Jaye's Trans Blog and the Subject of Detransitioning

Over on Wednesday, February 25th's post at Jaye's Trans Blog, Jaye highlights two links, the first a story in USA Today about L.A. Times Sportswriter Mike Penner. Mike's story became famous when he transitioned to become Christine Daniels in 2007 but detransitioned back to Mike late last year. The second article discusses a British tycoon who also transitioned to female, then detransitioned back to male while arguing that living as a woman was a negative experience.

The topic and publicity of detransitioning seems to also catch the news media's attention, and keywords like "detransition" and "Christine Daniels" frequently pop up in my own listing in Google Analytics.

Jaye is a relatively new blogger, but she's been consistently writing about her thoughts as she processes her own feelings. Check out her blog, follow her along, and let her know what you think! (READ IT HERE).

Calie's Chronicles

I don't often get to follow some blogs as closely as I'd like, but find myself making more of a concerted effort to follow Calie of Calie's Chronicles (READ HER BLOG HERE). (Plus, she's a friend of Rebecca's ;) )
Her many experiences and thoughts were so similar to my own, and she expresses her emotions very clearly. Her latest blog "Letting the Shields Down" hits the mark when she explains

I guess what I am trying to say is that I can feel like the real "me" just by being with someone who accepts me and understands me which allows me to release the shields that are almost always up.

Have you ever felt like that? When I first began making friends with accepting attitudes towards my T-ness, I quickly felt the need for makeup and dress much less significant. Nowadays I'm quite comfortable wearing a blouse and jeans, but there was a time when even that just wasn't quite enough.

Until someone friendly enough came along allowing me to let my shields down.

From Lori Anne to LoriAnne's World

Okay, that's not a photo of my twin and me, but I bet it made you look!

I did, however, just finish reading about the "week of incomparable lows and stratospheric highs" that my friend of same name and similar life LoriAnne experienced. LoriAnne continues to write about life in transition, this time as she is about to step into the corporate world as her true self. Her writing style is another that I eagerly covet, her ability to accurately express the ranging emotions of the highs and lows in our transtion rollercoaster ride.

Follow along and give her your best wishes as she takes yet another major hurdle within the next two weeks! You can read her blog (HERE).

Aren't We All Out of Our Minds?

I don't always stick to Blogger to find interesting writers who have a story to tell. A lot of good writers can be found on Wordpress and LiveJournal, and I still have a few friends who never abandoned the nearly abandoned Yahoo 360.

One of those friends, Leslie Ann, still posts there for now, but she's also begun to post her crazed thoughts over on Blogger at my request. (Okay, I'll admit it, I'm lazy, and I like reading blogs on my mobile Google Reader in addition to here at T-Central. I can't reliably add 360 blogs to it.)

Leslie Ann, in my opinion, writes from the deep reserves of a passionate spirit longing to find her center in being transgender. What's more, she is one of many who may not or don't pursue transition, something we don't see many people willing to write and blog about. I think those who choose that path also deserve to be heard, and if you'd like to know what that's like, please check out Leslie's site and follow along with her. I know I'll be following closely. Very closely. That girl's out of her mind.
(Really, really, I don't think she's all that crazy.)

The Welcome Mat

Everyone go over to Kathryn's blog and say "hi". While you're there, click on the Followers button. She just performed the epic task of transferring her whole 360 blog over here; an undertaking of that magnitude demands our attention. :)

Welcome aboard Kathryn! Gosh, now I have a lot more reading to do...

Teri, Debbie, Dee, and Allison

Today over on CommonTeri's blog, Teri opens up about her successful day performing at the recent Fresno talent show and the positive review she received from online Gay Fresno. Her point is that we should interact with the world and let them see our talents so that they come to know us for who we are.

Over on Debbie's Life, she ventures into the realm of podcasting as she prepares to travel for her own surgery. I haven't had a chance to give it a full listen, but give Deb your support as she documents one of the biggest moments in her life. She's got a great voice too! As Lucy heals from her own surgery, we wish you luck Debbie!

Dee of Dee's Tales continues to write about the vivid emotions she experiences about the necessity of blogging to help sort through her many thoughts. I like Dee's writing a lot, I think you will too.

And last but certainly not least, I found a new friend in the gorgeous Allison Mackenzie. After reading her most recent blogs, I found myself going back reading her previous writings, and I was hooked. Allison has done a marvelous job chronicling the highs and lows of transition, and I think her wordpress journal is as good as it gets. She faces FFS (pun intended) within a couple of weeks. Her page says "Just another Wordpress blog," but there's much more to it than that.

Too much to read and too little time to do it in. Toodles!

The Radical Tranny's Take on Using the Word "Tranny"

Ethan St. Pierre is well known for his bold activism and work on the Transgender Day of Remembrance project . His podcast, "The Radical Trannies" on TransFM is doing wonders to promote equality and to spread an affirming message for transmen and women everywhere.

In his latest post on his My Halo blog, Ethan explains the differences between groups in the use of the word "Tranny." Whether you find it derogatory or a word we need to reclaim, similar to "Queer" being reclaimed by the gay and lesbian community, Ethan gives a good explanation why it's not a generally appropriate word to use. Head on over to My Halo and find out more.