…from the MI-GRUE and Graydancer

(special thanks to the chilly model, Camille and the West Michigan Rope Group)

In the midst of my travels through the past month, there have been several times that I was sure I’d end up causing something of a scene. Taking <em>hemp</em> into and out of Mexico? How about the Japanese bondage porn that my host gave me (“Usually obscene items are not allowed…” according to customs)? And there was no way they’d let us take the Crimson Canes of Ama D.F on our international flight?

But no. All of my efforts to be a bad-ass suspicious international bondagero were for naught (or knot, as I guess you could say…heh). The Mexican women at the flight didn’t open my bag to see the bondage porn; the dogs didn’t smell the hemp; the 50′ coil of 1″ thick cotton rope in the bottom of my bag apparently doesn’t resemble a nuclear device.

But the canes! Theses are long, pointy weapons! Finally, a look of - well, ok, not suspicion or wariness, but at least puzzlement. “What are these?” the officials asked, several times.

“Pointers,” I answered, every time. “We’re presenters. We use them to point out things.” I mimed pointing here, here, and here in the air (“This is her ass…this is the rope mark on her arm…this is her right nipple…”). I braced myself for the search, for the demanding of my passport, for the necessity of selling my petite blonde traveling companion in order to get over the border…

Instead, I got shrugs, and they handed them to me. Every time.

I almost got some fun this morning, though, going through security at O’Hare on the way to Detroit and the MI-GRUE. “Baggage check!” yelled the screener, and I thought that maybe I shouldn’t have tried for the carry-on after all.

“I’m a performer. You’re probably seeing my ropes, swivels, and props,” I said conversationally as she opened the case, to look at ropes, swivels, underwear, black shirts, a Shibaricon bag, and -

“Whoa!” she exclaimed, holding up a shiny piece of silver. “I think this is too sharp. Melis-SA!!!” She called several times for her supervisor, a short, mature, businesslike woman. I smiled and said, “It’s a $10 prop - I’ve got no problem with leaving it behind…”  But Melissa came over and looked at the offensive piece.

“Oh,” she shrugged. “That’s a Wartenburg wheel. It’s just a sex toy. No problem.” The screener put it back, a little hastily, and wished me well. Melissa touched my arm and smiled. “Have a good flight.”

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. I don’t think we’re as edgy as we think we be…

If you only go to one event this year- hell, if you only go to one event in your life - this is the one to go to. I’ve been a part of it from the beginning, and it just keeps getting better…

SHIBARICON 2008
MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND
MAY 23-26, 2008
CHICAGO, IL USA
Don’t miss this amazing 4-day weekend of rope, fun & friendship!

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!!!
http://www.shibaricon.com/registration.html

• 4 days of classes taught by awesome instructors
• 14,000 sq ft of play and practice space
• Great equipment including lots of suspension frames,
• vendors selling rope, fine fetish wear, toys and more

For more information please visit http://www.shibaricon.com

I hope many of you will be able to join us for these 4 wonderful days of bondage, fun & friendship that gets better every year! Don’t forget our great location, the Hyatt Regency O’Hare, offers a shuttle from the airport as well as convenience to transportation to downtown Chicago for those of you who want to take some time to go sightseeing or shop at IML.

For a limited time early registration will be only $145.00 for this fabulous 4-day event. Register now and save!

The link to reserve a room will be found at http://www.shibaricon.com/venue once the system is ready to take our reservations.

This event is a labor of love for so many who work diligently all year to make it happen. All of us look forward to reuniting with old friends and meeting new rope-lovers.

Gah. There are SO MANY things wrong with this article. Not the least of which is the simple fact of “I experimented without bothering to try and learn how to do it properly, and I had a bad experience…so now I’m going to write an True Memoir about it, see?”

” I’m not sure who introduced the kinkiness into our relationship, but we both enjoyed it. After three months we were doing it all: bondage, exhibitionism, pretend rapes, the works.In time, the wildness of our sex life started to corrode our emotional relationship. And so the inevitable happened. Alicia and I found ourselves strangers…”–Sean Thomas

Inevitable? Funny how that works. Not been my experience. I also find it funny that he seems to think that “our forefathers” weren’t having kinky or illicit sex (or reading porn or doing anything, really, that we don’t do now). ONe thing I would agree with: people are tending to lose the meaning behind it.

One of the questions a person asked me last night at the local bondage club in Mexico City was “how do you keep people from becoming bored with BDSM?” After I finished blinking I asked for further clarification, and she explained that people tried BDSM, and then decided it wasn’t that interesting - usually after a class on techniques of tying or the like. What they didn’t do was bother to figure out what they really wanted out of BDSM, and then figure out how to get to it. Instead they learned what people told them was BDSM and then wondered why it didn’t satisfy.

As a BDSM educator, performer, and activist, I’d kind of like to get the chance to ask this guy a few pertinent questions - not the least of which is “Gee, so all those repressed sexual relationships were totally satisfying?”

Again I say, gah!