When they demand that you disappear into the shadows again, the only choice is illumination. THIS WEEK: The GOP doesn't want LGBT people to adopt children, and of course this will disproprtionately effect the T; what happens when a fascist dictator blames a minority group for society's ills, cons the people into persecuting them, persecutes them successfully, and the ills of society remain unaddressed? Why, it's time to pick another minority, of course! Given the current political climate, is it such a jump to think that transgender people are next in line? They want us to go away, which is why we must make ourselves more public than ever. ALSO: Updates on being in Italy, including being sick, missing Pompeii, and sorting through pictures; asking myself when I'll feel comfortable thinking of myself as a woman; pondering the various developments of two months on hormone replacement therapy and whether they're real or just in my head.

Do you have questions, stories, or other gender-related gripes you want to share? Email me at [email protected]

INTRO/OUTRO MUSIC is the Mii Channel Theme JAZZ COVER by insaneintherainmusic.

COVER ART is by the wonderful Emilee Bumgarner.

Support me on PATREON at Patreon.com/LTAS
Follow me on TWITTER @TransQPodcast and @hmsnofun

I'm elsewhere! Wow! THIS WEEK: A shorter episode digging into the conflicted feelings of an early transition trans person having to go boymode in another country for a month, looking for changes from HRT, and maybe feeling a little more calm? Hmmm.

Do you have questions, stories, or other gender-related gripes you want to share? Email me at [email protected]

INTRO/OUTRO MUSIC is the Mii Channel Theme JAZZ COVER by insaneintherainmusic.

COVER ART is by the wonderful Emilee Bumgarner.

Support me on PATREON at Patreon.com/LTAS
Follow me on TWITTER @TransQPodcast and @hmsnofun

Am I emotions because drugs, or am I emotions because sad? THIS WEEK: My first ten days on hormone replacement therapy. What has changed? Has anything changed? How do I feel? Am I more irritable? Has my beard melted off yet? We also talk about #DropTheT, a twitter campaign by some in the LGBT community to drop the T, because unlike the lesbians, gays, and bis, the transgenders are [insert tired offensive anti-minority scapegoats that have been reused for every group to ever demand visibility]. While the campaign itself isn't much of anything, it does point to the growing a presence of a queer respectability politics. Now that many cisgender white gay folks have tasted normalcy, suddenly they have something to lose when transgender people become the subject of public outrage, and they would rather police what counts as legitimately queer than use their newfound privilege to stick up for those who still suffer. It's a tale as old as time, except it's 2018 and we're all going to die. Hurray!

Do you have questions, stories, or other gender-related gripes you want to share? Email me at [email protected]

INTRO/OUTRO MUSIC is the Mii Channel Theme JAZZ COVER by insaneintherainmusic.

HRT DIARIES MUSIC is the Mirror Temple JAZZ COVER by insaneintherainmusic.

COVER ART is by the wonderful Emilee Bumgarner.

Support me on PATREON at Patreon.com/LTAS
Follow me on TWITTER @TransQPodcast and @hmsnofun

The day of the appointment looms, and stress begins to take hold. THIS WEEK: A shorter episode due to surprises. Getting ready for my trip to a women's center to get bloodwork done for HRT, but is it what I want? Is it a waste of time? We also talk briefly about E3 and... not a heck of a lot else.

Do you have questions, stories, or other gender-related gripes you want to share? Email me at [email protected]

INTRO/OUTRO MUSIC is the Mii Channel Theme JAZZ COVER by insaneintherainmusic.

SARCASTIC SELF-PROMOTION MUSIC is sans. by Toby Fox.

COVER ART is by the wonderful Emilee Bumgarner.

Support me on PATREON at Patreon.com/LTAS
Follow me on TWITTER @TransQPodcast and @hmsnofun

Sometimes the healthiest identity is a constructed identity. THIS WEEK: The stress of friends moving across the country, the stress of losing friends altogether; plans for starting hormone replacement therapy, and considering internationl travel in the early stages of HRT; discussing Carta Monir's selfies; the power of selfies to reclaim personal agency; the means by which society robs everyone of their agency, but tricks heterosexual, cisgender, white, male, able-bodied folks that all their privilege is a result of their efforts; we get into something of a sticky wicket by way of comparing apples and oranges; as always, punch nazis.

Here is a link to Carta Monir's piece about selfies for Them. Magazine: https://www.them.us/story/selfies-and-trans-visibility

Do you have questions, stories, or other gender-related gripes you want to share? Email me at [email protected]

INTRO/OUTRO MUSIC is the Mii Channel Theme JAZZ COVER by insaneintherainmusic.

SARCASTIC SELF-PROMOTION MUSIC is sans. by Toby Fox.

COVER ART is by the wonderful Emilee Bumgarner.

Support me on PATREON at Patreon.com/LTAS
Follow me on TWITTER @TransQPodcast and @hmsnofun

What happens when you really believe nothing you do is worth the space it occupies? THIS WEEK: A flurry of life updates, including film awards, clothing swaps, and joyful conversations; how being transgender and/or being an artist comes with the constant baggage of imposter syndrome, wondering if you really are what you are, if you're just wasting everybody's time; learning that it isn't arrogant to feel that what you have spent years working on is actually pretty good; and, as always, tackling the patriarchy and the dumb rhetoric used by the dopes trapped within it.

Do you have questions, stories, or other gender-related gripes you want to share? Email me at [email protected]

INTRO/OUTRO MUSIC is the Mii Channel Theme JAZZ COVER by insaneintherainmusic.

SARCASTIC SELF-PROMOTION MUSIC is sans. by Toby Fox.

COVER ART is by the wonderful Emilee Bumgarner.

Support me on PATREON at Patreon.com/LTAS
Follow me on TWITTER @TransQPodcast and @hmsnofun

What's going on in the world today? Probably nothing good! THIS WEEK: Updates about my life, including having a pleasant 4/20 (no relation); federal court overturns transgender military ban, which is a... good thing?; Boston's anti-discrimination laws protecting trans folks are on the ballot again, because the GOP really wants mandatory crotch inspections at every bathroom door; if you're going to make propaganda, at least put some money into it; Sarah has a crisis and slowly melts into a puddle of stress.

Do you have questions, stories, or other gender-related gripes you want to share? Email me at [email protected]

INTRO/OUTRO MUSIC is the Mii Channel Theme JAZZ COVER by insaneintherainmusic.

SARCASTIC SELF-PROMOTION MUSIC is sans. by Toby Fox.

COVER ART is by the wonderful Emilee Bumgarner.

Support me on PATREON at Patreon.com/LTAS
Follow me on TWITTER @TransQPodcast and @hmsnofun

Fun fact: sometimes coming out as transgender can be a good thing! THIS WEEK: I had my third laser appointment and it wasn't (as) miserable! Searching for grad school, giving mock lectures, finding a passion, working on a youtube show and a podcast while also trying to find hormones and do lasers and be able to pay bills all at once; having something to live for; learning to feel alright about oneself. Barebones by way of topics this week, but dense in terms of verbiage!

Do you have questions, stories, or other gender-related gripes you want to share? Email me at [email protected]

INTRO/OUTRO MUSIC is the Mii Channel Theme JAZZ COVER by insaneintherainmusic.

SARCASTIC SELF-PROMOTION MUSIC is sans. by Toby Fox.

COVER ART is by the wonderful Emilee Bumgarner.

Support me on PATREON at Patreon.com/LTAS
Follow me on TWITTER @TransQPodcast and @hmsnofun

When transitioning, it helps to look at the bigger picture. THIS WEEK: Impatiently waiting for laser hair removal to yield a fruitfully barren face; facial hair as a barrier to seeing myself as my preferred gender; wishing for a transgender data nexus; pros and cons of going the less-than-legal route for hormone replacement therapy; am I imagining progress? Hairgrowth cycles and why LHR takes so long; trying to make friends and find a trans/NB community; failed attempts at socializing; a crowded trans friendly board game night; the euphoria of being gendered correctly; and a few words about my recently released video about Twin Peaks.

Do you have questions, stories, or other gender-related gripes you want to share? Email me at [email protected]

INTRO/OUTRO MUSIC is the Mii Channel Theme JAZZ COVER by insaneintherainmusic.

COVER ART is by the wonderful Emilee Bumgarner.

Support me on PATREON at Patreon.com/LTAS
Follow me on TWITTER @TransQPodcast and @hmsnofun

Looking back on those first days of accepting my transness. THIS WEEK: Reading Twitter threads from July, August, and September of 2017 about realizing I was transgender, doubting whether I was transgender, and then accepting that yeah, I was transgender. The influence of ContraPoints, Zinnia Jones, and assorted trans spotlights; "I'm definitely not trans" means you're probably trans; the importance of seeing the variety of transgender experiences, and how hairy, overweight, or otherwise atypical-bodied people transition; transition goals that have been met, to my own surprise; and the performance of an old poem that is, looking back, totally about body dysphoria.

The blog I read from here was, essentially, the backdoor pilot of this very show. You can find it right here: https://zaraenthused.tumblr.com/

Do you have questions, stories, or other gender-related gripes you want to share? Email me at [email protected]

INTRO/OUTRO MUSIC is the Mii Channel Theme JAZZ COVER by insaneintherainmusic.

SARCASTIC SELF-PROMOTION MUSIC is sans. by Toby Fox.

COVER ART is by the wonderful Emilee Bumgarner.

Support me on PATREON at Patreon.com/LTAS
Follow me on TWITTER @TransQPodcast and @hmsnofun