even more 'scurred' of us replicating the feat on US shores.

I see you're also clueless about Harriet Tubman, the Underground Railroad and the various ingenious ways that African-Americans escaped from plantations. They fought for their freedom in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars.

While were on the war tip, ever heard of the Buffalo Soldiers? The 761st Tank Battalion AKA the Black Panthers? The Tuskegee Airmen? The 54th Massachusetts Regiment? You desperately need to hop on the subway and spend some time at the Schomburg Institute.

And in which one of your science-fiction universes did you come up with that asinine statement? I'm tired of peeps like you dismissing our very real historical experiences in this country as 'whining'. The Christianity that the slavemasters forced on us was infused with our own religious experiences and traditions we brought with us from Africa. From that Christianity came some of our greatest leaders in the late 19th and 20th century.

Kenneth, what I don't get is your disjointed rambling about some obscure high school debate and what connection it has with African-Americans in general. But then again racists were never known to have logical linear thinking processes.

If you didn't see any African-Americans in your honors or AP classes, then you must have attended school in the 'burbs or went to a private one. I was in gifted and talented classes in junior and senior high along with many of my friends. Education was stressed in mine and many other households in my neighborhood.

George Santayana was right. If you don't study the past you are condemned to repeat it. That's why we just spent 28 days commemorating our history. African-Americans are painfully familiar with that statement more than anyone else in this country because we've seen the effects of neglected or ignored history disproportionately impact our community. For example, our experiences during Reconstruction in the late 19th century have eerily replicated themselves in the late 20th-early 21st century.

And it is rather troubling that this kind of virulent racism is alive and well in the early 21st century, especially in someone who is a 21 year old college graduate. I'm even more angered over the fact that you chose Black History Month to write such disgusting tripe.

We are heroes, Kenneth. I'm descended from peeps that survived the Middle Passage. Despite violent opposition, nattering naysayers and countless obstacles placed in our paths over the last 400 years that would have broken less sturdy peoples, to quote Maya Angelou, 'and still we rise.'


Sincerely,
Monica Roberts
The TransGriot

March 2007 TransGriot Column

Why Is The GLBT Community ‘Scurred’ of Old Glory?
Copyright 2007, THE LETTER

Something’s missing when we have any kind of press conference, protest, or other function in the GLBT community.

The American flag.

I find it odd that the flag is absent from many GLBT protest events. (I’m not talking about that rainbow version of the US flag, either.) I’m talking about the red, white and blue one with the 50 stars and thirteen stripes on it. You know, the one that was planted on the moon in 1969.

One of the things I see as a failing of those of us on the progressive side of the culture war is ceding control of our national symbol to the Christobigots. It lends credence to their propaganda spin about us that we’re anti-American when we don’t fly the flag at our events. The US flag is not a bought and paid for campaign decoration for the Religious Right, Fox News or the Republican Party. It belongs to all of us. We need to make that clear by resolving to use it at every opportunity to erase the perception in the Fox-watching masses minds, some of our own peeps and
mainstream Americans that it is.

Other protest movements have not had the aversion to the flag that I’ve seen in GLBT activist community circles. I point out that the US flag was carried during Civil Rights movement marches. When Vietnam War protesters weren’t burning them they carried Old Glory along with their peace version. Even the immigration protesters began carrying it when the nationally televised marches of them carrying Mexican and other national flags began generating a backlash against their cause.

We in the GLBT community need to proudly display it as a reminder to ourselves and our opponents that we are American citizens, we have constitutional rights and we demand that they be respected and defended irregardless of whether you like us or not.

To the folks that argue that it causes conflicting emotions in the GLBT community: And your point is?

If any peeps in this country should have a putrid hatred of that flag it should be African-Americans along with Native Americans. But both groups have fought and died for it in combat, held protests accompanied by it, hang it on our doorsteps and have it at places of honor in our communities.

I’m not a Faux News patriot. I love my country and deplore what has happened to it in the last seven years. I will praise it when it does the right thing and like any patriot will call it out when it’s on the wrong side of an issue. I am horrified that our country’s good name has been besmirched by a group of arrogant boobs in an unbelievably short time. But don’t turn anger with the administration into playa hating on the flag.

To many people on Planet Earth the US flag represents hope, justice, freedom, equality and fairness. Aren't those the same values that we're fighting for in the GLBT movement?

Just simply flying Old Glory will take away one more lie they use to demonize us and garner support for their anti-constitutional agenda. It may even get us some support from those American flag bumper sticker voters when we need it.

So don’t be ‘scurred’ of the flag. Get in touch with your patriotic side. Your country will thank you for it later. Put your right hand over your heart, face the flagpole and repeat after me.

I pledge allegiance to the flag
Of the United States of America
And to the republic for which it stands
One nation under God
Indivisible
With liberty and justice for all

Quit Hatin' On Tubby

Question:
What would you do with a coach who during his ten year tenure has won five SEC regular season championships, five SEC tournament championships, won the 1998 NCAA title, made it to the NCAA Tournament every year, won an Olympic gold medal in 2000, and has had 9 straight 20 win seasons?

In addition to that record, that coach won three National Coach of the Year awards (in 2003 he won it by unanimous vote and was the first coach in 25 years to do so), had 5 players drafted in the first round of the NBA draft, has never been in NCAA trouble and entering the 2006-07 season had a 365-133 record. (winning percentage of .733)

For some folks in this state the answer would be to fire him.

Like many African-Americans in Kentucky I'm fed up with the yearly calls from some UK basketball fans to "Fire Tubby". When you ask those irrational idiots why they want him ousted as the Wildcat coach they'll come up with the nebulous excuses 'He can't recruit' or 'He's a lousy coach.'

As far as many of us are concerned in the African-American community, those excuses are smokescreens for the real reason they want him gone: Some of those fans are terrified of the possibility that Orlando 'Tubby' Smith could eclipse the record of their beloved Adolph Rupp (876-190) and become the winningest coach in UK history.

Yeah, racism is playing a major part in this drama along with the arrogance of some UK fans. The SEC was their personal basketball playground for years until the other SEC schools got tired of getting their butts kicked by UK and got serious about beefing up their basketball programs. Those fans forget that Kentucky is still an elite program, the winningest program in NCAA history and still has won more SEC titles (47) than anyone else in the league combined.

But the days are over when Kentucky could walk onto the court, say 'boo', have the other team quaking in their sneakers and win by twenty. The perception may be that UK has slipped, but the new reality is that in 2007 there are more elite programs in men's college ball than in the 41 seasons that Rupp coached.

These programs are all chasing a finite number of elite players. All of this 'Fire Tubby' talk has a negative effect on recruiting. It raises questions in elite players minds about the wisdom of signing a UK letter-of-intent if they like Tubby and want to play for him. That makes it harder for Tubby to recruit those very same elite players that are needed to sustain the UK program against the Dukes, Floridas and UConns of the NCAA basketball universe.

So what would happen if the haters got their wish and Tubby got canned? First of all a coach with Tubby's pedigree wouldn't be unemployed long. He'd be coaching somewhere else before the next season started. UK would get lambasted in the national press and by the college coaching fraternity for doing so.

They would instantly cede basketball supremacy in the state to Louisville. The negative fallout from the firing would ensure that many elite and top-tier African-American players both inside and outside the state would bypass Lexington and play at U of L or elsewhere for at least five to ten years. UK will also have a tough time attracting the same type of high quality coach especially after his fellow coaches watched him get shabbily treated by a segment of the UK fan base.

Frankly, I don't think he's going anywhere. He signed an eight-year $20.25 million extension of his contract last year that runs through the 2010-11 season. That's a lot of contract to swallow. But at the same time I know that anything can happen.

In 1986 I watched Fred Akers get fired at Texas basically for losing four straight years to Texas A&M. Never mind the fact he'd won 75 percent of his games. The same thing happened to Aggie coach R.C. Slocum after going 6-6 in 2002 and losing to the Longhorns for four straight years.

It's time for the racist cadre of UK fans to shut up and let Tubby do his job. You'll have nobody to blame but yourselves if you're successful in running him out of Lexington and my prediction comes to pass about UK basketball life after Tubby.

A Rebuttal to Kenneth Eng's 'Why I Hate Blacks' Column

By Kenneth Eng
published in AsianWeek February 23, 2007

TransGriot note: This is the text of the AsianWeek newspaper column written by Kenneth Eng that caused major controversy when it was published on February 23. After coming under fire from African-American and Asian groups, editor Ted Fang has apologized for it and announced that Eng is no longer a contributing writer. My comments will be boldfaced.

Here is a list of reasons why we should discriminate against blacks, starting from the most obvious down to the least obvious.

*Blacks hate us. Every Asian who has come across them knows that they take almost every opportunity to hurl racist remarks at us. In my experience I would say about 90 percent of blacks I have met regardless of age or environment, poke fun at the very sight of an Asian. Furthermore, their activity in the media proves their hatred. Rush Hour, Exit Wounds, Hot 97, et cetera.

For somebody that graduated from NYU, you are breathtakingly ignorant to paint an entire race of people with a stereotypical brush based on two movies and a rap radio station as you did in your recent February 23 column. (Personally I prefer classic R&B and jazz myself.)

*Contrary to media depictions I would argue that blacks are weak willed. They are the only race that has been enslaved for 300 years. It's unbelievable it took them that long to fight back. On the other hand we slaughtered the Russians in the Russo-Japanese War.

I guess you forgot about the story of Joseph Cinque and the Amistad revolt? That wasn't an isolated incident. Many slave ship voyages didn't get too far away from the African coastline before the rebellions started. There were far more successful slave rebellions and revolts than the 'happy darkie' pro-slavery revisionist forces care to elaborate on and the first one happened in 1733. They feared slave rebellions from 1792 onward. Haiti's slaves liberating themselves from French rule in 1803 made them even more 'scurred' of us replicating the feat on US shores.

I see you're also clueless about Harriet Tubman, the Underground Railroad and the various ingenious ways that African-Americans escaped from plantations. They fought for their freedom in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars.

While were on the war tip, ever heard of the Buffalo Soldiers? The 761st Tank Battalion AKA the Black Panthers? The Tuskegee Airmen? The 54th Massachusetts Regiment? You desperately need to hop the subway and spend some time at the Schomburg Institute.

*Blacks are easy to coerce. This is proven by the fact that so many of them, including Rev. Al Sharpton tend to be Christians. Yet at the same time they spend much of their time whining about how much they hate the 'whites that oppressed them.'
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Christianity the religion that whites forced upon them?

And in which one of your science-fiction universes did you come up with that asinine statement? I'm tired of peeps like you dismissing our very real historical experiences in this country as 'whining'. The Christianity that the slavemasters forced on us was infused with our own religious experiences and traditions we brought with us from Africa. From that Christianity came some of our greatest leaders in the late 19th and 20th century.

*Blacks don't get it. I know it's a blunt and crass assessment but it's true. When I was in high school, I recall a class debate in which one half of the class was chosen to defend black slavery and the other half was chosen to defend liberation. Disturbingly, blacks on the prior side viciously defended slavery as well as Christianity. They say if you don't study history you are condemned to repeat it. In high school I only remember one black student ever attending my honors and AP courses. And that student was caught cheating.

Kenneth, what I don't get is your disjointed rambling about some obscure high school debate and what connection it has with African-Americans in general. But then again racists were never known to have logical linear thinking processes.

If you didn't see any African-Americans in your honors or AP classes, then you must have attended school in the 'burbs or went to a private one. I was in gifted and talented classes in junior and senior high along with many of my friends. Education was stressed in mine and many other households in my neighborhood.

George Santayana was right. If you don't study the past you are condemned to repeat it. That's why we just spent 28 days commemorating our history. African-Americans are painfully familiar with that statement more than anyone else in this country because we've seen the effects of neglected or ignored history disproportionately impact our community. For example, our experiences during Reconstruction in the late 19th century have eerily replicated themselves in the late 20th-early 21st century.

It is rather troubling that they are treated as heroes, but then again whites will do anything to defend them.

And it is rather troubling that this kind of virulent racism is alive and well in the early 21st century, especially in someone who is a 21 year old college graduate. I'm even more angered over the fact that you chose Black History Month to write such disgusting tripe.

We are heroes, Kenneth. I'm descended from peeps that survived The Middle Passage. Despite violent opposition, nattering naysayers and countless obstacles placed in our paths over the last 400 years that would have broken less sturdy peoples, to quote Maya Angelou, 'and still we rise.'

Blue Bell Comes To The Bluegrass State!

photo courtesy Blue Bell.com website



Hallelujah!

I just read the announcement on the Blue Bell website that stores in the Louisville area and within 100 miles of Da Ville will start selling Blue Bell on March 12.

I have been eagerly awaiting this day ever since I moved here.

For those of you not fortunate enough to live in the 16 states (and Indiana will make number 17) where you can buy Blue Bell or don't get to Carabbas or Outback Steakhouse very often you are missing a treat.

The ice cream is legendary in the Lone Star State. As a matter of fact, when I went to Dallas last November for my cousin William's wedding one of the first things I did after arriving there was have a pint of Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla. I gobbled up another one when I stopped in Hope, AK to see the Clinton birthplace and gas up on the return trip.

To a native Texan, eating Blue Bell is a slice of home. No matter what your favorite flavor is, be it mint chocolate chip, pralines and cream, butter pecan, chocolate, chocolate sundae or cookies and cream, it gets eaten in mass quantities. If I was depressed or down about something all it took sometimes to get me out of my funk was a half gallon of Blue Bell homemade vanilla and a bottle of Hershey's chocolate syrup.

For a long time it was only sold within a 100 mile radius of their creamery in Brenham, TX just northwest of Houston. During the 80's and 90's they gradually expanded the distribution to the rest of Texas and neighboring states. I remember one 1989 weekend trip I took to New Orleans in which my godsister Angela requested that I bring a half gallon of homemade vanilla with me.

Blue Bell is also celebrating its 100th anniversary this year with special events, an ice cream flavor naming contest and a traveling exhibit that will cover 66 cities. (So far Louisville isn't on the itinerary yet, darn it)


The lucky cities and towns in Kentucky and southern Indiana that will soon be enjoying Blue Bell with me in addition to Louisville are Bardstown, Campbellsville, Cynthiana, Elizabethtown, Frankfort, Harrodsburg, Henderson, Jeffersontown, La Grange, Lawrenceburg, Leitchfield, Lexington, London, Middlesboro, Morehead, Mt. Sterling, Owensboro, Richmond and Shelbyville.

The lucky Indiana cities and towns are Boonville, Evansville, Huntingburg, Jasper, Princeton and Tell City.

Hey, I'm elated that I'll get to happily devour the 'best ice cream in the country' again. The best part of the whole deal is that I won't need to go to a restaurant, have it shipped or travel a few hundred miles to eat Blue Bell any more.

New TransGriot Blog Links

left photo-Jackie
right photo-Angelica

Hey TransGriot readers!

Just a quick note about two of the blogs that I've linked to TransGriot.

Jackie's Things According To Me is one I discovered after she left comments on many of my posts. It's an enjoyable read on subjects ranging from her life in a long term committed relationship to current events, so check it out. I get a kick out of the fact that her partner's name is Monica as well ;)

Angelica Love Ross is a person I introduced you peeps to earlier this month. I wrote about her You Tube video imploring African-American transwomen to work on the internal part of transition. In addition to having a Chicago-based image consulting business Angelica has started a blog called The Transsexual Revolution. I'm pleased to announce that she has asked me to become a contributing guest poster on her blog.

One thing that you'll discover as you continue to peruse TransGriot is that there are many ways to transition. What makes it so fascinating is that it's a journey that can be universal in nature but it's also as individual as the person undergoing it. I hope that you'll enjoy reading the thoughts of a twentysomething transwoman that's traveling that road right now.