director of The Matrix Larry Wachowski, who is now Lana Wachowski, has this wild red hair. My sister is so not like that. This book is an attempt to unweird the whole subject. I think it's more unnerving to people when the person does just seem so normal, but I do think we have to remember that it's not that many people. So much changes, but so much does n't change. You can take hormones to change this, have surgery to change that, but you ca n't change the voice, the hair, the love -- there is a core of self that does n't change. CNN: How has it been different to have a sister rather than a brother ? Haskell: It's wonderful. It's like I 've gotten two for the price of one. We have differences -- it takes so long for her to get dressed ! We 're just much closer than we 've ever been. It's hard to say the change has n't made her happier. At first I thought I 'm really losing a brother. It was like a grief; a death. But, her happiness is crucial. She's more open, more gregarious. I think my mother would 've been very, very upset but, in a funny way, Ellen is the kind of person my mother wanted Chevey to be. CNN: How was it different at age 59 than it might have been earlier ? Haskell: I think the reason she did n't go through with it before is because there was no acceptance. Why is so much of this happening now ? Because it can. There is a word for it and there are people doing