""Somebody wants you, Somebody needs you, Somebody dreams about you every single night, Somebody can't breath without you, it's lonely, Somebody hopes that one day you will see, That Somebody's Me." Somebody's Me by Enrique Iglesias"
Female
54 years old
MOREHEAD, Kentucky
United States
Also check out FabFemme (lesbian/bi women who gender-identify as female only)
and
Connexion, another cool free LGBT site for meeting people
Reading science-fiction and fantasy, general history, East Asian history and culture (my undergrad degree is Asian Studies from the University of Cincinnati, eclectic range of movies and television programs but partial to international/East Asian and to scifi/horror films. Traveling, museums, zoos, powwows. Political ideals (left, socialist anarchist, left libertarian as opposed to right libertarianism). I support the aim of a united republic in Ireland, generally in agreement with the views of the Irish Republican Socialist Party, but that doesn't mean I'm adverse to considering the views of others on the left in the world. The struggle in Ireland is not about sectarianism as is depicted in most of the media, it is a struggle for self-determination, a struggle between a colonized nation and the colonizer....
Celtic, Celtic rock (Black 47, etc), folk (Buffy Sainte Marie, Sarah Ogan Gunning), some country music (Willie, Johnny, and Kris, Travis Tritt, Steave Earle,....) Just bought Drunken Lullabies by Flogging Mollie - I love it. Black 47 is probably my favorite group - maybe one day I'll travel to Ireland on one of their tours.
I LOVE BRETT DENNEN. Not romantically or sexually, but I love his music. When I first heard him I thought he was a girl, with that androgynous quality to his voice. But I keep hearing song from him that I just love.... He has to be one of the most remarkable musicians out there today.
I also picked up Steve Earle's The Revolution Starts Now - Steve Earle is one of the great Alternative Country musicians in America today with the courage to stand up and do songs like "John Walker's Blues" and "Rich Man's War." Kris Kristofferson is cool though - unfortunately my cassette of his Third World Warrior disappeared some years ago and I had to special order it then. Willie has a lot of chutzpah too and one of the songs on the Kristofferson recording I just mentioned is called "Jesse Jackson" and Willie and Kris did that together. And I think Johnny Cash was right on and a very spiritual person, and some of the spirituality of this group came out in "The Highwayman" and it's theme of reincarnation. BTW, I recommend Willie's book too, The Tao of Willie. Also Green Suede Shoes by Larry Kirwin of Black 47. Have also recently found the group Mael Mordha (see the YouTube clips below)
Movies
Saving Face, Lianna, Beautiful Boxer, Better than Chocolate, Let's Love Hong Kong, TransAmerica, Normal, Reds, Catfish in Black Bean Soup, Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love, Soldier's Girl, The Go Masters, Butterfly, Bugis Street, Crash, Motorcycle Diaries, American Adobo, Show Me Love, Breakfast on Pluto, Aeon Flux, A Great Wall
Watched Recently: Saving Face, Imagine Me and You, The Protector, Born to Fight, Agnes and His Brothers, Almost Me, Soap, ....
Television
Sci-fi. I liked Surface and Invasion last season - was sad that they are no more. Like Stargate Atlantis and Battlestar Galactica. I also enjoyed Farscape, Firefly, and Andromeda during their runs. Stargate Atlantis - and not just because it stars a Flanagan. This season I'm hooked on Jericho and awaiting it's return next week. I've been eatching the Dresden Files too and enjoy, though with only three episodes down hard to say where that will go.
Other series I like (or liked): Grey's Anatomy (I'm half in love with Sandra Oh), Lost, Supernatural, Nip/Tuck, Eureka,... About Nip/Tck - their portrayal of trans women could be better but it's really not bad as we are presented as people with weaknesses and strengths.
Books
History, politics, Asian studies, scifi/horror/fantasy along the lines of MZB's Darkover series (I was in love with Jaelle), Stephen King's Desperation, Bag of Bones, etc, ... Just listen to King's new novel, Lisey's Story and ran out to WalMart shortly after I started to buy the book.
Heroes
Rosa Luxemborg, Emma Goldman, Jo, Nong Toom, Soong Ching-Ling, James Connolly, Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, Constance Gore-Booth Markievicz, Maude Gonne McBride, Thich Nhat Hanh, Dalai Lama (despite different views on China), Pema Chodron, Leslie Feinberg, Yang Kai-Hui, Che Guevara, Bobby Sands, Fidel, Hugo Chavez, Noah Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Mao Zedong, .... People with courage and who believe in social justice and stand up against imperialism and colonialism.
Morehead State University
Morehead, KY
Graduated: N/A
Degree: None
Major: Just taking classes occasionally - work at MSU
1990 to Present
University Of Kentucky
Lexington, KY
Graduated: 1987
Student status: Alumni
Degree: Master's Degree
Major: Library Science
1984 to 1988
University Of Cincinnati-Main Campus
Cincinnati, OH
Graduated: 1982
Student status: Alumni
Major: Asian Studies
Minor: Everything
Clubs: Coalition Against Registration for the Draft, US-China Peoples Friendship Association, Revolution Books
Am also on Ning, Facebook, and Thailand Friends but do not login on those often. Sometimes I am on Second Life as Gracie Yue and on Guild Wars as Duangkamol Fu - I just started Guild Wars though.
..
I'm a post-op transsexual who underwent male-to-female gender-reassignment surgery on March 1, 2006 in Bangkok, Thailand. Life is complicated right now, and am looking for friends and maybe my soul mate. My spouse couldn't handle living in what is for practical purposes a lesbian relationship, though that wasn't an issue for me. We are emotionally estranged at this point and a return is unlikely - detente is the best I hope for there at this point. I hope to return to Thailand for a visit in January or February 2007 and to retire there at least much of the year when I retire in three years... Mostly I'm just looking for happiness in life....
Sexually and romantically, I consider myself to be a lesbian, though I have questioned my sexuality at points. I guess that is inevitable when the gender of the body you are born with does not match that of your heart and soul. Nonetheless, i always find myself finding myself attracted to women. Men, well they usually make me think, yada, yada, yada. Hmmm, of course, so do a lot of women. I just cannot see myself in an emotional relationship with a man, waking up next to a hairy guy. Yechhh!! What I do know is that other women can make my heart sing, whether a folk song or an aria or the melody of the erhu. No man has ever made it quiver, or for that matter ache, but women have.... These days I suppose that I am more asexual/non-sexual but my affectional attractions are distinctly towards women... I know a lot of people find it hard to understand, completely changing your sex surgically if sex is not a factor, but in actuality sex is a risky reason for doing so - it is about being yourself, irregardless of who you are attracted to, not sex. Love has it's aches, and Kahlil Gibran put it well when he said that if you don't love you will not either laugh all of your laughter or cry all of your tears. Maybe I have lost love in this transition, never to find it again - but I have found myself and a completeness I did not know before.
I was born in Cincinnati and my earliest years and memories are of downtown and Fairmount. We moved to Norwood when I was about 5 and we lived there except for a stent in Northside for maybe a year, where I attended Chase. In Norwood, I attended Allison Street School from K to 7 except for the year in Northside and Sharpsburg from 7th through one term of the eighth when I dropped out. I didn't stop learning just accepting conformity as education. I was the radical in the sixth grade, the rebel, the loner, the secret transgirl.
I attend St. Alban's Episcopal Church - the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion generally are among the most tolerant and broad-minded churches on issues of theology and issues such as transsexuality. It was after the ordination of a transsexual priest in Hereford England that I decided to explore this denomination. I have found that my congregation at least is very liberal and eclectic without the typical "we are the only path to the Great Spirit" attitude found in many denominations. Haven't figured out why Episcopalians have a reputation for being so straight-laced. Didn't hurt that Wolfe Tone and Emmett were Anglicans or that Sean O'Casey, who once said "Ahhh, Christ - now there was a great communist," was as well. Of course they may not be able to handle me... But I don't know whether to describe myself as an Episcopalian, albeit with Buddhist leanings, or as a Buddhist with Episcopalian leanings who feels that they could worship as easily in a temple, a church, a mosque, a synagogue, or in the serenity of a forest clearing. Buddhism seems th most flexible faith in that it requires no worship of deities nor forbids it, but Christianity was the faith I grew up with and both Islam and Judaism have elements that draw me, particularly Islam. Not sure why, though at points in my life that has been like a fire in my soul. That said, I suppose I am really still searching, perhaps I will always be searching even as I pass from this existence. But I do believe that we do not die, that there is a supreme force that is one and that is everything. I believe in reincarnation and lean towards acceptance of the concept at least of karma. But I suppose I am still much a pilgrim and a seeker spiritually.
Took a couple of online quizzes today, both said that my personality was primarily aligned with Buddhism:
You scored as Buddhism, You scored as Buddhism. Your beliefs most closely resemble those of Buddhism. Do more research on Buddhism and possibly
consider becoming Buddhist, if you are not already.
In Buddhism, there are Four Noble Truths: (1) Life is suffering. (2) All suffering is caused by ignorance of the nature of
reality and the craving, attachment, and grasping that result from such ignorance. (3) Suffering can be ended by overcoming
ignorance and attachment. (4) The path to the suppression of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path, which consists of right
views, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right-mindedness, and right
contemplation. These eight are usually divided into three categories that base the Buddhist faith: morality, wisdom, and
samadhi, or concentration. In Buddhism, there is no hierarchy, nor caste system; the Buddha taught that one's spiritual worth
is not based on birth.
I DON'T BELIEVE THERE IS ONE PATH TO THE GREAT SPIRIT BUT RATHER THAT THE RIGHT PATH IS THE ONE THAT S/HE GUIDES US INDIVIDUALLY TO. BUDDHIST, MUSLIM, JEW, CHRISTIAN, HINDU, WE ARE ALL LIVING IN THE GREAT SPIRIT'S PATH. For me that just happens to be a left-wing Episcopalian with Buddhist leanings who reads the Quran and find truth there too. I look to the faiths not to their followers who have all the flaws of this world. I used to be an almost atheist agnostic. Now I know that there is a Great Spirit, whatever we call that, whose hand touches all our lifes from the most altruistic and holy to the basest and most evil. Maybe that is why I feel the deepest attraction to the boddhisatva Kwan Yin.
I usually vote Democratic because they are usually slightly better than other choices, but I vote as progressive as the choices allow. The Democrats are not left and I sometimes wonder why I vote for them - guess it is the lesser of two evils mentality. I always laugh when I hear that - but rather right of center, just less so than most Republicans. They need more politicians like Dennis Kucinich. Then they might present a better alternative. I respect the anarchists, consider the libertarian party a right-wing tendency that tries to masquerade as an alternative. They are not. They are anti-worker, anti-immigrant, anti-progressive. When I score them on issues important to me they rank behind the Republicans usually. Views about the current administration. I like Hugo Chavez' chutzpah and think he was right on when he used the term "the Devil" to describe a particular politician.
I think a recent .. quiz I took summarized me well as both liberal and libertarian, I'm left on social issues but a libertarian on issues such as free-speech and personal freedom. I am definitely not a libertarian on economic matters, but on personal freedoms I definitely am one.
Who I'd like to meet: Friends who share the same interests I do and are fun to be with. I'm not looking for a physical relationship necessarily, just friends and perhaps my soul mate but if I have to wait till a future life to meet them I'm ok with that. I suppose that really I am hoping that between MySpace and the personals on Connexion and Curve that I'll find that person who will bring music into my heart. I suppose that for a long time I thought that there would be a reconciliation between my spouse and I. That isn't going to happen. Question now is do I change my marital status to single? Because it is over. And I'm not looking for guys. Nothing against guys but I want my heart to sing not to belch, and they for sure don't bring music to it....
Mostly I'd like to meet socially and politically progressive people who believe in changing the world for the better, who see a hypocrisy in demanding that other countries not develop nuclear weapons while maintaining that we have the right to as many as we want (we should start by destroying our own nukes first, who believe in the right to universal health care, who believe that all should have access to education. I'd like to meet someone who enjoys watching a movie with me, especially a really scary horror movie that makes us want to hold each other in solidarity against the frightening parts, or a drama that leaves us sobbing like I do every time I listen to Bobby Goldsboro sing "Honey." Of course the tv series Ghost Whisperer usually makes me cry too by the end. Someone to go out to dinner with and enjoy an evening of conversation and fun. Someone to attend rallies for social justice with. In summary, I suppose, a good friend.
Am definitely not compatible with religious fundamentalists of any faith - to me, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, even paganism, are all valid paths to the Great Spirit. Whether we believe in karma and reincarnation, as I do, or whether we attribute gender to the Great Spirit (I do not - God/dess is genderless) we are all walking the same path. Nor am I compatible with social and political conservatives. I have always walked to the left of the center line and always will.
People who bash Muslims and Jews and Buddhists and others are not people I will get along with. People who support imperialism and colonialism are not people I will get along with. People who care about other people, who support programs for education and health care (which should be a national system), people who look inside at the soul rather than the flesh that deteriorates with age and the grave and only cloaks us for one single lifetime to be replaced in future lifetimes - these are the people i want to meet. People who look at Asian and African, Latino and Middle Eastern cultures, to name only a few and see the richness and value and beauty, these are the people I want to meet. People who yearn to hear the voices of their ancestors a millennia ago, these are the people I want to meet....
To meet as friends, perhaps as soulmates...
Now if this meant contemporary famous people there are quite a few. In the past there have been quite a few as well. But if this is the meaning, well Leslie Feinberg and Kate Bornstein are at the top of my list. Dennis Kucinich is there too - I wish that he had won the presidency in 2004. A rarity in modern U.S. politics, a real progressive in a major party. Thich Naht Hanh and Pema Choldron and would like to have a conversation with the Dalai Lama about China and Tibet - my sympathies are more with China but I think the Chinese should give some on the Dalai Lama's views since he says he does not seek independence for Tibet. And of course the members of the group Black 47. And those I listed as my heroes here.
More test results from Tickle:
If you are in Bangkok and you are looking for a tailor, I had a dress made at D'Zine Tailors on Khaosan Road. You can see the dress here. I'm happy with it and the cost was reasonable. When I go back I'll have another dress, a two piece Chinese style tunic and skirt, made.
