An Introduction

I'm an academic, scientist, and a geek. This pretty much summarizes who I am and what I tend to write (blog, podcast, etc.) about. I'm also a queer transsexual woman in a significant relationship with another transsexual women. While this may not directly shape what I produce, it will influence my outlook on things. So far, my primary activity is producing a podcast called RadioFree Transburgh. My purpose in doing the podcast is to give voice to cultural issues as they relate to transsexual women and to discuss queer issues in a more detailed manner. My most recent podcast is with Julia Serano (author of Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity), and I enjoyed speaking to her about transfeminist issues. This was a good followup to an earlier podcast I did with the contributers to Trans/forming Feminisms: Transfeminist Voices Speak Out. For those unaware, transfeminism incorporates transgender/transsexual issues within feminist theories. A good source can be found at http://eminism.org/readings/pdf-rdg/tfmanifesto.pdf. I hope to create opportunities for greater discussion on these issues.

Something that I would like to mention. This fall semester will be the debut at the University of Pittsburgh of our LGBT Health Research Certificate Program within the Graduate School of Public Health. I will be helping with this program along with other professors and community people in Pittsburgh. What is not know by many people in Pittsburgh is that the University of Pittsburgh is a significant site of LGBT health research (ESTHER project and Pitt Men's Study), and has many people who are leaders in LGBT health research. The Center will add to this by bringing and nurturing people who wish to be involved in LGBT health research.