GWNN NEWSLETTER

September MUNCH

Saturday, 11 , 2010

Board meeting at 5:00
Munch from 7:00 – 9:00

ARTZ RIB HOUSE September
www.artzribhouse.com
2330 S Lamar Blvd

Munches are open to anyone – over the age of 18 – who has an interest in learning more about the kinky side of Austin and Central Texas. You can meet lots of other fun and interesting folks and get the 411 on all sorts of groups and events.

Please remember – don’t scare the vanillas – family friendly clothing please.  Austin may be “weird”, but Artz is a very vanilla-family establishment.  Please be family friendly and keep your hawt fetish attire for the parties!

We meet in the back room, which does have it’s own entrance with a ramp. Place your food orders at the bar and a server will bring your food in to you. Please remember to tip!

Artz is centrally located on South Lamar, about 2 miles south of Lady Bird Lake (Town Lake). Street clothes are the appropriate attire for this event. If the front parking lot looks full, go around the back.

2330 S Lamar Blvd Austin, TX 78704-4727 (512) 442-8283

An Important Time in the GWNN Year

This month’s munch marks an important time in the GWNN year.  The election of officers for the 2010-2011 year is upon us.  We, the members, have the opportunity to select the best of the best from among us to represent and guide GWNN for the next year.

In times of strife and turmoil the nominations seem to take on an air of urgency.  In calmer times everyone assumes that the smooth sailing will continue forever.  But GWNN still needs firm hands on the wheel and positive leadership as we continue to grow strong bonds in the community and provide the leadership that GWNN has been known for.

GWNN can build on the amazing success of the 2010 BASH and grow even stronger, but we need to nominate and elect leaders who have a positive vision for GWNN as well as the community as a whole.

The 2010 Election Committee is comprised of the following GWNN volunteers:

Liz, Scott, Sarah, Katie, and Opal

Nominations will be accepted until MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2010.

Please send all nominations directly to gwnnEC2010@yahoo.com

Your nomination should include the following:
- The common/publicly known name of the person you wish to nominate
- A correct contact email/phone number for that person
- The position for which you want to nominate that person

Nominees will have until WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2010 to accept or decline.  Nominees bios need to accompany their acceptance in order to have printed materials ready in time to hand out at the munch.  Nominees are requested to be at the munch to meet the members and be available to answer questions.  The election will be held at the October 9, 2010 munch, so the September munch is an opportunity for members to talk to nominees and for nominees to present their ideas for the upcoming year.

We will elect the following positions:

Board President (1)
Board Member (6)
Arbiter (1)

CURRENT NOMINEES: (as of “press time”)

President
Accepted:
John F

Bydarra

Board
Accepted:

Ralph

John F

Bydarra

Randwulf


Waiting for response:
Jazz
Koura

Wolf (Wolfco)

Sea (Undergroundsea)
 
Declined:
Opal
Ms J

Arbiter
Waiting for response:
Jazz

Declined:
Liz

REFERENDUMS

FIVE referendums have been presented and approved for membership consideration.  The vote on these referendums will also take place in October.  They will be presented to the membership at the September munch.  Five is a lot to print here and we would encourage members who have not read them to do so in message #4418 on the gwnnmembers Yahoo groups list.

If you are not on the yahoo group you may subscribe at:

gwnnmembers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

You can read the current by-laws and P&P at:

http://www.gwnn.net/PnP.html

Remember GWNN is YOUR group.  It’s future is in the hands of the membership.  If you only attend 2 munches a year, September and October are the ones to be at.

BASH 2010 Follow Up and Thanks

WOW, what a wonderful evening at the 2010 BASH Party!

We sold 200 tickets between the Bash and the party which makes the 2010 Bash: The Age of Consent the most successful GWNN event in recent memory.  All of the dedicated volunteers made this an event to remember.  A deep and heartfelt thanks from Bash planners, the BOD, and everyone who attended go out to the overworked and harried volunteers who helped make this a year to remember!  Thank you to every who supported GWNN by attending, supporting the vendors, making the speakers feel welcome, and having a good time!
 
So … what’s next ?  2011 will be the 18th Anniversary.  What should the theme be?  Something to do with the draft?  Being fully legal anywhere in the US?  It's never too early to begin planning.

INTERVIEW with JOEL

In keeping with a follow up from the 2010 BASH,  here is one more interview that community members might find interesting.  We had an interview with Stan just before the BASH.  Here now, is an interview with the Co-Founder of GWNN; Joel.

***So, 17 years ago … what were you thinking when Stan told you about beginning a “group”?
As I recall, he was interested in forming a bodyart group. We met at the Shady Grove and after several pitchers of beer I suggested the idea of opening it up to BDSM people too. Seemed like a good idea at the time.  But seriously, in the back of my mind there was the fact that over the years I have witnessed, as many others have since told me they have seen, a number of scene related things that made me feel sad or angry. I hoped that by building a supportive community some of the numbers of these kinds of incidents could be reduced. I hoped that Stan and I could gather enough people to make that happen.

***Were you involved right from the start?
I'm not really sure how to answer that. In the very beginning we would talk and figure out when to next meet, post the time and place on ASB then show up. The real "getting involved" started with the first play party. As I recall, one of our earliest conversations took place in a place that was a swinger’s bar on Saturday night and a Pentecostal Church on Sunday morning. The early days were a very strange and twisted journey.

***Had you been involved in NLA or any other sort of organized kinky group before?
Yes, several. The first public group I was a part of in Austin was in the very early 1980's. Prior to that my experience was in a private relationship in Europe.

***Can you tell us how other people reacted to the idea of actually having some sort of loosely organized “kinky” group?
Bonnie, partner at the time, was quite supportive but surprised that I would actually be that public about my lifestyle. But generally the message I got from almost everyone was that it would never work.

***Can you recall any details about the first get together … were there many people? Were the others excited about the chance to meet on an ongoing basis? Were there any surprises, for instance .. oh, wow - you?????
If you don’t count Stan’s gathering at the Shady Grove, which as I said was (other than my partner and me) a gathering of his bodyart friends, our first true “munch” was on the second floor of the Tavern on North Lamar. I don’t recall that Stan and I had talked about doing anything on a regular basis at that point, I believe that we just wanted to see if anyone would read the announcement on ASB and show up. To our surprise, I believe 24 people turned up so we decided to try it again. I got a few comments from attendees that ran along the line of “Wow, I guess I’m not as alone as I thought.” The funniest reactions for me came from neighboring tables of co-eds who kept asking about all the tattoos. I told them we were a gathering of computer users, which at the time seemed to explain everything.

***What did you do to help promote GWNN in the beginning? Did you have any sort of “official” job in the group? Did anyone have any sort of “official” job?
I don’t believe so. In the beginning Stan and I were a team that just tried to figure it out as we went along. Stan did all the public speaking at the time because he was very comfortable doing it, and he also made a lot of the early furniture because he had the resources. I think my first furniture contribution was the first free standing cross but that was a couple of parties later.

***When did the name GWNN come about?
Stan was the first one to refer to us as “the no name group.” Somehow that evolved-perhaps in homage to the Clint Eastwood character, but who knows for sure-into the group with no name. Not long after that my partner Bonnie started using the term GWNN, Stan started using it the newsletter and the name stuck. Stan also came up with the logo as I recall.

***Besides the huge growth, how has the scene changed in this area in the last 17 years?
My sense is that in the early days, perhaps because there were so few of us and we had all experienced lonely and sometimes desperate feelings of being alone with our kink, the community felt like family to many of us. As the community has grown larger and the newer, younger members have joined who may have never had those desperate feelings of being totally alone with their kink the community has splintered. In some ways it may be healthy, there are more options and there is less of a feeling of “us against the world” but in other ways it may be a loss for those who need and love the idea of a family like kink community.

***Did you have any idea at all how GWNN would turn out? Did you ever imagine GWNN would be here 17 years later?
Frankly I am stunned that GWNN is still around. Historically very few of these kinds of sexually orientated groups last more than a couple of years.

***With the proliferation of groups now as opposed to when GWNN began, do you think there is still a place for an umbrella group like GWNN?
I hoped that there would be a place for some kind of gateway group. From what I have seen most groups aren’t really set up to welcome complete newbies, and everyone needs to start somewhere and historically GWNN has done a fine job welcoming in the new folk.

***What do you see in GWNN’s future? In Austin’s kink future?
I’m really bad about predicting the future. As I said, in the beginning I didn’t expect GWNN to survive more than a couple of years. I hope that whatever the shape of the future turns out to be like there is still room for, and acceptance of, people who have been stuck with the kink gene. We aren’t going away, and I hope we won’t ever have to feel as alone as I felt when I was young and embarrassed about my kinky side.

***Can you share any memorable moments from the beginning? Were there any scary moments?
One of the most memorable and scariest moments was probably the first pay play party at the swinger’s club up on north 183. Stan put up his mortgage money to pay the rent for the place and I agreed to help cover any shortfall. We were really praying that enough people would show up so that he could get his money back. We needed forty people and exactly forty people showed up. Perhaps we were young and stupid, but rather than being a scary warning to us that we shouldn’t be playing with fire like that, the fact that we broke even encouraged us to do it again.

***Do you think state or local politics have much effect on the kink community?
From what I have seen they do, a bit. But in my experience the internal community politics have a much greater effect on the community. When the community is at war with itself many people who have a lot to lose go away and many never come back. That is tragic, I lost contact with many fine peple because of the political infighting that has taken place over the years.

***Do you think the media really has much effect on the community?
Some positive and some negative. The “safe, sane and consensual” catch phrase has been quite helpful to us, particularly in law enforcement issues. On the other hand there are still plenty of media bits that use BDSM as the reason bad things happen.

***What was the best “lifestyle” advice you ever got?
Well before GWNN I had a mentor and one of the most important things he helped me work through and accept was that my kink did not make me a bad person, that, if fact, I am a pretty good person and that in the right circumstances my kink can be a good thing.

***Who are a few of the speakers you’ve heard and seen that really had an impact on you?
Speakers? Well, friends who have spoken publicly…there are many and a number of them are well known, Guy, Jay, Midori, Travis, Fakir, Jack, the list goes on. They all have played a role in shaping me in interesting ways. But people who are not well known in the scene have played at least as much if not more of a role in my experience in the scene.

***What advice would you pass along to someone new?
Enjoy the journey that you need to take. Trust your heart and let it be your guide on that journey.

***What type/style of music do you enjoy when you play? Any favorite groups or genres?
In public parties I like the hard, edgy energy laden stuff. In private play quieter, more sensual stuff seems to do better.

***What are a few of your favorite types of play? Toys?
Impact toys like canes, floggers, single tails, a paddles are always fun. As a Ds Dom I like to mix them in with the mental aspects of BDSM.

***Is there anything else you would like to say to members of GWNN on the 17th anniversary?
Wow! 17 years! Thank you for joining me in this remarkable journey. It has been quite interesting and entertaining and I have to say that overall the people I have met and gotten to know in the community have been some of the finest and most interesting people I have ever had the privilege of meeting in my life.

***Thank you so much!!
You’re quite welcome.

Of Interest to Community Members

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The Central Texas boys of Leather

Group Therapy: Keep Sex Weird

A new group therapy meeting will be offered this fall. This group will meet every Wednesday from 800p to 930p; the first session will start Weds., Oct. 6th. If you are interested in joining, or want more information, please contact me with any questions.
Details:
Group Therapy: Keep Sex Weird
Facilitators: Edwin Ancarana and Ashley Lavalle

"When things don't work well in the bedroom, they don't work well in the living room, either." Dr. William H. Masters, the senior member of the Masters and Johnson sexuality research team.

What is Group Therapy?
Group Therapy is the practice of talk psychotherapy in a small group setting. The group members consist of seven to ten clients, and one or two therapists as facilitators. Through feedback from others, self-observation, and self-reflection, the group members form a social microcosm that allows issues to be explored safely and effectively. Think "The Breakfast Club," without the marijuana :)

Why this particular group?
Sex is a constant part of our lives, from cradle to grave. Sex influences our identities, our relationships, our culture, our politics, our religions….everything from the clothes we wear to the people we choose to spend our lives with. And as Masters and Johnson have observed, difficulties and problems in our lives usually show up in our sex lives, and vice versa. From performance and expectation issues, to secrecy and shame issues, to power and privilege issues, this group will explore problems and difficulties that arise within the broad landscape of sexuality.

Who would benefit from this group?
• Adults with non-traditional sexual identities, orientations, relationships, and interests, that would like a safe environment to improve their ability to
cope with difficulties and problems in their lives.
• Adults that have difficulties and problems in their lives of a sexual nature.
• Adults who are exploring and educating themselves, and have questions and concerns about their desires, fantasies, and fetishes, or are having difficulty coping with and normalizing what it is that they are, desire, and do.

How much does it cost?
Individual cost is $5 per session, paid in $20 increments at the beginning of every month.

Where and when does the group meet?
The group meets at Capital Area Mental Health Center, 2824 Real St., Austin, TX 78722, every Wednesday evening at 800p – 930p.
First group meeting is October 6, 2010.

How do I contact you?
If you are interested in becoming a group member, or just have further questions, please call 512-302-1000, access the voicemail box for either Edwin
(x168) or Ashley (x193), and leave a message with your name and a phone number that we can reach you at, for an initial phone assessment.

Anything else I need to know?
This group is currently open to ages 21 and up. All genders, races, creeds, and sexual orientations are invited. If there is a question whether this group is right for you, please ask.

"So much oppression in our culture is based on shame about sex...we have all been taught, one way or another, that our desires, our bodies, our sexualities, are shameful. What better way to defeat oppression than to get together in communities and celebrate the wonders of sex?" Dossie Easton and Janet Hardy, co-authors of "The Ethical Slut: A Practical Guide to Polyamory, Open Relationships & Other Adventures"

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