Interview with Christina Vegas

Monika: Christina Vegas is my lovely guest today. Christina is an American singer and multi-vocal impersonator and has traveled the globe performing her variety show. She’s been a featured headliner on international cruise ships, casino showrooms, corporate events and USO tours of Bosnia and Kosovo, where she performed her one-person show for both the US and UN Peace Keeping Forces. She is the author of "Transformative Surgeries: What to Expect at Each Surgical Stage of your Transgender Journey" (2023). Hello Christina! 

Christina: Hi Monika! Thank you for reaching out.

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Christina: I’m a middle-aged trans woman currently living in Canada. I’m a writer, performer, and producer, and I have two amazing daughters.

Monika: When did you decide to become a professional singer?

Christina: I’ve always loved singing. I was in a band when I was 16 and went on to study musical theatre in college. I’ve been a professional singer since then but I also write and produce film and theatre projects.

Interview with Iden Crockett

Monika: Today I have the pleasure and honor of interviewing Iden Crockett, an American trans female artist working in collage, pencil, and ink, and a former firefighter. Hello Iden!

Iden: Hello! I am so excited to do this. It is an absolute pleasure to speak with you.

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Iden: Well, I am a forty-two-year-old bi-racial trans-female artist and writer. I work in pencil and ink but what I really do is make collages. Most of my drawing is in service of my collage work and I incorporate all of what do, the drawing, the poetry, into those pieces. I have three wonderful children and one amazing (A M A Z I N G!) wife, and we all live here in the U.S. in a small town called Yellow Springs.

Monika: How would you define your art?

Iden: Confessional. I was recently asked to write an artist's bio and I believe that I used the phrase "deeply personal." I came to art as a way of working through the difficulties I was experiencing with my mental health. I believe strongly that by being as open and candid as I can be about my own struggles, I can not only heal myself but also empower others to leave behind their secret shames as well.

Interview with Mira Eskelinen

Monika: Today I am going to interview Mira Eskelinen, also known as Miss Vinyl Envy, a Finnish writer, actress, producer, performer, and queer trans woman. Hello Mira!

Mira: Hello Monika!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Mira: Sure. :) I'm 31 years old, and I live in Helsinki with my 8-year-old cat Minttu. I've spent the last months recovering from the gender confirmation surgery I had at the beginning of last December, and I'm slowly getting better and feeling very happy with the results (and two days ago I had my first post-op orgasm!). I'm currently working on a video series about trans issues and writing my first book.

Interview with Violet-Jane

Monika: Today I am going to host Violet-Jane, an American young design artist, and transgender woman from Rochester, NY, that shares her art and transition story on social media. Hello Violet-Jane!

Violet-Jane: Hello, Monika, thanks for reaching out!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Violet-Jane: Absolutely, so I am a 27-year-old non-binary transgender woman. I am a design student, artist, chef, and writer. I am hard-of-hearing and I am bilingual (English and American Sign Language). I'm a lifelong student and community advocate.

Monika: Do you cook professionally or only for yourself?

Violet-Jane: I used to cook professionally but between a growing disability and how the environment damaged my relationship with food I had to leave the industry when I was 25. I currently cook for myself but I do my best cooking when it is for people I love and care about. Be it partners, family, friends, or my community I strive to nourish them. Many of my friends who I had to leave behind when I moved missed my cooking a lot so I started recording informal cooking shows for them so they can hear me talk and enjoy my food again.

Interview with Kate Bornstein

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Kate Bornstein, an American author, playwright, performance artist, and gender theorist, the author of many influential books, including: “A Queer and Pleasant Danger: A Memoir”, “My New Gender Workbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Achieving World Peace Through Gender Anarchy and Sex Positivity” and “Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us”. Hello Kate!

Kate: Hello, Monika. Thank you for welcoming me into the amazing company of trans folks that you’ve pulled together here.

Monika: My first question must be about your health. Are you feeling OK now? The media were full of information about your fight against cancer, and the $100,000 crowdfunding campaign…

Kate: Ah, you’re sweet to ask. Thank you. Yep, I’m feeling very well thank you. In 2012, I was diagnosed with lung cancer. And this was on top of a leukemia diagnosis from back in 1996. Surgery didn’t get all the cancer out of my lung, so the next step was chemotherapy and radiation. But because of my two cancers, there was no approved chemotherapy being used by any doctors on my health plan. The only doctor who was working on that kind of combination of cancer was not covered by my insurance, and cost a lot of money that I didn’t have.

Interview with Mya Byrne

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Mya Byrne, an award-winning songwriter, poet, actress, and trans/queer activist. She made her stage debut at NYC's Dixon Place in 2014. She’s played some of North America’s best music festivals, and her art has been featured in The Advocate, Time Out, Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, MSNBC, and many other media. Hello Mya!

Mya: Hey there Monika! Thanks for having me.

Monika: You can boast so many talents. Which vocation do you regard as most appropriate for you?

Mya: When it all comes down to it, I’m a rock-and-roll poet to my core. I mean, that encompasses everything I do.

Monika: Is there anything like transgender art? What does it mean to be a transgender artist?

Mya: I don’t think there is anything that can be compared to transgender art. So much great art has come from trans people, and it’s beautiful to witness this being recognized -- from the music of Wendy Carlos, Ahnoni, Lynn Breedlove, Star Amerasu, and Laura Jane Grace to the celebrated writing of so many here on your website, the brilliant films of the Wachowskis, actress Mya Taylor, and all of the people before our time who might have been considered trans today -- especially in the Black lesbian and blues music scene pre-World War 2, and of course the countless people who were living openly as gender-variant in Weimar Germany. Lili Elbe was an artist and a muse, too, openly celebrated in her time.

Interview with Margaux Ayn Schaffer

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Margaux Ayn Schaffer, an American multi-media artist, designer, and activist. Margaux has had a long history of activism, going back decades; in Atlanta, she was the editor and designer of INSIGHT, deputy director of AEGIS, and art director and associate editor of Chrysalis Quarterly. She participated both as a panelist and planning committee member for the Southern Comfort Conference.

When a series of murders of transgender women occurred in Atlanta, Margaux was appointed to the Mayor’s Gay and Lesbian Task Force. This led to an op-ed in The Advocate, “Do Transgender Issues Affect the Gay Community,” which she co-authored with Dallas Denny. She was also an invited guest on the Joan Rivers Show.

After moving from Atlanta to Phoenix, Margaux worked in Information Technology. She played a critical role in the first all transgender production of the Vagina Monologues, presented on V-Day 2004 in Hollywood’s Pacific Design Center. Margaux not only performed one of the monologues (“My Vagina Was My Village”), but she created the visual materials, including the posters, keepsake books, and postcards.

Interview with Nika Fontaine

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Nika Fontaine, an inspirational Canadian artist based in Berlin, Germany, coffin designer, curator of the Kitsch Lexikon and Kitschypedia. Her works consist of glitter paintings, sculptures, video, music, photography, and performance art. Hello Nika!

Nika: Hello Monika! Thank you for the invitation, your blog played a big role in my process of acceptance!

Monika: Thank you! Could you say a few words about yourself?
Nika: I very much like your introduction, maybe I can just make it more precise. I am French Canadian and I have been living in Berlin for almost seven years now. I started the transition process one year and a half ago.

Interview with Rebecca Kling

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Rebecca Kling, a transgender artist, and educator who explores gender and identity through solo pieces and educational workshops, praised by The Chicago Tribune, TimeOut Chicago, NUVO Indianapolis, the Coyote Chronicle, instructor at the Piven Theatre Workshop, author of The Thang Blog. Hello Rebecca!

Rebecca: Thanks so much for chatting with me, Monika.

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Rebecca: As you mentioned, I'm a transgender artist and educator. I tour colleges, universities, and theater festivals around the United States to conduct educational workshops and perform solo pieces focusing on gender and identity.

Monika: Is there anything like transgender art? What does it mean to be a transgender artist?

Rebecca: For me, being a transgender artist means that my work is being fed by my identity as a trans woman. I use my experiences as a trans woman to fuel my art, and my art to fuel my identity. I do think that trans art - like any type of identity-focused art - runs a risk of being boxed in; that someone can only be a woman artist or an artist of color or a trans artist. I hope that the work I do can speak to a wide audience, and not simply people looking for "trans" art.