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A Few Words from Kathleen
This letter is addressed, with friendship, specifically to the wives and
partners in our group; but also to those who love them. On the day of our
cookout, I was experiencing more than a little apprehension about a medical
procedure I was about to undergo a few days later. I enjoyed the day, meeting
new people and making new friends as well as enjoying time with old friends.
Underneath it all, though, was a nagging concern. You see, I had finally broken
down and made a doctor’s appointment. My family had been ragging on me
forever, especially with the overabundance of thyroid problems we seem to be
experiencing.
But what finally put my fingers on the telephone buttons was
finding a lump in my breast. Now, this isn’t all that uncommon because I have
fibro cystitis, which basically means that I get a lot of lumps, most of which
go away all by themselves. Having this disease does not increase the chances of
getting cancer, it just makes it harder to detect. So, although I may neglect
other routine doctor visits, I faithfully take myself to the doctor each year
for my mammogram. My last one had been in November, and, as always, all was
fine.
This time, though, I felt a bit apprehensive. It was my first visit to a new
family physician. As part of my visit, he read the results of my last test,
which showed nothing, but also added that due to dense tissue something could
exist which wasn’t visible. He asked me if any other tests had been previously
done, such as ultrasound or needle biopsy. No, they hadn’t. He didn’t seem
too happy about that. As expected, he ordered another mammogram. What wasn’t
expected is that he also ordered an ultrasound, and had his nurse schedule an
appointment with a specialist – all before I ever left his office. I did
manage to convince him to run the thyroid test, as well. Something I couldn’t
get the last doctor to do.
I saw my family physician on Friday, had tests scheduled for
Monday and an appointment with the surgeon for follow-up on Friday. By Monday
afternoon, the doctor’s office was calling to make sure I had the appointment
set up with the surgeon. An hour later they were calling to tell me all my blood
work came back A-OK. My thyroid was perfect – just wait till I tell my nagging
sister!
My appointment with the surgeon was the afternoon before our
cookout. Here was another new doctor I was dealing with, as the one I had been
seeing for several years had moved out of state. I immediately felt at ease with
this new doctor. When he first came into the room, he said he saw that my family
physician was suggesting a needle biopsy. He looked at my mammogram, then my
ultrasound, and then said we were ditching the needle biopsy. He felt a surgical
procedure to get a frozen tissue sample was in order. The alarms were going off
in my head, and the knot in my stomach was getting tighter. He told me there was
only a one in seven chance that it would be malignant. He started telling me
about what would happen if it did turn out to be malignant. We started talking
about lumpectomies and radiation therapy – just in case. When the nurse told
him his surgery schedule was booked for the next three weeks, he said they would
find a way to fit me in within one week. He didn’t want to wait three weeks.
The alarms were sounding even louder, and the knot getting even tighter.
So Martin and I proceeded to the hospital the following
Thursday for an outpatient surgical procedure. They told me they would have the
results by the time I woke up in the recovery room. They wheeled me into the
operating room, and a moment later I woke up in the recovery room. Then came one
of those life-changing moments. The doctor approached me, and said, "I’m
sorry, it is cancer." The rest of the afternoon was passed in a kind of
haze. Thankfully, Martin was there to absorb pieces I didn’t from our
discussion with the doctor.
The doctor is emphasizing that we caught it early, it is
small, we expect it to be localized, and the cure rate is extremely high. The
last stage of knowing for sure is the surgery to remove it and some lymph nodes.
Testing the lymph nodes will tell us if it has traveled. Since then has come the
ordeal of having to tell family and those who need to know at work. If all goes
well, I will be bounce back pretty quickly, and life will get back to normal.
I am telling my little tale as a "heads up" for my
female friends. The key to early detection and cure is knowing your own body.
Self-examination is important. Don’t ignore a lump. Get to the doctor. If you
are told they can’t see anything on a mammogram because of dense tissue, ask
about an ultrasound. From my doctor, and from my research I have found that
current statistics say that one out of ten women will develop breast cancer at
some point in their lives. No one really knows why some women get breast cancer
(and rarely a few men). You are more at risk if you never had children, or had
your first child after the age of 30. You are more at risk if a close relative
has had breast cancer. You are more at risk as you age, and after menopause.
But, in the end, it comes down to the luck of the draw. So, friends, go get
those check ups. It could save your life.
In friendship, Kathy
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[Caring]
Cookout 2004
Martin answers the question - Why?
Recently Kathy and I had our annual cookout at our home. The sky was, for
the most part, clear, and the temperature was around 70 degrees. Eight others
joined us that day to share the hospitality of our home, six adults and two
children. As some of our guests are recent contacts for A-O, I will not use
their real names in this article, for the sake of their privacy. Those that I
can mention were our dear friends, Joanne, Debbie and Elaine.
One of our new guests had attended an A-O meeting a few years back (about 1998)
with his wife. They had been a part of Paradise Club for a few years before
that. Since then the wife has had several major medical concerns, so they have
not really had contact with a group for about six years. Until that day Kathy
and I had only had email and phone contact with them. For the sake of this
article, I will refer to them as Sam and Tina.
Tina has been in a nursing home because of her medical
conditions for about two years now. Sam has, for the last six years, dedicated
himself to Tina’s care and well-being, as well as leading his normal busy
life. Even from the contact Kathy and I have had we could tell that there is a
great amount of love and respect for each other in Sam and Tina’s marriage.
It was a two-and-a-half hour drive for Sam to attend our
cookout, and his cell phone was at the ready in case Tina needed him. Tina had
encouraged him to attend the cookout, and we were so glad he did. I hope that,
shortly, we can find someone in the group who lives near Sam that can be a
personal contact and friend for him. In time, hopefully, Sam can and will be
able to attend A-O meetings. Right now, his immediate need is caring friends,
and this is true for Tina, as well.
There was also a new
couple, who I will refer to as Adam and Cindy, and their two children who came
to the cookout. A-O is their first group contact other than Transfamily. It was
at a Transfamily meeting that they met Diane Frank, and Cindy has been in
contact with Sherry through email since then, as well. Like a lot of couples who
are dealing with the questions and concerns of cross dressing in a relationship,
they, too, need caring friends and contacts for their support. I hope they, too,
find the time to attend our meetings.
Sam, Cindy, and Adam, are in large part the reason that A-O exists, and
continues to be needed. Many years ago now, it was a wife that because of her
love for her husband started what became A-O. That is our history. That is our
legacy. And that is still our purpose as I see it today.
To provide caring, understanding, support, and friendship to all those whose
lives are affected by crossdressing is what our group vision and mission is all
about, and should be about. I know what it is to be that soul out there, who
needs to know that somebody cares. I did not join A-O because it was a time and
place to "dress up". I joined A-O because I found friends like Debbie
and Elaine, and Tanya, and Barb, and others at the time, who cared that I
existed. Their caring helped me to discover myself, as Martin, and for Gloria to
discover the person she is.
Because of that caring I found the inner strength to tell my
family about Gloria, and I found the miracle that they could love me and Gloria.
That caring helped me to find peace in my life that I had never known before,
and for Gloria to find life and purpose. The friendships I found in A-O helped
me to tell Kathy about Gloria and the group; and that same caring friendship was
given to Kathy, just as equally and freely, as it had been to me.
Alpha Omega never has been, to me, a group for cross dressers and spouses. Alpha
Omega is a gathering of people, of friends, of equals, and of partners in caring
about each other. It was that caring that led Kathy and I to start the cookouts
at our home. The cookout was a way for friends in the group to know Martin as a
friend as well, and to be a part of the everyday life that Kathy and I share.
The cookout was a way to step beyond a meeting and let Kathy and I get to know
Dan, and Tom, and John, and Bill, and Marty, and others as their other selves.
It also let the gals know the guys as friends.
To me, that was important because if someone was Gloria’s friend, then I
wanted them to know Martin as a friend. And I hoped others would share that
feeling. The cookout also became a way for gals and guys to come to a first
gathering that wasn’t a meeting. For some, that was important, because going
to a first meeting can be very scary for them. The cookout was a way to see the
friendship, to talk freely, to answer questions, and to calm fears for many.
For Kathy and me it was a way to let our friends know our
home was always open to them, and to repay, in a way, the group for the love,
caring, and understanding that was given to both of us. One new wife told Gloria
at her first meeting, that the cookout had helped her calm her fears about
attending her first meeting, because at the cookout she had heard the
"guys" talking about doing an oil change on their car one moment and
then about buying a new blouse the next moment. It helped her at the first
meeting, see beyond the clothes and see the person.
That, too, is part of what AO and our friendships at meetings, and at the
cookout and others times in our lives is all about. Getting to know each other
for the persons we are, is something wonderful. I hope this year’s cookout was
just that experience for those who were able to attend.
It seems that no matter how Kathy and I try to plan ahead, that there are always
some friends who are not able to come to the cookout. There are always family or
personal reasons that come up, and we understand that. But we do the best we
can. We may have been only ten in total for this year’s cookout, but as far as
we know everyone had a good time. And that is what all the planning and
preparation is all about.
For those who did attend, we are so glad you did. For those who couldn’t
attend, know that our friendship, caring, and prayers, are always with you; and
that we hope to see you next year at our cookout. Take care now, and Kathy and
Gloria will see you all, hopefully, at the September meeting. g
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Leading Ladies
A play by Ken Ludwig. Cleveland Play House - world premiere
- through October 3rd
Reviewed by Diane S. Frank
It is not unusual in this
community to become a connoisseur of cross-dressed comedies. I've seen
"Fanfares of Love" the 1930's German movie on which "Some Like it
Hot" was based. I've seen "Some Like it Hot", countless times.
Now I've seen Ken Ludwig's "Leading Ladies", a new play that borrows
heavily from the character dynamics of those two films. Once again I was struck
again by what a really, really, really good film "Some Like it Hot" is
and how hard it is for anyone for follow in its high-heeled footsteps. In
"Leading Ladies" we're again given two male performing artists, in
this case Shakespearian Actors from England, down on their luck, out of cash and
looking for their next dime. As their train ambles through Pennsylvania, Jack
and Leo (Christopher Duva and Brent Barret) discover that a nearby wealthy and
elderly is near death. She is seeking her young relatives- Steve and Max, both
of whom were taken away to England at an early age and have never been heard
from since. Leo proposes that they impersonate Steve and Max to win the
unclaimed fortune. We in the audience know that Steve and Max are really girls,
so there is a little suspense built up wondering how the actors will find out
that Steve is Stephanie, Max is Maxine, and that they'll have to wear skirts to
commit their impersonations.
Just like the two films, one character (Leo/Maxine) is the
operator, pushing and manipulating his unwilling partner into the scheme. Many
of the key elements of the films are brought out one after the other, most
especially, getting out of skirts in order to woo and win the available women.
There is even a reverential quote from "Some Like it Hot", where
complaining about dancing in heels, Stephanie (Jack) exclaims "It's a whole
'nother sex!". I said a little prayer of thanksgiving that the very stale
sight gag of men wobbling in heels was not trotted out, and that both actors
moved well in their fully-petticoated flared-skirted 1950's costumes.
And how did they look you are asking? Unfortunately, the
press kit I was provided with did not feature any pictures of the cast in
costume. Christopher Duva, the smaller of the two male leads, actually made a
fetching Stephanie when fully attired in a 50's dress in the second act. There
were moments when he was allowed to act in a more natural fashion, not mugging
and playing to the house, and not in over-the-top caricature, where you could
even see Stephanie as a real side of Jack. Barret was unnecessarily costumed to
have more beard shadow after appearing in a dress than before and was forever
playing the Diva. I found Barret's Maxine tiresome, and found the personal
interest in him expressed by Meg (Erin Dilly) unconvincing. It's perhaps not
fair to compare Barret’s character to Tony Curtis' loveable rascal of a
saxophone player, but I believed it when Sugar (Marilyn Monroe) declared her
fatal attraction to yet another saxophone player, and I didn't believe it when
stage-struck Meg did. What was believable was the sense of liberation that
Maxine represented compared to Meg’s planned marriage to her stuffy, anal,
fortune-hunting Minister (ably played by Mark Jacoby).
The actors in this play are
all seasoned veterans, and even with opening night jitters, the performances
were of high quality, except for Barret whose delivery was too frequently rushed
and unclear. The supporting player's parts were in many ways more interesting
than the leads, whose roles seem inevitably bound to the pattern of show's
cinematic predecessors. Just as the Chicago Moll, Norma, King Marchand's soon to
be ex-girlfriend, steals the show in "Victor/Victoria", Florence (Jane
Connell), the dying woman stole the show here. Every hint of a word or entrance
from her was moment of joyful anticipation. The earthy country doctor, played
with brio by Dan Lauria (from the Wonder Years!) was nicely set against
Florence, his patient. In some ways, the bickering between the two was fresher
and funnier and more organic than most other bits in the show. The local girl
Audrey, Jack's love interest, was another wonderful over-the-top part with lots
of room for Lacey Kohl's playful characterization.
According to most critics of cross-dressed bedroom farces,
there is generally a message stuck in somewhere. Usually, it works along the
line that walking a few miles in the other sex's shoes leaves one a better
person. Dustin Hoffman's "Tootsie" stuck with this moral closely.
"Some Like It Hot" added the daring ideas that being courted, being
wooed by a wealthy, playful attentive lover is something that anyone could get
used to. Osgood's closing line, "Nobody's perfect" has that perfect
risqué edge for its time in suggesting that love is where you find it even if
your intended bride turns out to be a man. "Leading Ladies" may well
have had a message for our crowd. At the end it is clear that her supposed heirs
didn’t fool the sharp-eyed and acid-tongued Florence for a minute, but she
likes them anyway. And for us, I think that's a wonderful take home message. You
don't have to fool people to gain acceptance, you have to be likeable, just like
any other time.
So go. Go see it now, while you've got first rate actors and
a wonderful set and well executed costumes. Because the show uses a limited
cast, a simple if elegant set and no fancy lighting, it will become a low budget
staple of community theatre all too soon, where you might not get those things.
Go. You'll have a good time. The Cleveland Playhouse does have unisex, single
occupancy handicapped access bathrooms for those who wish to practice discretion
on that issue. The crowd there prides itself on its sophistication and will
simply pat itself on the back for being knowing and tolerant if they notice you
at all. Go, get out there and be likeable!
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Monstrous
Regiment
A book by Terry Pratchett, HarperCollins
2003
Review by Diane S Frank
"To
promote a woman to bear rule, superiority, dominion or
empire above any realm, nation, or city is repugnant to
nature, contumely to God, and the subversion of good order,
of all equity and justice."
John Knox -The First Blast of the Trumpet
Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women.- 1558
Regiment
of Women by Thomas
Berger was a satirical largely anti-feminist somewhat
science fiction book from the 1970’s that depicted a
dystopia where men and women totally changed social places
and costume. Monstrous Regiment, another Discworld
story by Terry Pratchett on the other hand finds not only a
regiment but a whole army infiltrated by crossdressed women.
And while Pratchett follows his general genial satirical
mode, his women are heroes. They save the day, rescue their
little country and overturn worship of a demented god. They
do so at peril of actually becoming "men" in the
sense of losing themselves in the masculine military world,
whereas they supposedly have better sense about some things
as women. But Pratchett does hold to the general literary
and cultural expectation that women crossdress for serious
reasons, like economic, social and political opportunity,
while men do it for essentially silly reasons. (See the
article, Men in Skirts posted in the webmistress selects
section, as well as the large section on female to male
crossdressing.)
The two identifiably crossdressed men are
as expected figures of fun. In one scene, a male captain in
a dress manages to infiltrate an enemy held castle by using
the theatrical skills gained in an all-boys school to
impersonate a washer woman. (Shades of Toad escaping from
prison disguised as washer woman in Wind in the Willows).
Later his female-impersonating-male soldiers don dresses in
an attempt to rescue him. They have been impersonating an
uncouth idea of male soldiers for so long that their
mannerisms remain when they are back in skirts. As they
attempt to get the gate, they are instantly
"recognized" as men-in-dresses, until one of them
(pregnant) lifts her skirts, and another one collapses in
tears.
Succeeding as social satire, a parable on
the sexes, and as just good fun, "Monstrous
Regiment" should be added to your reading list.
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A Takeshi Kitano Film (2003), Cedar Lee Theater in Cleveland
Heights
Review by Diane S. Frank
I know, I know all human beings are the same. But having been
to China via Japan Airlines and watching the entertainment package, stopping in
Tokyo overnight and seeing what's in the overnight hotel convenience store
offered, I'm convinced that Japanese Culture is truly different. At this point
everyone must know of Anime, the highly stylized comic form used for Dragon Ball
Z, Pokemon and other favorites with the kids. There's also Manga, illustrated
books, often with highly explicit sexual themes. What I've read suggests that
respectable Japanese businessmen will read this sort of thing in public on the
train or subway. Imagine people reading Playboy or Penthouse in public in the
US! Prowling the newsstand at the hotel I found a couple of examples of manga.
Browsing through one I found an story of sexual adventure featuring a boy
lusting after a popular entertainer who insisted he put on her bra and dance
around. I couldn't figure out much more than that, but apparently he had a good
time until her manager showed up.
All this is prelude to seeing Kitano's remake of the Japanese Samurai legend of
the blind swordsman Zatoichi. This particular incarnation featured a strong
transgender sub-plot. Most reviewers regard that story as crossdressing, but the
film is far closer to the attitude of the Chinese art film "Farewell My
Concubine", than say "Some Like it Hot". The basic concept of the
legend is that a virtuoso but elderly and blind Samuri wanders through the
countryside avenging wrongs committed by criminal gangs against the common
people. Prior to the action of this story, a gang wipes out all but the son and
daughter of a prosperous rice merchant. You meet these children grown up, both
posing as Geishas in order to survive and seek revenge for the murder of their
parents. But this is no mere crossdressing. As told in a flashback, you see the
children escape by luck, the girl waking the boy up to go see their pet rat that
was kept under the house. The boy's hair is styled much like his sisters even
then and I think that there is an implication that the boy is far closer to his
sister than usual for a boy.
for their lives, they are taken into a household only to
discover that the owner of the house is a pederast who finds the boy quite
attractive. As seen in the flashback, the boy isn't altogether reluctant to
accept the attentions of the man. The man has painted the boy's face, and
dressed him in a kimono. The sister rescues him, but as they sit at a rural
shrine hungry and with nowhere to go, the boy, still in kimono and painted face
approaches a man wandering by and prostitutes himself so they can survive. The
children then train themselves to become a pair of geishas and wander the area
robbing unsuspecting customers and seeking their parent's murderers. All works
out in the end, as the blind swordsman rids the town of the criminal gang and
avenges the siblings.
In an
anti-climactic scene, one of the side-kicks says to the boy
that now he can go back to being a man. The boy declines,
saying he prefers it this way. This treatment has a strong
parallel to the tale of two Chinese Opera stars across
several tumultuous decades of Chinese history in
"Farwell my Concubine". Here a
boy forced, beaten into playing women's
parts in the Opera, raped by one patron, and seduced by
another comes to embrace his fate. In the end he causes his
own death out of frustrated and unrequited love for his
totally heterosexual and perhaps oblivious best friend and
co-star. In both cases there are scattered clues that
indicate that fate and the basic nature of the boys
conspired to bring about the drama. This wasn't choice but
coincidence based on the intrinsic nature of the boys.
I marvel at these stories, with
their transgender elements and their homosexual elements
simply because the characters in each are treated with
dignity and respect. These are not caricatures. Their lives
may be tragedies, fated by Gods, but they are human
tragedies, not sexualized parodies. I'm hard pressed to
think of any big budget American film that treats gender
crossing with such care and decency, as drama, not travesty g
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If you’re not already a Terry Pratchett
fan, Monstrous Regiment is a good introduction to his Discworld series.
Discworld, the set for Pratchett’s brand of comedy of manners is really flat
and circular, with the seas falling off the edges. This world is supported on
the back of 4 huge elephants, which are in turn standing on the back of an even
larger turtle that swims through space, going slowly somewhere. With some 30
titles already in this series, there is something to amuse everyone, whether it’s
earthy feminist witches, growley police Inspectors following the Scotland Yard
motif and with vampires, werewolfs, dwarves, trolls, golems, "Igors"
or inept wizards. - Diane
Can you guess who is brother and who is
sister?
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A Cure
for Transvestism?
Diane S. Frank comments on an anonymous
remark left on our website’s contact form.
We recently received the following remark:
"I believe that the reason I started
having Transvestic inclinations was my mother threatened me
with castration at the age of 4. I have found that Buddhist
meditation has helped me to largely eliminate tranvestism in
myself though I still have powerful urges at times to try on
some shoes. I am now at a stage where the inclinations to
dress up are on the wane. I think this information should be
shared as there is apparently no good cure for transvestism.
There are many like me who have been able to deal with this
issue. This information should be shared. Buddhist
meditation is only for some and should ideally be done with
a teacher".
I wish the person writing this had left
contact information so we could engage in some sort of
dialogue. I've already shared these remarks and solicited
comments from an on-line discussion group to round out my
thinking on the matter. From my own perspective I think we
need to be careful of what we mean when we use the word
"cure". To me, a cure for something means that the
something doesn't shadow your life, that you don't have to
exercise vigilance against its possible return. A cure for
something is different from managing something.
ne correspondent pointed out that in the
Christian tradition, we are all subject to earthly temptation
to do things we ought not to do. We are accordingly not
expected to eliminate temptation, only not to succumb to it.
The Buddhist tradition is to gain detachment from desire, so
will desire or temptation may still be present it does not
rule one's life. In these contexts a cure is equivalent to
management. One can
say homosexuality is cured, not by the absence of desire for
sex with men and the replacement of that desire with a desire
for sex with women, but by the elimination of sexual contact
with men. One could say that crossdressing is cured by
eliminating the behavior. Of course, if you isolated a
homosexual from men, or a crossdresser from any women's
clothing, making the acts impossible you could also claim a
cure. I don't agree. Merely controlling what one does about
desire doesn't cure one of it, even if controlling is the wise
and responsible thing to do.
I have no idea whether our unknown correspondent saw any
potential in his own life for crossdressing to be a positive
meaningful addition to it. If it was just a burden, I'm glad
he's found a way to set it down. Reading the post, I'm not
quite sure the person really has set it down. How do we now
that this person isn't on the downside of a normal cycle? Why
is there still a powerful urge to try on shoes? And if the
person has detached crossdressing from his being, why seek out
and contact a group like ours unless the topic was still
greatly on his mind? Couldn't focus on ideas about
crossdressing simply be a substitute for the act itself?
One of our group was deeply into Buddhist practice and spent
years on an Ashram. In this person's case deep meditation and
guidance of a teacher was of no help. I meditate regularly,
but I've never tried (or wanted to try) deliberately using
meditation to change something. The tradition of my mediation
isn't objective focused.
I have written elsewhere, if perhaps not as visibly, that I
have never liked the widely held notion that crossdressing
isn't curable, by which most people mean manageable. I take
the general meaning to be in the context that we read of
cycles of purging and re-acquiring clothing. The attempted
cure has failed here, although I would say the attempt at
management has failed. I am greatly bothered by the idea that
we can manage and control alcoholism, and drug-addiction but
somehow crossdressing is beyond that. I want people who
crossdress to do so because it adds something positive and
meaningful to their lives, not because they are unable to stop
despite the harm it could cause them and their families. I
want management techniques that work, whether they are
Buddhist mediation or Christian prayer and counseling or
psychotherapy or anti-depressants. I want equal validity for
people's choices to crossdress or not to crossdress, and I
want people to be happy in their choices.
What do you think?
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Designs
by Victoria
A
friendly, secure shop
specializing in lingerie
and larger sized women's
clothing on the West Side.
Owned by Shawn Renell
Jackson, the store also
carries several lines of
skin care, bath and body
products. Ms. Jackson is a
gracious and personable
woman who was made it
clear that AO members and
other are equally welcome
to shop in her store. The
following notes are worth
remembering:
Don’t
break an appointment.
Show Shawn that she can
trust members of our
community.
Changing
rooms are available.
Don’t
wear heavy perfume that
might stick to clothing
you try on.
Bring a
towel or large
handkerchief to put over
your face when trying on
pull-over garments. This
is prevent makeup from
getting on them.
Have a
half-slip and a full slip
along so that skirts and
dress’s hang properly.
Wear
proper undergarments when
trying on clothing.
Shawn
will also provide
confidential ordering
services and will process
credit card purchases in a
way that doesn't cause the
items to be listed on
billing.
We look
forward to having Shawn as
a guest speaker in the
near future. – Diane
S. Frank
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D ESIGNS
BY
VICTORIA
5712
Detroit Avenue
Cleveland,
Ohio 44102
(216)
281-0359
Hours:
Mon-Thur
10A-6:30P
Fri-Sat
9A-8P
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Upcoming
Meetings
We're still working
out the details for
October
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Publication
Notice and
Club Policies
This
newsletter is
copyright
1998-2004 by
The Alpha
Omega Society. All
rights
reserved.
Articles and
information
contained in
this
newsletter may
NOT be without
advance
permission
from the
individual
author. Write
to editor@aosoc.org
in order to
contact the
author. When
permission is
granted, a
copy of the
issue
containing the
reprinted
material must
be sent to
Alpha Omega
within two
months after
the material
is published
and proper
credit is
given to
author and
source.
The
opinions or
statements
contained in
this
newsletter are
those of the
authors and do
not
necessarily
reflect the
views of Alpha
Omega.
Contributions
of articles
are welcomed,
but may be
altered in the
editing
process, with
the author’s
intent
retained, or
may be
rejected,
whether
solicited or
not.
Absolutely no
sexually
explicit
material may
be accepted or
printed.
Alpha Omega
is a
non-profit
social support
group for
heterosexual
crossdressers
and their
wives or
partners.
Also, members
from related
organizations,
helping
professionals,
and approved
guests are
welcome when
cleared
through Alpha
Omega’s
officers.
Meetings
are the second
Saturday
evening of
each month
unless a
special event
is scheduled
that takes the
place of the
regularly scheduled
meeting. The
location of
the meeting or
event is only
released to
members or
others with
the approval
of an officer.
Members and visitors
must be 18
years of age
or older. We
will exchange
newsletters
with any other
similar group.
Send all
correspondence
to Alpha
Omega, P.O.
Box 2053,
Sheffield
Lake, OH
44054.
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