Thia Jones

[thiaj]

A Quickie

How contacts aren't always useful, but you should try anyway!

…before I head off into London to attend Mind The Gap …which I’ll hopefully have things to say about later, but not now. Now, I’m going to talk about how using contacts sometimes doesn’t pay off, but you have to try anyway. A little while ago, the renowned Ken Caillat (if you don’t know who he is, google!) followed me on Twitter, right out of the blue! “Oh cool!” I thought. So, being skint as…

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I Should Be So Lucky! - Kylie at BST Review

StubHub asked me for a review of the BST event in Hyde Park on Sunday 21st June. So I’m repeating it here. On arrival, I settled down to an early picnic lunch outside in the park, with the unexpected bonus of Kylie’s soundcheck for an accompaniment. I got in nice and early and began by checking out the atmosphere and facilities offered by the BST Summer Garden and took in the view from the…

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Into the Forest

Into the Forest. The story of my evening with a killer

Early summer 1967. I’m seventeen. It’s early evening and I’m sitting in the spit and sawdust pub next door to the Co-op Dairy in Gloucester where I work. I shouldn’t be there, I’m underage, but not that obviously so; despite having a smooth, androgynous face that occasionally has old ladies squinting at me and asking “Are you a girl or a boy?” or “Why would a pretty girl like you cut her hair…

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Casting Trans: Part One, Lessons From 'The Danish Girl'

Casting Trans Part One, Lessons From 'The Danish Girl'

Just about everyone’s already said their piece about the casting of Eddie Redmaine as Lili Elbe in The Danish Girl. At least, from a trans perspective he’s playing Lili, because those of us who are trans are aware, perhaps painfully so; that Lili is who the real-life character portrayed in the film reallywas. What’s even more painful though, is that we know that the version of the narrative that…

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Sacred Country

Sacred Country - a review

A few days after I first came out to my now ex, she handed me the book she’d just finished reading. “You should read this, I think you’ll find it interesting” she said. The book was Rose Tremain’s Sacred Country.

Sacred Country begins in 1952, with the six year old Mary Ward having the revelation that sheis actually a boy. The story follows Mary through three decades, until Mary eventually…

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#ThisGirlCan is Brilliant, Now Let's Encourage Trans Women Too

The #ThisGirlCan ad campaign is inspired and breaks new ground in presenting a broad range of women in a body positive way, participating in and enjoying various forms of physical exercise. There have been some criticisms, though I feel these have been overstated, given the extremely positive direction and context. While congratulating Sport Englandwho created the campaign and in no way…

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Holidays!

Christmas Wishes from The Inspiration Angel

I’ll be off to Wales tomorrow, to spend two weeks over Christmas and New Year with family. Opportunities to get online, other than via my phone, are likely to be limited, so it’s unlikely I’ll get any blogging done before I get home.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank my readers for the attention you’ve generously given to my writing this year, to wish you all a Happy Christmas (or if you…

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I'll be Away for Christmas!

I’ll be off to Wales tomorrow, to spend two weeks over Christmas and New Year with family. Opportunities to get online, other than via my phone, are likely to be limited, so it’s unlikely I’ll get any blogging done before I get home.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank my readers for the attention you’ve generously given to my writing this year, to wish you all a Happy Christmas (or if you…

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A Valuable Lesson

How I learned A Valuable Lesson about negotiation:

I had a conversation with someone via Facebook messaging a couple of days ago. She’s someone I know, someone who works in the music industry, someone with contacts. I’m currently planning a film and I know exactly who I want to do the soundtrack. I’ve never done anything like this before, so I’m facing a steepish learning curve, part of which is figuring out how best to get my offering to the…

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Alphabet Soup - in Response to Postaday Prompt.

Alphabet Soup - in Response to Postaday Prompt. And I got them all in order too...

April Bailey came down early, feeling good. Her imagination just kept laughing madly. Not ordinarily perspicacious, Quinn Roberts saw the underlying vision within. “Xanthan? You’re zany!”

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'Transparent' - in Review

‘Transparent’ – in Review

For the benefit of those who don’t know, Transparent is a TV series, currently available exclusively on Amazon Prime. The series was created by Jill Soloway and stars Jeffrey Tambor, Gaby Hoffman, Jay Duplass, Amy Landecker and Judith Light. The series is concerned with events in the lives of the various members of an upper-middle class Jewish-American family, in which the pivotal plot thread is…

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Thoughts on "The Trouble With Bright Girls"

Thoughts on “The Trouble With Bright Girls”

This article from Psychology Today, about how girls and boys respond differently to challenging learning tasks, resonates deeply with my experience and with the way I’ve tended to see things and approach things from childhood onwards. I too have always been more likely to throw in the the towel when faced with something I’ve found difficult, or indeed anything that hasn’t instantly clicked into…

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A Tuesday in Town

A Tuesday in Town

Had a great day in London yesterday. Started off with the Sexology Exhibition at the Wellcome Collection. It’s worth seeing, lots to think about – and great to see that Gendered Intelligence have some materials there. Left there are walked along Euston Road to the tube, with the affirmation “I AM sex” going through my head… possibly inspired by a meditation on “I am the universe” I’d done the day…

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The Wheels On The Bus

The Wheels On The (LGBT) Bus: not just one bus though!

There isn’t just a single LGBT bus, it’s more like a convoy…

I had a reminder of the ‘bus‘ analogy recently, late on a Saturday night. I should have been in bed, but I went onto Facebook to check something or other and my eye was caught by a comment a friend had made on a thread. The thread had begun with a post from a sometime prominent member of the trans community. She is one of those who…

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Transmusings Relaunch

I’ve just relaunched my Transmusings blog, with a look at the structure of the LGBT community: The Wheels On The Bus

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What Thia Did Next...

What Thia Did Next…

There’s a story that my mother told me when I was, I think eight or nine. It was a very strange story for a mother to tell her child at that sort of age and I’m still trying to figure out exactly why it was that particular story she chose to illustrate her message of Be very careful not to be seen as ‘different’; just fit in. It’s a story that involves sadistic bullying in a charged environment…

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Hot, Happy and Healthy by Christmas?

Hot, Happy and Healthy by Christmas?

Around three weeks ago, I replied to an invitation to participate in a challenge. I’m a bit of a soft touch for challenges; my inner adventurer loves to get involved and saying “Yes!” always feels much better that saying “No!”… for some reason it also seems so much easier, though that advantage tends to evaporate once reality sinks in! This time, it was the Be:Fit London Hot, Happy and Healthy…

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