The folks who were at the social (and suddenly somewhat planning
oriented) meeting put their heads together to see if they could think
of other places we could get to put on the event in such short order.
Possibilities are:
Emerson
MIT (in various guises)
bostonglass.org
Some possible commercial venues
And if worst comes to absolute worst, we can either:
Postpone the event or
Hold it outside in a park.
There are obvious disadvantages to alot of these plans, so the most
important goal of this email is a plea for help: If you know of
anyplace in the Boston Area that might be able to host the event, on
short notice, please speak up and contact them ASAP! Otherwise, please
weigh in with your thoughts on whether we should continue as planned,
come hell, or high water or a rainy day in the park, or whether we
should step back and set a later date for the event.
And if you work a freelance schedule, or aren't working right now, or
you're a student and classes are just starting up and you've still got
free time: if we're going to get a new venue, phone calls made
tomorrow could make or break us, so those of you with leeway or
without a 9-5, this could be your shining hour!
Thanks everybody!
Still hoping to see you the 12th,
Emma
It would also be beneficial if Trish or whoever else has details about
what *exactly* happened and also *why* UMass Boston is pulling out
could share that information in writing so that it, too, can be
disseminated, blogged, etc. (I'm sure that would make a great blog
post regardless, too.)
On Sep 3, 2009, at 9:25 PM, Heliotrope wrote:
Minor note, it seems that www.bostonglass.or is the correct address
here (the no-www version doesn't work).
Good luck, and I will do what I can to help.
-maymay
Blog: http://maybemaimed.com
Community: http://KinkForAll.org
Volunteering: http://ConversioVirium.org/author/maymay
As of this morning, we have a definite no from UMB. I'm very sad that
this has happened.
Trish
> As of this morning, we have a definite no from UMB. I'm very sad that
> this has happened.
>
> Trish
Trish, can you elaborate on the situation any? From our point of view,
it seemed that the venue was solid, then confirmed, and then suddenly
vanished.
Thanks,
I would prefer to avoid publicizing it too much because I do not want
to be dragged into a political firestorm while I am trying to get my
degree. If I had a clear and concise explanation of what it was, I
would say "it was X," but it involved a bunch of interpersonal
politics that I am an outsider to, and don't feel comfortable
spreading around the Internet, especially pseudonymously.
Thanks,
Trish.
There was a regime change in administration/coordination over the
summer, and the commitments to give space to the old regime were not
honored by the new regime. I spent a bunch of time arguing with them
over this but I get the impression they had already made their
decision before they told me about this yesterday. I am sorry that
there was not more that I could do.
Trish.
That's unfortunate. I'd consider something like this a pretty stellar
opportunity to put a spotlight on the new UMass Boston
administration's stance on important issues like sexual education.
Currently, it looks pretty bad.
Nevertheless, your desire to be vague is…understandable. Thanks for
your efforts so far. I hope something else can be done. I'll be trying
to come up with something.
Cheers,
It would be, if that is what were going on. It's actually less about
sexual education --- UMB isn't perfect but they have a good record and
good people, or I wouldn't have pushed to have the event there --- and
more about things like "person X's feelings toward person Y" or
"different beliefs about models of authority and event planning."
These things are much harder to put a spotlight on, and while I think
doing so could be valuable, I don't think it's KFA's, or your, place
to do this. I understand that it makes them look bad and that's
something they (and I, as a student and organizer there) have to deal
with. But, honestly: UMB's internal politics are not the fight of
anyone here except for UMB students, and if you try to make them your
fight, you will come off badly and possibly hurt our chances to
improve things at UMB. KFA Boston hosting is our fight, but we have
lost that fight, and need to move on with planning an event and
looking for locations. I'm going to continue to be active at UMB,
trying to resolve these things in the long term.
I need to get to work, so this will be my last on this, at least for today.
Thank you,
Trish
> we have lost that fight, and need to move on with planning an event
> and
> looking for locations.
Agreed.
I sourced a suggestion[0] on Twitter this morning[1], and sent it
through just now since it came to me directly instead of here.
-maymay
Blog: http://maybemaimed.com
Community: http://KinkForAll.org
Volunteering: http://ConversioVirium.org/author/maymay
EXTERNAL REFERENCES:
[0] http://groups.google.com/group/kinkforall/browse_thread/thread/5b8924bfdbdf96d3
[1] https://twitter.com/maymaym
> I'm a UMASS Boston grad student and if you need any help at all with
> student representation to educate the university and petition for them
> to change their mind I am more than willing to do so. I could also
> probably get a faculty member or two to step forward as well. Let me
> know if I can help. - 9
9, thanks so much for offering to help us with this. I'm going to
suggest that you get in touch with Trish as soon as possible, as she's
our leading contact with UMass Boston; I'll send this over to her
privately myself to make sure she gets it ASAP as well.
I think your support on this with us would be extremely helpful and I
think I can safely speak for everyone when I say that we are extremely
happy to have you as part of our group.
Thanks,
> So it looks like UMASS-Boston might be on for this Saturday. I have
> been working with the president of the Family Therapy Club and they
> might be willing to be our sponsors and reserve the rooms. It needs to
> be put before the club to make sure no one has a problem with it, but
> it looks good. I talked with Trish and she told me write this up to
> share some tentative good news. I might not know until tomorrow night
> or maybe later, but I will keep everyone posted. I know my classmates
> and I think they will support the idea and there are still rooms
> available as of end of business today for Saturday. Hope to report
> back soon with a solid yes. : )
> --
> 9
That's really wonderful news, 9. :)
In light of this, I'd like to suggest that Wednesday at 8PM *not* be a
cut-off point for discovering the possibility of a new or rejuvenated
venue. It seems like, as the activity on this list and the emergence
of all this newfound support has shown, there are suddenly a lot more
people who are aware of KinkForAll Boston as an event and are watching
what happens. To that end, why don't we capitalize on the extra
publicity and the diversity that's emerged from it and keep pushing
for a Saturday, September 12th event even if we don't get a final go-
ahead by Wednesday at 8PM.
Cheers,
> I'm not sure where the "8 pm" cut off time that was mentioned comes
> from
Mike, you suggested "Wednesday" early evening as a cut off time here:
http://groups.google.com/group/kinkforall/browse_thread/thread/20bcd4bd50f11398#msg_e885bf210b0b6422
and then Iron Rose suggested that the cut off be specifically 8 PM here:
http://groups.google.com/group/kinkforall/browse_thread/thread/20bcd4bd50f11398#msg_5e593a1dcbb8e52a
I'm glad we all seem to agree that a cut off, now that we have so many
options, seems like an premature decision.