Gentilly Girl- a part of the 99%

April 9, 2007

The Religious Reich Rises Again… Unlike Their Pizza

From Mother Jones we have an article entitled “Hail Mary”. Here is another way that the uber-rich Theocracy is attempting to co-op the Progressive culture of our country.

Here’s an example of the town they are building Ave Maria outside of Naples, FL:

“Now only partially built, the future Ave Maria University sits amid a flat, swampy, and desolate expanse of tomato fields and orange groves 30 miles northeast of Naples. A brawny, 100-foot-tall, arching Gothic oratory is already rising, soon to be flanked by the nation’s largest crucifix and encircled by an entire Catholic community, Ave Maria Town, which will welcome 25,000 residents. In keeping with the tenor of Naples, where the average home costs $1.95 million and Republicans outnumber Democrats by nearly 4-to-1, the town will not be a hive of spartan monks’ cells. Rather, it will feature a mix of “affordable” $175,000 town houses, $665,000 condos, and far more palatial Corinthian-columned manses equipped with lavish swimming pools. The golf course will be “championship” caliber, and the retail core will be at once walkable and pious. “Our plan,” Monaghan told a gathering of Catholics last year (sending constitutional lawyers into a kerfuffle), “is that no adult material will appear on the town’s cable system, and the pharmacy will not sell contraceptives.”

Essentially, Monaghan plans to draw a line in the sand against a trend he deems evil. Even as the rapidly growing church lists right worldwide and a few rock-ribbed Catholic orders—most notably Opus Dei—are surging, American Catholics are becoming ever more progressive. Thirty-seven percent favor an easing of the church’s abortion policies, according to a recent cnn/USA Today/Gallup Poll, and fifty-five percent support the ordination of women. Meanwhile, several Catholic universities—among them Holy Cross and St. Scholastica—have gone so far as to play host to the dread Vagina Monologues.”

“To conservatives, Monaghan is a deep-pocketed savior. Florida governor Jeb Bush, a converted Catholic, made Ave Maria Town a special tax district like Disney World, giving the self-appointed Board of Supervisors (run by Monaghan’s development partner) wideonging powers and exempting the town from state and local laws.”

It seems to me that if you are a member of the Theocracy, ya’s don’t gotta pay most taxes and your parents are pretty rich. This kind of enclave is a great place to indoctrinate and program un-discriminating “thought modules”.

BTW_ this is all being financed by the Founder of Dominos Pizza, Tom Monaghan.

For all of you left-leaners and Progressives: Did you ever think that the pizza, pot, and booze confabs we engaged in for decades might just lead to the destruction of our world view?

Now you’ll understand when I proudly state that I have never eaten a Dominos pizza. I warned you all long ago about this.

Yes, I’m a little late for this post. Crucify me…

March 24, 2007

Florida’s Bigots Rise Again: Shit Floats

Filed under: My Community,Trans-Feminist — Tags: , — Morwen Madrigal @ 10:21 pm

Here’s an interesting piece of news from the area near Tampa.

Here’s a quote from one of the bigots:

“I think we’re pretty well convinced,” Commissioner Gay Gentry said. “You have to believe us, you have to trust us, it is not about transgenderism.”

(If I had a name like Gay Gentry, I wouldn’t be throwing stones.)

When the Hell are these assholes going to let us just live our fucking lives? What the fuck does it mean if we stop wearing pants and don a skirt? Why the Hell does any of this matter?

I have lived for 50 years with ovaries, a uterus, a sewed-up vagina, small testes and a man-made penis. All of my life I’ve been tortured by feelings that didn’t match what Society demanded of me after they, in their damn sexual-polar hubris, decided what sex I was supposed to be. The only thing is: my mind is the same as when I worked as a guy. I do see things differently as I transition, but I’m still the same spirit, just in a different wrapper.

This poop is because of the Judeo-Christian belief system of either-or, male-female, heaven-hell.

Biology doesn’t function under those constraints. Genetics and bio-med chemistry prove the variations that are endemic within biological systems. Trans folk are with us in a ratio of 1 in 500 births (our figures), and a “failed twin mosaic” like myself is about 1 in every 2,000 births. I know of over 50 Trans women whose bodies are like mine.

People like myself work in the aero-space industry, help design weapon systems and airplanes. One of us is the biggest fund broker in the world, and many of us are just store clerks and cooks. I helped run one of the Navy’s biggest nuclear systems years ago. We are everywhere and we do everything that can be done. We ARE PEOPLE!

To see these Judeo-Christian shits fuck someone who has done a good job over the fact that they are Transitioning appalls me. I would never hurt someone unless they were pure evil, and even then my heart would ache.

I wish more people would think in that manner towards us Transfolk.

February 20, 2007

The Chain…

Filed under: My Community,New Orleans,Sinn Fein — Tags: , , — Morwen Madrigal @ 10:45 pm

There is an old saying amongst us old radicals “All of Life is a chain, and when of us is harmed, we all feel the pain”. I believe in that one.

You see, governments and “parties” are fucking bullshit. It’s the way the power-mongers try to divide us from each other. Do I have a reason to hurt you and your kids? Hell NO!!! All I look for is a way for all of us to have what we need to live a decent life… It’s a Pagan thing: no “winners” or “losers”, just plain old folks getting along and being ourselves. This is what we have been told, but we have let the “interpreters” get in the way. That was a major fuck up.
I look into the eyes of children, and all I see is innocence and trust, wonder and enjoyment. I wish I could return to that state of being, but I’ve seen way to much for that to happen. Maybe in my next life that can be the case. This life I have to fight for the ones to come and spare them the pains of what we elders have had to fight against.

It’s about becoming a Teacher and withdrawing from the Warrior role. Many of us had to become Warriors due to the state of our culture. Most of us just wanted to be Teachers and Healers… to realize what our souls cried for, but time, situations and Life has forced us into other realities. We have to act out roles that are not indicative of our souls’ mission… we do what we must do, but we can also grow into something more productive and Life enforcing.

I’m technically a Trans Sexual, and I’ve had to change my life. I’m trying to rid myself of the wrong thoughts, hatreds and bull shit that have haunted me for almost 40 years in order to become a real Human being, to become what I believe to be truly Human. It’s hard, but it can be done. It must be done. The pains must end.

I have a family now that accepts me for what I am: it’s the Bloggers, New Orleans and the Queer community. These are the folks and the reason to continue for me. I freakin’ owe them. They gave me acceptance and the will to move forward. Now I must “pay it forward”, and it ain’t just about Trans stuff, but about beingness.

Why am I dwelling on this? The last several years I’ve been focussed on Trans issues, but now I understand it’s about human issues. I cannot focus just upon my needs, but the needs of all. The injustices issued to one group affects all of us. We are all the Chain, and we need to understand that.

We all are custodians of each other, and the proving ground for this thought pattern is New Orleans. Please join me in this endeavor.

February 14, 2007

Not My Normal “Potty” Post…

Filed under: Inter/Trans-Sexed,My Community,New Orleans — Tags: , , — Morwen Madrigal @ 7:49 pm

Here’s a subject that is near and dear to all Trans-folks hearts: the Public Potty. My friend Cyndi up in Chicago (She’s a nice Chicagoan, okay?) posted this on my TransNewOrleans group:

“Sometimes it’s hard to be a woman” sang Tammy Wynette, never imagining how many diverse ways those lyrics would be interpreted a few decades later. Unless you never, ever venture from the “friendly confines” of “home, sweet home”, it’s not exactly a newsflash to hear about one of the biggest hassles trans-women go thru on a regular basis. Of course, I’m referring to the public use of that holiest of holies - the lavatory; otherwise known as the restroom, the washroom, the bathroom, the powder room, the outhouse, the water closet, the commode, the toilet, the head, the loo, the crapper, the pisser, the throne, the john (or jane?), to list but a few common terms for my favorite “undisclosed location”. 

  It seems as though whenever all else fails, the forces of darkness can always inspire the most primal fear known to mainstream society by invoking the spectre of “trannies in the bathroom!” Now clearly, any reasonably intelligent trans-woman recognizes this rubbish as the non-issue it truly is, but it still represents one of our biggest obstacles to cultural acceptance. Trans-people have been rebuked, beaten up and even arrested simply because of where they chose to perform their bodily functions.

  Well folks, help is on the way. There’s a new group out there that’s actually doing something (as opposed to just talking about it) to mitigate this problem. Reading the report below was welcome relief (no pun intended) to a situation we ALL face on a regular (no pun here either) basis. Pull up a seat (okay, maybe this one) and consider what YOU can do to help expand their database. The link to this useful website is in the article below. Read on, true believers.   >>> Cyndi 

I plan to personally fill in this Org to where all the safe potties are in NOLA. This means that I need to go out on drinking adventures that will introduce me to the other areas of the city to round out my Potty Picks. (Hint, hint) I need to bring back the New Owleans By Night site for Trans folks who visit the city. (O.W.L. stands for the Order of Wild Ladies, BTW)

December 22, 2006

Happy Freakin’ Wet Christmas

Filed under: Drainage,Louisiana,My Community,New Orleans — Tags: , , , — Morwen Madrigal @ 12:58 am

Gnnnng! I woke up today and discovered that Lake Marais had reappeared on our block. Our car was still docked at the sidewalk, but she looked as if she could capsize if the little rain drops kept falling from the gray sky. Only hip-waders could help me leave the little shotgun house (and me without the waders).

I know that our Gentilly house doesn’t have this problem, it’s above sea-level in the “neighborhood no one knows”. I expect that my FEMA trailer has taken water from the shattered window frame, but there’s almost nothing left inside. Hopefully the many inches of rain will further cleanse the ground from and the Federal Flood’s contaminants.

So I guess that this girl is going to spend the rest of today and the night holed up here. Might as well load more programs to the ‘puter and clean some of my cat-trashed house. Need to get that done before Christmas dinner as there’s a plethora of cat toys, shed fur, scraps of ripped up paper and Goddess knows what else I’ll find (like my earrings, socks and shoes, bottle tops… the list goes on).

[Oh shit! I still have to do the Quarter for Betty's prezzies and get laundry done! *sobs*]

Should be okay rainwise on Saturday, but there is another rain-band coming for Sunday and Monday so this is a normal Xmas in the city unlike the wonderful Xmas of ’05 when the snow fell as we sat in the hot tub at our newly bought Gentilly place (we actually moved in on Xmas Eve, and me with dinner for seven the next day… Ai Yi Yi!) Little did we know what would happen on 8/29. That’s water through the levees now.
Dinner on Sunday will be at the le Cote Brasserie just like on the snowy night two years ago. We hope that the menu hasn’t changed much since then: a huge platter of chilled products of the sea, wonderful salads, and maybe something decadent for dessert. (there WILL NOT be a kitty bag when we rise from table, I garauntee!)

Christmas Dinner will be a cola/molasses- candied ham, homemade candied yams, garlic mashed potatoes/gravy, peas and salad, and if I get my act together, a deep-dish pecan pie or Baked Chocolate Pudding. There goes my waistline!(have to start riding my bike again)

So from the cottage on Lake Marais I would like to wish all of you a wonderful Holiday Season, especially the NOLA Bloggers and my friends here in SE LA, and my friends all over the country (yes girlz, this means you *huggs*) May the Lady gift us with another year, and a better one than the last two. May you all continue to have Spirit and love.
Brightest Blessings!

[Would you like another drink? Or more ham and yams? Knock yourself out on the pudding! This'll keep me from eating it all. Wanna take a cat home with you? Puleeeeze... I'll put a bow on it.]

Update- Betts wants  a chocolate pecan pie for the Holiday.

November 20, 2006

TDOR in New Orleans 2006

Filed under: Inter/Trans-Sexed,My Community,New Orleans — Tags: , , — Morwen Madrigal @ 11:15 pm

Well, we observed the Trans Day of Remembrance yesterday evening here in the Old City. Betts and I arrived at the Community Center which held a few of the usual suspects and some new folks. There were eight of us. The candles were lit as folks read over the entire list of our dead and a wonderful poem by an unknown that I cannot find a cyber reference for.

Whilst we waited for the Minister (Rev. Marta, Bless you hon!), a group of volunteers from Maine showed up because they wished to take part of our ceremony. Suddenly we were up to twenty, and it was time to brave the cold/wind for the six block trek to the statue of St. Joan d’Arc. It was an interesting collection of folks walking down Decatur Street: Denims, sweats, massive cold gear and yours truly in her black dress. (Yes I was freakin’ freeezing, but I always wear that dress for TDOR, and it survived the Flood.)

Once at the statue, near Jackson Square with traffic whizzing on three sides of us, we read the names and said our prayers for those of our little tribe that were taken away from us this past year. We then headed back to the Center for relief from the cold air. Once there we shared talk and goodies. (I met a girl that I had passed at the hospital some months ago: only been here a year and looking for people to know here. Believe it or not- I can be shy around folks I don’t already know, especially in a Trans meeting. I do have a rep that is not always tolerated by some brothers and sisters.) Those of us from the pre-Deluge days just caught up on current progress around the city.

Next year things will be different for TDOR: I want torches and a Trans flag flying as we go along. I want people to know what they are watching, and I want handouts to give them when they ask what we are doing. It is also my desire to have more drama in the presentation of the names of the murdered. Yes we alone can do this quietly, but where is the education of outsiders to the reality of our situation? We are here in New Orleans, and we must attract their attention. (You just know it’s going to be Witchy.)

We Trans folk are still here and healing, and we cannot wait for the day when we are no longer tortured and killed due to bigotry, ignorance and hatred. (nor any Human being for that matter.)

November 17, 2006

Transgender Day of Remembrance 2006

Filed under: Inter/Trans-Sexed,My Community,New Orleans — Tags: , , — Morwen Madrigal @ 3:23 am

On Sunday the 19th, we will be observing the Transgender Day of Remembrance here in New Orleans. Each year Trans communities and our friends around the world gather together to remember those of the community that were killed in the name of transphobia during the previous twelve months. This year we lost 19 of our little tribe to hatred. LIST

These are only the folks we know of… many are killed but never reported. There are also the Trans folk who die by their own hand (about 35% of our folk never make their 40th birthday), and many others die slow deaths caused by prejudice through the mechanisms of illegal firings, being turned down for housing and constant harrassment. There is no list for the latter group, but we remember them just the same.

We and our friends will be meeting at the Lesbian and Gay Community Center (Decatur between Frenchmen & Elysian Fields) at 5:30 PM, and then we will proceed to St. Joan d’Arc’s statue for the reading of the names.

Please come by, join us in our sorrow and our prayers for Society to stop discriminating against Trans people.

UPDATE: was just informed of another murder- 

April 16, 2006- Elk Grove Indiana

Krystal Heskin, 31, was found murdered in a motel room. She had been strangled and beaten on the head with a hammer. She had changed her legal name some five years earlier and had been living in her chosen gender. Her killer is Michael R. Davis, 20, whom she had known for several years. Police do not consider this a crime of hate, but of an arguement taken too far. Davis is awaiting trial.

November 3, 2006

This tickles my tush…

Filed under: Aside,My Community — Tags: , — Morwen Madrigal @ 1:54 am

Two-faced lives and lies are not a winning combination, especially when one claims to be a “Spiritual Leader”.
LINK

August 11, 2006

The NOLA LGBT community is…

Filed under: Civic Blogging,My Community,New Orleans — Tags: , , — Morwen Madrigal @ 10:15 pm

here to stay, and helping rebuild the city!

This is our home too.

DecaFest 2006

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