Post-Launch Bliss

I'm sleepy and exhiliarated after our "coming out party" last night. It was really amazing to meet so many friends of Sex in the Public Square face-to-face, in one place and at one time! Your enthusiasm for this project was palpable, and I can't wait to see where that energy takes us.

Slowly throughout the day today and tomorrow we'll be getting pictures together, so if you took any you want to share send them along to me at elizabeth at sexinthepublicsquare dot org or drop me a link to your Flickr page or just let me know where to find your shots.

Here are just a few to get you started. They're of our fabulous speakers, who I really can't thank enough for honoring our project by sharing their work. You really did demonstrate all the different kinds of things we want this site to accomplish!

 

 

Lux Nightmare's exploration of the pink ghetto...

Rachel Kramer Bussel's erotic imagination...

Ignacio Rivera's amazing transformations from one character to another...

 

 

 

 

Audacia Ray's very smart discussion of how Internet technology shapes sexual experience...

 

and the inimitable Miss Veronica Vera's almost-fairytale story about her Mapplethorpe photos which could easily have been subtitled "Someday my prints will come," -- you all demonstrated exactly the kind of courageous, intelligent, honest and wide-ranging discussion of the public and private elements of sexuality that we want to make space for here.

 

What courageous, smart and sexy people!

Some of you in your enthusiasm for the project asked "what do you want us to do?" The short answer? LOTS! (But only as much as you want.) Here are a few thoughts from my still-groggy brain:

-Create an account and make a profile here on the site. We need to get to know each other! If you already have a profile check it and see that any pictures you uploaded are there. A while back a bunch got deleted, but we've fixed that problem. Please re-upload if yours got lost. Profuse apologies. We're still working out the kinks, so to speak.

-Drop by the suggestion box forum and leave ideas for future programs. Several of you mentioned great ideas last night. Let's brainstorm some more. I'll create a forum topic called "Ideas for future events." (NOTE: If you're logged in you can create your own forum topics, so if you have suggestions about other kinds of things, just create a topic and fire away.)

-Jump into the other forums, contribute to the discussions, and start new threads. We've got a great start, but it would be fantastic to have more voices in the mix and more conversations going on!

-If you think you'd like to write regularly for us drop us a note and we can work out the details!

-Keep checking back here to see how the Square changes. It's a collaborative work, and always developing.

More updates here soon. And if you're reading this and you were at the party, feel free to leave your impressions below. Specifically, I'm curious especially about stories of meeting new people. There were folks there from lots of different worlds and I saw a lot of mingling taking place. Very exciting!

I'm still pretty blown away by the incredible group of people who gathered last night to celebrate with us! The crowd was as impressive as the speakers, and the speakers were absolutely fabulous.

Thank you all for coming out!

 

Chris Hall, taking care of video, Elizabeth Wood playing MC, and Hattie Hathaway organzing the sound. (Hattie is Rapture's own totally amazing general manager, events coordinator and all around godsend!)

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...because public space really matters!

Elizabeth