Sunday, December 20, 2015

20 Dec - Liz - Day by Day

English: Human brain Polski: Mózg człowiekaEnglish: Human brain Polski: Mózg człowieka (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Human brain - midsagittal cutHuman brain - midsagittal cut (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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One More Time – The New Brain Study Does NOT Refute Current Neurobiological Models of Being Transgender

Cara Elizabeth Ramsey at Liz - Day By Day - 2 weeks ago
I’ve been challenged elsewhere by people about my contention that this new “no female or male brain” does not invalidate the older neurobiological studies that show a neurobiological link to being transgender. I asserted it did not. Others flatly asserted it did. So, I went directly to Professor Daphna Joel, one of the authors of […]

New Brain Study Reinforces Neurobiological Explanation of Being Transgender

Cara Elizabeth Ramsey at Liz - Day By Day - 2 weeks ago
A new brain study was released that shows human brains are a mosaic of male and female structures. A few people have tried to use this study to discredit all the other studies that have identified specific differences in male and female brains, and how transgender people have brains that are more like the gender […]

LGBT Republicans, Stop Giving Me The ‘Single Issue’ Excuse

Cara Elizabeth Ramsey at Liz - Day By Day - 1 month ago
I often ask LGBT Republicans why they vote for the GOP despite the GOP’s open hostility towards LGBT people. The answer is usually something along the lines of “I’m not a single issue voter!” Well, let’s look at that utter nonsense, shall we? Economically, since 1980, tax rates on the wealthy have steadily fallen due […]

A Public Service Announcement About Facebook, Network Connections, and Bad Programming

Cara Elizabeth Ramsey at Liz - Day By Day - 1 month ago
Facebook is an amazing social media experience but technologically, it’s a pile of crap. And it’s not the only pile of crap out there either. A lot of work has gone into making the HTTP/HTTPS protocols useful as “live” protocols when they never intended as such. HTTP/HTTPS were always intended to grab static content and […]

September 7th, A Day To Remember

Cara Elizabeth Ramsey at Liz - Day By Day - 1 month ago
It was 19 years ago today, September 7th, that I was wheeled into surgery to remove the remains of a tumor that had been destroyed by months of chemotherapy. Prior to that chemotherapy, I had been about 195 pounds. By the end I was around 140, and honestly probably more in the 130s. By the […]

Notes about the Bangkok Rama Hotel (Baansiri) During My Stay In Thailand

Cara Elizabeth Ramsey at Liz - Day By Day - 1 month ago
Regarding the trip to Thailand, I chose to stay at Baansiri, the Bangkok Rama Hotel, in the cottages in back. The first two weeks there they seemed to have issues with their WiFi which were annoying but I was also not there 4 of those days anyway. Once they got the issues fully resolved, I […]

Finally a Sense of Peace

Cara Elizabeth Ramsey at Liz - Day By Day - 1 month ago
I’ve mentioned before in other venues about how comfortable I was with my body changes almost immediately. I’ll mention them again here now – by the third day after surgery, I realized I couldn’t even remember what the old genitals felt like and it was a massively liberating feeling. My traveling companion, who I love […]

Sending My Name To Mars Aboard Insight! You Can Too!

Cara Elizabeth Ramsey at Liz - Day By Day - 4 months ago
Previously, in October 2014, I signed up to send my name to Mars aboard the Orion spacecraft someday. Send Your Name To Mars! But now I’m going to send my name to Mars a little bit sooner, on a new unmanned Mars lander named Insight destined to head that way in the very near future. And you […]

A Visit With Dr. Chettawut And Other Random Thoughts

Cara Elizabeth Ramsey at Liz - Day By Day - 4 months ago
It’s Wednesday morning in Bangkok and I had my final visit with Dr. Chettawut today. He said I am healing “beautifully” so far. We took photos and while I guess I look less than stellar, no makeup and clearly physically tired, I’ll excuse myself with it having been just three weeks since surgery. My only […]

Of Nerve Endings, and Random Sensations, Coupled Against Unlikely Future Probabilities.

Cara Elizabeth Ramsey at Liz - Day By Day - 4 months ago
When I came out to my spouse in 2012, I knew the risks. Part of me held to some silly vain stupid hope that my marriage could be salvaged. Part of me wanted to believe that she and I, we, were better than that. I should have known better. I shouldn’t have even given the […]

An Amazing Land, Far, Far Away

Cara Elizabeth Ramsey at Liz - Day By Day - 4 months ago
Thailand continues to amaze me. The people are remarkable, kind, gentle, open hearted. And while my dietary restrictions won’t be lifted until Wednesday, others have assured me that the food here is divine. The monsoon rains come late in the afternoons, pouring for a few hours, then lifting, leaving the gardens where our cottages are […]

Deliberate Mistranslations – The Bible Used as a Weapon

Cara Elizabeth Ramsey at Liz - Day By Day - 5 months ago
A recent article that I read pointed out that the word used to describe the Roman centurions companion was “pais”. Modern bible scholars translate this word as “servant”, jumping through all manner of hoops to reach that conclusion. Why? Because among the Roman legions, which prohibited heterosexual marriage while serving Rome, same sex relationships were […]

One Week And Counting!

Cara Elizabeth Ramsey at Liz - Day By Day - 5 months ago
In one week, I depart for Thailand. At this time, one week from today, I will be in the air with Julie Jeznach​ headed for Seoul, South Korea, with a short layover, then on to Bangkok, Thailand. Crossing the international date line means we will arrive at 9:10pm, on Saturday evening, July 18th Bangkok time. […]

Unexpected Blessings

Cara Elizabeth Ramsey at Liz - Day By Day - 5 months ago
When I came out as transgender to my adult children, the reactions varied. The strongest and most negative emotional reaction came from my youngest son. My daughter was, as she told me, heartbroken, not because I was trans but because she realized what would happen in my marriage to her mother. My eldest was angry, […]

A Comment About Human Sexual Orientation

Cara Elizabeth Ramsey at Liz - Day By Day - 5 months ago
This is just personal musings, call it a hypothesis, but one which I neither have the qualifications, nor the personal situation to pursue and verify. Much has been made of “gay sex” in the animal kingdom and that does occur. There’s lots of same sex activity, especially among us mammals! Over 1500 species have been […]

Yet Another Reply To Those Who Continue to Demean Transgender People

Cara Elizabeth Ramsey at Liz - Day By Day - 6 months ago
I won’t comment on whether “transracial identity” is a thing or not except to say this – the only reason conservatives raise this issue is to denigrate transgender people. The two issues are not comparable. These are not apples and apples, but apples and oranges. First off, “transracial identity” is a phrase that popped onto the […]

Why Conservatives Are Totally Wrong About Caitlyn Jenner

Cara Elizabeth Ramsey at Liz - Day By Day - 6 months ago
Conservatives have been screaming about Caitlyn Jenner for the last few days. They have also been making woefully unscientific statements about gender, claiming anyone with gender identity issues must be mentally ill, and screaming about 5th grade biology, as if XX and XY settled all debate in all cases. Let’s explore the reality of gender […]

Michael Bailey Is A Danger to Trans Kids – Those Kids Know Who They Are

Cara Elizabeth Ramsey at Liz - Day By Day - 6 months ago
Recently, on another forum, some individuals were defending Michael Bailey’s utter BS that Bailey was using to defend reparative therapy being used on trans kids. There are a lot of problems with Michael Bailey’s nonsense, not the least of which is that he may be nearly as bad as Zucker up in Canada. Bailey claims that […]

Looking Forward To July

Cara Elizabeth Ramsey at Liz - Day By Day - 7 months ago
FFS is now behind me. I’ve left the tape behind, a few days early, but my nose feels great and reading other rhinoplasty recovery guidelines, a full month of taping was a bit on the overly cautious side anyway. So now it’s preparing for July, for GCS and BA, and to try to enjoy Thailand […]

FFS Done, Back Home, Musings and Preparing for July Now

Cara Elizabeth Ramsey at Liz - Day By Day - 7 months ago
I’m back home from Guadalajara, still pretty swollen and bruised, but the surgery went fine. I’ll be taping my nose every four days until May 22nd, when I can stop. The bruising and swelling should be mostly gone by then. Dr. Cardenas and I chatted and he suggested I give this 12-18 months to fully […]

It’s March and Everything is Coming Together

Cara Elizabeth at Liz - Day By Day - 8 months ago
My FFS is now set for April 22nd, in Guadalajara, Mexico, with Dr. Lazaro Cardenas at TransOp. The bill is paid in full and includes ten days at the recovery residences with all meals included. I’ve gotten some helpful tips from other women who’ve gone to TransOp as well. I’m excited. The last facial hair […]

Odds and Ends in February, 2015

Cara Elizabeth at Liz - Day By Day - 9 months ago
A recent study was published showing that long term HRT is safe for transgender persons when properly medically supervised. I highlighted that last phrase for a reason. Please do not self medicate! It’s potentially dangerous and could kill you if you don’t understand what you are doing. People get upset claiming I pick on Republicans. No, […]

The Bathroom Myth – Again!

Cara Elizabeth at Liz - Day By Day - 10 months ago
It seems no matter how often this myth is debunked, no matter how often the statistical facts disprove the bigoted presumptions of radical right wing religious zealots, they still try to create fear, uncertainty, and doubt about transgender people (especially transgender women) by raising the threat of assault in bathrooms. But what is the reality? […]

Adjust Your Attitude

Cara Elizabeth at Liz - Day By Day - 10 months ago
“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” ― Winston Churchill The above is blatantly and starkly true. For years, I let the pessimist in me hold me back. Finally, reaching rock bottom, I reached out for help and found a therapist who helped me find the “glass […]

Trans Kids Know Who They Are

Cara Elizabeth at Liz - Day By Day - 10 months ago
Transgender children know who they are, and they know this at a deep and fundamental level, just like cisgender kids do too. This is further proof that our sense of gender identity is very deep and below the rational thought level within the human brain. It also raises serious questions about how detrimental parents trying […]

Networks of the brain reflect the individual gender identity

Cara Elizabeth at Liz - Day By Day - 11 months ago
Originally posted on Kira Moore's Closet: Networks of the brain reflect the individual gender identity Our sense of belonging to the male or female gender is an inherent component of the human identity perception. As a general rule, gender identity and physical sex coincide. If this is not the case, one refers to trans-identity…

An Unexpected But Perfect Gift

Cara Elizabeth at Liz - Day By Day - 11 months ago
Two years ago in December, my mother passed away unexpectedly. She was in her late 70s but had COPD issues due to a lifetime of heavy smoking but otherwise members of our family tend to live well into our 80s and 90s. So mom’s passing was unexpected and I can honestly say that even at […]

Leelah Alcorn – Her Death and Facing Human Monsters Among Us

Cara Elizabeth at Liz - Day By Day - 11 months ago
People are trying to whitewash what Doug and Carla Alcorn did to their child. I’m having none of it. They chose to be religious bigots. They chose to ignore medical and scientific fact in favor of 6000 year old superstitious nonsense. As surely as Leelah was their child, they also killed their own child with […]

The Myth of Post-Op Regret And Suicidality

Cara Elizabeth at Liz - Day By Day - 11 months ago
There is a popular myth going around that attempts to quote from this 2003 Swedish study: Long-Term Follow-Up of Transsexual Persons Undergoing Sex Reassignment Surgery: Cohort Study in Sweden People using this study do so selectively. Let me explain the statistical manipulation going on with gender surgery detractors and the myth they try to construct. […]

As Christmas 2014 Comes then Goes

Cara Elizabeth at Liz - Day By Day - 11 months ago
This doesn’t really get any easier at this time of year. This will be my third Christmas isolated from family, from children and grandchildren. You learn to take a deep breath, gently set it behind you, and try to move on. You focus on your friends, some of whom are very dear and very kind, […]

It wasn’t easy

Cara Elizabeth at Liz - Day By Day - 1 year ago
I’m a bit angry tonight. Over at another forum where I am a moderator, people tell me that I don’t understand their pain, that I had it “easy”, that their situation is “different”. Bullshit. Let me explain a little bit of what I went through in reaching the point where I had to transition and […]

Hello, December

Cara Elizabeth at Liz - Day By Day - 1 year ago
It’s December again, a time of year that used to bring more smiles to my face than others. But now not so much. There are three grandchildren that I once again will not see this Christmas. And there is the memory of my mother, gone on December 10th, 2012, but it still feels like yesterday. […]

Thanksgiving 2014

Cara Elizabeth at Liz - Day By Day - 1 year ago
On this day before Thanksgiving, 2014, I sometimes think of what I’ve lost by being true to myself. But then I think of what I have gained and what I am truly thankful for. I am thankful for my daughter, her wisdom, her patience, her understanding, and her empathy. I am thankful for her husband, […]

Transgender Day of Remembrance 2014 – The Day After

Cara Elizabeth at Liz - Day By Day - 1 year ago
And… not a word from the official Republican side of the aisle. The number of Republicans speaking about TDOR was small – like an aide to Christie Whitman read a letter from her at a TDOR event. I tire of hearing that there are “good people” in the GOP. Where are they? Why do almost […]

I Had A Wonderful Ren Fest

Cara Elizabeth at Liz - Day By Day - 1 year ago
For the weekend of November 7-10 (Friday through Monday), a large number of friends came into town for the Texas Renaissance Festival. It’s always good to see these particular faces and this time was no different, though seeing me may have been a little different for all concerned. We had another great dinner Friday evening […]

Send Your Name To Mars!

Cara Elizabeth at Liz - Day By Day - 1 year ago
Up until now, I’ve been semi-anonymous here on my blog, but today you’ll see my name. And the reason for that is that NASA is allowing our names to fly on the various missions preparing to go to Mars. You can send your name on missions to Mars by visiting this NASA link! I […]

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