I'm pretty sure I've known you since I was very young. You were always that cool uncle from England that I couldn't wait to see on the Holidays.
I remember you always had pipe tobacco that smelled like apples or peaches and you'd sit at the table puffing away, listening to your music. Which, if I remember correctly, was usually always something that involved pianos.
You told me once I probably wouldn't like it but when you let me listen it wasn't something that I would protest.
Over the years the frequency at which you'd visit declined, but I was always hoping to see you around on Christmas, at the very least.
And I remember the last Christmas I saw you, in 2010.
I can't remember most of what we talked about. I think I was going on about the woman I was dating at the time and you said something about "getting a leg up," and I do remember saying something about having always wanted to visit a London pub.
You said if I ever made it to England, you'd take me to one.
I'm really sorry that never happened. That I never made it there to visit and have a drink with you.
Your passing has been felt in many different places around the world and I'm absolutely sure that no one will ever forget you.
My vacation in Alabama is coming to a close and let me say... it wasn't nearly as scary as it was made out to be.
Thanks to my sister-in-law, +Erin, I've got a whole bunch of new clothes, too! (All things you can check out, here: Modern Mommy)
Not only did I go about being me without fear, but not a single stranger said a word to me.
It. Was. Awesome.
I got to taste beers from all over the world, thanks to the special shop around the East Chase shopping center (and saw some pretty neat stuff, too)...
And seeing booze in nearly every store was the most amazing thing ever, since good ol' Pennsylvania doesn't believe in inebriation or whatever.
I saw the sites of Alabama, which was mostly Winn Dixies and churches.
And I got to eat at a really great barbeque place, called, "Jim 'N Nick's Bar BQ," which you can read about in my reviews section via G+, here: Meryl's Reviews.
You have got to go there and try their cheesy biscuits if you're in the area and you have the chance.
Plus their employees didn't give me any shit.
But most of all, I got to be myself and have lots of fun, which is a total far cry from the way things have been the past seven months. I'm nearly dreading my return to Pennsylvania... although, I suppose somebody has to write the sequel to Escape Velocity and educate those who I interact with on a daily basis about trans issues and why it's not okay to act like our identities are false.
Until next time Alabama, +Adam, Erin, Kenzie, Ash and their new puppy, Fred, it's been wonderful.
I've been pretty active with posting things lately, so I wanted to write up a notice for the next 10-15 days.
I'll be leaving for Alabama tomorrow morning around 3-4am and I'll be returning on the 11th, only to immediately work for five days.
This means that I probably won't be posting anything here at paxcorpus.com at all until I've returned.
Maybe I'll bring some pictures back to share? Maybe not! I don't know.
I do know that a lot of people close to me and my friends have warned me of the intolerance (specifically toward trans* people) which increases the further south you travel.
Although I can understand why, considering all the ridiculous things that take place in that general area of the U.S, and the kinds of things I think the majority believes is true and just (Go to hell, Arizona). I mean, I have a friend who's been beaten up and threatened for being a "fag" and she lives in Northern Florida.
But you know what? Screw them. I deal with enough turmoil at my job dressing as a guy all day and constantly dealing with male pronouns from people who both know and don't know about me.
And I truly believe that it's mostly deliberate, from those who do know—I'm looking at you, Erin, the former-trans girl who's recently shaved his head and is joining the Marines.
So I'll just throw on the shiniest, most feel-good nail polish I can find and be as feminine as I want to be (even though I'll probably just sleep most of the fifteen hour ride away).
Alabama, here I come.
Rated R. Parental guidance suggested. Coming to you soon.
"This isn't the road home. This is a road littered with questions that will inevitably lead to an answer."~Dante Marcellus
Escape Velocity is a twisted-metal collision between a romantic tragedy and an apocalyptic thriller.
On the surface, it's an A-to-B sort of story that leads you on through a trail of bodies and violence, but if you pop open the hood, there's way more to it than that.
Front and center, you have two incredibly troubled characters, which, in my opinion, makes for an even more dramatic story.
First, you have Dante Marcellus, a man who used to work for the Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) Area Police Department, before transferring to Manhattan's "Emergency Response Unit." It was there that he quickly rose to veteran status, just as the apocalypse moved in on the city (and the rest of the world).
A man whose mother and father vanished without a trace. The father, Vincent Marcellus, who disappeared, with his only reason being that he was involved in a top-secret type of project that led to the abandonment of his sons, Dante and Jack.
And as you flip through the pages of Escape Velocity, you find that Dante still suffers from the echo of a strange voice within his mind, is constantly suffering mental attacks and something that would look like narcolepsy to any of the people around him.
Then you have his right-hand, Meryl SinGarda.
A rookie NYPD cop who grew up in a violent environment of drug abuse and alcoholism. During the six years that she was separated from Dante, her and two other people traversed the ruin-ridden landscape of the United States of America, and most unfortunately, were captured by the terrorist cell, ZeroFactor, who, among other horrible things, removed one of her eyes.
The transsexual—emotionally battered and bruised—Meryl SinGarda and the seemingly paranoid schizophrenic Dante Marcellus find themselves at the end of their rope, when their only remaining shelter, which exists in Salem, New Jersey, is brutally attacked and torn apart.
This leaves them at the brink of starvation with only one goal—retribution.
I've been talking a lot about trans* issues and things lately, especially discrimination and hate speech and, for whatever reason, people come out of the woodwork to read what I have to say.
So, since you guys obviously want to see more about all of this, I'm going to make today's update about trans* related work issues.
If you aren't trans*, you probably don't know that any of us could be fired, simply for being who we are. I'm not saying that everyone is kind of out-of-the-loop like that, but I'll touch on that subject.
Yes. I could be fired tomorrow, just because I'm transsexual.
And there isn't a single thing I'd be able to do about it—yet.
Of course, your boss isn't going to come straight out and say, "[Incorrect Pronoun], you are hereby being let go because our company doesn't agree with a natural human condition. Good day."
It'd be more like, "You don't work hard enough," or, "You've broken so and so rule this and that."
You know, petty things that, if you're honest with yourself, know aren't true.
Some employers aren't douches though. But I've heard from at least one person, for example, that the management team of Hershey Park (Hershey, Pennsylvania) wouldn't even hire a transsexual.
What are we? I mean, really?
And then there's this problem, like, here on the internet people seem to be really well versed on the topic of trans* people in general, but then you venture out into the world and everyone's like, "Look a transvestite." (Not that there's anything wrong with transvestites, it just isn't the same thing as transsexual)
I've experienced this myself. I don't want to anger any of the people I work with, but I really hope at least one of you are reading this.
One of the problems I've personally had with coming out and acceptance in the workplace, is that barely anyone even knows what transgender or transsexual means. So it's kind of a real shock when you're like, "Hey, I need to tell you something. I'm transsexual." It's really nerve wracking.
And I feel like maybe that's part of the reason an employer would up and fire you for something that I should be able to sue a company for, should that ever happen to me.
So, people that I work with or people who work with other transgender coworkers, I just want you to know a few things, in order to maybe help keep the workplace from turning into a big stressful pool of hell...
1. It's not okay to misgender a transsexual. You might think that it doesn't matter, but it does. It makes all the difference in the freaking world. Refusing to even acknowledge this may as well be straight up discrimination. If I tell you that I'm a transsexual woman, my name is Meryl, guess what—calling me Sir, Mr., him and he isn't going to roll off my back like butter. More like razorblades.
2. Transsexual men and women aren't crossdressers. If I'm a woman, I'm a woman, dammit.
3. Being "part time" is usually not ideal. For example, going back and forth between male and female because of the stress and fear that's caused by the people around you is not the way anyone, or even I, would like to live indefinitely, just because people are unwilling to learn. (Although that case would be totally different for Genderqueer people).
I guess what I'm trying to say is, the lack of trans* education in my workplace and, I'm willing to bet, many workplaces, needs to end. It is the reason that people are needlessly fired. The reason people are bullied and physically harmed. One of the many reasons suicide happens.
Please, read. And don't take my words as offensive or harsh. Take them as pure honesty. I'm pleading that the people around me and other trans* men and women, please take my words seriously.
A recent posting via the Stephen Colbert fan page on Facebook, in which the satirical character used the word "tranny" to describe transient workers (Come on, we're not stupid. We know the joke you're trying to pull here.) was followed with comments that included, but were not limited to, harassment, hate speech, death threats and discrimination.
Below is just a fragment of the disgusting spew which followed my protest of the satirical character's usage of the word:
Not only did this recieve the most amount of replies, it's still going. As of right now, my cell phone has over 99 notifications from just this comment thread.
And although multiple people did the right thing and reported all of this to Facebook (meaning both the post itself and the comments), this is what they had to say: (click the image for a larger version)
So, Facebook moderator team, whoever you are, do you expect to shut us up? Or is this just a horrible oversight? Either way, I have a voice and I will use it to its fullest extent. And this probably won't be the last time.
