Trans Does Not Equal White

One of the things that continues to fascinate the public is documentaries and interviews with trans people.

Last weekend CNN rolled out the Anderson Cooper Chaz Bono interview and the Susan Stanton documentary to boost those television ratings and clock those advertising dollars.

Can you guess what group was NOT represented in this smorgasbord of transgender programming?

Can you say trans people of color?

While people are fond of saying the trans community is a diverse bunch, you couldn't back that statement up by the monochromatic programming that was being offered last weekend,

White transpeople were once again predominant as the faces of the transgender community while prominent transwomen of color's phones continue to remain silent or they fail to receive e-mail from the producers of these shows.

Maybe it escaped you documentary or news feature producers that 13% of the United States population is African American, 15% of it is Latino/a and 4% of it is Asian. The 2010 census that's currently being conducted will confirm that our shares of the US population are increasing.

Contrary to all the vanilla flavored trans programming that dominated your television sets last weekend, there are African descended, Latino/a and Asian transpeeps successfully living their lives inside the United States.

If you bother to look or even talk to us, we too have compelling stories to tell beyond the stereotypical or the tragic trans victim.

But as has been the case for the last 50 plus years, when there's a documentary to be done on transpeople and you tune in, you can almost bet without even looking at anything but the preview for it that it will involve a white, middle to upper middle class transperson.

Attention media. Trans people come in all shapes, sizes, classes and ethnic groups. How about taking a moment to broaden the trans narrative to reflect that?

I doubt that the situation will improve before the May and July sweeps period either.

Hey, Where All My Taurons At?

As many of you long time readers know, I'm a huge Battlestar Galactica fan. I own all four seasons on DVD and eagerly awaited the start of Caprica when it kicked off back in January.

If I'm at home on Friday nights I'm parked in front of the television checking out the action in the BSG prequel series set 58 years before The Fall of the Twelve Colonies.

One of the interesting things about the Twelve Colonies as us BSG junkies know is that all of the planets are named after the signs of the zodiac.

Of course, being the proud Taurus I am, I immediately identified with my peeps on Tauron. The residents of that colony seem to have played major roles not only in BSG but the stories and backstories of the BSG/Caprica universe.

Admiral Helena Cain was from there, and as we're discovering, Admiral Adama has Tauron roots. His father Joseph and uncle Sam emigrated to Caprica as a result of the Tauron Civil War and the deaths of their parents.

Since Caprica is more terrestrial driven, you're actually getting more of a feel for Colonial life as seen through two families, the Graystones and the Adamas.

It's been fascinating to watch the Taurons as the story arc develops in the show. They are a proud, determined people who face racism and discrimination on Caprica.

It's interesting to watch the interplay between proud Tauron Sam and his brother, who is trying to be more Caprican than the natives, even going so far as to change his name so he'd fit in. It's also fun to see the future commander of the Battlestar Galactica as a teenage boy.

It also explains why the adult Adama liked to box so much.

I'll definitely be staying tuned in to see more of my Tauron peeps as the show progresses.

Boss Ladies

Y'all know my opinion about reality shows being a waste of television air time, but thanks to Toni at Dyssonance, she gave me the heads up about another upcoming one featuring transwomen of color.

The show is called Boss Ladies, and its premise is following five transwomen on their collaborative journey to launch a clothing boutique that features their fabulous breakout line.

Here's the website for the show. Nadia, Tempress and Londyn are the first three of the five ladies taking part with the other two yet to be determined.

There were video interviews for the initial three ladies, but they have been taken down for some reason.

Nadia's video




Tempress video




Londyn video



As I hear more about Boss Ladies, will pass the details along to you as well.

This Is A Late Night Show

With all the fuss over the Leno vs Conan controversy, and I'm not a big fan of either one, it reminded me that January 3, 1989 was the first broadcast of my standard for late night shows, The Arsenio Hall Show.

Late night shows haven't been the same to me since his went off the air.

Caprica-The Series

The day we Battlestar fans have been waiting for since our fave series found our Earth 150,000 years ago and went out on top in the ratings after four seasons is fast approaching.

Caprica, the prequel series for Battlestar Galactica will finally start Friday, January 22.

While waiting for Caprica to start we BSG junkies have been teased with trailers and given a taste of Caprica thanks to last year's miniseries.

While there are some elements that are familiar to BSG viewers, this prequel takes place 58 years before the events of Battlestar Galactica in a technologically advanced world similar to our own planet.

The other thing that's an integral part of this series is the dawn of the Cylons weaved into the stories of two families, the Graystones and the Adamas.

And while we do have a teenage William Adama, the future commander of the Battlestar Galactica appearing in this series, the other characters are specific to this series and this time period in the BSG storyline.

It's being produced by Ronald Moore and David Eick, the same team that brought us BSG as well.

In any case, looking forward to finally getting the chance to watch intelligently written TV again and being back in the BSG universe even though we know how this story is going to play out.

Or do we?

See Ya, Lou!

Last night was Lou Dobbs' last broadcast on CNN.

All I have to say to that is hallelujah and what took y'all so long to remove the prevaricating bloviator off the air. Truth and balance have been in short supply on his show for several years now.

And it's sad since he has won major journalism awards.

His coverage of the 1987 stock market crash won him the George Foster Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting along with an Emmy for Lifetime Achievement that he received from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 2005.



But pimping fact free conspiracy theories and hatred of immigrants is not what an Emmy award winning journalist should be doing on a network like CNN.

He's now free to slither on over to Faux News and pimp all the conspiracy theories he wishes to a more intellectually challenged audience

Sesame Street 40th Anniversary

On this date forty years ago a TV show debuted that would revolutionize children's television.

November 10, 1969 was the first broadcast for Sesame Street and it's lovable cast of characters Big Bird, Kermit the Frog, Bert and Ernie, Grover, The Cookie Monster and Oscar the Grouch.

Sesame Street 40 years later now has an audience of 8 million viewers on 350 stations in 120 countries. It's an enjoyable blend of education and entertainment that easily crosses cultural and generational boundaries and is the longest running children's show on television.

The show is most famous for Jim Henson's Muppets, who became so popular that they ended up with their own show in the 80's and a hit motion picture.

The cast of characters has also expanded over the years as some of the Sesame Street faves like Kermit migrated to The Muppet Show. and new ones such as The Count, Zoe, and Elmo arrived on Sesame Street and became the favorites of a new generation of kids.

Sesame Street not only keeps the show fresh and exciting for new generations of kids, it has hosted countless celebrities doing their part to help 'edutain' kids. They've crossed a wide variety of musical genres throughout the years from Destiny's Child, Stevie Wonder, Crystal Gayle and Sheryl Crow to legends such as Lena Horne, Tony Bennett, Placido Domingo and Ray Charles.

It has also had appearances, from astronauts Sally Ride and Buzz Aldrin, pro athletes, political figures, newscasters such as Diane Sawyer and Brian Williams, chef Emeril Lagasse, Regis Philbin, and Maya Angelou

Former First Ladies Barbara Bush and Laura Bush have appeared on the show. Today's 40th anniversary show will feature First Lady Michelle Obama. She'll be making an appearance today to discuss healthy eating habits and exercise.

Happy Anniversary Sesame Street! May you continue to be around for another generation of kids large and small.

Sesame Street Trashes Fox News

Got a chuckle out of this one. Sesame Street is approaching its 40th Anniversary show on Tuesday, and it seems like our conservafriends are a little pissy because of this segment that aired on a recent show.



The truth hurts doesn't it? It isn't the first time that Sesame Street has parodied real life shows. What was said was right on the money.

The truth hurts, doesn't it conservafools? Fox News not only has trashy shows, the whole network is trashy.

I Love Jeopardy!

Jeopardy! is one of my favorite game shows.

It was a NBC show that debuted on March 30, 1964 with Art Fleming as its host. I used to watch it back in the day until it went off the air in 1975.

Jeopardy! was revived and debuted in its current format on September 10, 1984 with host Alex Trebek. It is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the revival during the 2008-09 television season.

I am such a fan of the show I bought the computer version of it a few years ago, and beat it down to win $26,000 virtual dollars.

Like all Jeopardy! fans I play along and try to answer the questions before the contestants do. I got so good at it that one day during my airline days I was competing with one of my coworkers Rick Owen. At that time Jeopardy! came on in Houston at 3;30 PM and we had a break during that period.

Both of us were in such a zone that day the rest of the peeps in the ticket counter breakroom where were we matched up in this battle of wits would wait for one of us to speak before they would chime in with their answer.

After it was over, my co workers offered to take up a collection for me and Oscar's (Rick's nickname) hotel bills so that we could fly to LA and break the Jeopardy! bank.

Yeah yeah, I know. Geek moment. But I saw it (and still do) as an excellent opportunity to test and hone my knowledge.

And yeah, I like Alex Trebek as the host.

I actually tried to audition for Jeopardy! when they had contestant searches in Houston and Louisville. There were 3,000 people at the Houston one and 2,500 at the one they held here in Louisville and I unfortunately had to be at work on the days they held them.

I know they are looking for African descended contestants on the show, so maybe I'll pursue that dream of appearing on Jeopardy and taking out Ken Jennings record.

Dirty Sexy Money Has A Twist

When Dirty Sexy Money debuts tonight at 10/9 Central time on ABC, in addition to Blair Underwood having a recurring role in this series as Simon Elder, it will have a recurring transgender character like Ugly Betty.

The difference will be that unlike Rebecca Romijn's Alexis Meade, the transgender character will be played by a transwoman.

Miss Continental 2001-2002 Candis Cayne will play Carmelita, the transgender girlfriend of US Senator Patrick Darling IV played by Billy Baldwin.

This is not the first role for the Maui-born Manhattan based actress who transitioned in 1996. She was on an episode of CSI: New York and is currently filming a reality series for the LOGO Channel.

She gave some tidbits about her role in an interview with NY's Homo Xtra. here's a portion of that interview. (Thanks to Justin Van De Kamp's Televisionista blog for posting it.)




How did you get involved in the upcoming ABC drama series, Dirty Sexy Money?

Patricia Field was the costume designer for the pilot and actually recommended me for the role! I play Billy Baldwin's character's mistress, and every time you see her she's either in her bedroom or in a hotel room- wearing Louboutin. I thought I was maybe going to be in it for a couple episodes, but the writers must be getting a good response, because they've put me in four more episodes so far and keep writing new scenes for my character. It's a dream for me.

Were you intimidated by Billy?

Totally. But when I met him at the table read, he was like, "Candis! Give me a hug!" He was so relaxed and not awkward. He later asked a lot about my relationship with Marco, because his character is sort of in the same situation. A lot of people have weird notions that I'm gay or that people who date me are gay, but he got it and was really into it. Well, not into it, but...




Is it true that your voice was digitally lowered for the pilot episode in post-production?

Yes, but if they want to lower my voice for shock value, fine. They asked me to lower my voice, but I couldn't bring myself to do something that was completely unnatural for me. It's really important for me as a trans actress to be in situations that I'm comfortable with, because there's a lot of weird stuff thrown at trans actresses that we'd never do. So you have to pick your battles, because there are trannies with lower voices, but no tranny would ever stand to pee, for example. As soon as that happened in Transamerica, the movie lost me. With my role in CSI: NY earlier this year, they had a lot of stuff like that written in-like going into a men's room-and I said, "I won't do that because I would never do it in real life." That part was originally written for a drag queen, but I auditioned and I snatched. I snatched!

Isn't Dirty Sexy Money the first time that a trans actress has played a recurring trans character on television?

I think so! The first recurring trans character was on Ugly Betty, but Rebecca Romijn's a woman—which is better than a man playing it! I'm just happy the media is really starting to embrace us, and I'm happy to be working again. After I started transitioning, I stopped working for nearly 10 years. I couldn't go out for the drag roles because I was too womanly, and I couldn't go out for the woman roles because there's a gay guy in every single goddamn casting who'd be like, "She's a man!" It's always the gays spooking you. But now I think it's the year of the tranny. It's finally my year!

It's great that we FINALLY have a transgender actress playing a transwoman in a prime time role. Hopefully it will result in more realistic portrayals of transgender people and more roles for transgender actors of all ethnic backgrounds.

Now if my own people would get beyond treating Black transwomen as a running gag (see the Season 3 Wayans Brothers Return of the Temptones episode featuring Jazzmun for an example of what I'm talking about) I'll be a very happy camper.

Break a leg, Candis.

Ebony Magazine's Top 25 Black TV Shows of All Time

In the October 2007 issue of Ebony there's an interesting article by Bryan Monroe that attempts to choose the Top 25 Black TV Shows of all time.

The Ebony editors looked at over 100 shows over 60 years of television. Some of the shows that didn't make it were Room 222, The Mod Squad, Julia, That's My Mama and Being Bobby Brown. Readers also weighed in on www.ebonyjet.com

And now, the envelope please:


1-The Cosby Show
2-A Different World
3-Living Single
4-The Jeffersons
5-In Living Color

6-The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
7-Sanford and Son
8-Martin
9-Good Times
10-Soul Train


11-Girlfriends
12-Soul Food
13-The Bernie Mac Show
14-227
15-Showtime At The Apollo

16-What's Happening
17-The Steve Harvey Show
18-Grey's Anatomy
19-Amen
20-New York Undercover


21-Fame
22-Roc
23-The Flip Wilson Show
24-The Jamie Foxx Show
25-Diff'rent Strokes and Family Matters (tie)


Top 3 Black Talk Shows or Daytime Shows
1-The Oprah Winfrey Show
2-The Arsenio Hall Show
3-Judge Mathis



Top 3 Black Animated Shows
1-Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids
2-The Jackson 5ive
3-The Boondocks



The only beefs I have with the list is that Julia should have been on it, The Flip Wilson Show should have been ranked much higher than number 23, and I think Martin should have been ranked much lover than number 8. I don't think it's the same quality level as A Different World, The Cosby Show, Living Single or The Jeffersons.

But then again, I'm just now finding out about this poll.

Gotta renew my subscription to Ebony ;)

Can A Sistah Get a Quality Black TV Show on DVD?

I've mentioned the fact that I own an extensive music CD collection. The same is true of my ever expanding DVD collection. It runs the gamut from classic Black movies like Carmen Jones to my recently added Daddy's Little Girls.

I have classic and current TV shows in my DVD collection as well and I'm looking forward to adding Ugly Betty to my collection when they release it in August.

There are a couple of shows I would love to add to my collection. Unfortunately it seems that for some reason these shows have been glacially slow in getting put on the shelves of my local retail outlets. My question is what's the holdup in terms of making available additional seasons of quality shows like A Different World, Soul Food and Living Single?

I have the first seasons for all three and plan on purchasing The Cosby Show seasons as they become available. But A Different World was on for six seasons, Soul Food for five seasons and Living Single was on for five seasons as well.

So what's keeping me from being able to purchase additional seasons of my favorite shows? In the case of A Different World and the Cosby Show they were being distributed for Carsey-Werner Productions by a company called Ventura/Urban Works.

Season 2 of A Different World was originally supposed to come out May 30, 2006. It got pushed back to July 11, was delayed again until September and then the release was indefinitely put on hold to the frustration of fans of A Different World like myself. Even though I own it, I don't like the Anne Beatts produced first season of A Different World and I'm more jazzed about owning Seasons 2-6. After Debbie Allen became producer of the show it actually had the flavor of an HBCU, better scripts and more realistic, topical storylines that dealt with the issues of that late 80's early 90's time period. As a bonus you also get to see the Dwayne-Whitley romance evolve.

It turned out that Ventura/Urban Works got bought out by First Look Entertainment and had to renegotiate the licenses with Carsey-Werner. Don't know what the holdup is with Soul Food and Living Single and I'm not into pushing conspiracy theories. But it's irritating to me and makes you wonder when BS shows like Flavor of Love hit the shelves almost instantaneously after they finish airing and you have to wait years for quality shows like these to be available for purchase.

Thank You Tyra

I was moved to post this comment on The Tyra Banks Show website after running across a few less that enlightened comments posted in response to a show Tyra did that was broadcast yesterday called 'In Love With A Transsexual'.

I have to thank Tyra and her staff for consistently tackling transgender topics with the respect and dignity they deserve. She's been one of my role models in terms of the type of sistah I wanted to be and project to the world. It makes me happy to hear that one of my role models considers herself a friend of the transgender community. I hope that one day I get to tell her how much I and other transpeople appreciate that in person.

My posted comment:

One of the things I get so sick of hearing as an African-American transwoman who transitioned a decade ago is the sanctimonious bigoted comments of people that either profess to be 'christians' or 'supporters' who arrogantly assert that transpeople aren't 'real women' or 'real men'.

I am a Big 'C' Christian and I know that God loves me as much as you folks who were fortunate enough to have your gender identities and bodies match up at birth

Transgender people are just trying to live quality lives with the hands we are dealt and could do a lot better job of that without the ill-informed, intolerant attitudes and ignorant moralizing that overwhelmingly comes from people who claim to be 'christians'.

It's past time some of you quit cherry-picking scriptures and wake up to the fact that gender identity is between your ears, not the configuration of the genitalia between your legs.

Thank you Tyra for all you've done to help educate people to the fact that transpeople are human beings, too

Arsenioooooooooooooooooo Hall!

AC and I were talking politics one day over dinner. During the course of our discussion the Arsenio Hall show appearance of Brother Bill came up. I smiled when I remembered the nights I used to eagerly tune in to watch Arsenio.

Through 1,284 shows aired from January 3, 1989 to May 27, 1994 Cleveland-born Arsenio Hall gave Johnny Carson, David Letterman and Jay Leno major competition in the late night talk show arena. His show pulled a 3.9 rating at its peak which was remarkable considering it was syndicated and it varied in the times that it aired in various markets.

Some of the elements of Arsenio's show were timeless. He had a band led by Michael Wolff and he opened his show with a monologue. But it was a hip and cool talk show geared to my generation, the MTV generation and my culture.

It was groundbreaking as well. Before the end of the year people were barking and pumping their fists in the air mimicking Arsenio's shout outs to the 'Dog Pound' section of his studio.

He didn't have a sidekick or an anchor desk. He did have couches to give the guests the feeling as if they were sitting in his living room. He put a multiethnic cross section of artists, musicians athletes, comedians and other personalities on his stage who weren't normally invited to other late night shows.



To realize just how groundbreaking The Arsenio Hall Show was you have to see old videotapes of it (or just check out the TransGriot Video). Every major act of the 90's from MC Hammer to TLC to Mariah Carey performed on that stage. The rap world got a major boost from various artists being spotlighted on his show. Even old school artists like James Brown and Prince came on Arsenio to perform.

He also used the show as an education platform as well. Magic Johnson made his first public appearance on Arsenio's show after disclosing he'd contracted HIV. He did one commemorating Dr. King and his legacy. Jesse Jackson, Sr. made an appearance. Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan was one guest that caused controversy along with Andrew 'Dice' Clay. Then presidential candidate Bill Clinton came on Arsenio in a surprise appearance that many pundits agree probably won the 1992 election for him.

Hall received two NAACP Image Awards in 1991 and a Key of Life Award for his work as “a crusader in the fight of human rights."

Since 1994 the late night talk show world hasn't been the same without Arsenio around. Here's hoping that one day he'll grace our late night TV screens again with his presence.

Happy Birthday Jasmine Guy!

One of my favorite quadruple threats was born on this date in 1964.

I fell in love with Jasmine when she played Hillman's diva princess Whitley Gilbert on NBC's A Different World. But that wasn't her first time in the limelight. She's been performing on stage and screen for over 20 years as a dancer, actress, and singer.

Jasmine was a member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and danced in the TV pilot and on the show Fame with Debbie Allen. In addition to doing Broadway and dance theater, she's appeared in the movies Harlem Nights, Klash, and one of my fave Spike Lee movies School Daze. She also played Velma Kelly in the touring production of Chicago.

She also done television since A Different World with roles and guest spots on Showtime's Dead Like Me, NYPD Blue, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Touched By an Angel , The Parkers and That's So Raven.

You can also call Jasmine an author. She penned the book 'Evolution of a Revolutionary', the story and spiriitual journey of Afeni Shakur. For those of you who are wondering who she is, you've probably heard of her son Tupac.

Jasmine these days is happily married and has a daughter. I'm looking forward to checking out her next multimedia project.

Black Transgender TV Characters

left photo-Flip Wilson as Geraldine Jones
right photo-Sheryl Lee Ralph as Claire on Barbershop: The Series


Back in 2000 when GLAAD was crowing about the TV show Ally McBeal having a transgender character, I pointed out the Edith Stokes character from The Jeffersons was missing from their list. As usual when it comes to matters of people of color GLAAD was silent about that.

And that ain't the only one.

African-American transgender characters are not a new phenomenon. They've been on television for a while and you can probably consider Flip Wilson's Geraldine Jones as the first one. On Thursday nights from 1970 to 1974 I would tune in to The Flip Wilson Show si that I could see the latest antics of the sassy wise-cracking Geraldine. I loved to see her utter her famous line 'what you see is what you get' and professing her love for her boyfriend 'Killer'.

Interestingly enough one of the shows that was on opposite Flip was All In The Family, which had the Beverly LaSalle character on for three episodes.

In 1977 came the 'Just A Friend' episode aired during The Jeffersons fourth season. We get to see George happily anticipating the arrival in New York of his old Navy buddy Eddie Stokes that he hasn't seen in 25 years.

He discovers when he arrives at the hotel that Eddie has transitioned and is now Edith (played by Young and the Restless actress Veronica Redd).
He initially thinks that it's a prank since Eddie has a rep as a practical jokester. But when he comes to the realization that Edith is not joking about this subject he rejects her and storms out of the room.

He gets in hot water with Louise who doesn't believe his story. She called the hotel and discovered that the room was registered to Edith Stokes and suspects that George is having an affair. Goerge goes to the desperate measure of having one of his employees dress in drag trying to impersonate Edie after he fails to locate her.

Edie shows up at his apartment and Louise is skeptical until Edie validates her identity by reciting a line from the letters that Louise used to write to George during his time in the Navy. They end the episode with Goerge accepting his friend and her playing a practical joke on George that results in him getting dunked with water.

That episode was groundbreaking at the time in terms of the accurately depiction of some of the emotions that transpeople deal with when Edie was explaining her transition. It shouldn't have been a surprise to me since it was a Norman Lear produced show and a spinoff from All In the Family. They were aware of the issues thanks to the Beverly LaSalle episodes. It was just the first time it was done with an African-American character.

RuPaul from 1996-1998 hosted a talk show on VH-1 and has done cameo roles on a few televison shows as well during the 90's.



The CW show All of Us during its first season featured Tyra Banks playing a transwoman in the 'O Brother Where Art Thou?' episode aired on February 24, 2004. It was an episode in which she played Dirk's estranged brother Tyrone. She shows up at the TV station and revealed that she was now Roni. I didn't like the way that one was handled because the Roni character came off as stereotypical and cartoonish.


Barbershop: The Series debuted on Showtime August 14, 2005 and for six episodes Sheryl Lee Ralph played Claire, a woman that Eddie meets in a local bar.

Things progress very quickly and Claire tells him not long after they would up in bed that she is a transwoman.
The delicious part about it was that Eddie was forced to confront the homophobic statements he'd been spouting from his barber chair. Over those episodes you get to watch Claire and Eddie attempt to resolve the issues that crop up in that relationship.

While Veronica Redd and Sheryl Lee Ralph have done the best job in my opinion of a realistic portrayal of what we go through, I'm greedy.

I want and need to see a show that's willing to do a realistic African-American transgender character. Additionally I'd like that character to not be a one shot deal, killed off in the first ten seconds and be part of a soap or drama series. Is that too much to ask for? Then again I may have to write that character on my own.

Yo Hollywood, hit me up on my e-mail when you're ready for a realistic transgender character with soul.

A Tale of Two Transgender TV Characters

In the last two months we've had transgender characters appear on two ABC network shows. One of them is on ABC's flagship soap All My Children . The other is on Ugly Betty.

Both shows stated they wanted to treat the subject with respect and dignity. The early returns are in from the transgender community. One has gotten rave reviews while the other is getting panned.

I've been a longtime fan of All My Children. I arranged my college schedule around it and the Young and the Restless back during its 1980's heyday. I was excited at first when I heard that AMC was going to tackle a transgender storyline with actor Jeffery Carlson playing Zarf. AMC has had a history of tackling tough and controversial subjects throughout its 36 year run that range from abortion to Bianca being a lesbian.

Then I watched the initial show featuring Zarf. To quote Blaine and Antoine from In Living Color: "Hated It!"

Now fast forward a month later to Ugly Betty and the way it has handled Rebecca Romijn's insertion into the show as Alexis Meade. For several weeks she appeared as a shadowy mystery woman plotting with Wilhelmina Slater. The mystery woman's identity is revealed a week before the Mode fashion show. (See the 'I'm Coming Out') Ugly Betty episode.

In the last two shows I have see Alexis since the reveal describe the alienation from friends, discuss family issues and be slapped with the discrimination and bigotry we face in a sports bar scene.

Ugly Betty gets two snaps up. Somebody was doing their homework on this one. Maybe the Ugly Betty writing team needs to have a chat with the AMC one and give them some tips on how to build a transgender character.

The difference to me and the transpeeps I've talked to online is the realistic way that Alexis has been portrayed versus the disappointingly schlocky way that Zoe has been portrayed so far on AMC. I know that Jeffrey Carlson wanted to do the character in a way respectful to the transgender community.

As with all TV shows it's all about the script writing. Hopefully they will get it together on AMC and get Jeffrey the material that he needs to make this character better.

While having genetic female actresses playing transwomen is a sore point with some peeps in the community, I don't have any complaints about a supermodel playing a transwoman if it's done well.

News flash to some of you: In some cases the surgery results ARE that good. If you have the cash as Alexis did, you could conceivably look convincingly feminine when you're done, especially if you have the right body build to start with. Rebecca's 5'11" height adds an even more realistic touch to it.

Granted, I'd love to see more transwomen actresses get those roles and I'm beyond ready to see another person who looks like me playing a transwoman. (No, Tyler Perry's Madea doesn't count)

Until somebody else gets the cojones (pardon the pun) to create a transgender character that's not killed off in the first five minutes of the show I'll have to enjoy these two.

Ugly Betty

photo-America Ferrera as Betty Suarez

I started watching Ugly Betty when I was channel surfing one Thursday night and happene to see Vanessa Williams on the tube. When it was over I went to ABC's website to get more information about the show and get caught up on all the episodes I'd missed.

It was adapted from a popular Colombian telenovela Yo Soy Betty La Fea and is executive produced by Salma Hayek. They've had some big name stars doing guest spots on the show like Lucy Liu, Judith Light and others.

I have fallen in love with this show. It's well written, well acted and you enjoy rooting for Betty and her family. Even the antagonistic characters like Vanessa's delightfully backstabbing Wilhemina Slater shows a vunerable human side that makes you not hate her as much.

The show is already garnering awards. It recently won a Golden Globe for Best Musical or Comedy Series and America Ferrera won a Gloden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy. I have a feeling these won't be the last awards this show gets before it's done.

The basic plot of Ugly Betty is that a ordinary girl from Queens gets hired at a high fashion magazine by Bradford Meade as an executive assistant to his son, playa-playa Daniel Meade. Daniel has become chief editor in the wake of his brother Alex's mysterious death as the result of a skiing accident.

Bradford's thoughts are that she's the only woman in New York that he won't sleep with and he'll focus on the job at hand. Daniel initially resists, but is won over by Betty's bright ideas, sweet personality and intelligence. They discover that together they are an unbeatable team.

They need that togetherness. They are opposed by Wilhemina, who is still upset that she got passed over for the editor-in-chief position by Bradford after the mysterious death of their editor Fey Sommers, her toadying assistant Marc and the scheming receptionist Amanda. The Terrible Trio are always plotting and looking for opportunities to set them up for failure. Betty does have a friend at Mode in terms of the inhouse seamstress Christina, who knows everybody's dirty little secrets. She has also garnered the romantic attention of Henry the accountant.

Betty's home life isn't glamorous either. Her dad Ignacio and older sister Hilda constantly worry that she's setting herself up for a fall. Her show tune loving nephew Justin enthusiasically pushes his aunt to go for her dreams even as he criticizes her sense of fashion. She's still getting visits from her nerdy ex-boyfriend Walter despite her lukewarm attempts to convince him to stay away.

The plot just got thicker with the arrest of Bradford Meade, the appearance of his mother Claire who started drinking heavily after Alex's death and return of his brother with a twist. Alex is now his sister Alexis, played by supermodel Rebecca Romijn and has launched a hostile takeover bid backed by Wilhemina to gain control of Mode Magazine. It has been blunted for now by an injunction filed by Daniel.

Judging by the way that they've been handling the show so far, Ugly Betty will continue to surprise and delight me as the season unfolds.

'Roots' 30 Year Anniversary

Photo-(left) Alex Haley's Roots
Photo-(right) LeVar Burton as Kunta Kinte in the miniseries

Thirty years ago this week I like millions of other Americans was glued to the television watching a groundbreaking television show. I was a high school sophomore at the time and Roots was mandatory viewing in my history class. It was going to be mandatory viewing in my house whether it was a class assignment or not. ;)

The twelve-hour mini-series aired on ABC from January 23 to January 30, 1977 for eight consecutive nights. ABC executives initially feared that the historical saga about slavery based on Alex Haley's book Roots: The Saga Of An American Family would be a ratings disaster.

They were 'scurred' for nothing. Roots scored higher ratings than any previous entertainment program in history. It averaged a 44.9 rating and a 66 audience share for the length of its run. The seven episodes that followed the opener earned the top seven spots in the ratings for that Nielsen ratings week. The final night of Roots held the single-episode ratings record until it was bumped from the number one spot by the 1983 airing of the final episode of M*A*S*H on CBS and the 1980 airing of the 'Who Shot J.R'. episode of Dallas. The fianl night of Roots is still 30 years later the third highest rated show on network TV.


Historian and writer Roger Wilkins wrote in the New York Times on February 2, 1977 that the miniseries "may have been the most significant civil rights event since the Selma to Montgomery march of 1965."

It was a cultural watershed event. Roots had ALL Americans face the history of slavery up close, without the misinformation, stereotypes and myths.

It revived among all American ethnic groups interest in oral history and tracing their genealogy. It briefly made the name Kizzy (Leslie Uggams' character in the miniseries) one of the most popular African-American girls names in 1977-78.

It inspired millions of African-Americans to shed their fear and shame of our genealogical links to Africa and embrace them. That inspiration ignited by the miniseries is still alive today. African-American owned companies such as Washington D.C. based African Ancestry have compiled DNA databases that can tell you what part of Africa you're genetically linked to (or not).

Those lessons are sadly still needed in our time. On Martin Luther King Day you have a Republican state legislator in Virginia tell Blacks that they 'should get over slavery'. During that same weekend white college students on several college campuses were having racist 'ghetto parties' on a holiday designated to honor a man who is probably one of the greatest Americans we ever produced.

Maybe we should send sets of 'Roots' to the college libraries at Clemson, UConn Law School, Tarleton State and every other person who is woefully in denial about how slavery has impacted this nation.


TransGriot notes
The link to African Ancestry if you wish to contact them
http://www.africanancestry.com

Vanessa L. Williams

Another installment in my ongoing series of articles on transgender and non-trans women who have qualities that I admire.

I remember that September 1983 morning that I woke up, opened up the Chronicle and read the story about Vanessa Lynn Willams becoming the first African-American to win the Miss America crown.

It along with the Miss Black America, Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants were my favorites to watch back in the day. I got more than a little fed up about the gorgeous sistahs who had graced the Miss USA, Miss America and Miss Universe pageant stages over the years who sometimes didn't even make it to the twelve semifinalist phase of the pageant. Janelle Commissiong of Trinidad and Tobago broke through in 1977 to becme the first woman of African descent to win Miss Universe, so I did hold out hope that a sistah would eventually do the same here in the States.

That year she and Suzette Charles made it to the five finalists but for some reason I turned the TV off and went to bed mumbling to myself, "They're gonna end up third and fourth runners-up." I was happy to see the picture of Vanessa eating breakfast in bed while I ate a Texas-sized portion of crow. (For the record, the first runner-up was Suzette Charles)

She goes from that lofty height of being Miss America 1984 to tragically having her crown stripped before her historic reign was about to end. After holding that press conference resigning the crown, many people wrote her off.

In 1988 I was driving home from work and was jamming to a brand new song being played on Majic 102 called 'The Right Stuff'. When the DJ annnounced that it was Vanessa Williams I was blown away.

Vanessa still has it going on. She oozes style and class. She's had the right stuff for years. She's done hit movies, Broadway, television and recorded hit albums. She's nominated for numerous awards, won a Grammy and NAACP Image Awards. Vanessa turned a moment that would have broken some people into a triumphant career that makes her arguably the most successful Miss America ever. I still laugh when I read the story about the prophetic birth announcement her parents issued when she was born March 18, 1963 that stated 'Here She Is, Miss America.'

As you can tell, I'm proud of her and I'm still a fan. She's on my short list of artists who if they release a CD I don't insist on listening to it before I buy it. I just simply snap it up and take it home. I have the same reaction to any movie or television show that she's involved in. I'd heard about 'Ugly Betty', but once I found out she was part of the show's cast it's Must See TV for moi.

One of the lessons I take from her life is never give up on your dreams no matter what obstacles are placed in your path. Keep fighting for them and they will happen.