A Midsummer's Night TransFamily Newsletter

Special Open House in July

For those of you who have not met Mary Boenke in the past, and those that want to meet her now, or those who want to meet her in the future, she will be visiting Karen's house on Saturday, July 24th at 4 pm till ??? Mary is the editor of the Trans Forming Families: Real Stories About Transgendered Loved Ones . If you have already purchased the book and would like Mary to sign it, please remember to bring it along. If you don't have a copy, there will be copies available for purchase. Hors d'oeuvres and snacks would be appreciated as a meal will not be served. Please RSVP to Karen at 216 691-4357 if you will be attending.

And now we'll start the newsletter information with the topic everybody's talking about.....

I'm sure this has been confusing for a good many people. It really is, however, very simple, very easy, and very secure. In fact, it was the issue of security that prompted the change to this new method.

Of course, in the Internet business, there's no such thing as a guarantee again spam, but nonetheless, we feel good about OneList's statement about privacy and spam. OneList is a licensee of the TRUSTe Privacy Program, an independent, non-profit initiative whose mission is to build users' trust and confidence in the Internet by promoting the principles of disclosure and informed consent. Click here to read OneList's statement on privacy and their policy on spam.

There are three email lists, created through the facilities of OneList.COM . The first list is the Newsletter list. If you're not subscribed to the newsletter list, then you're probably not reading this. Seriously, this is the only email way of getting the newsletter, unless someone else forwards a copy to you. The list is for distribution only, which means that nobody on the list can send an email to the other subscribers on the list. No one will see your email address except the list managers (Karen and Christy) and all subscriptions to the list are approved by Karen before they are added to the list. As this list is just for the monthly newsletter or other very important meeting announcements, you will probably only receive one or two e-mail's from the list per month. Click here to subscribe to the TransFamily Newsletter list.

The next list is the TransKids discussion group. This list is intended as support group for the parents of transitioning individuals, although Karen does permit some non-parents on a case by case basis. All subscriptions are approved by Karen. No one but the list subscribers will see a contributor's email address. Messages are sent to the list mail box, rather than the individual, and everyone receives a copy of the message. Anyone on the list can respond to a message. If you're concerned about getting too many e-mail's from the list, you can subscribe to a "digest" version. The digest is delivered weekly and condenses all the message traffic into one easy to manage email message. Click here to subscribe to the TransKids list.

The final list is the TransFamily discussion group. This list is for all transitioning individuals, their spouses, significant others, friends, and family; any one who would like to participate in an exchange of information on the subject. What subjects? News, advice, support, suggestions, listings for special events and house parties, requests for information, shopping opportunities, and non group get-togethers. All subscriptions are approved by Karen, to ensure that the list's confidentiality will be maintained. Messages are sent to the list mail box, rather than the individual, and everyone receives a copy of the message. Anyone on the list can respond to a message. If you desire to personally respond to a message, privately and off of the list, please remember to change the email address from the list to the individual's. If you're concerned about getting too many e-mail's from the list, you can subscribe to a "digest" version of this list, which is delivered weekly. Click here to subscribe to the TransFamily discussion group.

Many of you have already been added to the appropriate lists based on blind carbon copy addresses that Karen maintained, so there's no need to subscribe. You have already received an email advising you of your addition to the list if we've taken care of putting you on. If you haven't gotten this advice email, then you will need to go to the appropriate url to sign on or you will need.

If you desire to unsubscribe from a list, the directions are at the end of every message sent on the discussion group. You'll also find it at the end of this newsletter.

Please, oh please, do not send an unsubscribe message to the whole group... especially if you don't want your email address known.

If you are unable to access the site to unsubscribe, just send an email to Karen at Kateygr@aol.com or to Christy at krissco@ibm.net and we'll be happy to take care of it for you. This goes as well for changing a subscription to digest form or adding you to another list.

Remember, no one from the outside can contribute to any list, nor can any one from the outside see your email address. We think this is best system available to us at this time. So, please bare with us as we work through our growing pains.

At the July meeting there was some discussion regarding the formation of a board of directors and officers to help the group run more smoothly AND to take some of the load off of the Gross's shoulders. Many thanks to Tim Frost for taking on the speakers bureau, and to Deb London for agreeing to work on the Resources Manual. And, big thanks to Brook and Gerry for all the wonderful help they contributed to the newsletter.

An announcement was made that the SSAFE Coalition has voted to accept TransFamily as one of the collaborative groups. Our name will now appear on all SSAFE brochures and we need many of you to volunteer to help with their projects. Please call the center (216-522-1999) and Judy Maruszan, identify yourself as a member of TransFamily, and ask what you can do to help. Their biggest project is the annual fund raiser, which is held in either March or April (at the Cleveland International Film Festival). Let's have many of our members available to help the project. In the fall, there will be a need for many of our members to speak at area schools. Please let the center know if you will be available.

And, by the way, Gerry, Mina, and Chris have had their surgeries at Dr. Sheila Kirk's clinic and are reported to be doing very well. We send our best wishes and hopes for a quick recovery.

• Will be held on Thursday August 5th, at 6:30 pm promptly. There will be NO dinner at this meeting as Karen and Bob must leave early. We hope to be ready and in our circle by 7 pm. Please bring a snack or drinks to pass around the circle. We must have the house cleared by 9:30 pm. Hopefully, the weather will be good and we will be able to meet in the backyard.
• We are still trying to collect before/after pictures. Please help our picture collection grow.
• Some of you have library books that need to be returned. Please bring them with you.
• The newsletter with everyone's story in it was great. If you haven't written down your story yet, please do and bring it to the August meeting.

Dr. Sheila Kirk will be speaking to the group sometime in September or October. Dr. Kirk will be discussing and showing slides of the F2M surgery procedures. Any one interested will be welcome. A notice will be sent when the date has been confirmed.

We apologize for not having our usual lengthy and informative newsletter this month. We hope to return to our normal form, in September, after our vacation's are over.

There are many stories related to the sinking of the Titanic. Some have just come to light due to the success of the recent movie. For example, most people don't know that back in 1912 Hellman's mayonnaise was manufactured in England. The Titanic was carrying 12,000 jars of the condiment scheduled for delivery in Vera Cruz, Mexico, which was to be the next port of call for the great ship after New York City. The Mexican people were eagerly awaiting delivery and were disconsolate at the loss, so much so that they declared a national day of mourning which they still observe today. It is known, of course, as........ wait for it....... Sinko de Mayo. (groan).

Fifty-two facts that everyone should know.....

1. A pig's orgasm lasts for 30 minutes.
2. The venom in a Daddy Longlegs spider is more poisonous than a Black Widow's or a Brown Recluse, but they cannot bite humans because their jaws won't open wide enough.
3. On average, people fear spiders more than they do death.
4. Did you know that you are more likely to be killed by a champagne cork than by a poisonous spider?
5. The average human eats 8 spiders in their lifetime at night.
6. The average chocolate bar has 8 insects' legs in it.
7. Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots.
8. Humans and Dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure.
9. The pop you get when you crack your knuckles is actually a bubble of gas bursting.
10. 101 Dalmatians and Peter Pan (Wendy) are the only two Disney cartoon features with both parents that are present and don't die throughout the movie.
11. The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely solid.
12. There's no Betty Rubble in Flintstones Chewable Vitamins.
13. It's impossible to get water out of a rimless tire. (Don't ask me!)
14. Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.
15. The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.
16. In Minnesota it is illegal to cross state lines with a duck on your head.
17. In Indiana it is illegal to ride public transportation for at least 30 minutes after eating garlic.
18. Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people.
19. Polar bears are left-handed.
20. Stewardesses is the longest word typed with only the left hand.
21. A cockroach will live nine days without its head, before it starves to death.
22. Some lions mate over 50 times a day.
23. If you toss a penny 10,000 times, it will not be heads 5,000 times, but more like 4,950. The heads picture weighs more, so it ends up on the bottom.
24. A rhinoceros horn is made of compacted hair.
25. The shortest war in history was between Zanzibar an England in 1896.
26. Zanzibar surrendered after 38 minutes.
27. A polar bear's skin is black. Its fur is not white, but actually clear.
28. Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.
29. Donald Duck comics were banned in Finland because he doesn't wear pants.
30. More people are killed by donkeys annually than are killed in plane crashes.
31. A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
32. Shakespeare invented the word "assassination" and "bump,"
33. Marilyn Monroe had six toes.
34. If you keep a Goldfish in the dark room, it will eventually turn white.
35. Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
36. The sentence "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter in the English language.
37. The name of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with.
38. The word "lethologica" describes the state of not being able to remember the word you want.
39. TYPEWRITER, is the longest word that can be made using the letters on only one row of the keyboard. If the population of China walked past you in single file, the line w ould never end because of the rate of reproduction.
40. A snail can sleep for 3 years.
41. American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first-class.
42. China has more English speakers than the United States.
43. The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
44. Vatican City is the smallest country in the world, with a population of 1,000 and a size 108.7 acres.
45. The longest town name in the world has 167 letters.
46. You share your birthday with at least 9 million other people in the world.
47. "I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
48. The longest word in the English language is 1909 letters long and it refers to a distinct part of DNA.
49. No president of the United States was an only child.
50. The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies. 52. Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.

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