Can People Help Me Find Where to Volunteer

I enjoy volunteering at AirVenture. As noted above, I have been coming since 1987, off and on, maybe 24 times or so. I'm not sure. I've covered the sleeve of my nomex flight jacket flight jacket with so many year patches, I've run out of room.

But I need to ask for help—from the group—in where to volunteer, now.

Reading the initial post in this thread, you can see who I am, Warbirds and Antiques/Classics, taildraggers and trikes, spam cans and ragwings. I've a history of flying. I've shared who my husband was (Joe Ware, Dept. Manager, Engineering Flight Test, Lockheed Skunk Works, over the 1st 2 Air Force Ones for Eisenhower, the U-2, the SR-71... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_F._Ware_Jr. ), etc. We've flown into OSH many times since the 1980s.

But, as stated in my Post on Prejudice, 2023— https://eaaforums.org/showthread.php...Experienced-We —there is a prejudice against such as I (transsexual, SRS 1981) that has grown, worse than it ever was in the 20th century, to the point of social acceptability, now. Last year at OSH, 2024, that offending Chairman from 2023 found me volunteering on the other side of the field, and harassed me, again. I complained to get him to stop, and supposedly it then has, at least to my ear. But it caused consternation in Admin., and it hurt me to my core. I now carry around a pain that won't heal, as he also demeaned my husband and my marriage.

So, to minimize conflicts, I thought it would be a good idea if I could learn where I'm welcome or unwelcome, and then volunteer where I'm welcome—but I have not been able to learn this. When I ask, I'm met with silence, as if I didn't ask. I take this as a negative, but as if it's deniable by parties......leaving me to guess and wonder on my own.

My goal is to decrease or remove conflicts. If I can be where I'm welcome, then hopefully I could volunteer in harmony. I'm an old, former, Forensic Psychiatric Social Worker, MSW, LCSW, and this seems to be a course that is necessary, short of me just avoiding OSH, which I can't bring myself to do. It's one of our places, part of my heart.

I'm part of the EAA. I'm an EAA Life member. I have been served lunch by Paul Poberezny at the volunteer cafeteria. I've been checked out in and flown a T-28 for years, and have been checked out and PIC in a C-46 Commando. We brought our 1937 Stinson "Gullwing" Reliant to OSH a few times. I'm an ATP S&M and a CFI... I've LOVED in my heart watching the air show, talking with a real Rosie the Riveter...And I took, FWIW, Joe to Normandy, France, Omaha beach, where he cried and saluted old friends.

I've never scratched an aircraft, flying, parking or hangaring. Being safe is always the goal. Tony LeVier (test pilot, U-2, Skunk Works), a real charmer, made me promise to him that I'd take training in aerobatics, against the possibility I found myself sometime in an unusual attitude and needed to extricate myself quckly, such as a wing-tip vortex that flipped me on short final. But I haven't kept my word. I have flown aerobatically, before, but I haven't taken the training he required of me. It would have been fun, but I just never got around to it, possibly because I could already do it. I understand mass and inertia, how planes move, etc.

I've been an aircraft judge. I know how to marshal planes—and it bothers me when I see volunteers standing in front of a propeller, signaling the pilot to move forward...yet I can't say anything unless I'm in a position to do so, as I'd be taken as interfering, questioning the competence of some supervisor. Ugh. I've bought, installed and donated a music system years ago. I've flown various kinds of planes into military bases for decades, mostly such as Edwards, NAS then MCAS Miramar, El Toro, etc. I haven't had any whiskey at an O'club, because I don't drink, but I've had Diet Coke and bought rounds for the house. I think I'm relatively intelligent...

But what happens in volunteer positions, is that some supervisor or Chairman will tell me to go do a certain job, but not tell me what the Chairman really wants, then I do something the Chairman doesn't want....and I get into trouble. Or I'll ask a question about something, then be told I'm not welcome to do that, I think with the assumption that the info was clear and if I asked something then I must not get it. I see presumptions of ignorance, inadequate instruction, or setups for trouble. Over decades in my position, I've learned clearly that a determined critical system isn't based so much on performance but on the existence of prejudice in the heart that is ready to find fault with things that come up.

I believe if the Chairman would tell me what he wants, then I could be of value.

SO, REQUEST FOR HELP FROM THE GROUP

Can someone give me ideas? Where to Volunteer, though I am a hated minority in these modern times.

My thinking, again, is that it's best to avoid areas where I'm unwelcome, and better to volunteer where I'm welcome. Surely that's a good thing to pursue.

Not all persons are prejudiced, and those welcoming can come from any walk of life, any ideology, religion, or world view.

My husband, Joe Ware Jr., was a conservative icon, a Christian, a Republican, and was a model of a decent human being. He openly married me, with a legal license, in his church, by his pastor, among friends...and we never forsook each other, not even when people were hostile to us, tried to break us up. Without this quality, we could have never married, but it was there.

Any one might be a good person who is welcoming. I just don't know who. So, I know that where some at OSH are not welcoming, I also know that some are, and I'm asking for help to find a good place to volunteer.

Thank you,

Jenna Ware