TDOR 2023
Hi again, everyone. Today is the Transgender Day of Remembrance for 2023, and on this solemn occasion, I want to wish all of you love and care.
I was inspired by this story from Penn State, who celebrated TDOR early due to fall break. Content warning, the threats facing the trans community are directly addressed in this article: https://news.yahoo.com/penn-state-community-comes-together-161755375.html
You can read Sophie Kandler's speech in its entirety here: https://tgforum.com/sophies-penn-state-tdor-speech/
I love you all, and am wishing you a warm and loving fall break. And if you don't have a place to be for fall break with friends or found family, please go to the Discord channel (see below) and connect with each other. Holidays are often a struggle for members of our community, and mutual care makes all the difference.
–Dani
Other items
Discord Channel
This newsletter comes out irregularly and infrequently, so I'd like to point people to joining the Transistors Discord channel on the LGBTQ+ Iowa Archives and Library (LIAL) Discord server. You can use the following link, which times out 7 days after this email, to join the Discord, and then go to the #set-roles channel to join Transistors. A great way to chat with our local fam!
LGBTQ Iowa Archives & Library (LIAL)
Check out the LGBTQ Iowa Archives & Library (LIAL) community on Discord - hang out with 240 other members and enjoy free voice and text chat.
Queer Thread clothing swap
Queer Threads, a group that meets at LIAL on Tuesdays, is holding a clothing swap! Show them our love and support, and get some new duds for yourself, just in time for the winter holidays.
Pool Party
Hey everyone! Saturday December 2nd, is the 2nd 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. The pool deck restroom has a shower!
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.