Two very interesting calls for submissions have come my way. They’re both about trans folks and we need more work around these issues. Here they are!

#1

New Trans/Gender Variant Anthology
Sex, dating, and relationships in the trans/gender variant community
Edited by *Morty Diamond
Looking for first person stories from trans and gender variant writers about
the experience of dating, sex, relationships, and finding love.

Topic examples: hilarious or heartbreaking dating stories, transitioning
within a relationship, being trans and starting families, passing/not
passing and how this affects our choices for dating, meeting our partners
families, the idea of marriage - legal or otherwise, online dating,
anonymous sex, sex and dating before and after surgery and/or hormones, how
we negotiate sex.

I strive to make this anthology as diverse as possible within age, race,
sexuality, and gender identity. I encourage all writers who identify as
transgender, transsexual, genderqueer, third gender, non-gender, or gender
variant in some way to submit work.

The length of your work should be between 1,500 and 3,000 words. Sexually
explicit work is ok. Please include a short biography with your work.
Please submit your writing to this anthology to: newtransanthology@gmail.com
Deadline: August 2006

#2

All submissions, commentary and visual history shall be fully
considered. IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE ACADEMIC, “POLITICALLY
APPROPRIATE” or “GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT” I am also
accepting photos, written works, sketches, drawings, digital imagery,
reprints, project descriptions, cartoons, erotica and more.

Word Count/Page Limits:
Personal Narratives – 20 pages/5000 words
Fiction – 20 pages/5000 words
Critical Essays and Cultural Critiques – 20 pages (including
bibliography) 5000 words
Interviews – 10 pages/2500 words
Poetry/Rhymes – No more than 3 pages per poem/rhyme and 3 poems
per poet/mc
Graphic Stories – No more than three pages per submission
(number of panels up to you) Up to three pieces per artist.
Photographs/Paintings/Collage/Drawings- 3-5, scanned as B/W only.

DEADLINE: July 1, 2006

Please send entries as .tif, .jpeg format, word or .txt attachments
Not sure what you might have to contribute? Think about
…contributing works that express your attitude towards…

You can write about:

Self/personal journey, on the job, transitioning, relationships, parenthood, everyday living, community involvement, health / wellness, Who Am I?

Happy Springtime holiday! There were lots of get-togethers last week, with Seders and Easter brunches all celebrating and welcoming this season of renewal. I was delighted to share Easter dinner with a group of friends, some old and new. Working at Babeland you can’t help but field the occasional sex question. My pal K wanted to know the deal with anal beads: how you use them, why folks enjoy them, and what we sell.

Naturally all other conversation at the table stopped, which put me in a weird position. Of course, I wanted to share how you could enjoy butt beads upon both insertion and withdrawl (especially during orgasm). How some toys have beads that gradually increase in size (check out Ripple) for more sensation as your butt warms up. And why Babelanders love silicone beads, like Flexi Felix, for anal play. But then we were put on the spot at Easter dinner.

I’d like to report that I continued on without missing a beat, handling the inquiry so deftly that I didn’t make my hosts uncomfortable in the least. Instead I have to direct my friend to our website’s How to Use Anal Beads article. I’m grateful for this resource - and that I’ll be asked back for dinner.

Every year at our Seder, my mom puts an orange on the Seder plate with the bitter herbs, the shank bone, the hard boiled egg, etc. The story we all knew was that a male Rabbi had once said, “a woman belongs on the bima like an orange belongs on the Seder plate. Thus, Seders wishing to be inclusive of women, put an orange on the Seder plate in defiance of this comment.

This year, we used a different haggadah and we all discovered something. This story was completely wrong.

The real story is that a woman named Suzanna Heschel came across a Hagaddah that suggested putting a crust of bread on the Seder plate as a sign of solidarity with Jewish gay men and lesbians. The problem with this idea, in Suzanna’s mind, was that the crust of bread (being levened bread) is not appropriate during this time and in fact brings an end to Pesach (Passover).

To keep the idea alive, Suzanna started putting an orange on her Seder plate and asking everyone to take a piece and say a blessing while eating it in solidarity with Jewish gay men and lesbians and other marginalized groups. She feels that this is a symbol of the fruitfulness that is possible with gay men and lesbians are part of the Jewish life and tradition.

So how is it that my entire family (and many that we know) had heard a completely different story? Suzanna explains that she told people in her lectures about her ideas about the orange and somewhere, the story changed to the version I first knew. Suzanna points out that in the incorrect story, a woman’s idea is attributed to a man and the affirmation of gay men and lesbians is completely erased.

This holiday season, my thoughts are with members of all religions who cannot participate fully because they are gay, lesbian, widowed, poor, or any other reason. I hope that we can find ways in our traditions to call attention to these groups and work towards their acceptance.