I Am At The LOB Today

This afternoon (and maybe into the late evening) I am at the Legislative Office Building testifying on a bill. It is going to a long, long day. There is no such thing as a short hearing… well I take that back; last month I got out of there before the afternoon rush hour.

But today our bill is the next to the last bill being heard, so unless a miracles happens I probably will not be out of there until after dinner.

I wanted to go to a talk at the Mark Twain house but I guess that is out of the question.

TRANScribing: Gender Identity, Creativity, and Self Expression
Wednesday, March 18, 7:30 p.m.

The program will feature three transgender authors:  Joy Ladin, a poet and the first openly transgender professor at an Orthodox Jewish institution, Tobias Davis, a transgender activist, playwright, and young adult novelist, and Dr. Joe Wenke, a writer, social critic and LGBTQ rights activist.

The panel will discuss their varied journeys and how they create their writings.  Topics will include what audience the authors are writing for, does their transgender status make it hard to get visibility for their work, and how they use their writing as a form of self-expression.  The discussion will be moderated by Jacques Lamarre, Director of Communications and Programs at the Mark Twain House.

Joy Ladin, Gottesman Professor of English at Yeshiva University, is the author of seven books of poetry, including Impersonation, Forward Fives award winner Coming to Life, and Lambda Literary Award finalist Transmigration. Her memoir, Through the Door of Life:  A Jewish Journey Between Genders, was a 2012 National Jewish Book Award finalist. Her work has appeared in many periodicals, including American Poetry Review, Southern Review, Prairie Schooner, Parnassus, Southwest Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, and North American Review, and has been recognized with a Fulbright Scholarship.

Tobias K. Davis currently works, lives, and writes in Massachusetts. He is a transgender activist, playwright, and young adult novelist. His works have been well received by both the transgender community and the theater community at large. He strives to create works which are entertaining, educational, and accessible. A graduate of Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, Davis has been featured in Newsweek magazine, on air at KFAI Radio, in the San Francisco Bay Times and several local papers in the Pioneer Valley and the Twin Cities.

Joe Wenke is a writer, social critic and LGBTQ rights activist. He is the founder and publisher of TransÜber, a publishing company with a focus on promoting LGBTQ rights, free thought and equality for all people. He is the author of several works of nonfiction as well as the recently published novel The Talk Show and Fresh Air, a book of poems. Releases in 2015 are Looking for Potholes: Poems and The Human Agenda: Conversations About Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. Wenke received a B.A. in English from the University of Notre Dame, an M.A. in English from Penn State and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Connecticut.