Transgender women of color who have an
advanced degree, MS or PhD, in Physics, and who have made, or make some part of
their living by doing physics are rare.  So far as I know I am the only one. It
is said there
are only six Black American women with PhD’s in theoretical high energy physics. 
A rough guess would be that there are less than sixty Black women with any
advanced degree in any area of physics.   There is no social justice point made
here, no theory as to the cause for why beyond this.  There are few transwomen
of color in the world.  Only ten to twelve percent of people have a MS or PhD
in any subject, let alone physics.  The intersection of these sets would naturally
be quite small even without any sociological, discriminatory, barriers.

It has just occurred to me I could be the only, singular,
African American Transgender woman with an advanced degree in physics working
in academia.   As much of a buff on the resume as that would be, being the
only one of something, I’d be horrified if that were the case. 

That may be why I haven’t written much about possibly the
most interesting story I’d have to tell on this blog…my own.       

So please, let me know if you are out there.  I would much
rather write about other people.

Please answer the following questions in the comments. 
What is your name, degree and where do you / have you worked?  Are you still in
physics research or teaching?  If you have left academia why? If you have
stayed in academia why? 

My answers.  Hontas F. Farmer, MS.  I work at College of
DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois and City Colleges of Chicago in Chicago,
Illinois as an adjunct professor.  The subjects I teach vary from math to
astronomy to physics.  I am still in physics teaching and I do some research of
my own.   The reason I stay in academia is because I really want to be a
physicist and to help other people truly achieve such knowledge, above all
else. 

If I were to leave the reason would be  as follows.  I care
more about doing my job than keeping it.  When students are consumers paying
for an outcome rather than learners paying for an educational experience, I can’t
do my job.    At that point in the future, maybe, AI will take over doing the
thinking for us. That would make education superfluous.  What
do we do when the only job left is to train the AI that will replace us?