One of the great things about the Net and blogs is not only the new friends you make as a result of your writing, sometimes it can reunite you with people that were once part of your life but for various reasons slipped out of it.
Back in October 2007 I wrote a post entitled Domino! in which I talked about my love for the game. I also pointed out how much of a cultural phenomenon it is for not only African-Americans but our Latino friends as well.
I talked about a college friend of mine named Raymond Jolivette whose antics during those games (and any other time on campus) when he was around kept our cadre of friends in stitches and made going to UH during that time a lot of fun. Well, yesterday morning when I checked my e-mail, I received one from Air Force Master Sergeant Raymond Jolivette.
Yep, the same Raymond Jolivette I wrote about in the post.
It was a wonderful surprise. He updated me on how his life has been going, but I can't call him 'Smurf' anymore. Brotherman not only had a late growth spurt, he put on some serious muscle as well. He's been in the Air Force serving our country for the last 23 years, and I definitely have much love and respect for that.
Unfortunately, he's lost touch with much of our crew as well. Hopefully we'll be able together to find out what happened to all our old college domino playing buddies and how their lives turned out.
But the thing I'm happiest about is that one of my old friends is back in my life.
It didn't take long for Faux News and Turd Blosssom to start their dirty work. FYI, Turd Blossom was the nickname Dummya gave Karl Rove, who has an advisory role in the McCain scampaign.
Fox News, and specifically conservabimbo Michelle Malkin, referred to Michelle Obama as Barack's 'baby mama'.
Now I know those Stepford witches in the conservative movement didn't just go there and diss this Princeton-educated, Harvard Law School grad. At least she's been married to the same man for over a decade. That's more than I can say for some of y'all, who have more plastic body parts than Barbie dolls do.
I told y'all the GOP was going to race bait all the way until November. They have no choice but to 'scurr' the unwashed racist masses and yell the n-word all the way until November 4.
The predictable part was getting Michelle Malkin (who's Asian) to slither into the Faux 'news' studio to do their dirty work. If there's race baiting to be done, Michelle's the one.
I guess ED Hill was getting her faux blond hair dyed and colored that day, huh?
The more you Republicans race bait, the easier you'll make our job registering African-American and other progressive voters tired of the trifling 'Southern Strategy' BS y'all trot out every presidential election cycle and turning them out in the fall to send you peeps to the unemployment line.
What's next Faux News? Are y'all gonna darken pictures of Senator Obama? Photoshop him wearing a black beret? Arttribute things to him he or his wife never said?
Stop the GOP madness and lies. If you see a lie online, call it out and bury it with the facts.
We're gonna be busy from now until November 4. But if we want to see Sen Obama taking the oath of office on January 20, we have got to become the online and offline truth squad. If you hear people repeating these Rrepublican smears, call them on it.
I got back to Louisville last night after spending a slammin' weekend in Western Massachusetts. I was speaking at the invitation of the wonderful folks who organized the first annual New England Transgender Pride March and Rally.
My trip there got off to an anxiety filled start. When I fly, I usually check weather.com or the Weather Channel to peruse the weather for the cities and the area I'm flying into before I leave. Because my schedule got rearranged by the unexpected trip I had to take in to work that morning, it threw me out of my usual preflight routine.
I arrived at Louisville International Airport around 4 PM to get a head start on clearing security, catch my 6:50 PM United flight to Chicago and subsequent connection to Hartford. It's been a while (2002) since I'd last flown and I'd forgotten about the fact that the TSA has severely limited the size of personal toiletry items you can take in carry on luggage. I had to throw away a full can of shaving cream and my three quarter used deodorant stick before clearing security and was mildly pissed about it.
My pissivity quickly dispersed when I started chatting with two Dallas based Southwest Airlines flight attendants. I walked with them to their gate as we talked about the airline industry good old days and how the industry has changed to where it was less fun than it used to be. The flight attendant also told me a story about one of the people she knew at American who was on one the fateful 9-11 flights and how he ended up on it.
They eventually had to go board their aircraft and do their preflight checks, so they gave me hugs before they departed. I arrived at my United gate only to discover that Chicago was getting whacked by a nasty thunderstorm. The previous Chicago flight was delayed, so I decided to kill a little time and figure out my options by taking a walk. I ended up standing next to the shoeshine booth as I checked the flight information board. Since my black flats needs some TLC, I decided to let the handsome brother sitting there make them look good for me.
I returned to my gate to discover that my UA flight to Chicago was cancelled. The agent rebooked me on US Airways through Philadelphia, and best of all I was now going to arrive at Bradley two hours earlier. In addition to that, the gate for my US Airways flight was right next door. I pulled out my cell phone and called Kris Colton, my ride to Springfield and Louis Mitchell, my good friend I was staying with and advised them I was going to be arriving in BDL at 10:20 PM instead of 12:52 AM.
I was concerned about my tight connection in Philly, but after sprinting through the airport to my gate once I got off the shuttle bus from Terminal F, I was relieved to discover my aircraft was just arriving and disgorging passengers from the inbound trip. It would be a few minutes before we began boarding to Bradley.
I ended up in a neat conversation that lasted through the short one hour flight to Bradley with my seatmate Kathy. We exchanged details on our lives and she wished me good luck for the upcoming speaking engagement the next day before we went our separate ways.
Kris rolled up thirty seconds after I called her and scooped me up from the arrivals loading area. We were quickly headed north on I-91 to the Massachusetts-Connecticut border (the airport is in Windsor Locks, Connecticut) and Springfield.
Kris and I hit it off immediately and we were chatting like two old friends instead of people who'd just met for the first time. I was going to see much more of her tomorrow since she was the stage manager for the rally.
A few minutes later Kris and I were pulling in front of Louis and Krysia's two story corner house in a quiet, tree-shaded Springfield neighborhood remarkably similar to my own back in Da Ville. Louis' house, which was built in 1917, is actually older than mine. I was greeted by him and Imani Henry, who was also staying with us. Miss Major, who was going to be the parade's Grand Marshal unfortunately wasn't staying with us because she's allergic to pets. There are three cats at the Mitchell-Villon household along with a lovable black dog named Lola.
His wife Krysia was asleep at the time, so we bounced to Denny's to grab breakfast and chat. During a trip to New York in 2000 I was supposed to meet Imani for lunch, but got detained by a long chat I was having with the mother of our movement, Sylvia Rivera. So I apologized to Imani for missing our meeting, and we settled on discussing what was going to transpire the next day before going back to the house and grabbing some sleep for what promised to be a long and excitingly historic day.
But just before I dozed off another stress inducing complication arose. I wanted to review my speech, and discovered that I didn't have my WNBA notepad I put it in. It has major sentimental value to me and I feared I'd left it on the US Airways airplane at Bradley. I had a copy of the speech posted on TSTB and saved on my blog just in case I had to download and print it at Kinko's in the morning. Louis' printer was down, so that wasn't an immediate option. I called Kris on my cell, left her a message and hoped for the best as I went to sleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
That morning I got up a little after 6 AM to Springfield being enveloped in fog and low cloud cover. The forecast was for a 30% chance of rain and we were hoping it would hold off until the rally was over at 5 PM. I received some good news when Kris returned my call and let me know she'd found my notepad in the backseat of her car and she'd bring it with her to the rally site.
One minor crisis solved, I wandered downstairs and finally met Louis' lovely wife Krysia. You know how much I love intelligent conversation, and I was in for a treat hanging out with her, Louis and Imani over the next 36 hours.
The time rapidly approached for all of us to get ready for the march and rally. Louis had already left to meet the lady renting us the RV for the day. I rode to the rally site with Krysia, who as we rode through the beautiful western Massachusetts countryside enroute to Northampton told me a little about her background as I did the same. She was also acting as out hostess in the RV green room for the speakers, and Louis was our MC.
We get to the rally site, a large parking lot hemmed in by restaurants, shops and a six story parking garage in downtown Northampton. The RV was there and the owner was explaining and pointing out all the various features to Kris as I walked in to check it out.
Over the next few hours the lot began to be transformed. The stage was already set up with the sound equipment. The various organizations were setting up their tables, and the various speakers were beginning to arrive. The cloud cover was keeping the heat away from us and didn't break until 11 AM, revealing brilliant sunshine about an hour before the march started.
I finally got to meet Donna Rose a few moments later. We hugged and hit it off like two sorority sisters. By looking at her its hard to believe this woman is hitting a milestone birthday next year. I also got to meet Ethan St. Pierre's wife Karen as me and Ethan caught up on a few things. I was also happy to meet some of the transbrothers like Bet Power, Hawk Stone and some of the members of the Boston based drag king troupe All The Kings Men.
I got a taste of just how widely read my blog was when I started meeting the young transpeeps and college kids like Dustin, Jacklyn and others. Once they found out the TransGriot was on the scene, they raved about how much they loved my blog and I thank them (and all of you) for reading it. A writer always loves it when their work is appreciated.
After the march kicked off at noon from a nearby park and brought a crowd of 700 mostly energized people to our rally site, it began. I was scheduled to speak at 2:40 PM, but hit the stage a little early because we were running ahead of schedule. I delivered my speech, got some cheers at major points in it and some high fives after I exited the stage. I also had the pleasure of finally meeting Dr. Enoch Paige and reconnecting with more than a few old and new friends as the historic day progressed to a close.
Sunday dawned and after a lazy morning conversing with Imani, Krysia and Louis it was unfortunately time for me to head back to my life in Louisville. Since I was in Springfield, the home of the Basketball Hall of Fame, on the way to the airport Louis dropped me off there and let me run around the place for an hour and a half. That's not enough time to see and do everything in this interactive shrine to one of my fave sports.
It was also the first time since I left Continental that I'd be flying the airline, and the flight that ironically greeted me at my departure gate in Hartford was a weather-delayed one headed to Houston.
Eventually I got to board my flight to Cleveland, and two of the flight attendants recognized me from my Houston airport days. As I went to the lav after they finished the beverage service Ann Marie greeted me. She filled me in on just how much I was missed by all my CAL co-workers not only in Houston, but system wide. We exchanged numbers as something told me to use the bathroom and get my butt back in my seat.
Ten minutes later I was glad I listened to my inner voice. There was a line of late afternoon storms pounding the Detroit area and I was concerned before we left Hartford that the tail end of that nasty front extended almost to the Cleveland area. As we descended through the cloud cover from our cruising altitude we got whacked with a microburst that roughly forced the aircraft down approximately 500 feet. I heard the engines power up to regain the altitude we lost as we immediately got hit with a second microburst.
I've flown hundreds of flights, but this was the first time since a 1987 one I took to Chicago I was genuinely scared shitless. We were still over the edge of Lake Erie a few miles from Cleveland-Hopkins Airport, and as a former airline employee I already had the '90% of airline crashes happen on takeoff or landing' mantra playing in an endless loop in my brain. To calm myself down I (and probably 'errbody' else on that flight) said a prayer that we weren't going to end up on the national news.
As I watched the airplane descend through my window seat, it continued to fight nasty crosswinds as we flew over a nearly subdivision and strip center. As we continued to descend and crossed the interstate bordering Hopkins I knew we were almost on the ground. I'd heard the comforting sound of landing gear deploying but I knew we weren't out of danger yet. When the welcoming bump from the wheels touching runway happened and the aircraft's braking flaps deployed, there was a huge cheer and clapping that arose from everyone on board.
We'd had what I call a Pope John Paul II landing. I'm referring to his practice when he traveled around the world of kissing the ground when he stepped off his papal aircraft. If it weren't for the fact I needed to expeditiously get to Concourse D for my Louisville flight, I would have probably done so in the jetway when I disembarked. We did have to call the paramedics for one of the flight attendants and a passenger in the seat behind me, but everybody else walked off under their own power.
I didn't have time to get scared because I had a connecting flight to catch. I pulled out the cell phone and called Dawn to let her know what time I'd be in Da Ville when I sat down in the lobby area. She and AC were there to greet me outside the security checkpoint when I arrived at Louisville International around 9:55 PM.
Eventually I arrived safe and sound without incident at home as I told them everything about what transpired on this wonderfully empowering, historic but emotionally charged weekend.
And I'm looking forward to seeing how you peeps in the Western Massachusestts area top this event next year. Make sure y'all get that RV again, too.
TransGriot Note: The full text of my speech for the Transgender Pride March and Rally
I am deeply honored to be standing before you as we make history together with today’s New England Transgender Pride March and Rally. I sincerely thank the organizing committee for extending me the invitation and opportunity to address you today.
W.E.B. DuBois, a distinguished son of Massachusetts who was an NAACP founder, once stated, “We cannot stand still; we cannot permit ourselves simply to be victims.
When he spoke these words a little over a century ago, they were directed at my fellow African-Americans. But these words are just as applicable to my fellow transgender people of all colors as well.
We cannot sit still as our inclusion in civil rights law, despite clear and pressing evidence that we desperately need it, is not only treated as an afterthought by some legislators, we’re cut out of proposed bills and tossed aside like empty soda cans.
We cannot sit still as the Forces of Intolerance, right-wing pundits and so-called fundamentalist ‘christians’ use myths, distortions and outright lies to demonize and dehumanize us as they pitifully attempt to sway public opinion against doing the norally proper and correct thing by recognizing our humanity.
We cannot sit still as hate crimes committed against us are ignored, the perpetrators are given a legal slap on the wrist and segments of our society give their wink and a nod approval.
We cannot sit still as the media disrespects the unfortunate victims of these crimes. Their old names are weaved throughout slanted and sensationalized stories as their new names and identities are disrespectfully placed in quotation marks.
We cannot sit still as an organization with an equal sign logo that claims to be our ally spends a decade fighting our inclusion in the Employment Non Discrimination Act. Its executive director adds insult to injury by walking into our signature convention in Atlanta, promising to fight for an inclusive ENDA while collecting $20,000 of our hard earned money, then reneges on the promise weeks later. He later claims he ‘misspoke’ while they demonize their critics by claiming they’re concocting 'transgender conspiracy theories’
We cannot sit still as fundamentalists, conservative talk show hosts, radio personalities and pundits attack our patriotism, our lives, our values, our right to exist and our constitutional rights for ratings points or to scapegoat us for the failures of their dry as dust mean spirited ideology.
We cannot sit still as people frustrated with their own lives use us as focal points for their anger, attack our community for the purposes of organizing their own, use us as bogeymen for fundraising purposes or as a distraction so people won’t pay attention to their catastrophic failures of leadership.
It’s time to stop wandering in the desert of shame and guilt. It’s time for us to cast aside the woe is me victimhood about being transgender Americans and boldly stride forward towards the oasis of freedom, equality, justice and pride in who we are as transgender men and women.
Our pioneering predecessors passed a torch to us. As their successors it’s up to us to keep it lit, hold it high and not allow anyone to douse the freedom flame until we can pass that torch on to the next generation of transpeople
Nelson Mandela said a decade ago that to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the lives of others.
Once we cast off the chains of self-doubt, shame, and self-hatred, the first people we owe respect to are ourselves.
So how do we do that? We show respect for ourselves by standing up and fighting for our rights and our basic humanity like my African-American GLBT brothers and sisters did a Philadelphia’s Dewey’s Lunch counter in 1965.
We show respect for ourselves by standing up and fighting like our brothers and sisters did at San Francisco’s Compton’s Cafeteria in 1967.
We show respect for ourselves like Miss Major, the late Sylvia Rivera and our brothers and sisters did almost 40 years ago this month at Stonewall in 1969.
We show respect for ourselves when we stand up and loudly proclaim in one voice that we will no longer meekly accept or tolerate second class treatment or second class citizenship. We are putting friends, foes and 'frenemies' on notice that we are demanding an upgrade to first class citizenship.
First class citizenship means that our rights are codified, respected and protected at all levels of government, be it city, county, state or federal level. We’re also putting you on notice that from this day forward, if we ain’t in a proposed civil rights law, we reserve the right as a community to kill a non-inclusive bill until it does.
We must act for not only the transkids that Barbara Walters profiled on 20/20 and others yet unborn, but for our fallen brothers and sisters such as Deborah Forte, Chanelle and Gabrielle Pickett, Rita Hester, Tyra Hunter, Gwen Araujo, Brandon Teena and Fred Martinez. We must act for every transperson who fought, marched, organized, lobbied, lived a stealth life, raised hell and died so that our lives could be a little bit better than theirs.
We took action towards earning that first class citizenship upgrade by marching in Northampton’s streets today. We let our feet do the walking, but from now on our lips, our pens and pencils, our e-mails, our faxes, our letters, our telephone calls and our votes in this and future elections must do the talking.
Never again must we allow ourselves to sit still and allow ourselves to be victimized by friend or foe. It’s past time for us to say it loud, I’m transgender and proud and take our rightful place at the American family table.
Today is the 50th birthday of Prince Rogers Nelson, aka His Royal Badness, or simply Prince.
Next to Parliament-Funkadelic, he helped define music for my generation and was another one of those artist's records that I didn't leave behind if I was DJing a party.
I go way back in terms of my love affair with His Royal Badness. He broke onto the scene when I was a high school junior. I didn't miss a Prince concert whenever he hit town. When Purple Rain came out my brother Kevin and I were standing in line with the other Prince fans wearing our 1999 concert T-shirts waiting to get into the theater to see it. I missed class in order to be on the phones to buy tickets when the Purple Rain tour tickets for his Houston performance went on sale.
So yeah, I'm a huge fan.
Happy 50th birthday Prince. May you have many more and keep putting out that music we all love so much.
It's almost hard to believe that a little over twelve hours from now I'll be taking a stage in Northampton, MA to speak at the first NE Trans March and Pride Rally.
As you can guess, I'm thrilled to be a part of this historic event. It seemed like the last few hours at work just dragged in anticipation of my days off to get here.
I've been feverishly running copies of my speech, making sure the cell phones charged up, I have the necessary phone contact numbers on me and the correct flight information. I have a disposable camera already packed in the bag to help me record history in the making.
I wanted to get a good night's sleep prior to starting what was going to be a busy Friday morning and mid afternoon with all these last minute tasks I needed to accomplish before leaving. But that died when I had to come into work for a few hours this morning. Oh well, I won't be griping next week when I get the check with those extra OT hours on it.
And I can always crash on the flight. I'll need it since I won't get into BDL until after midnight and still have to go to Springfield, MA and Louis' house after I arrive.
But I'm looking forward to getting reacquainted with a few friends, seeing Miss Major and meeting some new ones. I may even try to squeeze in a few interviews for some future TransGriot posts.
Once again, I deeply appreciate the NE Trans Pride Committee extending me this wonderful opportunity to participate in their inaugural Trans Pride March.
TransGriot Note: One of the more asinine comments I heard expressed early in the presidential primary season was the laughably ignorant assertion that electing Barack Ovama to our country's highest political office would lead to 'embarrassment' around the world.
Hell, the current inarticulate dumbass who stole two elections has cornered the world market in bringing shame, guilt and embarrassment to America's good name and standing around the world.
Judging by these snippets of editorial pages around the world, these international writers seem to suggest that Sen. Obama becoming our next president would be a huge improvement and go a long way toward repairing our reputation around the world.
Ray Hartley, Editor, The Times, South Africa: "Barack Obama has captured the Democratic Party's nomination for the position of U.S. president to be decided later this year. His ascendancy has raised the hope that the United States will finally assume its role as a responsible superpower that will extract itself from the conflict in Iraq. … There can be no doubt that Africa is celebrating his victory, which signals the long overdue deracialization of American politics. ...
Should he become president, it will go a long way toward removing racial loyalty from politics. … The question that remains is: Will he be able to deliver on his promises, or will he succumb to powerful interests?"
The Times, London, in an editorial:
"Obama … has already rekindled America's faith in its prodigious powers of reinvention — and the world's admiration for America. … It has been a bruising journey. … But today at least the tide of history seems to be with him. Win or lose in November, he will have gone farther than anyone in history to bury the toxic enmity that fueled America's Civil War and has haunted it ever since. … Details of the delegate count no longer matter. This moment's significance is its resounding proof of the truism about America as a land of opportunity: Obama's opportunity to graduate from Harvard and take Washington by storm; the opportunity that the world's most responsive democratic system gives its voters to be inspired by an unknown; the opportunity that outsiders now have to reassess the superpower that too many of them love to hate."
Schmuel Rosner, columnist and U.S. correspondent, Haaretz, Israel:
"Obama's victory is not surprising. The epic duel with (Hillary) Clinton gave everyone, including past and present Israeli officials dealing with the United States, time to prepare. … AIPAC's (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) wily and experienced lobbyists predict the first year of an Obama presidency will be challenging for Israel, not because he has bad intentions, but because they might be too good. Until then, Israel will unwillingly be at the heart of the storm of the presidential race. … There are enough reasons to prefer (John) McCain to Obama, or Clinton to Obama, regarding their intended policy toward Iran. But even those who oppose him should put aside their political preferences, fear of the future, and their pros and cons list for just a moment. Now is the time to take in Obama's astounding political victory, if one can still feel awe for anything in this day and age. Against all the odds, the campaign broke down the boundaries of bias and race, and brought out voters to cast their ballots. They may be naive, but they are not indifferent. They may be a little childish, but they aren't cynical."
The Times of India,
in an editorial: "Finally, Sen. Obama is the one who will lead the Democratic charge for the White House. … With the stage set for Obama's face-off with McCain, campaign season promises to get tougher and meaner. … As far as India is concerned, Obama is perhaps the least known for his views. McCain and Clinton have a clear position on where New Delhi fits in the emerging world. In that scheme, India ranks pretty high. Obama appears to share no such vision, at least not yet. But, irrespective of whether eventually McCain wins or Obama does, there's no denying that a page has been turned in America's history."
Alphayo Otiento, journalist, in Daily Nation, Kenya:
"A core element of that Obama message has always been hope and inspiration. This is the one political message that simultaneously persuades swing voters and motivates mobilizable voters who rarely go to the polls. … Obama showed that appeals to division — whether from elements that stirred up fear that a 'black candidate couldn't win,' or from his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright — could be overcome by America's overwhelming hunger for unity. … Now it will be up to every Democrat, every progressive, to take advantage of this historic opportunity to make Obama the American president who leads the world into a new progressive era of unprecedented possibilities."
It's been a great week for transgender civil rights. In Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter said no to the lies of Daddy Dobson and company and signed SB 200.
Now the New York State Assembly has finally passed AO6584 or GENDA, a bill first introduced in 2003. GENDA, or the Gender Employment Non-Discrimination Act, bans discrimination against transgender people in New York State in housing, employment, credit, public accomdations and other areas of everyday life.
The bill had a record 74 sponsors, made it to the floor for a vote this year and passed the Assembly by a whopping 102-33 vote.
Empire State Pride Agenda Executive Director Alan Van Capelle said, "Transgender New Yorkers are in constant fear that they will lose their jobs, be kicked out of their homes, or simply be denied service in a restaurant. It goes without saying that these members of our community should be able to go about the business of living their daily lives openly and without fear."
I believe the recent settling of the Khadijah Farmer case in New York may have had an effect on the positive outcome of GENDA in the Assembly this time. It not only highlighted some of the BS we go through, but put a name and a face to the types of discrimination that we've been verbalizing about for over a decade now.
GENDA still has to go through the GOP-controlled Senate, and you know the Republican Party's sorry history of the last 40 years when it comes to passing needed civil rights law.
One of the things I bitched about (and still do on occasion) is my early transition days. When I sought help from my transgender elders in the early 80's, they either blew me off, were tight-lipped about giving out any information that would facilitate my transition, or guarded it like it was the secret recipe for KFC.
Well, for the benefit of you peeps just getting started, I'm not gonna be as shady to y'all as my predecessors were. I will from time to time blog about some of my secrets that helped me become the Phenomenal Transwoman you see before you in all her glory.
Whether it's short, mid length, long, a weave to her butt, curly, wavy, bone-straight, permed, locked or braided, a Black woman's hair is her crowning glory. It expresses her individuality and style.
It can also be a political statement as well. Whether it was Afro's in the 60's and 70's, blonde hair in the late 80's-early 90's, or braids and locs currently are in the 2K's.
If there's one thing that will get a transsistah read faster than you can say 'nappy weave', it's a jacked up hairstyle. It was one of the things pre-transition that I stressed and obsessed over.
So after I found Sadat Busari, my former hairdresser in H-town, I began to search for the perfect hairstyle that fit me. My search led me directly to the magazine rack to pick up a copy of Sophisticate's Black Hair.
Sophisticate's Black Hair, or SBH for short, is a Chicago-based publication edited by Jocelyn P. Amador. For over two decades it has not only shown us the many creative ways we sistahs wear our hair, it also included informative articles about how to maintain the style after you left the salon, and also how to maintain our hair so it stays strong and healthy.
It's also chock full of clip and snip examples of various hairstyles so that you can take the one you like to your friendly neighborhood stylist and let her hook your hair up to your satisfaction.
Like EBONY, ESSENCE, Jet and Black Enterprise magazines, SBH is an iconic slice of African-American culture. It also has a mission of celebrating Black beauty. It has celebrity photo layouts in every issue in which they share their beauty tips. I was aware of SBH because I loved me some Jayne Kennedy Overton back in the day (and still do), and she was SBH's first cover model back in 1984.
I still have old SBH issues in my possession, and interestingly enough they serve as an African-American cultural time capsule. Not only do I get a kick out of seeing what hairstyles were popular back in the day, many of the celebrity layouts reflected popular cultural icons of the day such as Phylicia Rashad, Jasmine Guy, Robin Givens, Gabrielle Union, and Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon just to name a few. It also features up and coming stage, screen and music stars as well.
I never miss their anniversary issue, which features the Top 10 Best Style Women as voted on by SBH readers. BTW, for 2008 its Mary J. Blige, Keyshia Cole, Beyonce, Alicia Keys, Eve, Tyra Banks, Kimora Lee Simmons, Halle Berry, Rihanna, and Queen Latifah.
As it approaches its 25th anniversary, I have much love for Sophisticate's Black Hair magazine. I gleaned a few style ideas from it that Sadat easily tweaked to work for me. I also have to give SBH a shout out for reminding us and the world just how beautiful African-American women really are and not letting us forget it.
Thanks SBH, and may you be around for the next generation of sistahs to read as well.
Tonight, to paraphrase Apollo astronaut Neil Armstrong, was one small step for Barack Obama, but one giant leap for my people and the nation. For the first time in our country's history, an African-American is the nominee for his party's nomination for president.
I have said for years that I felt the country was too bigoted and prejudiced to ever have an African-American man as president. I felt the breakthrough African-American president would be a sistah. Well, we still have five months of GOP and Faux news mudslinging and character assasination to go, but I'm hoping that America proves me wrong on November 4 and my niece wakes up on her ninth birthday to witness more American history.
While I'm hopeful that Americans will see through the lies and spin to elect this well qualified man as president, my lifelong skepticism on all things that are touched by race in this country leads me to the justified fear that people will vote for McCain just to keep him out of that office.
My white brothers and sisters, please don't dismiss mine and the anxiety-riddled concerns of African-Americans. Here's an example of the mentality we'll have to deal with even in our own party.
It's ironic that on the 45th anniversary of the Dr. King's 'I Have A Dream Speech' this August, Barack Hussein Obama will take the stage at a Democratic convention once again.
But unlike four years ago in Boston, when he was a little known state senator from Illinois, this time he'll be taking the stage in Denver as a first term US Senator accepting the Democratic Party nomination.
And on that night, Dr. King, Shirley Chisolm and Fannie Lou Hamer will be smiling down at him.
Governor Steve Beshear (D) today signed an executive order restoring equal opportunity employment to all state employees and prospective employees. Under the order, no one can be hired or fired based on race, age, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity, ancestry, age, disability, or veteran status.
"A person should be hired or dismissed on the basis of whether they can do the job," said Gov. Beshear. "Experience, qualifications, talent and performance are what matter."
In 2003, Gov. Paul Patton (D) issued an identical executive order and said he was a strong supporter of fair and equal treatment of employees. He noted that qualifications and conduct in the workplace should be the only factors by which an employee is judged.
However, in 2006 Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R) stripped those job protections from a certain segment of the state employee population - notably Kentuckians who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered. The suggestion was that such protection was either unnecessary, legally expensive or the equivalent of "special treatment." As a result, a gay person could be fired simply for being gay.
The executive order signed today by Gov. Beshear restores equal treatment, diversity and inclusiveness to state government.
The transgender cabarets of Thailand have been for several decades showcases for the beauty, grace and talents of Thai transwomen. They have also been the sponsoring and host venues for two beauty pageants that have garnered increasing worldwide press coverage and increasing numbers of contestants from Thailand and all over the planet.
Here's a clip from a story about the transgender cabarets.
Y'all know how much I despise seeing transgender people’s names in quotation marks because it's disrespectful. In this case I did it because the person I’m talking about in this post is what we call in the community a stealth transperson.
The stealth folks in our community don't have blogs, you don't see them at Lobby Days, they don't get interviewed on talk shows, do radio interviews and are infrequently written about, but they are an important part of our community as well and have interesting lives and stories.
But to tell those stories, you have to strike a careful balance between telling the story and not divulging too many cogent details of their lives in order to avoid inadvertantly outing them.
I recently got reacquainted with an old friend of mine. Angel’s not her real name, but one I chose to protect her privacy.
Angel is one of the many transsistahs I know who are quite gainfully employed. She makes high five figures at her job, has a nice home in the ‘burbs, goes to church faithfully and has a wonderful relationship with her mother.
She also transitioned in her early teens before Demon Testosterone started impacting her body, so she looks like any other average height African-American woman out there in the world down to the genitalia. That's exactly the way she wants to be seen by the rest of the planet, and I ain't mad at her for that.
But Angel is also savvy enough to realize that even though she has biosisters as friends, there are certain things about her life that she can only talk about and unburden herself with another transsistah.
So how did my out-and-proud power to the transpeople behind meet Angel? Our friendship started in 1999 as a result of my membership on the Afrocentric Black Voices Internet discussion list now owned by AOL. As y’all probably guessed, I was a prolific poster there, but ironically at the time I wasn’t out as a transperson online.
We traded phone numbers, started talking, and discovered over the next several weeks of phone converastions that we had a few things in common besides being smart, opinionated Black women. I discovered she lived just a few miles from my old SW Houston apartment off Beltway 8.
When I'm starting a potential friendship I believe that honesty is the best policy. I put it out there up front that I’m a transwoman. That way if the person has issues with it I just chalk it up as 'their loss' and I'm on my merry way.
To my surprise, Angel told me that she was transgender as well. We set up a meeting at a neutral site, clicked even more and spent time at each others homes. We talked on a regular basis until I lost my job with CAL and subsequently moved in September 2001.
The chaotic nature of my life during those six months prior to my sudden move left many of my old friends out of the information loop. Most of them didn’t know I’d left the area until the person received a call or e-mail from me a few months after I'd established residency and a somewhat stable routine in Da Ville.
Angel happened to be one of the peeps that got left out of the loop. It didn't help that her e-mail address changed during that period and I misplaced my personal phone book with my Houston numbers in it during the move, so I didn't have a way to contact her.
As I started concentrating on rebuilding my life over the next few years, Angel was pondering the 'what happened to Monica?' question. So one day she did what any tech savvy person in that situation would do and Googled my name.
She discovered my blog and e-mailed me last week after perusing a few posts on it. I e-mailed her my phone number, and Saturday night we talked on the phone for the first time in several years.
She told me before I hung up the phone to end our three hour conversation that she’s glad I’m back in her life again.
Forty years ago on June 1, AstroWorld, the centerpiece of a lot of mine and a host of Houston area kids of my generation's childhood memories opened. The $10 million park was across the 610 Loop from the Astrodomain complex and was accessed by the only private bridge across an interstate highway. It was created and owned by the Hofheinz family until they sold it to Six Flags in 1975.
Astroworld had eight themed areas, all with their own distinctive lighting, music and uniforms for the people working there.
Americana Square: Entry plaza, Emporium Store, Barber Shop, Camera Shop, Malt Shop, Bakery, Candy Store
Alpine Valley: Dentzel Carousel, Alpine Sleigh Ride, Alpine AstroWay Station (Von Roll aerial tramway)
The best part about AstroWorld was that it was local. All you had to do was head in the direction of the Astrodomain complex to get there. Six Flags Over Texas was in gasp, Arlington, a four hour drive from Houston.
Even though I have an army of relatives on my mom's side of the family in the Dallas metro area and bounced up I-45 every summer to visit them, I still have never stepped through the gates of Six Flags over Texas. The other Six Flags park in the state, Fiesta Texas, is in San Antonio. While it's newer and only a two hour drive west on I-10 from Houston, I haven't been there either.
AstroWorld was if you were a kid of my generation, the cool place to be. Parents bought their kids season passes for the summer. They dropped them off when the park opened and picked them back up at the end ot the day. Every summer for several years my Grandmother Tama took me and my brother and later my toddler sisters to AstroWorld. There was one summer where I got to go with my church family when Vacation Bible School ended.
If you think waiting in line in Houston's notorious summer heat to get on various park rides was torture, thanks to 2,400 tons of air conditioning it wasn't. One of my favorite rides, the Alpine Sleigh used to have you go through a mountain and get hit with a blast of iceberg chilly air before you exited it. I also used to love Thunder River and the Bamboo Shoot because you get, survey says, seriously splashed.
There was one visit I made to AstroWorld in which a group of my friends and I went. While observing several people riding the then brand new Thunder River, I noted that the raft would be turned by the rushing water currents prior to the Big Splash and any peeps on that side of the boat after it turned would get seriously soaked. I made it a point when we boarded to get on what would become the dry side of the boat. They were pissed when I walked off with a sly grin on my face and bone dry while some of the peeps I rode with were t-shirt contest wet.
And what can I say about the Texas Cyclone and Greezed Lightning? I used to make sure if I was in the park after it rained to ride the Cyclone because it seemed to go a few miles an hour faster than on a dry or warm weather day.
One of the first job interviews I participated in was trying to land a job working at AstroWorld when I turned 16, the minimum age for working there. The applicant pool was long and formidable because it was the ultimate job for teens of my era. If you stated during my high school years that you worked at AstroWorld, your cool points factor went up dramatically.
When I graduated from high school in 1980, I was more excited when my senior year started in the fall of 1979 about the fact that I'd finally get to go to the AstroWorld All Night Senior party than my upcoming walk across the stage in cap and gown a few months later at the Astroarena.
So I was shocked and devastated when Six Flags announced that they were closing the park because they mistakenly believed the real estate underneath the park was more valuable than the park itself. Those bonehead management decisions probably underscore why Six Flags is in debt now.
I followed the efforts long distance to save the park, and had I known it was in danger of closing, I probably would have made a more determined effort to bounce around AstroWorld when I arrived in Houston on Friday afternoon for my brother's July 2005 wedding.
But unfortunately, the efforts failed and the park permanently closed on October 30, 2005. The demolition of it took place soon after its closing and during the early part of 2006. As for the money Six Flags was expecting from the sale of it? It cost them $20 million to demolish the park and clear the land, and they only received $77 million when they were anticipating $105 million. When I passed King's Island on my way to Columbus with Dawn for that fencing tournament last month, it reawakened for a moment the sadness I felt when AstroWorld closed.
The only thing that remains today that even clues you in that the park once stood there is the private bridge crossing Loop 610. A bridge that led to a lot of happy memories for me and several generations of Houston area kids.
If you want to know why I've lost respect for Bill and his wife after South Carolina, this following clip is why. Your campaign injected race into this campaign when Barack started whipping Hillary's behind, and here is an example of the ugly aftermath of it blowing up at today's DNC Rules Committee hearing in DC.
Superdelgates, time to end this crap now.
And to Ms. Harriet Christian of Manhattan and all the White Democrats who are spouting the same bullshit, here's something for y'all to chew on.
African-Americans for decades have been the most loyal constituency to this party. We have voted for White, Black amd Latino Democratic candidates at 60-90% clips at all levels of government. But when it comes to an African-American candidate, we don't get the same respect and love as Democrats that we show you.
Meanwhile Ms. Christian, 'good Americans' who share your ethnicity have ignorantly voted against your political and economic interests for Republican candidates who don't give a rats anus about you for a variety of logic-defying reasons, up to and including your own racism.
Not this time. When it comes to this 2008 election, it''s put up or shut up time. Barack Obama is going to win this nomination. Deal with it. We African-American Democrats expect nothing less than for all true Democrats to do the same for us that we African-Americans have done for candidates of your ethnicity for the last 40 years. Vote for the Dem and keep the lips zipped about any negativity you have for that candidate in the interest of party unity until after Election Day.
Remember it's attitudes like this that got us George W. Bush in the first place, and this country cannot afford another four years of GOP rule.
When this campaign is mercifully over, it's time for the United States to take a long, hard no-holds barred look at the damage that slavery has caused and how it still impacts us only 150 years removed from its end.
W.E.B. DuBois said it over a century ago, and I fear this quote is coming true in my lifetime.
'Either the United States will destroy ignorance or ignorance will destroy the United States'
I think the phrasing of this quote more apropos to this post is, either the United States will destroy racism or racism will destroy the United States.
And no, I'm not talking about the upcoming anniversary next week of the World War II Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6.
The D-day I'm talking about is the meeting that's being held today in Washington DC to sort out the mess Florida and Michigan created when they bucked Democratic Party rules and held their presidential primaries before January 29.
They were punished by having all their delegates for this year's convention taken away. But with Florida and Michigan being critical swing states in the fall election campaign, the DNC was going to come to some compromise bout this situation.
The problem is twofold. If you reinstate the delegates, how many and how are they allocated since Sen. Obama and the other Democratic candidates all agreed to not campaign in the punished states primaries. Hillary Clinton agreed to the rules at first, then reneged and campaigned in Florida. Now she's trying to claim all the delegates by asserting she 'won' both states.
Yeah, right. It's easy to win when no one else is competing against you.
The result she wants, seating all the delegates and Sen. Obama getting none of the Michigan ones ain't happening. Michigan and Florida clearly broke the rules and they must be enforced. If you dont, during the 2012 Presidential election cycle you'll have more states trying to pull what Florida and Michigan did and we may end up with the Iowa Caucuses and the New Hampshire primary happening during the 2011 Christmas season or earlier.
At best they should split them 50-50, but it's up to the 30 person Rules and Bylaws Committee. Let's hope they come up with a solution that is acceptable to all parties and we can focus on kicking GOP behind this fall.
TransGriot Note: Our GLBT brothers and sisters in Colorado are flying as high as the Rockies today thanks to Gov. Bill Ritter (D). In the home state of Unfocused On The Family, it is now illegal to discriminate against GLBT people when buying a home, renting an apartment or using public accommodations. And yes Barney and HRC, we transgender people are included in this bill. So I ask again, what's keeping the Feds from doing the same thing?
Ritter signs bill giving gays equal access to accommodations By MARK BARNA THE COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0367 or mark.barna@gazette. com May 29, 2008
Gov. Bill Ritter on Thursday signed a bill that makes it illegal in Colorado to discriminate against gays, bisexuals and transgendered people when buying a home, renting an apartment or using public accommodations.
"The governor felt that this bill, SB200, was about fairness and treating people equally," said Evan Dreyer, spokesman for the governor's office. "It essentially updates anti-discrimination laws that in some cases have not been updated for 50 years."
Bruce DeBoskey, regional director of Denver's Anti-Defamation League, a civil rights organization, said the law is a step forward for Coloradans.
"No one should be denied housing or public accommodations solely because of his or her sexual preference," DeBoskey said.
One aspect of the law enables transgenders - those who were born one gender but identify with the other - to use public restrooms in which they feel most comfortable.
Beginning May 21, Focus on the Family and Colorado Family Action began sponsoring radio advertisements on four radio stations in Colorado Springs and Denver denouncing the bill.
The ads warned that cross-dressing predators could endanger children by using restrooms designated for the opposite sex.
Focus founder James Dobson said Thursday:
"Who would believe that the Colorado state Legislature and its governor would have made it legal for men to enter and use women's restrooms and locker room facilities without notice or explanation?
"Henceforth, every woman and little girl will have to fear that a predator, bisexual, cross-dresser or even a homosexual or heterosexual male might walk in and relieve himself in their presence."
DeBoskey denounced Dobson's view.
"It is unfortunate that they feel they have to exaggerate the dangers and play on people's fears," DeBoskey said. "This law is about fairness and justice for all people living in this state."
Last May, Sen. Jennifer Veiga, D-Denver, introduced the forerunner to SB200 known as SB25, a bill that prohibits employment discrimination against gays, bisexuals and transgendered people. Ritter signed it into law. SB200, which Veiga also introduced, extends the rights of these people to housing and public accommodations.
"This is a law whose time has come," said Ryan Acker, executive director of the Pikes Peak Gay and Lesbian Community Center in Colorado Springs.
"The passing of this bill shows that Colorado is a progressive state."
As many of you regular TransGriot readers know I was looking at the prospect in a few months of taking two Denver trips. One was going to be for the TRANScending Gender Conference at the University of Colorado-Boulder in October.
The August Denver trip was in the hands of the DNC. The Bilerico Project, the blog in which I'm a contributing writer was a finalist for the credentialed blogging spots at the upcoming Democratic Convention in Denver. I'd already arranged a place to stay and was prepared to use vacation time so that I could be there for what undoubtedly is going to be a historic convention.
But unfortunately, we got the word last night from the DNC that The Bilerico Project wasn't on the final list for credentialed blogs. While I'm disappointed for Bil that we didn't get it, I'm happy for fellow contributor Pam Spaulding. Her Pam's House Blend not only will be there, it's one of only two GLBT oriented blogs to get credentials for the upcoming convention.
What's bugging me, though is the same thing that's bugging Bil. The other blog that got an LGBT slot, Towleroad, while it is a quality blog that I peruse from time to time, doesn't even do politics on a regular basis like the Project does, much less tackle the prickly subjects head on such as race in the GLBT community or go in depth on transgender issues.
It's also overwhelmingly monoracial. Towleroad's readership is moneyed white gay male and their focus reflects that demographic. (translation-the peeps most likely to donate money to the party.) So like Bil, I have to wonder how much politics factored into the selection process and I'm a little disappointed I won't be there.
Fortunately Pam's blog not only does politics, it does it quite well. It's one I frequently read, and I've posted comments and diaries there from time to time. It's a diverse place to boot just like Bilerico and will serve the GLBT community well.
I have much love and respect for Pam. She's a role model to me. She was one of the first bloggers to give me a boost by allowing me to link to her blog when I started TransGriot in 2006 (Jasmyne Cannick was the other) and she's cool people to boot. I'm also happy that other African-American and minority bloggers will be there to record history as well.
But it looks like my return to Denver after two decades will be delayed now until October.
One thing my biosisters have told me over the years is that we transwomen and they have far more in common with each other than the things that separate us. In many ways, we share the same trials and tribulations they do.
One of those things as I pointed out in a previous post is the dissing of African-American beauty. I got another taste of it as I was recently visiting a transgender dating website.
While I was lurking, there was a discussion thread in which the guys started talking about the ethnicity of the transwomen they were attracted to, liked to date and the qualities they thought made them attractive.
When one of the guys noted in his post that he liked African-American transwomen, one person posted a derisive comment about it which he punctuated with the words, 'they're ugly and look like men!'
Excuse me?
After a few transsisters who were members of this particular online community blasted him for his ignorance, I signed out and started pondering what would make this person say that.
One of the factors is that beauty has been defined for centuries in a Eurocentric context. We saw an example just last week when Maxim magazine published their list of what they considered the 100 most beautiful women. Only six Black women made that list, and none of them were in the Top Ten. (FYI they were 14 Beyonce, 15 Rihanna, 37 Ashanti, 42 Zoe Saldana, 63 Selita Ebanks, 72 Gabrielle Union, 77 Alicia Keys)
No Meagan Good, no Halle Berry, no Tyra Banks, not even Miss USA 2008 Crystle Stewart...you get the picture.
Maybe if Mr. Black Transwoman Beauty Critic stepped away from his computer and quit surfing the adult websites, he'd get a little 'ejumacation' in terms of the varied beauty of my transsistahs. I have homegirls who if I didn't know their status, would have never guessed they were born boys. They would take great offense as I do to this person's ignorant characterization of us as 'ugly' and 'looking like men'.
It would also be a great surprise for this person and his friends who may harbor the same negative stereotypes to discover that transwomen don't have to come from Thailand, Brazil, the Philippines, Mexico or assorted European countries to be considered beautiful. As an FYI to Mr. Black Transwoman Hater, the Brazilian transwomen you think are so 'exotic' looking have the same African bloodlines that I and my African-American sisters do.
If this person has the time to roll up to Chicago on Labor Day weekend, I'd suggest that he check out the latest edition of the Miss Continental Pageant that nine sistahs have won over its twenty plus year history. I'd like to point out that sistahs have won the last three titles in a row.
I haven't even touched on the other pageant systems that Black transwomen are competitive in, much less the ballroom community that's a showcase for our beauty, creativity and talent. Some of my sisters went from walking ballroom runways to fashion runways as well.
One of the reasons we have Black run ones such as the Miss Black Universe, Duval and the other Black transgender pageant systems is because the negative African-American beauty perceptions that were espoused by this person are sadly part of the dominant culture. The end result is a perception in our GLBT subset of it that results in Black transwomen not getting fair shakes in judging when they compete in predominately white GLBT pageants.
Far from being 'ugly' or 'looking like men', my sisters and I run the gamut in skin tones from vanilla creme to the deepest darkest ebony hue. We vary in height from a petite 5 foot 1 to a statuesque 6 foot 2 and up. We have luscious and dangerous curves over every square inch of our bodies. We can wear any fabric from silk to leather and it looks sexy on us. When we do our hair in the various lengths and styles to complement what Mama, nature and hormones gave us, you pause while out come the claws from the insecure women that don't measure up.
Yes, my sisters and I are smart, talented, beautiful and strong women. Maybe the reason this person uttered that statement is because he wasn't man enough to step to us with the class and dignity it's going to take to capture our hearts.
There are a lot of words you can use to describe me and my transsisters. But 'ugly' ain't one of them.
TransGriot Note: Women in photos are Tracy Africa, actress Meagan Good, Stasha Sanchez
I was going to post something on being stealth and how I think it has harmed the transgender community more than its helped us. I decided instead to let y'all peruse some of my previous writings on the stealth issue that I either wrote as a full length post or it came up in the context of a discussion on another issue.
I also need to do as Dr. King would say, more hard, solid thinking on the subject.
So while I'm finding a nice quiet spot and clearing some time to do that hard, solid thinking, enjoy these past TransGriot posts.
One of the great things about the Net and blogs is not only the new friends you make as a result of your writing, sometimes it can reunite you with people that were once part of your life but for various reasons slipped out of it.
It was a wonderful surprise. He updated me on how his life has been going, but I can't call him 'Smurf' anymore. Brotherman not only had a late growth spurt, he put on some serious muscle as well. He's been in the Air Force serving our country for the last 23 years, and I definitely have much love and respect for that.
