Note: I have revised the text of this piece. I originally wrote the material to represent a journey of personal discovery, using pronouns artistically to express my journey through the way that other people saw me in the first half and following that up with gender-appropriate pronouns in the second half to express my personal freedom. I thought this would be appropriate, and saw no reason not to share in this journey of my life. But this has been used to attack me ... and to attack other people, to deny the life experiences of many people. And my art and my identity should not be used in this fashion. As a result, I have eliminated this artistic expression to reflect a fundamental gender reality that I feel is important for others to understand. Sometimes, the message can be lost in the art. I fear that's what happened here. Please enjoy the revised edition, and I thank you for your courtesy and understanding.
"I'll say it myself - adventure awaits!" (Dee Emm Elms)
Once upon a time, there was a little kid whose favorite clothes were the pink pajamas that the kid had gotten for this third birthday.
So, this kid lived in upstate New York, among other places. The kid's family tended to move a bit. The kid's favorite food was pancakes. These facts may not seem important, but every detail of a person's life paints the greater picture.
This kid LOVED birthday parties, because it meant lots of pink everywhere (the kid's favorite color) and it meant a special pancake breakfast, new pajamas & getting to watch favorite TV shows instead of dad's baseball.
In 1975, the kid's favorite TV show was WONDER WOMAN.
The kid LOVED Lynda Carter.
The kid's mother remarked how her child must have a crush on Wonder Woman. Mom was wrong. The kid wanted to BE Wonder Woman. Moms can be weird, the kid sometimes thought.
Later in the kid's life, the kid would learn that people dismissed CHARLIE'S ANGELS show as "Jiggle TV" - but that was totally and completely lost on the kid, because this kid didn't see a hint of "Jiggle TV."
All he saw at that time was a story of three women who weren't seen for who and what they were in life, and that was something with which the kid could very much identify.
What did both shows have in common? Female "super" heroes, whether they were skilled detectives or Amazonian warriors. And the 1970s were a wonderful time for heroes like that on television, in books, in movies, everywhere.
And it didn't take the kid long to discover a sense of self, a sense of identity in those heroines, much more so than any male characters.
No matter how the kid's mom dressed the child for picture-day, this kid felt more like one of the Angels than a Bosley.
One day, in 1978, a new TV show appeared called BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. The kid saw it and idolized Laurette Spang's Cassiopeia.
The kid really admired how Laurette's character cared for and helped people in times of war.
The kid got to meet Ms. Spang, and get her autograph at a car show, but not before posing in front of a custom CHARLIE'S ANGELS van. The kid was trying to look like Jaclyn Smith, but nobody else knew that at the time.
Time passed, and the kid grew. Through it all were the heroes - who were for the most part heroines.
That's really, deep down, how the kid identified, and it's how the kid acted. All friends were girls. This kid couldn't handle hanging out with and trying to be one of the rough-and-tumble guys. The kid just didn't "get" that.
The kid much preferred this close circle of female friends, and that's with whom time was spent the majority of days.
Still, there were some things boys liked that the kid liked, too.
The kid enjoyed professional wrestling, watched action movies, watched bull-riding and rodeo.
And - well, this kid absolutely LOVED comic books.
Perhaps the universe was enjoying a bit of irony that the first comic the kid's parents ever bought for their child was a book called GIANT-SIZED MAN-THING #1. Perhaps not.
But that didn't change the fact that the first comic the kid bought with the kid's own money - earned washing down driveways and doing other chores - was a comic with a cover that told instantly that here was one of the greatest heroes who had ever come into the world of fiction. But, it wasn't Spider-Man. It wasn't Iron Man. It wasn't Nightcrawler. And it certainly wasn't the Enchantress.
It was DAZZLER. Dazzler was ... it.
Now, there's a famous musical familiar to many that talks about asking oneself how one measures one's life.
One of the things the musical doesn't mention as a possible measure is the time between publication of each new issue of DAZZLER, but that's one of the many ways the kid measured time itself.
Of course, since DAZZLER didn't come out every day, the kid discovered that there were other comics out there, with characters familiar to the kid - known from even early childhood like the aforementioned WONDER WOMAN. But there were also new characters like Valkyrie - who was simply AWESOME.
As the years continued, the kid became a teen. This fierce love of female superheroes did not abate; instead, it grew - and a love of comics grew along with it.
The kid collected more and more comics; most featured strong women with whom the kid could easily identify in sharing their adventures.
You see, the teen had come to realize over the course of these years of life something fundamental. The teen identified far more as a girl than as a boy. So, this teen found in these courageous heroines the courage to keep going despite a lot of suffering and conflict.
By the time the teen got to college, the teen had a huge comic book collection that was primarily occupied with these inspirational, heroic adventures of women through whom the teen could find the hope of a better future, a hopeful future.
The teen, you see, had to learn to be all right with a conflict between what the world saw and what the reality really was.
For medical reasons, the teen wasn't going to be able to try to medically correct what had to be a mistake of nature, could perhaps instead rise above that in other ways - could try to be like the heroes of the comics in terms of their ethos, their values - like the values of Diana Prince.
However, the teen knew that the family back home wouldn't understand any of this - no matter what was said or done. Still, they supported the teen's goals without realizing it - through supporting the purpose of this mental lifeline, the comics. They tried, at least, to understand that much.
The only person in the family the teen told about this great secret, this true self was the family dog. Dogs, as a rule, are a lot less judgmental about gender issues.
And if Kara could have a Legion of Super-Pets, why couldn't the teen?
College came and went, but the heroes didn't.
This teen, now a collegiate, decided that an unique life had been given to be used - those experiences that made the collegiate a person who was unique and special; meant a responsibility and a purpose, which was to be a writer, to share these experiences of life and help other people deal with finding balance in their own lives and with their own bodies and minds - and to celebrate the spirit of feminine heroism that got the collegiate tough times to such a degree that he never lost hope, never gave up, never despaired.
How COULD someone like that give in to despair? It wasn't an option.
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Because that's not what Princess Diana would do. That's not what Teela would do.
They simply wouldn't - not ever.
They simply wouldn't - not ever.
And so was created a place where people could celebrate those heroes of the four-color world, warriors and princesses that inspired with their strength and determination.
And that would be this place - a place meant to celebrate the ideas of heroism found in the exploits of these amazing women of fiction.
It would also be a place where people could help each other to be brave, to tell the world their stories and to show courage while knowing that the real world is not always friendly to those heroes, or those who appreciate them, or those who are different.
So join if you like in this journey - because I was that kid, that teen, that collegiate. I am that girl, that woman. And I love my life. And I am one of these heroes. This life is my adventure. I'll say it myself - adventure awaits!
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