Another quickie here and congratulations to Riley Carter Millington for hopefully another sign of changing attitudes in society. Must admit I am not a Eastenders fan but kudos to them or is it a case of fashion as Bethany Black says…
“It's about time we saw more trans roles on television. Being trans is like being gay was in the late 90s - it's a cool thing, so people are saying, 'Let's go and do this as a storyline'."
Bethany Black
Do you agree?
Read the full article on the BBC website here.
This blog title doesn't have exactly the same ring as Patsy Gallants 'From New York to L.A.' but following on from my post Sparkle blog I thought I’d jump in before this to let you know about this one before it's over.
Pink Punters in Milton Keynes is well known for it’s ‘Every second Friday of the Month’ Big Night Out (BNO). A night for T-girls to go out chat, dance and feel more accepted.
So anyways this weekend is the annual Big Weekend Out!
Also as part of the BWO this Saturday night (21:30-06:30) is a Hollywood theme night. So for those confident enough to be a Marilyn Monroe, Madonna or hell, even a George Clooney, go along and sparkle in Milton Keynes. And if you don’t want to be someone else, just slip into a posh dress and go as you.
Below is some of the official blurb but hit the links in this blog to find out more.
From noon until early evening Pink Punters Nightclub and its grounds on the A5 at 2 Watling Street, Fenny Stratford, Milton Keynes (MK2 2BS), will again be transformed into a Transgender Community marketplace, also featuring live entertainment. It will become a haven for those wanting to spend a few hours (en femme or not) browsing, shopping, meeting old and making new friends, and having a ‘jolly good time’ in a very supportive environment.
ENTRANCE IS FREE!
What can I say about Sparkle… Wow.
It’s perhaps the biggest little thing on the planet. Sparkle is the largest free trans event in the world. There are a number of workshops and many surrounding events as well as the focus of the event, the main stage where lots of great entertainment really brought the park to life. I won’t go into the program as you can see that on the Sparkle website. I’ll just give my impression.
I cannot state enough how that small area of Manchester known as the Gay Village, around the main Sparkle site at Sackville Gardens is such an amazing place to be. Sackville Gardens itself was a really lovely location and the weather last weekend was thankfully great too.
In the gardens (a small park) there were loads of stalls. Many selling things like wigs or make-overs but also a stall with the Greater Manchester Police campaigning to abolish hate crime and the Beaumont Society all supporting and promoting the Trans cause.
Sponsors were many but ASDA was a particular stand out if not in visual presence but in terms of importance, at least for me. Mainstream companies getting involved are crucial and the announcement that the National lottery is awarding money to help in the cause is very welcome and a sign that some of the wrongly placed negativity towards Trans’ people is hopefully changing. Similarly whilst I’m not a Corrie fan a big shout out to Kym Marsh who came along and support the event too.
Sparkle seems such a beautiful and yet fragile event. For me personally the big thing other than the main event, was how in the village bars and clubs there was such a mix of people. Trans, Lesbians, Gay, straight - even a few hen parties passed through. Everyone just having a great time. Sparkle was not only about a Transgender celebration but a celebration about empowering each of us to be free to be us without worry regarding usual restrictive gender binary labelling.
Thank you Sparkle ;)
Sometimes being Trans / CD / Tgirl whatever can feel a little like Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole. But you know falling can be fun. It's the landing you need to worry about...
Okies so let's think of starting 2015 Feeling good. As I say, it's often not the best feeling to be Trans or whatever as we aren't the norm' and don't always appear to fit-in, but I like to look at the flip-side of this. In what is becoming a trademark I'm stealing bits of other things to put my point over. The first is taken from one of my regular emails from,
Steppingoutsecrets
Lucille Sorella gave ten benefits to being Transgender but I've whittled it down to five as I thought the others, whilst valid could easily apply to say, hiking or aerobics ;)
Five very good things about being Transgender
1. It allows you to integrate the best of both genders into your personality.
2. It motivates you to stay in shape and take care of yourself. (A girl’s gotta look good, right?)
3. It makes you more empathetic towards women.
4. It makes you an interesting person. (Normal is boring!)
5. It gives you more compassion towards others who don’t fit the norms of society. Important one that!
My second piece of inspiration comes from Avril Lavigne's "Anything but Ordinary" track. You can hear it on You tube here,
Avril Lavigne - Anything but ordinary
But it's really the lyrics that make it. Here is the main section and it describes very well how I often feel and in some way I'm proud of being and well, it makes me feel good!
To walk within the lines
Would make my life so boring
I want to know that I
Have been to the extreme
So knock me off my feet
Come on now give it to me
Anything to make me feel alive
Is it enough to love?
Is it enough to breathe?
Somebody rip my heart out
And leave me here to bleed
Is it enough to die?
Somebody save my life
I'd rather be anything but ordinary please
I'd rather be anything but ordinary please.
Let down your defences
Use no common sense
If you look you will see
that this world is a beautiful
accident turbulent suculent
opulent permanent, no way
I wanna taste it
Don't wanna waste it.
Sometimes I get so weird
I even freak myself out
I laugh my self to sleep
It's my lullaby
