I suggested to Erin that as well as having a video of the week section on her website she should also do something like a "youtuber" of the month as well. She liked the idea so much she put me to actual task of doing the article, so I figured I'd give it all I got and hopefully create something wonderful for this website. Originally it was to be a small shout out to people I like to follow on youtube, but as things progressed the project quickly took off and grew into a much larger piece.
For this first article I selected a youtuber who I have been watching for quite sometime now, pretty much since I started watching peoples video blogs on youtube. I always look forward to new videos by her, as I find her such a fascinating and remarkable personality within the trans community of youtube. Her videos are ecclectic at times, but have always kept me smiling and engaged with her opinions and discussion topics. Every now and then she may comment about her dissatisfaction with her own voice, but I keep reminding her that she speaks her mind quite eloquently, and that it is the content of speach that matters most. Certainly she has inspired me in my own personal transition, but she is such an inspiration in a wide variety of subjects -- be it music, photography, or simply Hairstyles.
Maxie (youtube mercuryneedle) is a talented vlogger and musician, and quite honestly an all around wonderful woman. I thoroughly enjoyed our correspondence not just for the sake of youtube or this website, but on a personal level as well. She has inspired me in my own hopes and dreams for what i wish do in my life.
It is my great honour to share this conversation with you the reader, and without further ado, I present to you my interview with Maxie.
There is just so much amazing stuff out there on youtube i just had to fill in again and share this awesome video. I stumbled upon this person's channel and also saw that she had some guitar videos. I noticed one of her favourite musicians was Frank Zappa, someone i like to listen to as well, so i requested her to play a Zappa Tune. To my surprise, she actually did! So yeah, check out http://www.youtube.com/ShredGuitarGirl for some pretty great videos!
Quite recently I created a facebook account because I wanted to stay in contact with the many wonderful people I have been meeting. I have been quite hesitant for a while, seeing facebook as a useless waste of time. I still use my old boy account, except it is full of people I don't even see anymore or people I vaguely remember going to highschool with and have very little in common. However, I gave in a created an account for my real self, a girl account, and quite quickly I realized how many people I actually know and want to keep in contact and collaborate with towards many different issues and projects.
I think the important thing to be able to use facebook as a powerful networking tool is really just to manage who is on your friends list. I try to limit my friends to people I actually know and will not accept as friends random people I have never met. Facebook isn't myspace, and no one cares how many friends you have. However, sometimes I am guilty of this crime because I will try to add people I don't really know, but only because they happen to be friends with good friends of mine and am bound to bump into them sooner or later, or really nice people that I admire and respect and even hope to meet someday. But the key is to be able to use Facebook for your own goals, and not let facebook use you with mindless activities. Stop playing games or taking surveys or stalking random strangers; get off facebook and go somewhere else -- that's what the rest of the internet is for. (Please don't add me unless we really are friends or at least have corresponded with each other).
Anyways, as a social networking tool I have found it quite useful. I can find people to help out with whatever project I need help with -- be it computers, photography, bicycles, or just any good advice from people I can trust who know a thing or two about various topics.
It's very interesting and has quickly ruined my life! It takes forever just to check all my updates and notifications, but in the end it is absolutely worth it. I can find out who got the job as the Trans Community Services Coordinator before they even accepted the postition, find out about current events in politcs relating to trans issues, see what events and groups are going on around the local community, or just keep updated with my friends and colleagues about what projects they are working on or whatever silly events or photos are happening in their own life. Plus there is the ability to share myself with those I care about, but I'm really just one person in the greater community of wonderful and inspiring people achieving great things in their own lifetimes.
So my point is, use Facebook, but don't let Facebook use you!
Recently someone asked me about how they can change the pitch of their voice. I found it slightly interesting, because I myself absolutely hate the sound of my voice and still have very much work to do in finding a speaking voice that I am quite happy with. But nonetheless, I will do my best to provide some advice based upon what I know and have found to be useful.
"...As for voice, I'm still working on how to alter mine. But I can offer some suggestions. Try like vocal techniques of singing and practice to like be more comfortable with higher pitches. An easy way is to just pick a singer you like who sings in a higer tone and try to get your voice to up into that range. I usually just try to sing like Geddy Lee from Rush or Robert Plant or something to sorta force and train your voice into a higher pitch... or silly David Bowie songs. One practice technique I came up with is to just sing the words "Bowie Bowie Bowie" etc starting at a low tone and moving up and up the scale. When you voice cracks you can get a good idea of what your range is, and with practice you can expand it even higher...
But I also think that for changing your voice it is more important to consider the tone and timbre, or the texture of the sound. The best way to think of it is like doing impressions or putting on a fake accent. Once you find something that you are comfortable with than it becomes quite easy to be able to mimic or learn to sound like certain voices. There are many talented voice actors who can do alot of variety and characters with their voice: just consider voices on like the Simpsons or Futurama, where many female characters are done by male actors who simply know how to control and master the range and variety of voice. There is one person I work with who is pretty good at doing different voices; sometimes he will just make pages over the P.A. or yell out across the store in different voices just to confuse the customers. And considering he is a former wrestler, it is quite funny to the hear him do impressions in a girl voic and play practical jokes on the other employees.
So I hope this advice will be helpful to achieve what you want to do with voice, I still have much work to do myself. "
- Holly Anna
*As a kid my father made me take singing lessons, even though I am a horrible singer. However, looking back, what I learned is becoming quite useful :)
I asked you something along the lines of this before, but I would like to discuss it again. I'm sort of hitting a peak in this gender crisis thing. I guess I'm trying to figure out if I'm transgendered or just fucked up. Most transgenders I have talked to say that they feel like they have a woman's brain(or vice versa), but they were born into a man's body, so they had to fix it. Is this what you think/can you better explain it? I either cannot comprehend this, probably because I am not trans, or, trans people in general are full of shit. For me(I'm a genetic girl)I hate being a girl, and I want to be a boy very badly. I hate my boobs; I think that they're disgusting, and feel like they are not supposed to be there, but I do not think/feel like I am actually a boy.
Thank you very much.
Hey there!
You definitely have a verycomplex questions here, but I'll do my best to explain my own personal feelings on the subject. I will qualify this by saying this this is how I see the situations, but may not be how others interpret it (if that's the case feel free to add your own opinion in the comment area).
I think that what a lot of people are saying when they say that they feel they have their desired genders brain in their birth genders body is something that they come to realize AFTER going through with a transition. I remember when I decided to go through with my transition. I was so unsure of whether I was actually a girl or not that I told myself I would give this transition thing a "trial run" of 30 days, and if I didn't feel like it was right for me after that then I would go back to being a boy. Well about 2-3 days into this "trail run" I knew that I'd made the right choice and that I was never going back; and I never did.
I suggested to Erin that as well as having a video of the week section on her website she should also do something like a "youtuber" of the month as well. She liked the idea so much she put me to actual task of doing the article, so I figured I'd give it all I got and hopefully create something wonderful for this website. Originally it was to be a small shout out to people I like to follow on youtube, but as things progressed the project quickly took off and grew into a much larger piece.
Quite recently I created a facebook account because I wanted to stay in contact with the many wonderful people I have been meeting. I have been quite hesitant for a while, seeing facebook as a useless waste of time. I still use my old boy account, except it is full of people I don't even see anymore or people I vaguely remember going to highschool with and have very little in common. However, I gave in a created an account for my real self, a girl account, and quite quickly I realized how many people I actually know and want to keep in contact and collaborate with towards many different issues and projects.
Recently someone asked me about how they can change the pitch of their voice. I found it slightly interesting, because I myself absolutely hate the sound of my voice and still have very much work to do in finding a speaking voice that I am quite happy with. But nonetheless, I will do my best to provide some advice based upon what I know and have found to be useful.
