Just so everyone isn’t crying in their turkey wondering where I am, I should update ya’ll on my travel plans. BJ needs a house sitter/pet during mid December and then Sky needs one for late December through Jan 8th. I’m going to try to put off getting locked down in a lease anywhere as long as possible (if I win the internship award or Warhol I will need to either be in Chicago at the Leather Archives or at the House working with the artists). After house sitting I’m going to stay with the artist Collin Rae in Tennessee, he’s the very first man to ever tie me up AND the first to have sex with my feet. He’s going to take me to get my knuckles tattooed and then to Dollywood. THEN I’m going to come to the house and seriously dig into this Oral History Project. I will be doing an independent study with my OH professor from this semester who has agreed to mentor me on the project this spring through an independent study. I’m hoping to use some of the information I collect to create a website for this contest http://www.outhistory.org/wiki/Since_Stonewall_Contest
I’ve been in touch with Rick Storer at the Leather Archives about my thesis and he’s being suuuuper awesome and supportive. My topic is finally settling in on researching and estimating what information on gay male culture has been lost/is being lost due to the AIDS epidemic. I’ll also be examining aspects of our (and other) collections that were “rescued” by Durk and others and the stories that go with this. I kept trying to do something a little more relatable to my experience in the adult industry but it seems my experience with AIDS at such a young age has really set me on a path that I can’t deny.
I’ll look into how to record through skype so that I can start interviewing sooner. That’s the easy and fun part! What I have to be considerate of is the amount of hours it takes to transcribe. It’s about an hour to an hour and a half per 15 minutes of interview, and not very fun.
Most importantly, I will still make my famous mashed potatoes when I’m out, there will still be a gravy tasting contest, Kelly is going to take me to see New Moon, and I will be sending some holiday prezies!
xo