Fun with the Gala "Education"

Wow …….it’s cold and snowy and the girls are pouring in from all over for what I cannot believe is my fourth Lake Erie Gala. It is hard to believe that Gala is already here again and this year I have been heavily involved in planning and organizing this week long fun-filled wonderful event. This year attendance picked up late but it is really picking up and before the weekend is out we will have nearly 85 people here at the event celebrating its Tenth Anniversary. There are some girls who have been coming for all ten years!!
The week of shopping and pampering, diners and site seeing and late night partying is a conference unlike others in our community. It is a more organized event that the delightful Saugatuck and it dos not have the workshops and seminars like that of the Be-all or SCC. All these are wonderful events and I have been to them and learned and enjoyed much and met many wonderful people in our community. The Gala is a social gathering and it involves organized day activities like site seeing to wineries and train stations and chocolate factory and an in indoor putt putt golf tournament. We have a casino night and glitter fair and night out for comedy clubs and dinner at a delicious Irish Restaurant. That is the real gem of the Gala beyond meeting some of the friendliest and warm group of sisters you would ever want to meet anywhere in the world. The Gala is designed for fun and social activities and building friendships but don’t be fooled by all the fun you will have by coming to it –it is also and important educational event!
Educational you say Melissa …….why there are no workshops or seminars or anything of the sort. It is simply getting girls out to venues such as restaurants and museums and wineries and converted railroad stations and many other public venues. Yes it is – but those opportunities to get out in broad daylight for shopping and site seeing and diners with your sisters is by itself educational for many new or recently out sisters who until they come her had only been out little or not at all and when they did it was to clubs and bars under the cloak of darkness. The Gala changes all that and provides the opportunity to break new barriers for girls in getting out under the watchful eye of some seasoned sisters like Marsha, Laura, Cindy, Josephine, Gerri or Melanie and I guess I would now have to say Melissa Marie Alexander. I think if my wife could go back in time to change the course of events in my emergence as Melissa and decision to live fulltime as who I really am she would chose to go back to the days before I left for the first time to come to Erie Pa and spend a week living as Melissa. I showed up a girl who had been out for a while but mostly to clubs and a few choice restaurants. I left at the end of the week not only with many friends and sisters but also with the confidence to go to malls at noon, shop in downtown stores, go to plays, museums and other sites in broad daylight and be proud of who I was as a human being. My confidence soared and grew exponentially that week. I tasted for the first time what it would be like to live my life as Melissa. I left there a changed person- one that was committed to finding the peace and happiness I had been missing living as somebody I was not and it began the movement of my journey towards living fulltime today and the courage to undergo some complicated procedures that will make my body comport with my soul! So that my friends is education and a very important piece in my life and in the life of many of my sisters even those who don’t decide to go fulltime. They do gain the confidence to go anywhere and be themselves and be proud of who they are as people- transgendered people! The Gala also serves to provide education to the public as well. The people of Erie have been invaded each year at this time by transgendered people who pump money into their city economy and who by their contact with us at restaurants, museums, wineries and golf courses as well malls and spas get the opportunity to interact with us and learn that we are just people- fun loving and warm hearted people who just happen to be transgendered! The city has been slowly educated- one citizen at a time.
So gather up your parkas and snow boots girls and head on up to Erie Pa for its Tenth Anniversary Gala. You will warm up to its welcoming friendly people and find many wonderful sisters –some of whom will become your closes friends in the community. You will not regret it! Spouses are always welcome and maybe that will educate them as well and you can find a peaceful coexistence or a deeper understanding. All in all it is a wonderful time and loads of fun and one you simply do not want to miss! It is time to gather in Erie for the Gala and let the “real life education” begin and the fun and support to carry you through.

Cruising before Barack

As I mentioned I also recently got back from a Caribbean cruise sponsored by Pink Essence in which forty people form our community went on and we all had a great time indeed. Who wouldn’t on a cruise?? We met in Miami on Wednesday and it was also my first time flying as Melissa but since my Id and picture now match my name on my ticket and how I live it was no brainer and I sailed through TSA security. We all dined together Wednesday night at the hotel and this of course began the five days of food frenzy that takes place on a cruise ship which has food available twenty-four seven including buffets, diners, sit down lunches, pizzerias and burger joints and every possible food group including a Chocoholics feast. It seems like I Cruising the Caribbean and Barack Obama………what do these two things have in common? Well not much I would say except that my recent days have been spent cruising for the first time as Melissa with many wonderful friends or voting for our new President for the first time being who I really am as a person. I had fun with both as the cruise was fabulous and so was the outcome of the election with the selection of this country’s first non white President on an historic night that hopefully will bring about change for our country. This country has been lingering in malaise for some time now without leadership. I don’t care whether you liked his policies or not but what bugged me the most about George Bush was his lack of leadership over the last few years and his failure to respond to pressing economic needs and his continuation of fighting a war in a place we don’t understand, and are not wanted, all while spending tons of money which could have been easily directed elsewhere in our own country. George needed to do something as the leader of our nation and he did not do so. He simply coasted the last couple years and enjoyed being President without doing anything as a leader. He was slow to respond to crises which arose over last few years and really has not shown leadership since 2002 after the 911 situation. I may not like what he proposed to do but doing nothing is not an option for a leader of our country in the 21st century.

I feel the main reason McCain lost was most people were fed up with George and his lack of doing anything and that the country needed new energy and change which Barrack would bring. It’s that simple.
Curiously, I noticed the south still has trouble with voting for black person. Let me say this as a southerner who has only been recently transplanted
to being a Yankee- the war between the states is over! While I still enjoy southern hospitality, sweet tea and grits, southerners need to embrace change in this country and get over the racism, hatred and prejudice and move forward in their lives. I also noted that the fact that my old state West Virginia voted for McCain despite being a state with Dems outnumbering the Elephants two to one. Two reasons why this happened folks……racism among rural Appalachian people and religious right wing fundamentalists who make up the composition of state of my family heritage. I am also very hopeful that with the gain in seats in Congress and our new President that next year will bring about the enactment of the Hate Crimes bill and ENDA and end discrimination (with enforcement) against the LGBT communities of which I am very much proudly a part of indeed!
was eating about every few hours. Additionally, my lovely sign and sail card took a good beating from all the delightful frozen concoctions I consumed during the cruise as the drinking seemed to start each day around 11 am and ended in the wee hours of the morning!

I knew several girls on the cruise such as Debbie, Carol, Jackie, Tara Brandy, Martina and Joan and of course my roomie for the cruise – my good friend Joann. Joann brought three bikinis by the way and modeled a different suit each day at the pool. I also met some wonderful new friends like Rachel and Jan as well as Leslie Ann. I additionally met a lovely girl named Amy who is transitioning, looking at the same surgeons I am and who started on hormones one day before me last January. We chatted for sometime and she and her spouse are really wonderful girls! I enjoyed the ports of call at Key West and Cozumel and did some shopping for jewelry, ornaments and other items. I will admit cruising is not a hard life and I love do it- but this time it was special. We got some looks from others and few were rude but most were neutral and a few took the time to meet us and ask questions and some admired our courage to live and enjoy life as who we are as people. I especially enjoyed chatting with a woman by the name of Jane who lives in Maryland and we spent hours talking and she was curious but very supportive and she hugged me and even gave me gift of one of her pieces of jewelry and told me to be myself, be happy and live life to its fullest! What a wonderful human being and I wish her so much peace and happiness. If more people in the world were like my new friend Jane the world would indeed be a better place! Like all good things the cruise came to end too soon but I loved being with tables of my sisters from all over the US and relaxing a bit…….now if I can just work off all that cheesecake, tiramisu and a delightful decadent dish called Chocolate Melting Cake I might be able to actually fit my clothes again!!!

Saugatucking

The Dunes and the Saugatuck Michigan area were descended upon by many of the transgendered community these past few days for its annual Saugatuck/ Dunes weekend. For the first time ever I attended this relaxing long weekend of shopping, sightseeing, dining, wine tasting and apple picking or whatever you wanted to do on a gorgeous and beautiful fall weekend on the shores of Lake Michigan! The Dunes weekend is something my girlfriend Paula has attended for many years and this year she had me join her for the wonderful festivities. The Dunes weekend, in the quaint villages of Saugatuck and Douglas Michigan, is different than many other transgendered “events” in that it is really not and event as it is a gathering. There are no seminars or workshops like that of SCC or the Be-all and there are no formal structured social activities like tours or such as with the Erie Gala or others but instead one is free to do whatever they want to do and relax in the gorgeous scenery of the lake shore villages. The lovely towns are loaded with little shops for art works book stores, jewelry and clothing boutiques. One can stroll around the little streets for hours moseying into one shop after another looking for deals and such. No chain stores here my friends!! As with my tradition, I collected a Christmas ornament from Saugatuck as I do every place I go.(At Christmastime, I decorate a tree with ornaments I have collected from all over the US, Canada and other parts of the world on my travels). I found some other little odds and ends as well.
The weather was gorgeous for a weekend in October. Sunny skies prevailed all weekend long which actually began Thursday night with arrival and visit to the Dunes complex which is a hotel with cabins and rooms adjacent to the club and bar which has dance floor, bar area, recreation room for pool and such and a cabaret room for shows. This year featured a visit from a duo of a beautiful singer with a great sense of humor and a musical range of extensive quality and her partner the piano player. I enjoyed the production immensely as did Paula and all who attended. Thursday night I karaoke and I again confirmed my lack of musical talent and Friday night is a big dance night although I played a few rounds of pool winning absolutely none of course. I play pool as badly as I sing but its all in fun! During the shops fill with people including many from our beautiful community and evenings and morning provide wonderful opportunities to sample some good and inexpensive cuisine. I loved the food everywhere I went to eat over the long weekend. The beautiful weather also provided opportunities for site seeing such places as the Lake shore, wineries where I sampled some good Michigan wines and bought a few for the holidays. You can go apple orchard picking or raspberry picking or view the colorful skylines on the highways around the area as fall puts it spectacular colors into play! Paula and I also went to a place that had standing lines to get in to eat at 2:00 in the afternoon and a long line to buy a homemade pie and we bought one from Crane’s Pie Pantry. It was a very delicious pumpkin pie and I absolutely crave pumpkin pies in the fall! The weekend was relaxing and very enjoyable although not without glitches. I went off without my makeup or toiletries but through a few lending sisters, Paula’s pills and a visit to Rite Aid Pharmacy, I recovered and survived. Paula had key trouble. The first night she forgot the key to the room and we had to wake the owner up at 2:00 am to get us another key to get in the room. Needless to say, he was not a happy camper. On Friday night Paula left the key in our door all night but not only is the area very LGBT friendly it is also safe and no harm was done. The glitches were minor and it was a indeed a wonderful weekend and chance to see some old friends like Wendy, Mandie, Erica, Janie and Jennifer and meet some new friends as well. I highly recommend a visit to Saugatuck and the Dunes if you get the chance in late spring, summer or early fall. The winter however, is not for the fainthearted with massive snowfalls and lakefront winds. You will not be disappointed otherwise and will enjoy some friendly hospitality. Now if those Yankees could actually make some good grits for this southern girl they would have it made indeed!