The Man In The Arena

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - Theodore Roosevelt

Project Update & Some Thoughts

Yesterday, I finally sat down and made my itinerary to travel to the Rockies, the Midwest and the Northern East coast for the project. This morning, I feel a million times lighter. Not that I don't have more planning to do, fundraising as well, but at least this part of it is done. It's been weighing heavily on my mind. I also made plans to travel to Texas and Louisiana. I still need to make plans to travel to North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Virginia, South Carolina, Florida, Southern California, Arizona and New Mexico. I'm also quickly discovering that it's going to take quite a bit more money to do it all. I'll have to work on that or find other ways to get photos of those whom I can't get to.

I am so lucky to have the support of my partner through all of this. I spend the majority of my time, away from work, working on this project. Last night she sat down at the table where I was working and said, “Do you know how much I love you?” I asked her if all of my time spent working on the project was driving her crazy. She said no. She loved me even more for working on the project because it makes me happy. She can see what it does to me. The project truly is a labor of love for me. It came from and continues to come from my heart.

The support I've gotten for the project has been mind blowing to me. Messages like this one represent the “mind blowing” I'm talking about:

“Your project moved me to tears. I wanted to say thank you for doing something like this- something to capture what is so rarely seen. As a sociologist, my own background has been LGBT (and all other acronyms) focused - primarily on self-esteem, perceived social acceptance, and coming out. As a lesbian, my research has been intended to highlight the importance of coming out and acceptance. Your photographs are worth more than my thousands of words.”

I can't even begin to find the words to express exactly how much stuff like this means to me. See? Mind. Blowing.

It's affecting people in ways I hadn't even thought about. Good ways. Ways that help others and that's the goal of this project. To help others see that they are not alone in this world. To put faces to the words and identities and to show that there are an endless amount of identities in the world and in our community.

Yes, bottom line is that we are all human, but we're not all the same. We are all unique individuals with our own expressions, identities and ways of being in the world. Let's celebrate everyone! Let's celebrate the fact that you can choose to not be “put in a box with a label” or you can choose to be put in as many boxes as you want with as many labels as you want.

I look forward to a world where everyone is equal but I also look forward to a world where everyone is celebrated. A world where we can all truly be free to be exactly who we are.

Time Flies!

Suddenly I looked up and it was almost a month since I last posted! What the heck?!

I am due a catch up post and I will get one up in the next couple of days. Since the Kickstarter funded for the project I have been either working at my day job or doing lots of planning for the project. I have 7 shoots to edit for the project still! That only happens when life gets out of control for me. So, soon. I need to sit down and document all of this. Very soon.

Hope all is well in your world!

Embracing All The Good

When I awoke yesterday and checked my email on my phone I found that there were a few new backers to the Kickstarter project and that there was still quite a ways to go. I felt sad for a moment but then reminded myself that, hey, it raised over $6,000. That's nothing to sneeze at. Plus, it's gotten a lot of media attention. There's always a plan B and both of those things will help with plan B. Still, I wasn't going to give up on the Kickstarter itself until the clock had ticked down, ending the campaign. It still had 6 hours to go and anything could happen in the span of those hours.

So, I got up and did my normal Friday morning routine while trying to take my mind off of it for a bit. Put on my swim suit and headed to the community center pool. Swimming has become a form of meditation, as well as exercise, for me.

When I returned home I checked my email again. Still no luck. More gentle reminders to myself.

Going about my morning, I took a shower, boiled a couple of eggs, made a piece of toast and a cup of coffee then sat down to eat. After breakfast, I looked at my phone again. The email from Kickstarter hit my inbox at 8:30am. It was shortly after that time when I opened it and read that one of the backers had increased her pledge from $100 to $3,300 and that "$10,061.01 is currently pledged toward the $10,000.00 goal." I had to re-read it to be sure I wasn't reading it incorrectly because I just couldn't believe it.

Then my phone started buzzing with text messages and Facebook notifications. I had to sit down and open my laptop to look at the email again. Then the Kickstarter page. It was incredibly difficult to convince myself that it did, indeed, just happen. My project fundraiser had reached it goal. It was going to happen. It was going to fund. I was really going to be able to travel and photograph and document and do my heart's work. 

Then it hit me and the tears started flowing. Tears of joy. I must have cried for close to an hour while responding to everyone's text messages and Facebook posts and posting on Facebook and Kickstarter my sincere gratitude to everyone who is helping me along this journey. At this point, I feel like I can't say "Thank you!" enough.

Thank you for believing in me. Thank you for supporting me. Thank you for believing in and supporting this project that I hold so dear to my heart. I am so excited to take this journey and create a beautiful piece of art for all to enjoy.

As one of my very wise and wonderful friends said to me yesterday via text message, "When you do your heart's work, the Universe steps up." It most certainly has and in a very big way. My heart swells with gratitude today.

The Clock Is Ticking Down!

There's only 41 hours to go on the Kickstarter campaign and thanks to a very generous donation of $1,800 within the last hour, it's now past the 60% mark! Please help in any way you can! Donate! Share the link! Send me encouraging words! I can't express my gratitude enough! You all ROCK!

Blog Typealyzer

I've seen this on a few of the blogs I'm reading (Mo' Homo and The Musings of A Lesbian Writer) and thought I'd give it a try. Seems pretty accurate, surprisingly. If you've got a blog, you can try it, too, over here at Typealyzer. 

ESFP - The Performers

The author of http://astrangerinthisplace.blogspot.com is of the type ESFP.

The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft beautiful textiles, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves. ESFPs love being around people and having new experiences. Living in the here-and-now, they often do not think about long term effects or the consequences of their actions.

ESFPs live in the moment, experiencing life to the fullest. They enjoy people, as well as material comforts. Rarely allowing conventions to interfere with their lives, they find creative ways to meet human needs. Active types, they find pleasure in new experiences.

The enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions. ESFPs are excellent team players, focused on completing the task at hand with maximum fun and minimum discord.

Common satisfying careers: Artist, Performer, Actors, Teacher, Social Worker, Nurse, Event Coordinator, Chef, Fashion Designer, Jeweler, Retail Manager, Recreation Worker and Interior decorator.

Notable ESFJs: John. F. Kennedy, Richard Branson, Hugh Hefner, Deepak Chopra, Paulo Coelho, Quentin Tarantino, Mel Gibson, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Megan Fox, Jamie Oliver, Robbie Williams, Dan Brown and Chewbacca.

PHOTOS: Butch-Femme For a New Millennium | Advocate.com

The Advocate wrote an article about the Butch/Femme Photo Project!

PHOTOS: Butch-Femme For a New Millennium | Advocate.com

I think I'm still in shock. So awesome!