Friday, November 13, 2009

The final numbers!

Its amazing what can happen when a community works together as one. The Board of Philadelphia Leather Pride Night is proud to announce the following numbers going to charity.

From us to The Leather Archives and Museum... $8755

This amount was raised from the door and also every single penny of the live auction which brought in $5815 thanks to Jo Arnone and the companies, events, groups and individuals that donated auction items making it such a huge success.

From us to The Leather Heart Foundation... $1348

This amount was raised through the silent auction which was made possible and successful due to Master Steve and slave tami with their army of volunteers. Thank you to the companies, events, groups and individuals that donated auction items. Special thank you also to slave kelly for donating her water color "Illumination".

From us to By the Grace of George... $595

This amount was raised by the raffle ticket sales during the event. Special thank you to all the volunteers who stepped forward to help run the raffle table and sell the tickets. Also special thanks to the companies, groups and individuals who donated items for the raffle table.

Total monies donated to charity... $10,698

Thank you to the communities that made all of this possible. If we can work that well together for one night then we should be able to do so every night.
The coordinators and volunteers were an essential part of the night as well as our EmCee Jill Carter and speakers Ms Pandora and Ms Khiki. We had over 100 volunteers from at least 9 different states and countless groups and communities. Several flew to Philadelphia to help out, some drove here right after a major leather event in Baltimore and there were those behind the scenes like Jez who gave countless hours of her precious time to make sure our web site stayed up to date, Remi who shinned while keeping the night moving, Mistress Dee from Hellfire and Kat with our friends who raised most of the seed money. The entire staff of PLPN was just amazing! If you see one of our volunteers or coordinators out and about please thank them for helping make this event happen and also for believing.

Rick from the Leather Archives and Museum drove the LA&M display to Philadelphia all the way from Chicago. It was wonderful having him and the display here and for them to bring so much of our history home for a weekend. Add in the Peek-a-Boo Review, who donated their segment of the entertainment, the Bike Stop for the after party in town and Dottie who stayed behind at the hotel to make sure we had an amazing Leather Flea the next day. It was our friends and our community that made the entire weekend happen. My hat off to each of you!

I am proud to be from Philadelphia and a part of this historical event.
I am prouder yet to be part of not just the leather community but so many others that were represented.

Cowboi Jen
Mid-Atlantic Leather Woman 2009
Producer Philadelphia Leather Pride Night

Philadelphia Leather Pride Night

I arrived home from California on Nov 5th to a house full of friends. Boi Jen has already flown in from Florida several days earlier to be my replacement while I was away. She knows what she is doing and I trusted her with my household while away. Several hours after my plane landed I was back to the airport to pick up Margaret, SouthEast Leather Bootblack aka girl go fix it. She flew in to help keep me sane for the weekend and make sure things ran as smooth as possible. More came in the next day, Ms Kitty from Florida and Shy Butch from York. Remi was also here and he wound up taking over the Production Manager Position for the event.

Nov 7th is a day that I will always remember. Philadelphia Leather Pride Night was finally here. I don't think any of us were prepared for what happened that night. What started out as a community project where I was asked to Produce a fundraiser turned into a major adventure. I remember standing firm stating I was only going to run Philadelphia Leather Pride Night....well the 5 hour event turned into the event plus an after party at the Bike Stop plus a host hotel plus a vendors mart plus a volunteer appreciation after party at the hotel... whew... so much for just 5 hours. Did I mention Rick Storer himself came to Philly and brought the LA&M Traveling Archives to display for us?

The doors opened at 7pm, somehow we were visibly ready. An army of volunteers had shown up to help out, I believe at one count it was over 80. The night opened with boy kevin on stage flagging then Pandora to open the event and introduce Jill Carter as our EmCee. Rick made a quick appearance on stage and help up Ms Carter's IMsL sash that he had brought back to Philly from the museum. I don't think she realizes mo st of the crowd stood up and cheered when she was on stage and they stayed standing when Jo Arnone was brought up next as our Auctioneer. The local Title Holders came out in droves to present items at the live auction. I saw faces that have not seen in many years. A car load even drove up from Baltimore after the Mr Maryland Leather contest.

The crowd became thicker and thicker and almost ever seat in the house was taken. The night was a whirlwind. As Producer I was everywhere with a huge smile on my face. I kept hearing the auction and the numbers coming in. I looked around and saw the event coordinators. They were absolutely amazing! Each one of them represented a different community group from the 5 state region. Between them and seeing so many different groups in the audience this was the largest gathering of leather, M/s, kink, and BDSM communities in many years in our great city. This night the venue became a classroom on what leather is about and who we are.

When the first segment of the auction was over Master Steve and slave tami, the Northeast Master slave couple for a quick speech then came on our entertainment. The Peek-a-Boo Review (burlesque show) donated a 30 minute segment. It was during this time that I did my first stage change. When the show ended Jo took the stage again. It was time for the Passional Power Hour where all auction items were donated by Kali from Passional and Passional Toys. My grand appearance... on stage in full fem attire.. corset, collar, opera gloves, skirt, harness w/dildo, fishnets, high heeled boots, fully hooded with a handful of toys. The audience had no idea who was up there. The 3 toys all went for triple their value. Jo did know it was me and we had discussed prior how far I was willing to go to raise money...which was pretty damn far. Each piece of clothing slowly was won and taken right off of my b ody. Jo kept leaving the heels on me and was having fun watching me try to balance. When the hood was taken off of me I could hear OMG coming from the audience. The rest of the clothes were quickly bought off of me and damn if they didn't have fun doing so. I will never forget Thomas with the boots. He used his teeth to loosen the ribbon and unzip them. I have also learned black electrical tape may not be the best thing to use to cover the nipples. Taking that off hurt worse then what was done to auction off the toys...lol.

Stage change #2 put me in my red leathers and back on stage with Rick Storer who had also brought back Caren Cunninghams title vest. She had passed last year only a couple of weeks after winning Ms NJ Leather. I have missed her friendship and it was important to include her in the night. She is the one that had convinced me to run for a title so we could throw fundraisers together. The final segment of the auction had started and we were out of time. We had to be out of the venue by 12:30 and it was midnight. Jo did her magic and sped up the auction. This was the wow segment of auction items. The one that I went after the hardest to obtain was won by my Director of Ops Wendy and Head of Security Sir Charles. They won an intimate conversation with Vi Johnson. I was beaming watching the stage. As the auction ended our keynote speaker took the stage. Our community is very fortunate to have obtained our newest resident. Ms Khiki who was the first Ms Atlanta Eagle then had won the title of International Master in 1999. She is so amazing and I heard every word of her message about rebuilding communities. Unfortunately during her speech the clean-up had to begin. I felt horrible and will find a way to make up for it. It was past 12:30am and management had already sternly told me we had to clear out. I wound up having to leave to return the chairs by 1am then off to the after party at the hotel. After inhaling several pieces of pizza and socializing it was time to head home. 4am I finally fell into bed for a handful of hours. The next day was the vendors mart at the host hotel and it was very successful. We kept the event as affordable as possible and found a hotel for 69 a night and was able to make the Philly Leather Flea a free event to go too. So $100 got you 2 tickets to the event plus a hotel room for the night and a vendors mart the next day. Mission accomplished... I was able to go to DC to keep a promise of showing up to the women's event at the Crucible. What a way to end the weekend!

California!

Days before the charity event in Philadelphia, I found myself in San Francisco for the International Leather Sir, Leather boy and Community Bootblack Competition, www.leathersir.com. ILSb/cbb. I arrived on the Thursday of the event and right off the bat made arrangements with friends at the airport and shared a taxi. Great way to start the weekend. I have been to San Francisco for Folsom but have never had the chance to really sight see. So my friend and I went for a walk-about and wound up at a Harley Davidson dealership. I already knew they rented motorcycles and was excited at the thought of seeing the city on 2 wheels. They had a huge selection of bikes for rent. Harley, BMW, Honda etc... what did we wind up with? A Vestpa 250 scooter. I actually own a scooter at home and my friend picked the scooter so I could drive it too. I do have a motorcycle license but that does not mean I can drive one..lol.

So 2 days and 118 miles later we had a blast riding around the city. Up and down... up and down... weeeeeeeee.... The view from Twin Peaks is pretty awsome but being the butch bitch on the back was priceless. I adored holding onto the femme..grins. Up and down... up and down... then off to the ocean. We made a turn and I saw something quite unexpected. Horses... there was a huge stable right by the ocean. Next morning we were off on the scooter again and on horseback by 8:30am. Just the two of us plus the guide made for a perfect ride. As we were galloping down the beach I slowed my horse to a lope and watched the seals pace me. There was a small group of them and they kept popping their heads up and looking right at us... almost questioning.. what ya doing? and defiantly showing they were faster then me. So during the day I finally got to see the city and there is no better way then on 2 wheels.

At night was the competition and what a competition it was! It was my first time at the International Competition and was quite surprised at how many people I knew there. My title team of Kyle, boy eddie and bootblack Brandon were all at their best. I couldn't have cheered them on any louder. I am damn proud of the 3 of them. They had a great showing over the weekend. The number of leather women that showed up to the event was staggering. It was announced that 40% of the ticket sales were to women..wow! What made that night super memorable was getting pinned by Mama herself. I am now Mama's Cowboi Jen number 1111 of her family. How can I ever forget Halloween this year?

That night I went waaaay outside of my box. I wound up at the bathhouse. On a very rare occasion they open it to women so why not? It was a queer party and I hung ou t for a bit then back to the hotel. That was an experience.The city was alive with party goers. On Sunday I volunteered for the victory party at the door of Stompers. I got to see everyone one last time and say my goodbyes. I had dinner with my California Leather Family, Evil Mommy Tina. I didn't realize just how much I miss her. By far she is one of the people that have been my backbone all these years. We wound up meeting up again for breakfast and she drove me to the airport. This is when the adventure starts... I wasn't flying out.. I was picking up the rental car.
My friend and I went up the coastal expressway route 1. I must say I have been working out at the gym but damn.. those twists and turns along the coast really worked my arm muscles. Someone taught me how to drive them and what the different signs meant. Coming from Philly we are mostly flatland and though I do know how to drive it was fun being told. We traveled well together and I enjoyed the entire drive. Walks on the beach, sunsets over the ocean and breakfast at a wonderful B&B made for one hell of a trip to the.... REDWOODS. All I can say is WOW. We stopped at the visitor center and got directions to the best trails, did a small loop to the biggest trees in the grove then found a nice cabin to spend the night in. The 2nd day in the forrest we went for a longer hike. At one point I had to stop and sit down. I wasn't tired but was overwhelmed. What I saw was so beautiful I had to take a moment and thank the higher being for me being alive to be there. We went back to San Fra ncisco and spent one last night in the city before flying home on Thursday morning. Only 52 hours until the charity event... nothing like cutting it close.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

October is just getting started....

October is a month spent at home… well more time at home then normal. So far I have only taken 13 days off of work since I won my title. Work has yet to see what is coming up…. Send off party on the 10th for Sir Ky, boy eddie and Brandon. They are all competing at the International Leather Sir/boy/community bootblack competition on San Francisco and I will be there!!! I am very excited about this trip. I have leather family in the bay area that I will get to see, tons of friends that will be at the weekend but most important I will finally get to spend some quality time with my Canadian friend that I am courting. I look forward to her getting to know me… to me letting my guard down and trusting. I am scared to do this but if I am ever to find personal happiness I have to open up. So we will be spending a couple extra days and going to the redwood forest. A walk in the woods will do my soul some good and no matter the outcome I will always have a Canadian friend who means the world to me and I will be a better person for it.

I think the biggest lesson I have learned these past couple of months is trust. I am learning to trust people again. Novel idea. I trust my board to pull together the fundraiser while I am gone for the week. I trust my namesake to be me and girl go fix it will be arriving in Philly the same time I get off the plane from California. It seems everyone is pulling their weight and it is coming together. I believe…..

A Septermber to Remember.... yeah I know... but it fits!

Labor day weekend…. and I set off for one of the largest growth experiences of my leather life. It was the Master slave Conference in Washington DC. I had attended last year for one of the days and this year had decided on attended the entire event. I volunteered to help with the Carter/Johnson leather library. The library was placed gently in my truck and the most important cargo of my life sat next to me for the drive, I got one on one time with a woman I now call Mom, Vi Johnson. Setting up the library is an experience all on its own and I wound up watching other family members take charge and poof it was done. I spent a lot of time that weekend with the books and periodicals. I recently joined LSM and I took the time to go thru a lot of that organizations history. I also was able to attend a couple of the class’s. It felt so right being back in the M/s environment. I could feel the energy in me rejuvenate. It makes sense… it has always made sense. The weekend left me with a lot to think about. I know the direction I am supposed to be going. The conference helped lead me to the right road.

My friends won the weekend contest. The new Northeast Master/slave team is Master Steve and slave tami. They were the very first ones to believe in me when I ran for my MAL-W title and threw a fundraiser to help get me there. You better bet I’ll be at SouthPlains LeatherFest/ International Master/slave Weekend in Dallas cheering them on.

The rest of the month has been preparing for my upcoming fundraiser. Philadelphia Leather Pride Night. Our little fundraiser has turned into something much bigger. We now have a committee of 18 members representing 16 different groups from 4 different states. That is a wow. I have two amazing women flying in to help, one is my namesake and the other is girl go fix it from Louisiana. The night will be run similar to LPN in NYC with a live auction by Jo Arnone. It is now meeting after meeting and countless hours with phone calls and emails. One thing I am doing different… I am taking one day a week for me. I have been to NYC twice with one of the visits being a backstage tour of Phantom of the Opera. That was a dream come true. I then sat thru the musical holding back the tears. Hell I’ll admit I cried thru two of the songs. I have seen Phantom numerous times on Broadway and in Philly and I just can’t get enough. I am a big softie at heart. The other time I took for me was in Baltimore. I was honored to be a guest at a private spiritual cutting ceremony. I was surrounded by chosen family… family that I am damn proud to call family. I met up with friends for dinner the next day and one asked me.. so Cowboi… its been a couple months since you’ve won your title…. I didn’t let her get the rest out.. I immediately answered … it’s the best thing I’ve done in my leather life. I have grown so much in the last couple of months and I have found I can use my title to help make good things happen like P-LPN. I am very happy and proud. I look forward to the next couple months and wait to see my next adventures.


The one thing that was eating at me all month.. it was test time. I am down to one CT scan a year with oncology appointments quarterly. I passed the test again. I have yet another year to torture everyone…lol. I am a monster every time I see that doctor. I feel for anyone around me. I don’t eat… I don’t sleep… I am just a mess… hell I am a scared little kid that wants to act out and scream. It has been more exhausting living in remission then it was battling for my life. At least then I knew what I was fighting… now I find the fight within and I am tired. Its now 7 years… and I turned 40. Even my docs are pleasantly surprised at how well I’m doing. Perhaps now its time to believe that I am no longer a danger to others. For years I’ve lived with the philosophy that it is not fair to others to have me in their lives and for me to die on them. I never want to hurt someone to that degree. I would rather be alone then to hurt someone I care about. So I care from a distance and I push. There has been a huge monkey wrench in the way I’ve lived… it seems in the last couple of months I have wanted to let people in. I want to be the one who has a happy ending. I just don’t know how…. so forgive me while I put on my new shoes and try this living thing. I’m going to stumble a bit and I’m sure to get some blisters but I am ready to go for that walk in the woods. I do think I have earned it and I deserve it. I no longer want to live like I’m dying.

August... and still going....

Its Rodeo time... Aug 1st and 2nd was the 2nd annual Liberty Stampede Rodeo. The location this year moved to the Shriners Temple in Plymouth Meeting PA. They have a permanent rodeo arena set up and are some of the greatest guys on earth. Once again I brought my horse Quinn and entered in 8 events. The events are barrel racing, pole bending, flag race, calf roping, chute dogging, wild drag race, goat dressing and steer deco. It was hot on Saturday...very hot. There were a bunch of speed demons with their horses and I decided right off the bat to have fun. Quinn is a valiantly handsome man who can do it all. He has the biggest heart but not the fastest legs. I completed every pattern with him. I wound up placing in almost all events and took 1st in the wild drag race with my friends Mark and Jim. Sunday the skies opened up and the rodeo was canceled. The results from Saturday rolled over and I wound up winning my 8th All Around Cowgirl Title. I have now competed in over 80 rodeo's across the country and have buckled in 7 different events.

The big memory of rodeo weekend was the riderless horse ceremony. It was done in memory of Caren Cunningham who was Ms NJ Leather. She had passed in December of last year to cancer. I was given a chance to say goodbye to her the cowboy way.

I still had not fully recovered from the flu bug I caught in NOLA and it came back 5x's as bad. This time I was home and could see my own doctors. I was grounded... The timing could not have been worse. It is Aug 3rd and I turned 40 on Aug 7th and had a flight to Toronto on Aug 8th. I never took such good care of myself. I stayed home and canceled all birthday plans. I ate/drank soup took my meds and slept as much as I could. Friends showed up the night before my birthday and slid my birthday dinner in the door. I found myself wrestling with the dogs for my Outback Prime Rib. I was happy. I made it to NYC on the 7th and had a fabulous dinner with my friend. Then we flew to Toronto on the 8th. Surprisingly I was able to pull it together enough to not get stopped at the boarder. This was a dream trip. I am quite smitten with my Canadian friend and I adore to court the girl. So three of us went to Niagara Falls for the night. It started with a helicopter ride and ended with the Maid of the Mist. As you only turn 40 once I splurged and we stayed in the Fallsview Marriot with a wall to wall picture window overlooking the horseshoe falls. Damn… what a view! The rest of the week was down time...there was a BBQ at the house and a birthday dinner later on. I couldn't help but rest. I came back still sick and doubling up on the flu medicines.

While still recovering I decided to take some me time and go camping. Not just camping but Princess camping! It was leather weekend at Oneida Campground and I rented a cabin complete with electricity and a fridge. 3 of us went and I brought my dogs, they deserved a vacation too. Ironic that I went from being with 2 femmes the weekend before to 2 butch’s. We must have been quite the sight. Upon arriving at the campground I was asked to judge the leather contest. I was very happy to do so and it was a wonderful experience. The weekend was just what the doctor ordered and I was even able to get some dancing in. I was finally feeling better. I can’t wait for next summer…. I’ll be back and I am ready to rebook the same cabin.

Next up Floating World in Edison NJ. I was head DM for the event. It was a sold out event with 1200 paid attendees plus volunteers, staff, presenters, medics, vendors etc... I spent most of the weekend in the play area. It still does something to me when I'm around the energy. The big highlight of the weekend was being accosted by a gaggle of lesbians not once... but twice. Poor me... I had to have been on my feet 35+ hours over the weekend on that damn industrial cement floor. I knew I was in trouble by late Friday night... by the time I got home I could barely walk. Nothing like a stress fracture in my left foot to try and slow me down... yea right.
Home from the event I now had two local events to attend. My title sibling Brandon had his fundraising party that Friday night. He is getting ready to compete for International Community Bootblack in October. The day after that was a BBQ/pool party to raise funds for our local play space.

August is over.... now the work starts.....

Saturday, October 3, 2009

July's Adventure

July started off with a bang. July 4th I got to witness the Phillies beat the Mets..yet once again. As a reward an unexpected guest surprised me and we had quite the evening. Later that night I was called to help a friend out and woke up for the first time in years. It was time I learned to let people in.
Several days later was the great American road trip to New Orleans. Only 6 weeks after winning my Mid-Atlantic Title I was on my way to the American Brotherhood Weekend to compete for the title of American Leather Woman. I decided to take some time to reflect and drive down to NOLA, stopping in the Great Smokey Mountains on the way. What a beautiful sight they are and I stayed at a hotel on top of one of the mountains. The view was breathtaking.
That weekend wound up being a trial of pure willpower. I was hit full force with the flu on the 2nd day of the drive down and wound up twice at an Urgent Care Facility. I gave 100% of what I had to give. The people I met were worth it all. A certain bootblack has wiggled her way into my life and I am blessed to call her friend. Girl go fix it… and she did…

I am damn proud to have finished what I started and came back home with my current title. The winner is a wonderful woman named Dakota out of Myrtle Beach S.C. I look forward to our paths crossing several times later on this year. I came home from New Orleans a sick cowboi and took some time to rest up and gear up for the upcoming Liberty Stampede.


June's Adventures

June is Pride central and I never had so much fun attending events.

The month started with NJ Foreplay then Asbury Pride. I headed to NYC for another fun weekend. Friday night started with a LSM class taught by Lady Sabrina on spanking then that night led me to the NE Leather Sir/boy competition at the Eagle. On Saturday I taught a class at the Center for DM'ing and Dungeon Safety. Later that night was LPN. Leather Pride Night is close to my heart and I have attended every year since 2001. I presented several items on stage. I was proud to be up there as a title holder. On Sunday Folsom Street East was a wow... the things that get caught on camera... The LSM party that followed....

I do think it would be illegal to show a single picture from there....lol.
At the end of the month my local community threw a send off part for me... its time to compete for the American Leather Woman Title...

Sunday, September 13, 2009

History, Part 2

In 2000 a friend of mine invited me to a private party. She had a hard time explaining to me just what kind of party it was. It was a birthday party for an Owned submissive and was filled with leather women. Damn if I didn't find my way back home. I finally found the piece of me that had always existed but never had a name.

I continued to rodeo but now started venturing out publicly. I became a member of our local play space and found my way to NYC. I was now going full steam in my new journey. One of the better events was the Summer of 2001 in Provincetown Mass. A group had rented out an entire hotel for a women's leather weekend. I am friends with most of the attendees to this day. It is also where I met a woman that eventually would help save my life. Then Sept 11th happened. I wound up going to NYC the week after and became one of the workers there. It was an experience I will never ever EVER forget. While in NYC I was brought to an LSM event. Who were these women? They were the Lesbian Sex Mafia of course..lol. I also had no idea it was their 20th anniversary weekend. I just found that out while reading up on their history.


Tragedy then struck my life. Nov 4th, 2001 I was diagnosed with terminal cancer. I had Hodgkins disease which is normally very curable but in my case I was very sick and was stage 4b with bone marrow involvement. One of the women I had met at the P-Town weekend was a medic who was out on disability for an arm injury. Her Owner sent her to me to take care of me. We formed our own relationship. I fought like hell and am still fighting to this day. I fired every doctor that said I was terminal until I found the one that saved my life. 16 treatments of chemo and a stem cell transplant and I have been in continuous remission since January of 2003.
Since remission I have been on a mission to live. Life has brought me to numerous events across the country including a fantasy week revolving around the Folsom Street Fair.

This blog is about my current adventures.... the Adventures of a Cowboi.

History Part 1

It starts in 1989. I was 19 years old and working at a convenience store in Philadelphia. Almost every night this handsome woman came into my store. Sometimes she came in work clothes but it was her casual wear that caught my eye. She wore boots... proudly wore boots and damn if I didn't notice. One night I actually found the guts to ask her out and she said yes. She was a leather woman who wound up taking me in and helping me get what is now a 20 year career. We were very private and she stepped away completely from public leather with the goal of sheltering me (yea right). She taught me the core values and ethics that I have to this day. I had no idea at the time what leather was about and upon our separating I went onto my mundane life.


I found rodeo in 1992 when I went to and wound up competing at the very first Atlantic Stampede Rodeo in Maryland. I went from leather to levi. I joined the Atlantic States Gay Rodeo Association and have been competing ever since. In 2005 I brought my love of rodeo to Philadelphia by creating the Liberty Gay Rodeo Association and we have now had 2 successful rodeo's called the Liberty Stampede.