New content!

Hey all,

I have finally uploaded the second interview clip form bet power, entitle legacy. It's better than the first, so I urge you to check it out.

Also, I am going on the Gay Liberation Network's Chicago Public access TV show on Friday. I composed a clip from the project to show on air, and that can be viewed on youtube if you look on the channel TransOralHistory. There is also a link on the webpage under short docs.

Progress Since May

I have not updated this blog in months but I have been making progress, so here is a quick rundown…

MAY

I wrote into the Translating Identities Conference telling them about my project and asking if I could do an instillation of the exhibit during the conference at the end of October. They responded very positively and encouraged me to apply to host a session.

JUNE

I got a call from Brattleboro, Vermont asking if I could make a video clip to show at gallery walk, a monthly festival where art galleries stay open late and host various events. The Hooker Dunham Theatre was showing a queer rights film in honor of stonewall and wanted to use show a clip in the Gallery space. I create a small clip and sent in a flyer with info about me and the project on it.

I edited a clip from Bet Power’s interview and uploaded it to the website. It was the official first short doc clip.

JULY

I also moved to Chicago where I got in contact with people from GednerWorks and the Gay Liberation network. A cross-dresser who works with GLN agreed to be interviewed and expressed interest in conducting some oral history interviews.

The GLN invited me to be interviewed on their Public Access TV show. I am still waiting to confirm the interview but I will post about it if I end up doing it.

I finally filled out a bio and session form for the Translating Identities Conference and am e-mailing the transcending boundaries conference.

I am off to the Allied Media Conference as I type this. The conference kicks off with a session about transgender representation in independent media. Armed with flyers, business cards, and enthusiasm, I’m ready to meet potential allies.

Website Finished (for now)

After months of development, I am nearing a stopping point in designing the website. I am still not exactly pleased with a few elements, and I definitely have some major web projects ahead of me for next semester (like a fancy animated timeline, and an exhibit walk through). But for the moment I am pretty satisfied with the ground work I have laid and am eager to get working on content! Check out the site.

San Fransisco Historical Society

The San Fransisco's GLBT Historical Society has an exhibit going up about the transformation (aka gentrification) of Polk Street in the 1980's. I have contacted the exhibit curator about using his material in my exhibit. He seems friendly and sympathetic, so it looks like it will work out.

Web Design

So I haven't done work adding to the actual project in a long time. Hopefully I will rectify that somewhat before the semester ends. However, I have been working on designing a new website which will have interactive elements. I'm talking to artist about helping me bring to fruition my vision for the homepage, I was going to post the basic layout but the image's color were all off. I hope this is not indicative of a larger issue. I will post images within the next week.

Bet Update

I went to Northampton today. I got some footage of the town with a few inches of snow on the ground. I realized how much good footage I could have gotten this summer if I had only had a camera on long term lease. even though the footage wasn't nearly as good as it would have been during the summer, I felt pretty good about what I got. Soon, I will edit together a preview clip with it.

While I was in town, I went to visit Bet Power, the curator of the Sexual Minorities Archives. He is doing somewhat better even though he has a serious lung/throat/larynx condition. He has tons of doctors visits coming up. I went to Florence to check the mail for the East Coast FTM group and the archives. Then we chatted for a bit. He can speak if he whispers. He seemed really appreciative of the help. I'm hoping he gets better soon.

Bet Powers is Ill

I have kept in contact with Bet Power who has helped me immensely in continuing the Transgender Oral History Project. I scheduled a fourth trip to the archives in November in order to film the physical space and scout out artifacts for the exhibit I am planning. He responded that he was sick, and could not host me. He has canceled ECFTM meetings, all Sexual minorities Archive visits, and his job search for the past two months.

On December the tenth, I found out that he has been hospitalized due to serious lung infection and complications of the larynx. He has been diagnosed with pneumonia and is undergoing several tests as he waits for a diagnosis. A close friend of his through the ECFTM has set-up a website (http://www.carepages.com/carepages/BetsFamily) in order to give mass updates on Bet’s condition and facilitate Bet receiving letters of support from the geographically dispersed ECFTM network. Members of the local trans community are using the forum to form carpools to visit Bet and bring him care packages.

****YOU CAN HELP***
If you have a laptop you are not using, he needs one in order o be able to acess the website. If you could donate it (temporarily) let me know. cperez@marlboro.edu