The Heroines of My Life: My Interview!!!

Hello all! Hope you had a lovely weekend and a good Monday. Summer is definitely here in New England, and I'm doing my best to enjoy it. :c)

So, this post is an announcement, as I'd promised in my last missive. However, it isn't the announcement I was referring to. Instead, it's a shameless bid for self-glorification. ("So how is that different from any of her other posts?" I hear puzzled readers asking themselves. :D) 

Joking aside, here's the big reveal: I had the honor of being interviewed recently for The Heroines of My Life, the wonderful blog run by Monika Kowalska. (I still have to read that sentence several times to believe it!) 

On the off-chance you haven't yet had the opportunity to check out THOML, Monika has interviewed - wait for it - four hundred and twenty-two women (yes, 422), and has shared their stories on her blog. It was one of a handful of blogs I found during the early days of my transition that truly spoke to me and helped give me the courage to believe that I, too, could be who I truly was.  

In her introduction, Monika says the women she has interviewed "radiate with wisdom, beauty, intelligence, and love." Whether I possess any of those qualities is, er, debatable. lol, However, I can assure you that all of Monika's other interviewees certainly do possess them. As does Monika, needless to say. Thank you again for this honor!!! 

You can find the interview here:

https://theheroines.blogspot.com/2017/07/interview-with-cassidy-mcguinn.html

Be sure to check out the other interviews as well. You'll be as inspired as I always am, guaranteed!

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Steve Earle's new album, So You Wannabe an Outlaw, has been on heavy rotation in my car and home stereos ever since it came out a few weeks ago. As consistent as he has been throughout his career, this is clearly one of his best, and is being compared with his earlier career peaks, particularly his 1986 debut Guitar Town (1986). That is high praise; it is entirely justified. 

Here's the barn burner of a title track:

Take note: the album version features none other than Willie Nelson!

And here's what is my favorite song so far: the haunting "Goodbye Michelangelo," written in honor his friend and mentor, the great Guy Clark.

This was his first public performance of it, and he did Guy proud.

Have a good week, everyone!

A Chat To Help Our Community

Hi all, and happy Thursday evening. Hope everyone is having a good week so far.

I've been meaning to post this for over a week, but just now had the opportunity to finish it up.

Several months ago my friend Nadine, over at Unordinary Style (and you should all check out her blog if you don't already do so :-p), wrote a post about an interview she did with a graduate student, Petta-Gay Hannah, who is writing her dissertation on transgendered/non-traditional individuals.

As you can see from her post, Nadine genuinely enjoyed taking part in Petta-Gay's project, and encouraged anyone who was interested to contact Petta-Gay to chat with her. Like Nadine (and like many of us), I welcomed a chance to do something for our little community.

Accordingly, I contacted Petta-Gay,  who turned out to be just as nice as Nadine had indicated. I've included the details below, so I will cut to the chase by saying...

I thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience. :c)

Petta-Gay is very nice, and clearly very smart. We spoke for about two-and-a-half hours. It was quite casual, and not at all academic or stuffy. Essentially, we had a long conversation. Her questions were thoughtful and well-considered, and not at all intrusive. She stressed repeatedly that I could simply decline to answer any question I might have found uncomfortable, but that was not even remotely a concern.

Once we finished, Petta-Gay asked if she could follow up if necessary to clarify an answer (I suspect that was a polite way of saying "if I can't decipher Cass's weird semi-Boston accent" lol), and of course I agreed. We've touched base several times since I've done the interview, and each of those has been as enjoyable as our intial chats.

I would encourage anyone remotely interested to contact Petta-Gay. I think her dissertation will be a valuable tool in helping others understand our community. And you will also be helping a really, really nice person. It's a win-win, in other words! I hope as many readers as possible are able to do so.

I've included Petta-Gay's information here, below the jump. (you can also find it at Nadine's post). Thanks everyone!

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