Who did I donate to this year? Trans, Queers, Lions, and Higher Ed

Did you know the majority of donors to non-profit organizations are middle to lower income folks? Yes, its true. So as one of those types of donors I wanted to share which organizations I gave to this year. I typically give two ways, monthly or one-time donations. Most of the organizations I tend to support are local, smaller, and focused usually on transgender communities or LGBT. This past year I have added animal welfare and a college to giving list. There is still time to give your end of the year donation(s) or how about a New Year's Resolution of becoming a monthly donor, giving just $10 or $20 each month goes a long way for many organizations and monthly donors provide stable funding so organizations can spend more time doing their work.

Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC) - http://www.masstpc.org/
MTPC is dedicated to ending discrimination on the basis of gender identity and gender expression.

Even though I work here, I still give, because I believe that much in this organization. We are turning 10 years old next year! In this past year we assisted over 70 people dealing with discrimination or identity document issues, presented over 44 trainings, and produced a number of materials.

National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) - http://transequality.org/
(NCTE) is a 501(c)3 social justice organization dedicated to advancing the equality of transgender people through advocacy, collaboration and empowerment.

I was the first donor to NCTE when the organization was still forming, because I believed and still do that we need a strong independent national organization that focuses on issues facing transgender people on the Federal level. NCTE assisted with getting the passport gender marker policy changed, has worked with the TSA about trans air passengers and is working on a boatload of other policy changes on the Federal level.

Equality Federation - http://www.equalityfederation.org/
Equality Federation is the national alliance of state-based lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy organizations.  The Federation works to achieve equality for lgbt people in every state and territory by building strong and sustainable statewide organizations in a state-based movement.

Most (almost all) of the changes for LGBT rights has been on the state and local level and every state needs a strong LGBT and trans organization and the Equality Federation helps to provide tools, resources and support to state-level LGBT and Trans groups (like MTPC) that's why I support Equality Federation and I am on the board. Equality Federation also was very vocal about supporting a trans inclusive ENDA.


The Network/La Red: Ending abuse in lesbian, bisexual women's and transgender communities
Acabando con el abuso en comunidades de lesbianas, de mujeres bisexuales y de gente transgénero
http://www.thenetworklared.org/

This organization saves lives. Seriously, as a survivor myself and a former staffer I can think of no other organization that does such amazing work in environment that does not always recognize the issue of domestic violence in LGBT communities.  

Boston Alliance of GLBT Youth (BAGLY) - http://www.bagly.org/

Our youth need support, empowerment, and some place to just be themselves and BAGLY does all that plus so much more

Goddard College - http://www.goddard.edu/
Its mission is to advance the theory and practice of learning by undertaking new experiments based upon the ideals of democracy and the principles of progressive education asserted by John Dewey. At Goddard, students are regarded as unique individuals who will take charge of their learning and collaborate with other students, staff, and faculty to build a strong community. Goddard encourages students to become creative, passionate, lifelong learners, working and living with an earnest concern for others and for the welfare of the Earth.

I had such a great experience at Goddard as an older student, as a trans person, as an extremely busy person that needed to finish their degree and Goddard let me be me and helped me to like school, writing and researching.

Trans Emergency Fund (TEF) -  http://tgemergencyfund.org/
The Transgender Emergency Fund (TEF) first opened in 2008. Since then, we have distributed more than $18,000 of financial assistance to low-income trans people throughout the state of Massachusetts. We are one of the first funds of its kind in that our efforts are focused on providing relief to low-income transgender community members.

TEF can mean the difference between a trans person being in their home or homeless. Once a person becomes homeless it is extremely difficult to get back into housing, even with a job, if someone can even keep a job with out a stable place to live. TEF's gives small grants to those who are dealing with extreme poverty and need to make their rent or pay a light bill or get their ID changed. Being trans for some means a downward spiral into poverty because of discrimination.

Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders GLAD - http://www.glad.org/
Founded in 1978, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) is New England’s leading legal rights organization dedicated to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation, HIV status and gender identity and expression.

Because laws don't change themselves, an old GLAD tag line that just sticks with me. GLAD is one of the few larger orgs that I support, but I see their work hand in hand with MTPC's.

and  

Born Free Foundation - http://www.bornfree.org.uk/
The Born Free Foundation is a dynamic international wildlife charity, devoted to compassionate conservation and animal welfare.  Born Free takes action worldwide to protect threatened species and stop individual animal suffering. Born Free believes wildlife belongs in the wild and works to phase out zoos.  We rescue animals from lives of misery in tiny cages and give them lifetime care.
Born Free protects lions, elephants, tigers, gorillas, wolves, polar bears, dolphins, marine turtles and many more species in their natural habitat, working with local communities to help people and wildlife live together without conflict.
This is new one for me, I am specifically giving to the campaign for lions, because they are close to becoming endangered. I think that if animals cannot live free then at least they should be in sanctuaries that provide as close to natural habitat as possible. Born Free also does advocacy work for laws and policy changes for animal welfare.

Queer the Census - not really counted, but fun to do

 

To get your own sticker go to http://www.queerthecensus.org/

Homage to Wonder Woman

I created this piece for a friend's birthday. His party was a Wonder Woman theme, so I thought an art piece that reflected his admiration of Wonder Woman was appropriate.

On bristol board with acrylic paint and ink jet photos.

Traveling

 

Looking out the window while flying from Boston to Dallas 2/3/10

Traveling

I do a lot of traveling in a year, usually for work, meaning something trans-related. This means some kind of conference, lobby day, meeting, or event.  I have the airport check-in down to a science with the type of bag I carry, shoes I wear, and right sized toiletries. I still get a bit stressed out that I am going to miss my flight, but overall I get annoyed by the inconvenience of the lines. 

I am amazed how much I fly these days. I had not been on airplane until I was almost 20 years old. Flying was just way to expensive for my family. If we wanted to go on vacation we got into the wood paneled station wagon and drove to another state like Pennsylvania or Maine. Then we would all cram into one hotel room, 2 adults and 4 kids, until each kid had melt down at least once and each parent threatened to either take us home early or leave one us on the side of the rode (neither event happened and I never feared that they would). 

Our longest drive when I was a kid was to Florida and back to go to the ultimate childhood destination of Disney World. This was long before its expansion, when it was still just the "Magic Kingdom." I actually don't remember much except for being totally terrified on the Space Mountain ride and really wanting a pair of Mickey Mouse ears (which I never got). I do remember going to Sea World and petting Shamu the killer whale and the smell of oranges. 

Even without a lot of money my parents tried to gives a the middle class style of life, at least by having us go on vacation every year. We may have gone to some of the middle class destinations like Disney World, but we still ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that my mom made instead of going out to lunch everyday or went the amusement park after 4p when the entrance fee was discounted. Vacations that didn't involve pitching a tent in the backyard meant planning and saving for at least a year in my family. To this day, I still can't believe we did some of these trips with the number of kids and the amount of money my parents made.

My mother called me the other night and asked if I wanted to go on an Alaskan cruise with her, its an all inclusive deal. Half-jokingly,  I asked if we were going to drive up to meet the boat so we wouldn't have to pay for the airfare to get to Seattle, she is probably calculating the cost savings. I know if I do save up to do this, which I will have to do because vacations like this are still out my price range, and we do go she will have packed peanut butter and jelly so we can make sandwiches in our cabin for lunch.

Dear Massachusetts

This is not the end - it is just the beginning. 

This is the time to stand up, speak out, and work even harder for what we believe in. Be sad for the next few hours then dust yourself off and keep on going. Change is always painful and slow and sometimes there are big boulders in the way. This is just boulder and with a few more hands and some time we can move it.

Vote for Martha Coakley

Just a reminder this blog represents only my personal views, not the views of any organization that I am or have been affiliated with.

This Tuesday is going to be a big day.

I was asked by someone close to me in my life how I could just let the Republicans take away the Senate seat here in Massachusetts. Well, it is not just up to me to get Martha Coakley elected, its up to all of us here in Massachusetts and those of you outside the state with friends and family here. Its up to us to vote on Tuesday and remind, bug, pester, and bug some more our friends and family to go vote and to go vote for Martha Coakley.

Martha Coakley was the first state wide politician to publicly support the Trans Civil Rights Bill, H1728/S1687.

The Republican candidate does not. I have no expectations he will be our friend or could even learn to tolerate us. He has never voted for any pro-LGBT legislation in the state, including gay adoption.


I am voting on Tuesday and I am voting for Martha Coakley.

New habits

I was recently given a Kindle, the electronic book reader, and I think it is pretty great. It is like an iPod for print. No more lugging around a giant book, I carry enough already. Since my Kindle acquirement I decided it was time for me read regularly print news besides the Metro so I subscribed to the Boston Globe via the Kindle. Two days in and I have read most of the daily editions, some on the train in the morning and the rest in the evening. I am totally into it.

After graduating for Goddard late last year I took a little reading break. I had been reading about three books and several journal articles every three weeks for school and towards the end I was tired of reading. Now, I am ready to consume the written word again, especially since it is in such an easy to handle package. I have not quite mastered the notes and highlighting feature, but I can clip articles and save them. Handy feature when I want to refer back to some study or statistic in a grant or training.

Do I still have over three giant bookshelves of books? Yes. Will I never buy another book in paper format again? Probably not, the Kindle I have only shows photos in black/white and seeing has I am into photography books, they just would not be the same. There are so many books, especially GLBT books, not yet available for the Kindle or any other reading device like it, but there is a good selection of travel essays, food essays, and fiction to keep me happy for long time. The Boston Globe arrives to my device every morning, probably hours before even wake up, that is pretty cool.

New Year/Decade

In four short months I will be turning 40, unbelievable. I did complete two of my goals from the last decade. One was to graduate from college before turning 40, success twenty years after I had tried for the first time. The second was to see the Golden Gate Bridge.

I am not one for making resolutions or even some semblance of a life plan, just an occasional goal which often stems from some dream or desire sparked by curiosity or some other internal compass pointing in a direction I just need to go in. Besides graduating from college, the other goals that have been kicking around for a decade or so mostly involve travel. Specifically, Paris and India. I have no idea why Paris, but the thought of sitting in a cafe in Paris drinking coffee, eating cheese and bread on some Parisian street corner after touring the Louvre makes my heart swoon with the thought. A more recent trip desire has been to go to India. I blame the many travel essays I tend to read on for this desired destination. I would like to see the Buddhist temples, visit the town the Dalai Lama resides in while exiled, and just experience the many cultures that continent has to offer.

So in the tradition of having some vague goals/desires for this next decade, Paris and India are still on the list, having a small dog at some point, and doing more art, maybe even professionally.

So to close out 2009 photos from a  short series titled From Inside Out: Camera lenses from a car window

Commonwealth Ave to Kenmore, Boston, MA

 

 

 

 

Vermont I 89