There's fodder for a story here, somewhere! This news item first appeared last week, but I just tripped over it while poking around a news consolidation site.
BERLIN | Wed May 4, 2011 11:20am EDT
(Reuters) - A mayor in Germany helped rescue a man who became trapped in a women's prison after mistaking it for a shortcut to a nearby park, police in the northern city of Hildesheim said on Wednesday.
Hildesheim Mayor Henning Blum heard the man's cries for help while passing by the prison near the city center and notified police who came and freed the 24-year-old.
The man told police he was strolling through town and did not immediately notice he had walked into a prison. By the time it dawned on him where he was, the gate to the jail had already closed, locking him inside.
Police said they are investigating why the prison gate was open, enabling the man to wander in.
Remains of a man belonging to a late-neolithic, early-copper-age community outside what is now Prague were unearthed showing distinct signs of status as a "third gender."
Some of the fine details are a bit muddled in the press reports, which are apparently just copying each other and not going back to the source for clarification, but there is no question as to the main story.
Really, really bad writing can be hilarious. Unintentionally hilarious, but hilarious nonetheless.
Some incredibly cruel person, who obviously works in publishing, has had the bad judgement to violate the trust placed in them by their employers and the authors who submit their work, and post selected groaners for the whole world to see.
Just poking around the 'nets and I tripped over something I'd like to share. I've been waaaaay guilty of this myself, so I'm not posting it to shame anyone, just for the lulz (as the kids say). (Disclaimer: stolen wholesale from Wikipedia. No original content beyond this point. Formatting automagically screwed up by cut-n-paste. See the original in Wikipedia if you want to see the footnotes.)
Authors of transgender fiction have written many stories on the theme of the male who became a female fashion model. What is it they say about "truth is stranger than fiction?" A young Serbian-Australian man is now the hottest thing on the female fashion runways of London and Paris. His* story trumps many of the fictional ones I've enjoyed reading here.
Here is an interview by an Australian television station with Andrej Pejic, his family, peers, and others in the fashion world.
A few of us are over in the chatroom, shooting the breeze. If you enjoy chatting with fellow transsexuals, crossdressers, and fans of TG fiction, come on over! We don't role-play in the room, although there's a separate role-play room you can open/join. Fetishists and chasers are not welcome in the Main Room, unless you seriously behave yourselves.
Frankly, I find this presentation quite heart-warming. I'm starting to believe that gentle humor regarding gender presentation is perhaps an encouraging social trend. Anything that breaks the rigid binary model is a good thing.
Saturday Night Live had one of their send-up fake ads this weekend that was particularly aimed at making fun of transsexuals. IMHO, it was transphobic, trivializing and mocking. GLAAD is calling for an angry response from the LGBT community. Considering GLAAD is rarely "there" on trans issues, this is a bit of an earthquake.
Here's a link to start with, with links to other links, including embedded video:
The other night, the ABC program, "Primetime: What Would You Do?" had a segment regarding gender stereotyping. In the segment, the producers sent actors playing a father and a young son into a toy store, where the boy is to choose a Barbie doll and the father is to argue with him. The object was to see what the reactions would be of bystanders in the store. The exercise was then escalated with a third actor playing a hostile man berating the "father." A third iteration involved boys wearing dresses in the store.
I'm not sure what I can say about this. The nature v. nurture argument pops up in many areas of discussion of human behavior and identity. Following is an example of personal anecdotes (and photos) of gay men and women and their earliest evidence of being... different.
Don't know if anyone has been following the It Gets Better Project (www.itgetsbetter.org), but it's been one awesome YouTube video after another, telling bullied LGBTQ kids (and others) that there is hope for their future lives, that they are valued and will be loved, that the despair, isolation, and bullying of high school is but a temporary hurdle, and not to go and off themselves. Ordinary folks and famous ones, the powerless and the powerful are participating with wonderful supporting videos. They're not all gold, but some of them are outstanding.
There was a commercial New Year's Eve party/event in Brooklyn last night, a big one. Two guys who are event organizers have been having these for several years. Three thousand people in a vacant 45,000 square foot industrial loft, themed as an airline terminal, with lots of people in costume. Airline stewardess seemed to be a popular one.
The TV set in our bedroom died the other night, so I popped out to the local big-box appliance store to grab a new set. Setting it up required rescanning the channel spectrum. I guess I should mention that we don't have cable. Well, along with the other 40-something channels we get, a new one popped up, a noncommercial one that carries and promotes high-quality community access and educational content, most of which is in the 5-minute length category.
I know we have a number of sci-fi and space-flight geeks here. If you are one of them, you might enjoy this 45-minute NASA-produced video of shuttle launch footage previously unseen by the general public:
I was reading my favorite sex-advice columnist this morning and his "letter of the day." One commenter posted a reply that some might find a "bit" pretentious. I liked it. I might do a needle-point of that last sentence. I'd have to learn how to do needle-point first, but...
Just saw Scotty's blog posting on dressing up as Lolita. I hope he finds the bits and pieces of outfit he needs to pull it off, and I'll be looking forward to pictures.
Let me turn the topic now to... me, because like a lot of people I either like talking about me, or am so completely insecure that I need to, always with the hope that people will somehow offer me some support and acceptance, and if not love, then at least "like." Self-esteem... some day I should get me some.
A sensitive, understanding article about a transgender basketball player, from the New York Daily News, the News! And, on the Sports pages! Oh, my goodness, the sky is falling!
I got a great buy on these jeans http://www.coldwatercreek.com/product-detail/50615/56765/sli... in a Misses size 16. Unfortunately for me, Coldwater Creek seems to engage in "vanity sizing". I guess I need a 12 or 14 in their sizes. There's a lot more spandex in this fabric than I expected. The fabric stretches 10% or so without much strain. So, someone who wears a size 20 or so in real sizes might be able to wear these.
I can return them, but by the time they subtract return shipping, it's almost not worth it.
Pure coincidence, I'm certain, but I read Grover's steamy story, Men and Gods today, and then I found this article in Slate on the popularity of "smutty stories" on the Kindle. [Read it here]. In particular, the description of the novel Office Slave was reminiscent of scenes in several "forced slut" stories I've seen on these TG fiction sites.
So, could it be that "mainstream" literature, TG literature, and electronic reading devices are all in convergence?
I loved this article, inspired by the occasion of the publication of the 16th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style. If, like me, you've ever wondered what that was, or where it came from, you too may find the article interesting and educational.
Ha! I knew that would bring the geeks in! Sorry, though. This isn't about computer failure, it's about societal failure.
There's a wonderful discussion going on now in Nick B.'s blog on what it means to be a transsexual. Nick's goal is to publish an article on the 'net that will help dispel ignorance and help promote acceptance.
There was a time I suspected I might have Asperger's Syndrome. Then I read a book on it and realized I didn't. Such fun! (What I think I do have is hypochondria.)
Anyway, I found this test. I wasn't looking for it. In fact I could have used this around 3 years ago. It would have saved me reading that stupid book. But, I'm very good at finding things I wasn't looking for. Or at least not recently.
As I've explained elsewhere before, I'm a straight, married, male crossdresser. As a class, we're famous for living so deep in the closet, we can't see what we're doing. :) I've read the stories of those who, taken with a bout of guilt, stress, or recent threat of discovery, "purge" their entire collections of mtf goodies: clothes, makeup, wigs, shoes, everything.
I'm not going to lie to you and try to tell you that Bull Durham wasn't about baseball. That's mostly what it was about. But, it was also about people, and sex, and a bit of mysticism.
Not sure how or why, but I tripped over a link to the screenplay. It's richer, darker, possibly funnier, but definitely more touching than the movie was. I was particularly taken with its very open view of sexuality, sensuality and gender. If you do nothing else, just word-seach on "panties" and skip through it. Oh, and read the ending. It's nice.
Just tripped over a link to this (Thanks SLOG and Horse Meat Disco!)
It's an obscure, extended mix disco track by Leonnore O'Malley, later covered by Gloria Gaynor.
The lyrics are of a woman giving advice to a TG person on dating men. It's very positive and upbeat, if you like that sort of thing. :) I thought it might cheer someone up.
Someone has posted a public domain version of a famously thin and stupid book known as English As She Is Spoke.
Mark Twain wrote the forward to the first American Version. Here is an excerpt of that forward:
Many persons have believed that this book's miraculous stupidities were
studied and disingenuous; but no one can read the volume carefully through and keep
that opinion. It was written in serious good faith and deep earnestness, by an honest
and upright idiot who believed he knew something of the English language, and could
Just in case anyone was looking for a wet blanket to throw over your creativity, this year's results of the Bulwer-Lytton (worst opening sentence to an imaginary novel) Contest are in.
Checks can be made out & sent to:
Joyce Melton
1001 Third St.
Space 80
Calimesa, CA 92320
USA
Note: $6000 is the operating, maintenance and upgrade budget. Amounts received in excess of the $6000 will be applied to long term debt accrued over the last 19 years.
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