I can't believe my little chat with Leena before Helsinki Pride Parade resulted in Leena, Aleks and Rakel coming to Forssa tomorrow to headline Forssa Pride! How crazy is that? One day you're imagining this little gay party and then year from it you have some of the biggest lgbt names from Finland coming to your party because you asked them! Asked! That's how easy it was.
I'm once again so happy and humbled and amazed what you can do when you dare to dream.
I'll see see you at Forssa Pride tomorrow!
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Feedback feels good
I sometimes feel like I live in a vacuum and don't really see the impact that my actions have. One of the biggest reasons for me leading Gay Cafe and organizing Forssa Pride is to create a Community for people around the area. Sometimes, especially when I was doing everything by myself and no one would show up, I felt like I'm living in this bubble and no one else is around. Why am I doing this again? Only gay in the village
Then we get to Forssa Pride and people are having fun, telling me they've had some much fun and how grateful they are that I've organized it. Same with recurring people at Gay Cafe, or new ones coming in and telling me they had so much fun. It feels amazing to hear that what I've created is helping others.
Last time at Gay Cafe I had invited a friend to lead the discussion, we had a 4 page spread in a local news paper to open the discussion about lgbt people as customers in social services and health care and I invited directors of social services from the 5 local municipalities and none of them showed up and only one had the decency to decline the invitation. Then today I found out that one has also been an active volunteer at FSMS but couldn't even bother to decline or reach out. I feel slighted but at the same time I realize how much this is needed. I won't give up.
I also need to learn not to take these things personally. It's hard, because they're things I've come up with, things I KNOW need improving, things I am doing to improve them and no one is listening. No one is paying attention. We're not important enough. Once again, we are invisible, and I feel it's ME that's invisible. And because I feel invisible here, it's sometimes hard to believe in the positive feedback I get from outside Forssa from people who are doing these things in areas where they have a big organization behind them with like-minded people helping them.
I love what I'm doing, at its best it's so rewarding and at its worst it's so frustrating. And this isn't even anything I get paid to do. I must really love it or be totally bat shit crazy!
Then we get to Forssa Pride and people are having fun, telling me they've had some much fun and how grateful they are that I've organized it. Same with recurring people at Gay Cafe, or new ones coming in and telling me they had so much fun. It feels amazing to hear that what I've created is helping others.
Last time at Gay Cafe I had invited a friend to lead the discussion, we had a 4 page spread in a local news paper to open the discussion about lgbt people as customers in social services and health care and I invited directors of social services from the 5 local municipalities and none of them showed up and only one had the decency to decline the invitation. Then today I found out that one has also been an active volunteer at FSMS but couldn't even bother to decline or reach out. I feel slighted but at the same time I realize how much this is needed. I won't give up.
I also need to learn not to take these things personally. It's hard, because they're things I've come up with, things I KNOW need improving, things I am doing to improve them and no one is listening. No one is paying attention. We're not important enough. Once again, we are invisible, and I feel it's ME that's invisible. And because I feel invisible here, it's sometimes hard to believe in the positive feedback I get from outside Forssa from people who are doing these things in areas where they have a big organization behind them with like-minded people helping them.
I love what I'm doing, at its best it's so rewarding and at its worst it's so frustrating. And this isn't even anything I get paid to do. I must really love it or be totally bat shit crazy!
Saturday, September 21, 2013
It's that time again
So, in case you didn't know, it's the time of the year again when Forssa Pride Party is fast approaching and Eino has, once again, made a fabulous poster for the party. It'll be all over Southern Finland in no time. He also made a badge model for it, which I turned into a t-shirt, which you can buy from here.
And here is the poster in all of its glory!
Our Facebook events page can be found here.
I hope to see many of you there, it's going to be amazing time! We are excited!
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Best. week. ever!
That might be a recycled title for a post, but I don't care as I feel this has been the best week ever, and I doubt tomorrow will bring it down!
I had my 33rd birthday on Tuesday, which was also the first meeting of the fall season for Gay Cafe and we had a new person showing up who seems like will be returning.
After I came home from Gay Cafe, I had a message regarding the hosting job for Forssa Pride 3's program. All the people who I asked to participate, said yes, so as you might know, Miss Gay Finland 2013 Leena Luuri and Mr. Gay Finland 2013 Aleks Vehkala promised to do a discussion and Q&A-type of thing for Forssa Pride as well as participate in an extra Gay Cafe meeting we have that day! And, if you are in Finland, and have access to TV, you can check Aleks out in the new season of Celebrity Big Brother that started on Tuesday, just as I was announcing the stars for Forssa Pride! The hostess also said yes, but as I have yet to get a confirmation that I can use her name for promotional purposes, I will refrain from revealing it! Still, Happy Birthday to me!
On Friday I got my tax forms back. What was already a substantial amount of money (in my financial situation) became even bigger after my student loan payments and commuting costs for work were included. I feel like another shopping trip to the USA is in order!
And today, I got a phone call from the owner of a local jewelry company from whom I had asked their interest in sponsoring Forssa Pride 3. We have 3 guests coming from out of town whose travel and hotel costs need to be paid for. Green Whale Jewelry has booked and is paying for the hotel rooms!
I have said it before and I'll keep saying it till I'm blue in the face, I love this community so much! Organizing both Forssa Pride and Gay Cafe has really showed me what a community is and people's willingness to help always amazes me.
Tomorrow I will go get trained at SETA in Helsinki, so this week...be still my heart! Only way this week could get any better is if I find the love of my life tomorrow! :)
I hope to see some of you at Forssa Pride 3 and if you show up, come say hi!
I had my 33rd birthday on Tuesday, which was also the first meeting of the fall season for Gay Cafe and we had a new person showing up who seems like will be returning.
After I came home from Gay Cafe, I had a message regarding the hosting job for Forssa Pride 3's program. All the people who I asked to participate, said yes, so as you might know, Miss Gay Finland 2013 Leena Luuri and Mr. Gay Finland 2013 Aleks Vehkala promised to do a discussion and Q&A-type of thing for Forssa Pride as well as participate in an extra Gay Cafe meeting we have that day! And, if you are in Finland, and have access to TV, you can check Aleks out in the new season of Celebrity Big Brother that started on Tuesday, just as I was announcing the stars for Forssa Pride! The hostess also said yes, but as I have yet to get a confirmation that I can use her name for promotional purposes, I will refrain from revealing it! Still, Happy Birthday to me!
On Friday I got my tax forms back. What was already a substantial amount of money (in my financial situation) became even bigger after my student loan payments and commuting costs for work were included. I feel like another shopping trip to the USA is in order!
And today, I got a phone call from the owner of a local jewelry company from whom I had asked their interest in sponsoring Forssa Pride 3. We have 3 guests coming from out of town whose travel and hotel costs need to be paid for. Green Whale Jewelry has booked and is paying for the hotel rooms!
I have said it before and I'll keep saying it till I'm blue in the face, I love this community so much! Organizing both Forssa Pride and Gay Cafe has really showed me what a community is and people's willingness to help always amazes me.
Tomorrow I will go get trained at SETA in Helsinki, so this week...be still my heart! Only way this week could get any better is if I find the love of my life tomorrow! :)
I hope to see some of you at Forssa Pride 3 and if you show up, come say hi!
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Olympics in Sochi
For the last couple of weeks/months, the discussion on the Olympics in Sochi and the anti-LGBT laws in Russia have intensified.
It went from the International Olympic Committee announcing that athletes and fans would not be affected, to many Russian politicians saying it will, in fact, be in effect during the games, to IOC saying it won't participate in politics etc.
In all likelihood, the games will be held in Russia, but I, for one, won't be watching. I would love it, if the games were transferred to another location, or if the athlete community would boycott it, or even countries at large. But I doubt it will happen.
The violence against lgbt people in Russia has intensified since the law was passed, and it seems like it is all the validation neo-nazis and other homophobes need to justify beating up innocent people for just being themselves.
It's not even about athletes being able to be themselves and feel proud about themselves. It will be very difficult to arrest international athletes without anyone noticing, or without it becoming a major news story and reflect badly on Russia. But who will defend the fans? Suspicion of gay propaganda is enough to arrest people, whether it's true or not. So who will make sure that the international fans will be treated right, or won't disappear in the dungeons of Russian prison system, or won't be beaten to death by locals defending this law? And what about the local LGBT community? How is any of this fair to them? The talk so far has been about the international community and ensuring their safety. Is it ok to beat and jail the locals then? And if a gay fan of an athlete is killed while there, was it worth for the athlete to participate, or to win? Is that olympic medal more valuable than the lives of others?
One of the arguments against boycotting has been that the athletes have trained for years for this. By all means then, the athletes have trained, they must compete. Go ahead Russia, carry on, beat and jail your gays and lesbians as long as the athletes won't be affected. LGBT athletes eligible to compete in these games, who decide to stay home won't really make much of a difference, since there are like 2 male athletes who are out. And there really is no way Johnny Weir will be mistaken as being straight. And his husband is Russian born...as a matter of fact, we share a family name. Maybe we are related?
I've also heard that you shouldn't mix sports and politics. Let the athletes compete and let the politicians do the politics and diplomacy. Once the games are over and done with in Russia, will the big countries remember the LGBT people in Russia? They'll be forgotten. So I will not have anything to do with the olympics as long as they are held in Russia. I will not support anything that would make it ok to put me in jail just because of who I am. I'm very disappointed with Obama as well, because he said USA will not boycott the games. He did elect to not go to Russia for a visit because of this, but still. Someone needs to step up.
So Russia and Putin, you can keep your olympics, you can keep your track and field World Championships and you can just go. to. hell. It's safe to say, we will not be meeting in the near future. If ever.
It went from the International Olympic Committee announcing that athletes and fans would not be affected, to many Russian politicians saying it will, in fact, be in effect during the games, to IOC saying it won't participate in politics etc.
In all likelihood, the games will be held in Russia, but I, for one, won't be watching. I would love it, if the games were transferred to another location, or if the athlete community would boycott it, or even countries at large. But I doubt it will happen.
The violence against lgbt people in Russia has intensified since the law was passed, and it seems like it is all the validation neo-nazis and other homophobes need to justify beating up innocent people for just being themselves.
It's not even about athletes being able to be themselves and feel proud about themselves. It will be very difficult to arrest international athletes without anyone noticing, or without it becoming a major news story and reflect badly on Russia. But who will defend the fans? Suspicion of gay propaganda is enough to arrest people, whether it's true or not. So who will make sure that the international fans will be treated right, or won't disappear in the dungeons of Russian prison system, or won't be beaten to death by locals defending this law? And what about the local LGBT community? How is any of this fair to them? The talk so far has been about the international community and ensuring their safety. Is it ok to beat and jail the locals then? And if a gay fan of an athlete is killed while there, was it worth for the athlete to participate, or to win? Is that olympic medal more valuable than the lives of others?
One of the arguments against boycotting has been that the athletes have trained for years for this. By all means then, the athletes have trained, they must compete. Go ahead Russia, carry on, beat and jail your gays and lesbians as long as the athletes won't be affected. LGBT athletes eligible to compete in these games, who decide to stay home won't really make much of a difference, since there are like 2 male athletes who are out. And there really is no way Johnny Weir will be mistaken as being straight. And his husband is Russian born...as a matter of fact, we share a family name. Maybe we are related?
I've also heard that you shouldn't mix sports and politics. Let the athletes compete and let the politicians do the politics and diplomacy. Once the games are over and done with in Russia, will the big countries remember the LGBT people in Russia? They'll be forgotten. So I will not have anything to do with the olympics as long as they are held in Russia. I will not support anything that would make it ok to put me in jail just because of who I am. I'm very disappointed with Obama as well, because he said USA will not boycott the games. He did elect to not go to Russia for a visit because of this, but still. Someone needs to step up.
I've been to Sochi back in 1991. I actually have two portraits of myself on my walls that were made by artist at a park in Sochi. They look totally different, but still are so me. I was few years younger in these, as you can see.
The artist put the city and year in this one.
This one was hard to take a picture of. Flash came up horrible, so this is not the clearest.
Few weeks ago, as part of my job, we do test fishing on 5 lakes this summer. Well, professional fishermen do it, I just go and take pictures. The purpose is to determine the state of the lakes fisheries as well as the water quality. There was a local news paper making a story about the first lake, so I thought it was the perfect gay propaganda photo op, especially since that macho LGBT hating president of Russia had just allegedly caught a "21kg" northern pike from somewhere in Siberia. I'd like to say that the fish I'm posing with is at least 23 kg, but I'd be lying, and we don't lie about my work so...it's just about 400g. Notice my Gay Cafe tee! Unfortunately my t-shirt did not make it to news paper article, but it was one of the most liked picture on Facebook I've posted.
So Russia and Putin, you can keep your olympics, you can keep your track and field World Championships and you can just go. to. hell. It's safe to say, we will not be meeting in the near future. If ever.
Monday, July 8, 2013
Gay Autumn in Forssa
I know it's way early to be thinking about fall as we have been having some amazing summer weather in Finland and it doesn't look like it's going away, but before we know it, it'll be my birthday and the fall semester for Gay Cafe will be fully on. So keeping that in mind, I had couple of friends over today to brainstorm for Forssa Pride Party and Gay Cafe.
There's really no limits for girl power. When it comes to the things I manage, I'm kind of a control freak, but it does become tedious if it's just me trying to come up with things. So as I'm keeping the leash close to me, I do accept some help. And these ladies came equipped with great ideas. We pretty much have the fall program set for Gay Cafe and Forssa Pride Party 3 is going to rock! We have a theme and we have a program, as long as the schedule clears. I'm super excited and can't wait to announce it, and my team is super excited! What we are doing now is pretty much what I envisioned when I was dreaming about a organizing gay parties in Forssa and it can only get better from here. I'm proud of us!
So stay tuned! I will post about both as soon as I have the all clear! (Which is funny, because I'm the boss, so basically if I wanted, I could tell you our ideas already!)
There's really no limits for girl power. When it comes to the things I manage, I'm kind of a control freak, but it does become tedious if it's just me trying to come up with things. So as I'm keeping the leash close to me, I do accept some help. And these ladies came equipped with great ideas. We pretty much have the fall program set for Gay Cafe and Forssa Pride Party 3 is going to rock! We have a theme and we have a program, as long as the schedule clears. I'm super excited and can't wait to announce it, and my team is super excited! What we are doing now is pretty much what I envisioned when I was dreaming about a organizing gay parties in Forssa and it can only get better from here. I'm proud of us!
So stay tuned! I will post about both as soon as I have the all clear! (Which is funny, because I'm the boss, so basically if I wanted, I could tell you our ideas already!)
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Wild cats
Back to reality from my week long Pride high! I had a Monday off to vacay from vacay. On Tuesday I came down with a migraine after the afternoon coffee break and had to come home in the middle of the day. I feel like cramming up and trying to finalize all my work before vacation as well, because both of my bosses are going to be off the next 3 weeks so there's no one to make decisions. So everything that needs an approval right now, has to be finished. And on top of that, tomorrow afternoon is the annual summer resident day in the municipality building, so I have to give a little presentation on how my projects are going. Not a public speaker, remember!
My cats were not happy that I left them home for a week to fend for themselves. Ybi was here every day feeding them and cleaning the little box, but my cats are afraid of him so they didn't get any human contact during that time. When I came home on Sunday, they were super excited, but just like toddlers they couldn't control their excitement and started fighting. They were wild.
Now, before my vacation, I was able to take Dunkin Donuts outside in her harness and walk around the building, TWICE in consecutive days! That's huge for my timid little scaredy cat! Then yesterday, I took Brooklyn outside for a walk and he walked at least 800m, about twice the usual little walk we make. And When I took DD outside, she didn't wanna come inside until there were some dogs outside who started barking and she got scared. But then she wanted outside again, so she started scratching the door outside and tried to open the handle! Like I said, I'll have 2 dogs by the end of the summer! Balcony's not enough for them anymore.
Brooklyn has been extra cuddly lately and he's very jealous as well. He was yelling inside the whole time me and DD were outside, he could be heard in the hallway, and he gives me the evil eye when I brush or hold DD. And he yells constantly! Super bossy, that one.
I'm waiting for them to start bringing me their harnesses and leash, because they know which drawer to break into, and when they do, we are joining the circus!
My cats were not happy that I left them home for a week to fend for themselves. Ybi was here every day feeding them and cleaning the little box, but my cats are afraid of him so they didn't get any human contact during that time. When I came home on Sunday, they were super excited, but just like toddlers they couldn't control their excitement and started fighting. They were wild.
Now, before my vacation, I was able to take Dunkin Donuts outside in her harness and walk around the building, TWICE in consecutive days! That's huge for my timid little scaredy cat! Then yesterday, I took Brooklyn outside for a walk and he walked at least 800m, about twice the usual little walk we make. And When I took DD outside, she didn't wanna come inside until there were some dogs outside who started barking and she got scared. But then she wanted outside again, so she started scratching the door outside and tried to open the handle! Like I said, I'll have 2 dogs by the end of the summer! Balcony's not enough for them anymore.
Brooklyn has been extra cuddly lately and he's very jealous as well. He was yelling inside the whole time me and DD were outside, he could be heard in the hallway, and he gives me the evil eye when I brush or hold DD. And he yells constantly! Super bossy, that one.
I'm waiting for them to start bringing me their harnesses and leash, because they know which drawer to break into, and when they do, we are joining the circus!
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