Last Night...

About last night...

Healing of the Om

Hey There. We left off last night's blog on Last night. After the Bisexual Health Town
Hall I went (for the second time) to Sound Healing. Tony set the mood again with candle
light and beautiful instruments. Yep, all before he started playing anything. As Mr.
Litchenstein from Home Movies said, he took it up a NOTch. This night he intergrated drums
to open us up for healing and also taught about the Chakras. I had a coughing fit at the
beginning but I did get opened up, lost consciousness for a while (that's a good thing) and
felt better afterwards. I'm hoping I got rid of a lot of crappy stuff.


It's a Par-tae

I thought I was gonna go up to my room hook up with Shän, get to that whirlpool and chill.
Well, I ran into Marta and we were sitting down chatting and getting adjusted to the world
after naps and meditation when we were told that there was going to be a Ball Expedition at
the Black Gay Men's Leadership Council Reception. Well, us being two true ethnic sisters
(one African American and one Cuban) we sprinted to our rooms to gather ourselves and I
snatched Ms. Shän and hurriedly trapsed back to the Ballroom. And it was truely a Ballroom
now.
The Black Gay Men's Leadership Council, sponsor of the event, is an organization that uses
advocacy, education and community collaborations to empower Philadelphia's diverse
communities of black gay men by focusing on their social and political advancement and
health and wellness needs, while developing local, regional and national leaders. When we
arrived the room had a D.J. bumpin' along with a beautiful spread of hor d' ouevres and, my
favorite, a slide show of black men from the community and famous African American Queer
folks. Kevin Tramell Jones, one of the founding members of the council said he was excited
to know we were blogging. He's one for history being recorded and loved the thought. Also,
Micheal S. Hinson Jr., the LGBT Liasion to the Mayor (and a fabulous one at that), also
stated excitement with the blog because the conference would reach so many people. After
all this it was time for the show. We sat down and watched a traditional Vogue performance
and then battle. Runway walks by professional Ball House walkers and then walks from
audience members. Some were amateurs others were Ball Icons that were called out like
Tyrone Smith, a long time activist for LGBT, AIDS/HIV, African American issues and where
ever else there needs to be advocacy. Also Ron Simmons, Ph.D., President/CEO of Us Helping
Us, People Into Living, Inc. walked the runway along with Rev. Jeffery A. Haskins Pastor and
Founder of Unity Fellowship Church, Philadelphia who needed not lust to walk the runway but
walked in golden shoes cause he had tred that path before. Goodness I guess I got a little
carried away there. All that to say, they did as RuPaul asked and WORKED. Ask any audience
member there. Oh, and Rev. Jeffrey wanted me to tell ya'll service is every Sunday at 2PM
at 55 West Broad Street. He'll see you there.
This wasn't it, ya'll. The Houses that represented that night was The House of Revlon and
The House of Manolo Blahnik. The Father of the House of Manolo Blahnik was Master of
Ceremony and brought his children to perform. They were young and fierce. I'm sure he's
very proud. The evening was great. Shän, Marta, Patrick (Marta's brother) and I went to
dinner and then... I crashed. Of, course after giving ya'll a taste of the first half of
the day.


The Morning...

But then I was up at 7AM preparing for the day. I had to meet with some of the folks from
the Bisexual Health Town Hall for a suprise we're working on for Sunday. Shhhh!
Afterwards I went to the Raising a Transgender Child in an Intolerant Society: A Parent's
Perspective. Margo Saltzman and Stephanie Guinan presented at this group. They are amazing
only second to their children, Reggi and Jessie. We had the pleasure of meeting Jessie who
is lovely gentleman with a quietly expressive sense of humor. Oh, he's also a drummer and
Athlete (baseball, basketball and soccer, and he really digs soccer). Ladies watch out he's
a charmer! I learned a great deal through their telling of their stories. My main lesson
was to listen to your children. And it's deeper than you think. If your 2 year old or 3
year old tells you, "I'm a boy or I'm a girl." don't say no you're... just listen to them
and take them seriously. Listen to your children. These kids were always expressing who
they were and (my second main lesson) when your repress the self expression of a child crazy
stuff happens like they don't learn quickly or it gets blocked, they want to kill
themselves, they get depressed, they withdraw... I think you get the picture. Again these
aren't adults, these are little children. If you want to know more about trans kids and the
services and support that's out there contact your local PFLAG or shoot an email to
trans.understanding@yahoo.com. Oh, and if you run into Stephanie (she was one of the Ball
walkers last night) she has a booklet called The Agony of Nurturing the Spirit: a mother's
recount of raising a transgendered child. It's a challenge but it can be done to the
benefit of some beautiful spirits, your children.
OK, it's about time to go get lunch and check in with Shän so I'll see ya'll in a few hours
when I recount the rest of the day.

Enjoy the sunlight!

Love,


Blue