Hello! My name is Melinda and I would like to explain my plan for this column. My idea is to write items of human interest. The items need to be supplied by you, the TransFamily members. Possibly, in this way we can learn to better know our family members through personal insights and group sharing experiences.

As a starter list, I would like to suggest subjects such as name choices, inspirational messages, transitioning stories, and amusing anecdotes we've all had. They can be anything that has emotional significance for you that might also provide positive motivation for other gender pioneers to follow. It can be as simple as a poem that brought you to tears, a book that caused you to reflect, or a song that reveals your truths. A case-in-point, for me, was the time I was receiving genetic counseling at Metro Health. My therapist and I were forty-five minutes into the interviewing process when she suddenly stopped. While in mid-question, concerning my age, the lady doctor looks up at me and says, "Melinda, you couldn't be anything but a woman' "and stops speaking. Leaving that office that day, I felt ten feet tall. It was especially nice considering that she had no other reason for making that statement except her own personal discovery.

"Melinda's Quibbles and Quotes" column will be a bimonthly feature in the TransFamily Newsletter". We welcome your input in the coming months and hope you will find it to be an uplifting experience.

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• Review Of SSAFE Program
More presenters need to be trained.

Vanessa and I recently attended a review of the SSAFE program and evaluated the progress the program has made. The first program was a pilot program for all school administrators. Twelve schools were represented. We received many positive comments and some helpful suggestions. We then did 2 programs for Kent State at their main campus and at the Stark County campus for about 50 teachers in training. The programs were very well received and many questions were answered. There was also a program presented through SSAFE at Cleveland State for Masters and Doctoral candidates for a group of about 50. And another group did a program for 16 Bowling Green State University students. And there were several other programs for high schools, too numerous to mention.

During the training, 14 folks were trained and 11 presented, including several students from Oberlin College. The next training will be in September and I would like to urge as many members from our group as possible to participate!!!!!!! Come on, you young ones, your help is especially needed to go into the area high schools. Please see Vanessa or Karen if you have any questions or would like to participate.

We learned that youth and personal stories are very important. Part of the training includes helping classroom teachers and students know what to do to help the schools become more open and accepting. How to handle difficult questions and suggestions on activities to combat homophobia and transphobia were discussed. We need more participants so we have more ideas to share. Safety and diversity are important topics. And we all need to spread the word about this program.

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• Male and Female Computers?

Is your computer male or female? As you are aware, ships have long been characterized as being female (i.e., steady as she goes...or she's listing to starboard, Captain!). Recently, a group of computer scientists (all Males) announced that computers should also be referred to as being female, their reasons for drawing this conclusions follows:

1. No one but the creator understands their internal logic.

2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else.

3. The message "bad command or file name" is about as informative as, "If you don't know why I'm mad at you, then I'm certainly not telling to tell you".

4. Even your smallest mistakes are stored in long-term memory for later retrieval.

5. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.

Watch for why female scientists think computers should be referred to as male in next month's newsletter.

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• Speaking Activities

Karen fulfilled several speaking requests in the past month. Karen and Eryqua, at the request of Dr Shan Mohammad and SSAFE spoke at a luncheon at University Hospital to a group of Family Practice physicians. The program concerned health care for sexual minority youth. Karen spoke about parent concerns and how doctors can help the families. Eryqua's topic was on the concerns of youth and how doctors help them feel more able to express their feelings and concerns. Rick S from PFLAG and SSAFE spoke on the students and how doctors can help youth deal better with the schools. Rick also explained the 4 components of sexuality and how gender identity and sexual orientation are not he same. Dr Mohammad also provided a lot of input to help make this a very interesting, informative program. and it was very well received.

Vanessa and Karen spoke at the Aids Taskforce of Greater Cleveland luncheon. The topic of the meeting was issues concerning healthcare and HIV prevention for Transgender persons. Vanessa spoke about transitioning and some of her experiences coming out. Karen talked about being a parent and the founding of our TransFamily group. The program was facilitated by Isis.

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