Tango: My Childhood, Backwards and in High Heels
On January 1st, 2011 Justin Vivian Bond publicly force-fed V’s transgender status, preferred pronoun (V), and disclosed V’s hormone usage to cyberspace and the wolves to digest, confront and god-forbid: learn about. On the same day, I did the same thing without realizing that the cosmos would collide and two powerful and beautiful trans unicorns would share a moment. Witchy, I know.
January 1st, 2011 would prove to be the scariest and loneliest day of my life, but was inherently the most liberating. “Burden fucking lifted” I thought, as I waited for nirvana. Unfortunately, as I’ve learned, the closet is a safe-space from dealing with the world as a transgender person. But heck, it sure did feel good to get some air.
Unbeknownst to V and myself, we were now connected. Later in the day (and what a day it was), I had the privilege of reading Justin’s guide to V’s pronoun and gender. I immediately felt an overwhelming sense of community and family with an artist whom I have immense respect for and now shared something with. ”Solidarity at last,” I thought.
So, I did what my obsession with needing to reach out and cultivate connections forced, and wrote V a letter expressing immense admiration and incredible relief. Our brief but rewarding correspondence would prove to be a landmark in my transition process as I discovered that socially transitioning is a whirlwind of emotions and confusion on behalf of everyone else and of course as the beholder, which meant a lot of explaining and dissecting what it means to be queer and trans – a never ending lesson in patience and compassion. So I hit the ground, got up, and started running from something, towards everything.
It’s now September of 2011 and I was asked to write a review about Mx. Justin Vivian Bond’s Tango: My Childhood, Backwards and in High Heels. Having been anxiously awaiting the release, my interest was naturally piqued and I was honored. With the hope of providing a connection and offering my personal opinion, I decided I’d give it a go. And surely, I now see why. [Read full post...]
