Acknowledgments, Thanks Yous, and Goodbyes


This isn’t the final post either – N.

UPDATE: also, goddamnit, I am so so sorry, but I don’t think final post is going to be finished by midnight. Not unless I rush through it, and I really don’t want to fuck it up. -sigh- Tomorrow morning then, everyone. Goodnight.

Soooo…

Adding to an already weird week and a delayed conclusion here, I got ALL kinds of messed up sick yesterday (was barely able to eat solid food), and didn’t get much writing done. So I wasn’t able to finish up the posts I’d had planned for Saturday. One of those just went up (“How Do I Know If I’m Trans?”), but the other two aren’t quite ready, yet. They’re the second part to the “Privileges and Decoys” two-parter I started earlier this week, and a long-delayed conclusion to (and sort of refinement of) the Fourth Wave series.
If I have time, I’ll try to put those up today, but I’m not sure that’s very likely? I want to make sure I get the Final Post finished, and I don’t want it to look sloppy and rushed in parts.

(It’ll be finished tonight, hopefully before midnight)

If I can’t get the two Series-Concluding ones up today, though, I’ll make sure to have them accessible to you at some later time. This blog itself is going to stay active for a couple more weeks anyway, so people have time to read the newer posts, save things, read the archives, whatever. So maybe I’ll just pop them up later? But still, today is the SNR “Finale”, and I’ll be saying goodybe to this as my “priority” project. I know I’ve been slacking on it like crazy, but still… the idea that this was what I was “supposed” to be working on, even when I felt not really invested in it, was still acting like a bit of a weight on my shoulders and holding me back from getting properly invested in the other projects I’ve been wanting to do.

Like, every time I felt enthusiastic and ready to get some work done on something, this little voice in my head kept telling me that I should put that energy here instead. And that would end up being demoralizing, and making me feel bad about how little I’d been doing, and I’d feel like I’d let you all down and stuff… and then, yeah, no more enthusiasm.

So I have to move on. I’m sorry!

Before I do, I want to thank and acknowledge everyone who’s helped me out…

First of all, I owe a debt to Rebecca Watson and Amy Roth, through whom I first started blogging when they asked me to join Skepchick, and to Ed Brayton, PZ Myers and Freethought Blogs in general, who were kind enough to take me on and give me this space after I left Skepchick and Queereka. In particular, Ian Cromwell and Greg Laden were an enormous help in finding myself a home here.

I am, of course, leaving here on good terms, having been more than happy to have been a part of this particular corner of the web. It was a joy and pleasure to know my colleagues here. Greta Christina, Miri, Stephanie Zvan, Jason Thibeault, Brianne Bilyeau, Jenn McCreight, Dana Hunter… they’ve all been great to work with and chat with and everything. Zinnia Jones also deserves a special shout-out in that she helped me out a bunch way back when I was first starting out, and first trying to cope with the general weirdness of being a transgender “internet celebrity” (however minor) and being as such in the atheist/skeptic blogosphere in particular.

I’ve also had some amazing trans-feminist colleagues and friends who have informed my work to a tremendous degree, and who helped my thoughts and ideas grow as I worked here. SO MUCH of “my” posts and the concepts I’ve developed here can ONLY honestly be described as collaborative and born out of discourse with all these awesome people I’ve known. Erica Inchoate and Monika London were great close collaborators and friends who had at least some role in almost everything I did here. Conversations with Wm-Caylee Hogg, Ariel Silvera, Imogen Binnie, Ami Angelwings, Christianne Benedict, Lisa Milibank, Susan Derson, Nicholas Kiddle, Jen Richards, Emily Aviva Kapor, Savannah ‘Lefty T Girl’, Sarah Brown, JTR, Amy Winter, Mym, Toranse, Zoe Brain, Roz Kevany, Sadie Vashti, Andy Semler, Lydia Neon, Katherine Lorraine, Xanthe, Patience Newbury and Emily Aiofe Somers also all lent a great deal to various ideas I developed or wrote about, and sometimes just acted as inspirations or reminded me what (and who) I was fighting for. In that regard, I’d also love to thank Janet Mock, who is an amazing, awe-inspiring and consistently just-plain-inspiring woman, who in addition to all her great advocacy work is also someone who know that this is something we need to work together on, and who believes in the work of her sisters and takes time to let us know that she does.

There are tons and tons and tons more badass trans people I’ve gotten to know through my work here, or through the internet trans-feminist discourse in general who I’d LOVE to give shout-outs to as well, but there’s so many of you! So I mostly tried to restrict the above to people who’ve directly impacted my work here in some way. It’s not a “favourite people” list (there’s a couple with whom I’m no longer on good terms), it’s just a people to whom I owe a debt for this blog list.

Of course it wasn’t JUST trans people who were important to the growth and development of my ideas, my writing and my activism. I also have been blessed to know lots of amazing cis allies who’ve been wonderful to have around: Elizabeth ‘Quirk’ Goodman, Carolyn Hogg, Aiofe O’Rierdan, Hannah Wright, Sarah Moglia, ‘Jadehawk’, Maggie Mayhem, April Gardner, Angela Wells, Jessica Luther, Grace from ‘Are Women Human?’, ‘Feminist Whore’, Sophie Hirschfeld, Emily Dietle, Heina Dadabhoy, Liz Henry… these people are all great. And I’d like to thank Gail Simone for being an amazing writer and advocate for diversity in comics (and advocate in general!), for taking the time and energy to genuinely invest herself in making sure she really understands the kinds of experiences and lives she writes about, and for being so kind and generous, and listening to, this particular silly fan-girl and the details of my silly life.

And there are also lots of trans-feminists who I haven’t really had the privilege of knowing, or sometimes just not knowing terribly well, but who nonetheless have inspired or affected me and my work in some regard: Reina July, Drew DeVeaux, Monica Roberts, Julia Serano, Annika, Morgan M. Page, Morgan McCormick, and Paris Lees come to mind, but there are definitely many, many more.

Also a thank you to Autumn Sandeen for the consistent support and promotion of my work!

I also, of course, owe a great deal to the ENTIRE tradition of feminism, trans-feminism, and queer advocacy that preceded me. So I’d also like to thank everyone still fighting that fight.

I’d like to thank the people who’ve brought me out to conventions and conferences, and had me around to give talks or panels, and helped get me around town or offered me a place to sleep or just helped out with travel expenses and things… Chana Messinger, Ania Bula, Kate Donovan, Andrew Tripp, Seanna Watson, Teresa Jusino, Angela Wang, Jules Klassen, Bill Ligertwood, Fred Bremmer… there’s some people who’s names I’ve forgotten, but you’re all great. Thank you!

My fans and readers and supporters and commenters and followers have also been fantastic. Truly, I appreciate you all, and your comments and insights and criticisms and support have been invaluable in helping me grow along with this project, and keep me going. I absolutely wish I could name all of you, but of course I can’t. There’s just waayyy too many of you! Yes, there are a whole bunch of you in particular who do come to mind and stand out and who’ve been particularly awesome to know, but I feel it would be unfair to name just a few of you while leaving others unnamed. I’m sorry! But if you have the feeling that you’re one of the people I’d like to thank, you can probably feel pretty confident that that’s the case!

And enormous thank yous to everyone who ever donated to the tip jar to help keep me going with my various financial needs and housing problems and stuff over the past several months. In particular I’d like to thank the amazing generosity of Natasha Routh, Jeroen Kleijer, Jake Hamby, Elena Ginzburg, Joshua Woodbury and Katie Jerpseth. You’re all fantastic and have my gratitude. There are many, many, many more of you I’d like to thank, and I sincerely hope I finally find some time to send out individual thank yous to all of you. You’re all awesome and I wish I could better convey my gratitude.

(the Tip Jar will stay open for a little while longer, as I still haven’t gotten that whole medical benefits situation sorted out and could use the help. Any little “going away” donations or that, or just to help me land on my feet and keep me going for awhile as I get my new situation sorted out would be enormously appreciated, of course. I’d also like to point out this extremely deserving fundraiser as well, for a trans woman very much in need. Trigger warning for trans-misogynistic violence and medical abuse for that link, though).

And a thank you to Abbie Spracklin for taking me out for food, or lending me a bit of money, and things like that when I needed it. Likewise a thank you to Branwen and Mikayla for the help with housing these past few months.

A HUGE thank you to my long-suffering mom, who has consistently been amazingly supportive and understanding, even in spite of her daughter wasting her life and her potential yelling about stuff on the internet.

There are so so so so many more of you I’d like to thank, but I’m worried that if I try to be any more comprehensive, I’ll never get around to actually finishing that last post!

So.. if you feel left out, please remember that chances are pretty good I do remember you, do appreciate you, and do wish you the best. 🙂

Oh, and a very special thank you to Cathy Brennan, for that hilarious and flattering “meme” of me.

 

 

Comments

  1. penn says

    Thank you, Natalie! I’ve been an intermittent lurker at SNR, but I’ve always appreciated your unique voice among the FTBers. In your recent posts, I’ve realized that SNR is one of the best thought-out and well written blogs here. You may not have focused on traditional atheist or skeptic issues, but you wield the tools of skepticism like a champion in the areas of cis-sexism and trans-misogyny. Keep up the great work. I’m excited to see what you’ll do next. Thanks for everything.

  2. says

    And let me just say thank you to you, Natalie. I have learned a great deal from you since you’ve been here and I will miss your writing more than I could express. And thanks to Rebecca and Amy for bringing you to our attention or I might have missed out entirely on knowing you and that would make me sad. You are welcome back at FTB any time, of course.

  3. says

    Thanks, Natalie, I know I’m not alone in saying I’ve learnt a huge amount from you during your stay here at FTB — and seeing Ed Brayton’s comment immediately above, I’d like to additionally thank Ed and the rest of the FTBloggers who’ve helped you with all manner of things. My best wishes for what comes next!

    • previously-chrisj says

      This, indeed. Thank you, Natalie, for taking so much of your time and energy to educate us and help make us all into the better people we want to be. It isn’t your job or duty, but you’ve done it very well, and I for one appreciate it. Anyone who can make me think is valuable; someone who can consistently make me a more tolerant and understanding person tomorrow than I was today far more so.

  4. says

    Thank you for all the marvelous thought provoking essays. They gave me new prospectives on myself and provoked me into new ways of thinking. You slain introduced me to many other wonderful thinkers and writers who have Rutherford expanded my mental horizons.

    I look forward to reading your book when it’s done and egarly await your new online writings.

  5. embertine says

    I shall miss your writings enormously at FtB but totally understand your decision. Best of luck; you are totally aces.

    Should you ever want a painted version of your cartoon self riding Fluttershy to victory, just email me on my name at hotmail and it is yours. 😉

  6. brucecoppola says

    I’ve only dipped my toes in your blog from time to time, but you’ve raised this late middle aged cis guy’s consciousness nonetheless. Glad your “back catalogue” will be here for me to return to in addition to your new writing. Your stuff is intellectually dense and challenging as well as heartfelt and personal. I’m glad to hear you’re working on a book where I can peruse and ponder your work at leisure in a comfortable chair while my preconceptions get repeatedly kicked in the ass along with your Y chromosome.

    I wish you the best of everything in life.

  7. anderov says

    Apologies if this has been answered somewhere else already [I read through the now-doomed GReader so I don’t usually see comments]… You say “This blog itself is going to stay active for a couple more weeks anyway, so people have time to read the newer posts, save things, read the archives, whatever” – does that mean that you will be deleting the blog/its archives when you close shop? You’ve written a lot of fabulous, thought provoking things that I have referenced in a number of conversations, and if they’re going away I might have to try to save them somehow or something >.>

    Thanks for all your great work!

  8. Mum says

    May I (your mum) just say I do not consider you to be wasting your life. I am extremely proud of my beautiful daughter and always will be… even if you do cuss in public! Love you! xoxo

  9. says

    Congratulations on this tremendous project, both the writing and the community-building. You know it’s meant a lot to me to be part of it! I’m very much looking forward to whatever comes next.

  10. UnknownEric: A Man, A Plan, A Canal, Panama? says

    Natalie, you are awesome and I’ve learned so much from reading this blog. I wish you nothing but the best in the future and hope to read more by you wherever you end up.

  11. Rasmus says

    Yes, congrats on a great project. It’s often been one of the most readworthy skeptical blogs in my opinion because you’ve attempted to write about some genuinely difficult things. And I think it’s probably been a great resource for a lot of trans people (it’s been really heartwarming to read some of the comments sometimes). I’m sure your future projects will turn out great too whatever they end up being.

  12. autumnsandeen says

    You’re so welcome, Natalie. I’m going to miss your commentaries…no matter what though, you should still write. You have real writing skills that would be a shame to let lie waste.

  13. says

    To quote Stephanie Brown (the much-missed Batgirl and Spoiler and Robin): “It’s only the end if you want it to be.”

    Of course you’ll write more. I’m so looking forward to working with you on our secret project. I’m pleased beyond measure to be mentioned in this post, because I feel like I’ve been absent from the blogosphere forever. Mostly, I’m looking forward to what you do next. Your voice is clear and valuable.

    See you on the other side.

  14. Swati says

    I’m sad to see you go, Natalie. I’ve always been a lurker and sadly, this is my first comment on your blog and it had to be at a time like this.

    Good luck and I’m sure whatever you do, you will rock it. Thanks for some of the best pieces I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading.

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