MVK Newsletter
June 2009 edition
Message from the Board
Pride fundraising in June and July
MVK plans a number of fundraisers for our entry in Pride 2009 this August. We want a float this year and need additional money to pay for the truck, our parade and festival entries, and miscellaneous expenses. We would like to decorate the float with some large equipment (can we build a giant clothespeg?) and as much recycled material as possible.
MVK hopes that what we're offering is valued by the community, and asks for your support in our efforts to increase our visibility, community presence, and community development through our participation in this year's Pride Parade.
As part of that effort we're planning to host a silent auction that would run online from mid June until our July party where we would gather the auction items and close the auction.
There are a number of ways to help us out and show your support:
1. Donate to the silent auction--we will provide a link to your website from the auction page, as well as a brief description of your product or service. Please contact us by Wed June 10 if you wish to participate in this event.
2. Donate items that will allow us to cut costs. Examples for items include wooden clothespegs, black/red/blue dye, printing costs, decorations or raw materials, a flat deck, water and snacks for volunteers, table and chairs for our booths, etc
3. Are you a computer wiz? Donate your time by helping with the technical end of running an online silent auction
4. Or, come to the June 6th party and buy a 50/50 ticket (or three... or more!) or participate in the Clothespeg for Pride fundraiser. Any donation is sure to be a big help!
Another great way to help out your local non-for-profit kink organization is by, you guessed it, giving us more of your time!
We will be at Eastside Pride on June 27th, and could use a large round table and 2-3 volunteers for ES pride for an hour or 2 each. We want to create a welcoming atmosphere with snacks and friendly people. Help us reach out to the community, lend a hand!
Pride volunteer callout: Help us make it big!
Vancouver Pride parade and festival is fast approaching on August 2nd, and we need people to be part of one of Vancouver's biggest parties! We'll have a parade contingent and a booth at the festival, and the more people at either, the better.
We'd like have a well-decorated float on a flatbed truck, and a presence at our booth at the Pride festival, so we need your help to organize! Even if you can't pitch in ahead of time, we can still use people in our marching contingent. If you want to be at the heart of one of this city's biggest parties, please contact us right away, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Seeking Snack Bar Manager
Wanting to give back in a bigger way, while learning business skills? Would you like to take on a small, well-defined managable amount of work? This position is for you! MVK is seeking a Snack Bar Manager for our monthly Vancouver Dungeon events. It involves purchasing stock from wholesale stores, transporting it to the hall, and setting up the snack bar for retail. You'll learn about marketing, margins, purchasing tips, and communicating with your volunteers as well. You don't have to take care of every party, just most of them. Please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it !
Accessibility Coordinator
As part of MVK's commitment to serving as much of our community as possible, we have appointed an official Accessibility Coordinator. This person will ensure our events, whether play, social, education or other, will be held in accessible venues whenever possible. Furthermore, we have posted on our web site a detailed accessibility audit for the Capri Hall, the venue for our monthly workshop and play party.
If you have any questions or suggestions about the accessibility of our event venues, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Events
June 2009 Vancouver Dungeon Workshop and Play Party
All events at Capri Hall (wheelchair accessible), 3925 Fraser and E.23rd, Vancouver BC
Afternoon Workshop: Newcomer's Discussion Group
3:00pm-4:00pm
A casual, low stress, private discussion group for newcomers to the BDSM culture and the curious.
Admission by donation, $5 suggested, but no one will be turned away.
Evening workshop: Knifeplay
7:30pm-9:00pm
Admission $10-20 sliding scale
Knives are dangerous weapons, full of deadly potential and erotic promise. Louise van Duuren will cover knife safety and techniques for bringing blades into the dungeon and bedroom without spilling a drop of blood. Learn how to dance on that edge of terror and seduction, from a slow, sensuous scene to a brutal trip through fear and beyond.
Presenter:
In 2000, Louise van Duuren exported herself from Amsterdam, where she was active in the women’s BDSM community. As a Vancouver resident, she has volunteered for BIO and the Vancouver DM Team, as well as whatever the leatherdyke community throws her way. As a lifelong leatherdyke, she has given workshops on fire play, bondage, brat play, drag for women, unusual sensation play, punching and kicking, and primal play for BIO, Sagacity (Victoria), Vancouver Women in Leather, Metro Vancouver Kink, Lupercalia (Edmonton), and Wild Side (The Netherlands). Louise has been trained as a body piercer by Elwood of Elwood’s Body Modification, and completed the Fakir Intensives Basic Piercing course. She has assisted in facilitating annual hook pulls in Vancouver, at the Primal Pain event in Edmonton, and recently at Mayhem.
BDSM play party
9:00pm-1:00am
Admission: $20, or $35-$45 with afternoon or evening workshop
Featuring Red Light Room and Pride Fundraising, including a 50/50 draw and the first Clothespin-a-thon.
95% of venue is accessible
Parking:
Ample parking is available on the surrounding streets. Please respect parking regulations, dress discreetly in public and keep noise down in respect for local residents.
Carpooling:
For Facebook users, install the Facebook Carpooling application from http://www.zimride.com/. You will be able to arrange rides with other attendees, once you have the event in your list.
Transit:
#8 and #25 buses will bring you there.
Please check Translink schedules for details
The last scheduled buses, at the nearest timing points are scheduled for:
8 and N8 runs through 3am southbound
25 last buses at roughly 12:30
Eastside Vancouver Munch
MVK's Eastside Vancouver Munch moves into its new venue at Zawa Restaurant on the Drive. A casual, no-stress social and discussion event for kinky and kink-curious people.
Location: Zawa Restaurant, 920 Commercial and Venables, Vancouver BC (accessible)
Time: 6:30pm-8:30pm, June 17th and the third Wednesday of each month.
News
Consent allowed in legal defense
A New Zealand man used the defense of consent to get his conviction for injuring two women quashed and a new trial.
Craigslist "griefer" sued for posting private information online
Jason Fortuny, who posed as a submissive woman on Craigs List and posted personal information of the male doms who answered, has been sued for approximately $75,000 by "John Doe" for breaching his privacy and violating copyright.
Monthly Book Review, by Dr. Suse
Reading is paramount to kink, whether it's learning about the latest in knot work, or delving further into theories on BDSM relationship dynamics, books are a kinkster's best friends. While the kink-minded are avid consumers in the non-fiction section, sometimes left behind are the books that pay homage to our one of our favourite passtimes. Whether it be the Marquis de Sade or a New York Times best selling author, there are many works of fiction that can titillate and tickle the fancy.
I have been building and compiling a list of kink related books and plan on sharing over the next few newsletters some kinky fiction that may keep your crank turning along with the page. One such series is the fantasy novels written by Jacqueline Carey, renowned amongst some for their daring sexual masochist heroine, Phedre. Phedre appears in Carey's Kushiel series, the first of which is titled Kushiel's Dart. In a land where prositution is part of the social norm, nigh the religion, Phedre finds herself deeply enmeshed in the cruel world of political intrigue and danger.
Carey's novels deal with sadism and masochism in a naturalistic manner, recognizing this form of sexual expression as a natural and relatively spiritual state of being. Many scenes of our heroine catering to a variety of role plays and desires make for a steamy read. But, what is interesting is the twist that Carey takes in her second trilogy set in this world focusing on hero Imriel, a sadist coming to terms with their desires after childhood trauma.
Carey is more about theory and philosophy, but uses the subtext of sadism and masochism to ask question of her characters and readers. Questions such as, what does it mean to be happy, how does one be good, and others make her novels less about smut and more about the nature of desire and ethical behaviour. For an interesting take on a highly ethical, seemingly hedonist, society pick up Kushiel's Dart, a good read for fantasy lovers and kinksters alike.
Masthead
Published monthly by Metro Vancouver Kink Society. Co-edited by Peter Tupper, vice-president and communications coordinator, and Dr Suse
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