September News: AK, KS, Australia, and possibility models
Hello beautiful beings!
I write to you from Anchorage, Alaska, having just finished a week-long Alaskan cruise with family. Though I lived in Alaska for over five years, I never had the opportunity to head further south than the Kenai Penninsula, so the chance to see Skagway, Juneau, and Sitka was a delight, as well as see a variety of glaciers up close.
In Alaska, it is not possible to ignore climate change. The Mendenhall Glacier, which had been retreating at a pace of 100-150 feet a year for a while, retreated over 800 feet this year according to folks who worked in the national park. Heartbreaking. The beautiful Margerie Glacier, which used to extend out into the ocean, now has large swaths of rock visible. And at the Hubbard Glacier, even in the time I watched, chunk after chunk fell into the ocean, calving with a terrible and beautiful rumble (though Hubbard Glacier is the only glacier that is not retreating in the national park - a park the size of Connecticut).
I’m on a short turn-around in Anchorage before heading off to Kansas for the RSG Rope Campout, where it will be three amazing days of bondage, camping, friends, and connection. I’m excited to be there to teach a variety of classes, an idea perhaps for folks in the area who are looking for something to do this weekend.
The following weekend has me head off to Melbourne, Australia, heading down under for the first time in over a decade. I will be vending books at the Fetish Expo, dressing to the nines at the Hellfire Fetish Ball and Klub Kunst, and then the day after the expo beginning a week of classes that range in topics from transgender awareness to power exchange dynamics, erotic roleplaying to FTM CBT. Check out the full lineup:
- Sunday 15th Sept 3 pm – Power Exchange, Power Dynamics: Conscious Inequality, Dominance, and Submission
- Sunday 15th Sept 1 pm – What’s Leather Got to Do With It? Leather Fetish, Sex, and Soul
- Monday 16th Sept 7 pm – Reclaiming our Pleasure Rights: Exploring Sexuality for Trans Folk and their Lovers*
- Monday 16th Sept 8:30 pm – Pain is Inevitable, Suffering is Optional: Pain Processing Techniques
- Tuesday 17th Sept 7 pm – Punching, Hitting, and Deep Bruising
- Tuesday 17th Sept 8:30 pm – What Labels Give Us, What Labels Take Away: The Power of Gender and Sexual Identity Labels
- Wednesday 18th Sept 7 pm – FTM CBT: Genital Torment for Queer Bodies
- Wednesday 18th Sept 8:30 pm – Open Hearts, Open Minds: Exploring “Alternative” Relationship Structures
- Thursday 19th Sept 7 pm – Be Yourself or Someone Else: An Introduction to Erotic Roleplaying
- Thursday 19th Sept 8:30 pm – Woof, Whinny, and Meow: Human Pony, Puppy, and Animal Play
September 21-22 will then be the fantastic Oz KinkFest, where I will be doing a series of extended classes, alongside amazing presenters from around the world (which is almost sold out!). Come check out the work of Vlada & Falco from Russia, Mistress Tokyo from Australia, and so many others and also join me for my own classes! I’m so excited for this event, and the entire 13 days I am spending in Melbourne. I have space for a few private classes and mentoring, especially during weekdays, so feel free to reach out if interested.
My current trip has also included a few wonderful days in Vancouver, my first time back in 7 years, and gave me the chance to lead a class/discussion on power exchange and energy exchange. It has given me a lot to think about. The biggest one that I have been pondering is on the queer theory concept of “possibility models.” In life, so many of us develop role models. Those who inspire us, that we want to live up to, those who we say “when I grow up I want to be like them.” However, these things are not possible. Not only is it impossible to be just like that person, it does not leave space for that person to be… a person. There is no space for them to learn, grow, evolve, and be their own authentic self.
Instead, who can we look at and be inspired? Who do we look at and be turned onto the possibilities they wake us up to. Who do we see and go “wow, I didn’t know that was an option?” I know for me, going to my first public kink event and seeing a suspension scene live inspired me to new possibilities of erotic connection. That same party was the first time I saw someone use a safeword, a term that they said to their partner when they needed to pause or stop what they were doing, and it inspired me to new possibilities of communication.
I have possibility models that have opened my eyes to so many things. Gender exploration. Writing. Sexuality. Faith. Spirit work. Wardrobe. So many ways to be inspired. So many times I have gone “I did not know that was a possibility or option,” until I saw it or heard about it.
Who have been your possibility models? What has woken you up to new ideas and ways of being?
May you keep being inspired!
Yours in Passion and Soul,
Lee Harrington
http://www.PassionAndSoul.com