My donate link should work now, if anyone still wants to help us get to the GLAAD Media Awards or for any other reason.
Last Night Right Now
I was pleased to get to speak to Senator Tammy Baldwin for a brief minute last night – in a gender-neutral bathroom, no less – who gave me a thumbs up when I mentioned that I taught gender studies. That was cool. She spoke while introducing historian Dick Wagner, who was receiving an award from Fair Wisconsin. She told the story of seeing Geraldine Ferraro accept the US VIP nomination in 1984, and it was pretty incredible. From what I hear, she has told that story before, but I had never heard it, and it brought me back to watching that myself – and the same feelings for me, at 15, thinking “anything is possible now.” It was a big, big, audible crack in the glass ceiling — as is Senator Baldwin’s current seat.
I also had a nice talk with Zach Wahls about the terms ally, queer, queerspawn, and the like. He is a pretty remarkable guy, and his talk was the right combination of serious, sad, frustrated, and full of love. We should be very, very glad to have him in these queer communities. And that he speaks on behalf of equality – not just marriage equality, mind you – as an Eagle Scout is pretty damned cool. Hopefully I will do an interview with him in the next couple of months.
Finally: I am not disappearing altogether from blogging. I am taking a huge break from FB, specifically, because I have too many ongoing misgivings with the site, for various reasons – and now seemed like the right time. In some ways, what I’m frustrated by is the odd merger of personal and professional life that FB encourages; here at my blog, it’s a little easier to stay at arm’s length, which is what I need right now. But there is nothing wrong, per se; I am not depressed or angry or hurt or anything like it. A little tired of the shallow ways of connecting that FB also encourages, perhaps, but that is all.
I am happy to have people send me a heads up about interesting things going on about gender or transness or all of the other stuff you know I’m interested in. Feel free to email me or leave a comment if you want to say hi.
A huge THANK YOU to those of you who have written expressing concern or good luck or just to say: you earned a break. It’s very, very much appreciated.
Missing Me
I’m going to be taking a break from blogging and other social networking for a while.
Thanks for understanding.
Dinner With Tammy Baldwin
Tomorrow I’ll be at the Fair Wisconsin Education Fund’s conference; tonight, at Fair Wisconsin’s Gala Celebration, where Zach Wahls will be speaking and Tammy Baldwin will be in attendance.
I’m doing a workshop on gender identity and the LGBTQ, and there are tons more useful and interesting workshops and panels. You can check out the whole conference book here.
It’s not too late to register or buy a ticket to the gala dinner, so get on it!
Get Helen to the GLAAD Media Awards!
Hi all! It’s rare I do this, but I’ve just been invited to go to the GLAAD Media Awards Banquet, but I can’t afford the ticket or the travel!
If there is someone out there who might make a donation to GLAAD anyway, you can buy my $500 ticket and get the tax deduction. I would be happy to consider some kind of barter in exchange, too.
Or, the many of you out there can help fund with just a small donation. If you need an email address, helenboyd@myhusbandbetty.com should work.
Pretty please? (If you can’t, feel free to pass this on to someone who might and can, please.)
What Being a Blogger Feels Like Sometimes
MHB Boards Back
Apparently they have been all day today – I just forgot to post about it!
MHB Boards Down
Our message boards seem to be down for now, & my tech is fast asleep. I’ll get her eye on it in the morning, & in the meantime, sleep tight & feel free to chat in the comments section of this post.
Emails
It’s the end of the year, and as much as I would like to write back to every email I get from readers, I never do. If I did I would never get my own work done. BUT: I do get them, and I do read them, and I do love them. I wish, too, that I had answers for people: how to accept an emerging need to transition (in yourself or your loved one), how to be fair to a wife or husband who can’t accept that transition, how to tell children or other relatives; how to deal with employment and coming out to people and accepting whatever loss might come.
I don’t have those answers. I do know that transition is one of the most subtle and difficult things I have ever lived through. A good transition – which ours was – doesn’t have gigantic amounts of drama. Everything legal and medical has gone relatively smoothly. But everything changes; there is nothing in our lives that wasn’t effected by her transition.
So in a sense, that’s my advice to all of you who email: nothing will ever be the same, and you will be amazed at how entirely consuming and yet utterly boring a transition can be (if it goes well). If it doesn’t? Nothing will ever be the same then, either.
Thank you all for the emails – for telling me the books have been useful to you, or this blog, or some of the other various things I do and have done. It’s nice to feel appreciated. I’m just sorry I can’t pay everyone more personal attention, because so many of you need and deserve it, and there is so little out there for people living through this stuff. But do know that you aren’t alone. We do still run our online community forums, so do come there if you can.
Help For a Packers Fan
Yes, amazingly enough: I’m writing something about a Packers fan. It’s a special case. He’s my nephew, the one who was born when I was but 6 years old, my oldest brother’s son.
He’s a lifelong NYer and a lifelong Packers fan.
& He was living in Freeport, Long Island, when Sandy hit. As he put it: that bitch took everything. He & his girlfriend carried out their dog and their TV, & that was all. Everything else they owned is gone.
They have been staying with her parents, & while I’m sure they will be able to get clothes and shoes and furniture and another place to live, no charity will prioritize a beloved collection, and that’s what his Packers paraphernalia was. Mind you, this is a guy who’s taken heat for being a Packers fan his entire life, surround as he is by Giants, Jets, and even Bills fans.
So, here’s the thing: I thought it would be especially cool if he got Packers stuff in packages with Wisconsin return addresses.
It doesn’t have to be new. It could be some small thing from your own collection that you’re willing to part with. I’m guessing he’s an XL or whatever a guy who is over 6′ tall might be. He’s not scrawny, not fat. Obviously, things that are not sized are probably best: clothes that are hats or scarves and the like. & Whatever other stuff it is football fans might collect would be great too.
So if you’re in, let me know and I will send you his address, OR you can drop the thing off at our house and I will ship it.
But I really would love it if he kept getting individual packages in the mail, all from Wisconsin.
Cool, right? And if anyone wants something in return (other than my love and appreciation), let me know, & we’ll see if we can work something out.