Nov

24

Giving Thanks

Politics and Opinion / Transgender Life  Posted by / 9 comments

I believe that Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday, and, more to the point, a wonderful philosophy.  It seems to me that the happiest people make thanks-giving a daily way of life.

We should never take for granted the things that we have, even if there is so much more that we may want.  Nothing is ever achieved alone, so there is always someone to thank, or failing all else, just thank your lucky stars.

Food in our mouths, health in our bodies, peace in our part of the world, maybe a little love in our lives – just to name a few things – these are essential features of our lives that we just assume will be there for us.

That’s awfully presumptuous. 

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Nov

23

Red Cap Redhead

Out in the World / Transgender Life  Posted by / 5 comments

Picked up a morning coffee at Stumptown Roasters (yet another terrific NYC cafe!) before heading to Penn Station to catch a train to Philadelphia cheesesteaks!img_0520a_thumb

Oh, yes.  I do follow my stomach (unless there are more tantalizing temptations to distract me. 😉 )

So, there we are, having boarded the train with our two large valises, when GF gives me “the look.”  Yes, dear, I know…

Suddenly, it is this girl’s duty to heave those suitcases onto the overhead rack – and from the stares that came my way, I was either being perceived as an incredibly able-bodied woman or, well, you know…

galanga - ny times
Nov

22

Perfect Harmony – Galanga

Food and Drink  Posted by / 0 comments

I have had more than my share of disappointments trying Thai restaurants in America.  Given that I am a lover of Thai, and that we have been spoiled with great Thai restaurants where I live, more’s the pity.

But all that changed last night in Manhattan, when I found Galanga on 4th Street W. near 6th Avenue.  (Galanga, by the way, is Thai ginger.)

Finally, Thai food that hasn’t been Americanized!  Finally, a place that doesn’t lump all Asian food onto one menu, as if Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese and Malaysian were all more or less the same.

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Nov

21

Ok, I Love New York

Food and Drink  Posted by / 0 comments

This past weekend was probably the tenth time I’ve visited the Big Apple.  I have never been a big fan of New York; it was always too intense and aggressive for me.  By contrast, I fell in love with Chicago the very first time I set foot in the place.  But, I am about to relent… the place is starting to grow on me.

There is no denying that New York is a massive ball of energy, of people driven towards their own ends – each a contribution to the Manhattan mosaic of infinite variety of seek and find that goes on here.  There is so much that it is impossible to take it all in as a tourist.  It’s overwhelming.

There is a feeling that you are missing something all the time, that no matter where you are, something significant is going on somewhere else.  The selection of things to visit, see, and do is so enormous that a cursory sampling of these would take at least a couple of weeks, instead of the two days I usually have.

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Nov

19

Needle in a Haystack

Politics and Opinion / Transgender Life  Posted by / 14 comments

I was searching online last night for a bar or nightlife in Manhattan that welcomed t-girls, and came across an interesting, but I guess not altogether surprising, phenomenon:

There is pretty well no way to search for anything tgirl without getting utterly mucked up and mired in pornography and prostitution.  The search engines have so much of that crap tied to tgirl, or any synonym, that a search is pretty much useless.

The same, incidentally, is true of blogs.

The vast majority of so-called tgirl blogs are simply ads for porn sites.

Is this an indication of something wrong with us?  Or what?