What colour is your blog?

In this case, it's chartreuse. Thanks to Picky Penelope, who writes Penny's Story, for bringing Chartreuse Flamethrower to my attention.

I have never gone through every single blog on the T-Central list, but I'm willing to bet that the vast majority of blogs are written from the male-to-female perspective (transsexual or otherwise). It's always nice to find a different perspective. The author of Chartreuse Flamethrower has undergone top surgery, but prefers the pronouns "they" and "them." They write about a lot of issues, but mostly they challenge those of us who fit at one end of the binary or the other. Check it out.

A Transitional Journey With Alex

In her post, Ending It All, Halle wrote recently about the demise of various TG blogs. She stated it well, when she asked:

What happens to all of that collective experience, the wisdom, the tragedy, the humor that is being shared here when a blog ends?

It is sad to see a blog go away but sometimes it's necessary.

Think of it this way:

The author of a T-blog, in her early days, was a "male" using a female alias (That would be me). But, a few years later, that alias becomes a legal name and, rightfully so, our girl wants to go stealth and get on with her life.....so she shuts down her blog.

Like Halle, I love to see a fully transitioned woman continue to leave her blog up and share her life experiences with others, but I also understand why some shut their blogs down.

Alexandra is a blogger who has been around for many years. She is someone who changed my life, via her blog (and I'll blog about that one of these days). Alex has kept her blog up for all to see, and she continues to share her experiences with us.

I encourage those who have not followed Alex's blog to find some time to read it. It reads like a book....from her early days as a crossdresser, to her current life as an intelligent and beautiful woman in a very successful career.

Alex went through good times and bad times to get to where she is today, and its all there for you to read in A Transitional Journey With Alex.

Beyond the T

When I got up this morning, I was quickly alerted to the fact that today was International Day Against Homophobia And Transphobia. I was a little ashamed I didn't already know this! What kind of political activist am I, anyway?

It was only after surviving this brief bout of transpolitical guilt that I realized where this information was coming from. Not from any of the myriad trans themed blogs out there; not from Pam's House Blend, or the IFGE, or any of the personal blogs I follow. Not even Bilerico or other sites more generally dedicated to LGBTQA issues.

In fact, the first three sites in my Google reader to mention IDAHO (as it's known, I guess) were Shakesville, Feministe, and Feministing. I think Shakesville offered up my favorite quote:

Support for sex, gender, and sexual orientation equality is and has always been central to my feminism. It's not just because lesbians, bisexual women, and trans women are my sisters, but because the rights of gay men, bisexual men, trans men, and cis, trans, and intersex androgynes to live a life on their own terms, too, to define themselves and express their sexualities and do with their bodies whatever they want, is inextricable from my ideal of a fluid sex, gender, and sexuality spectrum along which all people might exist free from harassment, marginalization, and violence.

It's because ladies wearing trousers in my country was once a scandal, and still is in other places in the world. (Not to knock ladies who don't want to wear trousers, but damn it if every lady shouldn't have the right.) How one dresses one's body, or wears one's hair, or decorates one's skin, is intimately related to issues of equality, to freedoms denied, to lives lost, because of deeply entrenched prejudices about nonconformity.

Amen. (and did you see how she used "cis"? See, not everyone who isn't trans hates it.)

Of course, the reason I started following these blogs, and others like them, was because somewhere along the way I discovered something. I discovered we are not as alone out there as we sometimes think. A lot of cis women have come to realize that our struggle is their struggle, and theirs ours. It is not us and them. It's we.

That the three blogs mentioned above are decidedly feminist is almost ironic, since once upon a time, trans women were considered a threat to feminism (and no doubt still are by some old-schoolers...Michigan Womyn's Festival, anyone?). But new feminism looks different than old feminism; it embraces lipstick and heels as much as bra burning and slacks. Like Julie Serrano claims in Whipping Girl, new feminism says you don't have to give up femininity to be seen as strong and good and valuable, but nor do you have to embrace it. You are strong and good and valuable regardless of what chromosomes you were born with, or what color of skin you have, or what your sexual orientation is. Or whether you are large or small, sighted or unsighted, abled or disabled. You are amazing however you are, and how you are is up to you.

So we always talk about our fellow trans bloggers here, but on this Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, I'd like to celebrate a few of the non trans bloggers who are nonetheless blogging about trans issues...and a whole lot of other issues that we too should be concerned about.

Robot Heart Politics
Kat O'Leary
Cara O'Brien

(These are all on Tumblr, and if you're not used to it, it can be a bit bewildering at first...it's a Frankenstein's Monster of blogging mixed with social networking. Still, some of the smartest people I know are over there talking about privilege and politics with each other).

More as I think of them!

Large Blooming Flower

She's a self proclaimed "large blooming flower".

She's 6 foot, 8 inches tall in her stocking feet.

She has a lovely writing style and a delightful sense of humor.

Now, she's added some heels, a lot of pure adrenaline, ducked under the doorways, and stepped into the outside world.

She's a debutante!

Read all about it here and be sure to check "follow" because you're going to want to read Jenny's words every time she posts!

Goodbye And Hello!

Goodbye and Hello

Sounds like the title of a song.

Actually, it is. Apparently Tim Buckley had a song by that name.

Whatever...

It's a good way to start this post off, however, since my friend, Lori, is a fab songwriter and musician.

I would love to sing a duet with her....if I could sing.

And, you know, Nicky and Teri are darn good song writers and guitar players too!

Can four sing a duet (I'll just hum along)?

But I want more!

Let's include Stana and Rebecca....

Stace and Chrissie.

Lucy and Debbie....

Véronique and Christianne....

Amy and Bree....

Melissa and Karen....

Chloe and De Sube....

Petra and Michelle....

And the list just goes on and on.

You know, that's a choir group and not a duet. A very special choir group.

And why is this group special?

Because these are all bloggers and every one of them knows Lori.

That's write, THE Lori!

THE Lori of T-Central.

This wonderful list of blogs, links and featured posts was established by Lori as a way to introduce new bloggers to the transgender community.

A lovely idea, it was.

But, it grew way beyond that.

There's been a lot going on behind the scenes.

You see, Lori, besides just listing links and featuring posts, is also a matchmaker.

She has come to know just about every blogger listed on T-Central. I'm talking phone conversations, emails, personal visits, chats, etc.

Our girl is dedicated to the T Community and I love her for that.

Thanks to Lori's matchmaking convictions, I've made several new friends for life and, I know there are many of you out there who can also thank Lori for new friendships.

So, Lori is a special woman and T-Central is a very special resource for us.

But, Lori is leaving T-Central and it seems that I'm left to fill some very big shoes (mind you, I'm sure Lori is a perfect size 8 in both shoes and waist, so the term "large" here is not reflective of our girl's shoe measurements).

I wrote more about all of this here, if you're interested.

But, this is supposed to be the "Hello" part of a two-part post.

So....

Hello!

I'm going to try to fill those shoes as best I can, with the assistance of our other T-Central moderators, Renee, Christianne, and Véronique, because T-Central must live on.

There are new friendships to be made.

There are new blogs to list.

There are some wonderful posts to feature.

I'm just a custodian of Lori's T-Central.

That's right. LORI'S T-Central is what this site will always be to me.

Please keep checking in.

You never know when YOUR blog will be featured right here.

Please let us know about new blogs.

And, please try to put up with me as your new and humble custodian of LORI's T-Central.

Calie xx

[A late addition to this post: Lori mentioned this in her comment to this post:

Actually, Renee Knipe came up with the first idea of a separate site that just hosted her blogs and links. I took that idea and ran with it, and apparently so did others!]

Goodbye and Hello.

This is the goodbye part.

I've grown accustomed to writing blog posts after midnight.  I don't know, perhaps it's a pattern I developed during transition when I couldn't sleep and stayed up for hours upon hours trying to figure out how to get through the transition tube.  When you're inside the middle of the tube, you're surrounded by a cold and hollow darkness, and you're not sure if you can see the light at the end of it.

But thankfully for me, I made it out to the other side alive and in one piece.  Looking back I'm not so sure it was all a perfect plan or massive luck.   What I am most certain is that I relied heavily upon the many friends who at times offered a hand in the day or an ear to the phone so late at night it became morning time for coffee at a Denny's somewhere in Alhambra, California.   There's nothing like establishing a connection with those who know exactly what you're going through, even if turns out they live fifteen hundred miles away.

The time has come for me to step aside from T-Central.  As many of you know I am longer posting to my old LorisRevival blog and my "life at the next level" is keeping me busy enough where I simply don't have as much time or energy to maintain what started off as a second page to my original blog.  It was  a page designed just to highlight all the blogs I followed and the friends I made for easy reference.   Over time T-Central grew in both blogs listed and in followers that it's taken a life of its own.   Because it continues to provide a service to many, from the trans person just beginning to consider transition, to the parent raising a transgender child, and even to the significant other of a trans person who's looking to read from the perspective of other trans people to help them chart the next course with, or without, the person they first fell in love with.

That being said, in addition to the current moderators/administrators who are listed, I have named my good friend Calie of Calie's Chronicles as the main moderator and caretaker/owner of T-Central.   I'm certain that the site will continue as is, free of ads and updated with new bloggers as they too come on the scene wherever they might be on the T-spectrum.   I will continue to read and post comments when I'm able to find the time to read blogs, but I will no longer have any control or admin privileges over T-Central.   I'm thankful that there are those willing to carry the torch and continue to maintain it as a service to others.  

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be of some use, and thank you to all of you who continue to share your story.   I believe every one of us has a unique, inspiring story to tell.   I'm grateful for all the extraordinary people I've met and look forward to peeking in from time to time to see more bloggers share in this amazing journey.  

Calie, (and Veronique, Renee, and Christianne), it's all yours.