Soapbox Article and Ten on Tuesday

It's been a great day for the blogosphere, IMHO, despite the awful news out of California. I wanted to highlight a few things that popped up.

Ryan McLendon of Slouching Towards Manhattan posted his newest in a series of articles over at Soapbox Media about the state of queer-ness in Cincinnati. This time around, he writes about one of my favorite events: Guerrilla Queer Bar. From the article:

Reactions to the first Friday events have been mixed but very positive from both the straight and gay communities. Bar owners welcome the addition of 150-200 thirsty patrons they normally would not have through their doors and many straight patrons are even unaware that anything is different. More than an "invasion," the events more than anything else become a "blending" of both straight and gay.

[CGQB Organizer, Ethan] Philbrick recalls a particularly valuable discussion on queer identity in the ladies’ room of the Lodge. According to Philbrick, by the end of the conversation the women he was speaking to him felt comfortable enough to ask a few questions proving that exposure to different ideas and people can breed understanding. This accomplished all while wearing a sequined cocktail dress, no less...

Movements such as the Guerilla Queer Bar help to bring the idea of "other" into the familiar. This exposure to the outside world - straight, gay and everything in between—provides the tools needed to erase the stigmas and bigotry that holds progress back.

Also, QueerCincinnati.com's first weekly TEN ON TUESDAY had a great response today, appearing twice on this blog -- once from me and once from Cody -- and on three other blogs as well! Thanks to the following blogs for their participation and some amazing responses:

Girlfriendology:

1. Girlfriends - Shocking, I know. But I really do find happiness in the female friendships that bless my life. They make life more memorable and fun. And girlfriends make us healthier, less stressed, live longer, feel more beautiful and … drum roll please … HAPPIER. Thanks to all the great women who have inspired, encouraged and supported me in my dream of making the world a better place one friendship at a time.

Stuff Queer People Need to Know:

4.) Vegetable skewers straight off the grill

Big Lug Land:

7) Getting flirted with. It's immensely validating as I still carry around all the insecurities that were cemented into place over 20 years ago. Being found cute or charming goes right to my head like bubbles in champagne. What others take in stride can have me feeling like the most valued man on earth. That keeps my heart open and, much as it hurts, I'm not sure I'd ever want to change it.

Great posts everyone -- thanks so much! I loved reading over your responses; I couldn't help but smile for each and every one!!! Watch for next week's TEN ON TUESDAY!

Cincinnati Rollergirls

... are amazing!

Seriously, thanks to @MissPrint95 's invitation (she is on the team and she is filled with the awesome), we got to watch what, I think, is the coolest sport known to mankind... the rollerderby.

Don't believe me, check out the Cincinnati Rollergirls' YouTube video:

They whooped some serious Knoxville butt on Saturday night (one of the teams beat the other Knoxville team by an absurd 175-38)-- an event I had the pleasure of enjoying with AmyInOhio and Katy (of Kate's Random Musings), with @RadioCarla and Debba of Girlfriendology rolling by to say hey. Apparently, we have a really good team here in town, something like 17th or 19th out of the 60 nationally ranked teams.

By the end of the night, we had become so used to scream bizarre names -- "Blu Bayou" (blew by you), "Sk8-crime," "8-her," "Rockalottapus," "Karma Krash," etc. -- and had become normalized to the terminology ("the jam," "lead jammer," "pivot," etc.) that we were practically professionals. 

Seriously, a great night out planned by the growing Cincinnati Imports crew.

Can't wait for the next round on the 11th of April when Cincinnati goes up against Cleveland!!!

Don't know what RollerGirls are all about or how to play, check out this excellent instructional video. I understand, now, the white board in the center of the ring -- they are totalling up the minor penalties.

Update: Check out the pics from 5chw4r7z.

CWB Holiday Social...

...was AWESOME! Got to meet some great new people!!! (Sorry, my pictures SUCK) It was awesome to hang out with:

• Kate (my chauffeur and BFF for the night)
• Liz from get in mah belly
• Kevin of Strategic Public Relations
• 5chw4r7z (ha, Liz, I spelled it out!)
• Erin Marie of Don't Call Me Mrs.
• AmyinOhio
• ShannanB of Mommy Bits
• Monika of Such a Redkatblonde
• Debba of Girlfriendology
• Lenna of CincySpin (new to the scene!!!)
• Liz/Angela of JulietandJuliette.com

It was a great event and word on the street is that we raised over $800 for The Interfaith Hospitality Network of Northern Kentucky!!!

Thanks to all who came -- including Twitter friends, new and old!!

BLOGGING: New friends that I met at the Blogger's Convention!

So here are the new people I got to meet at the Blogger Convention, and the new blogs that were mentioned while I was there:

• Kate's Random Musings -- my new fav blogger gal-pal... she gave me a great idea which I'm tempted to do: living blogging while testing lubes. Anyone up to help me out with this one?
• ENCORE Cincinnati (Environmentally Conscious Real Estate of Cincinnati) -- Green design and green building in the city.
• Keepin' It REAL (Estate) -- Housing information and blogging about the housing market. (written by the same ladies as ENCORE)
• Gonz O'Lager -- "Updates from my Seat in the Urban Dugout." He drinks, he writes, he sounds like me. (by Brian)
• Not Really a Book Blog Book Blog -- "Bibliophile, writer, moderately eccentric ne'er-do-well and a complete bastard!" (by Brian)
• CET Connect -- Cincinnati Educational Television Blog. (by Brian -- notice a pattern?)
• Girlfriendology -- All about women and their relationships. Debba, the author, is such an earth mom type. I adored her. Podcasting, vlogging, writing, she is all over it.
• Urbanophile -- Actually based out of Indy, but Albert (from STACKED) pointed it out to us, and it was very excellent!

Anyways, there it is, and here are just a couple pictures. All of them have been added to my blogroll, or will be shortly. Kevin over at PR Blog (also blogrolled -- I thought I had already added him) is trying to compile a list of everyone on his blog, and the hosts will be sending us all a list. So I'm sure this will be updated again soon. Also, if anyone got the right "prosespective" blog information, that would be helpful. He was the shaved headed cutie with the nice camera... that wasn't me, duh!

(PS, to those watching the site meter and interested, I did just get about 375 hits to my page in 24 hours... WOW!)

Yea!!! It's Valeree from Cincinnati Locavore!!!!

BLOGGING: Cincinnati Annual Blogger's Convention

It was a beautiful day...

I don't have a lot of time at the moment to blog, or to post some of the excellent new blogs I got to get in touch with.

However, had a great time at the Cincinnati Annual Blogger's Convention. Thanks, guys and gals, for having me. It was great to see and meet everyone -- yea Valeree!!! -- and I have a whole host of new blogs to post that I had previously never heard of before. The place was beautiful (mom, I'm going to take you there, to the Mercantile Library, it's fantastic, you would squeal), and you really got to hand it to them (link to the library's blog) for the excellent set up.

And I got to get into a little streetcar debate moment with Kevin from Building Cincinnati (whom I referred to as one of the "daddy blogs" in town -- LOL -- it's true, though), Jami from Living Cincinnati and Encore Cincinnati, and Kevin from PR Blog (who is putting together a compendium of local bloggers for all to enjoy in the future).

But here's a picture from my phone. That's Debba from Girlfriendology.