Alright, so it's been quite a while. And while I haven't been doing any exciting new physical changes, I have been going to some cool events and stuff. So first off, Spectrum (one of DePaul's LGBT... groups) had a trans night of sorts and I spoke along with three other people. It was strictly a Q and A type of thing, so I didn't have to have anything prepared. So that was nice, got a lot of good questions and had a variety of answers on the "panel" so that was good. Then a few weeks after that, there was a LGBT... conference hosted by DePaul and Margaret and I spoke at that. We had stuff prepared for that, but people asked questions also. Both things were pretty cool. It's still kind of weird to talk about my life like it's something important. Or even worth listening to. Everyone seemed interested though, so I guess it is!
The one thing it does make me excited about is my clinic dreams. For those that don't know, I am hoping to one day have a clinic that is a one stop shop of sorts. I want to have four sections, one for therapy, one for law, one for medicine and one for surgery. The therapy part would obviously have therapists that could see patients and write letters or whatever was necessary. The law part would help not only with the legal matters of the clinic, but also help people with name changes and things like that. The medicine part would be a place where people could come and get good healthcare in a warm, accepting environment. Also, this would be where hormones were prescribed, blood tests done, etc. The surgery part would have a team of surgeons that could perform a wide range of surgeries for both FTM and MTF. The final aspect of this clinic is the research aspect. I feel research is a part that is lacking in the trans community, so I would like a place that is dedicated to changing that. Now, all of this sounds great, but here's the catch-- I want it all to be free. Hopefully I will win the lottery or somehow get a rapid influx of millions of dollars to put toward it. It's ambitious-- it's crazy. But if it happened, it would be amazing. It's thinking about this that keeps me a) involved in the community and b) studying chemistry and all this other boring stuff in school. I know that one day I will be able to be a doctor that can make a difference, even if it's not by doing something on this big of a scale. So we'll see, but all of this speaking at events is making me want it more than ever.
