In what is truly an unprecedented and very brave step, the author of Hye Trent blog, Lebanese-born Armenian and Middle Eastern transmale activist (raised in Cyprus) decided to start a video blogging (vlog) via YouTube to chronicle his physical transformations while undergoing surgery and other procedures. On my behalf, and I am sure on behalf of many readers of this blog, I'd like to pass my greetings to T.J., wish him Good Luck!!, and to assure him that we will be thinking of him, follow his journey of transformation and unreservedly support him.
From his bio:
"T.J. Jourian is a Lebanese-born Armenian and Middle Eastern transmale activist, raised on the Mediterranean island-country of Cyprus, and cast member of the Sundance docu-series TransGeneration (2005). Produced by World of Wonder and aired on the Sundance Channel and LOGO, TransGeneration chronicled an academic year in the lives of 4 trans-identified college students as they grapple with issues of transition, academics, family, relationships, and discrimination."
From his blog post:
"...I am a month away from having top surgery and possibly a couple of weeks away from starting testosterone. And while blogging about it is one option, I wanted to also be able to document the physical changes more visually, and be able to see for myself how things like my voice, my face, my chest and my body change over time. I probably won't be posting "before" pictures of my chest, but you get the idea.
So if you're curious to follow along, my YouTube channel is http://www.youtube.com/trannytrent"
From his first video diary entry:
"This is the first entry of what I'm hoping will be a sort of diary of my physical transition. I have been living as male for about 8-9 years now and at one point was casted for the Sundance and LOGO TV Series "TransGeneration" chronicling an academic year in the lives of 4 transgender college students. I am finally at a point in my life where I am both ready and financially able to start the physical process of my transition.
I may also use this forum to vlog about other things in my life and won't be just focusing on transition, so if you have questions comment on here and maybe I'll incorporate it into a future vlog. It doesn't mean I will address everything, as there are a ton of spaces online for people to be asking Trans 101 type questions, and I will also not spend/waste time on ignorant comments and will probably delete comments that have a negative impact on myself or others on youtube."
I'm not sure if you mean that it's unprecedented for an Armenian Trans person to do this, or for any Trans person to do it. If the latter, actually he's joining a large community of people who are vlogging about their transitions, whether social, medical, or both. I have no idea if any of the other existing transition-vloggers are Armenian, though.
ReplyDeleteI meant for an Armenian trans person. Like you, I am not aware of any other (openly) Armenian transition v-loggers.
ReplyDeletetj has been in transition for a while now. if you haven't already seen it, check out the documentary series called "transgeneration" that depicted the lives of four transgender college students during the 2004/2005 school year.
ReplyDeletethe series were broadcast weekly on the sundance channel from september to november of 2005 and released as a feature film at some festivals and independent theaters.
by the way, tj attended the melkonian educational institute in cyprus, a school that most armenians are familiar with and in one of the episodes tj visits melkonian and meets up with some of his teachers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TransGeneration