Dear Family,
Excited doesn’t explain our feelings for this issue of One Veil. To begin, featuring the Birmingham house is such a great honor for us. For both of us, going to the Birmingham Exequatur in April of 2010 was the first time we gathered with fellow sisters from other houses. Except for the fact that our house, in Orlando, was robbed while we were gone, it was a fantastic trip and one which will be remembered always. The Birmingham family was the ultimate Southern hosts.
Thankfully, the Birmingham house has not experienced the sorrow of a member passing through the veil. However, One Veil is very honored to feature a well-known Nun of the Above from San Francisco. This Sister certainly has a story and we are so grateful to Sr. Lily for sharing this story with us and you. Part one of this fantastic story was actually sent out over the DISH, so we were hesitant to publish it in One Veil. However, after Part II was read, we thought it was a MUST READ for all of the One Veil readers and decided to have it in both June and July issues. Not only is this a beautiful story of one of our exceptional Nuns of the Above, we think there is quite a bit of historical Sistory that can’t go unknown to our Sisters and readers around the world.
Speaking of Sistory, we were so happy to attend the Atlanta Sisters – Order of the Flaming Sugarbakers’ granting ceremony, which also celebrated their first anniversary as a fully professed house. The Sisters gave out grants that totaled over $12,000 to local charities. These funds came from many different fund raisers and events, including IGLA (Inter-Galactic Love Affair) which was an event produced by the local Radical Faeries in conjunction with the Sisters of Atlanta. Kudos to Atlanta for such a wonderful job!
And now…drum roll please….we are extremely excited that One Veil will be launching a brand new campaign entitled “JOYFUL HEART.” Please pay special attention to the article because WE NEED YOU to move this campaign forward and make it a huge success. All details will be explained in the article and the campaign will be the entire month of October, so you have plenty of time to prepare. (OMG, I feel like Aunt Sue on SNL, I’m So Friggin Excited!) – YouTube it, its super funny. Enjoy the Issue!
With a Joyful Heart,
Sr. T’Keela Mockingburd
And
Sr. Isadora Knocking
The Magic City Sisters began on August 3rd, 2008 with our first organizational meeting. Founding Sisters were, Gretchen Gitaround, Ivona Felch, Guard Torme Anus, and 3 others who are no longer Sisters.
What is your full name and when did you become fully professed?
Gretchen Gitaround. I became a Fully Professed Sister on December 21, 2009 with the granting of our Exequatur by the UNPC.
Who is, or who do you consider your Big Sister or Mother to be within the SPI organization?
My mother and the person to whom I went to and who guided my every step while we were a mission and several times afterwards is Sister Erotica Psychotica. If I had to name who my Big Sister was, it would have to be Mona Littlemore, she has played a very important role in my development as a sister.
How has the relationship with your Big Sister/Mother influenced your Sister journey?
Both Mona and Erotica have been there for me and have helped to shape the Sister I am today! I love cherish them equally! They have always answered my questions and guided my policy decisions as Abbess when I needed them. I know that there is not a single question I have had that the two of them have not been willing to guide me to make the right decision and I, as well as my house, have benefited from their advice.
How often does the Birmingham house have general membership meetings, and how long do they usually last?
Our house has its General Membership meetings every 1st Thursday of each month. Our typical meeting last from an hour to an hour and a half depending on the events we need to discuss.
What do you find most challenging while chairing a GM meeting? (explain)
The most challenging part of our meetings is not letting the topic being discussed go too long…keeping it on track so that we have equal time for all discussions. Everyone in the house has been very good about helping me to meet this challenge. We have only had to table an item for discussion later a couple of times over the last 4 years.
Since the day you joined SPI, what are the biggest changes that you’ve noticed or witnessed in both the organization and yourself?
I have seen SPI grow and grow. It seems that there are new groups popping up all over the country/world every month. Each time a new group is introduced, it has been exciting to see the change and adaptation that the UNPC and each house is willing to except to make our new groups fit into our growth pattern. It speaks well of our learning curve and our willingness to stay inclusive. As for myself, I have grown from this really reserved (closeted extravert) into a person who is so much more confident. As I have grown in my knowledge and understanding of our Mission, I have also grown as a person in our community who is a leader. Before I became a Sister, I was not involved in our community in any way and had only attended a few fundraisers for AIDS Organizations in our city. Now, I am asked to speak, perform, host and even to lead events for various causes. I’m no longer shy or un-opinionated. The Sisters and Guards of the Magic City Sisters are directly responsible for this. It has been through their love for me and their confidence in me that I have made this change for the better! I would be nothing without them!
If you could change anything about your journey to full profession, what would that be and why?
I would take more time as a Mission, strange I know, but I would cherish the process more and I would take, the all so important, time to spend with my Sisters learning more and experiencing more along the journey so that when we had Exequatur it would have meant as much to me then as it does to me now. As Sister Right use to tell me, “Cherish the white veil”!
As the president of the Birmingham House, what are your expectations or goals of the house for the rest of 2012 and into 2013?
Our goal for this year was to endear our community to the Sisters in such a way that whenever anyone speaks of us they have only positive comments and stories about our every action (not just as a group, but as individual Sisters). We wanted to make our group reputation more solid and even more respected than ever before. I am so proud to say that we have managed to do this in a very successful way! When anyone asks us to participate in any activity, they always say “this is for a very worthy cause, one we are sure will go along with your standards of excellence!” This was exactly what we had in mind! We will continue to carry this into next year and to build on this with larger and more community involved events. Prime example: our Red Dress Party has been expanded to include all ASO’s in our city. Each has a representative on our RDP Board of Directors and each is bringing to the discussion their own way to help us make it more successful! Our RDP is no longer a Saturday night event; it is now a Weekend Event spanning from Friday night “Pre-Party” the VIP Party to Sunday “After Party” the RDP Brunch. Every Gay bar in our city (mind you there are only 3) is now involved and hosting an event for us. We are poised to make double the amount we have made in the past and to reach our goal to double our money each year until we reach $20,000.00, our goal for the year 2014.
What are you currently most excited about?
I am most excited about the fact that we are all so involved in our community in so many different ways. Each person in our house has a job to accomplish and is serving in some capacity as an officer or assistant. This was another goal that we made happen this year. This alone has made our house begin to see growth. We no longer have to go out and seek members they are now coming to us because of the work and dedication they see in our members!
If you were asked to give advice to a mission house that was going through the process of becoming a fully professed house, what would that advice be?
LOL! That’s a great question for me since I am a Co-MOM! Take your time, 1st get to know each other, your strengths, your weaknesses, your likes, your dislikes, your fears and your goals. Learn so much about each other that you can truly say “that’s my Sister and she is so special, did you know that she…” and this will help your community to see the difference in SPI vs. other organizations that do similar work. Second, get out in the community and learn what and where the needs are. Find out how the Sisters can make a difference when you add our special brand of humor and love to the mix. Know what will help us to make their event more special by our presence. Thirdly, take the time to have FUN! Without FUN, you will lose your members and possibly yourself to the work. This will cause burn out and drop out! Secure your future by doing what sets us apart from the rest, love for each other, love for the community and LOVE OF LIFE! We should always celebrate this because we never know when we will not have the chance to celebrate again!
What does being an SPI member mean to you, personally?
It means a whole new way of looking at life in general and my life in particular. It means that I’m never alone ever again and that anywhere I go I have a family who loves, protects, and helps me to be the best I can be. It means that I am changed for the better and nothing I touch or am involved in from this point will ever be the same because I am a Sister!
In one word, give your description of the SPI organization.
SUPERCALAFRAGELISTICEXPIALIDOSHUS! (It’s even in our vows…thank you Erotica!)
What is your full Guard name and when did you become fully professed?
Guard C. Alice Hardagain, and I became Fully Professed in October 2011
Knowing that some guards occasionally find putting on makeup challenging, do you do your own make up or does someone else do it for you?
I actually do my makeup myself. When I first put on the makeup, I had had a car accident two weeks before and was in a lot of pain, but with my partner (Sister Sasha Biskit), I was able to get it on. It was a lot of work to come up with what I wanted to do for my look, but with the help of Sister Sasha, we came up with my claw marks.
How many members in the Birmingham house are guards?
We actually have three (including myself) fully professed guards but two of them are inactive right now and we have a fully professed guard who’s path lead him to become a Sister. We do have two Postulant Guards (Patton Mygroin and Deez Nutz) and a Novice Guard whose path is leading him to become a Sister.
How do you describe the role of a guard, in your own words?
My role as a Guard is this: I serve and protect the Sisters in whatever they need. But, as a Guard, I am finding myself doing more outside our events to help better serve the Sisters for the events; i.e, seeking donations for prizes at events, talking to people about what the Sisters do to help get events set up. Also, I am the Minister of Communications (Secretary) for the Magic City Sisters and we all know what that has. I also help serve the Sisters by creating our event pages on the main social media network we all use, Facebook.
What is the best advice you can give to a member who has decided to follow the Guard path?
My advice is simple: if you want to serve and help those in your community and you like to have fun at it but don’t like to be the center of attention, then a Guard is the place for you. I have been asked why I am not a Sister and that is because to me, I find it better for my community for me to serve and protect my Sisters than to be in the forefront.
What is your personal mission as a Guard?
My personal mission is to be free to who I am inside and out. When you feel like the person that is deep inside you (no pun intended) is not who you are on the outside, you need to let that inner being “claw” it’s way out and be the one who is on the outside as well as the inside. Also, to those GLBT youth out there, I am here to show that I know what it is like and when someone picks on OUR YOUTH, they pick on us all.
What are you currently most excited about?
I am actually really excited about the 3rd Annual Magic City Sisters Red Dress Party. This year it is going to feel like Red Dress Weekend with the events we have for it that is going to be the first event in Birmingham (outside of Pride) that is going to be including all three of our bars in Birmingham.
Besides the obvious, what do you think the difference is between Sisters and Guards?
To me, the difference between a Sister and a Guard is Presence. For the Sisters out there, your Presence is known by all who love to see the makeup, the jewels, the shoes, and the dresses. The presence of a Guard is that we are the background to make the Sisters job of serving the community easier.
What is your most memorable experience as a guard?
My most memorable experience as a Guard in the Magic City Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence is when Sister Sasha, Sister Tera, Sister Ivona, Sister Gretchen, and myself went to Nashville on April 20th, 2012 for H8’s a Drag. It was memorable to me because of the face that my dear friend in the Music City Sisters (and we ALL know her) was doing her Novice Project for GLBT youth and when I told her that it was on the night of my birthday, she told me I HAD to come. Well, with the guiding of Sister Gretchen and Sister Right, I ended up in my underwear that night…but it was (to me) for the cause. After I lost my pants and shirt, here comes Sister Right with a marker writing MCS on my chest, SPI on my left arm, and music notes on my right arm. As Sister Sasha, Sister Tera, Novice Sister Konnie Chiwaa, and myself were by the bar…here comes Sister Crayola with a marker and attacked my back. Well, it wasn’t until the third time I was spanked (once by Sister Dixie and her fan) that I asked someone what it said on my back…and she wrote “Spank me, it’s my Birthday!”. Novice Sister Konnie took a marker and drew around the music notes, and since others have written on me, I asked Sister T’Keela Mockingburd if she wanted to write something, well next thing I know is my ass is being signed! I love meeting new Sisters and Guards, and love seeing the ones that I have met before, again. We have a saying in our house, “When you join the Sisters, you don’t join an organization, you join a family.” We share that with all of our new members, and those who need a family to turn to in a time of need.
Sisters with a Joyful Heart WANTED!
National Coming Out Day was founded in 1988 by Robert Eichberg, a psychologist from New Mexico and founder of the personal growth workshop, “The Experience”, and Jean O’Leary, an openly-gay political leader from Los Angeles and then head of the National Gay Rights Advocates. The date of October 11th was chosen because it was the anniversary of the 1987 National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights.
National Coming Out Day is an internationally observed civil awareness day celebrating individuals who publicly identify as bisexual, gay, lesbian or transgender—coming out regarding one’s sexual orientation and/or gender identity being akin to a cultural rite of passage for LGBT people.
Coming out is the process of personally accepting your sexuality and telling others and this process is different for every person. Some find acceptance easier, others experience anxiety, pain and anguish. Some also experience fear, doubt, loneliness, anger and even depression. That’s why it is good to surround these people with those who have come out already. Those that have already come out can be a great support system for those in the process. This is where JOYFUL HEART comes in.
JOYFUL HEART Campaign is a photographic silent support systemcreated by the creative team of ONE VEIL Online Magazine in direct response to the struggles of coming out . Photos feature subjects with their two hands forming a heart, symbolizing their LOVE and SUPPORT to individuals around the world going through the process of coming out. Our message will be “Be proud of who you are,
hold your head up high and don’t let anyone make you feel ashamed. Remember that you are LOVED, and we, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, SUPPORT YOU!”
This is how you can support and join in this campaign.
1. Take a JOYFUL photo of yourself with your hands in the shape of a heart (like the photos in this document).
2. Send the photo to One Veil (1veilmag@gmail.com) before September 20th, 2012.
3. Share your picture on the “JoyfulHeart” Facebook Campaign.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Joyful-Heart/233563336750171
4. Make your “JoyfulHeart” campaign picture your Facebook Profile Pic for the entire month of October, 2012.
5. The October issue of One Veil will feature many of the submitted Joyful Heart photos (so smile pretty beeyotches!). So please have your Joyful Heart pictures to One Veil no later than September 21st to be included in the October Issue.
Last year at around this time, I was scrambling around like a chicken without a head trying to complete my novice project: an art show geared toward bringing together a diverse community of professional and amateur artists all in the name of helping young people create more artwork.
It feels like dejavu all over again as I have been organizing The Rainbow Connection: Part Deux at our local LGBT center! This year it’s benefitting our local LGBT youth alliance.
I know there are a few Sisters who have organized very similar events and so know the challenges inherent to trying to get people to a) submit work and b) attend an art show. “A” requires networking, and “B” requires a combination of networking and free refreshments. Still, it’s always a nail-biter up until the day that people start showing up with artwork in hand.
The greatest addition to this year’s show, however, is the artwork that the Orlando Youth Alliance kids created. On May 14th, six extremely bright and creative kids, most of them around 17-19 years old, showed up 2 hours prior to our house’s general membership meeting to do some block printing. Their work deals with gender in a way that is both aggressive and humorous. That these kids are intelligent, engaged artists did not surprise me. That they are proud and completely out and mostly well-adjusted (hello, it’s high school) made me smile for days. That I walked away from the experience thinking “I actually like high schoolers” knocked me into next Tuesday. This is some of their work.
And, just for fun, some of the local artwork that is coming our way:
All of his work is done in tiny puzzle pieces or computer keys. He’s in Ripley’s: Believe it or Not. Patience truly is a virtue that I will never learn.
And, finally…
