 |
| Providing for the personal growth and fulfillment of those whose lives are affected by crossdressing |
 BACK ISSUES March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005
Newsletter
Author |
OCTOBER 2007
CONTENTS
[Upfront] The Month
(Just click on the bracketed title [xxxxx] above to go directly to an article.)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [Upfront] THE MONTH Gloria Fenton wonders, with so many people touched by crossdressing, why don't we hear more from them? Diane Frank reviews the current Cleveland production of “Act a Lady.” Bottom line - it's a must see event! And, she shares a poignant moment from a recent High Holy Days celebration. Inner View: The Dali Lama speaks on the search for true happiness. Art: Amanda König: artist, medieval reenactor, gymnast, and sometimes gender-bender. In the News: It ain't easy being a women, even when your genetics say you are. Humor and more! Elaine - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [From the Chair] DO THE MATH By a very simple, basic, societal definition, a crossdresser is anyone that, for any reason, wears anything associated with the opposite sex--whether publicly or in privacy. So, by definition, any guy that has ever had anything feminine on their bodies, even if it was only once, and done in private, has crossdressed, and, therefore, could be labeled a crossdresser if someone chose to do that. Being transgendered can refer to someone that wears just one item associated with the opposite sex to someone that has completed sexual reassignment surgery. Over the years I have heard speculation that anywhere from 1% to 5% of the male population may fit into the definition of a crossdresser or transgendered. Just in this country alone, by those percentages, there are potentially one and one half to seven and one half million guys who could be labeled crossdressers or transgendered. Now, just in my case alone, not counting anyone I know from any groups, there are at least forty people who know I have crossdressed. So my crossdressing has in one way or another affected their lives by them knowing me. Let’s just say, however, for the sake of argument that an average of ten people know about each crossdresser or transgendered individual, and, therefore, have had their lives affected. Even by those numbers alone, anywhere from fifteen million to seventy-five million other people have had their lives affected by crossdressing or transgenderism. And that is just in this country alone. Counting everybody in these categories, there are potentially over sixteen million to over eighty million people in this country who have lives affected, even in small ways, by crossdressing or transgender concerns. Even on the low end of that projection, over sixteen million people is a whole lot of people. If these numbers are correct, then at least one person in every twenty in this country has a life affected by crossdressing or transgenderism. The number could be as high as one in four people. To me, these numbers prove one point. There are a whole lot of people out there affected by crossdressing or transgendered concerns, either directly or indirectly, that nobody has any true idea about. Where are these people? Why don’t we hear from them? How about telling me what you think? Gloria Sue Fenton index" link in upper left-hand column of this newsletter.) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [Frank Talk] OUT & ABOUT By Diane Frank ACT A LADY - a play by Jordan Harrison These days, when I learn of a play or musical, or movie featuring crossdressing, I inwardly groan and roll my eyes. I know I have a duty to go and dutifully chuckle at the same tired jokes about men in dresses all the while bearing up under the gaze of the mundane folk wondering how I am breaking the fourth wall and showing up sitting next to them in the audience. Still, there was “I am my Own Wife,” which was far off the well-worn track. And now there is “Act a Lady.” “Act a Lady” takes every bit of the comedy and drama we know so well about all this fuss about clothing and gender and turns it inside out and upside down in a fast-paced, literate and intimate romp that can leave you close to tears and laughing at the same time. Ably performed in the shoebox Convergence-Continuum theatre, this show is a must-see! In 1927 the Wattleburg Elks Club prepares to perform period drama in Marie Antoinette drag as a benefit for toy-less children at Christmas, thus launching the dramatist’s delight, a play within a play. Miles, wistfully played by C-C founder and artistic director Clyde Simon, is a dreamer who escapes dreary mid-west convention through acting in the Elk club’s benefits. His wife Dorothy, played by the feisty and brittle Lucy Bredeson-Smith, is the local accordion teacher with a penchant for venting her frustration through little near-improvised songs. She is horrified at the idea of the men folk borrowing her “lacies” to prance around in public, and quickly punctures the claim that it’s just for the kids. The guys aren’t doing it just for the kids; they’re going to have fun. That horrifies her even more of course, why should a man have fun when he acts a lady. She doesn’t! Of course this is innocent 1920’s fun, when gay still meant happy. Except it doesn’t, as is both foreshadowed and revealed later, when Casper reifies his long repressed dreams in the role of ingénue and can’t and won’t put the genie back in the bottle. We can ignore the conflation of gay with crossdressing due to the period setting of the piece. The play also conforms to the old notion that men learn something important when they walk around in high heels for a while, but what is learned here isn’t just by the men, and it is in no way the conventional, patronizing “now I know what the little woman goes through” tripe. Acting is dangerous; it lets out stuff we keep buried. It costs something, both to the players and the audience, when they are well and properly taken outside their accustomed habits and haunts. Each of the characters has a revelation about themselves, and suggests to the audience the possibilities that lie buried within. And if this sounds too serious, don’t fret. All this revelation takes place at a blisteringly directed (by Arthur Grothe) madcap pace that combines period farce with 20’s silent movie melodrama and stretches the actors’ abilities to clearly render the exotically and lushly worded script. Three other players complete the cast of six: The character True, played by Wes Shofner, is well delivered as an irresistible lady’s man whose self confidence is shaken when Lorna, a make-up artist returned home from Hollywood (the soulful Denise Astorino), finds him attractive in powder and paint and later by Casper’s mawkish attraction to him. Last, but not least is the imported director of the show, Zina, played ala Dietrich by the ferocious Lauri Hammer. Zina it seems makes a career of putting on drag shows in the backwaters of the country, making a vocation of bending genders and minds. One of the interesting devices that blurs the lines of gender is applied towards the end of the play. Each of the male leads, semi-dressed in period costume has a dialogue with his male self, played by one of the women actresses. (What was it Victoria said about a woman playing a man playing a woman?) The device is made trickier because to some extent those impressions then seem to rub off on the female characters the women play. It’s quite a sight to behold. Located in the Tremont district on the near west side, C-C Theatre seats only 50, in a space smaller than a McMansion’s rec room, or even more modest living rooms. Certainly, the forced proximity brings us closer to events of the evening. But more to the point: seating is limited and the run closes on October 20th. In addition, the web site has just announced that Saturday, Oct. 13 and Thursday, Oct. 18 are SOLD OUT. Act soon, or wait uncertainly to see if some other theatre company will have the daring to put this play on. Address: The Liminis 2438 Scranton Road Cleveland, OH 44113 (216) 687.0074 http://www.convergence-continuum.org Book of Life My gentle readers may remember that I've drawn a veil over talking about my life at temple and elsewhere out of concern for the privacy of those groups. I would like to describe something that happened recently at temple however. We have just finished celebrating the High Holy Days, Rosh Hashana (New Years) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). As a matter of trying to keep our identity since we've joined a larger congregation, our little LGBT Chavurah (fellowship) tries to sit together in larger services, in the same way that friends and family like to sit together. Arriving just a tad late (parking is always crazy for the High Holy Days), I found I couldn't sit with the main group. My friend Janice decided she'd come sit next to me, so I wouldn't be alone at the service. The only two seats we could find together were at the very back of the room...which was fine for me, being tall, but a sacrifice for her, being rather short. As we stood and sat at various times in the service she glanced to the right to see out a window. "We were meant to sit here," she said. "I don't know if you'll be able to see this, but look at that big tree, I see a metaphor there." So the next time we rose, I looked to the side at the tree. It was a large, healthy tree full of deep green leaves at the end of summer...and there amidst all the green was one, single bright orange-red leaf. And, that was how she saw me. So I wish all a Happy New Year from my calendar, and a wish that you may be inscribed in the book of life. index" link in upper left-hand column of this newsletter.) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [Inner View] THE NATURE OF HAPPINESS Lack of understanding of the true nature of happiness, it seems to me, is the principal reason why people inflict sufferings on others. They think either that the other's pain may somehow be a cause of happiness for themselves or that their own happiness is more important, regardless of what pain it may cause. But this is shortsighted: no one truly benefits from causing harm to another sentient being. Whatever immediate advantage is gained at the expense of someone else is shortlived. In the long run, causing others misery and infringing their rights to peace and happiness result in anxiety, fear, and suspicion within oneself. Such feelings undermine the peace of mind and contentment which are the marks of happiness. True happiness comes not from a limited concern for one's own well-being, or that of those one feels close to, but from developing love and compassion for all sentient beings. Here, love means wishing that all sentient beings should find happiness, and compassion means wishing that they should all be free of suffering. The development of this attitude gives rise to a sense of openness and trust that provides the basis for peace. --The Dalai Lama, from The Dalai Lama: A Policy of Kindness - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  "The other side of the mirror. Different. But still all the same."
-- Amanda König
Art by Amanda König (aka Einheitstochter) Amanda is a twenty-something artist from München, Germany. Her creations reflect an original and refreshing, primitive - naïve - folk art style. The first and third works were done for the Harry Potter Crossdressing Challenge.  Love Letters  Private Time  Strawberries  Dear Friend - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [In the News] McGill (University) Tribune By Jesse Chaser Posted: 12 March 2007 UNCOMMONLY THOUGHTFUL: It ain't easy being a woman The other day I was chatting with a friend of mine - let's call her Beth - who self-identifies as a woman. She brought this fact up and asked me whether this was a problem. Beth said, "I know that I'm enforcing the gender binary," but she really feels that identifying as a woman and being identified as such has profoundly affected her life. I suddenly wondered whether men had a similar attachment to their gender identity or whether this was more of an issue for women. Being part of a "minority" that is actually in the majority is such an odd, but hardly anomalous, situation (e.g. the poor are much more numerous than the rich). Beth is conflicted because she feels for me and understands how constricting I personally find the categories of woman and man. At the same time, she believes that it's a part of who she is. She has sometimes enjoyed being identified as such and at times loathed it but it has been something she has had to live with regardless. "What should I do?," she asked me. I replied honestly, "I don't know." Beth complained that she was confused and didn't know how to identify or what was right. Not identifying as a woman appeals to her belief that gender is a social construct and thus the categories of "man" and "woman" mean nothing, but throwing aside something that has been such a staple categorizing factor in her life is hard too. "For god's sake," she said, "its how I decide which bathroom to use!" "Woman" is also how others see her and thus how others treat her and she knows that this has affected her life and the person that she has become. It also seems wrong to pretend that something like gender does not matter when so many people are not only affected by it but suffer because of it. Unfortunately, either choice seems wrong, like she's betraying herself. She looked at me, very sincerely, clearly desperate for me to tell her something, anything that would resolve her conflict. I was shocked that she became so visibly upset over this issue. I'm not sure why I found this so bizarre. Maybe it's because she's straight, white, smart, very attractive and has a great boyfriend--in short, society's conception of normal. Don't get me wrong, she's certainly not average. She gets exceptional marks, is very involved in community and political organizations and is a kind and caring person. She's an uncommon human being, just in a common way. That is something that I have often longed for and, in my weaker moments, tried to be. I was surprised that someone who seemingly had it all could be struggling with the very same question that I wrestle with all of the time. I briefly broke eye contact, looked down, gave an understanding half smile and replied with the only answer that I could. I doubt that it was helpful and I'm sure that it wasn't what she wanted but it was all that I had: "Welcome to my world." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"You know, who you choose to be around you, lets you know who you are."
Han: The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [Memoir] SANDY'S LIE By Gloria Fenton Sandy was the first person I ever told that I liked to dress and look like a woman. Sandy was the first woman who allowed me to wear her clothes, shoes, make-up, jewelry, and accessories, so that I could dress and look like a woman. And since I did have to be covert about wearing Sandy’s things, and Sandy helped me in doing that, Sandy was the first to knowingly and willingly be a part of the cover up of my secret. Actually Sandy, on her own, came up with the plan that allowed me to wear everything she had. To do that, Sandy created a premise that left me alone in her parent’s home and got them to approve it. Now, I did do Sandy’s house chores while I was alone at her parents, so the premise used wasn’t untrue. But, the real point was Sandy did not tell her parents I would be dressed in Sandy’s things while I was doing her chores. So Sandy, on her own, lied to her parents in order to give me time, opportunity, means, and cover to fully dress in her things. By the time Sandy told me her plan, she already had it worked out and approved of by her parents. When Sandy worked out her plan, she knew that she had stockings, shoes, and a full slip of hers that I had had on, that had fit me. By the time I did Sandy’s chores for the first time while dressed in her clothes, even I had figured out that none of it could have happened without Sandy making it possible and therefore, wanting it to happen. Looking back, Sandy knew what she was doing. Sandy knew the chance she was taking by enabling and helping to cover up what was then “our secret,” and she did so willingly. Sandy wasn’t forced to do this, nor did she have to do anything at all. I can say that her love for me was part of why Sandy did what she did. But I guess I have always wondered if there was far more to her choices than I ever knew about. index" link in upper left-hand column of this newsletter.) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [Last Laugh] ENVY  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Group Information The Alpha Omega Society is a non-profit social support group for heterosexual crossdressers and their wives or partners. We primarily serve Cleveland and nearby Northeast Ohio communities.
Publication Information Contributions of articles are welcomed, but may be altered in the editing process, with the author’s intent retained, or may be rejected, whether solicited or not. We will exchange newsletters with any other similar group.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Want to know when the latest newsletter is available? Ask to be included on our confidential newsletter mailing list.Like the content? Want to see something different? Send your newsletter comments to: Newsletter Editor
|