You know, as a single entity, last year was probably the best of my life so far. And it includes not getting the things I really wanted, not being voted for positions I really wanted, remaining single and not winning the lottery, but still an amazing year and I'm pretty sure this new one is going to top it.
In my last post I talked about putting myself out there for the board member position at Seta. As you can see from my lack of "yeah, I got it"-posts, I wasn't chosen. I was one vote short of a re-vote for the alternate position and 4 short from a direct place in the board. After that I nominated myself for a board member position at Pirkanmaan Seta and was turned down again! But, the weekend at the annual general meeting for Seta was truly amazing and I was able to network with people and made some great connections. I'm sure that many of them and the ideas we talked about during and after will materialize somehow. And the best part is, I now know all the board members so I can complain directly to them when I see something Seta needs to address.
Being the only lesbian in the village can be rough sometimes. It's so energizing when you can bounce your ideas off from someone and that's what that weekend gave me. Being a humans right advocate can be really stressful and tiring sometimes, but being able to share your experiences and getting ideas from others who might be going through the same thing is great. It was like a one giant peer support group and in between we made some decisions about the direction where Seta is taking its human rights advocacy for the next few years.
What's best is the recognition I got from my peers for the job I've done and am doing in Forssa right now. I've talked about feedback before and there really isn't anything better as far as validation goes than when your application to something important is answered with "YES! I was wondering if you'd apply for this". Having people believe in you, especially when the environment surrounding you isn't really showing it in so many words is what makes this worth it. Having new people coming in for Gay Cafe is great too. Building this community isn't gonna happen overnight and it takes a lot of patience which I don't always have, but I believe in what I'm doing so as long as people keep showing up for Gay Cafe and Forssa Pride, I'll keep doing it.
Speaking of Forssa Pride, we have a date for Forssa Pride 4! March 14th, 2014! It'll be in partnership with Qruiser, which is sending us those naughty stickers again and gave us gold memberships to raffle. Come alone or bring friends, it should be fun! I'm also one of the people updating this blog, so Forssa Pride is really going places!
Gay Cafe is participating in Lahti Pride! I'm so excited about this! I know some of the organizers and I'm sure it's going to be fabulous! Gay Cafe is doing the parade as well as after party. I really wanted to see the movie and hear the panel discussions on Friday as well, but financial situations are such that it's only going to be Saturday for us.
I have a really exciting project coming up, or it was tentatively proposed to me. If it's going to happen, watch out! Can't say anything yet, because nothing's for certain, but I'm really excited about it and I hope I'll be able to participate!
Come say hi if you're at Lahti Pride!
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