Well Fall is in the air in New England and a bit of Winter too if you woke up Friday morning in New England.  Yes, fair reader, we had snow! Not a whole bunch, just an inch or two but enough to remind us all that Winter’s white blanket of love will soon be on us. But, that’s not the reason I’m writing. It’s more about what’s happening down in Provincetown!

Beck’s Cafe will be down in Provincetown, MA this weekend for two fabulous events. One is the end of Women’s Week, the other is the beginning of Fantasia Fair.

If you can’t find anything to do this weekend you really NEED to come to Provincetown. There is something for everyone in every price bracket. And let met tell you, the Cafe’s till is lookin’ lighter these days so I’m excited about the range of fun activities that are open.

The Women’s Week Schedule is jammed more full than an undersized bra and here’s a couple of things that our barrista’s would recommend:

• Kate Clinton is doing several shows or talks or book signings all day.   She’s hilariously funny and has a truly keen sense of today’s culture.   See her at one of the four or five places she’s at on Saturday October 17.
• The 25th Anniversary Retro Disco Dance Party is happening at 9PM at Paramount at The Crown & Anchor, 247 Commercial Street.  It’s $5 and will have you singing, Brick House, all night long I’m sure!
• All The King’s Men, New England’s Premiere Drag-King Troupe, will be at The Art House on Commercial St. 9PM
• There is way, way too much fun happening to list much more of it here from the “Women of Color & Friends Party” to book signings, wine tastings and more.

So what about Fantasia Fair?  The actual start date is October 18th, but, many visitors come into town on Saturday to get settled in.  So if you are attending Fantasia Fair do not hide in your room!  You are in one of the friendliest cities for lgbt folk and that includes all transgender folk.  So this means you too, yes YOU reading Beck’s Cafe and sipping your morning java.

If you are with friends or make some new ones, well, you’ve got an instant party in front of ya!   Choose any of the Women’s Week events from their calendar and attend and you’ll have a blast!  Or you could go grab some food and the wonderful ambiance of P-Town at these sponsors of Fantasia Fair:

• Bistro at Restaurant @ Crowne Pointe Provincetown
• Fanizzi’s By the Sea
• Napi’s
• Front Street Restaurant
• Lobster Pot

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October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and we’ll be featuring this important theme at Beck’s Cafe throughout the balance of October.  It’s an important topic from the politics of research to our personal health.  I’ll never forget the words of Dr. Susan Love at the 2009 Fenway Health Women’s Dinner.  She said that researchers she had worked with hadn’t found women for some of their research on breast cancer so they figured they’d just use rats instead.  Rats???  Well I nearly dropped my chocolate dessert (ahh, but the night wasn’t over).

That’s when Dr. Love presented to all us 1000+ women the concept of recruiting 1 million women to be a part of her Army of Women so that proper research could be done with women themselves on breast cancer.  Sounds like a pretty good plan to me.   Here are Dr. Love’s words herself on this incredible initiative (taken from The Army of Women site):

“Over and over I’ve heard scientists lament how difficult it is for them to find the volunteers they need for research studies. I’ve long believed that helping scientists overcome this obstacle would accelerate our understanding of what causes breast cancer and how to end it. By responding to this need, the Army of Women will change the face of breast cancer research.”

And here’s how this initiative works (by the way, about this point in the Fenway Dinner, while listening to Dr. Love challenge us all to join her Army of Women, I actually did drop my chocolate dessert right onto the floor next to my shoe. Only fate saved me from destroying my dress or that of my companion Diane!).

• Women who are interested register on the Love/Avon Army of Women website, providing very basic information such as name, age, city, and state of residence.
• You will receive email updates from the Love/Avon Army of Women announcing new research studies looking for volunteers just like you. The email will detail the research project and who and what the researchers need.
• If you fit the criteria and you’d like to participate, all you need to do is click “Yes Sign Me Up”, this lets us know you’ve accepted our “Call to Action”.  From there, you will be asked to log-in to your account and then directed to the next steps.
• If you accept the Call to Action by clicking “Yes, Sign Me Up”, you will be asked a couple of screening questions to make sure you qualify for the study.
• Once we confirm your qualification for the specific study, your information will be given to the researcher conducting the study and you will be contacted by the researcher for a secondary screening to make sure you meet the study criteria and answer any questions you might have about study participation.
• You will never be pressured to take part in any study. The decision to take part is yours — and yours alone. If you meet the study criteria as determined by the researcher and are interested in taking part, the study researcher will let you know what you need to do next.

You can still sign up and be a part of the army!  Just jog your mouse on over to The Army Of Women and enlist!  And many thanks to the Avon Foundation For Women for funding.

Voices Together is refreshing , thought provoking and it’s sobering when you consider where the writers have come from.  They are either currently homeless or formerly homeless women.   This blog of unique women’s words is a collaboration between the Center for New Words and On The Rise.  Their goal?

We give voice to women whose experiences, creativity, and insights are often unrecognized and undervalued. Through various avenues of expression, we will offer insights into our experiences and to the reality of homelessness.

Well worth a read with that first cup of coffee you have there this morning    Please click on over to the Voices Together Blog

This Thursday, October 8, there is a very special event happening here in Boston that you are all invited too, it’s called, “TransMasculine Journeys – Finding Our Places in the World – A night of readings by Matt Kailey, Max Wolf Valerio, & Cameron Partridge Reflecting on Lou Sullivan, Michael Dillon and themselves. Discussions to follow. At the end of the evening Matt Kailey and Max Wolf Valerio will sign copies of the their books, Just Add Hormones and The Testosterone Files.

Many of us women-folk don’t really understand the men in our community. We think we do, but, often times our stereotypes cloud our knowing these amazing guys. This night is sure to be extra special and enlightening for everyone who attends. Here’s more of the detail:

Where & When?

• Thursday, October 8, 2009, 7-9pm
• St. Luke’s and St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, 5 St. Lukes Road, Allston, MA Corner of Brighton Ave & St. Lukes Road, one block from the Packard’s Corner T-stop The event is free and open to the public. Donations for the speakers will be appreciated.

What about those reading?

• Matt Kailey is a Denver author, speaker, and activist focusing on transgender issues. He is the author of Just Add Hormones: An Insider’s Guide to the Transsexual Experience, a Lambda Finalist, the editor of Focus on the Fabulous: Colorado GLBT Voices, the National Transgender Issues Examiner for Examiner.com, and the author of the personal blog Tranifesto. He can be reached through his web site at www.mattkailey.com.

• Max Wolf Valerio is a poet and writer, sometime actor, and long transitioned trans man who remembers Lou Sullivan and a time when the FTM Newsletter was one of the only sources of communication for trans men and their allies. The Testosterone Files (Seal Press) is his memoir about his first five years on testosterone. A poet, who has been writing, performing and reading his work for thirty years, Max began transition in 1989. He has appeared in many films and documentaries including the “Max” short in “Female Misbehavior” and “Gendernauts” both by German Director Monika Treut, and in “You Don’t Know Dick – Courageous Hearts of Transsexual Men,” “Octopus Alarm,” and “Unhung Heroes” — the FTM comedy and the new “Maggots and Men”.

• Rev. Dr. Cameron Partridge is a scholar of religion and gender/sexuality studies and is the vicar of St. Luke’s and St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church. One of his projects is to bring to publication the memoir of Michael Dillon.