History of Leather

15 12 2010
restored Tryon Palace, New Bern, NC

Image via Wikipedia

Hi, Sorry I have been gone. Been wrapped up with marriage, starting a new job and a new edition of World of Warcraft. Let my writing here get behind.

During this time, a few thoughts have come to mind. I have been thinking a lot about our history as a sub-culture. I wrote before about the Leather History Museum in Chicago. Fantastic place, one I will have to visit some day. But there are so many things. We are so hidden as a sub-culture. We don’t want people to know about us. This causes many things to be lost. I implore you so save what you have and pass it along to the next generation (perhaps waiting until you can no longer be hurt by people that would miss use it) so that they can learn from what you have experienced.

An excellent example of this is the Carter/Johnson Library. They have amassed a collection of books, magazines and other memorabilia dating as far back as the 1700′s. I personally have seen this collection (it is a major attraction at BlackBEAT every year) and can literally spend hours perusing it. If you have the chance please do check it out. It is FANTASTIC.

An excellent opportunity for this will be happening next October when the North Carolina Leather History Conference takes place. The full details have not been released yet, but I do plan on attending with my slave.


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Where Will Master Void Be?

8 09 2010

Just a quickie today.  Thought I would mention the classes I will be teaching that are coming up this month.

The first is for T3WD in Columbia.  They have their vendor fair next weekend (the 18th), and I will be talking about how to manage a long distance relationship. Since esclave and I have been doing this for over 3 years now, I think we have some tips to share that might be interesting to you.

The next is the following weekend.  In association with the Leadership Network of the Carolinas, I will be presenting a class on IT for kinksters with Auburn Goddess. It should be a blast as well. My part of the class will be focused on how to set up a domain, website and other things that you might want to use as a kinkster to manage your online presence.


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LeatherFET or How to Fail at Organizing a Community Uniting Event.

3 09 2010

Charlotte Pano by James Willamor. Used under Creative Commons License, click for details.

What I write today is simply an opinion, my opinion.  I derived my opinion from my experiences in the local community.  I welcome all feed back and critiques.

LeatherFET was a fascinating event concept. Unite both the leather communities and the fetish communities for a party that would rock Charlotte all weekend.  Have good history and education track. Invite John Baku down for the keynote. Sounds wonderful. Can’t fail right?

Hmm, let us see what someone can do to make it fail. Let us take someone who has threatened to take the board of directors for a local BDSM education organization to court, left threatening voicemails that target a board member, her child and husband, and lost her sash and put them in charge of the whole event.  Put in charge of education someone who continually feels compelled to apologize to the community for her outbursts. Sell the event as an annual event even though it never happened before.

And belittle those who object to the leaders of the event as not supporting community building.

Yep the perfect way to have an event fail in my opinion. Most of the established community in Charlotte won’t be attending, I know I am with them. And I hope you won’t be either.

While I think the idea is a wonderful one, one I wish I could support. But in order to build connections in the community you have to have the respect of those in the community. I don’t have respect any longer for those associated with the event. One is known for the company we keep. And I choose to keep away.

If you want to read someone else’s opinion about the latest events in the Charlotte kink community, click here. (FetLife Membership required).

Peace.

MV


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International Master and slave 2010 Announced

3 03 2010

This past weekend saw the South Plains Leatherfest, International Master/slave Weekend, come and go. Two friends of mine won the International Master/slave competition. Congratulations (again) to Master Obsidian and slave namaste. For those of you unaware of the significance of this, I found this on the event’s web site.

The Owners/Producers of the International Master/slave Contest are committed to providing the leather/SM and Master/slave communities with an International Master and an International slave who will represent the M/s lifestyle with integrity and competence. The holders of the International Master and International slave titles will be seen as spokespersons for the Master/slave community, and as such, one of the most important attributes of the titleholders should be the ability to clearly and effectively communicate what it means to them to live and identify as Master and slave.

It is expected that the holders of the titles will take every opportunity to educate the leather/SM and M/s communities on the Master/slave lifestyle, and will actively seek out venues that will allow them to speak on Master/slave issues, whether that be through speeches, seminar presentations, participation on panel discussions, writing articles, etc.

The International Master and slave titles are not about a particular “look,” dress, body type, gender or sexual orientation. There is no required set of protocols that the International Master and slave are expected to follow.

Contestants at the International Master/slave Contest have competed at and won one of the regional Master/slave contests certified as official feeder contests by International.

Master Obsidian is one of the most in-depth thinkers I have know when it comes to TPE/IE. I have learned quite a bit reading his words and look forward to learning more.  Slave namaste was the mentor of my girl. She is an amazing person, who exudes grace, poise and spirituality.

Now to persuade CAPEX to bring them to town.

MV


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Categories : BDSM, Breaking News

Leatherati

10 02 2010

Ok, I don’t know how I missed this site before (perhaps because while I like Leather, and I hang sometimes with Leather, I am definitely not Leather). I ran across this fantastic site the other day while in FetLife. This site is Leatherati. What is Leatherati? In their own words:

Leatherati launched in 2009 after a long (and productive!) gestation in the minds of Loren Berthelsen and Alex Lindsay. Sensing a gaping hole in the informatosphere for things leathery, but not adult-rated, the duo leveraged their long-standing involvement in the leather community to bring you the most comprehensive leather content site available today. Leatherati explores our unique lifestyle of contests and titleholders, travel and events, dining and drinking, entertainment and shopping and of course, news and opinion.

There was an article talking about the importance of fund raising and Leather contests. It gave the history and asked if maybe there was too much emphasis on how much money a person can raise when it may be better done elsewhere and at the cost of other excellent attributes.

If you want to learn a bit about where we come from (admittedly there is more to the story than leather, but it is a big part of it) then I would suggest you do what I plan on doing and spend a few days at the site reading their posts. Truly excellent content.

MV



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Running for the Board

20 01 2010

So, I have a bit of an announcement to make.  This Saturday I will be running for the Board of Directors of CAPEX. While I have had issues in the past with the direction the group was headed, I have decided to step up and try to make a positive impact on the group. Towards that end, I have submitted my self nomination form to run. It will be a good challenge and I hope that I am allowed to serve this organization.

Wish me luck.

MV

Update: Well I lost this round, but two great people won. I wish them luck in the future.  I did toss my hat into the ring for a special election in February. Only a 5 month position, but I would like to win. Wish me luck again.


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