March 15, 2006

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Just Some Views... by Tatu

Disclaimer: This newsletter is just a collection of my ramblings. It is not intended to be authoritative in any way. Just reflections of my explorations. If anyone finds it interesting or helpful for me that is a plus. I don't know it all and stay far away from the elitists who think they do. I am no Master of anything, just a student on a journey who loves to explore life, art, relationships and hopefully will one day learn to at least be the Master my own soul and the loving leader of another self empowered one who wishes to walk along side me.

Greetings everyone and welcome to our 2nd online edition of the D/s ARts Newsletter. After about 5 years of sending out newsletters via email, last month I decided to archive them here. There is no set publishing cycle. It's just when the mood hits me, I have time and inspiration.

I like to write, to think and be challenged with learning new things and sharing with others. I like to hear the ideas and discoveries of others. Hope you enjoy.  Any comments email me at

Energy Blocks

Recently,  I evidently got dehydrated and became very ill. ....eye-ball splitting headaches, dizziness.... the tip off was the dry eye sockets.  As a result sleep and eating patterns got all messed up for a while. The body will remind us that it has basic needs of water and nourishment, and if you don't take care of these, it rebels. I eventually got better, but it took some time.

Also related to overall health is an understanding that our bodies contain wonderful spiritual and physical energy movements within us.  From time to time we can get down physically due to what is sometimes called "energy blocks".  

We should not only take care of ourselves with physical nourshiment but also in terms of our energy health by paying attention to what our body is saying . We do this by getting regular body scans. No I am not saying go to the clinic once a month. I am saying we need to perform a body scan on ourselves, an energy self assessment.

I am talking about understanding and assessing balance. When the balance of energies is not what it should be... the yin and yang will speak to us.

More and more people  in our Japanese Rope world are becoming aware of these energies and how wonderful they can be in finding the connection with one's own inner pleasures while tied in the ropes. The whole concept of "Nawaikido", involves how the rope bottom becomes spiritually connected to self while immobilized and made to be still by the ropes, and when the Top perceives how he guides his captive on the jounrey of pleasure with the process of nawa-kesho...   applying the rope like a cosmetic art. The rope draws that attention to the body and we have an opportunity to connect with those wonderful energies in a very pleasurable way.

I have also discovered how rope can bring out some very un-pleasureable responses due to some negative energies moving in a person. Those people will go ape on you. They need to do a body scan and check their energy patterns as the rope forced them to do when they were not truly ready for that kind of soul introspection.

So how do we do these energy scans?  First it takes time. One needs to set aside time to focus on self. Cut everything else out and give full attention to the physical and spiritual you. Odd how we in the west know with our brains with great scientific precision so much about the world we live in yet in reality so little about our own selves.

Start with simply getting into a comfortable position. I suggest lying down and simply breathe. Do a few cleansing breaths. Perhaps pretend like you are in one of those imaging machines at the doctors office. Begin at the top of your head and imagine a beam of light slowly working its way down your body. Take is slow inch by inch and feel that portion of the body as if it were being illuminated by the scanning light.

I know it sounds like a sci-fi movie, but visualizing such will help you stop and focus on what is happening with your body.

As you breathe, think or visualize the bringing in of positive energy and as you exhale think of moving out the negative energies.

There are ancient arts associated with doing this, such as Tai Chi and Chi Kong, that make us aware of these energies and that we need to be very careful about what we take into our bodies. Sometimes we need to insulate ourselves from those who are filled with great negative energies, lest their negatives begin to move in us and take over our spirits.  My Shiatsu Therapist, Master White, reminds me of this all the time. Sometimes my friends say, let's go to the club and for me, I sense somehow I am just not into it. That there is something not good for me on that given ocassion.... so I go home to rest and relax... focus on me.

I remember once literally being overcome by a simple brief encounter with the negative energies of another. My world seemed to come to a slow stop. The room began to spins and I fell into what I later discovered was a 30 minute sleep.

One has to realize that there are "energy vampires" out there, and often the best remedy is to simply keep space between them and ourselves, especially if you are new to understanding all of this. Some people are such agitators and carry such negative energy around, that they should become anathema to you. In other words it is best that you just act as though they do not exist.

So as you do your body scan, you may notice all kinds of things happening: a warmth or coolness, some report changes in colors. We may feel some kind of guidance emanating from our souls. You may come upon areas that feel clogged up or impassable. What is happening is that your body is speaking to you. Listen.  Focus your thoughts, your breathing into that area. Move that bad energy out and replace is with good.

When I was a young man dealing with how to master my own mind, I discovered it frustrating in the area of learning how to stop negative thoughts or thinking. The more I tried to not think about something negative, the more I thought those thoughts.  Finally I realized that you cannot simply say to yourself "stop thinking those negative thoughts", because it only made you focus on them more.  The solution was that I had to replace the negative thoughts and energy with positive.

As I have moved through life, I have learned the same thing with people. I have been confused at times when certain people did what I perceived as negative, irrational or illogical. The more I focused on trying to bridge the gap with that person, the more frustrating it became. So in the end I just had to walk away from all their negative crap and refocus on the positive for me. What I learned is that there are some people who are true friends and will communicate in truth with you. There are others who cannot handle truth as their lives have been built upon one lie over another and so as defense mechanisms they put up walls of negative energy to avoid dealing honestly with life.  The sad truth is there is nothing you can do about it. So walk away. Invest your energies in the positive, honest and caring.

Our body will work with us in all of this. It will talk to you, and it will be truthful.  Sometimes it is telling us to slow down or even stop until the appropriate healing can take place.  Other times it is telling us to move away from certain negative unhealthy spirits or influences.  

Be quiet and listen.

"A Comparative Study of East vs West Rope Art Styles"

"Study on the Origins of Japanese Rope Bondage Terminology"

Japanese Art

UKIYO-E  
The Pictures of the Floating World

by Tatu

There is an entire artistic genre' that exploded during  the Tokugawa period (1615-1868) known as Ukiyo-e produced with a technique of wood block printing. This was the 250 year period when the Tokugawa shoguns ruled and Edo became the center of power. This was a time when Japan was extremely isolated from the rest of the world and the artistic side to culture exploded dominated with teahouses, geisha, kabuki theatre & courtesans. Many of these pictures were seen in advertisements, or posters about a new play, or a teahouse. Some of the images seen were most likely popular actors  or famous geisha of their time.

Originally, this was an art for the common people, the lower classes. The word itself first refered to the simple or lowly life. Later it came to mean something like "a transitory life of pleasure".  It was this art form that gave rise to the first erotic images of Japanese Rope, the Japanese Style of tattoo and Shunga.

They were customized pictures, hand drawn on screens and scrolls. Woodblock printing goes back to the Heian Period (794-1192) another time in Japanese history marked by unprecedented peace under the rule of the Heian dynasty. Culture flourished.

Shunga is Japanese art depicting explicit sex acts, masturbation, orgies, etc.

Woman Captive in Rope
Here is a image of one I own. It was a gift to me by some friends, in Michigan.  I have had it looked at my two experts. It has yet to be identified, both agree it was from the mid 1800's. It may be a Kabuki Theatre advertisement rendering and may be a male actor dressed as a woman.

Click on the image to see a larger version.

Man Getting Tattoo

I just purchased this one.  I am very excited.  "Man Getting Tattoo" by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861). Considered one of the greatest Japanese print artists.

SHUNGA
Sometime in the 15th Century there also developed a more sexually explicit art called "shunga" which means "spring picture". They were technically "sex manuals" that depicted very explicit love scenes, often with exaggerated genitals.

There are thousands of these printed images in existence today. Here is an example  Click Image to see larger version.

They were among the earliest of "ukiyyo-e" (wood block printing).

  "Fumi no kiyogaki"
Woman masturbating with kitchen utensil with a man looking on, c.1800 by.Eiri (Chokosai Eisho) a pupil of Eishi. Very little is known about this artist..

Floating World Art also contributed to the expansion of the Art of Tattoo


Irezumi is the Japanese word for the large traditional visible tattoos that covers large parts of the body. Irezumi has a very long history going back some 1700 years. During the Edo Period Tattooing was captured in this art form as it was used by professions such as firemen, as well as courtesans in order to increase their attractiveness for their customers.  Tattoos were also used to mark and identify criminals in the early 1700's.  They used to amputate ears and noses before that.

"Tattooed Samurai" by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861)  
(image right)

Tattoos also became popular among the masterless samurai or ronin. Eventually they organized and became what today are referred to as "yukuza".

"Samurai with Tattoo and Sword"
by Kunisada (1786-1864)
(Image left)










"Girl Having Her Arm Tattooed"
by Taiso Yoshitoshi (1839-1892)
(Image right)  

Best known for designs of Japan's past and of women caught in typical moments of daily life. Biting her handkerchief in distress, a girl is having her arm tattooed. The gesture echoes (shunga), pornographic prints, where women shown biting cloth or tissue are stifling cries of passion.

Claire Adams - Local Fetish & Bondage Model

                    ....  she done real good

Claire Adams is a beautiful and well known model in our rope and fetish scene. She is formerly from my neck of the woods here in Southeast Florida.  

I casually knew of Claire from her days here at our local clubs and through lifestyle friends Master Ray and Sarah at the start up of the highly successful www.shadowplayers.com . I was deeply humbled at Shibaricon 2005 when she attended one of my classes and came up to me and said, do you remember me?  Then we talked about some of the old days and mutual acquaintances. Of course everyone knows Claire now.  The truth is I am somewhat shy around large groups of people and usually just lay back and wait for others to break the ice with me. So I just watch and absorbe the beautiful energy of others.  This young star is a bundle of incredible energy.

Maybe one day I'll have the honor of having this bundle of sweetness in my ropes for a scene.

Recently she did a Japanese Rope Suspension on Peter Sarsgaard in the March issue of Vanity Fair magazine. See page 288. Peter Sarsgaard, is an actor if you don't know the name.. Flightplan, Garden State, Kinsey...

Also in the issue are some sexy pics of Scarlett Johansson, Keira Knightley as well as Angelina Jolie naked !!!!

Here's a link to Claire's Live Journal where you can see the pic from vanity fair as well as others.

http://claireadams.livejournal.com

Here is a link to her webpage:

http://www.clairebondage.com

Congrats Claire.. see you at Shibaricon!

"Arresting Images".....  

Image by Lochai

Seems my fetish photographer brother, Lochai, almost got himself into some trouble recently. He writes in his live journal,

"Well yesterday was an interesting day of shooting.

Went down to Halouver Beach in Miami a NUDE beach. (this comes into play later in the story) I met two of my beautiful models there Idelsy & Jolie. We started off just off the parking lot at the tunnel that leads to the beach. Some sexy seethru clothing & a great long tunnel....

...I did have one nude man walk over & state "she's tied up" I said yes... he said "but you can't do that" & I asked why, he said that this is a family beach & I can't tie up someone on it. I asked why not & he said "because it is wrong". Well I told him that I am shooting art on a public nude beach & that he is not allowing me to use my given right of freedom of speech. I mentioned that she is wearing more clothing then most on the beach & because he does not like bondage does not mean I cannot do a rope art shoot. Well he raised a big stink & every one around us watching told him to bug off....."

Take a look at his Live Journal for the full story and some great photos he took on the beach.  http://lochai.livejournal.com/16490.html

"The Notorious Bettie Page"

The long awaited release of the new movie about Bettie Page is scheduled for release . It opens in New York, LA and San Francisco on April 14, 2006 and in full nationwide release in late April or early May.

Plot Summary: Page was the ultimate girl-next door, and one of the most popular Playboy centerfolds. Page challenged the conservative 1950s, posing as a fierce dominatrix and earning both a cult underground following and Senate Committee investigation on juvenile delinquency, essentially a witch-hunt orchestrated by a senator from her home state of Tennessee bent on exploiting her as a stepping stone to the White House. At the height of her popularity, Bettie disappeared. But in 1979 and 1982, Page (a diagnosed schizophrenic) tried to stab several people to death and was institutionalized.

View Trailer Here: http://www.apple.com/trailers/picturehouse/thenotoriousbettiepage/trailer/

Movie Night anyone????  We did this for the opening of Memoirs of a Geisha in December, so if you live in south Florida and would like to join us for a special nite out email me at

In celebration of this movie debut in April, I am hosting with my Shibari South Florida Group a "Bettie Page, Damsel in Distress" party on Saturday April 15, 2006.   This is going to be a very special night, filled with surprises.

Stills from the movie:

Shibaricon is coming May 26 - 29 (Chicago)

If there is one thing I could say to anyone interested in rope. Don't miss this event. This is our rope homecoming each year. I was honored to be the keynote speaker in 2005 to about 400 registered participants. 2006 promises to be ever bigger and greater. For more details see the Shibaricon website at:  http:/www.shibaricon.com

Subshevah wrote a couple of retrospectives for Shibaricon 2005 and 2004, which was published at Doms view: See: http://www.thedomsview.com/Vol6/I4/review4.htm or

at the and at the D/s ARts site as well: http://ds-arts.com/shevah/ShibariCon2_shevah.html 

Here is the review she wrote for Shibaricon 2004:
http://ds-arts.com/shevah/ShibariCon1_shevah.html

Kewl Online Videos I found:

Mad TV's Tribute to Memoirs of a Geisha ..... this is hilarious !!!!

Urban Ninja ... this is really kewl, a must see..

Gisele Bundchen - Animated Tattoo This is absolutely lovely. Just wish the video quality was better.

Sexy Asian Girl - Disturbingly Sexy   funny

Asian Face Slap  

CSI New York - Robo Spanker

Konomiya, Japan's Naked Festival, February 2006

I have set up a  Memoirs of a Geisha page at my personal website. Links to film trailers and two long A&E specials about the making of the film.  Enjoy.

"Occupied"  by Lochai

I am pleased to pass along the fantastic news that that our good friend, Lochai, has published his first book entitled "Occupied" is now available. If you don't know him personally, you have probably seen him at Fetish Factory or Shibaricon snapping away his fetish images.

This book is a collection of erotic bathroom images... perfect for your bathroom reading....

There is some rope in there too.

Lochai is a great rope artist and photographer and  I am proud to call him my South Florida
Rope brother. As most of you know he is also a co-moderator of our Adult Rope Art Yahoo
Group.

You can see his work and information about how to purchase his book at his site:  
http://www.kirinawa.com

He is also participating in Traveling Erotic Art Show:

http://travelingeroticartshow.com/index.html

       Last month we found for your the "Original Kimono Girl".

Well here he is.........  The Original Kimono Boy

Yes, after painstaking research. Hours and hours of intensive labor, googling my brain out. I finally found him, the original kimono boy.

"On February 11, 1975, NBC gave Lorne Michaels a call. NBC was looking for a show to fill the 11:30 to 1:00 am slot on Saturday nights. The show was to be directed to the younger audience. Michaels agreed to do it as long as he was guaranteed it would be live. Now it was up to Lorne to find a cast to make his show work. Some of the first hired were Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, and Garrett Morris. Lorne was urged to hire John Belushi, but was reluctant because he thought John was too loud, too hard , and too self-centered. But, John did manage to get an audition for the show.

John had been practicing a mute Japanese samurai character. His only sounds were grunts and phony but enthusiastic sounding Japanese phrases. .... " 

Read the entire tribute at:  http://www.bbring.com/snl.html

A Report on Hatsume Fair

This year I spent alot of time enjoying the martial arts demos and of course the Taiko Drumming performances. I have put some images from my visit to Hatsume Here.

Here are a couple of video short there of the drumming.

Video Clip #1
Low Quality 15 sec clip
Fushu Daiko
February 25, 2006

Video Clip #2
Low Quality 15 sec clip
Fushu Daiko
February 26, 2006

I actually went both days this year and loved it. I had friends come from across the state and locals like Lochai and janice and bina, etc...  made it out for a great time.

Here's where I will be teaching Rope in the upcoming months:

2006 Workshops - So Far...

Shibari South Florida  (Ft Lauderdale, FL)
March 18, 2006
*** Bondage Basics by Lochai followed by a SILK Social
http://www.ds-arts.com/SSF

Shibari South Florida  (Ft Lauderdale, FL)
April 15, 2006
*** This will be Bettie Page Damsel in distress struggle bondage night, led by Tatu
http://www.ds-arts.com/SSF

Beat Me In St. Louis (St. Louis, Missouri)
April 21-23, 2006
http://www.stl3.com/events/bmsl/home
* Courses TBA

Shibari South Florida  (Ft Lauderdale, FL)
May 20, 2006
"Self Bondage" night
http://www.ds-arts.com/SSF

ShibariCon (Chicago, IL)
May 26-29, 2006
http://www.shibaricon.com
* Courses TBA

Orlando Bash  (Orlando, FL)
June 1-4, 2006
http://www.orlandobash.com
* Courses TBA

What's New at D/s ARts?

In the Academy section

 http://www.ds-arts.com/academy

There are a couple of spanking videos that have been linked for your enjoyment. Enjoy !!

(Image by Tatu)

Shibari South Florida / SILK

http://www.ds-arts/SSF

In 2000, I started something I called "Shibari South Florida".  We met in my home for a while and have met periodically since. Our numbers grew too large for my residence and so we have now ventured out into renting space for our workshop and social gatherings. Our next workshop will be Saturday, February 18, 2006 in Ft Lauderdale, Florida, followed by a social time we have named "S. I. L. K." which stands for:

"Sensuous Intimate Loving Kinbaku"

Or,  Sadistic Intimate Lascivious Kink, depends on our mood that night...

If you live in South Florida, and are interested in rope, please contact us about future gatherings.

March 18th - "Bondage Basics"  led by Lochai followed by a SILK party.. This month everyone is encouraged to wear something silk, silk-like, asian fetish... like kimono, haori, hakama, silk bra and panties, pvc fetish geisha....

April 15th - Topic "Bettie Page Damsel in Distress" led by Tatu.  In celebration of the new movie "The Notorious Bettie Page" due to be released in late April or early May, our group's theme will be on western-styled struggle bondage. We will have one of Bettie Pages' photographers with us that night.

May 20 - Rescheduled - Topic "Self Bondage" Details coming.

D/s ARts & Shibari South Florida has teamed up with Sir Michael of Erotic Ropes in Chicago to provide a quality hemp rope product to the Florida Community. Tatu will have 30' & 15' lengths of 6mm finished hemp rope available at SSF and other South Florida events.

Hemp rope is the traditional material used in shibari; a Japanese form of rope bondage. It is becoming more and more popular among bondage enthusiasts. Hemp rope is strict yet soft, it holds knots tighter with less slippage and it doesn't stretch. Erotic ropes are created from grade Romanian twisted hemp. Twelve hours of work go into each piece of erotic rope. Each length of rope is washed and then dried. The rope is then oiled, boiled, dried and singed to remove stray fibers. This process is repeated three times by a most loving rope slut so we can offer you the finest quality twisted hemp for all your bondage perversions.

(Image by Tatu)

C.A.R.E.   D/s ARts is also hosting a page for the Cincinnati Area Rope Enthusiasts, which meets once a month for what they "Rope Rendezvous". They have been having their maximum for the space which is 25 and have had had to turn people away virtually every month. This event is led by Master David of Kentucky and subshevah.

See: http://www.ds-arts.com/shevah/CARE.html

subshevah... We are also hosting a page for lifestylist and educator, subshevah. See her essays and teaching schedule at:

http://www.ds-arts.com/shevah

Some interesting news articles:

Untying Shibari

The art of Japanese rope bondage.

by Lesley Bargar
Shibari and Photographs c. Master “K”

"I’m running in circles on the lobby floor of Little Tokyo’s New Otani Hotel. I’m late, my shoes are too loud, and I’m sick-to-my-stomach nervous. Making my third round past the front desk, the briefcase I haven’t used in nine months slapping at my side, I wonder for the 18,000th time how the hell I ended up here, and why the hell I haven’t backed out already.

What I’m late for is a meeting with one of the nation’s experts on the erotic art of Japanese rope bondage known to me at this point as Shiburi [sic]-in five minutes I will know it as Shibari (to bind), or Kinbaku (to bind tightly). This expert goes by the name of Master “K”-a fact that alone has caused me extreme anxiety as I go over and over the casual meeting scenario in my head, and whether I should address him coolly as just “Master” or “K.” Both make me uneasy.

I am not a bondage person. I am not an S&M person. Well, I guess I don’t really know… I suppose I could be a bondage person. The closest I’ve ever come......"

To read the entire article go to:  http://www.laalternative.com/index.php/2006/03/10/untying-shibari/

Bondage Unbound

From Time Magazine

Growing numbers of Americans are experimenting with sadomasochistic sex. But is it always safe and sane?

By John Cloud/Clayton

"It turns out that you call it "S and M" only if you don't do it or if you experiment only occasionally with those handcuffs you keep hidden at the back of the nightstand. If, on the other hand, you are seriously involved in the sadomasochistic subculture—if, say, you have attended one or more of the nation's 90 annual sadomasochistic events ("Beat Me in St. Louis," for instance) and own not only handcuffs but also a spanking bench, a flogger, some paraffin wax, an unbreakable Pyrex dildo and various other unmentionables—you call it, simply, SM.

The linguistic distinction between S&M and SM may seem tiny, but the pop-culture, peep-show version of S&M has little to do with the real lives of those who practice SM (which is why sexologists who study sadomasochism have now also adopted the shorter abbreviation). S&M is Madonna in kinky outfits, Anne Rice chapters that run to the louche— even a recent Dannon ad featuring a woman in a French-maid uniform.

Such S&M imagery has become so common that our astonishment at Robert Mapplethorpe's photographs of leather and pain 20 years ago now seems quaint. Today you can watch Samantha on Sex and the City in virtually the same poses.

But those who practice sadomasochism—including those halting dabblers who tee-hee their way through spankings, hoping to paddle excitement into their marriage—know it's still taboo. (After all, if it weren't, it would lose its power to excite.) To reconcile the icons with the actual practice, I spent several weeks recently talking to SM practitioners around the U.S.—in New York City and San Francisco, yes, but also in North Carolina and New Mexico. Whether they were nervous novices or experienced dungeon masters leading some of the nation's 250 SM organizations, virtually all of them asked for anonymity. One man said he had lost a job when his boss found directions to a bondage workshop in his office. Others said they would be embarrassed if their families learned of their proclivities.

We live in a culture in which sadomasochism is everywhere—from Versace billboards to at least a dozen college campuses where SM support groups have been established—but somehow it remains unseen and unspoken, just beyond the edge of respectability.

Given the silence, measuring SM's popularity is not a precise business, especially since it blurs into the larger category of BDSM, or bondage-discipline-sadomasochism. A 1990 Kinsey Institute report said researchers estimate that 5% to 10% of Americans occasionally engage in SM sex. "The lighter end of BDSM is penetrating bedrooms across America. It's restraint on bedposts, it's spanking, it's fantasy play—and it's all fairly common," says Barnaby Barratt, president-elect of the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists. In his quarter-century of private practice as a therapist in southeastern Michigan, Barratt says, "hundreds, if not thousands" of married couples have told him they want to bind, paddle or play teacher/pupil with each other.

Barratt and other therapists say that couples often hope that role playing or nipple clamps or quick-release bondage will rev up their sex lives. "Many people have this as part of reciprocal, consensual love relationships, and in those cases, we assure them it's not a problem," says Eli Coleman, director of the Program in Human Sexuality at the University of Minnesota. He also makes the point that "there's an element of domination or submission or pain involved in almost any sexual interaction. What sadomasochism does is take these elements of eroticism further toward their extreme."

Some couples experiment a few times but return to what serious SM-ers call "vanilla" sex. Others become more deeply involved in the SM scene; they use SM props or fantasies every time they have sex. The scene has become so large and varied that it encompasses the rich farrago of coupling practices known as BDSM, which includes not only SM—the erotic enjoyment of inflicting and/or receiving pain—but also BD (bondage/discipline) and DS (domination/submission). BD usually involves physical restraint and a punishment/reward setup (say, Nurse Ratched with a patient). DS relationships are often as emotional as they are carnal. Submissives relish transferring authority over aspects of their lives to others; the submissive might allow the dominant not only to tie her up but even to tell her when she must go to sleep...."

 Please go to the link that I posted for the rest of this article

http://www.time.com/time/2004/sex/article/bondage_unbound_growing01a.html

Sex toys stolen at erotic conference

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., March 14 (UPI) -- Thieves hit the Southeastern Erotic Cultural Conference, taking about $1,600 in leather whips, electrical stimulation devices and other sex toys.

A security guard at the Jacksonville, Fla., gathering found someone had broken into a conference room early Sunday.

Three vendors said sex toys, which also included bondage suspension cuffs, had been stolen, the Jacksonville (Fla.) Times-Union reported.

The Friday-through-Sunday conference included classes, erotic art shows and performances as well as a Leather Pride party, the newspaper reported.

See Article Here

Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down

"TOLEDO -- Is it a dirty movie, or a useful tool for education? That's the on-going legal debate in Defiance where a teacher is out of the classroom -- and in hot water for showing a film to her students.

The Spanish-language film in question is "Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down" which was made in 1990. It stars a young Antonio Banderas as a man who's released from a mental hospital, then goes in search of a porn star with whom he once had sex. When they meet, he tries to win her love through bondage.

Megan Espen, who is on unpaid leave from Ayersville High School for showing the film to her Spanish class, was indicted by a Defiance County grand jury for pandering obscenity and disseminating harmful material. Espen's attorneys have filed motions to dismiss the charges.

Espen's attorney, Jay Feldstein, said "we believe it's a very valid educational component ......

........Both sides of the case will be argued in court on April 7th."

http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=4571822&nav=menu34_25

She Wears Her Courage On Her Heart

After surgeries failed to restore the breasts she lost to cancer, valley woman heals her body and soul with art

Caption: Lily Ann Hainline shows the roses she had tattooed over the scars left by her mastectomies and subsequent failed reconstruction efforts. Hainline of Palm Desert, who is a breast cancer survivor, underwent nine surgeries before turning to body art for healing.

K Kaufmann

The Desert Sun

March 9, 2006 March 9, 2006

----------------

"People need to be healed in different ways, and I think in this case that's what happened. There was a soul healing."

Lily Ann Hainline, breast cancer survivor

PALM DESERT - Lily Ann Hainline can't wait to show you her chest - in private.

The 61-year-old Sun City woman spent more than $30,000 on reconstructive surgery as part of a 13-year-long recovery from breast cancer. All she got was a chestful of scar tissue she could hardly stand to look at in the mirror.

Now, she has a swirling tattoo of red roses and a hummingbird on her chest, and she can't stop looking - and smiling - at herself in any mirror that happens to be handy.

"I'm stoked," Hainline said in a recent interview, during which she briefly unbuttoned her blouse to show off the flowers and flitting hummingbird on her otherwise flat chest. "I'm so happy to do this; to have the courage." .....

....."I feel right now I have my beauty restored to me," she said, "and I think that will last for a long time. It will last forever."

To read the entire article go here:

I found some others on the internet who have traveled similar paths. Meet Marcia and Pam. What inspiring courage these ladies all have.

March 10, 2006, 06:08 AM EST

TOLEDO -- Merrill Keiser, Jr., is a trucker by trade, and he's hoping his next journey takes him all the way to Washington. His goal is a seat in the US Senate, but first he has to make it through the primary that will determine which Ohio Democrat will be the November ballot.

The Fremont man is causing some controversy with one of his beliefs. He tells News 11 homosexuality should be a felony, punishable by death. "Just like we have laws against murder, we have laws against stealing, we have laws against taking drugs -- we should have laws against immoral conduct," Keiser says.

Keiser has no political background. He says the only reason he's running as a Democrat is because that's how he was registered the last time he voted.

Keiser will face Democrat Sherrod Brown in the May primary.

Read the whole story here.

Inflatable sex dolls to fight Mexican machismo

Thu Mar 9, 2006 01:02 AM ET

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico is deploying an army of inflatable sex dolls dressed as office executives in a head-turning publicity campaign against workplace harassment of women in the famously macho country.

Timed to coincide with International Women's Day on Wednesday, the advertisements show sex dolls with staring eyes and gaping red mouths dressed in suits and sitting at computers.

"No woman should be treated like an object. Sexual harassment is degrading and it's a crime," says a voice-over at the end of a television ad, which shows a man walking past one of the dolls and casually stroking her shoulder.

Machismo runs deep in Mexico......  

To read the complete story, go here.

Spanking scene voted sexiest moment

"A spanking scene in the movie Secretary (Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spaker) has been named the sexiest moment in film.

The kiss between Jake Gyllenhaal (Maggie Gyllenhaal's little brother) and Heath Ledger in the gay cowboy movie Brokeback Mountain came second.

Hollywood heart-throb George Clooney and star Jennifer Lopez take third place for the movie Out Of Sight........"

To read the rest of this story, go here.

Click Images To Enlarge

By: Mark Kernes

DALLAS -

It was a quick trial, lasting just five days from jury selection to the start of deliberations, but early this afternoon, Clarence Thomas Gartman and partner Brent Alan McDowell were found guilty of having shipped the video known as BVW 24, ordered from their website forbiddenvideos.com, across state lines.

Read the full story here:

Yesterday, I learned that my son-in-law will be headed to Iraq in July. We all covet your prayers.

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