Last week, I did my very first "gig" at Truman State, the school where I went to college. About 40 people showed up for my presentation titled, "The P's and Q's of S&M." I was a little nervous to be presenting this on my former campus, being that there were still a few students there who I know. I've only been out of college for three years, but it still felt weird to be back. All the students look so young, and that made me feel like I'm aging.
Nonetheless, I sucked up my fears and slid on some latex and walked up to campus. (Aside - my favorite latex pants from Mr. S ripped while I was putting them on. GODDAMNIT!) As I walked through the mall to the fountain, a couple people on the street took pictures of me with their cell phones. I couldn't help but smile. The presentation itself went really well. I got the whole thing on videotape so I can critique myself and look for some areas of improvement. I really really want to get good at doing this.
The audience was different than ones I had previously presented to. This was not a crowd of "wanna be" kinksters who needed information on how to dive in. These were just people who were interested. Most of them were probably vanilla but just curious. Which is fine. Whether I'm working for recruitment or just for education, I'm happy to be of service. But as a consequence, most of the questions in my question-and-answer session didn't surround "how to jump in", but rather asking me personal questions. A lot of the curious parties just wanted to know what it's like to be 26 and kinky from the Midwest.
One girl, for example, asked me, "So when you go to one of the parties you were talking about, can you walk us through one of those?" So I described the CHC clubhouse on one of their 2nd Saturday parties. "You go in the front and there's a little booth where you show your membership, pay the cover, and then you go downstairs to the social area where there's a small bar....." etc. etc. etc.
It was a great experience, and honestly, being asked all these questions got me to do some reflection on my own life.
Following my event at Truman, I went on to St. Louis for a few days and through the weekend. I went to a get together of some kinky guys I had met at Inferno earlier in the year, and of course, my Sirs. It was a great weekend - very relaxing, and also added to my reflections.
I have to say, I'm incredibly thankful for everything I've been able to experience. I have some of the best kinky friends in the world, and I wouldn't trade them for anything. I've been lucky - I know that not every 26 year old gets to experience everything I have. It's really hard for me to complain about any of that.
I have a feeling that these are going to be the best years of my life.
Great job. Thanks so much for doing events like this. It really does help educate the masses. *hugs* cant wait to see you at IML.
Posted by: Boundinrubber | 04/14/2011 at 07:07 PM