Where have you been??

Where did you guys go?  Why have you abandoned me??

Oh, wait.  That would be me.  

Yes, it's been several months since I posted.  In that time, I have gotten a new job, moved across the country, and gotten married.  I'm still setting up the new homestead, trying to wrestle the mutts into submission (they're used to having space to run around--no more!), and dealing with the irritating minutiae that accompany relocation.

Previously, I lived in a very rural area an hour from multiple big urban centers. Now, I live in a small city and can walk downtown, but am over two hours from a big urban center.  So that's a little weird.  Also, people tell me it will snow here.  I hope they're messing with me.

Anyway, I don't know how regularly I'll be writing this blog, but you guys have totally been on my mind during this big period of transition.  I thought I'd list out some of the things I've been thinking about, and perhaps you can comment back with some of the things YOU have been thinking about, and maybe a few more posts will magically arise from the ether.

Here's the butch-relevant list of stuff that's on my mind, some big and some small:

• Starting a new job, do I go with the tie or stick with slacks and a shirt?  I can't decide, and I like both looks.  The unusual thing about where I live now, with regard to the tie decision, is that there are a fairly large number of trans guys here.  This is great, but since I identify as female, I don't like being mistaken for a trans man.  Speaking of which:
• How does masculinity manifest differently in butch women versus trans men?  Do the two groups experience masculinity as a different phenomenon?  Or is masculinity separate from femaleness and maleness (which is how I usually conceive it)?  
• How does the attention the trans community is finally starting to get bear on acceptance of the LGBTQ community as a whole?  
• What are some good LGBTQ books folks are reading?  I just finished Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin and The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily Danforth.  Both are geared toward YA audiences, but I bet you'd enjoy them, too.  They're easy reads, but emotionally complex.  Garvin's book is about a genderfluid high schooler named Riley who is struggling to come out while dealing with school bullying and having a famous father.  Danforth's encompasses a broader sweep of time and is about a lesbian girl who is dealing with her parents' death, estrangement from her best friend, and figuring out how to cope with her aunt's anti-gay church.  She is eventually sent to a camp to "cure" her, where she meets some interesting characters.  Totally worth a read.
• Is there a big division between younger queers (especially those who grew up with the Internet, and for whom there were always out role models) and older queers?  How do those divisions manifest in our community?  What do they mean?  

Well, friends: I hope you're all doing well, and that you'll take a sec to let me know what's on your mind (and that you haven't forgotten your old pal BW).