So, I enlisted the support of the rest of the Board of Directors and we came up with a plan and budget for this year to boost our recruiting and marketing and member retention efforts.  We danced on the Good Vibrations float to an all-female bluegrass band, the Dosey Dildos, and we put together a booth for all seven clubs at the Pride festival.  We have other plans for the rest of the summer to attract more attention and participation as well.

Steve Huggins, the FCD Secretary, John Grima, our FCD Treasurer, and I have been brainstorming ideas for more participation.  All this past week we had been shopping for our decoration supplies, creating our marketing materials, picking up our new t-shirt, and many other things to get ready for the weekend.

Saturday morning came, clear and bright and warm, and we got the booth set up and decorated, and when the first volunteers arrived, put them to work, passing out flyers and taking contact information for people.  The bubble machine was sending out bubbles, the laptop was looping dancing videos, and I was using my “opera voice” to be the booth’s barker and Master of Ceremonies.  Our club caller, Harlan Kerr, showed up in the afternoon and we did a little impromtu dancing next to our booth.   We collected a bunch of information from folks on Saturday, and at the end of the day, I had a great conversation with Burnie from QueerBallroom, who had a dance floor set up next to us.  I arranged to have us have a spot in their demonstration schedule for a quick square dance demonstration. Steve and I broke down the booth, went and had dinner, headed up to the Western Star Dancers’ “Pride and Hope” dance, where I made a big announcement about the opportunity to demonstrate on Sunday, and came home and crashed out.  One day done, and one to go.

Sunday morning and Steve picked me up and we unloaded the truck at the booth, but as he was dancing on the float, I set up the booth mostly by myself, and got things ready to go.  As I knew that we were going to be having a lot more people streaming by, and competing with more sound and sights, I decided to use one of our club’s amplified phonograph PAs (square dance records are still distributed on 45s, as well as digitally now) to amplify my voice to be heard over the crowd, but still with my carnival barker inflection.

We had many more people hanging out at the booth on Sunday.  But one of the things that I noticed is that many of the volunteers didn’t seem terribly inclined to engage with the crowd.  This is a key reason why we are having a decline in membership, I think.  We collected fewer names on Sunday than Saturday, but still got a respectable amount.

Our float won the Most Outrageous Float award in the parade to wild cheering at the judges’ booth!  It was so exciting!

Our parade dancers and banner carriers arrived at the booth and were heartily cheered and greeted.  We had about an hour to get our dancers rested and in place for our 14:15 demonstration.

Image by John Kenny

After the dancing demonstration, it was pretty much cake for the rest of the day: more name collecting, socializing with dancers and other friends who came by to visit our booth, and then since we had more volunteers and folks hanging out, breaking down the booth was much easier.

After the booth was pretty much packed up and stuff, Frank-baby came by with our mutual buddy, Jason, and asked me if I could help Jason out a bit with his sore back.  Frank took this series of photos of me stretching Jason’s back with a spinal extension lift and an assisted child’s pose stretch.  Finally, I did some stretching myself to help work out the long day of being in the sun.

It was a great Pride this year. Happy Pride!

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Fur, belly and beard
A bear cub flashes his smile
And thus I am his.

Blue eyes shine like light
A Bear Cub Flashes His Smile,
The Flirting begins…

A Sea of Faces
A Bear Cub Flashes His Smile
Dentist Hands Him Card

A toothless grin
A bear Cub Flashes His smile
Cheeks flush pink

Shirtless Fur Ocean
A Bear Cub Flashes His Smile
Lazy Bear Begins

Gray Hair Gets Noticed
A Bear Cub Flashes His Smile
Where Did The Time Go

When that was done, we headed to 440 for a cocktail, although apparently the three of them already had gotten a head start on me!

Yesterday, Steve and I rode around all day doing stuff for the LGBTWI Square Dance Clubs’ booth for the Pride Celebration.  Whew!  The t-shirts look really great, and the booth is going to be nicely decorated!

Meanwhile, I’m trying to read this study put out by the RAND corporation about increasing participation in arts organizations to formulate some strategies and tactics to get more people interested and excited about Foggy City Dancers.

Today, I have two new clients, and a boatload of work to do tonight to finish readying for the Pride Booth.  Whew!

But last night after my workday was through, and I rode back home with Jason on MUNI, I hopped off at Church station to pick up some groceries.  Egads, the line of people waiting to check out at Safeway on Market Street was outrageous.

There were only four stations open, and somewhere around 75 people in line.  The self-checkout lines were de-installed, which would have shortened the lines somewhat, although those are union busting devices if you ask me.

The contempt with which Safeway treats its customers in its hatred of the unions is shameful.

I just couldn’t stand the idea of shopping there knowing I was going to have to wait in line for who knows how long, so I turned around and walked home empty-handed.  Now I have to pick up some things today instead.  Lame.

Earlier, I had been on skype with my soldier correspondent, and I always feel good when I talk with him, because he’s very bright and sensitive, and we always have delightful conversations.  I delight in helping to keep his spirits up and pass the time for him.

The day before, I had two back-to-back two hour clients, which ended up being really good.  Soon as I was done with work, I had supper, came home and read my book.

As you all know, I’m doing a re-read of The Wheel of Time in anticipation of Book 12, Volume 1 – A Memory of Light this coming November.  Right now I’m reading Book 5, The Fires of Heaven, which I think is my least favorite of the series, but still an intense read.

In other news, I’m still calling for people to help staff the booth the seven Bay Area LGBTQI Square Dance clubs are having at this year’s SF Pride Celebration.  The float is going to totally rock.  But if you want to volunteer, visit Foggy City Dancers’ Volunteer Page and sign up today!

Passing their time
under lumpy gay covers.

I want to fill you up
on savory imperfection

on candied yams of desire
and mashed potatoes of lust.

I want to cover you in raisins
and turn you into trail mix.

Dear Paul,

One of the best things about Nothing But Nets is our ability to share stories with you and our partners about how your support makes a difference. In the last several months, we’ve told you the stories of Kharto and Dahabo, bed net recipients in refugee camps in Africa. We’ve also shown you the smiles of refugees upon reading your messages of hope.

But with World Refugee Day this Saturday, June 20, we wanted to dig a little deeper into the stories and show you what happens after the nets are delivered to tell you that your efforts are saving lives. Keep spreading hope by sending nets and saving lives.

Our partner, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), reports that countries that have taken a coordinated approach to combating malaria, including the use of bed nets, have shown dramatic declines in malaria-related illness and deaths over the last several years. For example, in 2006, malaria caused 33% of all illness in refugee camps in Kenya. Now it accounts for just 8%. That means malaria is no longer the number-one killer of refugees in Kenya, and we are getting closer to reaching our goal of no malaria deaths.

In the Ugandan refugee camp Nakivale, a Somali refugee named Sheikl has formed a club of 25 young people to teach families about malaria prevention and proper bed net usage. Every Thursday, Sheikl’s club goes door-to-door to check that the nets delivered last year are still hanging and being used. Sheikl proudly told us that since the nets were distributed there have been zero deaths from malaria in Nakivale.

But this is just one refugee camp, and the country of Uganda still has high malaria rates overall, which means there is more work to be done. With your help, we will continue to see malaria rates decrease as more lives are saved with a simple bed net, for just $10.

Send a net, save a life, and send a message of hope today.

Thank you for helping us make a difference in the lives of so many people.

Adrianna Logalbo, Director of Nothing But Nets

You can help!  Please donate to my Nothing But Nets team, net.bears.  Thank you for your support!

A $10 donation can help a family for four for two years!

If someone could get a screen cap of that for me, I would be really giggly with excitement!

Click through to see the rest of the pics.