Day 1: Transweek

One word to describe it is excellent!

I went to the keynote talk by Dallas Denny… excellent!

And that was followed by a workshop given by Vanessa Edwards Foster and Dennise Norris also excellent!

Keynote:

A Splendor of Gender

Dallas Denny

Before the mid-1990s, the vocabulary we used to describe and identify ourselves was limited and the world expected us and we expected ourselves to fit into one of only a few rigidly defined gender boxes. Those most readily available were crossdresser, transsexual, and drag queen or king. Once we selected or were forced into a box, expectations were placed upon our identifies and behavior even by our peers. Other identities, like androgyne, were available but rarely used. As the turn of the century approached, however, something happened: constraints that kept crossdressers and transsexuals apart and separated both those categories from drag queen were removed. As we began to talk to one another we realized we all had much in common and that many of us didn’t fit comfortably into those boxes. As a result, we began to explore new identities and terms and stopped requiring ourselves to fit the stereotypes to which we had been assigned. The result is the splendor of gender we see today. Come, and we’ll talk about our new identities and our new options.

Workshop:

The U.S. Trans Movement: History of activism, politics and media from the 80’s onward

Vanessa Edwards Foster, et al.

Each presenter will cover their varying perspectives of their political/activist affiliations through the years, covering the inception of Trans activism and advocacy, as well as the beginnings of Trans media coverage.

They covered a lot of stuff that I knew about but to hear it from the people who were the ones doing it is priceless!

I was going to bow out of the awards dinner Saturday but then I found out where it was going to be… Montano’s Restaurant. The food was good at the Crown & Anchor but it wasn’t… well it was a nightclub not a restaurant. Now this is a restaurant! I only ate once at Montano’s but it was very good so it should be interested to see when they give out the awards. Before the meal? During or after the meal I hope so. Because I want to split right after the meal, as those who follow my blog know that I’m not a big fan about driving at night.