My first impressions are: "Wow! What a lot of work conferences are to organize!" and.. "Robyn Trask and the crew at Loving More make it look sooooo easy!" Many many thanks and kudos to them for their accomplishment!
The conference took place over the course of a weekend, which meant six workshop slots in total (you can read about them on the conference site, here). I attended five (ok, I was up a bit too late Saturday night to make it to the early Sunday workshops, but hopefully you'll excuse me because I'd not seen my Seattle sweetheart for several weeks.. I was, uh, busy practicing what I preach). ;)
Most of the attendees were seasoned poly members of various polyamory and sex positive groups across the globe and many were leaders in their poly communities. The workshops were not only informative, but were also exciting thinktanks for new and creative ideas on how to think about, learn about and teach about polyamory. I feel privileged to have been a part of this.
Some of the poly leaders and luminaries in attendance were: Dossie Easton, author of The Ethical Slut, Cunning Minx, host of Polyamory Weekly podcast, Alan, the webmaster of Poly in the News, Christopher Ryan, author of Sex at Dawn, Pepper Mint, of Freaksexual, Mim Chapman, author of What Does Polyamory Look Like?, Curt Bergstrand, author of Swinging in America, and several executive committee members of the Canadian Polyamory Advocacy Association.
Over the course of the weekend I got to chat, listen to, discuss with and giggle with all of these lovely people, many of whom I look forward to seeing and working with again. Events like Poly Living remind me that the world can be a friendlier and more connected place, not only through the magic of the internet and air transportation, but through the willingness of people to share themselves, their dreams, and their determination to be utterly themselves regardless of what our cultural norms tell us we *should* be. As Dossie herself said to us in her keynote speech: Success comes from the willingness to appear foolish and to reach outside the box.
Getting to meet Christopher Ryan at the book signing was awesome!
Me, with my first edition of The Ethical Slut.
Sharing a cuddle with Dossie after she signed BOTH my editions of The Ethical Slut!
With Pepper Mint, doing some poly networking!
Great photos! :)
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