Day 4 Transweek

Tin Pan Ally and Mariette Pathy Allen.

I had lunch at Tin Pan Ally, one of my favorite restaurant… I had a monster hamburger that I ate without the roll. I sat at a table with a few Transweek attendees, one had been coming longer than I have.

The Keynote…

The Trans Community Since 1978: A Slideshow
Mariette Pathy Allen

Mariette’s ongoing photographic work focuses on the intimacy, joy, and heartache of transgender and gender-expansive communities across the globe. Her earlier work, which began in 1978, offered images of relatable people instead of the freakish and sensationalistic. Mariette will share her work and discuss her latest book, I Was The Girl: Art by Vicky West, which focuses on the life and art of Vicky West, who served as art director of Drag Magazine in the 1970s and 80s and was Mariette’s introduction and mentor in the trans community.

From her website,

Mariette Pathy Allen is a photographer of transgender, genderfluid, and gender variant communities, as well as other continuous series such as Birth and Families, The Face of New Jersey, People With Art, Flowers and Fantasy, Texas, and Scapes. In 1978, on the last day of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Allen met Vicky West, a trans woman she befriended and through whom she was first invited to Fantasia Fair, a transgender conference where she would serve as official photographer. She traveled across the US to many other transgender conferences, participated in political activism, and worked for the Transgender Tapestry magazine. She continues to pursue the work of photographing, interviewing, and advocating on behalf of gender-nonconforming people.

I’ve known her since the early 2000s and have a number of autographed copies of her books.

Each year when I register I always chuckle to myself when I get to the questions about photos. I chuckle because my picture and my name is out there on the web probably.

I’ve been on PBS “Where We Live!” all the local network affiliate Sunday morning talking heads shows, including Fox 61. I’ve been on the news for local issues like when we were trying to pass different laws. I remember being interviewed on a protest line when we were protesting DCF putting a trans girl in to the boys prison.

So when it come to checking the box in the registration, that’s why I chuckle.