Hey everyone,

We're still looking to secure a couple of volunteers to help with take-down at the end of the night, work the door and watch over the Kid's Play Area for a bit. Volunteer slots will likely be about 2-4 hours at the most.

This is a great opportunity for transfolks as well as non-trans partners, family members and allies to be involved in their community and meet some great people.

If you're interested, please contact me at htdvolunteers@gmail.com

Thanks!

"Presented by the Trans Alliance Society and sponsored by VanCity, Happy Tranny Day is a community event designed to celebrate the creativity and strength of gender diverse folks and their allies, friends, and family. Please join us in the afternoon for a Fun Fair and in the evening for food, fabulous performances, and dancing with DJ Artflick.

The event is being held on April 13, 2008 at the Heritage Hall in Vancouver (Main St at 15th) from 3-11pm. The event is all-ages and family friendly and the venue is accessible to folks with disabilities. Admission is free (but donations are appreciated!)

For more information, the event press release and poster are attached to this email.
Or visit: www.transalliancesociety.org/events"

I recently heard someone refer to a "queer-friendly" area of New Westminster. Does anyone know more about this (what part of New West, what exactly constitues "friendliness" etc)? I used to live in New West before I came out and didn't notice it as being particularly queer friendly, all I remember is that whenever I wanted to go out to clubs and parties the skytrain would never be running when I wanted to come home. But, I don't really go out like I used to and am more concerned with not getting harassed by groups of kids when coming home from the gym.

I totally just remembered that it's my birthday tomorrow. I can't wait to hibernate once Evin gets back.

i'm looking for ideas for a policy paper in my Intro to Disability Studies course. i'd like to focus on policies within the queer community that act as barriers to those living with disabilities. if i have the choice to be more specific, i'd like to focus on queer seniors living with disabilities.
i know we've got some real accessibility issues in the queer community, but don't know how to look at these things as far as policies go. does anyone know of a specific policy that impedes involvement for queer people with disabilities?
i've never written a policy paper before and regardless of how many questions i ask my instructor i'm still having a hard time figuring out where to start looking. lots of you either do work in the community or are taking similar courses, does anyone have any ideas?

my mom is going to come all the way down to Vancouver on the bus from Hope tomorrow morning to go to East Side Pride. my mom has never seen or heard me perform anywhere or read anything that i have written. she is in for a bit of a shock, but is really excited. i'm so proud of her for going on these big adventures lately. i'm glad this is the show she's coming out to see as well, as i'm always most at home and get the biggest response with queer audiences.

seriously dude. this weather is absolutely fucked. i give it 2 years before we all need to start planning some sort of biodome situation. evin and i just put a 8x6' garden shed on the balcony this summer, let's hope it makes it through winter. that's a shitty day no one's looking forward to. eg. it's 20 below with 60km/h winds with hail and lightening, and our shed has just collapsed, punctured our neighbor's house, and we have to run outdoors at 4am to grab all of our belongings blowing everywhere and move them inside. what the fuck, al gore? what the fuck?

so, this myspace page that i mentioned setting up over a month ago...not going so hot. i'm trying to get it done in the next couple of days cuz VanPride will be putting the link on their page, and i thought it would be easy-peasy. for one thing it's slow as slow can be, so it takes a million and five years to navigate around, and for another thing apparently i need to know something about coding to make it work!?!?! aggggh.
so many people have them, many many of those people have a background on the homepage as well, it can't be that difficult, can it? anyone here got a couple of pointers for me?

is the couple above me ever going to cum? i need to sleep soon and right now a combination of noise and increasing nausea is keeping me awake.

wretch.

i don't want to do my homework. i don't want to do my homework. i don't want to do my homework. i want to eat even though i just ate and write in my livejournal even though i have nothing to say.
in 46 hours this research report has to be complete and in a mailbox. therefore, in 46 hours this will all be over somehow.
i don't want to do my homework. i don't want to do my homework. i don't want to do my homework.

my ultimate activist wet dream envisions a day when MSWord is so socially aware that it does not try to capitalize "bell hooks."

Fernando Raguero is a lovely, lovely man. He deserves lovely things. Lovely.

Are you interested in expressing your unique voice?

We are a couple of social work student researchers interested in examining the transgender voice in our community. We identify as genderqueer and transgender. If you are a resident of Vancouver who was assigned female at birth and self-identify as genderqueer, FTM, transgender, intersexed, non-gender specific, or are questioning your gender identity - and you are interested in forming a participant directed research action group, we are looking for you!

The group will take place online, and will be lead by you – the participant/researcher. We are looking to facilitate an online study group to hear your voice, and how you have experienced representation and access in the larger Vancouver LGTBQ community.

As facilitators, we will also be researching our own experience, in conjunction with the study group. All discussion will happen online, and future in-person dialogue will happen if the group is interested. We are also looking for avenues of action, and will be interested in working with the group to determine an action plan, as needed.

If you're interested or would like further details please contact Sylvia or Kim at: transvoice.research@gmail.com
All participation is strictly confidential. We are looking to start immediately.

Thanks and feel free to circulate this widely!

Hey IWPS Attendees and Slam enthusiasts...

Do any of you remember the name of the poet who performed the incredible piece from the perspective of someone with cerebral palsy at the Thursday night (first bout night) at Cafe Deux Soleils. I think he was in the first bout of the evening, and this particular piece was in the second round. I've thrown out my bout draw list by now, but am facilitating an online discussion on ablism for my AOP class next week, and would like to include his piece if I can find it on MySpace or YouTube or something.

so i'm wearing this shirt today, it's the shirt i wear when i'm feeling particularly lesbian-y. it's brown, cut up, and says "skin is where this revolution's gonna begin...touching one woman at a time." on front and back. i'm sitting in the blue moose, doing my homework, and this girl who works here (i see her a lot, but i'm not sure how much cuz all the girls who work here are in highschool and have long brown hair pulled back in a ponytail save for the emo-bangs) comes up to me mentioning that she was noticing my shirt. she says "i know this is like...totally random and stuff...but like...i thought you mind be interested...there's this seminar going on in vancouver on january 10th about like...sexual diversity and gender and sexism and stuff." it was too cute for words, especially because january has come and gone. i point out to her a fwd in my mailbox and say "is this it?" completely ignoring the fact that she's given me a totally incorrect date, she says "maybe...i just thought you might be interested...i wanna go so bad...i'm totally trying to find a ride." it was hands down the most adorable teenage girl thing that's ever happened to me, even better than the girl who proposed to me at the havana youth poetry night last february. this is the one thing i love about working with youth, the queer ones that get all excited and bashful around me, and remembering how enamoured i would become with anyone at all queer looking when i was their age. i once went and got a manicure from some bisexual girl who lived in my town, because she was an ex-raver chick who decided to open her own cutting edge beauty parlor in hope, and i thought this would be a great way to get her to hold my hand. she shredded my cuticles to a point of irreparable damage, i think my fingers even started to bleed right there in her shop. but that doesn't comprimise the fact that i still remember what her skin felt like while she was filing my nails and painting them some horrible soft pink color. i paid her 40 bucks or something ridiculous like that, went home and took the polish remover to it right away.
bashful bi-curious kids are the most adorable and inspirational thing ever. that made my day just knowing that i might be the only queer person she'll see for months. at the same time, i'm not going to be able to tell her apart from the others by tomorrow night, but whatever, that's not what matters.

Just a quick entry to say that I love stuff. I went to the Fugitives show last night with Evin, Matt and Sarah, and it was amazing. You really appreciate being around such incredible talent when you've been gone for a while. I laughed, I cried, and I had a couple drinks. I was ecstatic to see everyone, and people seemed pretty surprised to see me too. My conversation skills need a bit of a tune up, but that will return in time.
I realized I hadn't checked the open mic email account in a couple of months, until this morning. Turns out people are still interested and can't wait for us to return in the spring.
Evin gave me a super long pep talk last night about school. I'm finding more that this is turning into exactly what I intended in the first place, and I can't lose confidence in that. I'm not necessarily getting this degree because I want to be a creative social worker, but more because I want to be a socially aware artist who is trained in all the steps toward creating change and perspectives.
There is an awesome workshop happening in April that I found out about through work. The organization is called "The Narrative Project" and the workshops are facilitated by social workers who practice narrative therapy. The workshop is "Putting Narrative Ideas into Practice with Children," and focuses on teaching kids to externalize issues through writing. Unfortunately I will be out of town, as it's my last day of on campus classes at UVic, so I'm going to miss it. But, I'm going to check in with them on future workshops.

it would appear that matthew presidente http://www.matthewpresidente.com/main.html has started up a weekly unplugged night at numbers on tuesdays. i should check it out next week and see what it's like. this is another good reason to move the open mic to thursdays when it starts up again, so people can be encouraged to attend both events.
evin and i have gone to the saturday night laugh riot girls show for the last couple weekends, and i must say that for five bucks it's pretty good. like any other open mic there is the odd performance that's hard to sit through, but there's also some amazing talent out there.
i'm procrastinating phonecalls, i don't feel much like talking today. it's times like this that i'm glad to have a boyfriend who lovvvvvvvvvvves to talk. maybe i should just have a good cry and drink some caffeine.

The Suicide Girls are coming back to Vancouver on Sept 22nd, and Bill Clinton is coming to speak in Victoria on Nov 10th. I know, hardcore burlesque and American politics, I have varied interests. I didn't really develop this much of an interest in Bill Clinton until Bush took over and broke the world, but I've always had it bad for Al Gore. This fuckin rocks!

You know what always makes me feel better when I'm so depressed and anxious that I can't sleep? That's right, you guessed it, Googling myself. I'm still managing to bring up about 8 pages worth of results, which is always nice. I feel like Uncle Rico in Napoleon Dynamite, living out his glory days through highschool football memories. Sad as it may be, this is how I'm reminding myself that I still exist right now.
Tonight, I've found many extra weird tidbits about people who are not me, but may as well be. I just pulled up a link for a Kim Shaughnessy, intake coordinator at MCRC (?) counselling services in Chico CA. I work at an MFRC counselling office, so this is extra spooky. It took me a couple minutes to figure it out though, I originally clicked thinking "why do they have me listed as an intake coordinator? This organization is so disorganized."
There is a site called gigposters.com where you can look up your name and see pdf files of posters your name may have been on. Extra awesome that I found myself here because Radiohead is also listed.
A weird thing on someone's MySpace. This girl is a rabid biblethumper from Indiana and she has googled my name for some reason (from what I can tell she was trying to come up with original names for a screenplay character). If she only knew the worldly things the real Kim Shaughnessy was up to.
"5/26/2006 7:44 AM
Erggg... I mean... there's a Kim shaughnessy.... AND a Kate Shaughnessy... AND a Kim Schweibold... but thankfully no Kate Schweibold....sheesh... I think I'm going back to bed. :p"

That's nice, Kate. Have a good sleep.

The audience and Evin and myself officially decided that "Unsweetened and Outspoken: Queer Open Mic Series" is ridiculously and unecessarily long and complicated. The new name is still up in the air. While I'm reluctant to name it something gay cliche like "Outspoken," "Loud and Proud" or "Out Loud," Evin brought up a very interesting point that when queer people see the word "Out" in any context they will assume it's queer. Whereas "Unsweetened" doesn't necesarily strike one as being queer. If you've got any suggestions, go for it. If it's rad we'll give you free admission for life or something.
That being said, the way I promote this thing needs a major overhaul. College and University newspapers are first on the list for advertising, as well as putting up posters in campus Pride offices. Also, if I got off my ass to do the paperwork so that Xtra West would sponsor the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word event, then I suppose I should put the same amount of effort into my own project. So sponsorship is something that needs to be done. Maybe once life lets up a little I'll also be able to go to the occasional slam or open mic again, and hand out some flyers etc.
That being said, I've given myself a month to get this stuff in order. We're breaking for the last month of summer, and will be back in September when school is back in session. Most of our crowd are students, so this only makes sense, as the summer months have been a little sparse for audience as well as performers. I think I'm going to throw up a little bit in my mouth if I have to feature at my own open mic one more time for the next little while.
Once we're confident that the extra promotion and efforts are paying off, then we can look into getting the occasional feature back on the stage. I'd really like Ivan to come do a show, but he teaches on most Tuesday nights, so it's been a little difficult.
This was a very business-like entry, so I think I'll continue the rest separately...

hearing someone say "i love you" in a voicemail when looking at their picture is such a nice feeling. even when it's only a .4 second "my phone died, call you later...luvubye!"
i can't believe *that boy i used to walk up and down the drive several times a day hoping to bump into* loves me now.
i am so lucky.
i totally got what i wanted.