March 14, 2008
I’m Back
Well, not really, still in Boston.
Anh, Samwich and I went to Boston on Tuesday night on the redeye, and I worked here all week.
Honestly, after all the buzz from last week, I needed a bit of a blog-break. But, here we are, it’s Friday, it’s the weekend, and I’ve got some stuff to say. Here goes.
Commenters and Supporters – Thank You!
I sincerely appreciate the comments that people have posted, and the mails that have been sent – both with support and also questions. It’s all good, and it means a lot to me! Thank you.
JetBlue – Please don’t go out of Business!
As I’ve written about at length, we love JetBlue. Between lots of legroom, DirecTV on board, friendly crews, new planes, great website, good customer support, and reasonable and understandable pricing – by far is our favorite domestic airline.
Last couple flights though – scary – probably only 25% full. Now, for a redeye, this isn’t the worst thing in the world – for the passengers. But, you have to question in this day and age, how long empty flights can keep flying. Maybe it’s the season, or the day of week we fly (Tuesday), but I’m a little scared that the reliable redeye will go bye-bye.
Boston Cannoli Fest V2
Wednesday night we did a little cannoli-comparo. I’ve been a big fan of Bova’s for a very long time. The others in the big-three in Boston are Modern Pastry, and Mike’s.
We tried Mike’s and Bova’s again – side by side. (Large ricotta, plain (no nuts of chocolate chips). Yes, I realize that Italian cannoli are made from marscapone generally, but in the US is more likely sweet ricotta based – lots of discussion on that in this space back in early January).
I believe that we have a new winner – by far – Mike’s. The filling was lighter, and the crust thinner and crispier. The Bova’s entry was too thick – both the crust and the filling. The ratio here matters, and Mike’s was better.
Good Italian
Try Pomodoro on Hanover Street in the North End. The menu is small, but the food was in general very good. The chicken carbonara pasta and the veal with carmelized balsamic served with green onion risotto were both tasty and unique. Hallmark of a great Italian place – the simple things are fantastic. We had the fried calamari appetizer to start – it was light, crisp, hot, sweet, not chewy, and came with a (big) side of tomato sauce – which was light and perfect.
“Are you a man?”
Anh and I went to Filene’s Basement to check out jeans and some shirts, both for me and for her. There wasn’t a ton, but we picked out some stuff, and went to the dressing room. I was carrying Samwich in the baby carrier, and Anh had most of the clothes (I had a few). At the basement, you have to check in at the dressing room and get a number tag for the number of items that you bring in. As I was going through this process w/the attendant, she said to me:
“Are you a man?”
“No.”
“Are you?”
“No, do you want to see my ID?”
Pause, still not giving me the number tag.
“No, really, do you want to see my ID?”
“No, that’s ok, go ahead.”
She was not convinced. I tried on some stuff, liked some, didn’t like others, and while I was, I was thinking about how to handle it – ignore it? Talk to her? Talk to the manager?
I decided to just take by bargains and run, and not say anything. I’m not sure if I didn’t have a “F” on my license what I would have said. It would have been harder.
It brings up the fundamental question of what it means to be male or female in general, in a public situation like this. Who is being protected? For what reason?
I’m still not sure what I think about this. Maybe tomorrow I will… Maybe not. Maybe I never will.
“I saw you on Nightline”
After dinner, we were taking the T (Red Line) from South Station to Kendall Square. We love the T, and really wish that Seattle had public transport like that. It was just about 9pm, and the train wasn’t too full. Just after we had gotten on, I noticed that there was a guy, probably a little older than us, with lots of facial piercings. He was looking at us pretty closely. As the train stopped, he looked at us, and said:
“I saw you on Nightline!”
Me and Anh almost at the same time said:
“Yes you did!”
He said: “Well, good for you!”
I almost asked him “What did you think?” or “How did you recognize us?” but I was afraid in many ways to break the barrier of anonymity that seems to exist in public places like this. Yes, he did reach out to us, but I wasn’t sure what to do except for smile and say thanks….
I looked at Anh and said (quietly) “I never expected that!” Anh said “Me too!”
Neither of us were freaked out – just a little surprised…
He got off one stop before us, and said the following to us as he got off:
“I wish you both the best of luck and may god bless you.”
I’ll take it that he was supportive from both the words and the tone, and I give him a ton of credit for reaching out to us, and I think we probably could have done more to reach back.
I honestly never thought that we would get recognized on the street, especially so far away from home.
Happy Birthday Samwich
Samwich is One. Congratulations Samwich! Thank you Anh for being such an amazing mom.
M( ) 
Heather said,
March 15, 2008 at 4:45 am
I wanted to comment on your blog entry. In the case of Filene’s Basement I would have taken a few minutes to explain your situation to the girl if it could have been done discreetly. I think she was being honest with you and was genuinely confused. That is to be expected in your situation, as it is to be expected for almost all of us who are TG. One thing that I have found from my experiences being out in the world is that people are for the most part accepting of who we are, or at the least tolerant. Women, especially those under the age of 40 are the most accepting. If you had simply said that you are a trannssexual and are now a female, more than likely she would have accepted this explanation and may even been curious and asked more questions.
As for the guy on the train, you should have asked your questions. You had in front of you someone who is very accepting of the transgendered and I think he was reaching out to you because he did want to talk to you. I know that in these situations our first reactions tend to be to run away very fast. It’s that fight or flight instinct when we feel that we may be threatened. It takes alot of courage to stand there and face these people and publicly admit who we are, especially when the only thing that we really want to do is to blend in and not be noticed. If you can work up the courage to open up to some of these people I think that you will be pleasantly surprised.
Spencer said,
March 17, 2008 at 9:32 am
See – I told you that people would recognize you from the show!