In my experience, which is not inconsequential, all transfolk sometimes cringe at the way other transfolk express our common situation/predicament. Some call it a malady. Some have called it a birth defect, while others of us find nothing defective about who we are and have rejected that framing.
When people are fighting for their common humanity, sometimes framing is all they have which they can address.
Well, now there is a means for people to address that framing…to make a mark on the story of what it means to be trans.
Chaz Bono and Janet Mock have had their turn.
“Janet Mock?”, you query.
If you want your turn, pass to the other side of the squiggle.
Topside Press is the joint creation of Tom Leger and Riley McLeod, two transmen working out of Brooklyn.
A few years back, Tom was the creator of the project Make Me a Boy. Tom and Riley co-produced the STAGES Transgender Theater Festival in 2003.
Tom and Riley co-wrote Butch McCloud: Your Friendly Neighborhood Lesbian Superhero and the 2007 film F. Scott Fitzgerald Slept Here (well, actually IMDB gives Riley all the credit for writing this movie.
Anyway, the point is that this guys have their bona fides. They are not trying to fleece anyone.
More recently, Tom created Let’s Talk about Michigan, which stangely I can get to appear in a comment, but not in the diary. See below.
What Tom and Riley are doing is looking for a few good trans heroes.
Topside Press seeks short literary fiction for its debut title, to be published in late 2011. The collection will feature work by transgender authors and/or work featuring transgender protagonists. While there is no strict theme, the goal of this collection is to showcase fiction by and about transgender people and culture. The book hopes to reflect the diversity of trans experience; all people are encouraged to participate.
—TopsidePress
We are seeking works that feature authentic transgender protagonists. We think there’s a large audience out there for trans literature that truly reflects a diversity of transgender culture and experience, while avoiding some of the boring stereotypes in many published works.
Manuscript maximum length is 10000 words. Manuscripts should be previously unpublished. Non-English works should come with a translation.
And, should you not be raptured, you have time to finish your story! Deadline is August 31, 2011.
My hope for this diary is to poke some people in the ass and get something started.
You are not trans yourself? No problem. Maybe you can find a tranperson here who will help you with any necessary “technical expertise”.
I sort of like the team approach.
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—who besides us should participate in trying to write a new one?
Let’s Talk aout Michigan:
that you couldn’t get the video to post in the essay text. I tested in a draft and it worked without the need to “fix” the code