Andrea Langlois et al - Islands of Resistance - Pirate Radio in Canada

138 • islands of resistance
they come back refreshed and ready to make a case to hold and protect
the transmitter, as well as an antenna and power supply. One part that
I always enjoy is seeing what they bring in for a case. I’ve seen lunch
box radio, cigar box radio, and dinner plate radio, to name a few.
My philosophy with radio workshops is to make things seem simple
and easy for lay people, so they can put together and build a transmitter
without extensive technical knowledge. I’ve had people who are
afraid to use a computer, program a VCR or to do anything of a technical
nature eventually learn how to build a working transmitter. Their
eyes light up when I test out their transmitter and it works. The excitement
people seem to feel building something so technically complex is
one of the main reasons why I still teach workshops after 15 years.
I get similar enjoyment from gender expression when I, with a still
fairly masculine body, try to express the feminine that exists within
me. My role as a mentor in regards to gender was never clearer than
when I attended a program on transgender issues at the Vancouver
Queer Film and Video Festival. I was with a friend and dressed quite
femininely. We entered the theatre, squeezed past a young person and
seated ourselves a couple of chairs away. After the screening, when the
lights came up, this person turned to me and said, “You look exactly
how I feel.” She was obviously very troubled, trying to figure out her
feelings, but not having a role model. Later when we met for coffee
as friends, she told me how she would be kicked out of the house for
wearing feminine clothes and had to be very discreet. She was trying
to make sense of her identity and wanting to take action to advance her
self-exploration. I could see that I had inspired her, and that the inspiration
she was getting from me was very similar to that experienced
by participants in my transmitter workshops. Though both technical
accomplishments, and uninhibited gender expression may seem unattainable,
both are actually possible. By modeling the authenticity of
my gender expression, someone else can become aware of the complexity
involved, and have the courage to live as they want.
Similarly, when I first looked at radio transmitters, they seemed
impossibly complex and inaccessible — it wasn’t until I saw Tetsuo
creating one that I realized that such technology was within my grasp.
Once this happened, I chose to share my knowledge with other people
through workshops, hoping to create a comparable inspiration and
excitement in others. I find this situation to be analogous to when I
first began exploring my gender identity — navigating a need for a