Conversio Virium

Summer CV: August

It’s finally August, which means one more month until the school year begins (along with our regularly scheduled meetings). This week, Summer CV will be at the Malibu Diner as usual. However, please remember that for the next week only (August 11), we will be at the Moonstruck Diner. Anyone can come to Summer CV, so please don’t hesitate to do so!

The Malibu Diner is at 163 W 23^rd St, between 6^th and 7^th Ave.

Just can’t get enough Summer CV

If you’re anything like me, Monday is the best weekday ever ;)

Since it’s not the second week of the month, Summer CV will be held at Malibu Diner once again. Come!

163 W 23^rd St, between 6^th and 7^th Ave.

NY Times: Have You Been Naughty? Exploring the World of Corsets and Kink

I just stumbled across an old article in the NY Times featuring CV (you’ll need to log in with a free account to view the article). Legitimate journalism is so refreshing when remembering the stupidity that surrounded the Daily News incident (which still seems to pop up regularly on terrifying right-wing blog syndicates). Reporter Jennifer Bleyer wrote in this March 2005 article:

A lanky guy in jeans and a red T-shirt announced that he had recently had an “awesome” time learning how to play with needles. A young woman in a Columbia ‘05 sweatshirt described her interests as “knitting, crocheting, flogging and bondage.” A studious-looking man in horn-rims identified himself as a “funny kind of sadist.”

Laundry lists of fetishes were ticked off as if they were top choices for graduate school. The group sidetracked into an erudite discussion of the psychological underpinnings of sadomasochism. Finally, club members got down to the business at hand, which was scheduling discussion topics, activities and outings for the semester.

Now with more Virium: Email Discussion List, Related Sites, and Contributed Events

Neither rain, nor sleet, nor gloom of night will prevent the Executive Board from continuing to make incremental improvements to Conversio Virium. Okay, so in this case, of course, it’s more like neither distance of persons nor school being out of session, but you get the idea. That’s why today I’m excited to announce a few eagerly-anticipated enhancements to CV’s online presence.

First, even though it’s not readily apparent to most of you guys, the CV Executive Board receives emails almost weekly asking for advice, support, or some other kind of question. With CV’s growth, these emails are becoming increasingly difficult to respond to in a timely fashion and, more to the point, sometimes we just don’t have the expertise to answer the question thoroughly even though we know that one of you probably does.

That’s why we’d like to encourage everyone who hasn’t done so already to check out the recently-renovated CV Google Group, which hosts a public email discussion list that we’d love to see you join. In fact, if you’ve got an account here, you were already invited. (Don’t worry, you won’t get subscribed unless you accept the invitation, which is on its way to you right now if not already there.)

We’ll be pointing our many email corresponders to the discussion list in the future as well as trying (hard) to keep up with the load ourselves. Our hope is that with the discussion list, we’ll be able to involve everyone in this process more readily. We also hope that the discussion list will be a great place to just bring up whatever sexuality- or kink-related things you want to discuss.

Since the mailing list is not the only unofficial CV site, there’s now also a Related Sites page that lists some of the other places you can go to chat with fellow CV’ers online.

Finally, we’ve also begun to invite contributed event postings from readers just like you. This means that, if you’re inclined to do so, rather than simply telling us about upcoming events, you can post the events directly to our calendar yourself. Just request contributor status for your account via email and we’ll show you the rest. We’re really hoping event organizers will take advantage of this and contribute their own events to the CV calendar.

Do you run a kink group? Are your events on the CV calendar? Here’s looking at you, kid.

Can you believe it’s not even August and the new Executive Board has done all this? And September has even more letters!

Summer CV is still at Malibu Diner

Apologizes for the confusion regarding the location of our munch last week. Apparently, a photography group meets on the second Monday of each month, and they have been meeting there for a while. So, we relocated to the Moonstruck diner on 9^th Ave., two blocks directly west of Malibu diner. It’ll likely be our alternate diner in case we need to relocate again for whatever reason (and we’ll probably go there again on August 11).

I love meeting new people, and it seems like I have every time! If you haven’t come yet, we encourage you to release your inhibitions!

163 W 23^rd St, between 6^th and 7^th Ave.

TES-TNG: Booted Domination with Avivokhai and Kyle

From the TES website:

Boot domination doesn’t have to involve pain to be fun. Avivokhai discusses usual boot kink, pain, and kicking, as well as methods of femme style domination with boots, especially forms that are creative but non-painful. Kyle then demonstrates the joys and details of boot-blacking, and Avivokhai follows with one booted Domme demonstration of a pretty and flexible nature. Then she will demonstrate booted domination with pain and mindfuck. Enjoy!

Attendees must be between the ages of 18 to 35 or be a guest of someone in that age group.

$4 for members of TES and other SM/leather organizations; $4 for students with valid id; $8 for others

Location: 260 West 36^th Street, 3^rd floor

Doors open at 7:30 PM (no early arrivals please!); meeting begins at 8 PM.

IRWAG Conference: What is Feminist Politics Now? Local and Global

It’s a little early to be thinking about the coming school year, but the Institute for Research on Women and Gender (IRWAG) is holding a conference September 19^th and 20^th that may be of interest to many of you. Famed writers on sexuality, BDSM and queer issues Pat Califia and Dorothy Allison, among many others, will be speaking at the conference on various issues of feminism.

The conference will explore:

• The changing meanings of feminism, and its goals (intellectual, social and political) in a global context: to examine whether these meanings can any longer be contained within the rubric of common social agendas.
• Emerging social movements within the United States and beyond, including those that foster the collective interests of women across national, class, religious, and racial borders; the common interests of women and men; and those that call for greater individual autonomy.
• Questions about how women within the post-industrial west can effectively relate to, and remain engaged with, issues that arise from diverse locations and affect differently situated women in different ways.

Visit the IRWAG website for more information on the conference itself and how to register.

Summer CV continues

Summer CV continues to be thrilling and awesome!

As always, join us at the Malibu Diner for an evening with great company.

163 W 23^rd St, between 6^th and 7^th Ave.

Summer CV: Happy 4th of July!

It’s July, and of course, American Independence Day is coming! Hooray for long weekends!

Join us right after the weekend to hang out, or if applicable, share stories of wild kinky sex.

Malibu Diner, at 163 W 23^rd St, between 6^th and 7^th Ave.

TES Fest ‘08!

They missed last year, but this year they’re planning to be back bigger and better! TESFest is The Eulenspiegel Society’s (mostly) annual BDSM extravaganza, an event loaded with educational workshops, playtime, and lots and lots of interesting personalities! Check out the TES Fest website for more details.

Should you be interested in going to TesFest for cheaper, then consider emailing tf-volunteers@tes.org to volunteer at the events and get on the volunteer’s list. Volunteering for 12 hours of work gets you free admission to the entire event.