Tuesday, June 9, 2009

womanhattan

For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone. – Audrey Hepburn*

Needless to say, most of my thoughts these days are on my upcoming trip to New York City.

If you are new to this blog, I'll fill you in: I will be in Manhattan over the weekend attending a four-day workshop related to my profession. I plan to arrive in The City on Thursday, check-in to my Midtown hotel, then dress en femme and remain en femme until I check-out on Monday.

It is not the first time that I have been en femme for an extended period of time. In the past, I have attended trans conventions, where I was en femme 24/7 for four or five days and last fall, I attended Fantasia Fair, where I was en femme for a week.

I enjoyed those experiences en femme, but in reality, trans conventions and Fantasia Fair are extensions of our closets, i.e., they are safe havens for transgenders.

Most of the action at trans conventions takes place in hotels where the staff is well aware of their guests' status. Since it is their job to take care of their guests, convention attendees feel very safe and comfortable at such events.

The situation is the same at Fantasia Fair only on a larger scale. Like the staff at the convention hotels, the whole of Provincetown, which hosts the Fair, takes care of its visitors, so fairgoers feel very safe and comfortable having the run of the town for a week in late October.

My trip to New York City is different. I will be en femme 24/7 without a safety net.

Besides attending the workshop, I plan to experience The City en femme. The workshop ends early each afternoon, so the rest of the day, I am free to visit museums, go shopping, see shows, go to the Top of the Rock, dine, dance, go to Mass at Saint Pat's, etc. and that's what I intend to do... all en femme or rather, as myself.

* Thank you, Holly, for the word "womanhattan," as well as for the Audrey Hepburn quotation, which helped take the edge off of the trepidation I am having about this upcoming adventure.

4 comments:

  1. Hey! We want to know how this works ~ if I showed up at a work-related conference as Meg, I'd be out of work (at worst) or out at work (at best).

    So ~ tell all!

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  2. AnonymousJune 10, 2009

    I hope it goes well. I wish you the best, Tonya

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  3. I hope you have a great time and it all goes well.
    Karen

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  4. Staci, i'm still relatively new to your blog, and to be honest, i don't get in to read as often as i would like. However, whenever i do manage to find a few minutes to immerse myself into your experiences (albeit vicariously), i cannot help but stare in amazed wonder how STRONG you are! i have ZERO doubt in my mind that you will have any major issues on your trip. Perhaps the only issue you have is leaving your lipgloss behind! LOL

    Thank you for sharing your trepidations, as well as your excitement about your upcoming trip. You'll LOVE it i'm sure!

    Be well, and be safe,
    brianna :)

    p.s. i think the strength i sense in you is how feminine your thoughts come across... at least to me. That feminine strength will cause you to glide through your weekend me thinks. :)

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