Diana's Diary 2005 December 31st
I visit Helen Bloyd's "My Husband's Betty" blog quit regularly and she has a feature where she asks prominent members of the trans community five questions each week. Well last week she interviewed Lacey Leigh the author of Out & About: The Emancipated Crossdresser as well as 7 Secrets of Successful Crossdressers and I found it to be a very informative interview so go and read it.
December 30th
I went out to lunch with a friend today at the 99 restaurant in Enfield. She was cooped up the last couple of days with a cold so I thought getting out of the house might do her some good. Afterward, we went back to her apartment and stuffed envelopes with the COS newsletters for November and December, so all of you COS members out there in cyberland who get the newsletter by snail-mail, they are on their way.
When I got home a little before four, I sat back in my easy chair and the next thing I remember was it was almost six o'clock that is what one beer does to me in the afternoon.
December 29th
Yesterday I went to the Wadswoth Atheneum to see the Surrealist exhibit ( Dali, Max Ernist, Picasso, Pollock and a whole lot of others ), with a friend and we wandered around there for a couple of hours. The exhibit was totally mesmerizing, images within images, dream like landscapes, time and place distorted, strange juxtapositions and illusions. I have always loved the Surrealist School of art.
When I was there, this older lady came up to me and asked "Young lady, can you tell me where I can find the elevator?" she made my day!
At night I went to the COS Christmas Party and we had a Yankee Swap, we had a very good turn-out. The present that I got was a pass to the movies and a pin. The meeting broke up around 11:00
December 28th
I went for a hike with a friend yesterday afternoon in Manchester, it was a nice walk around a meadow. The trail wound around the meadow and every once in awhile they had benches placed so that you could sit and contemplate the serenity of the meadow with the town dump across the meadow and the roar of traffic of I-384 just twenty feet behind you. It was a nice walk, but to be bluntly honest, a shitty location. Anyhow, I got the much needed exercise that I needed.
Then last night I went over to a friends house for dinner with three other friends from COS. Now it's off to do some bills so I can get them out before the end of the month. Then I am going to the Wadworth Antheneum for the surrealist exhibit and then tonight the COS Christmas party.
December 27th
Well one holiday is over and I can catch my breath since I have this week off and all of you COS members will be glad to know that I will be able to copy and mail the November and December newsletters. I have been so busy that I haven't had a chance to get them mailed, sorry.
For Christmas I went down to my niece's house in New Jersey to be with my family. The ride down wasn't bad, but the ride home in the rain and dark took a lot longer, especially trying to find how to get from I-287 to the Merritt Parkway. Fun, fun, fun in the dark, not having been that way in about twenty years.
Yesterday, my sister-in-law, brother and nephew stopped over to get some of the furniture that was left here from the move last weekend. My nephew stayed over night because he was going to visit some friends in the area. Since I was planning on going out to the movie with a couple of friends I invited him along, but cautioned him that I was going as Diana and he said he was OK with it. So he is the first one of my brother's kids to meet Diana and when he saw me for the first time he just said, "Cool!".
The movie we went to see was Syrana, it was OK, I'll give it a B-. One thing that was different about it was that it had no heroes, just a lot of villains. If anyone came close to being a hero it was the Prince.
December 24th
It has been a very slow last couple of week for Diana, busy for my male persona. We finally finished getting my parent's house clean on the day of the closing on Wednesday; it was hard work for me. My normal physical activity is to move one stack of papers to another at work. I was so beat that I decided not to go up to the uniTy meeting on Thursday.
Tonight I am going to pamper myself, I am making Shrimp Creole for supper, take a nice relaxing bubble bath, light a fire in the fireplace, put on some Christmas music, pour a glass of wine, lie back on the couch and read. Because tomorrow is going to be hectic, I am driving down to my niece's in New Jersey in the morning, have dinner with them and drive back. So tonight I relax and get some quite time and decompress.
December 18th
I have been very busy this weekend with moving all of the stuff out of my parent's house in preparation of the closing this Wednesday so I haven't had any time to update the blog until now.
On Thursday night I went to the Creative Cocktail Party at Real Art Ways and met up with four other friends there. I stayed until around nine. I found out late that two of my friends got in an accident on the way home, they were hit by a driver that crossed over into their lane and speeded away, totaling her car. They received only minor injuries thanks to the air bags and seat belts.
Friday night I went up to the uniTy Christmas party at a bar in Indian Orchard. I left early because I knew that this weekend I was going to be moving all the furniture and stuff out of the house. I was right it was more physical work than I have done in a long time and I am beat. So g'nite.
December 10th
Last night I went to a fund raiser for GenderPAC's Connecticut 10th Anniversary Reception down in Stamford. It was the first time I ever went to something like that and I was a little nervous, not knowing what to expect. I drove down there with a friend from CTAC ( Connecticut TransAdvocacy Coalition ). Adding to my nervousness was the fact that it had snowed all day and I didn't know how the roads conditions would be, but they were just wet.
We were the first to get there and were met by the hostess, I had met her before, ( I had done an outreach with her at Connecticut Department of Mental Health and she also did a presentation at a COS ). The other guesses filtered in one or two at a time until there was about ten or fifteen people there. There was State a Senator and a Representative, a mayor, a first selectman, a human resources director, numerous lawyers and other people there. I felt way out of my league, but after awhile I relaxed and made a number of contacts, the idea of these things is to see and be seen.
My goal in going to these events is simple, to get the anti-discrimination law ( both state and national ) changed to inclued gender and gender expression.
I look back and I see a shy, quite woman looking up the steps of the COS meetinghouse and wondering what have I gotten myself into. Now, five years later, I walled into the hostess's house and wondering what have I gotten myself into. I have changed a lot in these five years and I think for the better. The biggest change is in self-acceptance and that has changed my whole outlook on life, to a more positive and self-assured person
December 7th
When out last night with a friend to see the movie "Rent" and I enjoyed the movie very much. It is a musical about out of work actors who are being evicted from the tenement because their old friend wants to convert the building into a music/movie studio. Most of the actors in the movie have AIDS except for the person doing the narrative and at times the movie was very touching. At times it brought tears to my eyes.
December 3rd
I have been blessed with a wonderful family.
I told my brother a couple of years ago that I was TG and he has been very supportive, doesn't really understand, but very supportive. Last year I told my sister-in-law, she is also very supportive and I also told my niece, nephews and their spouses this year on Labor Day. For about a week before Labor Day, I rehearsed what I was going to say, when the day came to tell them, they said "Oh we figured that out a long time ago." They also said that they were honored that I felt comfortable and trusted them to share it with them. WOW!
I know of many, many others whose families have disowned them and they have never seen their family members since telling them. So I feel that I am very privilege to have a wonderful family like this.
November 30th
On Tuesday I took so time off from work to do an outreach at a university in the southern part of the state.
November 28th
Yesterday went to the Project 100 Thanksgiving dinner. I got there about thirty-five minutes late and a lot of the food was gone. I had to wait until my Corn Pudding was done; it had taken longer than I thought for it to cook.
There were a number of people there that I knew and I had a good time.
November 26th
I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving with your family, I did. I went down to New Jersey at my niece's house where my family all meet.
But you know that many in our GLBT community do not have a family to go home to, they have been disowned because of who they are. They have Thanksgiving dinner alone. Project 100 ( the Hartford GLBT center at 1841 Broad St. ) is having their Thanksgiving dinner Sunday at 4:00pm to 7:00pm and I urge you to go and bring a side dish to share if you have the time.
Last night I went up to the Rainbow Connection night club in Indian Orchard, MA where uniTy was having pizza before the club opened so I went up there. It was a quite evening with not too many members there at first but the drifted in one by one so that there was a nice group there by the time I left and I got home at eleven. I left early because it was a long day for me, I drove back from New Jersey in the morning, rushed around Home Depot getting stuff to bring up to our cottage which we are remodeling and then off to the Rainbow Connection.
November 20th
Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance; I took it very hard again reading off the names. I had number thirteen, Kaaseen Adalla Juanda, she was just a little older then me when she got murdered. I think that she serves as a reminder to me that murder can happen at any age, that I still have to be on guard all the time. I also lit a candle for my Dad, he never knew Diana.....
My brother was down this weekend and I tried to talk him into coming but he wasn't ready for that yet. Afterward, I went to Boston Market to get dinner for the both of us. I went by myself! I had no problems. Heard some giggling from the backroom, but I don't know if it was for me or not. Then my brother had dinner here with me, Diana.... a first.
November 17th
It has been a busy last two weeks and I haven't had time to update my blog. Last Thursday ( Nov. 10th ) I went up to the uniTy in Springfield to the meeting at the coffee shop and the usual crew was there, I stayed until 9:30.
Saturday was the Twenty Club and the COS meetings, but before I went to the Twenty Club meeting I stopped by the Hartford Gay and Lesbian Health Collective, they were having a Trans Day Open House. I wanted to check out what resources that they had available; I pick up a list of therapist and doctors who treat the transgender community. The open house was sponsored by the Connecticut Trans Advocacy Coalition.
After the Twenty Club meeting I went over to the Mexican restaurant that we usually go to and met some friends there. They were a friend from COS and also Ethan and Karen St. Pierre, they are radio personalities that are on Gendertalk and TransFM. Following dinner the four of us went over to the COS meeting where Ethan and Karen gave a presentation on trans political activism, which was very well received by our members.
Tuesday night, I went up with four friends to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to her a talk be the author and playwright Kate Bornstein. While there we met many friends from the Northampton area who also came to hear her speak. After her talk we stuck around for a while talking to friends and headed back to Connecticut around nine o'clock.
Last night I went to the Pond House for dinner. COS sponsored a dinner out. Those that came I think had a very good time and enjoy the dinner out. It was a rainy night and there was something else going on in the banquet hall so parking was a little hard. After dinner some of us when out to what was suppose to be the grand opening of a new night club and Wednesday night is GLBT night. So some us went there and I got separated from the rest of them because of a traffic light. I knew the general area where the night club is, so I parked and walked around looking for it in the rain. I spied it across the street and saw their car there and went in. well it turned out that night club part wasn't finished yet so my friends were having coffee upstairs at the restaurant. When I left I was a little nervous because there were a bunch of teenagers hanging out at the street corner where I parked, so I asked my friends to keep an eye on me while I walked to my car.
Tonight I went to Real Art Way's Creative Cocktail Party and I had a good time there. I met some friends there, looked at the new art exhibit and talked for awhile. A girl came up to us and asked if she could have her picture taken with us, being the token Trannies we said yes. In the movie theater a local bank had some type of meeting there so there were a lot more straight laced people there than normal.
Now for a rant............
You notice in the part about the Pond House dinner, I said " Those that came" well not ever one who signed up came and that lead to this e-mail;
On the sign-up sheet and on the e-mail I had a note that if you signed up for the dinner and could not make the dinner to please notify me.
Eleven members signed up, two let me know that they could not make and six showed up, but the other three never made it to the restaurant nor notified me. WHY?
Those of us that came waited twenty minutes for the no shows thinking that the weather might have delayed them. The restaurant had two tables that went empty that they could have taken reservations for, which cost them money!
It is only common courtesy to let me know that you couldn't make it. We go out of our way to cultivate good with the Pond House restaurant, it only take one half empty table to destroy that good will.
COS WILL NOT SPONSOR ANY MORE DINNERS WHILE I AM EXCUTIVE DIRECTOR!
Diana
Excutive Director
I was very, very mad staring at those empty tables all night.. Maybe COS will have dinners again, but I am not going to take them.
October 30th
When the party's over or in this case canceled. I got all dressed up thinking that there was a party this afternoon and drove over to the house where it was suppose to be; only to find out no one was home. After a couple of frantic cell phone I found out that they had rescheduled it to November 13th and I was somehow not notified! Since it was a dinner party that meant I had to think of something to have for dinner at the last minute, so I went to the Mexican restaurant that I like in Hartford. The evening took a turn I didn't expect, but it was a nice change and I enjoyed dinner.
Last night was the COS ( Connecticut Outreach Society ) Halloween Party and we had good turn out. A number of people showed up in costume and we must have had about fourteen or fifteen people there including a couple of spouses. Before the meeting I went out to dinner with a friend at the Pond House.
October 23rd
Ah....where to begin? Well I got back home safely and because of the four hour drive I took a nap, so now I ready to update the blog.
Yesterday the heavy rain held off for most of the day. I stayed around the B & B for the morning talking to the guests and reading the newspapers, then I went to lunch and afterward to the Noon presentation or as they call it, the "Keynote Address". Saturday's Keynote Address was really the "Gendertalk" talk radio show. They did their taped "Live Broadcast" from Fantasia Fair. The second half of the program they asked us to comment on the fair and of course I added my two cents about the fair ( Recorded LIVE at Fantasia Fair. ). After the show I raced back to the B & B to change for the Awards Banquet.
The Awards Banquet is a long drawn out talkathon with a lot of back slapping. It starts at six-thirty with hors-d'oeuvre and dinner starts around eight. In between each course they give out an award to fair goers, Miss./Mr. Cinderella, Miss./Mr. Most Helpful, Miss./Mr. Congeniality, Miss./Mr. Fantasia Fair and etc. etc. The Banquet finally got over a little before ten. Afterward I went back to the B & B and sat around talking until midnight.
All-in-all it was another enjoyable fair even though I was some what under-the-weather most of the time I still had a good time and I plan on going back next year.
October 22nd
Yesterday I just went to the noon Keynote presentation and to the Follies at night. The presentation was about the Native Americans "Two Sprites" peoples and their histories. It was a very good talk and interesting. He went over the terminology and how various tribes though out North American dealt with trans people. How the western influence changed that culture.
After the talk I walked out to the pier with a couple of friends to see the sunken fishing boats. During the heavy rains last week one of the boats filled up with water and dragged the other boat that was tied up to it under. I bet the owner of the, to put it mildly, was not very happy with the owner of the boat that pulled it down. I can see some lawsuits come out of it.
Last night was also the night of the Fantasia Fair Follies and as usual for room was packed, not only with Fantasia Fair participants but also with town folk. It is probably the best entertainment all week. As usual the Follies crews did a wonderful job and put on a good show. The show got over around eleven and I headed back to the B & B, on the way I bumped into a couple of friends and I chatted with them for awhile before continuing my journey back to the B & B
At the B & B there were a couple of new guests, one of whom was a semi-retired physicist professors and we talked until one in the morning. One of the nice things I like about a B & B over a motel is the commons room where you get to talk to interesting people from around the world. This week there are people from Germany, England, Mexico, the Caribbean and from around the U.S. as well that stay at the B & B. it is just so stimulating to be able to talk to such a wide cross-section of people.
October 21st
I had a good day yesterday, I went to the noon presentation given by Mariette Pathy Allen on her book the "Gender Frontiers", then to a presentation by Gordene Mackenzie called "50 Billion Galaxies of Gender" both were excellent and I enjoyed them both. Mariette’s showed a slide show from a collection of her work with the transgender community, I saw many of the slides before but there were a lot of new slides that made the show fresh and kept my interests. Gordene’s and Nancy’s seminar was also very good, I was going to leave early so I wouldn’t have to rush to get ready for the Cocktail Party but I stayed to the end.
Afterward, I rushed back to the B & B to change and meet everyone down in the common room waiting for me, talking to some other guests at the B & B doing Gender 101 explaining about Fantasia Fair. We then left for the Cocktail Party and when we got there it was already well under way. After the party we went to dinner at the Crown Point Inn and had another fabulous dinner. Everyone else head to another cocktail party but I was tired so I headed back to the B & B.
October 20th
Yesterday’s noon presentation was just so-so, nothing to write home about. The best part of the day was dinner, I had a ½ of lobster stuffed with scallops and it was delicious! The night’s entrainment was the Fashion Show, which as usually was very good, in a campy sort of way. I always admire the participants for going up on stage, which is something I could never do. I think everyone had a good time both the audience and the participants. My only comment is TURN THE MUSIC DOWN! Maybe I am just getting old but I see no reason why the music has to be so loud, there is just no reason why it has to be so loud that when you leave you have ringing in your ears. You can’t have a conversation or make comments about a particular outfit or anything. It drowned out the MC’s and it was the same "Thump, thump de thump, thump" over and over again. Maybe teenagers like the music but I sure didn’t see any in the audiences. Well so much for my soapbox.
Today is was going to go to the Noon presentation by Mariette Pathy Allen on her book the "Gender Frontiers" and then to a presentation by Gordene Mackenzie called "50 Billion Galaxies of Gender" which sounds interesting.
October 19th
I didn’t do much yesterday except go to lunch and the noon talk about political activism. At night I went to Pioneer Awards Banquet where they gave awards to Nancy Nangeroni of Gender Talk and Joanna Law an activist from Canada. Joanna also gave the presentation at the Noon talk. I left the banquet early around ten even though some of them were out partying until two or three A.M. my energy levels are still low due to my earlier illness. So I am still moping about and taking it easy. I never did make it to the afternoon seminar; I went back to my room and read.
During the Noon presentation Joanna mentioned about the federal Hate Crimes Bill and that motivated me in to e-mail Senator Kennedy about it.
Dear Senator Kennedy
I would like to urge you to adopt the House version of the Hate Crimes bill language, with express protections for "gender identity".
As a transperson, even though I have not been a victim, I have seen first hand what hatred and intolerance has done to others. Here in Connecticut we have had a woman murdered in New Haven, she was stabbed repeatedly, her body was set on fire and the New Haven police department has labeled it a Hate Crime. Every November 20th I attend a "Day of Remembrance" to remember those of our transgender community that have been murdered and each year the list has been getting longer.
Please vote for the House version of the bill.
Thank you,
Diana L
October 18th
Yesterday I skipped the Orientation Brunch and went and got a salad from the local Grand Union, I think it tasted a whole lot better than some cold scrambled eggs and bacon. Besides, I have been to the Orientation Brunch so many times I just about remember it by heart.
I went to the noon seminar called Transgenderism & Gender Diversity, at night I went to the dinner and the movie ( "Screaming Queens" ). The movie was a prerelease copy and it is about the Riot at Compton's Cafeteria is a one-hour documentary that tells the story of a little-known 1966 uprising. The riots were started when the police went to arrests the Drag queens, transvestites and transsexual that used to go and hang out at the Compton's Cafeteria. Back then it was against the law to crossdress and every once in awhile the police use to stage raids on the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. One night they had enough and fought day against the police, the movie was about that riot and the events that lead up to it. What I found interesting was that back then the religious community was backing the transgender community drive from civil rights. A lot different from what some of the very same church’s are doing today.
Afterward, I went back to the B & B and met up with my friends from COS who were playing Yahtzee and I joined them for a couple of games.
It is going to be a busy day ending in an Awards Banquet for the pioneers in the Transgender community. I want to got to the noon seminar, about political activism and later to another seminar called No-Ho/No-Op: Non-medical Transition.
October 17th
I didn’t do much all morning and I went to registration at 2:00pm where I met many people that I know from passed Fan Fairs, afterwards I went back to the B & B and took a nap until I went to dinner. I went over to dinner with some friends who were up here for women’s week. They had an efficiency room at a Motel in North Truro and we had spaghetti and meatballs. It was nice not to have to go out to a restaurant; I know that I will be eating out all week.
After I got back from dinner I went to the cocktail party at the Crown Point and stay to the end. I snuck out of the room where they were holding the party to a room upstairs that was cooler and quieter, I started a trend and there were about six of us fugitives up there.
On the way back from registration, I overheard a couple of tourists;
Husband: "There’s another tall woman. " ( Meaning me )
Wife: "Maybe there’s a bus tour for tall women in town. "
Me: Giggling
October 16th
I made it up here to Provincetown yesterday through all of the rain. I came up here with a friend, we drove the inland route ( Massachusetts Turnpike and I-495 ) and it rained all the way with occasional downpours. Most of the time I could only go 55 – 60 due to hydroplaning, which made it a very long drive, but we made it. I didn’t do much all day because of the showers and also I am feeling still a little "under the weather" because of my illness.
Today the sun is out and all I plan on doing is registering for Fantasia Fair, go out to dinner and then to the cocktail party.
October 10th
Well I am back to the land of the living, but still a bit ( How do they say it? ) "under the weather!".
Saturday, I went to the Twenty Club meeting where I warned them about the dangers of taking too many meds. Then I went to the COS meeting.
We had a very good turn out at the meeting, our guest got sick and couldn't making ( I really know how that is. ) but we did have a good turn out with many new faces. I was glad that I made it home before eleven as I was tried.
The little ol' instigator me is trying to get a trip together in the spring up to Ogunquit ME. A couple of the persons at the meeting are from the Sunshine Club in South Hadley MA so I thought it would be nice if all three clubs ( COS, uniTY and Sunshine ) could get a trip together for the spring. So we'll see what happens.
Then yesterday I went up to Maine to my brother's and sister-in-law's place for my birthday and I just got back.
Now, I have to start figuring out what I am going to bring to Fantasia Fair next week, only one week to pack, "What is a girl to do?"
October 2nd
I have been sick for awhile, so until the doctors figure out what I got, things will be quite here.
Don't worry it is not life threatening.
September 24th
I have had another busy week, besides family business, on Wednesday COS had a going away party for one of our vendors ( Irene's Lingerie ) she is moving to California, Thursday I went to Block Island, RI with so friends and today was Hartford Pride.
The going away party was a sad occasion, COS will be losing a good allied of the transgender community and I will be losing a good friend. We had a good turn out to say our goodbyes and I think that everyone felt kind of sad; it was an end of an era Irene's Lingerie was there on West Main St New Britain since 1946 when her mother ran the store. She plans on maintaining web-site, so please continue doing business with her.
On Thursday we took the ferry and brought the car over to Block Island. Once we got there, we walked around Water St in New Shoreham stopping in the various shops. They had some nice clothes but they slightly on the pricey side so we didn't buy anything. We then drove around the island stopping at the two light houses. By then we were getting hungry so we ate at an outside restaurant in New Shoreham and then it was time to get ready for the ferry ride back to the mainland. It was a long day, especially the ride back home.
And for those of you who have been after me to put a picture of myself on my web-site, 
here it is.
Today was the Hartford Pride and it was a beautiful day, I got there at a little after 10:30am to set up the COS table and I packed up at 4:45pm making that another long day in the sun ( I have the feeling that I am going to have a nice sunburn tomorrow. ). The day couldn't have been better for the festival. We shared the table with uniTy of Springfield and we have members from both groups show up to help out. Afterwards five of us went out to have pizza. Whew, I am beat from too much sun, I am going to take a shower and be in bed by 8:30.
September 18th
P.M.
I know, I know, I said this many time, but I really did have a great time at the Bushnell seeing "My Fair Lady" and then going out to dinner afterwards.
It was the first time I have ever been in the Bushnell, let alone a play the size of "My Fair Lady". The Hartford Stage Company's stage is small and intimate compared to the Bushnell's and for me, the ambiance is what made this play so great. There were seven of us who went to the play, including two spouses and I believe we all had a good time. One minor annoyance, the seats were small and I was a little cramped sitting, lucky we had empty seats so we could spread out.
For dinner we walked across the park to an Italian restaurant and the dinner was good, not great, but good. The restaurant filled up quickly after we got there and was very noisy making conversation difficult. I went home after dinner because I was beat from not going to bed last night until 12:30am and waking up at 5:00am. The rest of the group went to a bakery on Franklin Ave. for desserts, as I said I was just too tired and full to want dessert.
A.M.
Busy day yesterday, I brought a car load of COS members up to Northampton for their first time up there. We shopped around at the different stores and then went to eat at my favorite restaurant, Northampton Brewery. I ended up buying a dress at one of the stores for Fantasia Fair. On the way home, off to the west there were dark black clouds forming and by the time I pulled into my driveway it was just starting to rain. I turned on the TV and they had server thunderstorm warning up, with high winds and hail and I had one of those strong cell pass over my house. There was no time difference between the lighting and thunder, just flash - bang.
That night I went down to cTView to hear some talks that they had, I knew most of the panel members and that was one reason that I went. One of the panelist was talking about a seminar that she gave for social works, psychologists and other professionals who deal GLBT youth transgenderism. She divided the room in half and had one side list all the thing that make a women and the other half the same for men. And then they went and questioned what would had if the didn't have those traits, at the end of the day she asked what they not thought determines a man or woman. Their answer was,"Because they say they are." Yes! They got it! One of the other guest speakers was the professor that I do outreach for at a university down there in New Haven. She talked about sex and gender, but mainly sex. The meeting got over at 11:30 and I got home around midnight.
Today I am going to the Bushnell to see the play "My Fair Lady" and then dinner afterwards. All of these dinners out is making it hard to loose weight, I did loose fifteens pounds since January, but I gained five of those pounds back.
September 11th
Wow, what a turn-out last night for the COS meeting! We had over twenty people attend and I think that was a record attendance for a meeting. There were many new faces and the pizza disappeared in record time, afterwards many of the members headed down to the Polo Club to continue the parting.
I was running around all night saying "Hi" and trying to catch up with members about what they did over summer vacation, answering questions about the Northampton trip, talking to the people there for the first time about COS and why they should become members.
The Twenty Club meeting also had a good turn-out; it started off slow with only four of us. But by the time it ended there were about fifteen members there.
September 9th
On Wednesday night I went out to eat and I met a friend for dinner at the Mexican restaurant in Hartford. Then after dinner we went over to Trinity College to see a movie.
The movie was "Transgeneration" and it is going to be on the Sundance channel on September 20th at 9:00pm as an eight part mini-series. The movie is a documentary on the four college kids as they transition, two MtF's and two FtM's at Colorado State, UCLA, Michigan State and Smith College. While watching the movie, it dawned on me that maybe I am in the movie, well at least the back of my head. When I was at the "Day of Remembrance" in Northampton last year, there was a film crew filming a documentary and I think that it might have been for this movie. I have to fine someone who gets the Sundance channel to see if they can make a tape for me. As for the movie itself I enjoyed it.
Last night I went up to the uniTy meeting at the coffee shop in Springfield. I haven't been up there for awhile so I thought I'll stop by and say hi.
And tomorrow night is the start of the new season for Connecticut Outreach Society ( COS ) and we are having a pizza party and a tag sale.
September 6th
Yesterday I had a "Leftovers Party"; I had a family picnic at my house on Sunday, so yesterday I invited some friends over to help finish off the leftovers. The party started at 3:00pm and ended around 9:30. It was a small party because it was at the spur of the moment only the four of us, so we didn't put much of a dent in the leftovers. I think I will be having chicken, potato salad, salad and baked beans for all of this week.
September 5th
I came across this article via CT TransAdvocacy Coalition eNews you can the read the article here at "The Age" it is about the gender and the brain.
The baffle of the sexesThe AgeAugust 28, 2005Forget a simple XX or XY - what determines whether it's a boy or a girl is more puzzling than first thought. By Peter Ellingsen. In some ways it is the most basic question of all. Are you are a man or a woman? For centuries, it seemed simple. Men had male sex organs; women had female ones. This did not do a lot for hermaphrodites, who were born with both, but science seemed to solve the impasse by coming up with a subatomic rather than surface solution: men had XY chromosomes; women had XX chromosomes. But in the 1990s, researchers, including Melbourne's Dr Andrew Sinclair, in a study of "intersex" people - those with ambiguous genitalia - unearthed a new gene that blew the old certainty out of the water. Their discovery that a hitherto unknown gene, SRY, was needed to start the process of "maleness" re-opened the gender puzzle. It was now no longer enough to assume that chromosomes defined gender. There was more going on, and while associate professor Sinclair, director of the Royal Children's Hospital molecular-development unit, believes biology will yield the answer, it has not happened yet ."This is far from simple," he says. "We're just starting to understand what determines gender." The problem is finding an indisputable dividing line between male and female. It is not the body, as intersex children make clear. One in 2000 of all births involves babies with mixed sex anatomy - often sex organs that are ambiguous - such as a phallus that looks somewhere between a penis and a clitoris, or a divided scrotum that looks more like a labia. Then there are tens of thousands of others with chromosomes that do not comply with the usual XX or XY pattern. Most have normal sex organs and only discover they are different when they try to have children. Are they male or female? The biology does not make it clear.
Melbourne woman Christie North, who was recently featured on a Four Corners program, was born with male chromosomes and testes. Her condition, known as androgen insensitivity syndrome, means her body can generate testosterone, but can't respond to it. She can't have children or menstruate, and receives injections of the female hormone oestrogen to help feminise her body. She looks like a woman and feels and acts like a woman. But if the usual formula for gender - XX or XY chromosomes - were applied she would be considered male. It is confusing. Because her body was unable to process male hormones in the womb, she developed into a female. Hers, as Four Corners noted, is one of more than a dozen intersex conditions that affect thousands of Australians. Sinclair thinks the solution to the gender puzzle lies in the way testes develop in the embryo. But since his discovery, an answer remains elusive. Talking of the new SRY gene, he says: "We had a very simplistic notion of a linear pathway, but that is just grossly naive," he says. "Fifteen years on we still don't know how it is regulated. "Melbourne colleague, associate professor Vincent Harley, is also investigating the gender question, particularly what the new gene, SRY, might do in the brain. Dr Harley, head of human molecular genetics at Melbourne's Prince Henry's Institute of Medical Research, is trying to understand how the brain may be hard-wired differently for males and females, but does not think something as dramatic as a distinctive male and female gene will be found." It comes down to variations in a whole constellation of genes," he says. "I'm not suggesting there's one gene for gender, but I do think there's a biological base for gender identity. There is for everything. Trouble is you will never prove it. Both experts are optimistic a biological key for gender will emerge, though they acknowledge that the brain's "plasticity" - the way it is hard-wired even after birth by environment - does not rule out a role for nurture. "Plasticity is important," Sinclair says. This does not mean a return to the 1960s, when nurture was deemed decisive in arriving at the gender of intersex children. Then, spurred on by the theories of New Zealand psychiatrist Dr John Money, surgery was routinely used to assign a sex to a child with ambiguous gender, in the belief that "the psychological sex (would) agree with the haircut". Psychology, however, is more complex. It is not just that a number of the children surgically assigned a sex grew up to identify with the opposite gender. It is - as a symposium being held in Melbourne this weekend will argue - that sexual preference tends to resist a biological explanation. A decade ago, US researcher Dean Hamer insisted he had found a "gay" gene. If right, the claim would have provided a genetic marker for sexual desire. But it was wrong, and there are some who now think that attempts to pinpoint the biological origin of sexuality are fraught. Dr Gary Marcus, associate professor of psychology at New York University, believes, "we're starting to see how, in forming the brain, genes make room for the environment's essential role". He sees the old nature-nurture polarity as false, saying that both interact to create the person. The brain is re-wired, both before and after birth, rather than hard-wired for all time. Influential author and former Oxford zoologist Matt Ridley agrees. In his new book, Nature via Nurture, he talks of the line between biology and environment being blurred because of the interplay between genes and the outside world. This is not Sinclair's field, but he senses that sexuality is just as much about "how you feel as how the brain functions". "It's very early days with this," he says. Harley thinks sexual orientation could be like gender identity, with a complex genetic explanation, perhaps interacting with the environment. "There's stuff going on at both ends, emotions and molecules," he says. The Royal Children's Hospital's Professor Garry Warne, who treated Christie North, admits he has "no idea" what the marker dividing men and women might be. "There are biological factors but they don't count for 100 per cent," he says. "And I have no idea of what determines sexual preference. "Dr Dany Nobus, senior lecturer in psychology at Britain's Brunel University, has spent more than a decade reviewing sexuality and believes, like the poets, it can't be boiled down to biology. He suggests the most important sexual organ lies between the ears, but not just as genetic particles. Nobus, keynote speaker at the Australian Centre for Psychoanalysis sexuality symposium today, says you have to include the unconscious. Noting that being a biological male does not automatically trigger a sense of masculinity, he says the body does not determine sexual identity. Nor, he says, does sexual orientation dictate sexual behaviour. This is partly because of the role played by unconscious fantasy. "A homosexual man with a strong sense of femininity may have heterosexual fantasies in which he occupies the role of a male chauvinist," he says. "Gender is not the whole story of human sexuality. We're dealing with a set of components whose interrelations don't follow any preconceived paths. Human beings are neither purely the playthings of nature, nor simply followers of social forces. Reducing sexuality to nature and nurture reduces human experience. |
August 28th
It has been a busy weekend that started in Friday. In boy mode, I drove up to my brother's and sister-in-law's place in Kennebunk Me for the weekend. On Saturday I went kayaking with my brother on the Mousam River and along the banks there were numerous heron with their offspring's. The tide was going out and we paddled about an hour up stream and coming back it took us only twenty minutes going with the current. Then in the afternoon I took off to visit Ogunquit, between the time I left their place and I got to Ogunquit, Diana emerged. When I got to Ogunquit, I had to drive around looking for a parking space. The town was jammed with traffic going bumper to bumper and I finally found a space, but it was only for one hour parking. So I had to hurry in order to walk the Marginal Way, 
which is a walk along the coast. It is a beautiful walk with all types of flowers lining the inland side and on the other side is the rocky coast of Maine. It took a lot longer to walk it then I expected, so twenty-five minutes into the walk I decided to head back to the car. Well, I got lost on the side streets on the way back, so I had to hurry in order not to get a ticket. I was soaking wet with sweat by the time I got back, walking along the coast there was a nice breezy, but once you got inland the breezy was blocked by the trees. My wig and clothes were soaked by time I got back to the car just in the nick of time.
That night I went out to dinner at a nice restaurant with my brother and sister-in-law ( In boy mode ) in Kennebunkport right on the harbor. Then in the morning I headed back to Connecticut.
Once I got back home I had to change quickly to go to a Jack and Jill Shower for a friend that is getting married in September. So, once again, quick change artist Diana appeared and I had a good time at the shower.
August 22nd
During the week I had to go away on a business trip to our corporate headquaters so I was rushed this weekend to catch up with work around the house. This past Saturday morning I bought a new wig at Tonkin's over in Waterbury then rushed to a picnic in the northeastern part of the state. It was a small picnic and there were only six of us there, but it lasted until 9:00pm and I got home a little after ten. You know me, the little instigator Diana, well I trying to get them to take a trip out to Block Island on the high speed ferry for a day trip. Walk around the island and have dinner there before returning. A couple of them showed intrest in the idea, the boat ride is only $28 round trip and dinner will probably be under $30 so it wouldn't be too expensive.
Then yesterday I went up to New Hampshire to the cottage for a day trip there. I went with a friend; we had a cook out and then headed home. We stoped at Northampton for some ice cream.
August 14th
PM
I finally went in and went grocery shopping. it was real hard going by myself, but I went.Then in the self check-out line, the darn corn didn't have a number tag on it and I had to get assistance.
It was not fun................. those that say we do this as a lark, should try it sometimes.
AM
The summer doldrums, the dog days are upon us, it hot, hazy and humid. The air just sits there and a passing thunderstorm did help, it lowered the temperature by ten degrees but the air afterward was thick and just hung there is kind of like a fog. The sun was just a red orb in the sky.
Not much has happen this week, except for the Twenty Club meeting yesterday. Afterward a couple of us went down to the Italian restaurant in Middletown for supper.
I updated the COS calendar page, so if you want to see our fall schedule take a look.
August 6thPM
PM
I always get a chuckle out of the spam e-mail for Viagra I get, I would like to send this e-mail back to them; "Honey are you ever barking up the wrong tree!"
But seriously spam is getting way out of control, on all my e-mail accounts I get probably more than twenty e-mail spasm a day. It is getting so the real e-mail is getting lost in the noise.
AM
Not much has been happing this week except for last night. I went out to dinner at steak house with a friend and then went shopping at a department store. I had a good time, as usual, I was a little nervous at first but relaxed after I was there a while. After dinner we went down the road to the department store and I bought a skirt, two sleeveless tops and an over blouse. The skirt is knee length off white with black floral print, the tops were one black V-cut front and the other is a beige turtleneck and the blouse is a tan with three quarter length sleeves. Look out Real Art Ways, here I come! ! !
I think I like shopping too much! Maybe it is from all the years I wish I could go shopping and I am making up for lost time.
July 25thPM
A really great day toady, I took it off from work went down to the shore and picked up a couple of friends and we then drove to Mystic where we had lunch at a nice restaurant on Holmers St. ( River Walk ) and then wandered around window shopping. We stayed there for about two hours just going in to one shop or another looking at clothes, like any tourist town, most of the items are over priced. Then we headed home, I had to leave one friend off because they were busy. And I had dinner at the other friend's house with their ex-spouse. We had roasted pork, potato salad, a fresh fruit salad and of course wine.
Making it a fitting end to a long busy weekend, I put a little over six hundred miles on the car, from Friday night to Monday night.
July 25th
One of the thinks you have to watch out for when you go out to public events is the news media, you just might end up on the evening news or the front page.
This was in Pat Seremet Java column in the Hartford Courant this morning.
There were women dancing with women, transgender women with women, men with women, and some dancing alone. There were guys in Hawaiian shirts, guys in Gap caps, cowboy hats and do-rags. One woman wore a purple wig, black corset and black leather laced boots. There were stiletto heels, and there were flipflops.
The dancer she is talking about is my friend I was there with, luckily, there were no photos.
July 23rd
It has been a busy week; Wednesday - electrolysis, Thursday - Real Art Ways, Friday - picnic up at in Springfield and today the Twenty Club picnic..........Whew!
At real Art Ways we had a blast; the women from a couple of months back came up to me, gave me a big hug and complemented me on my outfit. I also met up with some other friends there.
At the picnic Friday they had some teriyaki steaks on a skewer that were out of this world, but I didn't stay long because my back is bothering me. While I was there a thunderstorm came up, the wind was blowing with a heavy rain and we retreated on to the porch. As we were sitting there we started to hear all these things hitting the roof and bouncing off and we thought it was hail. But once we went back outside, much to our amazement, it was acorns. The wind was blowing them off the oak tree.
Today was the Twenty Club picnic, I got there around twelve-thirty and left around five. It was a nice day sitting around with friends, the weather was fantastic high around eighty and low humidity. The thunderstorms of the night before brought down a cold front and broke the hot and humid ninety degrees heat wave that we had.
July 16th
It is brutal outside, 83F and the humidity is 70%. I mowed the lawn at 9:00am and it was 70F, 90%, by the time I was a third of the way done the bandana around my forehead was soaked. Now ( 2:30pm ) I went out to shuck some corn on the deck but after fifteen minutes sweat was dripping on my glasses.
I was going to go out tonight to a fund raiser for Project 100 down in New Haven at 168 York ST Grill, but my friends I was going to go with threw her back out, so I decided to spurge. I got a lobster and corn on the cob for dinner.
July 9th
Had a Twenty Club meeting this afternoon and we had a small turn-out, probably due to the nice day. Afterwards, we went to an Italian restaurant on Maple Ave. down by Goodwin park, the food was excellent. But what got me was that they charged ten dollars for my mixed drink, a Cape Cod ( Vodka and cranberry juice ) I think that was way too much and I won't be going back to there any time soon.
July 5th
It was a busy weekend, parties on Saturday and Monday and on Sunday I drove up to New Hampshire to work on the cottage. The party on Saturday started at three and I left around eight, I had a good time and met someone I hadn't seen in about four years. She was a former COS member that was at a couple of Board meetings that I attended.
On Sunday, I left my house around eight-thirty, got up to the cottage around eleven and started painting for a couple of hours. My nephew and his family arrived around one and helped out with the painting. My brother showed up later when we were just about finishing paint so we left the trim work for him. Afterwards, we went out to dinner and I headed home, I got back around eleven-thirty. Ugh!
The Fourth of July party I instigated and arranged for everyone to bring a dish. We had the party at a friends house down by the shore and afterwards we watched a fireworks display. I got home from that party around eleven. Double Ugh! Especially since I had to get up and go to work this morning, it came rather quickly.
Butterflies from "iBAND Free Clip Art - Collection of clip art and images for web sites at http://www.iband.com/"