Interview with Shemiyia O'Bannon-Sweeney

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Shemiyia O'Bannon-Sweeney, an inspirational young woman originally from Louisville, Kentucky, who now resides in the Greater New York area. Hello Shemiyia!

Shemiyia: Well Hello There!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Shemiyia: Wow. Well, I like to refer to myself as "The Jacqueline of all trades"! I am a very busy bee! First and foremost I am the wife to my amazing husband of 2 years, Bobby. I have been a medical professional for the past 13 years, I now work for a very big hospital organization here in New Jersey that prides itself on its advocacy with the LGBT Community.

Interview with Bishesh Huirem

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Bishesh Huirem, an Indian model and beauty pageant queen. Hello Bishesh, you look absolutely beautiful!

Bishesh: Hello Monika! Thank you so much for this compliment and opportunity to share my story with the readers of your blog.

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Bishesh: I am Bishesh Huirem. I am a transgender woman who follows her dream, yet being simple, frank, and enthusiastic.

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 Galen

Monika: Today’s interview will be with Galen, a transgender woman. She runs the website Trans Substantiation, where she discusses trans issues and philosophy and documents her reflections on transition. She has also documented her transition on Reddit.com as asthepenguinflies. Hello Galen!

Galen: Hello!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Galen: In short, I’m a 29-year-old trans woman. I originally came out at 17, before going promptly back into the closet and resuming the binge/purge depression/repression cycle that a lot of trans folks are familiar with. I finally came out to my wife and started transition steps in late December of 2015. I write a lot about various trans-related topics on my website, Trans Substantiation, which started as a personal blog to help me process things, and has since gone on to become a place where I attempt to engage people in in-depth conversations related to gender and the philosophical issues surrounding gender.

Interview with Juliet

Monika: Today’s interview will be with Juliet, a transgender woman that started transitioning after discovering herself in sensory isolation. She is a prominent figure in the float tank industry and has regularly documented her transition through her blog as well as on Reddit under her username, jungletigress. Hello Juliet!

Juliet: Hi. Thanks for interviewing me.

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Juliet: I’m a 31-year old trans woman and activist. I came out to myself in a float tank during an intensely introspective session. We’re being pulled into the limelight right now and I think that education is hugely important for trans people that feel comfortable enough in that role. I’m currently organizing my local pride event where I will host a booth letting people “Ask a Trans Person Anything.”

Interview with Tessa Fisher

Monika: Today’s interview will be with Tessa Fisher, an American Ph.D. student, astrobiologist, blogger, and occasional aspiring science fiction writer. Hello Tessa!

Tessa: Thank you for having me, Monika!

Monika: You call yourself “perhaps the world’s only queer trans astrobiologist.” What does an astrobiologist do? Could you say a few words about yourself?

Tessa: Well, first off, I must confess, that title is no longer accurate - I recently discovered there’s at least one other one out there (though she works on a different area of the field than I do).

In brief, astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, and distribution of life throughout the universe. It’s an extremely broad, interdisciplinary field, and astrobiologists study topics ranging from how life evolved from inanimate chemicals, to how habitable Mars might be, to looking for signs of intelligent civilizations in other star systems.