Hi, and welcome to my blog.
My name is Ari, and I am a transman living in the Western Foothills of Maine. I am actually an individual with an intersex condition, Late Onset Hyperplasia, but chose to have surgeries and treatments in order to live as a male. I am married to a woman, and we are raising 2 sons. There are a million and one details I could share about all of this, and I will over time, however I believe that we should get to know each other better before I reveal all of the mystery!
I have also been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, ADD, and Anxiety. I call it the "Triple A (AAA)" of mental illness, and I get a free tow to a clinic if I have a mental breakdown. (It's a joke, and yes it's ok to laugh!)
My main career is as a stay-at-home dad, but I supplement that incredible income with speaking engagements, membership on a statewide board, grant work, consulting, and other miscellaneous activities, not limited to begging unsuspecting family members for groceries.
I earned a Master's Degree in Theology with a concentration in Ethics in 2007 as the first openly transgender graduate of that seminary. I also have a BA in English and Music, and I have an AS in Accounting. I'd love to pursue a PhD, but in what???
So far, all of these degrees have netted me over $86,000 in student loans and a belief that I am incredibly unable to be hired. Realistically, my Asperger's, ADD, and Anxiety are the real culprits for my inability to stay employed. Many folks have advised me to seek disability, while just as many have told me not to do so.
Honestly, I haven't been able to decide. I love the opportunities I have to share my story with others while maintaining a reasonably "normal" home life with my kids. Unfortunately, that doesn't pay the bills, and the loans live in my subconscious like the monsters that used to live in my closet when I was a child.
So, what else is there to my introduction? I'm an extrovert trapped in an Aspie body. I love playing skeeball. If I could live anywhere in the world it would be in a house right on the ocean. I used to live in such an arrangement and after 14 years of mountains and lakes I have yet to adjust.
I miss the water, I miss the salt, I miss the rocks, I miss the endless horizon where I felt G-d at all times.
Oh, and why am I calling this "The Transitioning Yesod"? Well, for one as an intersex/transman I have been and will always be "transitioning" from one perceived gender identity to another. I am also someone who was raised in both the United Church of Christ, UCC and in Conservative/Orthodox Judaism. So I see myself as continually transitioning between the Judaism at my core and the Christianity that I am surrounded by in the form of my family and community. And yes, "yesod" is a Hebrew word meaning "foundation or core" and is a part of the Kabbalah Tree of Life which represents a consciousness with both the spiritual world and the physical world we live in.
There is so much more I want to share with you about my journey, and what I hope to accomplish in this life. But for now, I must attend to the world that I am in, and make sure that no one loses an appendage to the borrowed wood chipper on my lawn. Trust me, the only de-limbing I want done today is of trees, not children or a helpful spouse!
Thank you for visiting with me and I look forward to our next encounter.
Be well, love your neighbor as you love yourself, and be sure that you actually love yourself.
-Ari
