A Technical Workshop on Protocols and Other Important Things.

Well, this is not the news I hinted at yesterday, but sometimes you run across things that call for attention.

The House of Decorum is now hosting a Technical Workshop for all those interested.

This workshop will cover the following … How to negotiate, How to write a petition, How to write a contract, How to create protocols.

The workshop is being held in a classroom setting and everyone is encouraged to participate.

This workshop is FREE! Donations will be accepted to offset the cost of the meeting room.

The space is limited so please send your RSVP’s soon to insure your place. To RSVP, email houseofdecorum@yahoo.com with “Technical Workshop” in the subject line.

Location: Greenville SC, Date: Saturday, July 18, 2009, Time: 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm

Ms Jan & Ms Theresa

House of Decorum

www.houseofdecorum.org

MV

Mz. Berlin Needs Your Help

In case you were un aware, Mz. Berlin is a fairly famous fetish/bondage model. She is also, in her words “a daughter, a sister, a friend and a mother.”

And she needs our help.

It seems that after a story in a San Franscisco weekly outted her (and did a hatched job on our Lifestyle), the father of her son decided to be a jerk. She needs our help in order to retain some level of custody of her son.

After our last conversation I decided that it would be in my child’s’ best interest to have an interstate child custody and visitation agreement drawn up. I have spoken to a lawyer and while the fees are a bit beyond my budget, they are not astronomical. If this case goes into litigation, they could become astronomical, but I’m hoping that this can be resolved with mediation.

In addition to the SF Weekly affecting my child visitation in the immediate and foreseeable future, it has also greatly affected my income. While dealing with the custody issue (as well as the SF Weekly issue) I have been too anxious and focused on fixing that to work, not to mention the fact that my ex-husband has been using that as emotional leverage. I realized yesterday after speaking to a lawyer,  that I don’t have to be afraid to work, but I think it would be best for me to perhaps work on my own productions until this has cleared. My anxiety is at an all time high because I feel like I’m on red alert with my son.

Right now it looks like the lawyer fees are going to run between 700 and 1500, as well as airfare and accommodations when I have to appear in court. If you could donate anything to my paypal account, the email is thefabulousmzberlin @ gmail dot com, it would be very helpful.  I can assure you that once I get back to work I will donate the same amount to both local and national organizations, including the NCSF, the ACLU and The Los Angeles Mission. Any donation amount, even $1 will help me offset the cost of this legal matter.  It will go directly to my case. I hate to ask for this kind of assistance and now wish that I would have avoided it by preparing for a worst case scenario instead of a best case scenario in my custody agreement.

If you can help her out, well it would be a nice thing.

MV

A new blog review – Service Savior Faire

Sir Obsidian’s slave namaste has created a new blog spot called Service Savoir Faire.    This new blog is something that proves to be something that will be a much referenced added resource for those who serve.   Here is a description taken from her blog page:

 

Service Savoir Faire

Savoir Faire:Literally to know how to do, in common understanding it is the ability to know how to do the right or graceful thing. Service Savior Faire is a blog devoted to the How To’s of Service. Our aim is to create a space for the honing of service to a point of excellence and beauty. We do not merely focus on the acts of service, but upon the acts or service in the Spirit of Grace. Come learn with us!

 

The current blog on this page gives very detailed descriptions of packing for trips, coming home, tips for unpacking at the hotel and making the hotel comfortable.

 Let me know what you think about this new blog spot in the comments section.

Enjoy.

MV’s esclave

Graydancer’s Ropecast

Ok, sometimes I am late to the party. I only learned of Graydancer’s Ropecast reciently by following John Baku (FetLife‘s founder) on twitter.  He will be on it later this month (it appears that there is some difficulty in recording it, so I can’t give you a date).

So, Ropecast has been in existance since 2007 (and here I thought I was up on podcasting, lol). I plan on adding it to my ipod. I will try to give you a report on what up with it.

And I really look forward to hearing what John has to say.

MV

SELF Again

I found an interesting article today that reminds me that SELF (the South-East LeatherFest) is coming up soon.  It is a major BDSM convention in Atlanta, and will be celebrating 25 years of existance this year. While I have only been to the vendor rooms (damn budgeting, I will make it there some day), I hear wonderful things about it.

Southern Voice has a wonderful write up about it. If your going to be in the Atlanta area June 12-14, stop in and check it out.

Celebrating its 25th festival this year and open to all people regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, SELF includes a weekend full of classes, entertainment, parties and role-playing.

Organizers have shifted the schedule so that there is more programming on Friday and less on Sunday, have lowered ticket prices across the board and are offering one-day and vendor fair-only passes.

“We’re a little different this year,” says SELF co-owner Catherine Gross. “Everyone else has had to tighten their belt. We are a community event, why shouldn’t we do the same thing? We know what’s going on with our attendees, everyone has been hit hard… It was the right thing to do, and we did it.”

Last year, a good friend got an award at SELF, this year friends are running for the Master and Slave title.  I wonder what else will happen.

Share your SELF memories, please, in the comments.

MV