Conversio Virium

Summer CV: Finale

Apologizes to all for the delay of posts. Join us again at the Malibu diner as we bid farewell to what I hope has been an amazing summer for everyone, and for the last installment of Summer CV this year! After this, we will return to our regularly scheduled meetings, the first of which will be held on September 15^th.

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

Summer CV relocates this week

For this week only, Summer CV will be relocating to the Moonstruck Diner, because another group will be having a vanilla munch there. The Moonstruck Diner is at
400 W 23^rd St, on the corner of 9^th Ave. and 23^rd St. Tell everyone you know!

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.

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.

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.

Summer CV: Pride!

The Heritage of Pride parade is this Sunday, and it’s sure to be fun and huge! Regardless of whether you end up going or not, join us on for Monday another installment of the Summer CV munch, once again in the back of the Malibu Diner, at 163 W 23^rd St, between 6^th and 7^th Ave.

And try the eggs benedict, they’re delicious!

Summer CV: Leather Pride Weekend!

It’s Leather Pride Weekend in the city! Among other things, the 25^th Annual Leather Pride Night is on Saturday, and the Folsom Street East street fair is on Sunday. Come join us on the upcoming Monday at 8 PM for another Summer CV munch, in the back of the Malibu Diner, at 163 W 23^rd St, between 6^th and 7^th Ave.

The previous turnout was great, and I hope to see you all again! And of course, newcomers are highly welcome to come! ;)

Summer CV returns!

The first unofficial summer CV meeting of this year shall be held in the back of the Malibu Diner, located at 163 W 23^rd St, between 6^th and 7^th Ave.

The plan is to arrive at 8 PM, hang out, chat, eat, and hopefully beat the scorching heat. If all goes well, we’ll hold meetings every Monday till the end of summer. Come and drop by to greet fellow CV’ers, and have a great time. Hope to see you there!

Call for Papers: Conversio Virium Journal of Sexuality Studies

Conversio Virium is excited to announce its intention to start a regular publication in addition to its current activities as a space for meetings and sexuality-based educational presentations in New York City. The new publication is called the Conversio Virium Journal of Sexuality Studies.

Conversio Virium is currently looking for submissions of papers, articles, and essays on all topics related to sexuality, including but not limited to BDSM and kink. This will be an academic journal in line with CV’s goals of educating people about different ideas and practices of sexuality as well as providing a space for discussion about these ideas in an academic, peer-reviewed format, and is thus not the place to submit erotica. CV hopes to launch the first edition online sometime in the upcoming Fall semester of 2008.

The deadline for inclusions in this first edition is October 10^th 2008, but papers may be sent at any time. Currently there is no set word or page limit for the submissions. Once the papers are received, they will be reviewed and edited by the current Secretary for CV and Editor of the Journal, Courtney. Submissions for the Journal should be emailed directly to Courtney as plain text within an email or as a file attachment in PDF format.

If you have any questions about the Journal, please direct them to Conversio Virium. We look forward to reading your submissions.

The Floating World 2 returns to Edison, NJ *^_^*

As I’m sure a number of you will remember from last summer, CV was heavily involved with the first year of this event, and made up a formidable population of our own at the festivities. We volunteered, presented, and all-around had an amazing time. For those of you who would be interested in joining us again this year or for the first time, check out the Floating World site for more information.

Should you be interested in going to The Floating World and volunteering (thereby also saving on admission fee), then you should email volunteer@thefloatingworld.org in order to get on the volunteers list. It totally does not keep you from enjoying the rest of the convention. We’re not yet sure of how many hours of work are involved, but last year they said 12 and wound up giving everyone only 8. Make sure to mention that you’re with Conversio Virium!

CV Meeting: Booted Domination

Join us for the last official meeting of the semester! Avivokhai will discuss usual boot kink, pain, and kicking, as well as methods of femme style domination with boots, especially forms that are creative but non-painful. Demonstration will be “pretty and flexible”.

On a personal note: Avivokhai introduced me to Conversio Virium and her legs have captivated me since freshman year. I can’t think of a more suitable ending to my time as an administrator. Drop in and say goodbye before our graduation!

Barnard Event: Sexhibition 2008

Sexhibition is Barnard/Columbia Take Back The Night’s annual sex-positive, consent-based fair. This year’s event will take place on Lehman walkway (rain location to be announced).

CV donated a pretty exciting raffle item, so you should all get tickets!

ECLTH: BDSM Community Forum

The East Coast Leather Town Hall (ECLTH) presents a moderated, open forum and panel discussion on the history and future of the different BDSM, Scene, and Leather and Fetish groups. Many people, whether members of this community or just discovering it, are unaware of the vast array of different groups, their goals, and the variety of events in which they are involved.

Conversio Virium’s current and future presidents will both be on the panel representing our organization. Come to show your support for CV and experience the diversity of the BDSM community!

The event details:

5$ suggested donation
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center
208 West 13th Street, New York, NY 10011
Phone: 212 620 7310

CV Meeting: Pushing the Limits of Sane in SSC with Blaise Part 2

Safe, Sane and Consensual is the motto of many BDSM educators and organizations including CV. Sanity, however, is one category which is especially subjective. Blaise will lead a discussion about substances and how their use pushes the limits of SSC in a scene.

CV Featured in the Gadfly

CV has been featured in the Winter 2008 issue of the Gadfly, Columbia’s Undergraduate Philosophy magazine.

In the article, May May and I talk about pleasure, pain and how those two things relate to [kinky] sex.

If you haven’t already seen the article, you should check it out on their website (it’s a PDF). The article is called “Tie Me Up: A Gadfly Interview with Conversio Virium” and begins on page 13 of the magazine.

Without notions of pain, we could not know pleasure—pleasure and pain, one might argue, are two sides of the same token. Or, as the following interlocutors might argue, one side of the same delicious, voluptuous token. In exploration of this latter view on pleasure-pain, Gadfly is proud to bring you an interview with Vice President Tyler and webmaster Maymay of Conversio Virium (CV), Columbia’s very own student BDSM club.

Read the rest of the article here.

CV Elections! Decision 2008!

All members (valid CU-affiliates) are requested to come to this meeting to nominate, run and vote. As always, every CV executive board is up for re-election, which means we have four positions that need filling by current CU undergrads (who expect to be enrolled until at least 2009). These positions are as follows:

President: Generally runs meetings, sets up programming each week with the help of the VP, public relations representative, and handles official correspondence.

Vice-President: Handles membership cards and records, handles correspondence, plans weekly programs with Pres., gets the nifty title of “President of Vice,” fills in any gaps as needed.

Treasurer: Handles all finances, must be especially responsible, reliable and expect to attend meetings regularly, handles refreshments.

Secretary: Sends out [witty] weekly emails, posts events and meetings to the website, helps out in any other way needed by the board.

If you think you’ve got what it takes, or even if you don’t, WE WANT YOU to help run Conversio Virium next year. Remember, this is great experience if you are thinking of going into event planning, public relations, or anything that requires a cool head, and strong organizational skills.