There were about 70 attendees this year, according to one board member I talked to. The Doubletree Inn was much larger than that, so CalDreamin attendees did not overwhelm the other guests.
Thursday evening, I went to the bar and noticed a group of trans-girls. Having worked with law enforcement before, I realized they were members of
TCOPSThe next morning after breakfast, my first seminar was on hormones and endocrinology by Dr. Maddie Deutshch. It was a very good class, as Maddie qualified everything with whether this was hard-and fast, or the jury was still out, or it was just her personal feeling on a particular item.
Next I attend a trans voice seminar led by a voice therapist, Danielle Samson. It was a good class, but questions and opinions disguised as questions from audience members derailed portions of it, and we didn't quite get into a good description of how resonance is produced and how the trans-woman can change it to approximate the female voice.
The lunch keynote speaker was Dr. Alice Novic, who gave a positive pep-talk interspersed with passages from her book, Alice in Genderland.
After lunch I attended Yvonne Piper's Gender 101, a discussion on what gender and sexuality is or means to us. It was a small class, but rather lively, and Yvonne asked thought provoking questions. She also brought a display of FtM packers, including a "Mango" (first time I've seen a real packer...)
Next, Eric Vilain, a researcher from UCLA, presented "The Biology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity: what we know and what we don't know." Basically it presented the latest research on the biological basis for homo- and transsexuality. There was more information on the former than the latter, but he provided the most current research which indicates that transsexuals do have brains configured to the opposite gender from their bodies' sex (but, we already knew that...)
Finally, it was MtF GRS with Dr. Toby Meltzer. He gave a very good persentation, with good arguments for his two-stage method (basically the rearranged tissues have a very good blood supply after surgery, heal faster, and are then able to be 'placed' more accurately during the second labiaplasty procedure.)
Next up was the restaurant excursion. During it, I found I was sitting next to someone who had also been a Marine Corps Aviation Ordnance(person), though she had gotten out two years before I went to bootcamp. After returning, I had the reunion with Katra, posted in a different thread.
The next morning, I arrived a little late. I chose Officer Julie Marin's Transition Planning seminar. It was geared for those who had not yet formally started transitioning, but I was able to learn a few things (now, I'll just see if I can put them into practice.)
After that was Dr. Bowers' GRS presentation. There was a hitch, though. Some how, the powerpoint presentation didn't make it onto the thumb drive, so Dr. Bowers had no slides to show, so she gave her presentation off the cuff. She started with her tale of learning a new procedure to reverse the female genital mutilation that occurs in much of the third world. She described her technique for one-stage GRS, and talked about what it's like to work in Trinidad, Colorado.
At lunch, Dr. Judy Lively (with her wife, Karen, at the Powerpoint controls) gave a talk on her journey to womanhood while still married and still the Physician-in-Chief in The Diablo Service Area, one of the Kaiser Permanente Northern California medical centers.
After lunch I attended the GRS presentation given by Dr. Peter Davis. I also played AV Geek to get the projector working for the doctor. He's a new entrant in the GRS field, doing a two-stage procedure much like Dr. Meltzer's in Palo Alto, CA.
After that I sat in on Dr. James Thomas's presentation on how the human voice works, what makes male and female voices different, and three voice surgeries for altering a male larynx so that it better approximates the pitch of the female voice.
Finally for Saturday, I attended "Living in the Trans Woman's Body" where we discussed body image and any issues we may have with our bodies and body images. Dr Bowers joined the class as a participant.
Lastly was the banquet. Everyone dressed up for the event. but I think tastefulness is in the eye of the beholder. I ordered the beef, and could cut the gravy with the edge of a fork. Professor Joan Roughgarden gave the keynote speech on ->-bleeped-<- in the bible, in history, and in cultures other than western, which proved very interesting.
It all came to an end too quickly. I made many acquaintances and will no doubt communicate with several of the attendees I met while there. I was able to do the shopping I came to do, and now I have a lot of information to sift through.
I highly recommend this event for those that have a need for knowledge. And you will benefit from meeting a wide variety of trans-people.
If you have any questions, please post them here or PM me.
Karen
