I ordered new business cards today!

I ordered new business cards from Vista Print today! They're fabulous, if I do say so myself -- I designed them using a VP photo of a Chinese (?) blue dragon bas relief with foliage (blue dragons are one of my identities and therefore my primary symbol).

I also added matching address labels. My order will arrive in three weeks (I didn't need it earlier, and that was the cheapest shipping option). I can't wait to see and use both.

Click here to see the PDF proof of the biz cards (I want to use Google Docs to host and share all my files for this site, but GD isn't yet able to publish PDFs to the web -- I'm sure they'll add that asap). I futzed a bit between the proof and the published version, but I didn't edit the text.

I've had a few versions of my biz card over the years -- handmade, printed on home and office printers on Staples blank packaged cards, Vista Printed, etc. These VP ones are the best ever. But I'll continue to create other versions as well.

I’ve Updated My Other Online “Holmes” (Homes)

“Ladies and gentlemen and invited transgender species...”

Lieutenant Commander Data
Star Trek : Nemesis
December 13th, 2002

(Imagine my reaction when I saw that in the theatre!)

I’ve updated my other online “holmes” (homes), except for Live Journal: Facebook, Friendster, Google, Idealist, Linked In, My Space, Queer Today, Yahoo, You Tube.

I need to update them again soon, both their graphic design and content, but.

First I’ll work on my Etsy shop and Flickr gallery, for selling and showing my artwork (and my sister Eloise’s).

Mazel Tov, IlanaRei & Jackie!

My friends IlanaRei and Jackie were wed today. I attended their wedding with our mutual friend Sara; we were also guests at their “rehearsal” dinner party and bridal shower. All of the events were wonderful, and much of the wonderfulness was the result of the couple’s and their family’s long hard labor of love.

One of our favorite moments was when one of their family members included an excellent performance from memory of E. E. Cummings’ poem “Somewhere I Have Never Traveled” in her toast:

somewhere i have never traveled, gladly beyond
any experience, your eyes have their silence:

in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,

or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will unclose me

though i have closed myself as fingers,

you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens

(touching skillfully, mysteriously) her first rose

or if your wish be to close me, i and

my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly,

as when the heart of this flower imagines

the snow carefully everywhere descending;

nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility: whose texture

compels me with the color of its countries,

rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes

and opens; only something in me understands

the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)

nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands

(You’ll note that like countless other fabulous people, including one of the brides, Cummings was a metro Bostonian. And in honor of the other bride, note that he was also something of a New Yorker.)

Best wishes in your travels together, IRT & JG. May we all meet the best companions for our travels. Mazel tov!!

Click here to see my Picasa Web Album of the wedding gift I made for them.

House Bill 1722 – An Act Relative To Gender-Based Discrimination And Hate Crimes

House Bill 1722: An Act Relative to Gender-Based Discrimination and Hate Crimes would add the category of “gender identity or expression” to Massachusetts’ non-discrimination and hate crime laws. It would protect ALL people from discrimination based on their gender identity or expression in employment, housing, credit, public accommodations, and public education.
This bill will also hold accountable those who perpetrate hate crimes because of a victim’s gender identity or expression.

Transgender people as well as others who do not conform to common expectations of “men’s” and “women’s” gender expression are subject to daily harassment and discrimination. Things many of us take for granted, such as obtaining jobs and housing, attending school, and visiting restaurants are difficult and dangerous for the transgender members of our community. Transgender people are often fired and assaulted. If passed, this bill will help secure basic civil rights for transgender people and all others.

I testified at the bill’s public hearing on March 4th. You can read my testimony at the Interfaith Coalition for Transgender Equality (ICTE) blog (and soon here at my site).

Yesterday, Thursday July 31st, was the last day of the Massachusetts legislative session. So at midnight, it became official that the bill would not leave study committee or therefore pass.

Even as we grieve, we continue our work, and the former inspires the latter. The Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC) and its legislative sponsors will refile the bill in January, with a different number and perhaps name. The plan for between now and January is being discussed. When I know what I can share, I’ll let you know.

This law is so long overdue, and more desperately needed every day. Please join me in doing all that you can to help the bill pass into law.