An Intersexed Deer?

I found this on the (En)gender Forum and it was to good to pass up.....

Man Shoots Doe With Rack of Antlers
Excite News
Nov 27, 10:31 PM (ET)

MICHIGAN, N.D. (AP) - When Carmen Erickson dropped a deer with a single shot in a cattail slough south of here, he thought he'd downed a nice buck. Unlike his shot, he was a little off. The deer was a doe.

"It's got no male utilities," said Erickson, who lives in Minot. "It has teats ... it was pretty unusual."

Six hunting partners with Erickson witnessed the doe with a 4-by-4 rack.

"I'm sure this story will be around for 10 years," he said. "At least in our group."

Erickson notified the state Game and Fish Department and received a voice mail from a biologist who said these types of deer often are bucks whose testicles haven't descended or for some reason are castrated. Erickson said that is not the case with his deer, however.

"We couldn't find any male genitals on the deer," he said.

"We turned it over, and I got a lot of heat over that. Like I was supposed to know," Erickson joked.

Gary Rankin, district game warden in Larimore, said he has seen a couple of antlered does over the years, but for a doe to have a well-developed rack is unusual.

It is not the first antlered doe to be reported in the region this year. A conservation officer for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources reported seeing a 10-point antlered doe shot near Robbin, Minn., during that state's firearms deer season. DNR conservation officers in other parts of Minnesota also reported a handful of antlered does.

Erickson said the antlered doe is a first for his crew, which has been hunting together for 25 years.

"It definitely was a keeper, he said.

---

Dr Phil's Test

Cheery You scored 42!

Others see you as fresh, lively, charming, amusing, practical, and always interesting; someone who's constantly in the center of attention, but sufficiently well-balanced not to let it go to their head. They also see you as kind, considerate, and understanding; someone who'll always cheer them up and help them out. I got a 44.

My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 99% on Personality

Link: The Dr. Phil Test written by christygirlie08 on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Postponing Telling My Boss

I decided to postpone telling my boss until I am ready to register for the classes. There is an Open House at Uconn on December 4^th, so I will talk to the school admissions officers and find out what I need for registration in to the STEP program. To put it mildly my college grades weren’t that great, I was more interested in partying than studying (Translated – I was into drugs more than books, it took me six years to get my degree. Also there was a war on and the longer you stayed in school, the long you stayed out of Vietnam).

I know I will have to get a copy of my transcripts, also I will need three letters of recommendation and I will need to find out if I will need anything else. I also worry about (You know me, I am a worrier.) my spelling and grammar, is it up to Master’s standards, will I have to write a thesis?

I could go on and on with “What ifs” so with all those questions and the pressure of the up coming holidays I decided to put off telling my boss, that’s one less thing to think about right now.

By the Way Sunday

~28 Shopping Days Left~

There's only 28 shopping days until Christmas!

It has been a month since my "Holiday Prep" questions.

Let's see how far along you are a month later...

By the way...

On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the most prepared, how prepared are you for Christmas right now?

-4, Hey, I still have 27 days left to prepare.

(By being prepared, I mean Christmas shopping, plans, schedules, etc.)

Have you decked the halls yet? If yes, what does that entail?

See my answer to the first question I will just have a Christmas tree (real, not artificial)

Are there any wrapped gifts ready to go under the tree?

See my answer to the first question. There is nothing better than next day shipping (What a great invention), also the later you shop the easier it is. With only a couple of items on the selves it makes it soooo.... easy to shop.

What are your plans for baked goodies this year?

Maybe, I have to ask when my plans are a little more organized. I like to make my Corn Pudding.

When will you attend your first Christmas party?

Next Saturday, then the next one is the following Saturday and followed by my cousins 70^th Birthday party on the seventieth.

Will you be celebrating Christmas at your home or somewhere else this year?

Christmas Eve at my nephew’s and Christmas day at my cousin’s.

Saturday Six - Episode 137

From Patrick's Weekender blog....

1. Take the quiz: What was your Thanksgiving horoscope?

Thanksgiving Horoscope for Libra

You're the sign most likely to upstage the host or hostess with your charm. Your signature dish: Green bean casserole Your signature dessert: Chocolate cake This holiday: Make plans early and stick to them. It's easy for you to change your mind.

What's Your Thanksgiving Horoscope?

2. Did you have either of those two dishes on your Thanksgiving table? Of the two, which would have been your choice?
Green Bean casserole –Yuck! And yes it was part of the dinner, but I didn’t touch it.
Who ever heard of chocolate cake for Thanksgiving? It’s pies; pumpkin, apple, blueberry or cherry pies.

3. Which single food do you blame most for your weight gain?
Stuffing

4. Take the quiz: How thankful are you?

You Are 82% Thankful

You're an incredibly thankful person, and everyone around you feels very appreciated. You inspire people to be more optimistic, forgiving, and grateful.

How Thankful Are You?

5. Which are you more thankful for: your family, your friends, your career or your possessions?
My family, they are great!

6. Did you do any shopping at all on "Black Friday?"
I repeat from Thursday Threesome – Never, Never, Noway!

Blast from the Past

I was rummaging trough my bureau draws when I came across my old college ID from my hippie days ('74).

Verses

A little bit of a change?

Thursday Threesome

::Black Friday Sales::

Onesome: Black-- I saw a white Christmas tree the other day all done up in "black and white"; I was thinking an Oakland Raiders fan might like it! Do you have any color preferences for your Christmas decorations? ...or maybe a theme you've found somewhere that resonates with you?

It is a toss up between white and multicolored lights. But definitely no flashing lights, they drive me bonkers.

Twosome: Friday--leftovers? ...or do you have plans to order a pizza in to counteract all that turkey {g}?

Actually I am going to have pizza; I am going up to Springfield, MA for a pizza party at a support group there.

Threesome: Sales-- Okay, the big question: are you going to 'attend' any of the "Black Friday" sales? ...and if you are, are you hard core serious like the 5 am "be there" crowd?

Never, never and no way!

3x Thursday

From the blog 3x Thursday

1. What are you doing for Turkey Day this year?

I am having my brother and sister-in-law, a nephew and all of my cousins on my mother’s side of the family over.

2. What dishes do you look forward to having?

Of course all of the classics: turkey, gravy, stuffing, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, green beans, pumpkin pie, cheery pie, apple cobbler

3. What did your family do for Thanksgiving when you were a kid? Do you still do it? Why/why not?

The same thing we are doing now, all getting together to celebrate Thanksgiving.

Bonus Question: Have you ever heard of a turducken? Ever eaten one? If so, how is it?

No, do you get them at Dunkin’ Donuts?

I Googled it and it sounds like a lot of work to stuff one inside the other.

Tuesday Twosome

From the blog Tuesday Twosome

1. What two things are you most thankful for?

Having such wonderful family and being able to sit down at the table and being able to think about leftovers. I know that there are a lot people in the world who do not have that luxury.

2. What are two things you like about Thanksgiving?

Being with my family and all the good food.

3. What two foods do you like the most for Thanksgiving dinner?

Turkey and stuffing

4. What two things do you do with the leftovers?

Turkey sandwiches with turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce and make turkey soup

5. What are two activities you do after eating Thanksgiving Dinner?

Napping and saying “Good-bye”. Even though I like my family, all the kids can get on your nerves after five hours.

Posting Comments

Sorry I didn’t post your comments earlier, I didn’t realize that I set the Settings where I had to approve of the comments. I had a spam posting and I was trying to delete it and I changed some of the settings, then I had a “Duh” moment when I saw the trash can by the comment

Thanksgiving Is Over, Only The Clean-up Is Left

And there wasn’t really that much cleaning up left for me, everyone helped out cleaning up. There was a total of twelve family members there for dinner; my 90 year old aunt, my brother and wife, a nephew, a whole lot of cousins, their grown kids and their grandkids. Kids racing around, the dog curled up in the middle of the floor, the adults catching up on the latest gossip, food piled high on plates, rushing around cleaning up, hugs and good-byes and “What are we going to do for Christmas?”
I was glad I had everyone over for Thanksgiving; everyone brought a dish so I only had to cook the turkey. I had to do a lot of cleaning before hand, but now the house is clean and I will probability have a New Year’s party here now that house is cleaned. I was glad I did have ever over, I am so lucky to be blessed with such a great family.
Now, let’s see, turkey sandwich (turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce) for lunch today, turkey sandwich for lunch tomorrow, Sunday turkey dinner and Monday make turkey soup.

Coming Out to the Boss

The spring course schedule for Uconn School of Social Work just came out and after looking through the catalog I decided on two courses that I want to take next semester. They are;

HUMAN BEHAVIOR IN THE SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT: MACRO THEORIES – BASC 360 – 2 credits
This course is one of two required courses on human behavior in the social environment. Both courses emphasize social work’s “person-and-environment” frame of reference although this course emphasizes the social and physical environment. Major themes stressed include theories and research about the interdependence of persons and their environments, both physical and social, political, economic, and cultural contexts, including values and ethical issues, in which our social welfare institutions function. Cultural and ethnic diversity, institutional prejudice, especially racism and sexism, issues of social, economic, and political justice, and the process of social change will be stressed. This course will also consider values and ethical issues relevant to macro social work.

NEW PERSPECTIVES ON LESBIANS AND GAY MEN
HBEL 370 - 3 credits
Examines the problems of America’s homosexual minority. Presents homophobia (fear of homosexuals or homosexuality) as a prejudice held by all people, gay and straight, in a society that holds that heterosexuality is the “normal” and “acceptable” behavior and attitude. Intended to expand students’ awareness of how homophobic attitudes affect them and their relationships with other people in both professional and non-professional settings.

Talking it over with HR, she (She knows and is VERY supportive.) thinks that it should be no problem getting reimbursed for the first course but for the second class we might have to talk to my boss. She thinks that he will approve the class but that I should tell him about my being Trans and I agreed, I think now is the time to tell him. I agreed not only because of the class but also because I might bump into someone from work while I am shopping or I might be in the news. So Tuesday is my big day.

Saturday 6

Episode 136

1. When a bill arrives in the mail, what do you do with it: pay it immediately, hold it with others and pay at once, or put it off until the last possible minute?
I pay them on Saturday morning, once a week I sit down and pay the bill for that week.

2. Which actor makes the best James Bond?
Sean Connery, the first and original. He will always be “James Bond” to me.

3. Of the foods you enjoy, which one are you least likely to try cooking yourself?
I don’t know, I try a lot of different recipes. If I like something, I try making it and that leads to a lot of disasters.

4. Take the quiz: What does your birth month reveal about you?

What does your birth month reveal about you?
October Loves to chat. Loves those who loves them. Loves to takes things at the center. Inner and physical beauty. Lies but doesn'tpretend. Gets angry often. Treats friends importantly. Always making friends. Easily hurt but recovers easily. Daydreamer. Opinionated. Does not care of what others think. Emotional. Decisive. Strong clairvoyance. Loves to travel, the arts and literature. Touchy and easily jealous. Concerned. Loves outdoors. Just and fair. Spendthrift. Easily influenced. Easily loses confidence. Loves children.
Take The Quiz Now!	Quizzes by myYearbook.com

5. Of the results you just got, which one seems the farthest from the "real" you?
Lies but doesn't pretend, gets angry often, touchy and easily jealous. – those are way off the mark. But on the other hand; Loves to travel, the arts and literature, is true

6. Will you see your extended family on Thanksgiving Day this year?
Yes, they will all be over my house and I should be cleaning instead of doing these silly quizzes.

T.G.I.F.

~~ Get Lost!~~

1. What one thing have you lost that you'd most like to have back?

That's a hard question to answer; I think I would have to say my early photos. Somehow they got lost when I moved.

2. What is the one thing you have that you wish you could get rid of?

Three guests and the first two don’t count.

3. What is the one thing you have that you pray you'd never lose?

My mind

4. What is the biggest financial loss that you've ever experienced?

That is an easy question, back in the gas crisis of the seventies I invested in a natural gas company in Canada. They price of Canadian gas stock stocks were raising like crazy as they exported it to the U.S. and I invested heavily and was making a good profit. But then Canada put a band on exports, crack.... over night the price of the shares drop to where I ending up with a big lost.

5. When have you most felt like losing it?

The night I spent in the emergency room because of a heart problem.

Trangender Day Of Remembrance

Every year all across the country this month we pause and remember all of the transpeople who were murdered just because they were transgendered. The event is held in November to honor Rita Hester, who was murder in November of 1998 as she rollerbladed down the streets of Boston and like most murders of transperson, it has never been solved. We do this to publicly mourn and honor the lives of our brothers and sisters who might otherwise be forgotten. Through these vigils, we express love and respect for those who were murdered and also to raise public awareness of hate crimes against transgendered people. We ask all of you in the trans-community, our spouses, our families, our friends and allies to come forward and hold hands in memory of those who have died. To find a location near you click here and a complete list of those who were murdered world wide.

In Hartford the Transgender Day of Remembrance is Monday November 20. A short candlelight vigil at 6:00 on the steps of Hartford City Hall, a short speech by a member of the Mayor’s Commission on Diversity and a reading of the names of those who have been murdered this year. Then we will go over to the MCC Church at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd at 155 Wyllys Street in Hartford where we will hold a short service at 7:00. This year’s theme is “Carrying the Flame Forward” and will focus on the next generation of Trans-Youth.

If you do not want to go en-femme, then go in drab, but go.

The list of names of those murdered here in the United States just keeps on growing. This year’s list those who were murdered......

Vanessa Facen
11/21/2005
Stopped breathing during a melee
with sheriff's deputies at the
downtown jail in
San Diego on Nov. 17
and died after four days on life support.
San Diego, California CA

Unknown person wearing women's cloths
11/0/2005
Northridge, California CA
beat to death with a garden hoe
by John Freeman

Simone Walton
12/04/05
Dallas, TX
Shot multiple times

Alexis (Brandon) L. King
2/3/2006
Nicetown, Pennsylvania PA
shot to death

Tiffany Berry
2/9/2006
Memphis, Tennessee
Shot 3 times

Melissa Green
( known to friends as Mo)
3/21/2006
Phoenix, Arizona
Shot to death

Alfred Dibble
5/20/2006
Stockton, California
fatal beating to the head

These are only those that have been murdered, violent crimes against the GLBT community keeps increasing each year and the FBI does not track hate crimes against the Transcommunity.

It’s time to stop the violence!

Doctor’s Appointment

I had my six month check-up with my Edo today and he had an intern there that did my preliminary work up. Well I was the first transperson that he met, he asked all the right questions about my history, took my blood pressure, listen to my heart, etc and then the doctor came in asked him questions about what he found out. That’s when it got interesting as he was telling the doctor his findings he kept on getting my pronouns mixed. He was trying so hard to be polite and I was trying so hard not to laugh that I felt sorry for him. We had a mini Trans 101 class as the doctor went over the medical treatment for someone with Gender Identity Disorder (GID) for close to an hour.

After I got out of the doctors office I went shopping for Thanksgiving and bought a 23 lbs. turkey, hopefully that will be enough for fourteen people.

Did Florida Foul Another Ballot?

From Wired News

Here we go again; it seems Florida will never get it right. Once again they muck up the vote….

The machines, critics say, may have lost more than 18,000 votes cast in Sarasota County last week for a congressional seat that Republican candidate Vern Buchanan seized by a margin of fewer than 400 votes.

That's because 18,382 ballots recorded no vote for either Buchanan or his Democratic opponent, Christine Jennings, in the 13th Congressional District -- a House seat that previously belonged to Katherine Harris, the former Florida secretary of state who played a pivotal role in the 2000 presidential recount.

Critics are calling this new recount a sham, since the touch-screen machines have no paper trail and questions about the missing votes remain unanswered. They say a planned legal challenge contesting the results, likely to be filed next week, could help prove once and for all that electronic voting systems are unreliable.

You would think that they have learned their lesson, but it seems that they haven’t or maybe they don’t want to have a fair and honest election. Maybe they fear that their candidate wouldn’t win in a fair election. The election officials claim the missing votes were the result of voter apathy over the choice of candidates, dismissing voters complaints on election day of miss counted votes as trivial.

Real Art Ways

Last night at Real Art Ways Creative Cocktail Hour party a woman came up to me and told me she was at the Uconn awards reception. She said that she liked my speech and thought it was great that I was volunteering time.

The art was a lot better then it was at the last CCH I went to in October. Now and through January 27 they are featuring Polish artists the exhibit is called POZA. This month there was one video that I liked by the artist Pawel Wojtasik which was of a large aquarium with seals swimming around and the reflections of the surface of the water, very soothing and hypnotizing.

There is controversy surround the advertisements for the exhibit, it seem that a national outdoor advertiser would not allow the ads on their billboards…..

Billboard Company Refuses to Run Images of Couples Holding Hands; Billboards intended as part of a Large Exhibition of Polish Art and Film at Real Art Ways

OCTOBER 27, 2006: A series of billboards by a Polish artist whose work is in the United States as part of Real Art Ways’ new exhibition of contemporary Polish art was rejected by a local billboard company, Lamar Outdoor Advertising of Hartford, which is refusing to run the images.

The images intended for the billboards were created by Karolina Bregula. The 27-year-old photographer took pictures of same sex couples holding hands. The images have been displayed on billboards in Poland, where part of Bregula’s intention was to make visible a segment of the population that has struggled for acceptance and recognition.

As part of POZA, Real Art Ways multimedia exhibition of the work of 31 contemporary Polish artists, three of Bregula’s images of same-sex couples holding hands were to be displayed by Lamar Outdoor Advertising on billboards in Hartford and New Britain.

After initially agreeing to do the project, Lamar Outdoor Advertising rejected Bregula’s images, and refused to run them on the billboards. (The company gave the go-ahead to the two text-only billboards by another artist that didn’t have images, but Real Art Ways withdrew them in protest of Lamar Outdoor Advertising’s rejection of Bregula’s work.)

In a conversation with Real Art Ways’ Executive Director Will K. Wilkins, Lamar’s regional vice president and general manager, Steve Hebert, stated that the company was concerned that the images could be perceived as controversial, and perhaps be marked by graffiti. When asked by Wilkins if he had any groups in particular in mind, Hebert said he did not.

"To make a decision like this based on the anticipated actions of bigots," says Wilkins, "does a real disservice to the gay and lesbian community and the broader community as well.”

Marek Bartelik, guest curator of the show, says the images are no more provocative than "a print ad for the Gap or Bennetton."

Real Art Ways is committed to providing support for new ideas and disciplines, and has steadily built a diverse and unique audience that crosses lines of color, sexual orientation, economics and age. This act of censorship is of particular concern to the organization, and to the community it serves. Real Art Ways will protect the rights of artists to express themselves without fear of censorship or interference. Says Kristina Newman-Scott, Visual Arts Manager of Real Art Ways, “Part of my job at Real Art Ways is to ensure that exhibiting artists have access to all the resources they need to represent their vision. It is unfortunate that in 2006 we are still faced with this kind of censorship.”

# # #

You can see the highly controversial photos that cause the controversy here.

FOUR FOR FRIDAY

Q1 - Thanksgiving: Eleven percent (11%) of Americans admit to unbuttoning their pants before, during, or after their Thanksgiving day meal. How about you...do you keep it buttoned up or do you enjoy a little extra room when eating a hearty meal?

Naw, I just wear a larger size pants

Q2 - Education: How well do you think math and science is being taught in American schools?

Very poorly, they do not teach math and science basic concepts. They don’t teach the logic behind the science and math, the why’s.

Q3 - Politics: If you could choose the major candidates for the 2008 U.S. presidential race, who would you designate to run, and who you like to see win out?

If the race was between McCain and John Edwards – I think that would be a very good match up.

If the race was between McCain and Hillary Clinton – I think that McCain would win

Q4 - You're in Charge: If you could run any corporation, college or university, or organization in the world for one month, which one would you choose and what sorts of changes do you think you'd make?

I think that I would pick the oil companies and cut the obscene corporate salaries and profit.

Thursday Poem

Trans-

I look in the mirror and I see a man.
I blink, and I see a woman.
But, I am I.
I don’t feel any different.
How can I be both?
Can both survive?
Will one have to be destroyed, in order for the other to live?
Will I still be me?

The Thursday Threesome

::A Day in the Rain::

Onesome: A Day--or so ago? Oops, wrong meme. Wait, that might be cool... "A Day or So Ago, I saw......." You fill it in !
A gaggle of geese flying south.

Twosome: in-- case of rain, do you carry an umbrella? ...or do you just hoof it in a hat?
I carry an umbrella, a very beat up old umbrella that has seen its better days.

Threesome: the Rain-- in Spain? Nah, how about locally: has the rainy season kicked in for you yet? Snow? Nothing? Come on, it's almost Thanksgiving here in the States!
It has been rain for the last two days and it is suppose to stop tomorrow after noon. There were snow squalls when I was up at our cottage for the weekend of November 4th .

3x Thursday:

From the blog 3x Thursday:

Traffic Patterns

1. Do you live in an area where there's a lot of traffic? If so, where is it? Describe.
No, I live out in suburbs, next to a small city and traffic is light even at rush hour.

2. Do you have to drive in high traffic areas very often? When you do, does it drive you crazy, or are you cool with it? Why?
About one or twice a week I go into Hartford and it drives me nuts. I hate it because people ignore stop light, pedestrians walk out in front of you and all of the emergency vehicles. It seems like there is always s police car flying by with its light flashing and siren blaring. Agh.....

3.