Another new SSM!

[http://users.livejournal.com/__recidivist/]

My Dearest Vulva-Loving Superstars,

As several of you have requested, your friendly neighborhood VP Team members are taking this opportunity to let you get to know us a little better. We will take turns posting our bios for your reading pleasure. :) Check out the tag for this entry to view them all.

Of course, we want to get to know you, too, so if you haven't already and you'd like to, feel free to introduce yourself here, as indicated on the profile page. (Note that you can also now add yourself to the VP Frappr map from the intro page.) If you made your introduction a while ago and your life has changed dramatically since then, reply to your old comment and update us!



Hey folks! My name is Eli (e-lie, not el-ee) and I'm another new addition to the VP team. I grew up in a small town in Massachusetts, USA with my mom and older sister. My teenage experience was really, really difficult. I felt horrible and depressed all the time. I hurt myself a lot. No one in my family thought I would live to eighteen. About three years ago, I started putting some pieces of my life together and figured out something pretty important: I needed to transition from female to male.

I love women's and female reproductive health, and I have learned (with the help of VP and regular intramuscular testosterone injections) to really love my complicated body. I just couldn't live in it while also pretending to be a woman-- it just wasn't who I am. These days, I ID as transgender, genderqueer, queer, and male. If you're curious about what any of those things mean, feel free to ask me here.

Since I had a pretty difficult childhood that only got harder during my first puberty, I can still be pretty shy. I'm online a lot and I love reading. When I was ten, my mom tried to take away my books to force me to make friends. She didn't last two days.

I really like learning and thinking through new ideas, so school is important to me. I've always been the kid at the front of the room joking with the teacher and somehow pulling good grades despite never having done the reading that was actually assigned. Sorry.

I am just finishing up undergrad at a small college in Boston, MA, USA. I'm graduating in a couple weeks with BAs in English Literature and Secondary Education and a minor in Gender and Women's Studies. I'm a resident assistant at my college. It's a lot of fun and a lot of work. I am exhausted. I'm waiting (not very patiently, I might add) to hear from grad school. Hopefully I'll have some good news soon. One of the programs I am waiting on is in Gender and Cultural Studies. I'm very interested in gender and sexuality and am becoming increasingly interested in anti-bias, anti-oppression, and cultural competence work.

I think Rob in "High Fidelity" is on to something when he says that it's not important what a person is like as much as what ze likes. In that spirit, here are a few pictures of things I like:

My terrifying book case. I have a really bizarre free-association organization style. It flows from language and grammar into 18th century stuff, history, education, race, gender, queer studies, feminism, Judiasm, Tolkien, poetry, anthologies, children's lit, and finally regular books (with special spots for John Irving, Michael Crichton, and Kurt Vonnegut). you should check out my reading blog here.

My DVDs are less organized-- I cheated a little and corralled them into the same place for this photo. Please notice that I really only have crappy bargain bin horror movies; good action movies; movies where people overcome racial or socio-economic differences through song, dance, or sport; and TV shows on DVD. Also, isn't that zombie awesome? My sister got him for me for Chanukah. His name is "Peeete?"

A little more.

I write prose poems, vignettes, and flash fiction, so I think life is always more interesting in snapshot form (I gotta give Hemmingway his props on his six word story). In that spirit, here I am, Polaroid style.

I occasionally experience soul-crushing disappointment when the supermarket is out of skim milk, or I find the wrong DVD in a case.

I wrote my senior English thesis on internet media and gossip bloggers' portrayal of Chris Brown's assault on Rihanna and that media's continuation of (linguistic) violence against Rihanna.

I am polite and kind, but not always as nice as I wish I were.

I watch television (and movies) with the captions on. Sorry.

I am trying to be a better Jew. I haven't had a cheeseburger since eighth grade, but didn't scour my house for chametz before Pesach. "Trying" is key.

I watch all the special features and commentaries on a DVD.

I write text messages with proper spelling and grammar. I hardly ever end sentences in prepositions, but I believe that the use of the passive voice is sometimes valid. Further, I think about these things. Kind of a lot.

I cannot stand wearing pants.

I move my head and arms when playing video games. I also hide from embarrassing scenes in movies.

Those "prove you're not a robot" things on websites make me kind of irate.

I lived in a literal barn for a while. Now I live in a figurative pig sty. In a hotel. So if you were jealous of my awesomely inoffensive wallpaper, it's okay. It's not really mine.

I don't drink and am incredibly embarrassed by the fact that I smoke cigarettes sometimes. If you ever want to see me get really defensive, ask me when the last time I smoked was.

My gram is one of my favorite people in the world.


You can watch me Twitter about good things right here.