BGRG Summit and friends

Oh, Friday. It was the last day of the BGRG Summit, and I was ready to give a fly-ass workshop. I wore a black nylon suit. After putting it on, I discovered that there was a loose seam on the top right shoulder! Arrg! So I secured a needle and thread at the hotel (from a very nice Caribbean woman) and went into the bathroom and sewed that bad boy up! Ahhh. So anyway, I conducted a workshop about the Black Gay and Lesbian Archive and it was well received. The two panelists, Kevin McGruder and Charles Tarver were wonderful. Both offered up insights into the world of black LGBT/SGL/Q/Q/inthe life cultural production and why it needs to be archived. Kevin was right on point about organizations being aware of what they create and taking the much needed step to have their records preserved properly. Charles was looking to get old Blackstripes on to disks for safe keeping as well. I was very happy about the way the information was received about these cultural products. Means a lot to me that folks are starting to get it. This is a good thing.

At around 2:30 pm, the summit came to a close--what a relief! Two years and a whole bunch meetings later, it is ending. Don't know how I really feel, but I can say this. Overall I believe that the summit was a success. I would have liked more workshops and panels to attend, as well as had an opportunity to do more networking. In addition, I wish the BGRG could have taped and transcribed the proceedings. That would have been cool to have as a record. Still, it was well attended and I made a few new friends and colleagues. I'll let you know how it works out.

Two comrades in the struggle, Gregory Victorriane and Sanford Gaylord, are my house guests for the weekend. Gregory donated (and continues to donate) materials to the archive, as did Sanford. It's been nice getting to know them. I meet a lot of people on the Internet, who I end up collaborating with long distance. Conferences are great ways to meet up with folks, particularly the ones you've worked with or have inspired you in some way. Both Gregory and Sanford are Chicago-based, and have long resumes as activists and artists. Gregory is the creator and editor of Buti Voxx, a zine that handled black male same sex with humor and courage. Sanford is an actor (Kevin's Room") and writer (work can be seen in just about every black LGBT/SGL/Q/Q/inthelife publication) and is a nice person to know. Want to know more about them? Let me know and I’ll tell you more!

More later. Bye.

Saturday, August 02, 2003 @ 10:59 PM