So, I recently bought some things for the TG archive. I chipped in to get the original Michel Marie Poulain painting, but I also picked up a few things that I wanted to donate to the community’s knowledge-base.

First of all, I like understanding pop-culture since it seems to serve as a explicit breakpoint in the culture, defining it from previous generations. In other words, pop-culture is, IMHO, a strong indicator of where the zeitgeist was during the evolution of culture.

A strong indicator seems of where the zeitgeist is heading can, I think, be found in teen pop-culture. I think this is the subconscious drive behind all the so-called "Save the children" BS. What do the fringe groups want to save the children from? Well, that’d be the removal of toxic-shame stigma from the GLBT community. They want to preserve heterosexism.

Anyway, I digress… I was interested in adding some of these TG zeitgeist indicators to the archive:

Mantra #1 – 23
	Mantra was published by Malibu Comics in the mid 1990s, until it was purchased by Marvel Comics which promptly killed the publication of Mantra. The story is that a guy (wizard) was killed and reincarnated into the body of a woman with mystical powers. Gender, sexuality and social norms are all explored in the context of this comic. http://www.geocities.com/~mantraverse/

Victor y Victoria, 1957
	Presumably, this is a Spanish remake of the German film, Viktor und Viktoria (1933) which later became the 1982 film, Victor Victoria.

Let Me Die a Woman, 1977
	This is a fake(ish) documentary (kinda like faces of death) exploitation film. The film interviews Dr. Leo Wollman (an actual Dr that worked with TGs) as well as TG people. The film mixes the real interviews with fake surgical scenes that hooked people into gawking at the film.

Ranma 1/2 Cell
	This is an actual production cell from the Ranma 1/2 anime.

Basara # 4 and 6
	FTM manga – deals with themes of gender, sexuality, social norms and the trauma of pretending to be the gender that’s opposite to one’s real gender.

Penguin Revolution # 1- 7
	MTF manga – About a boy (who’s actually famous) who goes to school dressed as a girl. The series deals with questions of truth, boundaries, trust and the personas.

Princess Princess #4
	MTF manga – Another manga about boys who are put into a situation where they learn about cultural gender stratifications. I was only able to find this copy.

Nephilim # 1 – 2
	MTF/FTM manga – This is about someone from a mystical tribe of people who live as male by day and female by night. A hunter of these people falls in love with the female version of this person. The manga explores assumptions about gender, sexuality and homo-transphobia

This is a personal request. Below is an item I’d love to see belong to the community instead of an ebay dealer’s collection. This is a painting by a famous transgender artist and, much like the Lilly Elbe painting currently displayed in the TG Center, I believe that preserving and making the significant art of our community accessible is a worthy endeavor.

I’m writing to see if some of you would be willing to join with me in purchasing this item. I believe that this is something the that should rest in the hands of the trans community. Because I believe this, I’m willing to give $100 towards obtaining this painting. This is on top of the $200 I’ve already given this week to the TG Center in support of the good work it does (as noted in the TG Center email I sent out yesterday). As many of you know, I’m not rich. I live in an efficiency apartment and drive a 16 year-old car. I greatly value the various work the transgender center does and I want to support it to the very best of my ability. If you would like to join with me in saving this piece of transgender art history, please email me at my personal email address: gypsyrose1972@gmail.com and let me know.

You need not donate today. All I’m asking for is your pledge of support. Send me an email with your contact info and let me know how much you’d like to pledge to support the acquisition of this piece of transgender history:

Please send me your pledge of support now since the auction ends at 6 PM today.

Research this famous trans artist:

http://www.artnet.com/artist/654063/michel-marie-poulain.html

http://zagria.blogspot.com/2009/09/michel-marie-poulain-1906-1991.html

For the Ebay listing, info and various photos, please click here.

If instead of contacting me, you’d like to make a donation online, you can donate via the following special paypal link: Click here to donate Thank you!

Cristan

I’ve now had a little over a month to (for the most part) relax and pull myself together after a – lets face it – traumatic event. This is the first time I’ve somewhat unplugged from the needs of the community in years and I feel that it is just about time to jump back into the fire. When the City grant comes in, planning will start and my world will become a nonstop blur for the next year and I’m not looking forward to that chaos at all. I am, however, looking forward to getting things done.

Within the next few weeks, we will know what our budget is and  then begin making plans for the new TG HIV program – entirely conceived of and run by the TG community… That will be a first in the for Texas. We will need the community to come together and figure out where the new TG Center will be at (move, set up the archives, meeting rooms, etc). We will need to start planning for the future ASAP… and it all will need to begin all of this as early as next month.

I was talking with one of our grant partners recently and he asked me if I would have any help. I smiled because I immediately thought of a number of people that I can count on to help me pull this together. I reflected on how grateful I am for our Board and CAB. I know that this incarnation of the TG Center will be a true community effort and I’m really excited about it!

These are the kids of the TG Center cat and they are soooo cute! They have just started eating real food and will be ready to adopt out very soon.

Three of them look like a shot-hair version of a Himalayan – their markings are a good match, but they have short hair and they don’t have brown socks on every foot.

One is black with darker black stripes it’s coat and white socks and the other is 100% black with what looks like might be green eyes (it still has the kitten blue eye tint).

Let me know if you are interested!

TG Center Kittens!

If you would like one of the kittens from the TG Center’s cat, please let me know. They are soooooo cute! You know you want one

There are 3 dirty white with stripped tails and gray ears, 1 black with gray marbling and 1 solid back with white socks. How can you possibly pass up on all of that kawaisa?!? You know they are already up on all of the TG stuff too, so no worries there!  They only just opened their eyes, so their cute factor is sure to shoot through the roof