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How to contributeThe success and future of the project depends on contributions from individuals recording their experiences and those of others and making the recordings available to the world. Any and all submissions will be made available on this site as long as we have the resources to keep it up. If you are an individual of trans experience your story is important to us. Please consider picking up a tape recorder and sharing. If you've never created a piece of audio art, check out www.transom.org for awesome instructions and support for recording your story. Oh, and make sure you get a signed release from everyone you interview. Download the release in .pdf or .rtf format here. We're not picky about form here — make it three minutes or make it 60, narrative or news or soundscape, it's up to you. Right now we're just collecting stories along the FTM spectrum because that happens to be what I know about. I am interested in supporting artists of more varying gender experiences to create a broader project, but I don't feel comfortable working too far outside of my range of experience right now. I'm not an anthropologist or a sociologist, or a psychology student trying to write a thesis. I'm an actual real live living trans person trying to help other trans people tell our stories ourselves. If you're interested in collaborating on a project that would encompass more communities of trans experience, please contact me at tleger@gmail.com. Once you've created your story, please try to put together a short summary about your subject and his/hir/her story and e-mail me, Tom, at tleger@gmail.com. I'll give you submission instructions, depending on what format you have your piece in, and we'll go from there. Of course, please e-mail me during the process if you have questions and I'll try to help. Producers retain full rights to their pieces. We don't charge people to listen, so we don't pay for content. Sorry. It sucks. Please remember that once your story is on the Internet, anyone who wants to access it is able to. It's cool to change names and locations of persons who appear in the pieces. ResourcesHere are some of the things that have shaped the way I think about the project. Enjoy, and feel free to suggest more as you come across them.
Public Radio Exchangewww.prx.orgA database of other people's audio work, like friends but audio, in that it is member-driven. A small annual fee lets you upload your own work for others' pleasure and review. Anyone can, for free, join and listen. There is at least one trans piece up already, called "Justin On The Inside" — you have to join (free) to listen, but then search for that title if you're interested in listening.
Story Corpswww.storycorps.orgStory Corps, a project with a booth at Grand Central where you can rent the booth or, by mail, equipment to make your own. Also has a neat question generator, which I used to create many of my questions for my interviews.
Sound Portraitswww.soundportraits.org A high end radio documentary group working out of Brooklyn, which sponsors Story Corps and does a lot of local stuff for WNYC-AM.
This American Lifewww.thislife.orgAn NPR program from Chicago that broadcasts pieces with a strong narrative theme, including several (OK, four) trans pieces over the years including:
I enjoy Being A Girl, Sort of (Episode 99)http://207.70.82.73/pages/descriptions/98/99.html"How to be a Man. Writer Sarah Miller attends a class on how to walk and talk and act like a man. It's not easy. None of the women in the class are able to cross the gender line convincingly. (8 minutes)"
Living the Dream (Episode 190)http://207.70.82.73/pages/descriptions/01/190.html"Over the last ten years in Los Angeles, there's been a noticeable increase in the number of transsexual teenagers, kids who were born as boys but live as girls and vice versa. Cris Beam has spent the last two years getting to know these kids, and tells the story of two of them, Foxxjazell and Ariel. (26 minutes)"
Testosterone (Episode 220)http://207.70.82.73/pages/descriptions/02/220.htmlInterview with Griffin about FTMs and testosterone.
What is this thing? (Episode 247)http://207.70.82.73/pages/descriptions/03/247.htmlGriffin's piece with Ethan, Ray, Nate about love and relationships as FTMs.
Transomwww.transom.orgA site put together by one of the This American Life contributors about producing one's own audio work.
Fair Use (at Stanford)http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter9/In case you're interested. All about copyright law. |