Chatsubo

The Chatsubo, or simply The Chat, is the bar made famous by William Gibson in his 1984 cyber-punk masterpiece NEUROMANCER. The Chat is where the cyberjocks, razorgirls and joeboys came to gather information and kick back. Please feel free to do the same here.

HOT BUZZ
by JoAnn Roberts - CyberQueen

"Diplomacy is the art of letting someone have your own way." Daniele Vare

The last coupla months I been apologizin' for mistakes left and right and this month is no different. Last month I attributed my opening quote to the wrong performer/writer. Not only did I spell Glenn Frye's name incorrectly, he didn't write/perform In the Garden of Allah. That honor goes to Don "Dirty Laundry" Henley.

I see Transgender Tapestry finally made it on the street to mixed reviews. The redesigned magazine looks good although they seem to be backsliding on photo reproduction. Well, maybe next time they'll get it all right. Seeing as how their layout person walked out on them, I'd say they did a great job just getting the issue out. However, some advertisers were not happy with their placement in the new tear-out Directory of Organizations & Personals. No one wants to be in the throwaway section. Overall, it looks like they're developing a nice commercial publication... only problem is, that ain't what it's supposed to be. See, the IRS frowns on 501[c][3] organizations using their tax-exemption as an unfair advantage to compete with commercial products and services. The whole idea behind the exemption is for the organization to provide for the unfulfilled needs of the community it serves. With magazines like LadyLike, Cross-Talk, Crossdresser's Quarterly, and others already on the commercial market, trying to turn Transgender Tapestry into a commercial publication could cost IFGE its tax exempt status if they're not careful.

JUMPSTARTing the new year is a new group in New Jersey: Jersey United Meeting Promoting Sane Thinking About Relating to Transgender people and issues. JUMPSTART is a support/empowerment group for people who are interested in promoting Transgendered Rights and supporting Transgendered people. This is not a "dressing" group and they do not require any individual to dress in any particular way. Each JUMPSTART meeting has two parts. One part will be a support/anonymous sharing function where those who wish to share and support may do so. The second part will be a topical discussion pertaining to Transgendered Issues and Rights. JUMPSTART meets every Tuesday Night from 7:30pm to 9:30pm at the Central Unitarian Church in Paramus, New Jersey. Call 201-262-6300 during business hours for more information.

Last month I reported on TYS, TransYouth Services, headed up by Dee Stallworth. Ms. Stallworth has informed me that TYS has started a peer-support group for transgendered youth and their families. UJIMA meets on Wednesday nights at 6:30 pm at 1207 Chestnut Street, 4th floor, in Philadelphia. The group is facilitated by two associate coordi nators Reno Wright and Niambi Robertson. UJIMA is the third principle of KWAANZA and means "working together." For more information, call Ms. Stallworth at 215-724-4610.

Talk about being "out," you can't get more out than Deidre McCloskey. McCloskey, who I met at the Be All last year and who attended my Pocono Weekend, was the subject of a Boston Globe article written by David Warsh. Here's how Warsh described McCloskey: "In all of present-day economics, there is no livelier writer than D.N. McCloskey. A former University of Chicago price theorist, a distinguished economic historian, ex-editor of a major journal, and a longtime student of the rhetoric of the field, McCloskey is at 53 a senior figure in the American Economic Association, one of six elected members of its executive committee." The Globe piece goes on to describe a recent article by McCloskey in the Eastern Journal of Economics titled "Some News That At Least Will Not Bore You." To wit: "No, I am not gay. I am cross-gendered, and at age 53, having been a good soldier for four decades, I am doing something about it. Not to startle you, but I am becoming a woman economist." Warsh then describes the brilliant career of this world-renowned economist. Bringing up the rear of the piece was news of how McCloskey's family reacted to the revelation that she is seeking sex reassignment surgery. Her wife quietly divorced her. Her children were shocked, but McCloskey's biggest problems came from her younger sister. The sister twice had McCloskey committed, each time being led away in handcuffs for fear she might harm herself. The second time occurred before a meeting of the Social Science History Association at which McCloskey's work was being discussed. Both times McCloskey was restrained for brief periods and then let go. When last seen Deidre McCloskey was attending an economics conference in San Francisco and although somewhat worn from her experiences, nevertheless a seemingly much happier person. (Thanks to Diane from Delaware for bringing this to my attention.)

One of my fave magazines was SPY which I thought had gone out of business, but, no, they just went bimonthly. The February 96 issue has the now infamous SPY 100, a list of people, organizations and things that annoyed the SPY staff in 1995. Well, we made the top twenty. Yes, Item #20 is Transvestites Go Mainstream. Nothing pumps up box office profits like carefully calculated outrageousness." The same issue carried an article titled "The Man With The Golden Jugs" wherein is described chemically induced breast development in men (gynecomastia) from pesticides that mimic estrogens. Holy Hooters, Batman, you mean I could grow boobs by sniffing DDT? The article says that pesticides used on fruits and vegetables may be responsible for the increase in what has been a relatively rare disease.

Pump Up The Volume is the new tune being "sung" by Sandra Bem, well known author of the Lenses of Gender. Until recently, Bem has tried to minimize the relevance of the male/female masculine/feminine quad by minimizing its presence in social and psychological life. But now, says Bem, perhaps the way we should do that is by proliferating categories of sex/gender/desire. In the Journal of Sex Research (Vol 32, No. 4, 1995, pp. 329-334) Bem discusses the work of three scholars who are central to this theme of proliferation. Included in the triad are anthropologist Mary Douglas, philosopher Judith Butler, and developmental geneticist Anne Fausto-Sterling. Fausto-Sterling has been mentioned here before for her 1993 article "The Five Sexes: Why Male and Female Are Not Enough." However, of interest here is Bem's discussion of Butler's book Gender Trouble: Feminism and The Subversion of Identity (Routledge, 1990). One of Butler's arguments is this: all gender is drag. Or, rather gender is an imitation of some phantasmagorical vision of what a man or a woman should be. She says there is nothing more natural, original or unconstructed about a female dressing up like a woman than a male dressing up like a woman. Bem says, "That, of course, is also why all the many dressed-up, made-up and coiffed-up women... look, to my eyes at least, not like women, but like people of whatever sex trying to look the way they think women are supposed to look." Now, I like the way these two women think.

I'm tellin ya, ya gotta read everything these days or you might miss some really cool stuff. Like in the February issue of WIRED (the darling of the net set), I found a review of a comic book called The Spider Garden. It is, they say, "...a mix of sci-fi, Japanese folk tales, and palace intrigue with pansexual groupings of women, men, mixed-genders, and machines." Oh, that sounds like it might be fun. The story centers around an androgyne Shaalis (she don't look like no androgyne to me) who receives a slave as payment of a gambling debt. That's all of the plot I could glean from the review. If you're interested, the comic is available for $11.95 from NBM at 212-545-1223, or by fax at 212-545-1227.

Onto fashion news... I received a new mail order catalog from a company called City Spirit and I have to tell you that I fell in love with their clothes. For example, there's a knit jacket dress made of Rayon and cotton that just too elegant for only $128. Many of the clothing selection go up to size 18 and some up to size 20 (that's a 361/2 inch waist). Call for a catalog: 1-800-240-7057, between 7 am and 9 pm Central Time.

The hot colors for Spring are citrus based, Lime Green, Orange Orange, and Lemon Yellow. These colors are showing up everywhere, including the type of just about every cover of every fashion magazine. The only problem here is that these colors are for the slimmest figures only. If you really must wear these "in" colors, try them in a tee rather than a dress or suit. Teamed with black or white, they can really make a statement.

Another hot look for Spring is the pantsuit. (Personally I choose not to wear slacks if I can avoid it.) Again, the look is slim with cigarette slacks and a variety of form fitting jackets.

My makeup teachers always told me never, never wear blue eye shadow. All the makeup books I studied said the same thing, so imagine how surprised I was to see blue eye shadow touted as the color for Spring faces. Yuck! All of the photos I saw made the models look like La Liz in Cleopatra. How 60's.

What's new in mascara? The brush. BeneFit's new mascara, Get Bent (doncha jes luv it!), has an angled wand that won't get in your line of sight while applying it. You can do the same to your regular mascara by gently bending the wand just below the bristles. The angle should be slight enough for the wand to slide easily back into the tube. Speaking of mascara, the most popular mascara in the U.S., Maybelline Great Lash ($4.95) turns 25 this year. They sell about $300 million of this stuff a year.

A message posted to the alt.transgendered news-group would seem to indicate that Vernon's Specilaities has finally closed its doors. The poster reported the lights were out and the store windows bare. More recent posts indicate there is a "For Rent" sign in the window and I've been told that IFGE has purchased some of Vernon's display cases. I guess that pretty much means they're out of business for real. Several vendors (myself included) are left holding thousands of dollars of unpaid bills.

If you're a big woman, and most of us are, then there's no reason why you can't wear fashionable clothes. Saks Fifth Avenue has Salon Z which offers top fashions in sizes from 14 to 24. A chemise dress can be very flattering to a full-figured woman. But whatever you do, don't wear clingy fabrics like knits and Lycra and don't hide under a tent either.

I love suits and a suit can be perfect for a larger figure. Here's some suit tips... Wear a suit that follows your natural silhouette but is not too tight... Have skirts tapered to your knees, you'll look smaller below the waist... Jackets should hit below the hips... Keep the suit one color for an unbroken line of color. You will look slimmer and trimmer.

"Short of going to Sweden for a sex change, I've taken this character as far as I can," Sylvester Stallone on Rocky Balboa. Hey, Sly, they do that here now. No need to go overseas.

So, those are my opinions, but, hey, what do I know? I think Brigitte Nielsen is Sly Stallone in drag.

Comments? Email them to CyberQueen@cdspub.com

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