Dear Friends and Family,

Sorry I haven't been responsive the last couple of weeks. I have been sick. First there was the flu, followed by the head cold, and now the asthma problems. Lon, Troy and Rowan have also been ill, but are better now. As a result, I am way behind in my work.

But worst of all... was the loss of virtually all of my photographic negatives. Yes, thirty years of photo negatives. I had bought a firebox to keep them in. Unfortunately, the company that sells these boxes doesn't warn that the boxes are not waterproof. Something I would expect to be standard with a locking firebox that says it is for papers, photos and other keepsakes. Wrong. Several months ago we had a pipe leak and had to clean up the mess. We never thought to look in the box -- we thought it waterproof and it was never emersed. Two days ago I went to put the updated versions of our wills in the box and found it full of water. Most of my thousands of photo negatives are so badly damaged that they are "goo." Some might be salvageable. I am drying the least damaged ones out to take to the photo studio for evaluation. The only way to recover (some of) the lost ones is to have negatives made from the surviving photos. ($4.20 each) The only bright spot is that we have renter's insurance that will cover the cost (less $250 deductible). Of course, the remade negatives will never be as good and I didn't have prints of every photo. Most of those taken has a journalist were "proof sheets" with the negatives which were also destroyed. The only survivors of this disaster are photos taken since last summer and our wedding photos -- both of which we had not yet put in the box. I have been pretty depressed about this. Photos mean a lot to me. There are so many pictures of loved ones who I will never see again. Not to mention that my office reeks with the smell of rotted negatives and is covered in their remains. Sigh.

Some bright spots in the last couple weeks have been my work helping with the hire of a new Women's Studies (and possibly joint appointment in Anthropology) Professor. The WS Program is interviewing four well respected feminist scholars -- three of whom are feminist anthropologists. I was called upon to organize a feminist graduate student lunch with each candidate. That means I was asked to pick 3-6 graduate students (along with myself) to have lunch with the candidates who could give feedback to the department in the hiring process. I have also attended the public talk given by each candidate. It has been wonderful. The anthropology candidates are Ellen Lewin, Micaela di Leonardo, and Elizabeth L. Kennedy. They are all excellent scholars whose work I have read. It was also very nice to be trusted enough to ask to be a part of this process. It provides valuable experience for me and a chance to get acquainted with each of these scholars. I have enjoyed it.

On the home front things are fine. Rowan is a joy, as always. He is learning to walk. Yes, at nine months. He can already walk while holding on to hands or furniture. He is so excited by this new ability that he grins and screams so excitedly that we all burst out laughing. We are, of course, preparing for the inevitable chaos his freedom of movement will mean.

We also revised our wills and other legal papers -- and had them notarized. We have documents declaring all of us a family and willing all property to each other as well as joint custody of Rowan. Whether the law will respect our wishes, we don't know, but we have made them clear in every possible legal document including wills, power of attorney, living wills and statements of intent. We may not have the legal protection of marriage, but we have done what we can. And there is a student lawyer through legal aid who has volunteered to help with Rowan's birth certificate problem. Hopefully, he will have is biological father on his birth certificate before the year is out. (Iowa law makes any child the property of the husband of the birth mother regardless of who the actual biological father is. We have to go to court to have Troy put on his birth certificate.)

Well, I have a March 1 deadline for a grant proposal. I am trying to put together a proposal for summer research in San Francisco. This would be a pilot study in preparation for the longer dissertation work. I would be interviewing transgendered people in SF and, hopefully, doctors who work with/on TG people. I had better complete the paperwork this week though or I won't have a shot at the funding.

I miss you all and would love to hear from you. Please write and let me know what is going on in your lives...

Dawn