Living Transgender In American Society Today: November (Yes, I know it's already December)

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

November (Yes, I know it's already December)

Greetings friends,

I hope the holiday season finds you well. I may be late with posting for November but at least I'm consistent. November was a good month for me. On the 17th my foot Doctor pronounced I am now ready to "transition" back into my normal walking patterns again after 3 months so I am now fighting to get back into my 5+ mile a day walking but the weight gained during those 3 months and the lack of exercise has proven to be quite a challenge - I still have some swelling and pain but it isn't as bad as it was with the bunion and extra long metatarsal bone. My biggest problem is I'm having a bit of a self-esteem issue with my expanding waist-line and my love of good food. Oh well, so much for sniveling - I came across a good quote the other day in the Riverside Press-Enterprise from T.S. Eliot that put me back in my place: “If you haven’t the strength to impose your own terms upon life you must accept the terms it offers you.”

Nov 4 - I attended the LAPD LGBT Community Forum was held at The LA Gay & Lesbian Center.

The panel (left to right): Dr Luann Pannell - Direcrtor of Police Training, Assistant Chief Sandy Jo MacArthur, Commissioner Robert Saltzman, Captain Beatrice Girmala - Commanding Officer,Hollywood area. There was an open microphone for questions.

LA area Trans Activist Troy Eric, a regular attender at these forums is pictured here at the mic. After the forum I was asked to (and did) participate in a video taping to be used for Police training on transgender issues.

On Thursday Nov 18th I took the Amtrak up to San Luis Obispo for a very much needed pre-holiday holiday away from home. My Boyfriend Ken drove up that weekend and between us we took a lot of photos some of which I have posted over in the right hand column, or you can follow this link to my "4Shared" album. Over that weekend I participated in an awesome Transgender Day Of Remembrance event - the first one ever held in SLO. This event was hosted by Tranz-Central Coast and the SLO Universalist Unitarian Fellowship. Rev Sean Dennison gave a very inspiring message, David Robinson read a very poignant poem. (I hope I can get the text of these and add it to this post soon, but for now you'll just have to trust me). Namoli Brennet provided music for this event and gave a concert the next evening at the UU Fellowship.

If you haven't seen the movie "Two Spirits" yet I encourage you to do so. I am putting on a free screening of of it at First Congregational Church in Riverside January 2 at 11:30 AM. 3504 Mission Inn Avenue (at Lemon), Riverside, CA 92501. Our Service starts at 10:00 AM. FCC is a wonderful, welcoming Church. Come if you can!

Hugs and Blessings,

Eva-Genevieve!

2 comments:

genevieveDecember 22, 2010 at 12:17 PM
Hi Eva. Thank you for the updates. I see that it's raining quite a bit. How are you holding out?
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Eva-Genevieve!December 26, 2010 at 9:48 AM
Yes it was very wet here for a week. The backyard was a small lake but no flood or mud damage here like some of the foothill communities had. It was a very necessary soaking. I love stormy weather because it reminds me that God is still caring for His creation. What I don't have yet is some good rain boots so I can go out walking in the rainy weather.

Hugs,
Eva-Genevieve!
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Any Body, Everybody, Christ’s Body…

…was the theme at this years National Gathering of the UCC Coalition for LGBT Concerns this year in San Diego (July 14 –17). There were about 125 attendees from all across the US and we even had folks from other countries. Several topics were discussed including ways to make Church accessible to all – many physical and mental challenges were included in this discussion as well as LGBT concerns, Mentoring Queer youth – the emphasis being the need for all of us to be mentors as we are able and that we all have something to teach others, Advocacy & Empowerment, OnA Next Steps: Telling Our Stories, and also a panel discussion on including “transgender” and gender expression more specifically in OnA statements, and immigration issues too – far more issues and information than one person could take in or even list here.

Starting Wednesday afternoon we jumped right in with a very lively worship service with wonderful music and through the course of the gathering we heard many inspiring speakers and participated in several “breakout” workshop sessions. We broke into small discussion groups daily, heard many points of view on important topics, and made many friends in the process. On our last evening the General Minister and President of the UCC, the Revered Geoffrey Black was the keynote speaker at the banquet. My favorite speaker at the conference was Felix Carrion who often contributes to the UCC’s “Stillspeaking” on-line daily Devotional. We ended the conference Saturday morning with another lively worship service and dismissed just in time for several of us to rush over and march in San Diego’s Pride parade with the Mission Hills UCC Church and Bloom in the Desert Ministries (also UCC affiliated). I brought back lots of things to discuss in upcoming Mission Board meetings, but more than anything else it is the personal connections that made the conference very worthwhile. I feel a part of something much larger now – there was so much positive, hopeful energy shared there. I felt so very warmly welcomed by everyone and I believe that my input there was greatly valued as well. And, of course, I made an impression with my array of colorful dresses and hats too! (Would you expect anything less)? I was so blessed for being allowed to represent First Congregational Church in Riverside at this Gathering.

Follow this link to pictures from the event -the photos are in no particular order and a few shots of the fire that broke out behind the motel where I was staying.

Hugs and Blessings,

Eva-Genevieve!