Marlena Dahlstrom
03-10-2007, 01:18 PM
Had a nice weekend going down to visit my Mom for her birthday. While I was there, we saw an excellent exhibition of Ansel Adams' photos, which I highly recommend seeing if you're in the Orange County area this spring.
On the flight home, I was reading the wonderful "Butch is a Noun," (http://www.amazon.com/Butch-Noun-S-Bear-Bergman/dp/097715825X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-9291188-8518824?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1173198269&sr=8-1) which caught the eye of the woman sitting next to me. Turns out she was a med student who's planning to go into psychiatry, so she was interested in learning about a variety of people's experiences. Which in turn led me to also recommend "She's Not the Man I Married," (http://www.amazon.com/Shes-Not-Man-Married-Transgender/dp/1580051936/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-9291188-8518824?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1173198450&sr=8-1) and in turn to mention that I crossdress and do some Trans 101. We had a nice discussion and I could see the lightbulbs going on in her head. An added bonus was that it turned out she hates flying, so our talk took her mind off that.
So hopefully it'll lead to one more person in the psychiatric community who's got a more realistic picture of what trans people are like.
Standard disclaimer: Going out of the house was right for me, it may or may not be right for you. If you've got no desire to leave the house, that's fine, I'm not trying to push you out the door. But for those who've been yearning to do so, I just want to let you the world may not be as scary a place as you think.
On the flight home, I was reading the wonderful "Butch is a Noun," (http://www.amazon.com/Butch-Noun-S-Bear-Bergman/dp/097715825X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-9291188-8518824?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1173198269&sr=8-1) which caught the eye of the woman sitting next to me. Turns out she was a med student who's planning to go into psychiatry, so she was interested in learning about a variety of people's experiences. Which in turn led me to also recommend "She's Not the Man I Married," (http://www.amazon.com/Shes-Not-Man-Married-Transgender/dp/1580051936/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-9291188-8518824?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1173198450&sr=8-1) and in turn to mention that I crossdress and do some Trans 101. We had a nice discussion and I could see the lightbulbs going on in her head. An added bonus was that it turned out she hates flying, so our talk took her mind off that.
So hopefully it'll lead to one more person in the psychiatric community who's got a more realistic picture of what trans people are like.
Standard disclaimer: Going out of the house was right for me, it may or may not be right for you. If you've got no desire to leave the house, that's fine, I'm not trying to push you out the door. But for those who've been yearning to do so, I just want to let you the world may not be as scary a place as you think.