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The <strong>Jan</strong>uary/February <strong>2019</strong><br />
CDI Newsletter<br />
Serving the NYC cross-gender community for 30 Years<br />
In this issue<br />
About the Group<br />
Club Happenings<br />
Upcoming Events - The Year<br />
Ahead<br />
Pictures From Recent Events
When<br />
Opportunity Knocks<br />
By P.D./Geeta. <br />
Geetatg@hotmail.com<br />
I have an apology to make. It was last last summer when I had promised<br />
Allison that I would jump in and lend a hand with the club newsletter in order to<br />
relieve some of the workload on her and the team that is involved getting it out<br />
the door. As so often happens, life intervened and it didn’t happen on my part. My<br />
bad.<br />
Well, as most of you know I’m off work for a while and it occurred to me that this<br />
was the perfect opportunity to jump in and fulfill my promise. With Allison’s<br />
permission I’ve inter-connected some new technologies that are available and<br />
brought them to bear upon the newsletter project. Most of it is workflow related<br />
and not all of it is implemented yet - but the things you are seeing now are the<br />
first manifestation of this effort.<br />
An opportunity existed, and we seized the moment. And<br />
that is exactly what this issue of the newsletter is about<br />
- Opportunity. <br />
In the following pages you will see that there are two<br />
major transgender conferences being held in the<br />
Northeast in the immediate future. They represent a<br />
fleeting opportunity for each of us to further evolve our<br />
transgender selves far beyond what we are able to<br />
accomplish on our own. I hope you will take a look see,<br />
and give attending serious thought.<br />
Another opportunity exists within the club itself - One of our club key holders is<br />
re-locating south and relinquishing her 24/7 access to the CDI space. We all wish<br />
her the best and our gratitude as she moves forward. What this means is that an<br />
opportunity now exists for someone to become a key-holder. Does having 24/7<br />
access to our amazing space right in the middle of NYC’s Manhattan theater<br />
district sound appealing? And yes, it comes with space to store your wardrobe<br />
too! Details can be found inside.<br />
I do hope you enjoy this premier issue, and of course feedback is welcome !
<strong>2019</strong> Annual Meeting Announcement<br />
If having an<br />
organization<br />
like CDI in your life<br />
matters, then<br />
PLEASE join us for<br />
our annual meeting<br />
on <strong>Jan</strong> 24th where<br />
we will take stock of<br />
how we are doing,<br />
get your thoughts/<br />
ideas for <strong>2019</strong>, as<br />
well as conduct<br />
officer elections . All<br />
are encouraged to<br />
attend.<br />
Please, show your support for the work that<br />
Allison and the officers have been doing by<br />
attending!
CDI-NYC’s CrossGender Community<br />
440 West 47th Street, Suite BB<br />
New York, NY 10036<br />
(212) 564-4847<br />
<strong>2019</strong> Membership Dues<br />
CDI is a non-profit cooperative association that uniquely reaches out to and supports the CD and<br />
transgender community. Our space on West 47 th Street is paid for, managed and staffed by our<br />
members. To <strong>co<strong>ver</strong></strong> our annual expenses of $76,340 we now require all involved to support CDI<br />
through membership dues.<br />
Your annual membership dues help support our outreach and say that through CDI membership, you<br />
believe in what we are doing. You want it to continue!<br />
Allison Davis, President<br />
Please choose the most generous member level possible. Are you able to increase this year to the<br />
next higher member level?<br />
Membership Dues (annually)<br />
● Sustaining Member - $ 300/year<br />
● Supporting Member - $100/year<br />
● Basic Member - $50/calendar year<br />
You can now pay your dues in three ways:<br />
1. In person at a CDI GenderCrossing Dinner Party<br />
2. By mail to: Attn: Allison Davis, CDI Suite BB, 440 West 47th Street, New York, NY 10036<br />
3. Online via Paypal: Using your paypal account, click SEND to our email address:CDIcommunity@gmail.com.<br />
Add a note with your femme name and “<strong>2019</strong> Dues” Your transaction will show up on your credit card statement<br />
as “PAYPAL *CDI NY INC”<br />
----✄-------✄------------------------Please turn in at a Wednesday GenderCrossing dinner or mail in ------------------------✄--------✄------<br />
Allison, Attached is my membership commitment for <strong>2019</strong>! Date __________________<br />
⬜ Sustaining Member $300 Preferred Name _____________________Last_______________<br />
⬜ Supporting Member $100 Email Address ________________________________________<br />
⬜ Basic Member $50 $ _________ attached by ⬜Cash ⬜Money Order ⬜Check<br />
Make checks payable to CDI NY Inc.<br />
Info for Allison Cell # _________________________ Birthday Month _____ Day _____<br />
How will you RSVP for dinners?: ⬜Meetup ⬜Email ⬜Text<br />
Please Mail to: CDI, 440 West 47th Street, Suite BB, New York, NY 10036 Attn: Allison<br />
Or place in Allison’s mailbox in the CDI Office.
Why It’s Easy as A-B-C<br />
paying my dues using<br />
PayPal !<br />
A<br />
Just<br />
B<br />
C<br />
login to your PayPal<br />
account at www.paypal.com<br />
• click “SEND” to our email<br />
address:<br />
• CDI community@gmail.com. <br />
• Add a note with your femme<br />
name and “<strong>2019</strong> Dues” <br />
Thats all there is to it! Your transaction will show up<br />
on your credit card statement as “PAYPAL *CDI NY INC”
Our Weekly Gender<br />
Crossing Dinner Parties<br />
What time?<br />
Doors open<br />
at 5:00 pm<br />
Dinner served<br />
at 7:30<br />
Come join us each Wednesday night at the<br />
CDI clubhouse for a pleasant evening of<br />
camaraderie, dinner, special events, and<br />
monthly night-club outings afterwards.<br />
Just visiting NYC? Make it point to join us,<br />
we would love to meet you, and there are<br />
almost always out-of-town folks at our<br />
table.<br />
First time out? Don’t sweat it, we’ve all<br />
been there. You’ll have a great time.<br />
How much?<br />
Just $20.00<br />
1<br />
2<br />
3<br />
4<br />
NEED TO CHANGE<br />
ATTIRE? WE HAVE<br />
PRIVATE DRESSING<br />
SPACES / MAKE-UP<br />
STATIONS<br />
WANT YOUR MAKE-<br />
UP DONE<br />
PROFESSIONALLY?<br />
ASK FOR DETAILS<br />
NEEDING THAT<br />
PERFECT PHOTO ?<br />
WE HAVE A STUDIO<br />
TOO !<br />
WHERE?<br />
MANHATTAN’S MID-<br />
TOWN WEST<br />
THEATER DISTRICT
Dinner Party Dates<br />
Reservations are a must either by the: CDI Meet-up page, or<br />
CDIcommunity@gmail.com. We can also be reached at<br />
+1-917-873-8403<br />
<strong>Jan</strong>uary <strong>2019</strong> February <strong>2019</strong><br />
<strong>Jan</strong>. 02 - Gender<br />
Crossing Dinner Party<br />
<strong>Jan</strong>. 09 - Gender<br />
Crossing Dinner Party<br />
followed by Karaoke<br />
after-party at Vodka<br />
Soda Bottoms Up<br />
(10:00 pm)<br />
<strong>Jan</strong>. 16 - Gender<br />
Crossing Dinner Party<br />
<strong>Jan</strong>. 23 - Gender<br />
Crossing Dinner Party<br />
and Annual meeting<br />
(Free!)<br />
Feb. 06 - Gender Crossing<br />
Dinner Party<br />
Feb 13 - Valentines Dinner<br />
Outing (Admirers and dates<br />
welcome!). Doors open<br />
5:00p, walk to nearby<br />
restaurant 7:30 PM.<br />
Reservations definitely<br />
required!!<br />
Feb. 20 - Gender Crossing<br />
Dinner Party<br />
Feb. 27 - Gender Crossing<br />
Dinner Party<br />
<strong>Jan</strong>. 30 - Gender<br />
Crossing Dinner Party
COME HANG<br />
WITH US AFTER<br />
DINNER AT OUR<br />
FAVORITE<br />
LOCAL<br />
NITESPOTS
Opportunity Knocks…<br />
Want to step up your game?<br />
The Roman philosopher Senecai is said to have observed that luck occurs at the intersection of preparedness<br />
and opportunity. <br />
Here is your opportunity…<br />
One of our key holders is moving down south and thus relinquishing her 24/7 key access to our club space.<br />
Does having a place to come chill out in the city, store your dresses, and be able to get ready to go out for the<br />
evening sound good without having to go all the way back home first sound good?<br />
To be clear, this is not a space rental, it’s a <strong>ver</strong>y limited membership in the club which enables you to “live the<br />
city” in a way that would otherwise be difficult or impossible. <br />
Interested? Reach out to Nancy for details : nancylamar@aol.com
LOOK AWESOME AT YOUR NEXT EVENT<br />
Mia<br />
917-209-0897<br />
By appointment<br />
Dinner Parties — Outings — Photo Shoots — Special Events
CDI Valentine’s Dinner Outing at Mama Mia 44SW<br />
February 13 th , <strong>2019</strong>, 7:45 to 9:30 pm MamaMia 44SW Italian Restaurant<br />
•Dates, Friends, loveinterests<br />
and Single<br />
admirers are welcome.<br />
• Ladies, this is your<br />
opportunity to show off that<br />
classy red dress. If you’ve<br />
got it why not wear it! Then<br />
again, black with pearls<br />
always are a girl’s best friend. And seriously though, no night-club<br />
attire.You get it..<br />
• Gents - you always know how to look good.<br />
• This is your opportunity to be out and about socializing right in the<br />
middle of the greatest city on earth with a <strong>ver</strong>y cool group of friends at<br />
a great restaurant.<br />
• For simplicity, we do individual checks/pay for your own cocktails.<br />
Entree’s range $14-21, cocktails typically $10, please tip well….<br />
• Dress and socialize at CDI 5:00 - 7:30 pm, at which point we will closeup<br />
and take a short walk to the restaurant. CDI will re-open after<br />
dinner.<br />
• Professional make-up appointments available.<br />
• RSVP via Meet-up or CDIcommunity@gmail.com by Sunday Feb.<br />
10th.
Up-coming Transgender<br />
Conferences - Why YOU need to<br />
be there.<br />
The Single most often asked<br />
question at CDI..<br />
If there were one question asked at CDI dinners<br />
more than any other by those exploring their CD/<br />
Trans feelings it would undoubtedly be “ What is<br />
my next step, what do I do now? “<br />
I for one am always quick to say “Learn!”, though I<br />
say it with a caveat thrown in - that caveat being<br />
that there exists a world of difference between<br />
having X number of years experience pursuing an<br />
interest .vs having one year of experience X times o<strong>ver</strong> and o<strong>ver</strong> again. It’s a distinction worth<br />
stopping and thinking about for a moment because it is not necessarily an obvious one.<br />
For me one of the most compelling things about life in the gender-crossing world is the opportunity to<br />
learn an immense amount of material and be<br />
rewarded almost immediately with socially<br />
affirming results. In this world you can walk<br />
down the street en-femme looking like a wreck,<br />
or you can look awesome. You can effortlessly<br />
hold a con<strong>ver</strong>sation out in public, or you can be<br />
o<strong>ver</strong>whelmed with anxiety. The choice is yours,<br />
and the rapidity with which you progress from<br />
one state to the other is <strong>entire</strong>ly dependent upon<br />
the decisions one makes.<br />
The good news is that the learning curricula has<br />
already been worked out for us by the previous<br />
generation of transgender folks who in doing so<br />
wrapped it in a package of crazy fun in the form<br />
of transgender conferences.<br />
1
The bad news is that all the legendary ones of my generation<br />
are gone; Southern Comfort in Atlanta, California Dreaming<br />
in San Francisco, Texas-T party in Austin, Be-All in Chicago,<br />
IFGE in Tucson. E<strong>ver</strong> go horseback riding in the desert with<br />
a bunch of T-gals? We did, and it was hilarious.<br />
These aren’t just good memories, they are awesome<br />
memories, all made with awesome friends from the<br />
conference circuit. They changed my life, and we all learned<br />
a lot about successfully existing in transgender world.<br />
Today there are essentially<br />
only two reasonably<br />
accessible remaining national<br />
conferences, both of which<br />
are well attended, and well<br />
worth attending. They are<br />
relatively close geographywise<br />
(Boston/Harrisburg)<br />
and occur in our immediate<br />
future (end of <strong>Jan</strong>uary/<br />
beginning of march).<br />
Will these last remaining<br />
conferences even exist in a<br />
year? Hmmmm, times<br />
change, economics change…<br />
But I do know this - I’m<br />
going, as are se<strong>ver</strong>al of us<br />
from CDI and we are going<br />
to have a great time.<br />
If you do choose to attend you’ll need to make your hotel reservations<br />
immediately as they sell out solid. And fear not, you’ll have an instant<br />
group of guides to introduce you into the most fascinating event of<br />
education and self-dis<strong>co<strong>ver</strong></strong>y you’ve e<strong>ver</strong> experienced.<br />
If you have any questions the websites can answer most of them.<br />
Additionally Allison, Donna, or myself (P.D.) can provide context…<br />
Pd.<br />
Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero<br />
( P.S. - Tell me what it says at either conference, and a round of cocktails are on me at either conference.)<br />
2
A small snippet of classes that are offered each day. Sure is a lot more<br />
fun than school e<strong>ver</strong> was, at least for me..<br />
3
2018<br />
Holiday<br />
Party
We want to extend a sincere thank you to e<strong>ver</strong>yone<br />
who made this year’s holiday party such a success!<br />
Mia and Andria who moved furniture and provided<br />
decorations<br />
Bernice and Dawn for tunes and entertainment<br />
Our chefs Monique and Lee Anne<br />
A huge thank you to our club patron for a superbly curated<br />
selection of wines from his collection<br />
To e<strong>ver</strong>yone who came and made it a wonderful evening,<br />
including Dr’s Irene King and Celia Stewart from the<br />
Adelphi and NYU transgender speech pathology programs.<br />
You are so special - thank you for all that you do for our<br />
community.
The annual CDI Halloween<br />
costume party - as always a blast<br />
with a full house that later spilled<br />
o<strong>ver</strong> to the Mean Fiddler as the night<br />
went on.. Yep, thats our gals dancing<br />
on the bar with Mia doing an<br />
awesome Little Red Riding Hood.
In the News<br />
From the New York Times - Oct 26,2018<br />
Intimate and glamorous portraits of Parisian<br />
Transgender women in the 1960’s<br />
In 1959, Christer Strömholm, then a little-known Swedish photographer, found his way<br />
to Paris and to a group of people who would transform his life, and he theirs….<br />
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/26/lens/intimate-and-glamorous-portraits-ofparisian-transgender-women.html
In the News<br />
The Real Thing<br />
Written and Directed by Brandon Kelley<br />
Produced by Jon Gestal<br />
When a soldier returns home, things have often changed. For Staff Sergeant<br />
Michael Waltze, the ultimate change is in his child. While on his tour of duty, his<br />
daughter has transitioned and started living her truth. Today he is coming home<br />
to surprise her.<br />
Parental love is unconditional. It transcends a person's memory of their child.<br />
The Real Thing is an infinitely stronger bond.<br />
The video can be viewed at:<br />
https://vimeo.com/223044638
In the News<br />
From Yahoo/AOL Dec 16 2018<br />
Miss Spain to<br />
make history as<br />
first transgender<br />
contestant on Miss<br />
Uni<strong>ver</strong>se<br />
https://www.aol.com/article/<br />
entertainment/2018/12/16/miss-spainto-make-history-as-first-transgendercontestant-on-miss-uni<strong>ver</strong>se/<br />
23619692/<br />
From the Huffington Post, Oct 29<br />
2018<br />
What its like to date<br />
on-line as a<br />
Transgender person<br />
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/what-itsreally-like-to-online-date-as-a-transperson_n_5b848aace4b0cf7b002e467b
In the News<br />
And from the web: https://lexiecannes.com
In the News<br />
And this book review can be found on Lexie<br />
Cannes’ web-site:<br />
https://lexiecannes.com/2018/11/26/book-review-e<strong>ver</strong>ything-you-wanted-to-know-about-trans/?<br />
fbclid=IwAR0BN0AoGzmph7OpiHm_n26zMMkjb4-oUUVwRobgTZFlpu2lR1jfgheADtE
Want to do the most awesome enfemme<br />
outing of your life?<br />
Come join your<br />
transgender brothers<br />
and sisters this summer<br />
at Airventure <strong>2019</strong> !
https://<br />
www.eaa.org/<br />
en/airventure<br />
Check out the B1 bomber night<br />
departure in after-burner! (turn<br />
up your audio!<br />
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vFvwrOcUBg<br />
That’s the end of this<br />
issue, see you in March/<br />
April edition!
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