iii. status update

be sure to like my selfie!

After Listening to some clips taken from "A Status Update", a particulary interesting episode of THis American LIfe, I thought I would take a moment to share my thoughts here. The specific clip I am going to discuss incluided the perspectives of some teenage girls, as they shared their expierences with social media.
I found the episode inisightful and eye opening specifically because of its choice of guests. If anyone knows about social media, its highschool girls. Most teenagers, girls especially so, are practically glued to their cell phones, tablets, or laptops at all times. Combine that with the intense social pressures to fit in and gain social acceptance and the result is an absoliute obsession with social media.

The girls were very candid as they talked about the reasons behind their posts and the thought and planning and preparatoon that goes into each and every seemingly random or casual post. What might appear to be an unassuming photo of some friends is actually part of a social language and custom in which girls seek and give validation to one another and attempt to gain the acceptance of their peers.

One part of the broadcast that i found particularly interesting was the segment of the discussion where the girls explained what the purpose and meaning behind comments left on eachothers photos. It seems that none of it can just be taken at face value and that one must read between the lines. A comment that says "I hate you" :) :) :) actually translates to "Wow you are so pretty and I am jealous and insecure". This segment offers insight to those of us who are outsiders in this world of likes and tweets and could be especially helpful to parents.

I would definietly reccomend this episode to anyone who wants to gain a deeper understanding of our youths culture, particuarly to those currently parenting teenage or soon to be teenage girls.

ii. An extremely late bloomer...

Hitting puberty is painfully awkward enough, even under the best circumstances I doubt anyone would want to relive it, going through it for the second time, and at the age of 25 is downright absurd and the crazier part is I actually signed up for this. Being a 25 year old teenage boy is difficult to go through and even harder to explain, but I'll try..

I am currently undergoing Hormone Replacement Therapy or HRT, and taking weekly injections of testosterone.  The hormones will help me to physically transition from female to male. For the first 6 to 12 months while to initial changes take place I will essentially be going through puberty again, only this time as a male.

The first change you will probably notice will be my voice dropping, this usually is permanent after 3 months,  my doctor has told me not everyone gets an Adam's apple but I remain hopeful. Next the fat and muscle will redesteibute itself throughout my body so that my body shape becomes that of a male . My facial structure will change dramatically making it appear more masculine. Facial hair usually takes at least a year to come in fully but I don't plan on sporting a beard, some sideburns might be cool though.



I spent so much of my life hating myself and feeling trapped and hopeless. And it was actually on the internet that I discovered a cure to my ailment existed. T-Men before me who documented their journeys in transition gave me the hope I needed to take this step. I watched countless videos online and  still follow many transguys online who still post updates. I have chosen to share my story and document my journey in the hopes that it could help even one isolated kid just like those blogs helped me.

I. My Humble Opinion

I've never been the sort of person who sets aside time to sit down and read the news paper, maybe it's the fact that I have terrible time management or maybe it's my inability to sit still for more than a moment, but whatever the reason may be, it's just never been part of my routine: That being said  I still enjoy reading and like to remain relatively informed on the on-goings of the world around me, hence my thorough appreciation and enjoyment of several blogs.

In my humble opinion online bloggers corner an important ever expanding genre and have become a collective voice for all the once under represented groups in modern media. I have a special fondness for several bloggers within the FTM transgender community for their posts detailing their transitions and documenting the results they expierienced from the use of testosterone hormone replacement therapy. These blogs changed my life. Because of the wide range of topics blogs spam I was able to find articles that related directly to what I was going through and that impacted me deeply. The chances of finding such an article while flipping through a Sunday paper would be nearly impossible.

Amongst the blogs directly linked I came across a few familiar titles that bring back fond memories. Two of which are "Found Magazine" and "Post Secret" I have submitted posts to both of them and viewed them on a frequent basis throughout my teenage years. I lived the anonymity of them and the intrigue of all throngs forgotten and secret.

On the opposite end of the blog spectrum is the dissapoontingly popular "Twitter" blog which in my humble opinion contains all things frivolous in the worst possible sense of the word. But what do I know? I'm just an amateur blogger myself and I would hope my readers would be positive in their assessment of my own writing.