CrossOver Session Five: "Why two check-boxes are simply not enough"

Now online (MP3, 4.4 MB, 18 minutes 55 seconds) - in which I discuss my perspective on why society's insistence on a strictly male or female view of the world simply isn't enough. This session includes a short excerpt from Dr. Moira Gunn's interview with Deborah Rudicille of Johns-Hopkins University, which can be downloaded from the "IT Conversations" web site (included under the terms of the Creative Commons Sampling License). See the shownotes (HTML, OPML) for relevant links.

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CrossOver Session Four - "Post-Electrolysis Skincare"

Now online (MP3, 2.00 MB, 8 minutes 40 seconds, 32kbps) - due to my ongoing memory lapses, I completely forgot to talk in Session Three about the condition of the skin after electrolysis, and skincare recommendations. Consider this as Session 3.5... ;-)

As an experiment, I've encoded this session at 32kbps (rather than the 64kbps I've used previously); since this is primarily a speech-only show, I think the drop in audio quality is more than offset by the halving in the downloaded file size. Also, to improve the user experience of those who use iTunes / iPod to play their podcasts, I've changed the Song Name, Artist and Album ID3 tags to work more effectively in that environment. Please let me know (by email or comment) if you approve or disapprove of either (or both) of these changes.

Show notes (in OPML format)

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CrossOver Session Three - "Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow"

Now online (MP3, 9.06 MB, 19 minutes 48 seconds) - in which I give some thoughts on how to approach the challenge of permanent hair removal. Sadly, whichever method you employ, it won't be "gone tomorrow"... but it's desirable (and necessary) to do it, and hopefully this show will help someone else who has to face (no pun intended) this process.

Show notes (in OPML format)

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CrossOver Session Two - "The First Time"

Now online (MP3, 8.8 MB, 19 minutes 11 seconds) - in which I give some thoughts on how to approach the challenge of telling someone for the first time that you are (or may be) transgendered; and why to try not to make too much of a deal about it.

Following on from a previous post, a new category, "Gender", has been added to the ipodder.org directory; to which I have now added CrossOver (so if you use a podcatching client that can select feeds from the ipodder.org directory, you can now select this show directly without typing in the RSS feed address). As it happens, the editor of this node of the directory is... me. ;-) Thanks, Adam; boing! The fine folks at GenderTalk are also listed, in the same category; double boing!

So, if by any chance you produce (or know of ) a relevant podcast that isn't listed elsewhere in that directory, then I'll be happy to add them to the Gender category (just fill in the form on the "suggest a link" page, which will send me the details). If there's a podcast that isn't in the directory, doesn't really fit under Gender, but might be appropriate in another category, then I recommend that you use the "suggest a link" on the appropriate category to send the suggestion to the appropriate editor.

Show notes (in OPML format)

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GenderTalk radio now has a podcast RSS feed!

I mentioned in the first session of CrossOver that one of my favourite online audio shows is GenderTalk ("talking about transgenderism in the first person") but that technically it didn't qualify as a podcast (because you had to manually download the show from their site or the Internet Archive, rather than use a podcatching client) as they didn't have an RSS feed with enclosures. I also mentioned that I probably ought to email them.

Well, I did (remembering to follow up on something is quite a rarity for me, these days!)... and they have responded with just such a feed - respect! Currently, the feed only contains the latest show, coincidentally their 500th (to my mind, adding a podcast feed is a great way to mark that milestone) but more than 350 of the older shows are still available for download.

As I'm preparing my second session of CrossOver, a question that has been going around in my mind is, if I list the show in the ipodder.org directory, exactly *where* in that directory should I list it? If GenderTalk is listed, I would want to put CrossOver in the same place; my concern is that I'm not sure that, really, *any* of the current categories fit! ;-) I've emailed Adam Curry (in his capacity as overall maintainer of the directory) to ask for his thoughts and have suggested that, even though he's recently trimmed down the directory structure, a new node "Alternate Lifestyles" might be appropriate; general enough not to be restricted to just transgender issues, neutral enough not to be offensive (I don't see why anyone *should* be offended, of course, but, for example, I wouldn't want CrossOver listed anywhere under "Sex" for example, because it's not about sex). I've even offered to maintain that directory node. Anyway, we'll see what happens.

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CrossOver - Session One

Now online (MP3, 4.25 MB, 9 minutes 15 seconds)

By popular demand, and against my initial reservations... welcome to the first session of CrossOver, my occasional audio show which discusses some aspects of my experience of living with Gender Dysphoria, and all the fun and games that follow as a consequence.

I've decided to record this show in response to feedback from readers of my blog and listeners to my other audio show, VoiceOver; for reasons that I've written about on my blog, and described in this short audio file (MP3, 1.89 MB, 4 minutes 06 seconds) I do not discuss anything to do with Gender Dysphoria in VoiceOver. This show, CrossOver, is intended to provide a forum for those topics which, therefore, I haven't discussed in audio before.

Confused? Join the club! ;-)

I'll state at the outset that I don't envisage continuing CrossOver much beyond my final surgery, around about a year from now; and I'm making no commitment as to how frequently (or infrequently) future sessions will appear until then; and if I don't receive much feedback from the initial shows (or rather, if I don't receive much *positive* feedback) then I may not feel sufficiently enthused to record further sessions. Which is a long-winded way of saying, if you like what you hear (or if you *don't* like what you hear) please leave a comment (without revealing your name, if you're shy) or drop me an email at koanbremner (at) gmail (dot) com - absolute discretion guaranteed.

Enough of the preamble; on with the motley!

Show notes to follow in a day or so (I have a habit of forgetting to put the show notes online after the event, so if I neglect to do so, please give me a nudge, someone...) (in OPML format)

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