UC Riverside

MHM Ep 8: Femme-inist Masculinity

Good Morning REVOLUTIONARIES! MHMBanner

You may have been wondering where we skipped off to last week. We were enjoying ourselves at UC Riverside's Trans* Asterisk Conference and, in truth, didn't quite recover in time to sing it's praises last Monday morning during the Mash-Up! Nevertheless, we couldn't let such an amazing weekend go unsung!

Today's intersection is FEMME-INIST MASCULINITY! You might think that sounds like a contradiction, and while it might be rare, we assure you it exists. We saw it, felt it and engaged in it at the conference last weekend and it was utterly magical. A unicorn glittered demonstration of community building, space making and dialogue.

sunset

We got to spend some time with old friends, had serendipitous run-ins with folks swirling in nearby communities and gathered more new crushes than we can count! So many amazing hearts and spirits and utterly fabulous accessories! We were absolutely impressed by the warm and efficient organizing and honored and flattered to be among the ranks of the other speakers. Our only regret to participating was that presenting kept us from attending other workshops! However, with all of these other wonderful pieces what will shine the brightest in our  memories was our spontaneous extended workshop turned community summit!

We were so excited to run Taming the Hulk: Temperance for the Transmasculine Journey and will likely post some of the activities at some point. As we got going on planning and prepping we quickly realized that time was short and our activity list grew/shrunk as we discussed and organized. We did the math and figured, maybe 30 folks at the most? We spent some time thinking, okay, if 10 folks show up for this gig can we still do our activities? Would the processing exercises resonate for folks that were unfamiliar with gender deconstruction? Were we offering real tips for temperance or were we just echoing the narrative that finding and remaining consistent with our own versions of masculinity was an uphill unsupported cultural battle?

Needless to say, we were pretty blown away when we returned to our room to find that there were already about 40 participants waiting for us and participants continued to roll in for the next 10 minutes until we were up to probably around 60-70! As these things go, we scuttled about, took a breath, re-routed where we could and then just surrendered to being around and in such amazing community. We tried to sink into the fact that in a lot of ways this gathering in itself was a movement towards transmasculine temperance- that folks were seeking out space to come together to find balance in this journey often wrought with extreme ups and downs.

The participation and experiences that got shared in our workshop were already more than we could have hoped for but as we took final comments we were again pleasantly surprised. Folks voiced that there wasn't as much deconstruction as hoped and that they wanted to know if there was more space to keep the conversation going. Participants went to speak to the conference organizers, found us an empty room during the final workshop slot and spread the word. As we rolled into Taming the Hulk Part Deux, we were again floored as a good 30-40 magnificent humans came in to discuss and deconstruct the narratives of masculinity that support us and constrain us. With very little facilitation the group made space for each other's voices, witnessed and validated each other's stories and generally commiserated and problem solved around the hulking presence of masculinity in all of our lives and gendered journeys.

It brought me an intense feeling of Kim Katrina Crosby's prezi on Femme Science and Community Based Research in action. I implore you take a look at it, take it in and add Laura Mvula's That's Alright to your conquer the day playlists! As a community we took on the community agreements that Crosby discussed:

Community Agreements

Express care, concern and consideration to yourself & others. Speak for yourself. Protect each other & yourself. Examine your prejudice. Share your needs and give ample space for others to do the same. Treat others the way that they want to be treated. Ask.

Another’s experience does not invalidate your own,

but it should and necessarily does complicate your own.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYjHixQ9Ns4

We were so thoroughly grateful for the heart opening and intuition practice that we experienced at the conference, that drew folks to our workshop and that left space for folks to take and create what they needed. A lot of the discussion surrounded the struggle of binary systems, the way that accessing masculinity sometimes felt mutually exclusive from feminine energy/nurturing/space and the loss of one identity/community as another solidified. Folks voiced the desire to be conscious of the unique nature of this journey into privileged space and were desperately seeking ways to honor it as they also took on masculinity in ways that felt holding to them.

It felt like we not only started to "Tame the Hulk" but that we started to build a framework for "Femme-inist Masculinity."

Even with our extended time together, we know that we've just barely scratched the surface. We're figuring out what would feel like the best ways for us to continue the conversation and we'll leave more information here as it comes. If you would like to be a part of this continued conversation please shoot us an email to compassionaterevolt@gmail.com.

In COM|PASSionate REVOLUTION,

Skye + Traci

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Skye is a youth worker, educator, activist and white transmasculine human. Traci is a therapist, yoga teacher, educator and queer vegan femme-inist of color. They reside, practice, navigate, process, survive and flourish in the Southern California area.

MHM 5: Visibility

Good Morning REVOLUTIONARIES! Happy Monday! MHMBanner

Today's Mental Health Mash-Up Ep5 is about Visibility. Skye and Traci will discuss the changing nature of queer/trans visibility in the media, the way we are in control and not in control of our visibility and the choices we make about our visibility that may or may not feel good to our bodies, brains, hearts and spirits.

As always you can listen here:

http://traffic.libsyn.com/compassionaterevolt/Visibility.mp3

or visit our Lib Syn Page.

{Image Credit: http://bit.ly/1i7wwdG}

Here are links to events/info we reference in the podcast today:

We hope you enjoy and we'd love to hear your thoughts!

You can reach us at compassionaterevolt@gmail.com

www.compassionaterevolt.com

www.compassionaterevolt.wordpress.com

COM|PASSionate REVOLT FB

In COM|PASSionate REVOLUTION,

Skye (He, Him, His|They, Them, Theirs) + Traci (She, Her, Hers|They, Them, Theirs)

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Skye is a youth worker, educator, activist and white transmasculine human. Traci is a therapist, yoga teacher, educator and queer vegan femme-inist of color. They reside, practice, navigate, process, survive and flourish in the Southern California area. 

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There are photographs in this post that were borrowed lovingly from the internet and do not belong to us. All are linked and credited to the best of our abilities in hopes of attracting more traffic to the photographers and websites who have blessed us with this imagery. The inclusion of a photograph here should not be interpreted as an assertion of the subject’s or artist’s identity or beliefs. If there is a photo included here that belongs to you and you want it removed, please email compassionaterevolt@gmail.com and it will be removed promptly, no questions asked.

COM|PASSionate Events

Hello there COM|PASSionate REVOLUTIONARIES! We hope your Friday is going well as you head into the weekend. Here is our event round-up and announcements for upcoming fun community loving!!!

Image Credit: http://bit.ly/1KiKZ2k

{Image Credit: http://bit.ly/1KiKZ2k}

EVENTS

Get out, take care of yourself and heal in community!

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Don't forget there's lots of upcoming ways to get involved!

  • The Trans* Asterisk Conference at UC Riverside is quickly approaching! Don't forget to register by 2.6.15 to make sure that you get your conference t-shirt and lunch reserved! TODAY'S THE LAST DAY TO REGISTER AND ENSURE YOU GET A TSHIRT AND LUNCH!!!
  • Worts and Cunning's upcoming Changeling Zine has extended it's submission deadline to the end of February. Share your story!

RECOMMENDATIONS

Feeling like some quiet time at home is what you need? 

  • MOON RECOMMENDATION: Put your ear down close to your soul and listen hard! Need some soul searching creation honoring inspiration? Get lost in the collection of creative manifestos on Rebelle Society, a website for the creatively maladjusted.
  • SUN RECOMMENDATION: Need some fire to move you through your weekend?  Read, consume and engage in the dialogue going on over at Black Girl Dangerous, amplifying the voices of Queer and Trans* People of Color.

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*Events are put on by the CR Community/CR Community members. Other events are by friends of the CR Community or of interest to the CR Community. Feeling a little nervous about getting out and involved? Email us and if we can we'll make some introductions so you have a friendly face to say "Hi" to when you get there!

**Most of these events will be local to Southern CA (unless we notice an event that sets us off into road trip dreamland.) If you want to do a COM|PASSionate event round-up for your local area let us know!

***Are you an individual, meet-up or community group that has some COM|PASSionate events of your own? Email us for details on how to submit your event to our calendar!

compassionaterevolt@gmail.com

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There are photographs in this post that were borrowed lovingly from the internet and do not belong to us. All are linked and credited to the best of our abilities in hopes of attracting more traffic to the photographers and websites who have blessed us with this imagery. The inclusion of a photograph here should not be interpreted as an assertion of the subject's or artist's identity or beliefs. If there is a photo included here that belongs to you and you want it removed, please email compassionaterevolt@gmail.com and it will be removed promptly, no questions asked.

MHM Ep.1: Gendered Expectations and The Self-Made Man

Happy Monday REVOLUTIONARIES!!! We're really excited to share a new project a couple of us have been dreaming up!

MHMBanner

The idea for The Mental Health Mash-Up came up for Skye and me as we were talking about the complicated intersection of being bodies, brains, hearts and spirits in this big, beautiful and sometimes chaotic world.

We wanted to explore the way we understand, experience and talk about mental health, how this is seen through the lens of our queerness and how our queerness is seen through the lens of mental health.

We wanted a place where we could discuss the struggles and complexities of being queer so we could honor how it affects our well-being and our access and understanding of "being well" in positive and negative ways.

We wanted to have a place for community dialogue and process where we could sit down, have a cup a coffee and... just figure stuff out together.

Thus, The Mental Health Mashup was born! This podcast is part information, discussion, healing circle and support and process group and we'd love to hear from you! Leave us a comment or send us an email if you'd like to get involved, have a topic/question or just want to let us know that you're out there in the universe, a big mash-up of body, brain, heart and spirit, trying to make it through this rough and tumble journey of life!

Enjoy our first episode!

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Mental Health Mash-Up Ep. 1: Gendered Expectations + The Self-Made Man

Ep1TransConf

You can listen directly below:

http://traffic.libsyn.com/compassionaterevolt/MHMEpisode1ExpectSelfMadeMan.m4a

Or visit our LibSyn Channel: Here

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Episode Description

Join Skye + Traci as they kick off the Monday Morning Mental Health Mashup with Episode 1: Gendered Expectations + The Self Made Man.

The COM|PASSionate REVOLT team is gearing up to run two workshops at The Trans* Asterisk Conference at UC Riverside, Feb 27-28, 2015! This is the 2nd annual occurence of this conference which seeks to address issues of trans* health, well being and to provide resources for trans* youth and advocates. Follow the link for details and registration.

In this episode Skye and Traci will discuss the objective of their workshop, titled Taming the Hulk: Temperance for the Transmasculine Journey, which aims to deconstruct the intersection between gendered expectations and the creation of identity for transmasculine individuals by looking at:

  1. The exploration and uncovering of one's most authentic masculine identity
  2. The complications of how "passing" and one's attachment to passing fits into this identity
  3. How to integrate what the world tells us about ourselves with the men we see ourselves to be

We hope you enjoy and we'd love to hear your thoughts!

You can reach us at compassionaterevolt@gmail.com

www.compassionaterevolt.com

www.compassionaterevolt.wordpress.com

COM|PASSionate REVOLT FB

In COM|PASSionate REVOLUTION,

Skye + Traci