Views from a BrewTown Sista (aka The Chronicles of Kayleah H. Madison)

So the Christmas holiday has come and gone. Everyone has basically either gone back to work or is wondering how much closer to oblivion we'll all get when we go over the fiscal cliff. Have you ever noticed that nothing is ever decent to watch on TV immediately following Christmas? I went ahead and yakked about that on my YouTube page ( www.youtube.com/creamcitysista1970 ).  I am at an age where I don't care about all these damn college football bowl games leading up to the big boys on New Year's Day. Play them games, make lots of dough for your schools, and get off my TV! (Kick Stanford's ass in the Rose Bowl, okay, Wisconsin?) Since typing my blog late on Christmas Eve, I have recalled a few more memories about my late dad's home state, Mississippi. You know, the one state in the US that has four "eyes" and still can't "see" how screwed they really are? Forever steeped in racial backwardsness, the Magnolia State is at or near the bottom...

It's Christmas Eve 2012, and I'm watching the climax of the classic It's A Wonderful Life. When George Bailey's life was down in the dumps, he tells an angel that he'd wish he'd never been born. Slowly but surely, he slowly realizes just how important his life was.  "Remember...no man is a failure when he has friends", as the message the would-be angel Clarence tells George Bailey, aka Jimmy Stewart. His friends and family help good ol' George out with his problems. Now, I might not have as many situations than George Bailey did in that movie,however I can say that I will have some more friends than I started with. I spent the greater part of this evening with a friend on facebook who is originally from Tuepelo, Mississippi...the same town where Elvis Presley was born. We chatted about life in the Magnolia state, which is where my dad's side of the family came from. Although I haven been unable to return there since 1996, I do have a few memori...

We are just days away from Christmas 2012. Just got into winter today, the first day of winter. I'm watching David Letterman's annual holiday show that features Dave & guest Jay Thomas throwing footballs at a meatball on top of a tree and the annual appearance by Darlene Love singing her classic Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).  Yeah, I have been a Letterman fan since he started 30 years ago. At least he gets to have some fun during the holidays. Last year at this time, I can easily tell you I felt about as low as anybody, aside from being six feet underground. Spending Christmas locked up in another county sucks, it just sucks. All because I had a warrant for my ass over a traffic ticket. No, wait...they wanted me to appear in court... in another county...to deal with this. It's just a damn ticket, but the county where I got this in June 2010 has a no-bullshit policy. So I may have not yielded into the far lane to a state trooper when I was coming home from a conv...

Let me tell you something about myself. It seems since as far back as I can remember, I feel like I am a jinx. As a self-described sports nut, if I do or don't do something, bad luck usually follows. There is this blues song I remember, Born Under a Bad Sign , that basically can explain the orgins of why some things just don't go well with me. Homer Simpson did a cover of that song, too, but he's more popular than he actually thinks.  I was all ready to attend church this morning, when I look at my soon-to-be-replaced cell phone and received a text saying that one of my friends that gives me a ride to church had gotten sick, making him unable to pick me up. Another friend that occasionally does this was out of town for the Thanksgiving weekend. This is the equivalent to having a monkey wrench thrown at will into my daily agenda, whatever that is. So much for wearing a little makeup today. Since this is the first time since joining my church in the last spring that I h...

By the time that you read this, Thanksgiving 2012 will mostly be in the past, and shoppers nationwide will get ready for the unofficial kickoff to the holiday season. Ho-hum. Not worried at all about what am I going to get somebody this holiday season. Hell, my ass is already too broke to give a shit about that right now. At least I can say my Thanksgiving was a good one. I got to hang out with a friend, eat ham, mac'n cheese, turnip greens and drink until I had to pee.  I was also considering waiting until this weekend to post a blog about the anniversary of my mother's passing 33 years ago this coming Saturday, November, 24. Well, I guess there's no better time than the present to talk about this.  At around 8 or 9:00am on this date back in 1979, several days after the Thanksgiving holiday, the phone rings at my dad's house back in Milwaukee. It woke me up out of a pleasant dream, whatever it was. I got up and answered the phone and found out it was St. Joseph'...

This picture above was taken at my church's harvest bazaar last weekend. I got to at least promote my home-based travel business to the local public. So I may still be waiting for the economy to improve some more before I actually get to see some people book their travel plans with me. Things can only get better, right? I basically prayed for an opportunity to get my company's name out. Yes, I haven't had the finances to promote Hutchins World Travel more often. Had I done this a few years ago I may have been a little more successful. Being a vendor at the first Rockford Pride Fest in June would have been tremendous. I wound up being at my church's booth passing out information for the Spring Creek United Church of Christ for the majority of that day, but at least I can say that I was there. In 2013, Rockford Pride stretches out to two days. I have got to get out from being permanently stuck in financial oblivion and find a way to pay for getting my name out in time ...

  I had planned to go all-out on the weekend of my birthday. For all of you who are reading this, my 42nd birthday happened last Friday, October 26. So I am another year into my 40's. Growing old gracefully might not be a pleasant resort. Well, any plans of having another dull, ho-hum birthday was thrown out the window by receiving about 30 text messages from my friends on facebook, which basically lasted all day. I eventually did a YouTube video to thank everyone for remembering my dubious occasion. Every birthday for the past decade, I have set my watch to mark the exact time (8.15 am) I came out into the world to match the time given on my actual birth certificate. Really! Then & only then will I start admitting that I am a year older. Sucks though. Another year added to my age content.  Adding to this eventful day was my friend Shawn getting me some (surprise surprise) pistachio almond ice cream from Baskin-Robbins. (Maybe bragging about it on facebook helped the c...

So it happened.   After all the crap that I posted on this blog last week, I went ahead and came out to my congregation by dressing up, as so in the above picture. Remember that I also joked about what next? Well, I'll tell ya. No, scratch that...I'll SHOW you...  I will admit that today went very well. The congregation even sung me "Happy Birthday", even though they didn't know what to call me when I dress like this. Kayleah is not that hard to pronounce, but when you've never heard that name used before, that won't roll off the tongue quite so easily. Most of the choir got to understand its pronounciation after explaining it a few times. One thing that was in unison: How much of a lady I looked today. Spent some time doing my hair this morning. Applying my makeup didn't take that much time at all.  They also couldn't believe that my outfit was purchased via ebay. Really!  Not since attending the first Rockford Pride Fest had I worn makeup i...

https://www.facebook.com/groups/springcreekucc/                                              "I find sometimes it's easy to be myself; sometimes I find it's better to be            somebody    else".          So Much To Say, Dave Matthews Band   The line does speak for itself. I can be me at times, then be Kayleah for another time. Same theory goes for me attending my church. I may have worn foundation, eye shadow & nail polish during Sunday service yet still had the physical position as a dude. This coming Sunday, since I let the cat out of the bag on facebook last week about it, I am dressing as Kayleah to show my feminine side. Not saying that everyone on facebook already knew that. Or for those who saw me at Rockford's first Pride Fest should already know that I have been "different" ...

facebook.com/kayleah.hutchinsmadison Some of you have at least read my previous blogs about wanting to express my feminine side at church this Sunday. That's all fine & dandy.At my church, all are welcome, including the LGBT! But forgive me for waiting so long to finally do this. I will make a YouTube video about it as well! I can always take more photos of me dolled up, right? Now, I am deciding between a few outfits that I currently have in my wardrobe. This I know: most of these outfits I have worn in the past at least once. Many are in pictures scattered about my facebook page. Also in my possession is my trusty hot comb, or to you a hair straightener, which I have used scarcely, most recently prior to Rockford Pride. I do need to improve how my hair looks instead of constantly greasing it back with some hair gel that's supposed to keep my hair growing. Last I checked, it's somewhat thin in the back, bush on the sides and flat on the brow. Even obtained a curlin...

I was chatting with a few church members today about something that I have been wanting to do since joining Spring Creek United Church of Christ earlier this summer. The choice of coming in full womanhood attire is entirely up to me. I may have mentioned that I can come dressed either way. At least I know that's a possibility in the near future. Now to choose a date to do it. Pictures will definitely be posted here, facebook and elsewhere. I am still welcome  at SCUCC no matter what. Even to this day I wonder what people will say about how I look, how I speak, walk, all that crap. It's time for me to not be worried about them. Time to be happy of what I see in the mirror. Screw the naysayers that disapprove of my "lifestyle"! Since growing up in the late 1970's I knew I was different. I can definitely pass as a woman. So I'd have a lower voice and walk a little different. What's so different from expressing myself at Rockford Pride in June than attending...

I almost forgot that MySpace wasn't the only blogging site that I had. Here's a recent picture of me that I'm not ashamed to promote! 4 months after posting my first blog on Blogger I finally add something else to the mix....just to keep the other one not so lonely. So, if there are anyone reading my blog for the first time, welcome, and allow me to introduce myself. My name is Kayleah D. Hutchins-Madison, and I reside in northern Illinois (NOT Chicago!!!) I will soon become 42 years of age by the end of this month, and I am still searching for my place in life. So far, I may be heading in the right direction: I joined a church that is LGBT-friendly, participated in my city's inaugural Pride Fest (hence the above photo), joined the church's sanctuary and bell choirs, as well as the Events Planning and ONA groups. Still, I feel that God still wants me to do something special with my life while I still can, though I haven't the slightest idea what He wants me t...

I chatted with a friend the other day . I may have not seen her since the mid 1990's, however, we have kept in touch over the years. We are both alumni from the same college, just a few years apart. Here's the news: She suspected that I was different, probably when we were both at college.  We talked for an hour or so when I thought it was time to confess something to her: I am a transgendered individual. She KNEW! Showed her a pic of me dressed up. She was impressed in how I did my makeup. It's nice to know you do have friends...she'll always be a friend to me, no matter what.