I'm a 24 year old crossdresser. I come from northern Minnesota, but am now living in California for graduate school. I have been married almost 3 years to a wonderfully supportive (collaborating would be a better word) wife. She is, in fact, the most wonderful person on this earth, none excepted, and I thank God for her every day.

I began dressing just last year. I have been out and about several times en femme, and I just can't seem to get enough. A few friends know; they find it amusing and harmless, which is pretty much how my wife and I see it. I am really pretty recreational about it all; I admit that my love for dressing is pretty overpowering, but then again, so is my enjoyment of the computer game Civilization, and nobody ever psychoanalyzed me to find the roots of that deep within my childhood. I do have a fairly high level of contempt for traditional gender straitjackets, but I wouldn't say that's why I do it. It's just fun.

The name "Jade" was a pretty accidental choice. This brings me to how I started dressing seriously. I had always wanted to try it, but was Just Too Scared, even among good, open-minded friends - many of them had "done drag" at some point, and one even played M. Butterfly in a professional theater company. It just goes to show you how deep a taboo gets ground in. Then my wife came along, and by her example and by the deep security I have in her, I became a nearly fearless creature.

So, during a role-playing game that just the two of us play together, she practically DEMANDED a love interest for her male character. So, I introduced a brilliant, independant, beautiful damsel in distress named Jade. When a marriage proposal was accepted, I decided to make it memorable by dressing the part. She loved it, and I was quite hooked. A month later we went out for a stroll during an out-of-town trip. It has only gotten better and better since then!

Later I tried switching to "Catherine" - a little less eye-catching in the down-to-earth world - but too many people already know me as Jade, including my wife. Thus, "Jade Catherine".

Peripheral details. I read (history especially), I backpack, I raise turtles, I speak German and Esperanto, I play the trombone badly, I study chemical engineering. I am an MIT alum and a shameless nerd. I am much less energetic than this list of activities implies.

Hello, everyone, and God bless you all!