A very very happy birthday to the Guy who makes Aretha Franklin’s gowns. Really.
Honored Finalist: Yours Truly
As it turns out, A Room of Her Own Foundation chose a short list of their “Honored Finalists” and yours truly is on it. Yes, I used my legal name, and someday I’ll say more about that, but you’ll be able to tell from the bio that I’m still me, and I am quite honored to see myself in this list.
I’ve been a writer a long time & it’s really something to receive this kind of recognition – and that from other women writers and a foundation created precisely to fund people like me. What’s more interesting about this award is that it’s based on the writing, of course, but also on community service.
It’s certainly a lovely way to end Women’s History Month.
Two Tune Tuesday: Drama Queens
I love me some drama: Rasputina & The Dresden Dolls, both some kind of merger of pop and weimar. I especially love the Rasputina lyrics: Neglected girls should worry? / That’s what god made sailors for!
& Yes, I did hear “If your kisses won’t hold the man you love, your tears won’t bring him back” in a slightly different way viz my own marriage, but it still held up as truth, no?
NSRC Trans LiveBlog
Today NSRC (National Sexuality Resource Center) held a live chat with Jamison Green, Dallas Denny, Masen Davis and Joy O’Donnell on the national state of trans rights. Worth reading.
Know Your Limits
For those of you who haven’t seen this yet, it’s a must-see.
Prairie Home Appleton
So if anyone wants to know a little more about where I’m living, it turns out Prairie Home Companion is in town, & they’ve shot a little local footage for the show:
Houdini’s birthplace, yes, but also Joe McCarthy’s. It’s an odd little place I really have come to love.
Gender Variance 280
I’m very happy to go back to teaching on Monday, & this time around, I’m teaching a class on Gender Variance which fulfills a writing requirement, to boot.
Included on the syllabus: Hirschfeld’s Theory of Intermediaries, The Member of the Wedding, “Dazzle” by Truman Capote, Venus Boyz, a couple of Halberstam chapters, Orlando, & Kiss of the Spider Woman.
I’m really looking forward to it.
Tolerance is American
I really loved this ABC clip from What Would You Do? that Feministing posted. I can’t say I agree with Vanessa’s comments (or with Renee or Pam’s) but maybe I’m just that much older than she is, but this is huge progress to me.
I also think there’s a level of affection in public that makes people uncomfortable no matter the orientation of the couple. Even straight couples hear the “get a room!” comments yelled if things get too hot in a public space.
Likewise, making the couple interracial in an all-white or mostly white bar would confuse whether or not the bar patrons were homophobic or couldn’t deal with the intersection of homosexuality and race. I think it’s important to control an experiment like this, to make sure the LGBT couple were a good “fit” for the community that goes to that bar.
But the whole idea of people being offended, as that one woman was, by any LACK of tolerance is very, very cool. As is this.
Buy Books!
Some reports on book sales in this economy are none too cheery: GalleyCat reports on Books a Million, Barnes & Noble, and Random House.
Know who publishes the books you love the most and make sure you check out their catalogs and buy their books. Publishers need brand loyalty as much as the next retailer.
Of course I’m published by Seal Press, who rock. Their current Yes Means Yes, edited by Jessica Valenti and featuring a piece by Julia Serano, looks particularly ground-breaking.
TSA Wants Your Gender
& Unlike the million other times when calls went out that TSA might be especially suspicious of anyone who crossdressed, now it’s real: your gender is supposed to match your ID.
Their explanation, according to Polymorphous Perversity, goes as follows:
Many names are gender neutral. Additionally, names not derived from the Latin alphabet, when translated into English, do not generally denote gender. Providing information on gender will reduce the number of false positive watch list matches, because the information will distinguish persons who have the same or similar name. Consequently, TSA is including gender as a required element of the SFPD, which covered aircraft operators must request from individuals and which individuals must provide to the covered aircraft operator.
So theoretically, this is only about them telling the female Jordan Teller who lives in AZ from some male Jordan Teller who is a terrorist.
Theoretically.
Betty is already regularly hassled by the security people at airports, but not disrespectfully. She just knows in advance she’s going to get pulled out of line to explain why she looks like a woman and has an M on her license. Her attempts at butching up are downright pathetic these days, so that doesn’t really work either.