Sunday, September 02, 2007
Undercover in all ways
Detective Rick Grahn dropped a bombshell on his chief: He wanted to keep his job-but not his gender
by Chris Barge, Rocky Mountain News
by Chris Barge, Rocky Mountain News
Grahn, with crime scene investigator Randy Neri, looks over a crumpled check she found in a stolen Mustang at a towing storage area in Parker on Wednesday. Grahn, who was diagnosed with gender identity disorder, says that from a young age she felt she really was a woman. . . .
Emerson makes restrooms gender-neutral
Joins other schools after student pleas
By Emily A. Canal, Globe Correspondent | September 1, 2007
On the inside, a set of bathrooms at Emerson College looks like standard fare. On the outside, there are newfangled signs to ease the concerns of students who prefer not to signal that they are entering a men's or women's bathroom.
The symbols are gender-neutral, a picture of a man and a woman. In response to students' pleas, Emerson has changed the signs that used to be aimed at a specific gender on 21 restrooms in campus buildings and one of the college's two dormitories.
Emerson's changes, made in preparation for the upcoming school year, mirror moves by Tufts University and the University of Vermont, part of a small but growing number of universities modifying policies and facilities on behalf of transgender students. Several colleges have amended nondiscrimination policies to include gender identity, but student groups recently began pursuing more concrete changes, including gender-neutral housing, locker rooms, and bathrooms.
"This will bring more equal opportunities to the students of Emerson," said Jessica Ganon, a junior at Emerson who campaigned with fellow students to get the school to provide the gender-neutral bathrooms. "I am much happier that this makes life easier for others. I felt sorry for those who felt unsure of where to go." . . .
A faux, yet fo' real, star turn at Le Chat Noir
by dcuthber August 31, 2007 5:00AM
Categories: Theater
By David Cuthbert
Theater writer
Brian Peterson has been seen at Le Chat Noir as a Running with Scissors actor on several notable occasions - the passe blanc Sarah Jane in "L'Imitation of Life" and the melodramatic Mom in "The Bad Seed." He was also part of the revue celebrating the old "My-O-My" female impersonator nightclub on the West End. The latter was an inspiration for his current cabaret act, "Sadie & The Ant in ... Just Sing" at Le Chat.
Peterson is very upfront about being Peterson, a young man whose female accouterment goes back in a drawer, shelf and wig stand once the show is over. He is also an entertainer of considerable creativity whose mother used to tell him he lived "in a fantasy world -- like it was a bad thing."
Here, he gives us that fantasy, or one of them, as Sadie Shepherd, nightclub singer, with longtime accompanist Anthony "The Ant" Sears, who is, in fact, Peterson's friend of 20 years. Sadie's mother could have been one of Peterson's zaftig, gemutlich caricatures in Scissors shows. Sadie Shepherd, however, is a radiant glamour girl song stylist on the blowzy side. Think Judy Holliday with a Mamie Van Doren cotton candy coiffure.
Brian Peterson as Le Chat Noir songstress Sadie Shepherd ...and Anthony 'The Ant' Sears, her accompanist.
Peterson's Sadie has a pliant, all-purpose voice with showy moments, an eclectic repertoire that runs from the 1930s to the ¤'90s with a minimum of patter.
She gets off to a great start with Joe Raposo's "Sing," from "Sesame Street," segueing cleverly into Louis Prima's slam-bang "Sing, Sing, Sing." Sadie and Anthony duet on Irving Berlin's sassy "Sisters," ingeniously paired with Quincy Jones' insinuating "Miss Celie's Blues," with the lyric that begins,
"Sister, you've been on my mind;
Sister, we're two of a kind .¤.¤."
In a coquettish vein, she winds her way through the audience cooing "Let Me Entertain You." Sadie slyly asks Cole Porter's question "Is It The Girl or Is it the Gown?" that, given the circumstances, is pretty sophisticated stuff:
"Is it her hair that makes her so fair?
Or is it the lips you long to caress
Or is it that exquisite dress?"
Like many another cabaret artiste, Sadie has discovered Betty Hutton's raucous repertoire and dives into "Doin' It the Hard Way." From the golden age of cabaret and off-Broadway comes "Guess Who I Saw Today?" and Sondheim's hilarious "The Boy From .¤.¤. " Present-day revue is represented by "Bigger is Better" from Howard Crabtree's "When Pigs Fly." Streisand gets a two-song nod with "Soon It's Gonna Rain," from "The Fantasticks" and "On Rainy Afternoons," a Lalo Schifrin-Marilyn and Alan Bergman obscurity from the ¤'70s album "Wet." Sadie ends with a dynamite "Where You Are" from Kander & Ebb's "Kiss of the Spider Woman," which ties into the theme of fantasy. . . .
Categories: Theater
By David Cuthbert
Theater writer
Brian Peterson has been seen at Le Chat Noir as a Running with Scissors actor on several notable occasions - the passe blanc Sarah Jane in "L'Imitation of Life" and the melodramatic Mom in "The Bad Seed." He was also part of the revue celebrating the old "My-O-My" female impersonator nightclub on the West End. The latter was an inspiration for his current cabaret act, "Sadie & The Ant in ... Just Sing" at Le Chat.
Peterson is very upfront about being Peterson, a young man whose female accouterment goes back in a drawer, shelf and wig stand once the show is over. He is also an entertainer of considerable creativity whose mother used to tell him he lived "in a fantasy world -- like it was a bad thing."
Here, he gives us that fantasy, or one of them, as Sadie Shepherd, nightclub singer, with longtime accompanist Anthony "The Ant" Sears, who is, in fact, Peterson's friend of 20 years. Sadie's mother could have been one of Peterson's zaftig, gemutlich caricatures in Scissors shows. Sadie Shepherd, however, is a radiant glamour girl song stylist on the blowzy side. Think Judy Holliday with a Mamie Van Doren cotton candy coiffure.
Brian Peterson as Le Chat Noir songstress Sadie Shepherd ...and Anthony 'The Ant' Sears, her accompanist.
Peterson's Sadie has a pliant, all-purpose voice with showy moments, an eclectic repertoire that runs from the 1930s to the ¤'90s with a minimum of patter.
She gets off to a great start with Joe Raposo's "Sing," from "Sesame Street," segueing cleverly into Louis Prima's slam-bang "Sing, Sing, Sing." Sadie and Anthony duet on Irving Berlin's sassy "Sisters," ingeniously paired with Quincy Jones' insinuating "Miss Celie's Blues," with the lyric that begins,
"Sister, you've been on my mind;
Sister, we're two of a kind .¤.¤."
In a coquettish vein, she winds her way through the audience cooing "Let Me Entertain You." Sadie slyly asks Cole Porter's question "Is It The Girl or Is it the Gown?" that, given the circumstances, is pretty sophisticated stuff:
"Is it her hair that makes her so fair?
Or is it the lips you long to caress
Or is it that exquisite dress?"
Like many another cabaret artiste, Sadie has discovered Betty Hutton's raucous repertoire and dives into "Doin' It the Hard Way." From the golden age of cabaret and off-Broadway comes "Guess Who I Saw Today?" and Sondheim's hilarious "The Boy From .¤.¤. " Present-day revue is represented by "Bigger is Better" from Howard Crabtree's "When Pigs Fly." Streisand gets a two-song nod with "Soon It's Gonna Rain," from "The Fantasticks" and "On Rainy Afternoons," a Lalo Schifrin-Marilyn and Alan Bergman obscurity from the ¤'70s album "Wet." Sadie ends with a dynamite "Where You Are" from Kander & Ebb's "Kiss of the Spider Woman," which ties into the theme of fantasy. . . .
Peeking Up the Skirt of Online Sex Work
Topless and proud, Second Life escorts sidestep gender discrimination
by Bonnie Ruberg
August 31st, 2007 3:40 PM
Tonight at Dream Girls the theme is “Best in White.” Five beautiful women in flowing, white dresses dance around me. Since there are no men in this club, they laugh together, planning their outfits for tomorrow’s theme: “Best Topless.” Aside from the labels floating above their heads (“Escort”) or the details of their conversation (“Which skirt would you look better with my nipples?”), it’s impossible to tell that this is a group of online prostitutes. Or that they might not be women.
Second Life is, among other things, a world of sex. It’s also a world with its own free market economy. Put those two things together, and you get a thriving industry of sex work. One of the biggest markets in Second Life is the market for adult services. For the right number Lindens—the game’s local currency—players can choose from literally thousands of online escorts: other users who specialize in text cybersex, sexy voice chat, or even video cybering. . . .
by Bonnie Ruberg
August 31st, 2007 3:40 PM
Tonight at Dream Girls the theme is “Best in White.” Five beautiful women in flowing, white dresses dance around me. Since there are no men in this club, they laugh together, planning their outfits for tomorrow’s theme: “Best Topless.” Aside from the labels floating above their heads (“Escort”) or the details of their conversation (“Which skirt would you look better with my nipples?”), it’s impossible to tell that this is a group of online prostitutes. Or that they might not be women.
Second Life is, among other things, a world of sex. It’s also a world with its own free market economy. Put those two things together, and you get a thriving industry of sex work. One of the biggest markets in Second Life is the market for adult services. For the right number Lindens—the game’s local currency—players can choose from literally thousands of online escorts: other users who specialize in text cybersex, sexy voice chat, or even video cybering. . . .
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