Ruffled Feathers

It seems that my previous post "Rumors..." has annoyed and irritated some of the candidates. I have, among other things, been accused of rumor mongering and for tarnishing the name of Second Pride.

Arlain Morrison "Ruffled Feathers II"

Today I have been asked by two different candidates (names withheld) in IM never to mention their names on my blog again. I have replied that if they get elected to the board of Second Pride they will most likely be mentioned from time to time in the future. To one of them I also added that I would most certainly mention his/hers name if he/she was elected and then immediately resigned.

My intention with the post was simply to remind the candidates what they had promised us voters during the campaign, not to hurt their delicate feelings.

Survey: Which Is the Most Overused Word In SecondLufe

Today I am "doing an Eddi", that is copying my friend Eddi Haskell and asking you to answer a survey,and ask you to let us know which word you believe is the most overused in SecondLife.

The term overused id usually defined as "used too much, or too often".

You will find the survey in the top right corner of the blog and  will be able to vote until August 11th at 2:00 PM SLT.

I have given you five options to choose from, choose wisely! Should you wish to share the reasons for your choice, you are welcome to do so in the comments.

Canadians & Kissing

(Via J.M.G.)

Singer-songwriter Jonny “Gay Pimp” McGovern.highly recommends visiting Canada for their French Kissing, but perhaps he only means Quebec and the French Canadians not the Anglos....? Has anyone tried out the Anglo Canadians kissing skills yet and can tell me if they are worth testing also?

This video is a part of Tourisme Montreal’s new "Do Your Thing In MTL" video series, where they are trying to promote LGBT tourism to Montreal.

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"

Harmony vs. Discord

Today I read an interesting post by Spike Clémenceau-Silent on his blog Sex & Second Life. The post is entitled Gossip, Pride, Lies, half truths and other monsters.

In the post Spike makes an analysis of this years Second Pride campaign and the shortcomings we have witnessed in the process and or the candidates or their followers, and what he believes are the shortcomings of Second Pride.as a concept, or as Spike calls it "a plattform". Spike concludes his post with these words "If you really want to do some change and do some good, do the hard work and leave the dirty politics and drama, to those who only seek recognition and praise."

I agree with much of what Spike has to say concerning what we have seen during the campaign from anonymous bloggers, alts in the forums etc. Some of the people in the forums (and many other places too) have been eager to air dirty laundry of one or the other candidate and have shown an inability to separate between the candidate's personal lives and hers/his actions, opinions, thoughts and ideas. Of course the candidates historical activity and opinions matter when we try to decide whether or not we can or should trust them, but that doesn't mean we want to hear from all their ex-lovers airing their grievances or other similar mudslinging.

However, I fundamentally disagree with Spike's conclusions. I do not believe that discord is something bad or evil, that politics are dirty or that the clash of ideas and opinions are inherently bad or are worthy to be labeled "drama", the word we all dread so much in the harmony-centric world of SecondLife. I wrote a post about this about a year and a half ago, please read it, Should SecondLife be "Pleasantville"?.

In short I believe in Second Pride. I also believe in elected officers and a democratic election process where the candidates need to inform the electorate about their visions and ideas and have to answer tough questions about their past activities and statements.

Lack of agreement concerning thoughts and ideas and the clash of these are in no way to be written off as "drama", they are a necessary process in deciding whom we vote for and how we wish Second Pride to develop in the future.

Harmony kills, stifles and blends everything into a grey porridge with fake smiles and fake cordiality! Harmony is also bloody boring!

Celebrating Guyke's Birthday

Yesterday we celebrated Guyke's first life birthday, with cake and gifts and everything. At first it was just Guyke and I, then Butch joined us after a while.

My gift to Guyke was a bit improvised, but still... What does one give a guy who has e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g than can be bought, gifted or stolen in SecondLife? A new experience of course!

The experience I came up with was "in a shower with daddy and another guy and all are wearing clothes", So I forced Butch into the shower (which is kind of "uncharted territory" for him, I am saying no more!), pushed Guyke in after him and got in myself before shutting the door. I was there of course mainly as a chaperone to see to it that all was above board and decent...

Later on Heloq dropped in too and then - briefly but still - we were also joined by Guyke's aunt and my sister, the amazing Millimina (she is not in any picture because I was so surprised and overwhelmed).

Countdown for Kro - 11

How time flies, we are already down to eleven days until Kro returns back to Dej.

You can do this Dej, babe, soon we will be down to single digits and then, then... He will almost be back home again!