Second Pride - Finally A Full Board Again

I have been remiss in my bogging to keep you updated on Second Pride, if you desperately need someone to blame I suggest you speak to Mr. Tomais Ashdene.

However, there was a board meeting last Thursday (which I unfortunately could not attend due to timezone hassles) that presented quite a few interesting developments. If you should wish to read the complete and unadorned minutes please visit the Second Pride website, Meeting Minutes of SP Board Meeting Nov 20, 2013 (url).

Here are my personal reflections on what occurred.

The attending membership was informed that Damian Tar had chosen to resign as Chairperson of the Second Pride board. He was duly thanked for his services to Second Pride.

This news saddened me greatly. Damian has been treated abominably by parts of the gay community, both in the election process and afterwards. He has received countless vicious and unreasonable personal attacks ever since he declared his intention of running for Chair. Damian has not even been granted the common decencies, that are fundamental principles of every democratic society, the right of being considered innocent until proven guilty or the chance to be heard in his own defence. Instead he has been judged, condemned and hung out to dry by the mob in whispering campaigns on social forums with little or no mercy shown.

I have grown to like, respect and admire Damian, but I can also see that in the end the hostility and focus on his person took away his and the boards ability to perform the important work they are elected to do. With the added burden of his sickness it is understandable that he, for his own good and the good of Second Pride, finally decided to step down. Like the board, I wish Damian all the best for the future.

Petr Hasting-Vanbeeck was appointed to replace Damian as chairperson.

Petr is a hardworking, no-nonsense and charming man who is well equipped to handle this position. I trust him and his level headedness to assure that the board's focus now is turned to the business at hand.

Andy Long was appointed to the position of Secretary/Co-Chair. I welcome this appointment also, although I will implore the new secretary to in the future spell my last name correctly, i.e. McMillan with two capital M's.

Sutry Long was appointed to the vacant position of Security Director. I am certain that Sutry will be an asset in the boards continued work.

So we finally have a full board again, lets get some work done people!

IT Director Jagger Naughton informed that Baz Ceawlin had agreed to become his co-chair.

At the meeting Petr then commenced to announce the creation of an ad hoc committee to review the bylaws of Second Pride.The committee is to be co-chaired by board directors Karl Karlchek and Marge Beaumont and include "Doc Spad, Bock Mcmillan (sic!) and one more as yet unnamed committee member".

A Great Sunday

Tomais and I started off with a little cuddling, once Tomais had figured out how my bed worked and could show me...

The we went ahead and tinted my mesh-feet, Tomais achieved in five-ten minutes what I hadn't been able to do in three hours. I have now decided that if tinting is that easy I am also going to get mesh hands and ears. Tomais then went on to show me why it is so handy and how easy it is to create outfits in folders.

When we couldn't get into the Shoetopia fair, we decided to take a look at Tomais hangar, where the Ashdene Aviation Co keeps its fleet of airplanes and helicopters.

That made me really excited to go on my first air trip in SecondLife. Tomais is an excellent pilot and I felt very safe.

After a while weekend-SL acted up and we had to log off to be able to get into another plane, an amphibian airplane this time, which took us to Guyke's and Ziggy's parcel Paradijs and their home Villa Kakelbont.

We talked a while with Guyke and Dex, Guyke's and Ziggy's, sexy Greek neighbour, before Dex had to go to bed and Tomais had to seek cover because there was a tornado, with winds up to 70 mph, closing in on his first life home.

I suffered the twins, Ace and Max, before Guyke finally decided to put the little brats to bed. As I understand it having babies in SecondLife is much like the Zion chicken scam and all the other breedable animals. You have to pay loads of money every week to feed them and buy toys to keep them happy and contented.

Now, that wasn't even half of it, just the short version.

I also had a good and long conversation with the master builder of Second Pride the extremely huggable Jak Calcutt, who was busy getting the Second Pride sim ready for the Christmas parties and balls. His little helper Karl Karlchek also got a word in sideways when we allowed him...

Not to forget, I received a royal invitation to visit with the Queen of Netherlands etc., etc., etc. BM Oh (her majesty actually has more titles than I have given myself, but I will soon remedy that) together with my stunning new man. The queen is really eager to meet Tomais.
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Please keep Tomais, his family and neighbours in your thoughts and wish them safety as tornadoes wreak havoc in the Midwest.

UPDATE 4:21PM: All is well with Tomais, his family and closest neighbours. The tornado passed within five miles of them and created a lot of damage but no reports of worse stuff, not yet.

Lazy Sunday

The laird rests while his guardian angels Butch and Guyke watch

Rest and recreation is essential for a man like The Much Honored Bock McMillan, laird of Southern Charm, prince of Cascade Falls and sovereign ruler of The Commonwealth of Southern Enchantment with Outer Territories and UN Protectorates.

Noblesse oblige, so between his laden social calendar, his lairdly duties and his investigative blogging (or being a general busybody as some call it when he doesn't report as they would wish he reported) take a heavy toll on even a strong man.

Yesterday an opportunity for some rest opened up, as the board meeting of Second Pride was not unduly prolonged, although some unsuccessful attempts were made.

The present board of Second Pride (with the exception of Tylo Mabelion), from left
to right Jagger Naughton, Petr Hastings-Vanbeeck, Damian Tar, Gaius Tripsa,
Karl Kalchek, interim build director Jak Calcutt and Hotboy Lockjaw.

The board announced that it had received two applications for the vacant positions as Treasurer and Build Director. It was decided that the candidate statements would be posted on the Second Pride website for membership review and that the board would later vote on the issue at a public meeting on Wednesday night October 2, 2013, at 6PM SLT.

The candidate statements are already posted here: Second Pride; Board Candidate Statements (url).

Although I will not spoil your fun when going there to check out the applicants, I must say that I welcome them both. The two would, in my not so humble opinion, be a tremendous asset for the Second Pride Board in its future work.

The Second Pride Rebuilding Project

After the Second Pride board meeting yesterday, which was calm and uneventful, those present were invited to a tour around the building site by the interim Build Director Jak Calcutt and his handyman Karl Kalchek, the Community Relations Director.

Thanking the genius while his husband jealously looks on

I was so impressed by what I saw on the tour that I later insisted on taking Butch and Dej back with me to take another look. (Do not expect any revealing pictures of the amazing buildings in this post because I have promised myself not to do that until the project is closer to being accomplished.)

Although I fully sympathize with and understand Karl's difficult position as overseer, source of inspiration and menial handyman to the brilliant builder during this harrowing process (as I had much the same role during the recent rebuilding of my own palatial mansion) I cannot help but falling in love a little with the brilliant and truly humble genius of Jak. 

Everything he does is extremely well thought through and inspired to be an even more beautiful and more functional new home for Second Pride itself and the non-profit organizations that are also housed there. I am so looking forward to seeing and showing you the result when the time comes.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank Jak and Karl again for their patience and for taking me, Dej and Butch on a new tour so soon after the first one.

Life Is A Cabaret @ Spinners

Yesterday I gave ya'll the prologue, well parts of it, because I said nothing about the many, many hours I spent shaving my face and every nook and cranny of my body. In some hard-to-reach places I even had to beg for assistance by an unnamed hair-remover. But let's forget about those traumatic moments now, suffice it to say that it takes some pain to be pretty.

Guykita, Butchette and the radiant Bocquerelle arrived to the venue on the specified time only to find that we were the only three in full drag, well except for Andy Long and his beautiful husbands, Story and Sutry. Not only that but - to add disaster to discomfort - it turned out there was an alpha layer on the ballroom floor that made Butchette's and my amazing gowns from Paris Metro disappear. "Alpha on alpha, just doesn't work, as every noob knows!", said Butchette (or something to that effect) as we moved on to the stage (which was non-alpha).

Guykita, Butchette & Bocquerelle
Photo by Butch Diavolo 

Butchette looking absolutely divine
Photo by Butch Diavolo

Isn't it amazing what can be accomplished with highlights and lowlights? Just look at Butchette's wonderful bosom, who would think that if you saw him from the side he was as flat chested as he always is.

The radiant Ms Bocquerelle, lairdess of Southern Charm etc.
Photo by Butch Diavolo

Story, Andy & Sutry Long

Kharissa, Pieni & Larz Kas

Poor little Pieni, was threatened by Butchette to be skinned and made into shoes. Brave little Pieni was not frightened by the bully because - as I was told later - "Lol he wuld have been in real trouble then. I has sharp teethies and twelve protective uncles. AND aunties and cousins. Hehe".

After a grueling two hour period eventually more and more people started showing up in the requested attire, although some were still not confident enough.

Former Second Pride Chair Doc Spad with one of our DJ's for the evening Karl Kalchek. 

Ms. Regina Yifu (in a creation she made herself) joined Butchette and me in a dance

Andy Long, the second DJ of the evening, surrounded by wives and a sister

We even had the pleasure of being joined by the renowned SecondLife
performance artist SaveMe Oh for a while (before she was kicked out
for creating lag with her sheep and meadows rezzed all over the ballroom)

Butchette, I and my brother in-law Dej with some of SaveMe's sheep

A dazzling beauty whose name I am afraid I have forgotten.
I am not even sure if she was in drag or is a woman.

Well known party goer, illustrious blogger and curmudgeonly Co-Chair of
Second Pride Petr Hastings-Vanbeeck (someone has to keep the others in line)

Hotboy Lockjaw, our last DJ for the evening, for the occasion dressed as Ms Dolly Parton

Spinners; Life Is A Cabaret

Spinners presents: Life is a Cabaret!

Come join us for a night of high drag! Our stellar (and oh so beautiful) entertainment includes:
DJ Karl from 12-2pm slt
DJ Andy from 2-4pm slt and
DJ Hotboy (performing as the always voluptuous Dolly Parton!) from 4-6pm slt

Wanna see how the other half lives? Now's your chance. Come spend an evening in their shoes!

We'll see you there!

SLurl to Spinners

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OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! I have absolutely nothing to wear!

Butch darling, get online a.s.a.p. I need you as a stylist NOW!

I hope to meet all you beautiful drag queens and kings there tomorrow, be there or be S-Q-U-A-R-E!

An Interesting Second Pride Board Meeting

Last Sunday morning, at 8AM SLT, was the first meeting of the SP2014 board after their installation.

Damian Tar

The agenda for the meeting contained items that can be classified as "potential dynamite" for those of us who are versed in reading such dreary documents. Among other things there was a proposal for changes in the roles of the chairperson and the treasurer. 

The meeting room was packed with mostly interested members and one member who mainly focused his attention on my allegedly puny, insignificant and uninteresting derriere, the sight of which caused him to blackout with boredom according to a post on said members blog.

Although there was a risk of this meeting getting out of hand I am proud to report that it was throughout conducted in a respectful and orderly fashion, much thanks to the competent leadership of the Chair Damian Tar, who was obviously well prepared and conducted the meeting in a calm, kind and responsive manner.

The directors (from left to right) Petr Hastings-Vanbeeck, Karl Kalchek,
Paul Gracemount (Mr. G), Gaius Tripsa, Damian Tar and Hotboy Skytower.

The complete minutes from the meeting are posted on the Second Pride website, SP Board Meeting September 8, 2013. I will however give you my subjective summary here.

The meeting was shocked and astonished to be informed of certain aspects of what had been going on within the board since the election.

It became clear to the assembled members (from the proposed bylaw amendments and the additional information received during the meeting) that the Treasurer had certain trust-issues which had lead him to refuse to, in direct contravention of the bylaws, share the password to the Second Pride Avatar (the treasure chest of the organisation) with the Chair and Co-Chair and to refuse to submit monthly financial reports to the board. The Treasurer had thereby also refused access to the Second Pride Avatar by the Auditing Committee. 

It was also apparent that the Treasurer - for unclear reasons - was at odds with the practice that had been established by the previous boards and had refused to share ownership of the Second Pride Festival Group with the Chair.

After these alarming issues had been discussed extensively the board (or a majority of it) directed the Treasurer to comply with the bylaws and established practices and share passwords and ownership with other members of the board.

I was filled with a great relief and much pride when I left the meeting. Relief  for the competent way the Chair and the board as a whole had handled the situation and pride that the serious topics had been discussed in such a respectful and thoughtful way despite the potentially inflammatory issues.

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After the board meeting I have learned that the Treasurer, has complied with or made arrangements for complying with all the boards decisions.

Following the board meeting Paul Gracemount (Mr. G), the Build Director, posted the following message on Facebook.

"To: Second Pride Membership and Board

This letter is to Inform the Second Pride membership and board that effective immediately, I resign the position of Second Pride Build Chair. I wish you good luck in the coming year but I do not have the time to put my best effort into Second Pride. If the Board would inform whomever they elect / select to fill the vacant position to contact me when they assume their duties to discuss the current Second Pride headquarters build.

Thank you all for your support in the past year,Mr Paul Gracemount"

I was extremely sad to read this notice as Mr. G is a levelheaded and charming man and an extremely talented builder who did a great job on the builds for this years festival and the beautiful new headquarters for Second Pride. He and his talents will be sorely missed.

A New Beginning

After the SP2014 board elections and the devastation it caused in the relations between different groups in the LGBT community of SecondLife the week following the announcement of the new board of directors has been rife with hurt feelings, bitterness and name calling. Today however I saw a few hopeful signs that a healing process may have begun. 

First I was contacted by a person who was hurt by my blogging of the election. Instead of lashing out at me this time he took the time to explain to me with calm and great care why he had been hurt in a way that I could understand. I explained to him my position and that I never had any intention of hurting anyones feelings but merely to give my personal view on the events. Although we did not say so explicitly, I feel we may perhaps have made a lasting truce.

Later in the day my attention was directed to some wonderful initiatives by Karl Kalchek, the incoming Community Relations Director.

Even before he gets installed on the Second Pride board tomorrow, Karl has started building bridges. A first step was been taken by him in establishing a blog Second Pride Community Relations. (I have added it to my blogroll for your future convenience.)

On the blog Karl tells us why he took this step:

"The purpose of this blog is to create a forum where ideas about increasing diversity and improving Second Pride can be discussed. My hope is for a frank but positive conversation about why some parts of our community feel excluded, unwelcome, or disinterested.

To me, community building is at the very heart of any LGTB effort – including Second Pride. But community building is not something that one person – or even a Board -can do. To be successful, change has to have the support of the community. Through this blog I am asking for your support: Your ideas, your contacts – your knowledge of what’s worked or not worked in the past. With the help of the community, I hope we can not make Second Pride not just bigger but better for everyone in the community."

The second step - and this is really awesome news - Karl reached out to Joshua Drew, one of his contenders in the election, and asked him to Co-Chair with him. And lo and behold, Joshie accepted the offer! I cannot commend the two enough.

I share the same hopes as Joshie tells us about in his comment to this announcement on the Community Relations blog on why he accepted the position:

"I am happy to accept Karl’s offer to be his Co-Chair/Co-Director in Community Relations. He and I compliment each other very well because we have different strengths and are tied to different communities. Karl is considered a “Bear” and me a “Twink” – yet here we are, great friends who respect each other and want to work together to actually build the bridges and communities ties that all of the candidates talked about during the campaign.

SecondPride was never meant to be an all “Gay Male Club” that throws a big Pride event once a year. Through our partnership, right out of the gate from the election, we hope to send a message to the LGBT Community that we welcome everyone. Now, I am happy to throw all of my support behind Karl and work with him as a team to make SecondPride much more inclusive and even more successful than ever before."

The New SP2014 Board

The results of the elections of the SP2014 Board of directors were announced at midnight. The new board will consist of the following members.

Chairman:: Damien Tar

Dextrum Boucher - 70 votes (48 %)
Damien Tar - 76  (52,%)

Secretary/Co-Chair::  Petr Vanbeeck
Andy Long - 65 votes (46 %)
Petr Vanbeeck - 75 votes (54 %)

Treasurer:: SquirtN Wonder
SquirtN Wonder - 123 votes (unopposed)

Events Director:: Hotboy Skytower
Female avatar X - 70 votes (48 %)
Hotboy Skytower - 75 votes (52 %)

Community Relations Director:: Karl Kalchek
Male avatar Y - 46 votes (32 %)
Karl Kalchek - 68 votes (48 %)
Joshie Drew - 29  votes (20 %)

Building Director:: Mr Gracemount
Mr Gracemount - 121 (unopposed)

Security Director; Gaius Tripsa
Gaius Tripsa - 120  (unopposed)

Marketing Director::  Tylo Mabellon
Tylo Mabellon - 121 (unopposed)

Communications/IT Director:: Jaggy Naughton 

Jagger Naughton - 127 (unopposed)

My congratulations to the winners, it was a close race but you made it. I also wish to thank those candidates who also ran for making this election so interesting.

The new board will be installed on August 18, 2013, at 11AM SLT and have their first meeting as a board of Second Pride. The existing Board will step down at that time and any transfers will take place at that time.

Special note. The candidates mentioned above as "Female candidate X" and "Male candidate Y" have expressly asked me to never mention their names again on my blog (for Y that restriction also includes never showing his picture). As none of them won their race I see no need to mention them at this time.

Rumors...

As we are getting close to the end of the voting period the air is rife with rumors of what may or may not happens once the results are declared. The last days the tumors have mostly been along this line "if so-and-so doesn't get elected to this or that position (usually chairperson) X, Y and maybe even Z will resign from the board even if they have been elected"

I sure as hell hope that the rumors are untrue, because if that should indeed happen the persons resigning from the board will have proved themselves to be blatant and shameless liars and completely untrustworthy persons who didn't give a damn about Second Pride or the LGBT community in SecondLife at all, but were intent on making Second Pride their own little roadshow for a year.

I would especially like to urge the two running for chairperson of the board to see to it that anything along these lines doesn't happen, because I - and I believe a large part of the community - will hold them responsible.

Below I have listed how the candidates responded in part to my question about "a ticket".

Dextrum Boucher: "I will of course work with whoever is elected, this is a basic principle of democracy. Once the election is over, we pull together and put the will of the people to work."

Damian Tar: "No I have not formed an alliance of any sort formally or informally."

Andy Long:  "I have not even made recommendations to my friends as to who they should vote for, just that they should choose and vote for the person they feel is the best candidate. I feel like we should stand on our own merits and qualifications, and as such, i have tried to ally myself with all the candidates, and not just a select few."

Petr Vanbeeck: "I feel that I can work anyone who is elected. And will do my best to accomplish that."

SquirtN Wonder: "I am not part of a ticket"

Mz Marville: "...there was discussion about the formation of a ticket. However, a formal ticket was not utilized..."

Hotboy Lockjaw: "As far as i know there is no official or unofficial ticket. All we can do is support other members of the board if we are elected."

Garrett Ceriano: "... this list is not evidence that we don't believe the others are not excellent candidates. There are other candidates that I would enjoy working with. I know other candidates on the list would love to as well."

Karl Kalchek: "... if elected we would work together, and I meant it."

Joshie: "I have absolutely NOT formed any ticket nor have I reached out to create any type of “arrangement” with anyone else running in the Second Pride Board Elections."

Mr G: "I will work with whomever gets elected Bock. I shall try to do it productively – but until you actually work with someone that cannot be answered in a simple yes or no."

Gaius Tripsa: "I look forward to working with the new Board members, whoever the voters select, for the good of the LGBT community and the Second Pride Festival."

Tylo Mabellon:  "I’ll work with whoever is voted to the Board this year regardless of the outcome. I wish everyone well in the election!!"

Jaggy: "In no way, shape or form have I ever considered myself part of some alliance or ticket. The community should be THE alliance…every friggin’ segment of it"