Dana, too, I guess. The plan was that she'd fly out there a weekend a month, and my dad would fly home every third or fourth week for a couple of days. They expected to spend all of their vacations in Santa Fe, so they could see if they liked the area.
They actually talked about Dana moving west when the spring semester was over.
The main thing that struck me about Dad was how happy he was. This is an awful thing to discover when you're nineteen years old--pretty close to twenty, actually--but it's true: It was only when my adolescence was all but over that I figured out how unhappy my dad had been for most of my life. It was only when I was a grown-up myself that I understood the fog in which he'd been living since I was about seven years old.
And so I loved seeing him that weekend at the end of the summer.
The fact is, I had loved seeing him in July when we all descended upon him and Dana with the microphones and tape recorders, and when we spent hours in the studios of his very own station. Nothing at all had seemed to faze him, and he was a much funnier man than I'd realized. He held hands with Dana when they were walking down the long corridors between the offices and the studios, and he hugged her in the parking lot as if they were married when we were done with a segment and Dana had to return to the university for some committee meeting.
Sometimes people asked me how I felt about my dad's decision to head west with a transsexual. Molly Cochran said she thought it was the most interesting midlife crisis she'd ever seen.
I told her--I told anyone who asked--that I didn't think it was a crisis at all. I told people I was very proud of my dad.
And, in a lot of ways, I was proud of Dana, too. Just like Dad, she had to see past the anatomy. She had to give whatever spark they shared some kind of chance, despite the fact that my dad's a man and she'd always been interested in women. That can't be easy, especially since Dana had always labeled everyone and everything, and put us all in these neat little boxes. Gay. Straight. Transsexual lesbian.
Let's face it: In reality, it's all just about muscle spasms that feel really good.
My sense is that my mom will start dating again when she's ready. She's smart and she's beautiful and she's an incredible amount of fun to be around. She'll never have trouble finding men.
Or women either, I guess, should her interests ever wander that way.
But she, too, seems pretty happy these days, and that's great to see. I'd worried about her in July. We all had. But she's resilient. She's tough.
And someday she might even fall in love.
NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO TRANSCRIPT
All Things Considered
Friday, September 28
WILL BANKS: ... So far I like the Southwest. I could settle down here. I think we both could.
DANA STEVENS: Definitely. It's so warm, I could wear a sundress almost year-round. I like that idea: I think my collarbone is among my best features.
CARLY BANKS: Stevens insists that she wouldn't mind giving up tenure at the end of the school year if they decided to stay.
STEVENS: It would be a trade-off. But I'd be fine. Hey, I've done far crazier things in my life--at least in some people's eyes.
CARLY BANKS: For love?
STEVENS: Nothing--and I mean nothing, Carly Banks--is crazy if you're in love.
Acknowledgments
I want to thank the members of the transgendered community--transsexuals, their partners, and in some cases their parents--who were kind enough to endure my questions, and read all or parts of this novel in manuscript form. I am especially grateful to D. C. Merkle, Kara Forward, and Liz Trumbauer. Ms. Forward and Ms. Trumbauer allowed me to spend time with them in not one but two states.
I also want to thank two transsexual surgeons: Dr. Stanley Biber of Trinidad, Colorado, and Dr. Sheila Kirk of the Transgender Surgical and Medical Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Their knowledge (as well as their patience) is astounding. I am deeply indebted as well to their assistants. Pamela Kirk--who is Dr. Kirk's life partner as well as professional assistant--is a thoughtful, sharp, and encouraging reader. Marie Pacino, who works with Dr. Biber, is as indefatigable as she is resourceful.
Other readers offered different--but no less important--varieties of technical counsel, especially Phoebe Barash and Bill Jesdale, each of whom is an educator and school principal; Ken Neisser of the Gersh Agency; Mark Vogelzang, president and general manager of Vermont Public Radio; and Tom Wells, attorney and bookseller. Writers Jay Parini and Dana Yeaton were also kind enough to read early drafts of the novel and share with me their wisdom.
The transgender canon is large and (not surprisingly) diverse, and most authors who plumb the subject bring experiential passion to the subject. Some are more supportive of sexual reassignment than others, and some are more likely to link sex and gender with politics and power. The books that I found most helpful as a novelist--because of the author's insight, wisdom, or honesty--included: In Search of Eve, by Anne Bolin; Gender Outlaw, by Kate Bornstein; Sex Changes, by Pat Califia; Body Alchemy, by Loren Cameron; Speaking As a Woman, by Alison Laing; Conundrum, by Jan Morris; Transsexuals: Candid Answers to Private Questions, by Gerald Ramsey, Ph.D.; The Transsexual Empire, by Janice G. Raymond; and The Transsexual's Survival Guide I and II, both by JoAnn Altman Stringer.
Four novels were particularly inspiring and thought-provoking: The Extra Man, by Jonathan Ames; Stone Butch Blues, by Leslie Feinberg; The Illusionist, by Dinitia Smith; and Myra Breckinridge, by Gore Vidal.
Chris Bohjalian, Trans-Sister Radio
(Series: # )
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