Consent Corner 23.9

By Emma Atkinson 

Hello sexy readers! We hope Pride Month 2023 is all you dreamed of and more! Please look for the CSPC’s presence in the parade and festivals. Join us if you can, or come by and say hi! 

Imagine an orange “Detour” sign with an arrow pointing you in a different direction. Let’s follow that arrow for a short detour in this edition.

There’s so much in our lives that we haven’t consented to. Pain of many kinds doesn’t ask for our consent before visiting us.

Thich Nhat Hahn, a widely respected Buddhist writer, suggests that we ought to be grateful for everything that comes to us in life. This seems far easier said than done, at least for us mere mortals.

Recent encounters with pain have forced yours truly to slow down. I’m from Philly—we walk fast and talk fast. Slow down? That’s for wimps.

As I slowly left my doctor’s office on crutches recently, I noticed a few things. Her office assistant had created a beautiful environment around her, and we noted our similar attraction to shiny things. And as I passed the examination room doors on the way out, I saw pictures of the cutest critters ever: the office staff’s beloved animal companions.

Peace of mind can come from looking around to find something to be grateful for in any situation. Sometimes it seems like I have to look really, really, really hard to find that thing to be grateful for, and often through my tears. Please know that it’s there, and you’re probably in the midst of what a friend lovingly terms “another f@$&ing opportunity for growth.” Yay, right?

Homework: Celebrate Pride! And, if you have the time, slow down a bit and appreciate what you see and hear around you. Please share your gratitude with us at: info@thecspc.org.

“Be excellent to each other.” —Bill and Ted

“Be sexcellent to each other.” —Emma

Join the CSPC Pride Parade Contingent!

Do you want to help proudly represent our CSPC community by participating in the 2023 Galactic Love Seattle Pride Parade? Here's how! Register for free on the events calendar and we will keep you updated on all the deets!

Plan to arrive Sunday, June 25 by 10 a.m. Exact times and staging location to be announced.

TENTATIVE INFO FOR STAGING

  • Block Number: 3

  • Block Location: Between University and Seneca

  • Contingent Number (on block): 13

  • Vehicle Staging Window: 9:45 AM – 10:30 AM

  • Pedestrian Staging Window: 10:45 AM – 11:15 AM

*Please note that staging windows are not recommended, they are required. Late and/or early entry is not permitted.

Pride Parade starts down 4th St. in downtown Seattle at 11 a.m., and is estimated to end around 3 p.m. The actual length of the parade may change due to circumstances beyond our control.

We will notify you by email of the time and location that our float will be staging as soon as Seattle Pride sends out the notifications. Please be timely and wear comfortable shoes. We will have a limited amount of seating available on the float for those with accessibility needs.

We will need 3 people to carry the CSPC’s banner and 8 safety monitors.

We will have water available in the back of the truck towing our float. Please do what you can to stay hydrated and healthy. Bring headphones or earplugs. It is loud and everyone (including us) has a DJ! Use sunscreen and bring an umbrella if needed. Take care of you!

This is what Seattle Pride has to say about their theme:

"This year’s Seattle Pride® Parade theme is Galactic Love! We strongly encourage our contingents to embrace and incorporate this theme into your outfits, floats, and decorations for the Parade! As always, we continue to acknowledge that belonging in the LGBTQIA+ community presents differently for every individual. So as we pause to look back with respect, honor, and gratitude for those who began this fight for equality, we also look forward with ambition, motivation, pride, and hope for ALL who are under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella."

You may dress up any way that is street legal in Seattle. We welcome your pets, special costumes, rainbow explosion, latex lush, leather love, and especially galactic groovers! If you have questions about what is appropriate, ask a Board Member or DM ObliqueBanter on Discord. Email direct questions about the float to Turtle (tk@thecspc.org) or Larry (Temptr@gmail.com). 

Register HERE to be in the CSPC Pride Parade Contingent and be notified of all the up-to-date deets!

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Frolic Pride Special!

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Pride Month Special for The Frolic!

We only have 8 tickets left at our second tier pricing of $275 for six days of food, friends, and fun with education, entertainment, and excitement camping in the woods together in August! We just don't want anyone to miss out. 

We are extending second tier pricing at only $275 for anyone who buys their ticket before Sunday, June 25, at 8 p.m.! 

You do NOT have to be a CSPC member to attend. Everyone 18+ years of age is welcome.

Choose Your Adventures!

The Frolic 2023 August 15–20, 2023

For more information, visit our website https://thecspc.org/frolic or

https://thecspc.org/events/frolic/2023/august

https://fetlife.com/events/1283654

https://fetlife.com/groups/224072

And check out The Frolic channel on our CSPC Discord server!

Your Frolic ticket includes: 

  • 16 Meals

  • 5 Discussion groups

  • 37 workshops to choose from

  • Access to the hot tub

  • 15' round x 3.5’ deep swimming pool

  • Outdoor showers

  • “Swap Meet and ‘Flee’ Market” Saturday afternoon (bring stuff!)

  • Outdoor play area

  • Indoor dungeon

  • 6 Special activities 

  • 4 Entertainment fun

  • 3 Saturday night play parties

  • Campfires every night!

Here is where you Choose Your Adventures!

Each day, classes are scheduled at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., with 3 p.m. activity choices, an additional night fire class, and evening entertainment. However, there are many choices during these time slots! If you can't choose everything you want, find someone who attended and strike up a conversation!

  • Tues: 3 workshops, campfire

  • Wed: 7 workshops, 1 discussion group, 2 activities, entertainment, campfire

  • Thurs: 7 workshops, 1 discussion group, 2 activities, entertainment, campfire

  • Fri: 6 workshops, 1 discussion group, 2 activities, "Talent Show," campfire

  • Sat: 10 workshops, 1 discussion group, “Swap Meet and ‘Flee’ Market,” 3 parties, campfire

  • Sun: 4 workshops, 1 discussion group

Get your tickets today!

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The Final Frolic Yurt!

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Dome Yurt with Electricity

The Frolic 2023!

Aug 15–20

https://thecspc.org/frolic

VIP ROOMS

Last Yurt!

We had four YURTS to auction and we’ve come to our last one! Imagine spending this Frolic warm and cozy at night with your plus-one inside a beautifully decorated Mongolian yurt with a queen-size bed. 

Bidding begins at $200, but we fully expect this to go higher! These rooms normally rent for $150/night online and you get it for six days and five nights! Please keep in mind that your ticket to The Frolic is NOT included and must be purchased separately. Bidding is for the add-on VIP room only.

Auction Dates

Now is the time to buy your Frolic tickets during our Pride Month Special, and get your bid on for the final VIP Yurt!

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Meet Larry - Frolic Director!

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The Frolic Director, Larry Grella

(as interviewed by Turtle)

Q: When did you join the community?

A: 2002 locally. Online maybe 30 years ago.

Q: What drew you to it (BDSM)?

A: I think I was born a pervert!

Q: How did you find the Wet Spot? [previous name of the CSPC]

A: I was doing online dating and someone told me about it.

Q: How have things changed over the years?

A: The Center was always inclusive, but after we were forced to leave Interbay, we worked really hard to become even more actively inclusive.

Q: But how does it feel different?

A: The thing I feel most is because of the current structure (renting space), we don't have the same sense of a community center that we used to have so I'm looking forward to a new building and getting that feeling back. We do what we can under the situation we have. [Note: the CSPC used to provide meeting space for numerous other community organizations.]

Q: Kinky camping the way we do seems to have a long history as a distinctly WA activity.

A: Maybe a year after I joined, I heard about two events: In The Woods and Paradise Unbound (CSPC.) I went to both and immediately started volunteering for both.

Q: Were they different from today's kinky camps?

A: Not a lot different from what we are doing now. Workshops and getting to know each other…except now there's probably more group activities…though we used to do things like lube wrestling. 

Q: Any favorite memories?

A: I met a woman who became a lifelong friend. Made a lot of other friends. It's a great place to meet people from different areas. You have to bring your own creativity! <grin> I remember the time I stapled my girl to the stage. Fire play and eventually fire flogging. Group meals and the camaraderie. So many classes.

Q: Favorite acts from the Friday night Talent Shows?

A: Someone picked up traffic cones with her pussy! (We are still friends.) Fire performances! Ponies pulling carts! The hook pull and hook suspensions.

Q: Why did you decide to lead The Frolic 2023?

A: I wanted to help create a memorable event and wanted to expand it.

Q: Anything special you are looking forward to this year?

A: I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of happy people! I'm excited to see the creativity of the participants and what they come up with!

Q: You usually teach Fire. This year you are teaching canes. Why?

A: Because we had other options for fire presenters. I wanted our members to see other perspectives and how they ply their trade.

Q: How long have you been doing canes?

A: I've been doing them so long that I don't remember when I started exactly. 

Q: Canes for Pleasure and Pain. Which do you prefer giving? Pleasure? Or pain?

A: It's really hard to separate the two. I really like sending somebody into subspace!

Temptr@gmail.com 

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So Many Great Presenters at The Frolic!

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Sam

Sam is a fat, queer, mostly femme-of-center, mostly bottom who is enthusiastic about pleasure. Since joining the CSPC, she has learned a LOT about what it means to be present, embodied, and take up space. As a teacher and former therapist, she seeks to hold space where people can explore the intersections of desire, fear, and curiosity in a safe, affirming, and nonjudgmental way. As a founder and cohost of the Finding YOUR Way discussion group and a co-host of Fresh Meet, she is committed to helping people explore their sexualities and kinks and learning from both the positive and negative experiences along the way. She recognizes that everyone's bodies, desires, quirks, and definitions of success are different and seeks to support folks in moving toward whatever success looks like for them. Most of all, she is a big goof and tries to remember that at the heart of all of this is play—our biggest risk is taking ourselves too seriously and forgetting to have fun.

  • Fri 8/18 3 p.m. Body Art for Affirmation

  • Sun 8/20 10 a.m. Navigating Kink with a History of Trauma 

Elissa

I have been in the scene for many years; it will be about eight years as of the time of The Frolic. I've played as a top or domme occasionally for most of that time, but only started focusing on it for the past four years or so. This topic is something that I talk about almost every month at the S/switch discussion group. Almost every time someone asks how to get started as a top, so I've dealt with it pretty much on a monthly basis for several years. I also work in education in my day job and I know how to communicate complicated ideas to a wide variety of people.

  • Thurs 8/17 10 a.m. Taking Matters Into Your Own Hands (Our hands are versatile tools!)

TK aka Turtle

TK Kasnick began presenting at the early age of 12 through their local 4-H program. Their education in college workshops, conferences, and classes in event planning/implementation, organizing, and communication have created a lifelong passion for helping people to communicate and interact more completely with each other. TK has experienced significant health issues all of their life but doesn't allow them to define them. They believe in living proactively. They began attending workshops and doing research to better understand the challenges inherent to a life-altering illness through a team approach to health care, meditation, and a life lived in balance and moderation. On another note, they are also a heyoka (type of empath), an Indigo Scout, and a Wiccan Metaphysicalist. This has led to deep study in energy play and tantric body work. These deepen the intimacy and energetic connective tissue between humans during scenes, feeding aspects of self you may not have realized are desperately hungry for care. TK Kasnick now leads a full and satisfying life.

  • Wed 8/16 1 p.m. Digital Orgasm (Using fingers to achieve vaginal pleasure)

  • Fri 8/18 1 p.m. Tantalizing Energy Play

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Community Matters: PRIDE!

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Welcome to Pride Month! Pride is a celebration of publicly embracing our authentic sexual and gender identities. The last weekend in June is dedicated to remembering the drag queens, trans folx, and other LGBTQIA and gender non-conforming humans who stood up for their right to occupy public space in the Stonewall Uprising (learn more here). This basic human right is still under attack in many corners of America and around the world, so let’s step out and make our voices heard in support of “Sexual Freedom for Everyone”! 

Visit the CSPC booth at Trans Pride in Volunteer Park on Friday, June 23; at the Capitol Hill festivities on Saturday, June 24; and at Seattle Center on Sunday, June 25. Come get your special Pride-edition wristband! Explore more Seattle Pride Month events. 

And of course, join the CSPC community in the Pride Parade on June 25! This year's Seattle Pride Parade is the largest in the city’s history, with 272 participating organizations registered to participate in the parade–which will be lined up for 12 blocks! The CSPC’s spot is Block 3 position 15 (between University and Seneca)! 

The parade organizers will assign us two times for set up: one time for our vehicle and float to get in position and add any last-minute decorations (like, anything that would have blown off during the trip on I-5), and a second time for our participating marchers and float riders to join us. 

Join us and show off your CSPC Pride! Please email us at pride@thecspc.org to get on the list of participants. We will be sending out meet-up information to folx on the list very soon. 

Consent Corner 23.8

By Emma Atkinson

Hello lovely readers! Yes, it’s Pride month, and it’s a great time to celebrate *you* in all of your splendor.

It’s a perfect time to put on your consent hat and show off those consent-related skills you’ve been strengthening. We know that when discussing consent, good times are highly likely to be in store. Let’s celebrate good times!

Homework: Please celebrate this entire month in ways that bring you joy. We’d love to hear about how you’re celebrating at: info@thecspc.org.

“Be excellent to each other.” —Bill and Ted

“Be sexcellent to each other.” —Emma

New Volunteer Position: Registration Team Captain

The Center for Sex Positive Culture welcomes everyone and encourages our members who identify as BIPOC or LGBTQ/SGL to apply for this volunteer position.

Summary/Overview:

Oversee registration volunteers, ensure that shifts are filled, train new volunteers/retrain existing ones as needed, and update training materials. This position works closely with the Operations Director and reports to the Events Director.

Responsibilities:

  • Teach volunteers who are new to registration how to do the job

  • Update training materials as needed, and ensure these are available to interested volunteers

  • Answer any questions regarding registration shifts or duties

  • Take appropriate action if registration volunteers are not performing duties correctly

  • Help to ensure that registration shifts have coverage

  • Suggest improvements and new possibilities

Qualifications:

  • Member of the CSPC

  • Completed a Volunteer Orientation and Registration Training

  • Completed multiple registration shifts/familiarity with the work

  • Good verbal and written communication skills

  • Ability to teach short classes (online)

Contact:

The Center for Sex Positive Culture creates spaces to celebrate, develop, and explore sexuality and sensuality among a diverse, supportive community.