November 20th: Transgender Remembrance Day

I was ignorant of the fact that Wednesday was Transgender Remembrance Day until I was reading my twitter feed after dinner that night. There, I found someone I follow (a public figure rather than a personal friend) had retweeted this tweet:

Found here: https://twitter.com/reiley/status/403301899979350016

This was shocking to read and I relayed it to Colin. We got to wondering what would make the age so low and if it could possibly be true. Since Colin had set up his office at the dining room table for the day (he was making chili which needs constant attending over many hours), he readily starting googling for more information. I listened as he relayed tidbits as he found them, then later looked up on my own and asked for the links he'd found. The "fact" in the tweet stands on very shaky ground when it comes to reliable references. There's no link to where the tweeter learned it, but below is what we were able to find regarding it.

Long story short: There is nowhere near enough data to make any solid conclusions of the average life expectancy of trans people versus the rest of the population. Such information is simply not available. There are studies, but they usually focus on a selective group, such as those with HIV/AIDS. There is also the unknowable percentage of those who aren't out about being transgendered and the lack of historical data with a bracket for the trans population.

Guernica has an article (http://www.guernicamag.com/interviews/spade_3_1_11/) that opens with: "The average life span of a transgender person is twenty-three years." It goes on to say how it makes sense:

Gender non-conformists face routine exclusion and violence. Transgender people are disproportionately poor, homeless, and incarcerated. Many of the systems and facilities intended to help low-income people are sex-segregated and thereby alienate those who don’t comply with state-imposed categories. A trans woman may not be able to secure a bed in a homeless shelter, for example."

All these points are valid and important, but they do not prove the statistics stated. Nor is there any citation or reference given in the article for the opening statement. (The rest of the article is excellent to read, though.) After wandering around other sites, I found exactly what I was looking for. It is from a page referencing another page which is a dead link now, but fortunately the text was quoted fully. The pithiest part:

I emailed the editors at Guernica to ask where the figure came from and they referred me to a 2010 article in The Daily Texan (caution: contains problematic reporting).

[…] Because of high rates of suicide, homicide and homelessness that impact the trans community, the international average life expectancy for a trans person is 23, according to the Equity (sic)Network.

Tracking back from there to the website of the Equality Network, it seems that the Daily Texan reporter has taken a speculative comment and rewritten it as if it’s an absolute, objective fact (this is not the first time I’ve seen journalists do this and I doubt it’ll be the last). The original wording on the Equality Network site is:

Globally average transgender person’s life expectancy believed to be around 23 – due to suicide, murder, and large percentages of transgender young teenagers in various countries ending up homeless and involved in drugs/prostitution/crime. [Via Crossing the Strands: Transgender workshops]

The key phrase there is “believed to be“: a significantly different emphasis from stating that it “is“. It’s also interesting to note that the Equality Network quote is from a 2007 report of a conference workshop although the origin of the “twenty-three years” figure is not attributed to any specific source. However, it’s interesting to note that, according to a 2007 UK survey, the average age for trans women undergoing surgery between 2004 and 2007 was 41 years.

Found at: http://justaguywitharrows.tumblr.com/post/12181508971/re-the-average-life-span-of-a-transgender-person-is This tumblr also summed up exactly how I feel:

Because I appreciate the sentiment but I also don’t believe in spreading disinformation.

Going off on a slight tangent, I also want to share another piece of information I found. Something I've often wondered is just what the ratio is for MTF (male-to-female) versus FTM (female-to-male). At http://jcem.endojournals.org/content/93/1/19.full:

From the start of the gender clinic in 1975 up to 2006, 2236 male-to-female and 876 female-to-male transsexuals have received cross-sex hormone treatment.

Of course this is far from a complete picture, but it helps me realize that perhaps the higher visibility of MTF is slightly closer to reality than I thought.

If you are interested in reading what else we found, here's some more links:

• http://shoredagainstruin.wordpress.com/2012/11/27/violence-and-harassment-against-transgender-people-in-the-united-states/ (also addressing the Guernica quote and its reliability, it gives a very clear picture of what trans people truly face)
• http://pinkessence.com/profiles/blogs/transgender-health-and-life-expectancy (very hard to follow, but still has interesting information)
• http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wwjtd/2012/05/murder-statistics-of-transgender-people/ (here we find out that murder statistics in the LGBTQ community reveal that there is a much higher risk for non-hetero people who are not white)
• http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/james-hetterley/a-critique-of-modern-gend_b_1157948.html (this has a similar quote with no citation, but the rest of the article is an excellent read)
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK64800/ (very in-depth but the clear outline helps) 
• http://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,91783.20.html?PHPSESSID=5ug1n4fua5tvo6htjbd49rfbl1 (very informal and anecdotal but also informative)

Hello again - remember me?

Been contemplating starting up my blog again. I gave up on feeling guilty about not publishing anything months ago, and then a couple days ago I felt the desire and urge to share things I learn, either through research or experimentation. 

The topics don't fit nicely into any one category, since I focus on such an eclectic range of things. So, as always, this blog remains un-themed, unless you call "things that Karen learns or experiences" a category. 

A list of some that I can think of right now:

• harvesting walnuts and making walnut ink; 
• which is the best mandoline, can opener, or tv tuner; 
• recipes for homemade frosting, pumpkin cheesecake, and panna cotta; 
• observations about (and from) the dog; 
• what second degree burns are and how to treat them;
• my current favorite way to keep track of daily lists and happenings; 
• books I read and TV/movies I watch; 
• what happens to the tomatoes and giant squashes;
• online surveys and other non-traditional ways to earn money; 
• what happens when I cut the number of my clothes by at least a third. 

I spend time and thought on many different things and enjoy helping others benefit from my efforts (one of the reasons librarianship appeals to me). But even if no one else ends up reading or utilizing what I've found, I feel a lack of solid accomplishments these days. It's not that I'm unhappy with the way things are, it's just that I often don't have something concrete to show off. Documenting these things will also give me focus and clarity on the projects themselves.

But before I dive into these topics, let's fast forward through the past year and change, picking out the highlights. 

Sidenote: I checked my blog to see when the last post was, and I stumbled across the Stats section. Apparently at least one person a day visits my blog, and the most popular post? http://trailmaniac.blogspot.com/2010/02/drawing-hollow-circles-on-pictures.html Yes, about how to draw circles. Over 600 views! The second one is http://trailmaniac.blogspot.com/2011/01/spain-santiago-de-compostela.html which has over 150 views. 

I did quite a bit of crocheting for Christmas 2012 presents, including a little penguin to go with the donation gift for my reddit Secret Santa.

There was more than the usual holiday travel late last year. We spent Thanksgiving in Duluth, went to Houghton twice - once to see Laura's H.P. Lovecraft play and once for her graduation from Mich. Tech. - and then went directly to Charlevoix for Christmas before stopping in Duluth on the way home. Phew.

Went to SF for two weeks in January. Went to SF again for over two weeks in March plus a train ride from there to Chicago with Colin's parents. And then again for a week in May. Had great first Airbnb experiences at three different places.

I got a Macbook Air. And yes, it still runs with the original OS. For now.

Finally put the books on the shelves!

Decided to stay in the same apartment for another year.

Brought home a rescue dog named Hannah. Mutt with indications of pitbull, boxer, and terrier. Age is only estimated, roughly a year and a half now. We've declared the day we got her to be her birthday (June 5).

The only gardening I did was the usual "Hey, let's put this mystery plant that's growing in the compost in a pot and see what happens." But our landlord and his girlfriend planted a huge garden that they were willing to share (begged). So we reaped many of its benefits. Still are in fact - down to two boxes of ripening tomatoes and 3 jumbo squashes.

There were weddings: Whitney and Dave's in Traverse City, Tom and Keegan's in Muskegon, and Alex and Amanda's in Lisle.

There were days at the cabin up north. Then Rachel left for study abroad in Ecuador.

I got a second cortisone shot for my DeQuervain's tendosynovitis (on the wrist but quite different from carpal tunnel syndrome) and went through lots of physical therapy. It was quite a bit of trial and error, since it had been years living with on-and-off pain for an injury that cropped up ten years ago. In fact, the therapy is so slow I'm still doing the first few "easy" exercises months later, but it's already worlds better. I'm aiming at being able to crochet this winter, canoe next summer, and do Nanowrimo next November. Oh, and to be able to scribble and sketch to my heart's content.

The walnut trees dropped tons of nuts this year. So I've made ink, dried husk to make ink in the future, and have 360 curing walnuts.

We carved pumpkins at Jake's. Well, we started to and then realized we hadn't used just a dremel but the speedball (stamp cutting tool), so we waited until we had time a couple nights later to finish them. Colin did a mouth with teeth and a tongue sticking out (if you've never watched the annoying orange, here you go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD5UKQggXTc). I did a silhouette of Gru from Despicable Me surrounded by minions.

Colin got a really short haircut way back in June. Then he shaved all his facial hair off for Movember. And now he looks like a scruffy bear. Today I said he should get his hair cut again before we head to my family's for Thanksgiving.

Emily left for Wales. I don't have a picture of this occurring, but I do have one of her wanting to get a bumblebee costume for Hannah - and Colin said "No."

Pumpkin pies and older news

We moved into our new place in MN almost two months ago but I haven't really felt the need (and/or had the time to) blog until today. The place is quite spacious if a bit quirky in the way it's laid out. We still have yet to put anything on the walls, books on shelves, or gotten a shelving unit for the kitchen (to get things like the microwave and mixer off the counter top). But nearly all the other things are in their places (or at least in the correct rooms).

Before moving, I'd packed up almost all our books and made a list of which books were put in what box, then stuck QR codes on each box. Over 200 lbs. of books were shipped via USPS parcel post - sturdy items that we knew we didn't need right away meant less stuff to put in a vehicle.

We'd also donated a fairly large pile of items that were taken from our curb (handier than having to haul it to a thrift store ourselves). We'd then taken another large load to Goodwill.

The move was made in two trips. First was a week early with a 10 foot uhaul with mostly furniture and a fair bit of stuff. We took the Amtrak train back and felt quite accomplished, estimating that we'd taken care of half the stuff.

The second was a week later. There were trickier dynamics this time, including my parents who came to help, a rental truck mix-up which resulted in us getting a bigger truck than requested, and someone needing to go a day early to make sure our electricity got turned on before the long Labor Day weekend (otherwise, no hot water). And we packed and loaded, packed and loaded some more ... and kept packing and loading.

Turns out we wouldn't have made the rest of the move without the suburban and 21 foot truck - both completely full. This unexpectedly massive amount of stuff still has us mystified; it simply doesn't add up with what we moved into the house with, what we accumulated, and what we got rid of. On top of that, the air conditioner hadn't been able to keep up most of the summer and there was all the cleaning still to do. Colin left a day earlier while I and my parents wrapped up the loading and did the cleaning.

We got all moved in and managed to take a few hours to go to the Minnesota Arboretum not too far from here. My mom thoroughly enjoyed taking pictures in the flower gardens while the other three (Dad, me, and Colin) took a longer meandering hike through the larger parts of the arboretum. Colin and I have made it a point to try to return at least once a week for lunch and a short hike.

Since we've moved in, we've kept busy. I've been working on the genealogy program amidst all the usual daily things, such as taking walks, playing with the neighbor's dog, trying new recipes, and reading. I had a week of being sick with a cold and a bad headache. We've also gotten library cards, new health insurance, new license plates, and new driver's licenses.

And our frequent travels haven't stopped; the first weekend here was spent moving in, then the weekend after that we went to a wedding in southern Michigan (childhood friend of mine). It was like a family and high school reunion combined (his family and mine are very close), but quite fun.

The next weekend was the annual Alworth family reunion. We kind of skipped out on the reunion part, but did go to Duluth and see Nana then spent a night at the cabin. Then we finally had a few weekends closer to home, including day trips to Renaissance Festival, an apple orchard, and visiting my cousin who lives downtown Minneapolis. We even managed some lazy weekends around the house.

And on to newer news ...

Last weekend was our five-year reunion at K. We drove there (carpooling with Colin's parents from partway) on Friday and drove back on Monday. It was great to see so many friends and family members. Rachel did some Cirque du K performing on the quad, using the silks and making us all gasp when she (purposely) flopped from standing up straight to upside down.

A week and a half ago I was completely fed up with my hair. It was so long, heavy, and no matter how much I brushed it, it was always tangled. So I measured it many times, trying to figure out how much to cut. Finally, I decided to cut enough for donating - who cares how much or little is left? So that's what I did. Then I had to go in to Great Clips the next morning because I can't see the back of my head. It's an angled bob that I love with two cons: my neck gets cold and no one can see my hearing aids anymore (their visibility can be helpful when meeting new people).

Our internet is working again! It quit Wednesday afternoon and despite repeatedly calling the cable company and checking wires and connections, we couldn't figure out why it quit on us or how to start it up. Even went to rent a modem from the company to rule that cause out. It wasn't until someone came out - and realized someone else (from the company) had disconnected the wires at the top of a pole yesterday ... because our neighbor had canceled his cable a month ago. It was just under 24 hours without internet at home.

The first snow was spotted yesterday morning! It's not cold enough for it to stick though. The precipitation continued throughout the day, alternately snowing and raining. I finally found where I'd packed most of my wool socks yesterday.

I just made my first pies yesterday! They are little bitty pumpkin ones that I made in a muffin tin. I used canned pumpkin and pre-made refrigerated pie dough but I definitely will be making more pies, closer and closer to "from scratch." They make the house smell amazing. I am including a conclusion photo of them below from when they were fresh out of the oven (the tops sank a little after that). Recipe was clobbered together from the pumpkin puree can recipe and http://www.makeandtakes.com/muffin-tin-pumpkin-pies

72 years later

Back in January, I remember being startled to see that I hadn't written in my blog since early last November. November and December had been such crazy months that I guess it simply escaped me. So I started to dread writing another post, having to recognize that I'd lapsed yet again. Then we entered the more absurdly longer period of time since the last post. And here it is, in April, and it has pretty much come out the other end and the time since the last post seems so ridiculously long that it doesn't matter anymore. At least, not to me.

There was also the whole "What the heck do I write about?" Because I would occasionally think "Ooo, I want to share this on my blog!" but then remember that there was so much catching up that for some reason I felt like I should do and I'd feel overwhelmed/guilty/embarrassed/etc. So some more time would pass.

So why today, you might ask? Um, why not? True, I've been reading more blog posts at random places which helps get me into a blogging mode/mood, whether I read them with that purpose or not. Admittedly, I have a topic on my mind that I just couldn't let previous reasons to not post stop me from writing this.

I thought I'd let you know about something that I'm quite excited about: the 1940 US Census. So far, however, it's been mostly testing my patience. The Census became available this Monday - for everyone to view for free! With an official government website and everything! Probably because I do genealogical research on a regular basis, for months I have been spotting ads and announcements stating things like "X days before release!"

So, needless to say, I went to the website on Monday. It took me some time to get my bearings on how things were set up and how to get to what I wanted. I was impressed with some bits, notably the ability to find the records of the same physical area by inserting the 1930 ED number. Yet when it came to viewing the actual pages, the only thing I can think of that would be worse is to not have them available (after all those teasing, promising ads).

It is quite possible that they will have the problem fixed by this weekend. It is quite possible that there really are way, way more people than ever anticipated trying to use the site. But I don't see these as acceptable excuses. When you tell people "It's coming out! It's coming out!" and then don't prepare properly for the masses, those masses are going to be frustrated. Access to the 1940 US Census is not like buying the latest iPhones.

Now, I could just wait. I mean, genealogy is a hobby requiring patience and time, after all. My agony might just be the tantalizing, teasing taunt of "It's heeeere," and still not being able to utilize it. But I'm used to my resourcefulness helping me find alternative ways to figure things out and find what I want. There simply isn't anything else I can do to get at the information I'm looking for.

From the news I've read, it sounded like they weren't expecting anywhere near the number of visitors that showed up on Monday. "In a tweet posted after 5 p.m. Monday on its Twitter account, the archives said the website had gotten 37 million hits since the information was released at 9 a.m." 37 million might seem like a lot, but it's just under 12% of the current US population. Is it really that unimaginable? I could be overly optimistic about how many people are interested in their family's past, but I have to wonder if Ancestry.com doesn't realize that those who don't have active subscriptions with them would possibly want to leap into the Census on the first day of its release.

To give you some idea what it's like if you haven't tried it yourself:
There is a drop-down menu for downloading all the pages for one census at the same time, but it doesn't work. Yesterday, I actually found it faster to download each page and scroll down the page before going back and downloading the next page. Today, the downloading is quite a bit slower. The inset viewing option is very slow and the window is very limited (probably more my computer's tiny screen's fault). I have to click 23 times, waiting an average of 2 seconds between clicks, before I am done scrolling down the page and checking all the last names.

I have started playing a kind of "game" - I found while the page is still loading, the clicks to get down the page are faster than they are after the page is done loading. So I'll try to go through as much of the page while still catching the names before the page is done loading. Still, it's slow-going, especially since I take numerous breaks and I went through a whole ED before checking my records to find it's the wrong one (always double check what it says on the actual image whenever possible, don't just go by what the transcription says). So no finds yet, unless you count when I found someone named Moriarty who was a 48 year-old maid.

This pen(cil) really sucks

While I should be writing my novel (I'm a bit behind - need to write 2.5k just to be caught up to the daily goal by the end of today), I simply had to write a post about something different right this instant.

You might know me as a lover of office supplies. I love visiting office supply stores for as long as I can remember and seeing what they have that I want to try out. I needed to pick up a prescription and had $2 extrabucks at the CVS that were going to expire soon. I couldn't think of any usual toiletry/medicinal supplies or even any food, so I thought I'd allow myself to pick something up in the small office supply section.

I spotted the Sharpie Liquid Pencil. "Oooo," I breathed. Sharpie makes great stuff and this looked like a cool idea. So I grabbed it and headed over to the pharmacy. When I came home, I immediately opened the package and started writing with it. My heart sunk with every new stroke.

Simply put, it is an abysmal product. I'm not usually one for such drastically negative words and will try to find some redeeming features of just about anything. It looks like it came out well over a year ago and I'm surprised it's still on the shelves. I Googled around looking for other opionions and found that the majority of the reviews on Amazon are 1 stars. Some other reviews elsewhere are much more positive, even saying that it writes smoothly. Now, it's possible that I've gotten a faulty one, but I will include a photo of the results. I tried different pressures and angles with no success.

Glad I hung onto that receipt. Despite only actually spending a dollar on it, I'm never using it and can't even bring myself to be okay with spending a dollar ...

Writing and reading words (= life)

Today I managed just shy of 2.5k words. I hope to do the same tomorrow and Wednesday and from the view tonight it looks doable but we all know how well life gets in the way of life.

I just realized something that could potentially be disastrous to the story: I switched up something major by mistake. It's so ingrained into what I've written so far it would take a complete rewriting and a very different set of scenes to make it work the way I had planned. But - I won't edit what I've got and from what I can tell, it shouldn't cause any disasters I can't control. Other than that, I feel the story is going much better than the one last year. I did have a couple of scenes that I really liked last year but it remained stilted until it fizzled out sometime early in December.

I'm trusting the advice that the act of writing itself changes the story. Many novels are not completed because they ended up going somewhere the author hadn't intended, when (apparently) where they are going is much better than what was expected of them.

Colin and I started reading "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson in the car. It is one of the few books I've read frequently. I've never read it out loud before, but it is making it easy to see why I've never cared for any of his other books. I've pretty much attempted them all, although I have yet to try out "At Home" which I was given a copy of last Christmas. It is becoming clearer and clearer that if it's a book I read before and we read in the car, something about it just doesn't translate well when being read aloud. Most of Colin's books are great for reading out loud in the car though. *sigh*

Anyway, the main reason I bring the book up is because the whole "It wasn't what I expected" reminded me of it. Apparently, most people that start out hiking the AT and then quit soon, say it was because "It wasn't what I expected." You do have to wonder what they *did* expect. Was it not that hiking with everything on their back all day, day after day, mountain after mountain, would result in tiredness, fewer modern conveniences, and some smelliness?

I think I like going back to it again and again because it is not touchy-feely (many hiking memoirs are full of "searching for my self" and suchlike) but it is also not just pure data (the other half all just keep saying "And the next day I walked x miles from point a to point b. It was still raining."). Simply put, the book makes my feet itch for the trail.

A Novel on my Hands

Looks like the first big story idea I started with is turning out to be a novel. So I'm going to stick with it, see where it goes. I feel like I have a more definite plot idea and a good idea for what to end it on, as opposed to the story last year. Still, I'm not forcing myself to write just this one story so if it gets stuck or peters out, I'm moving on. Speaking of which, I've only managed just over 6k, not quite meeting the daily requirement. Now, it's possible I'll eke out some more words before sleep but today wiped me out.

The gang's all here, from my mom and dad, Grandpa, aunt and uncle, and us. And of course the people who live here - Laura, William, Becca and Daver. We spent quite a bit of time at the cafe downtown, slowly typing out some words for the novel. Then we met up with those flying in and had dinner at the Library (there's a restaurant/brewery with that name in the old public library building - very good). Then we saw Laura starring in the Fuddy Meers play, which I thought was fun and pretty good though I'm sure there's some bias on my part.

Now Colin and I are back in the hotel room, lazing around a bit watching real TV until falling into bed. The saddest parts are that there's no snow predicted for the rest of this weekend even though it's gonna be cold enough at night and that there's an NCIS marathon on Sunday - when we're going to be driving south again.