House Tearmainn

No shortage of topics to write about, which is nice. If anything it’s an overabundance. What’s a master to do? Well, write more of course!

I like to think I’ll get to summaries of the workshops we attended, but as they get further in the past it gets less likely. It is less important for me to document the catalysts than the reactions at the moment.

So what to talk about? Well, one thing that’s been on my mind is that at the top of the page it currently says that we’re a “leather household”. I initially used the phrase thoughtlessly. In my limited experience it is what people in the community call this kind of interpersonal structure. I was discussing my usage of the phrase with pais tonight and it was her opinion that the phrase has a layer of subtext of which I was unaware. In an effort to save me embarrassment (for which I am grateful) she told me about her own connotations and how it might be perceived as pretending to several types of lifestyle experience that I simply don’t have. I sincerely hope that my usage of the term doesn’t offend anyone… I’m bi, not gay, I have no formal leather heritage or training nor am I old or new or middle guard. I use the term because it is descriptive of how I view my leather family.

I have pais researching leather history currently to help us both with historical perspective on the lifestyle and to prevent any unintentional offense. I will be following her recommendations on what to read, but sadly I don’t have much time for reading these days. Pity this didn’t occur to me when we had Viola Johnson and her library nearby.

If it seems to me that folks could be reasonably offended by my usage of the phrase I will immediately change it. Until then, it seems the only adequate description of who and what we are. I’m fastidious about word choice, and I’m really loathe to lose such a wonderful fit when hours of pondering have turned up no reasonable alternative. Ah well, we’ll see how it goes.