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Easter Rising

/ Dawn Ennis / 3 Comments

IMG_5891It’s been a few months since my last blogpost, and I felt today was a good day to count my blessings.

Tonight is the 3rd night of Passover, and the day that I used to mark as Easter Sunday. My conversion to Judaism is imminent, and it makes my heart soar to be on this journey.

I don’t see it as leaving anything behind as much as accepting a truth about myself and where my spirit and soul reside, and it is in the faith of my children, my beloved, and my in-laws. And perhaps also in the legacy of my great, great grandfather Moses Ennis, a tailor in Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland.

So nu?

This week, Irish people the world over will mark the 103rd anniversary of the Easter Rising.

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Because I stumbled soon after my transition became public in 2013, I feel connected to the bloody rebellion against England. Like me, it at first failed, but ultimately led to the creation of the Irish Free State, a republic that is my ancestral home, and still home to both my mother and father’s families. Which makes them my family.

It was two years ago this summer that the children and I traveled to our ancestral homeland. I look forward to returning to Ireland, perhaps in 2020. Or sooner, if President Trump continues to oppress transgender Americans as he and his administration are doing. Some folks would go to Canada, but it’s Ireland for us.

Our extended family still needs your prayers and good thoughts, as one of our loved ones is ailing. I won’t get into details because they’re not mine to share.

But other than that, life is good. No, really!

In fact, we’re all doing well. Our oldest is in his last quarter of his first year of college. Our middle child is finishing her junior year and we’re starting to look at colleges, and the youngest is a boy scout in seventh grade and studying for his bar mitzvah this fall.

Together we are doing all the planning, and this being my first one without his mom to help us, I’ll admit it’s a challenge. But we have the hall, the cake, the deejay and a theme. Next up is invitations, seating charts and of course, the actual ceremony and celebration!

I’ve been teaching journalism, advertising and public relations at the University of Hartford since January, and I’ll be back in the fall. This week, my students in my Writing for the Media class are almost at the conclusion of viewing “All The President’s Men.”

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My News Reporting students are conducting interviews, asking people their thoughts on the redacted Mueller Report. Their assignment: find people on both sides of the Trump divide.

I’ve been managing editor of Outsports since February and it’s been going very well. This was my most favorite story to tell so far, and this one was an exclusive. 

And last week, I signed a contract to be a contributor to Forbes.com, starting soon. So, financially, we’re in the best shape we’ve been in since 2016. I still have huge debts, and even with three paychecks, we still struggle, but my head is at long last above water.

Yes, life is good. Our seder was fun and for the first time in the 22 years since I’ve been co-hosting seders, we had a guest, our housemate Kati. Dahlia was there but we missed having our oldest child at the table! In fact, it’s the first time in 20 years we didn’t have all three children sitting with us, and our third Seder since we lost the most important person in our lives. But life goes on.

As it must. And there will be people who will gossip and whisper about the fact that for the first time in a long time I shared photographs of our children here. Well, let them.

It’s proof we are happy, and together (sorta), and thriving. And that’s worth sharing.

I Got A Lesbian Republican for Christmas

/ Dawn Ennis / Leave a comment

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Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!

This time on RiseUP With Dawn Ennis, I’m delighted to have Mary Fay in the studio. We discuss the recent election and its result, being a Republican in a progressive community, Connecticut politics and how she can be both an out lesbian and a Republican.

IMG_4380You might recall that last month, I interviewed her empty chair. She was a no-show!

Well, she showed up this time! And we had a great conversation, even if we didn’t agree on much. She was the first Republican to be my guest, and hopefully not the last.

Watch here, and scroll down for links mentioned in this month’s episode!

To know more about Mary Fay, you can go to her campaign’s Facebook page here.

And you can find out more about our representative government here in West Hartford, Connecticut, by clicking here.I myself  am an alternate representative to the town Democratic committee, representing District 1. Find out about us here, and please join us! If you’re interested in the Republican committee, they have a website, too. 

One of the issues we discussed were tolls coming to Connecticut, and although Ms. Fay told me I was wrong, you can read for yourself that a study shows they will bring $1B to our financially-strapped state. Here’s the report in the Hartford Courant.

And if you’d like to communicate with the woman who beat Ms. Fay for the 18th Legislative district seat, you’ll find Jillian Gilchrest on Twitter.  Incidentally, I’ve learned Jillian still has not received a promised call from Ms. Fay conceding the election.

Here’s the link I promised you about Connecticut Voice Magazine! Launch is set for March 2019!

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That’s all for our January episode of RiseUP, and I invite you to like, share and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Also listen to the podcast I’m now doing with Chardonnay Merlot, Before The War. We discuss politics, transgender issues and news of the week.

IMG_4873We took some time off recently because of the holidays, the death of Chardonnay’s grandfather and my own recovery from surgery at Mount Sinai’s NY Eye and Ear Infirmary.

Despite the name of the facility, my surgeon is now performing vaginoplasty surgeries there. I suffered a complication in June from the operation he performed in May, and so my recent surgery was aimed at correcting that. All is well!

More good news: I will be teaching courses in journalism in the new year at the University of Hartford and you can also find my work at my portfolio page. Just click on the “articles” tab.

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Since this is the Christmas season, I thought I’d leave you with three “gifts.” First, two articles just published by The Advocate Magazine, profiling some amazing people I met at the NYC Pride march… Kaia Naadira and Ty Defoe! Click on their names to read!

Then, some politically-inspired carols… (SCROLL DOWN)

And last, the latest video from my BFF Maia Monet in which she wrangled Santa Claus (Dev Zebra) into listening to the Christmas wishes of transgender people! (KEEP SCROLLING)

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I don’t want a lot for Christmas
There’s just one change we need.
I don’t care about Jared or Junior
Let them spend this Christmas free.
I just want #Trump‘s mobile phone
Then let him go to Mar-A-Lago
We’ll end the shutdown, too.
All I want for Christmas
Is a COUP.

Silent night, Shutdown night
Everyone’s gone, turn out the lights
‘Round the world, allies gone wild
Holy shit, Trump is out of his mind
Sleep with porn stars, grab pussy
Sleep with porn stars, grab pussy!

We wish you a Mueller Christmas
We wish you a Mueller Christmas
We wish you a Mueller Christmas and a Happy Indictment
Fake Newscasts we bring to you and your kin
We wish you a Mueller Christmas and a Happy Indictment!

Closing bells ring, are you listening
On Wall Street, stocks are slipping
A terrible fright
We’re crying tonight
Watching our markets crashland.
Gone away are our investments
Here to stay is a depressment
#Trump was so wrong
To boast all along
While our markets crashland.

Donald the Conman
Was a lying racist clown 
With combover hair and tiny hands
And pouting lips in a permanent frown
Donald the President
Lied ’bout the wall: Mexico won’t pay
And his base was surprised when
Before their eyes
All those promised jobs went away.

You know Flynn and Manafort and Gates and Cohen
Kellyanne and Sarah and Jared and Stephen
But do you recall
The most famous Trumpster of all?
Ivanka the President’s Daughter
Plays a very shady role
And if you ever saw her
You would even say she knows
More than the other reindeer!

Mueller baby, slip your report under the tree for me
Been an awful good girl
Mueller baby, and hurry up with your Trump indictment 
Mueller baby, more indictments, too, for Mike Pence, too
I’ll wait up for you, Robert
Mueller baby, so hurry to the White House tonight

I really can’t wait (Baby Mueller’s outside)
I gotta go to Mar-A-Lago (Baby Mueller’s outside)
This term has been (Been hoping that it would end)
So very sad (I’ve noticed your hands really are tiny like a toy)
Mike Pence will start to worry (Not as much as we worry!)

Just hear breaking news alerts jingling, ring tingle tingling, too 
Come on, it drives me crazy my phone blows up ‘cuz of you 
Feels like the sky is falling and friends are crying “boo hoo!” 
Come on, it’s time for Mueller to finish so we can get rid of you!

‘Twas the Sunday before Christmas, when all thro’ the House, Not a congressman was stirring, not even The shutdown begun by the POTUS who dared Hoping his base soon would not care; The children nestled in cages of dread Forget freedom, just don’t let them be dead.

Well,
I have a little witness
I made him talk today
And when the indictment’s ready
Then, a video I shall play
Oh, Jared, Jared, Jared
What you told me I can’t say
But when the indictment’s ready
Then, #Trump will say, OY VEY.

Happy Holidays and here’s wishing to a fabulous 2019!

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The History Maker

/ Dawn Ennis / 1 Comment

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – philosopher George Santayana, from  The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress

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William Tong has already made history. But if Connecticut voters choose him on August 14th, he’ll be on his way to making history again.

Tong, a native of my current hometown, West Hartford, Conn. and a state representative from Stamford, is running to be Connecticut’s next Attorney General. He has already won the endorsement of the state Democratic party and of fellow Democrats here in his original hometown of West Hartford, including our prior guest and his former competitor, assistant attorney general Clare Kindall. Other famous names on Tong’s bandwagon include Sen. Ted Kennedy, Jr., the United Auto Workers and the Working Families party.

tong_legislatureThose endorsements are significant because Tong is the first Asian-American in state history to win that level of crucial political support. He was already the first Asian-American elected to the state House of Representatives, and if he wins the upcoming primary and the general election in November, will be the first constitutional officer in the history of Connecticut of Asian heritage. 

Who is Tong? His biography reveals he studied under Barack Obama before he became president, and he is the son of immigrant parents:

“The Tongs owned a Chinese restaurant where William worked alongside his parents before going to Brown University and then the University of Chicago Law School where he was taught by then-Professor Barack Obama. He is currently a lawyer at Finn, Dixon & Herling LLP, one of Connecticut’s leading law firms where he practiced law for 14 years… William lives with his wife, Elizabeth, their three children and many pets in Stamford. Elizabeth is Vice President of Tax for North America for the Diageo Corporation.” 

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Tong and I sat down this week for a wide-ranging interview on RiseUp With Dawn Ennis, the talk show I’ve been hosting on WHC-TV and YouTube for about a year and a half. We discussed immigration, politics, President Trump, civil rights, the second amendment and 3D printed guns as well as Republican candidates’ calls to abolish the state income tax.

Watch the show here:

If you’re interested in learning more about William Tong, click here for his campaign website and click here for his state representative page which is of special interest to those living and working in Stamford and Darien.

Who else is running to succeed Democrat George Jepsen? It’s a crowded field. His Democratic primary opponents are:

And on the Republican side:

Hatfield, like Mattei, has experience as a prosecutor, a job Tong claims is not relevant to the post they are all seeking, since the A.G. doesn’t deal with criminal law so much as civil law. Hatfield won the Republican party’s endorsement.

Learn more about all the candidates by clicking here, RiseUP has extended an invitation to all the candidates running, but so far, only Tong has accepted.

The primary is August 14th, the general election is November 6th, and the online deadline to register to vote in Connecticut is August 9th, but you can register in person right up until and including August 14th. Details on how to do that are right here.

If you’re interested in learning more about 3D printed guns, the Washington Post and USA Today each have a good overview here. After we recorded this episode, a federal judge on Tuesday, July 31st blocked a Texas man from uploading blueprints for such weapons to the internet.

The issue of transgender rights remains contentious across America. The ACLU outlines how that battle was won in Connecticut, but for those who live elsewhere, being trans can be a fireable offense, a reason to be evicted, and too often makes people a target for violence. See how your state stacks up by clicking here for a look at the Equality Maps from the Movement Advancement Project. 

And if you’re interested in learning more about this month’s special correspondent, Mya Byrne, check out her website here and connect with her on Facebook and click here for to follow her on Instagram. And you can subscribe to her YouTube channel here.

If you’d like to be our next special correspondent, you’ll find some simple guidelines on our Facebook page. Please like, share and subscribe and follow us on Twitter and now also on Instagram!

Later this fall, I’ll share more details about the reality show taped in West Hartford last month, that connected my family with the Connecticut Humane Society. With the help of producers from The CW we adopted a 7-month-old Labrador/Retriever possibly German Shepherd mix who we have named Dahlia. 

Finally: August is typically a “hiatus” month for West Hartford Community Television, so I am very grateful to WHC-TV Executive Director Jennifer Evans for making an exception for this election-focused timely episode! See y’all in September with a new episode of RiseUP With Dawn Ennis. 

 

Her eyes told me everything: The massacre in Sandy Hook

/ Dawn Ennis / 1 Comment

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Four years ago this morning, after working all night gathering news for a major TV network, I was headed home to my family in Connecticut when I got a call asking me to divert to Newtown. 

There were reports of multiple gunshots there.

 

My boss was candid: “You’re going to be our first eyes and ears on the ground. We are hearing, and it’s unconfirmed, there are a lot of people dead, and the worst part: many of them are children. Just get us some solid info. Be safe,” she said.

 
I drove into town before all the barriers and roadblocks were set, to keep curious onlookers and predatory media away from the crime scene.
 
I found myself on a street outside a firehouse, where eventually a couple emerged, and before I could ask the woman what had happened, her eyes locked with mine.
 
It was clear to me in an instant what had happened.
 
I saw in those grieving eyes the worst nightmare any mother could imagine. The look of someone whose entire world just ended.
 
I didn’t ask her a thing, not her name, not the circumstances of the tragedy still unfolding. I knew why I was there, what I was supposed to do, and what I was told to do: find out what happened and report back.
 
My instructions did not include making this family’s day worse. I mouthed the words, “I’m so sorry” to this mom whose eyes met mine, and let her pass.
 
I would work until late that night, walking all over town with a camera, interviewing witnesses, doctors, police spokesmen, and securing a live location for both the evening news and a special report, from which to broadcast live: a church that was holding a prayer service for the victims’ families and first responders.
My memory of that day is a bit like swiss cheese, with lots of holes, but I recall that I wasn’t out to everyone yet, and I remember how much I cried later that night, released from the burden of holding in the tears for so many hours.
And that wasn’t the only thing I had to hold in. Another woman working for a competitor and I went knocking on the door of a family down the road from the gunman, not to ask questions but to use their bathroom.
 “At least you could pee behind a tree,” she whispered to me, as we waited for a response.
“That’s the privilege of men,” I said to her, “and that’s not who I am.” She mistook my meaning, but her message was clear when she responded.
“Well, yeah, this is more civilized and practical, and who knows, maybe they’ll even talk to us.”
Actually, no, and they wouldn’t let us use their bathroom, either. Another neighbor did, but they claimed they had no idea about the gunman, his mother, or the families of those murdered.

We thanked them for their kindness and agreed to not tell anyone else about it, for fear their bathroom would become, in their words, “Grand Central Station.”

Every TV news truck within a hundred miles converged on sleepy little Newtown that day. Reporters and field producers and network correspondents and anchors and guest bookers and camera people and truck engineers and black car drivers, dozens and dozens of them.

And several hours after the sun had set and the world had seen what we had learned, I finally got to go home and hug my own first grader, tighter than I ever had before. 

I did so for every one of the parents in Sandy Hook who could not do that, and I thought of the mom I had encountered… as well as all 20 moms and 20 dads, and the families of the Sandy Hook school employees, whose world ended that day in a hail of senseless gunfire.