The June meeting, the last before the summer hiatus was one of our more interesting gatherings. Our guest for the evening was Ms. Adrianne Dana, an anthropologist specialized in speech, and who is currently studying for her doctorate at Brandise University in Waltham. Ms Dana's talk emphasized that a persons voice need not be drastically altered in order to arrive at a more feminine presentation. In fact the unnatural changing of one's voice could prove to be damaging to vocal chords which in later life could reflect in a very raspy voice, which is something that no one wants to look forward to. Poise, mannerisms, gestures and eye contact have just as much to do with the feminine voice as does the audible sound that it makes. With a lot of practice, one can do much to improve the feminization of the voice without doing damage to the voice box. Ms Dana ended her presentation by having different girls practice talking to each other. This provided quite a few laughs to everyone in attendance. Ms. Dana has recently become a familiar figure within the community. Last January, she conducted several voice seminars at the Tiffany Club's First Event and is recently conducting interviews of girls at Tiffany and elsewhere to use in her doctoral dissertation which is focused on the crossdressing community here in New England and in the Netherlands. At this moment she is currently in Holland. She will return to this area by the end of August. We look forward to working with her again in the future.
The 2nd annual July pool party and
barbecue held on the 18th at the Randolph Country Club was a successful
event. Approximately 15 gals showed up and had a wonderful time.
The weather was hot and the water was a relief. Our thanks to
Robyn R. for coordinating this event again this year. We had incorrectly
listed the cost at $15.00 in our last newsletter but the actual
price of $10.00 was really a bargain. In addition to the pool
party and the barbecue meal, those who wanted to either stay or
return for the evenings program were able at no extra cost. Thanks
to Stephanie from Tiffany Club, several of the girls returned
to her house to change for the evening. In between the afternoon
and evening events, several took in the Mask of Zorro at the local
movie theater.
The 6th annual picnic was held on the 15th, again at the Nickerson State Park in Brewster. The weather was very good for a picnic. We did not arrive in time (0730 A.M.) to stake out our regular location beside the big rock, or even our 2nd or 3rd locations and ended up with the only spot left which was near the entrance road and parking lot. This spot worked out very well as we were able to park our supply trucks very close to the activity. This year Robin Kelley was in charge of the festivities and her culinary expertise really shine bright. She prepared a delicious casserole, had a healthy plate of fruit and vegetable snacks and the burgers and hot dogs were 100 percent restaurant grade beef. In addition to picnic snacks, she had a large plate of mocha brownies (mm, mm, good). Brenda L. brought her canoe and took several folks out around the lake. Again, another neat summer event.
YOUR INNVESTMENT is a publication of Innvestments, P.O. Box 2194, Orleans, MA.02653-2194 / P.O. Box 354, Sagamore, MA 02561-0354. Innvestments is a non-sexual service organization founded to support and to provide a socially acceptable outlet for the crossdressing, transvestite, transsexual, transgendered community located primarily in Southeastern Massachusetts, Cape Cod and the Islands. All rights reserved. Permission to reprint any article in Your Innvestment is hereby granted to non-profit similar organizations provided that publication and authorship credit be given. Any commercial use of Your Innvestment material is hereby prohibited. Some material may have previously appeared in print. Publication and authorship rights of material reprinted from other sources remain with its originator. The editor/s of Your Innvestment are not under any obligation to accept information and advertisements. Information and advertisements may be published in any form deemed acceptable. Any information about services, products or sympathetic locations published in Your Innvestment is not considered an endorsement of such by the staff of Your Innvestment or the Board of Directors of Innvestments. Innvestments is also know in open source publications on Cape Cod and the Islands as Cape Cod Cross Dressers (Triple C-D).
Liz W..................................President
Robyn Roberts.....................Vice President
Brenda L...............................Treasurer E-Mail Brrendaa@aol.com
Candy Scott........... .....................Board Candyscott@capecod.net
Judy Thompson...............................Board
Membership (including newsletter) is $30.00 per-year (pro-rated after Jan.) with a $15.00 meeting fee. Meeting fees payable only for those attended. Subscription only rates are $10.00 per-year.
I was kind of overwhelmed when I received the latest issue of Transgender this month. Of the four people pictured on the cover I know two of them first hand. Wow, I thought, how lucky I am to know such famous people in the transgender movement. But on second thought I started to wonder just how big of a group we are if someone like I can be acquainted with the national leaders of IFGE. Or are the majority of transgendered people in hiding.
I feel crossdressers like me make up the vast majority of the transgendered population. The problem with counting us, however, is extremely difficult because many of us just don't want anyone to know about us. I have met several crossdressers who will not even tell their wives. Many even keep their clothing, etc. in storage away from their homes. Many more of us get "dressed" at home only when no one else is home and then would not dream of going out of the house.
I just finished reading a charming book called Bert & Lori - the Autobiography of a Crossdresser. The author, Robert J. Rowe describes in detail his experiences and feelings about being a CD. He/she tells of the secret hiding places for the clothes, the relationships with women, the ordeal of not telling his second wife until seven years into their marriage, and the fact that this desire would never go away. I thought he/she must certainly be a leader in the gender movement but the opposite was in fact true. Oh, he/she had gone to a few Tri-Ess meetings, but never en femme. He kept his activities between his spouse and himself, and in fact he/she DOES NOT even own a wig! How are we going to count this person in our numbers?
At last count the IFGE distributes about 10,000 to 12,000 copies of Transgender and has about 1,000 members. Those are not huge numbers but are nonetheless impressive in that IFGE is only about ten years old and has only been collecting dues for a few years.
Another book, Miss Vera's Finishing School for Boys Who Want to Be Girls, by Veronica Vera, says that there are an estimated 6 to 10% of the male population involved in crossdressing. Since there are 270 million people in this country and one half are males then that means there are between 8 and 13.5 million crossdressers out there. WOW !
Transsexuals have a greater need to go out en femme since that is how they will be spending the rest of their lives. I think that's why they are so visible in our groups.
Crossdressers, on the other hand, are much more varied in how much and IF they can or will go out. Many, if not most, like Lori, from above, will never go out. Others go out but only to "safe" places like Innvestments meetings.
So how many of us are there? A LOT ! I truly believe that there are indeed millions of us. And I count myself as one of the very lucky ladies that can get out as much as I do and meet so many lovely ladies!
"Happiness is like a butterfly - the more you chase it, the more it will elude you. But if you turn your attention to other things, it comes and softly sits on your shoulder." (Nathaniel Hawthorne: paraphrased)
Dear Readers:
_ Hi, once again. It has been awhile, hasn't it. I did attempt to write a couple of articles earlier for this column, but somehow I got sidetracked for one reason or another and just never returned to them. I want to begin by thanking Tiffany Club for presenting their Spring Prom. It was a wonderful event and was well-attended. I'm glad I was there.
_ I spent a lovely evening at the Prom which was held at the Randolph Country Club on Friday, June 12th. I had a lot of fun meeting friends who I hadn't seen in several months--Karen, Stephanie, Nancy, April, Daphne; revisiting friends who I recently saw at our last Innvestments meeting--Joan, Brenda, Jonelle; and meeting new acquaintances--Kim. I met some of the other girls from Tiffany as well, but please forgive me if I failed to mention you by name. I'm terribly bad at remembering names, especially if I haven't seen you for some time, or if I don't see you that often. I guess it just goes along with the blondness in my hair; but blonds do have more fun, and it's a perfect excuse for being just a wee bit drifty and all the more dizzy. I love it! I arrived around 8:45 p.m. and sat at the bar for a couple of hours sipping a couple of Zima's, munching a few bites of food, and chattering with April and Joan. Then, I did the unexpected. I stepped onto the dance floor for only just a couple of dances; but instead, I ended up dancing the night away with Karen, Brenda, April, Stephanie, and Jonelle. By the time the prom ended, I don't know who or what was more worn out, the dance floor or us girls. I wasn't intending to dance because one of my heels was hurting--no, Candy, not the heel of my shoe, but the heel of my right foot--and Joan had told me earlier in the week that it would be all right if I sat at the bar all night and didn't dance. But hey, girls, we sure did have fun, didn't we!?!
_ I recently read about a new way to apply eyeliner, which I share with you. The makeup artist suggested using dark eyeliner (black; though extremely dark brown will do nicely) and applying it along the base of the eyelashes with an eyebrow brush for a nice soft touch. Let me tell you, it works; so, give it a try. I find this method much easier than eyeliner pencil or liquid pen eyeliner. The eyeliner not only washes off much easier, but it also doesn't smudge all over your pillow if you're too lazy to remove your makeup before going to sleep should you arrive home very late at night. I have a bad habit of not removing my makeup before bedtime if it's very late at night, waiting instead until my morning bath. I have this thing about cleanser and water waking me up when it's late and I'm tired and ready for bed after an evening out--I want to get to sleep! I guess I'm just fortunate to no longer have skin problems. However, I do remove my makeup in the early evening if I'm home to stay for the rest of the day. Remember, don't necessarily do as I do--remove your makeup before bedtime!
_ We've heard the stories before (the literature is out there) about the hidden or not-so-out crossdressers who are "actually out" but not "really out" as you and I would call it. In other words, individuals who live almost all or a part of their lives as persons of their chosen gender. Well, I've come across a story about a woman who lived a part of her adult life as a man, even joining the U.S. Army, and not being "outed". Gee, there's that military connection again amongst the cross-gendered community. This story originally came courtesy of my insurance company newsletter and I'd like to share it with you. I've summarized the basic facts, but added my own embellishments so as not to get into trouble with the author of the original article; nor do I want to be accused of plagiarism.
In July, 1866, shortly after the Civil War, the U.S. Congress
authorized the formation of six all-black units of the U.S. Army
because of their honorable and valiant service to the Union during
the Civil War. They would soon become known as "Buffalo Soldiers."
The Kiowa Indian tribe first encountered the 10th Infantry on
the Great Plains of Kansas during the late 1800s and, finding
them to be valiant opponents, called them "Buffalo Soldiers."
One such Buffalo Soldier was Cathay Williams, a woman who served
from November 1866 to October 1868 as William Cathay.
Cathay Williams was born into slavery in 1842 near Independence, Missouri, and grew up in Jefferson City, Missouri. She was a house-girl for a wealthy farmer, but became a cook for the 13th Union Army Corps when the Civil War began. After the Civil War, Cathay Williams enlisted in the U.S. Army as William Cathay at St. Louis, Missouri, on November 15, 1866, and served with Co. A, 38th Infantry, at Fort Cummings, New Mexico, until her discharge on October, 14, 1868, when her true gender may have been discovered. From all accounts, her service was honorable and apparently she qualified for some type of pension for her military service. It wasn't until she applied for a pension in June 1891 that it became first known that an African-American woman had served in a Buffalo Soldiers unit. Cathay Williams/ William Cathay died at the age of 82 in 1924 at Raton, New Mexico. Her application for a pension as compensation for her military service unfortunately was disapproved. However, she is now being honored as the only known female "Buffalo Soldier."
How did Cathay Williams pull it off? Why? There are probably all kinds of answers that the experts of transgender studies could render; but one thing is for sure, army regulations then forbade the enlistment or commissioning of women. So, when Cathay Williams enlisted, either the army physician didn't conduct a very complete physical since physical exams weren't required, or the physician kept quiet about it even if he were aware of her real gender (maybe he figured there would be no harm done). Also, she would have been aided by a very unflattering uniform to disguise her female figure. One other possibility is that her fellow soldiers may have sheltered her and protected her true gender identity, knowing full well the consequences if her gender were revealed since they would have already experienced racial discrimination as African-Americans. Then again, she could have been looking for a little excitement and diversity after having been exposed to military life on the battlefield during the Civil War. Whether or not she was looking to explore a gender dysphoria or a life-style to which she had become accustomed, I don't know. I'll let you draw your own conclusions (I know what mine is). Have fun speculating.
_ One final note. Retired General Colin Powell, among others, helped to bring recognition and honor to the Buffalo Soldiers. They have since been commemorated with a bronze statue and park at historic Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Apparently, the U.S. Army isn't disturbed about a female living and serving cross-dressed as a male for two years and being honored as the "first female" Buffalo Soldier. Whether the possibility of gender or racial discrimination existed in the Army's decision to honor Cathay Williams as a Buffalo Solder, we may never know. Certainly, we as transgendered can surmise that if a man had enlisted as a woman, hiding his true gender identity, and such enlistment was prohibited by military regulation, that enlistment would have been rendered invalid, the person court-martialed, dishonorably discharged, imprisoned, and possibly received the death penalty for such a misdeed. The whole incident would now be discredited and the male to female would not be honored for military service in such a group as the Buffalo Soldiers. Hopefully, the U.S. Army is viewing gender diversity with an open mind and heart. For further information about Cathay contact the Internet at www.femalebuffalosoldier.org or phone 913+682-6373.
Love to All, Robyn
The first class was last February when about ten gals from Innvestments
tried an in-
troductory session at Cheri's studio. After the introductory class, only the stalwart and
true of heart continued on. Soon we dropped from 5 to four and now we are down to three.
I do confess that the two drop outs were do to the distance that they had to travel to
class and not because of the class itself.
Denise, Julie and Candy align themselves facing the mirrored wall in front
of Cheri. First we stretch and limber up and then go into a reliable group of basic
movements. These movements blend well together and provide a smooth transition for
spontaneous accents and personal techniques. We learn how to move our hands
and arms in an oriental dance manner, and to move our rib-cage and our hips
in isolation or in concert with the rest of our bodies. We have also learned
to use the veil and are soon to add the finger cymbals to our presentations.
We are looking for another to join our group. See Denise if you are interested.
CANDY'S
CUPBOARD
_ I appreciate the phone calls
that I received from those who were concerned with my health.
I's just my time I guess. That, and a long trip out West has delayed
the newsletter. We were about half way through our trip when Elaine
became sick so we returned home. I am now leaving to drive back
out, pick up my daughter in Montana and continue on where Elaine
and I left off. Will see you at the September meeting.
_ THE FIRST MEETING OF THE NEW SEASON WILL BE ON MONDAY EVENING AT THE XXXXXXX INN ON THE 14th OF SEPTEMBER. TIME WILL BE 7:00 p.m. Please be prompt. There will be our annual business meeting and election of officers for the coming year. The slate of officers will be the same as this year (see page 2) and there nominations will be accepted from the floor. We will also have Christine Becker from Lexington as our featured speaker. Christine will comment on subjects of your choosing, so bring your topics. Christine will also be accompanied by her husband. We will also have Alison Laing with us. Alison will have an earlier meeting with the club officers starting at 5 P.M.
PLEASE NOTE THIS BOARD MEETING WILL START AT 5:00 P.M.
_ One of our former members and now a member of Sunshine
Club, Robin Ward, held an art show at the Pahana Gallery from
3 July to the 30th in Northampton. She is now living full time.
_ We are looking for a volunteer to host the annual Valentine Party next February. Any takers??
_ I still have a pair of tennis shoes that belong to someone who went to the dance class last February. if they belong to you please see me during the September meeting. Last chance before I toss them.
_ It is that time of year again when organization fees are due. Our dues are $30.00 per year with a $15.00 meeting fee for each meeting attended. Spouses and significant others do not have to pay the meeting fee if they have paid the annual fee.
_ Our meeting procedures for collecting dues and signing in are left to each individual to accomplish. There will be an attendance sheet and an envelope on the table. When folks arrive they should sign the sheet and place their money in the envelope. We ask that regardless of individual status, each person please sign the sheet. In this way we can keep track of our monthly attendance, recognize any new or visiting folks and keep up with any changes. If you have a change of address or telephone number, please add that when you sign in. Thanks!!
_ In case you had not heard, Merissa Sheril Lynn (Tiffany Club founder and founder of IFGE) had a stroke and spent some time in the hospital in Concord. She has been home for a while and is getting around. She has some paralysis in her right side. The house in Wayland has been sold and has been vacated as of the 30th of August. As I under- stand it she and April will be moving to someplace in Warwick, R.I. I want to personally thank April for standing by her.
_ For information on the Tiffany Club's Fall Fling in Provincetown in October...See next newsletter.
_ For information on Fantasia Fair in Provincetown, also in October....See next newsletter.
_ Vaunessa: Hang in there girl! We are all with you in heart and spirit!
_ Willow has recently had a bad time of it and was back in the hospital for a while. She is now home and is doing better.