Trans Universe

I have found this month to be one of the most educational months in the year. All around are wonderful articles, History Channel shows and TV spots that have given me an insight to many aspects of our African American citizens and their history. Even though I am not of African decent, I would like to talk about a person in American history who helped to inspire me to work on transgender veterans’ issues. Cathay Williams was the first and only known African American woman to serve as a Buffalo Soldier in the US Army, officially serving as William Cathay. (more…)

Since this article will find its way to various non-trans-specific blogs, I should begin with describing what an Educational Initiative is and a little history behind them.  The EI was a creation of long-time activist, Angela Brightfeather when she was the Chair of the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition’s Activism Committee.  Her idea came about in 2001, when the transgender community was having difficulty convincing the Human Rights Campaign to support inclusion in ENDA.  Déjà vu all over again?

An EI is NOT a protest in spite of what many may think.  It is a true, educational opportunity to allow transgender people to speak directly with HRC’s supporters and put a face on an issue that many have no idea about.  The original purpose came out of anger and a hope to put a dent into HRC’s income at a place that they get their most money, at their local dinners. (more…)

It seems lately that a lot of people who have a tendency to post a great deal on the Internet has a famous – or not so famous – quote after their name. I refuse to do that because there are so many good quotes out there that picking just one may not fit the mood I’m in at the time. To me, different situation in activism requires different quotes. I have used many of them in the past, and even made a few of my own.

I figured that it would be fun to gather up some of the best ones that I remember, and some of the new ones I found on line and put them together in one place for everyone to choose from if the feeling hits them. Some of these quotes I will make comments about, so to distinguish the quotes from my comments, I will put them in bold letters, along with the person who said them.

One of the most respected historical figures who the LGBT community looks upon with respect has to be Dr. Martin Luther King. Yes, the Civil Rights Movement is not the same as the LGBT Movement, but his words ring true for many people and are universal in their relevance. There were too many to choose from, so I picked my favorites that I feel pertain to our situation best. (more…)

This is not going to be an article, but a series of pictures of one of my current projects, a totally scratch-built X-Wing Fighter from the Star Wars movies.

Just a little history on this. I started building plastic kits when I was 12 years old, which is about 45 years ago. One of the first things I built was a kit that had small rockets and missiles that were in the US arsenal at the time. Over the years, I graduated to building many kits, until 1967 when a friend an I discovered model rockets. Centuri Rockets had its manufacturing facility with an easy bike ride from my house.

Over the years, I have built over 120 different kits and scratch-built rockets, launching them from many places, including underwater.

In 1977, the first Star Wars movie came out and I fell in love with the space craft in the movie, especially the X-Wing Fighter. In 1979, a kit came out and I finished building it in about 2 hrs, but something felt missing.

One day, while visiting my favorite hobby store, I saw a rack of styrene plastic that came in all shapes, sizes, sheets and objects, and I hit upon the idea of making a scratch-built model of the X-Wing that would be twice the size of the kit. It took me six months to finish it and it looked great. (more…)