letter from transgender community

For the Edmonton Sunday Support Group (1st and 3rd Sundays), I've been planning to turn one of the two meetings into an activities thing -- the Shop Class being discussed is one such example. Because of budget (or lack thereof), these would be mostly potluck-style or everyone going dutch, but could include things like a picnic, bowling / pool, or (when we can find people willing to volunteer time) things like makeup instruction and such. I do have the "Finding Your Female Voice" instructional DVDs, for example -- we could always arrange for one of the meetings to focus on voice development. What I'd like to know first of all, is what kinds of activities people would like to take part in, and are there ways to do these on the cheap. Also, if members have particular skills they'd be willing to volunteer some time to share or some activities they'd like to spearhead, please also let me know.

I'm also interested in collecting local personal stories of inspiration and education for a display project that would be made available for things like Transgender Awareness Week or to supplement the Transgender Day of Remembrance (not to steal attention from the latter, but to provide a reminder for those in the community and questioning that death is not the only likely outcome of being transgendered). This is something that is open to all perspectives, TS, TV / CD, FTM / MTF, intersexed, pre-op, post-op, mid-op, non-op... in fact the more diverse the testimonials, the better. You do not have to reveal your name (if you don't want to, please let me know to use an alternate designation, i.e. an initial) -- only reveal those things that you're okay for people to know. If there are any photos, artwork or other creative or expressive things to adorn the display, they would also be most welcome. Other forms of expression, such as transgender-related poems might also be a good idea.

Take care;
Mercedes Allen,http://sistermercy.blogspot.com/Webmistress http://www.albertatrans.org/