Pool time!
Hey everyone! Tomorrow, Saturday April 14th, is the inaugural Transistors pool party! It's from 3:30pm to 5:30pm at the Robert A Lee Recreation Center in Iowa City.
https://www.icgov.org/Home/Components/FacilityDirectory/FacilityDirectory/104/242Here's a link to their pool rules, which I encourage everyone to read ahead of time:
https://www.iowa-city.org/weblink/0/edoc/1942537/Pool%20Rules%20Final%20-%20English.pdfThere are the usual gender-binary locker rooms, but in the locker rooms the showers are individual stalls with opaque curtains. You may use whichever locker room you like, according to the Iowa City policies. That said, there are two single-user restrooms near the locker rooms that are ADA-accessible, and another single-user restroom on the pool deck. There is no shower in these restrooms, however.
The staff at the Rec Center are supposed to be supportive of gender diversity and sensitive to bodily autonomy. If they or anyone else causes a problem for you, please get me. I intend to be den mother for this event, so any troublemakers will have to answer to me.
They don't allow food or drink on the pool deck, other than water. As part of the pool party we get access to a meeting room to use as a party room, but I suspect most people would rather spend their two hours at the pool, but what do I know? So please bring snacks and/or refreshments that you want to consume, and we can see if people would rather sit in the meeting room to recharge, or just step off the pool deck to snack. They recently removed ALL vending from the rec center, so you'll have to come correct!
They keep the water at 81-83ºF, and the outside wall is glass, south-facing, so it is WARM on the pool deck. You'll be most comfortable in the water, not poolside, IMO.
Lastly, parking. There's a parking lot right next to the rec center, but being Saturday, the meters are live. If you can find on-street parking you can avoid that. The pool is ground-level so the best entrance is the main one on the east side of the building, lot-adjacent. You don't have to check in, but the front desk staff can tell you where the pool entrance is, and where the changing areas are. If you're nervous at all, please just come to the pool deck and talk to me. I'll be the oldest person there. 😅
I'm looking forward to seeing people there tomorrow. Let's make this a judgement-free space full of trans joy, and happy embodiment. See you in the water.
-Dani 💜