Cheryl Costa: “Trinity Award Nomination”

Cheryl Costa — the Trinity Award winner discussed by Donna Rose, Marti Abernathey and others, and who posts on LiveJournal as retrodragonlady — posted a response on her LJ to the controversy generated by her acceptance speech:

Since a lot of people in the current trans community don’t know me and since I’m under fire for my apparently critical remarks at the IFGE during my acceptance speech; I’ve been encouraged to post my nomination for public view. Charmaine Bowes has graciously sent me the text. Tomarrow I’ll post my acceptance speech with some foot noted explaination.

Cheryl Costa’s – Trinity Award Nomination
written by Charmaine Bowes and nominated by Monica Helms.

Cheryl Ann Costa, is a lot of things, first off she’s an “out and in your face.” She’s an internationally produced and published playwright, was a Washington, DC talk radio personality, a cable television producer, an indie filmmaker and of course a long time activist for the gender community.

It’s a very interesting read about a woman who has done a lot throughout the course of her transgender journey, both to benefit herself and the rest of the community. Check it out!

Sean-Michael: “Back from IFGE”

Photographer and blogger Sean-Michael writes about his IFGE experience:

Well I went to IFGE where I took tons of pictures, some of which are now up on my Gender DiverCity blog. I will be calling a few people from the conference like Donna Rose, Jamison Green, etc. to interview them along with their picture.

That said… what a bozo, I didn’t get my picture taken with ANYONE at the conference. DUH! That sucks too cuz I met some really fun people transmen, cisgender men, a really cool daughter of a trans woman, transwomen, allies, and more. So I now feel like a dufus, because the only time I remembered to turn the camera on myself was…

In the freaking bathroom at the Dezert Boyz coffee.

Be sure to check out Gender DiverCity, a really impressive photography project by Sean-Michael. Sean-Michael is also a co-founder of GenderPhotography at Yahoo!Groups.

retrodragonlady: “The Trip to Tucson in a Nutshell”

And now for a dissenting opinion…

LiveJournalist retrodragonlady (apparently a Trinity Award winner) didn’t have a good time:

Dearest Journal,
MadamWu and I traveled to Tucson last Wednesday until yesterdayt, to attend the International Foundation for Gender Education annual convention. The purpose of the trip was for me to receive the IFGE Trinity Award for community service. We both had an experience that qualified as among one of the worst times of our lives.

The IFGE convention as a whole and most assuredly Delta Airlines can both roast in hell.

We’ll pass on burning on Hell, but we’re sorry to hear she had airline problems. Looking forward to reading more reactions from bloggers, and we hope they had a better experience in tucson than Ms. Dragonlady!

Donna Rose on IFGE 2008

Donna Rose wrote about the conference in her blog yesterday:

I met some wonderful people at the conference. Some I’ve spoken with online. Others I was just fortunate enough to bump into, or came up to me to introduce themselves. It makes me think back to how many of the people I consider dear friends at this stage of my life I first met at conferences like these. In addition to making new friends it’s gratifying to see how far people I’ve met in previous years have come in their own journeys. We often talk about community. In a very real sense, in a way it’s about family.

[...]

All in all, my conference experience was an enjoyable one. The weather was as close to perfect as you can get. The hotel was very nice – quiet, comfortable beds, beautiful grounds, friendly staff. The presenters and topics were diverse. A number of people who came for the conference extended their stays to visit the Grand Canyon, Sedona, Oak Creek Canyon, Prescott, and any number of the places and sights we enjoy here. I had more than one person comment that they hope IFGE returns here sometime soon. Apparently, it’s scheduled to be in Washington DC (or, more accurately – Alexandria, VA) over the next couple of years but I’d love to see an opportunity for a late winter/early spring event here in Arizona. Perhaps that’s something worth seriously thinking about.

One new friend posted something on her blog about the event. More specifically, it was about me at the conference (read it here). Her kind words are certainly appreciated and I can’t help but smile about all the events of the past few days. I’ve been on the Atkins Diet for the past couple of weeks so I’m proud at avoiding the cheese cake, the chocolate cake, and the various other temptations over the past few days (including alcohol, although I generally find these things more fun with a drink or two). From doing balancing work and conference on Thursday and Friday to the event at Old Tucson Studio to hanging out with friends to going for a run around the park across the street from the hotel – no wonder I needed a nap this afternoon.

Others are already sharing their thoughts of events and experiences here, as well. For those of us who consider ourselves “veterans” of these kinds of things it’s easy to overlook the profound impact that they can and do have on people attending for the first time, and there were lots of first-timers there. One such glimpse is provided by Jason, an FTM who maintains a blog of his experiences and who attended IFGE on Thursday and Friday (read his thoughts here). Kudos to Jason for his honesty and his willingness to share.

I’ll close by sharing a couple of the photos I was taking when Lori caught up with me by the gardens (as she explained in her blog). There’s always time to slow down to appreciate the beauty of nature – I couldn’t let it pass without capturing it. Welcome to Springtime in the Desert…..

In the rest of her post, she talks about a Trinity Award winner’s speech that seemed to call for falling in line with societal stereotypes. Donna responds with:

A message of conforming to stereotypes is something that, perhaps, at one time made sense. Transgender people faded into society out of necessity. However, we’ve matured and our perceptions of ourselves and the broader ideals at play have changed. The message of today has evolved from simply being about gender to a broader one of freedom and about self. It is about breaking free from binaries and stereotypes to simply be whoever you are. To judge anyone as not being, looking, or acting appropriately “manly” or “womanly” enough based on someone’s arbitrary standard of gender would be to stoop to the same stale stereotypes so many of us work so hard to break.

Read the whole thing here — scroll down to April 6, 2008.

Lori Anne Davis: “Normal. Real. Caring.”

Lori Anne (on the left) describes how she got what she calls “the obligatory Donna Rose photo:”

Fact of the matter is that this week I’ve watched how busy Donna is, even having been glued to her laptop keys tending to whatever other matters keeping her busy during the very little down time around here. And although she seems to be a popular character around these neck of the woods during these last few days, I’ve watched how Donna has retained a loving spirit about her, taking the time to reach out to people, to hug people…and take…the obligatory Donna Photo.

And so I waited patiently…for a break during the madness and chaos of the conference.

I was actually outside of the hotel taking photos of people who I wanted to capture the beauty of when Donna was standing around taking her own photos of the landscape and the flowers that lined the Doubletree Hotel here in Tucson. As friendly as can be, we began talking about cameras and photography, and she warmly agreed to take a picture with me. Hence the photo above. It was cool.

But Donna keeps that spirit going while she’s around here. I didn’t want to bug, but after seeing her in action walking around the area, I realized she’s not “bugged.” Instead, she truly enjoys giving hugs, seeing old friends, and making new connections and friends.

Not bad. Cool gal, that Donna Rose is.

Normal, real, caring.

Thanks, hon. You inspire me.

geekbynature: “Day 168″

Jason writes about the conference in his latest blog post; he attended IFGE 2008 with his amazing mother:

First, a rough address of the timeline: My mother and I, having signed up for only Thursday and Friday of the conference, left Sunday morning for a sort of pre-vacation vacation, as it were; and we arrived in Tucson on the eve of Wednesday. After some discussion, it was decided that registering would be more important than dinner at the particular moment the decision was made. There were as it turned out various slight complications regarding a number of things having to do with our registration; fortunately, no damage was done and the incidents were waved away with little consequence.

And so came Thursday morning with much excitement, anticipation and certainly some level of reserve. For me, having only been in the company of other trans people merely once or twice in my lifetime, I found it simultaneously comforting yet strange: I of course had known of the existence of other transfolk experiencing exactly the same as myself, but somehow the reality that a great many of them were in fact residing directly in my physical vicinity was slightly shocking: They really do exist!

On a particularly noteworthy note, Jamison Green gave an opening speech prior to the onset of the sessions. Having attended presentations of his twice before yet, having been unfunctionably shy prior to T, been unable to actually meet him personally, my mother dragged me determinedly to his side and introduced us. And so it came that I was finally able to shake his hand after having known of his existence for many years.

My mother, incidentally, I do believe will hold a lifelong reputation among the population gathered there as the holder of the honorary Amazing Mother award. “Jason,” I was to hear several times over the weekend as people’s eyes traveled to my nametag, “Oh, with the amazing mother from the other session!”

And that she is.

In the rest of the very well-written post, Jason shares some of the emotions that came up in a late-night, long-distance car ride — emotions that will be familiar to many of the transgender people reading this. Jason’s blog is very compelling and personal look into one young transman’s ongoing journey, and we thank him for opening his life to his blog’s readers.

Lori Anne Davis: “A Time to… Catch Up”

IFGE 2008 photographer Lori Anne checks in today:

This will be interesting.  I’m running on about two hours of sleep.  In fact, Marie caught me with my Macbook on my lap as I slept.  It’s a good thing that I didn’t roll over.  My incandescent demeanor would not have made me a pleasant person to be around.

That being said.  I really don’t have enough steam to type much this morning.  I have been taking quite a few photos (cough cough) of the conference.  I’ve been posting a few of the personal ones on my flickr page.  You can view them HERE.  I upload them to flickr daily.  As for the other 2000 photos, well, that may take some time to go through.

Since the last video blog, several events, a lot of laughs, a HELLUVA lot of tears, and even an ongoing joke about transgendered chicken (more on that later …bo-cooockk!) has made this conference more than just interesting.

Be sure to check out her great photography. The rest of her post reflects the types of feelings that all people can struggle with at times, but transgender people in particular. Lori has a great a gift for communicating her own fears and hopes in ways that everyone can relate to — as seen in her stint as a regular columnist for the short-lived Tucson LGBT newsmagazine Colorez!.

geekbynature: “Day 167″

Jason, an FTM blogger who writes at the blog “… i am, therefore i am …” has been at the IFGE conference for several days now:

Today, my mother and I depart for home. We have been now three days at the IFGE conference, which I must say has been so far one of the highest on my list of most neutrally interesting — neither bad nor good — experiences in my short life. Perhaps I’ll post reflections on it upon our return home.

[...]

Today is the date of Dr. Brownstein’s session on chest reconstruction; and hopefully, we will get the chance to meet him personally. It is lucky that his session falls directly before lunch; as we will not have to worry about missing the beginning of any other sessions should we end up talking to him longer than expected.

Excitement!

We’re rooking forward to reading Jason’s reflections — good, bad, or otherwise — if he chooses to do so. As well as the views of anyone else who is attending IFGE 2008!

Monica Roberts: “IFGE 2008″

Unfortunately, Monica Roberts can’t make it this year, but she encourages everyone who can to attend:

Yesterday IFGE Conference 2008 kicked off in Tucson. Normally it’s one of the two transgender conferences I try to attend (the other is Southern Comfort) but my work schedule killed my ability to attend this one which will run until April 5.

As a Trinity winner I’m usually interested in finding out who received those awards and the Virginia Prince. They also have some great seminars on a wide range of community issues as well so if you’re looking to attend a conference and get a great ‘ejumacation’ on transgender issues, this one and SCC are the must attend ones for you.

If you live in the Tucson area and would like to attend, they’d love to have you. They are doing on site registration as we speak.

We’re missing you, Monica! Hope to see you elsewhere soon, though!

Monica C-L: “Arizona, Here I Come!”

As she heads out to Tucson, Monica Canfield-Lenfest writes about the first IFGE conference she attended:

Two years ago, I attended my first IFGE with fellow KOT Christy Hubert. During a media workshop, I stood to ask a question to the panel: “My name is Monica and my father is a transwoman. I work with COLAGE and have witnessed people with gay and lesbian parents further the rights of their families. How can people with transgender parents do the same?”. The audience gave me a standing ovation. At that moment, with tears in my eyes, I realized that it was time to commit to this work. I couldn’t have done it without the trans community or the queerspawn community.

Tomorrow, I will carry 75 copies of the Kids of Trans Resource Guide Preview in my suitcase.

The guide exists. Now is the time to share it…

On  Friday, Monica will be co-presenting two workshops — “Children of Transgender Parents” at 9:15 a.m., and “When a Parent Transitions” at 3 p.m.