It's Mr. T's 59th Birthday, Fool

You loyal TransGriot readers know I couldn't let this day pass without giving a shout out to the Shut Up Fool! Awards inspirational mascot Mr.T.   He was born on this date in Chicago 59 years ago.

That's a scary thought for someone who used to tune into The A-Team on a regular basis back in the day.   He was (and still is) a very popular commercial pitch man thanks to his tough guy image.

 






Mr T. never fails to remind us in the reality based world that fools are everywhere, and it seems like there's a never ending supply of them in the conservafool movement.   
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Anyway, happy birthday Mr. T.    May you have many more!

Memphis Police Mess With Another Transwoman

Former Memphis police officer Bridges McRae was recently sentenced to two years in jail for beating the late Duanna Johnson while in custody.   Now comes word that trans woman Kiare Newsom was harassed by the Memphis po-po's during a May 12 traffic stop along I-40.  


According to WREG-TV, Newsom now has the support of local advocate Vanessa Rodges-Jones, who says the officers were out of line. "That's sexual harassment, that's embarrassment, that's appalling," Rodgers-Jones says.

Newsom is being represented by Murray Wells, the attorney who handled the case against Bridges McRae.. "Everyone needs to be treated equally and fairly, and be respected for who they are." Wells says.

And it looks like once again the Memphis Police Department will have to learn that lesson the hard way.

Anti-Trans Bill SB 723 Is DEAD!

The peeps living along I-5, I-95 and I-495 didn't think we trans Texans could do it.   Our right wing opponents didn't think we were organized enough or had the ability to stop them from bumrushing a bad anti-trans bill through the GOP dominated Texas legislature.

But we believed we could do it, rolled up our sleeves and got to work killing that unjust bill   

It gives me great pleasure to announce that anti SB 723 is officially dead for the 82nd Texas legislative session.   Time and place of death was at midnight in Austin, Texas in the Senate chambers.

Exhale trans Texas and break out the adult beverages.   Rest up and savor this win.   On Monday we thank all the Texas Democrats for hanging together, standing tall for their trans constituents and helping us kill that unjust bill.

Loving Tremé

I first started hearing about this show after reading Dr. Kaila Story (miss you Dr. K) raves about it on her FB thread one day.  I tuned in and fell in love with it since I spent two years of my childhood living on the West Bank, visited the city a lot during the late 80's-early 90's and have a godsister who still lives in the area.


The show I'm talking about is HBO's Tremé (trah-may) that's produced by the same creative team that gave you The Wire.    It's set in post-Katrina New Orleans and it comes on at 10 PM ET on Sundays.    And good news for you Tremé fans, it has been renewed for a third season.

The series takes its name from the Tremé neighborhood, one of the oldest in the city of New Orleans.   It's the neighborhood where free people of color congregated in the city's early history.    It is also the center of African-American culture and Creole culture and where the brass band tradition was born

Season one was set three months after Hurricane Katrina's August 2005 arrival and began with an 80 minute episode.   Season Two picks up 15 months later. 

Interestingly enough, one of the characters, trombonist Antoine Batiste, is played by New Orleans native Wendell Pierce, who is also busy rebuilding low cost housing in his old Ponchartrain Park neighborhood.

The series is also filled with New Orleans references since the writing team likes to be as accurate as possible.  New Orleans Times-Picayune writer Dave Walker also does a Tremé Explained column in which he breaks down all the New Orleans speak, cultural references, and local locations where the series is shot.

So yep, I'm impatiently waiting for tomorrow's episode.  
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Brittney Griner In Mix For 2012 Olympic Basketball Team

As you TransGriot readers are aware of, I'm a big hoops fan, especially on the women's side.

I've been following the career of my hometown lady baller Brittney Griner ever since one of my readers told me about the viral YouTube videos of her dunking on her high school competition enroute to taking Aldine Nimitz to the Class 5A state finals a few years ago.

The evolution of Brittney continues as she along with Gonzaga point guard Courtney Vandersloot were invited to attend a recent three day training camp for the USA national squad in Las Vegas as the road to determining who will make up the 12 woman squad in London next summer starts .

She was the only collegiate player there in Vegas and bad news rest of FIBA basketball world, she is in the mix to be on either next summer's or a future final twelve woman USA Olympic b-ball squad or a USA FIBA championship team. .   

And yes, despite the rough first day of camp,  the current national squad players and coaches were excited about the prospects of Brittney's 2.08 meter frame (6' 8" inches for the metrically challenged) blocking shots and patrolling the lane for us either at the London Olympics or the 2014 FIBA world championship in Turkey


"Brittney made tremendous progress in the three days she was here," said USA coach Geno Auriemma. "The first day she was completely lost and out of it. The second day she looked like a completely different person. Each time she's together with us you'll see her get better and better and better. Her size, her length are impact things."

"She does a spin move from the free-throw line, takes one dribble and slams it with two hands," coach Jennifer Gillom said. "’I said, I’m done.’ she got my respect right away. Wow, that was amazing. I’ve never experienced anything like that with any player. That was quite impressive. This kid has a future, an unbelievable future. To think what she could become is amazing. I’m telling you, this kid is something special, very special."

"She is the most special player I’ve ever seen," Diana Taurasi said. "She will be a help in 2012. She will."

And it's going to be fun watching her play..