Noah's Canoe Tells Story of Transman Finding His Way Home

I let my long-suffering readers know about First Event Transgender Conference back on December 14th.   One of the workshops that caught my eye is this one, “Noah’s Canoe”.   It’s a movie about a transman on his journey both literally and figuratively, in returning home.  I was doing some research for an article I wrote on that workshop at TCNE and in doing so, came across Noah’s blog of all things, “Shedding Velvet“.    Reading his blog gave me a real sense of Maine and of course of Noah himself.  I’m not sure why but there was something about his writing style and his photos of Maine that just gave me the sense of experiencing some part of Maine and him.

The description of the movie tells a tale that I think many of my readers can relate to:  realizing your transgender, coming to grips with the fact you’re a transsexual man or woman, dealing with what to do about that, wrestling with your own demons and then, going home to reveal yourself.   Maybe I just need a vacation but this movie sounds really good.    This quote from one of Noah’s blog posts really seemed to sum it up for me, I bet the movie encompasses this at some level:

I talked to a friend the other night. She first met me when she came to my father’s canoe shop when I was one week old. I told her that I had come back to Atkinson to work with dad. She told me that when I was four, she and other friends were gathered and began asking us kids what we wanted to do and where we wanted to live when we grew up. We grew up with people visiting from all over the world to buy and build canoes. Though we grew up very rurally we had a concept of the wider world. As the others were spouting their dreams of other places, I, the youngest began to whimper. They asked what was wrong and I told them I didn’t want to leave and asked if I had to. I wanted to live here always and work in the shop. My friend said the other night that I always knew what I wanted to do and where I needed to be. I just needed to be Noah to do it.

“I just needed to be Noah to do it”.

Doesn’t that just sink into you?  Even if you aren’t a transgender man or woman, that one line just speaks volumes.

I have an acquaintance who started, Light in the Closet Ministries who had a similar experience.  I remember years ago she told a story about someone challenging her about having emotions, saying that she shouldn’t need to crossdress to have feelings like empathy.   She replied by saying that for some of us, we can’t feel  anything, we can’t build anything, we can be anything, unless we are who we are.

So, go to First Event and see Noah’s movie, “Noah’s Canoe”, its screening on Saturday, January 22, 9:00 am, Independence Room, at the Boston Marriott Peabody, in Peabody, MA.