The Meeting of The Day

Don't miss it, those of you who can make it!

There are now four candidates for the vacant Security Chair, beside Tylendel Falconer and Sutry Long (whom I have informed you about earlier) we now also have Andre’ “Andy” Rennebohm and Jake. Read the candidates statements here to prepare for the meeting.

Yeah, yeah, I mistakenly published this yesterday, but the meeting is actually today!

Second Pride Board Reshuffles

It's been awhile since I was able to attend a Second Pride board meeting, but I follow whats going on closely by reading the agendas and minutes that are posted at the Second Pride website (url).

Lately there have been a few interesting developments that I would like to report for those of you who do not have the time, inclination or patience to read minutes.

Tylo Mabellon (picture), who was elected to the Marketing Chair, has been voted off the board for having missed more than three consecutive regularly scheduled meetings without notification. 

I am hoping that Tylo is well, despite having failed to respond to the questions from the board. He is a pleasant man that worked well as marketing director during the last board.

Merrick Genesis (picture) was voted in to replace Tylo as Marketing Chair at the board's latest meeting on November 13, 2013.

The elected Security Director Gaius Tripsa (picture) was voted off the board at the last meeting for having missed four consecutive regularly scheduled meetings without notification. 

An open call has been made for parties interested in taking over the Security Chair to submit a notecard to the secretary/co-chair Petr Hastings-Vanbeeck as soon as possible. The applications will be posted on the Second Pride website for discussion and comments by the membership.

I don't believe that losing Gaius as a board member is a loss to the board in any way. From what I have observed Gaius has since the elections mostly been destructive and acting as a puppet for the losing faction in the election. He has invariably tried to cause as much havoc and damage as he possibly could whenever or wherever he could, both at meetings and in-between them.

So far two applications have come in and have been posted on the forum. One of the applications is from a European man, Tylendel Falconer, and the other is from an American woman, Sutry Long. As I see it both of them would be qualified and a welcome addition in diversifying the board, whether it be to broaden its geographical base or to improve the gender balance.)

Petr Hastings-Vanbeeck urged the other members of the board to consider appointing co-chairs, so that no-quorum meetings can be avoided in the future. Petr also announced that Andy Long (picture) had agreed to be his Secretary Co-Chair for 2014. 

At the meeting the question was raised on why the board had changed the normal time of the board meetings from Sundays at 11AM to Wednesdays at 7PM. The reply given was that this "is currently (the) time when we can definitely get all the board together to be able to hold a meeting with quorum."

I certainly hope that the board will consider the question of what time to hold its meetings carefully in the future, when they have replaced all the vacancies and non-attendees and also appointed co-chairs, because the new time of the board meeting only accentuates the impression that Second Pride is solely an American affair, which I do not believe is quite the impression the board wishes to convey.

Seventh Day of Second Pride (Now With Corrected Typos)

(I first posted this at 5 AM my time, I clearly shouldn't have because the typos and misspellings were really embarrassing. I have checked and corrected everything now, hopefully I got them all..)

The evening started with a party led by DJ Shea Paule. As i understand it DJ Shea substituted with extremely short notice for another DJ that had gone AWOL.It was not noticed in his play list, he played us a good mix of great music.

SJ Shea & hubby Kristen

Bock

Jeff in his usual position

Here we see what Jeff see´s and what he doesn't ever see, namely his nice ass. Isn´t it strange? The strong, silent and shy men always catch my interest? (Maybe it´s because I am such a damned loudmouth myself , but I will not tell any of you that little secret.)

Myles Capalini showing his moves.

The second set of the evening was with DJ Hotboy. (MJshotboy Skytower - as his full in-world name is - was accompanied by his partner Ohiomike Lockjaw, otherwise a studelicious man who unfortunately remained unrezzed as a big sexy cloud so I will not post pictures of him.)

Hotboy played an awesome mix of good tunes filled in with crowd pleasing gay anthems, (newer versions of the the classics and some modern anthems like Lady Gaga´s "I was born this way"). As I have said before, if ever there is a time and a place for gay anthems it sure as hell is Pride.

There is really only one small thing I have to object about DJ Hotboy and that is his terrible habit of yelling in the microphone. He really is a good and creative enough DJ and we actually do feel his energy without it. The yelling pisses me off I am afraid - everytime.

DJ Hotboy

mtd Timeless

Tylendel Falconer & Nanaki Raymaker, both from the Second Pride board with blogger Jeff Ellsworth in the background

Me being "artsy" and trying to take pictures through the water covering the floor

Another artsy attempt, see above.

Elorian Scarbridge and awesome DJ Butch Diavolo hitting it off

 

The Party has Started - Enjoy

Rejoice for - in spite of the Rapture - We are still here, We are still queer and you still need to get used to having us in your face.

So as you cannot beat us why not join in on our celebrations this week?

Some pictures from the events yesterday. I am sorry to say there was no Parade, it had to be canceled for various reasons, but listening to Mapoo Little sing was a great party starter. The crowd went wild for this little woman with the huge voice, of course she pleased us with some gay anthems but at an occasion like this it is fitting

Here are some pictures from the party and the ceremony that followed it, "The lighting of the Flame of Hope". I could not get on the sim for the last event, but thanks to Zack Preminger, I got a good view from the adjacent sim.

 

This great picture was sent to me by my friend Kolja Shan

The Speech given for the "Lighting of the Flame of Hope" by Nanaki Raymaker.
 

It's great to see you all here today!

This statue was a joint effort of the Board of Directors of Second Pride 2011 - specifically Tylendel Falconer, Jace  Lewis, and Nanaki Raymaker. It was designed to be seen clearly from a distance, and across several regions, and therefore uses conventional prims for the flame instead of particles.

The two most obvious symbols of the GLBT community have been used - the rainbow, as well as black and pink triangles.

Inverted pink triangles were used by the Nazis in concentration camps to identify and shame homosexuals. This symbol, which was used to label and shame, has been embraced by the gay community as a symbol of pride.

Starting out as a late-night mission in protective darkness, the giant Pink Triangle has been annually placed atop Twin Peaks - a mountain in the center of San Francisco - during every Pride Parade weekend since 1995.

The rainbow flag and it's colors has been revised over the years, each color representing a positive attribute of our shared existence, hot pink for sexuality, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for magic/art, indigo/blue for serenity/harmony and violet to represent spirit. However the most widely used flag now is the one designed by Gilbert Baker (six colors).

 In November 1978, San Francisco's gay community was stunned when the city's first openly gay supervisor, Harvey Milk, was assassinated. Wishing to demonstrate the gay community's strength and solidarity in the aftermath of this tragedy, the 1979 Pride Parade Committee decided to use Baker's flag.

This statue represents the upward progress of all sexualities and gender identities - after all - no civil rights movement has *ever* failed, as well as a symbol of hope that one day we will shine as one light, and speak with one voice.

We've got Mr. Gay 2011 and Ms. Gay 2011 here to light the flame atop this statue. A man who needs no introduction, Regi Yifu is an absolute powerhouse of creativity, generosity, and has been a source of inspiration for the GLBT community.

Marge Beaumont has served on the 2011 board of Second Pride as our Treasurer, and has worked tirelessly in her role. She is both a source of inspiration and endless humor, and I feel very honored to consider her a friend.