On the Street #2 - 15 Association, Anniversary Weekend

-
by Eric Crow

I am a member of the 15 Association, a men's Leather fraternity founded in 1980; the oldest on the West Coast. Founded in San Francisco, “The 15” gets its name because of how many men may be on the Fraternal Committee at one time and vote. The 15 currently has 140 members in 19 states and 3 countries, and they hold monthly men’s play parties in San Francisco. The two signature events for the 15 are Bootcamp, an extended play party each June, and the (39th) Anniversary Weekend in February. This weekend event consists of a formal Leather banquet and silent auction on Friday, which also functions as the club’s annual meeting, as well as play parties on Saturday and Sunday. My question for them, once it was over, was simple: name your favorite part of the weekend. Here’s what some of them said:



 Brian Ballone (Mr. GNI Leather 2018, on the left): 
Merely being there. I truly feel accepted around 99% of the guys. They are the family I chose and wasn’t born into expecting to love to be loved. I fly back and forth across the country to be with them with zero expectations. 








Geoff Millard 
(California Bootblack 2018): 

 Either when I got to some quick restoration work on the club colors or the scene where I got to beat a boy as I humiliated him for having shabby boots, all the while I’m actually bootblacking his boots and making them look great.








Eric See (Chairman): 
First thing that pops into my head is seeing Geoff Millard spending his time cleaning and shining our colors before the dinner. It just felt like a reverent act of respect for the club from someone who isn’t even a member yet.













Arturo Salazar 
(Fraternal Emeritus):
Arriving at the banquet and saying hello to all my friends. You guys are my Leather family and Anniversary is one of the two annual events when I re-connect with you.









Tyler Fong (Fraternal, American Leatherboy 2011): 

 The play party, even though I didn’t actually play. I got to hug guys who live outside the SF area and had conversations with one guy who wants to be a member and another who was new to the weekend.

















Jorge Vieto (with Master Kevin): 
Getting a gold lame flogger from our Chairman. 





















Kevin Harding Toy (Fraternal): Being with our brothers, celebrating the rich history of our club and community. All the hot men in Leather wasn’t bad, either.












Eric (me): Two things. I didn’t get much chance to connect with my 15 brothers last year, mainly because of school and job search, so when the chance to come up for Anniversary weekend became possible, I jumped at the chance. I needed this weekend to re-connect with my club brothers and play hard with them again. That said, I had two favorite moments. One was taking pics with all my brothers at the Dinner (as you have seen above). The second was getting to take someone’s 15 play party cherry! 


(Sitting with Sadis Payne after her hosting gig at Hamburger Mary's.)




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Innerview With A Bear - by Eric F. Crow

-
Image
(In full regalia, photo by  Tristan Sutphin ) Heath Hooper is the current Mr. World Bear 2023 . Last September, he competed at World Bear Weekend alongside with our own Mr. LA Leather Bear 2020, Alan Gabriel. He's just a little past the halfway point of his reign, and I wanted to see how he saw the proverbial forest shaping up. Coming from the days of IBR (Int'l Bear Rendezvous), personally, it's been a relief to know that there is a pathway for Bears that find themselves up to the task have a pathway to the proverbial top of the intercontinental Bear pile. They picked things up and ran with them, having most recently with their landmark decision to remove the gender requirement from all titles in their system.  Heath is a great way to return to regular content here at New Horizons For Fifty. On with the interview. Eric: How has your title year gone? Where have you been and what have you done with your time? Heath : My title year and my fiftieth earth year so far has been
Read more

Inner View of a Pet - by Eric Crow and Jonathan Daniels

-
Image
  During the process of interviewing the current Mr. World Bear, Heath Hooper, it made perfect sense to reach out to his husband, Jonathan Daniel, who has also served as an international titleholder (North American Pet 2022) . What followed was one of the most unique experiences I have ever had in all the interviews I have done, and there have been many . This is also the most collaborative interview in the history of New Horizons to date--it's making me reconsider how I approach the idea of an interview. Jonathan is a treasure trove of quotable lines that are quite relevant in regards to the life of a titleholder, as well as the cherished subjects of body positivity and personal empowerment, and he presents a very healthy outlook on the subject of Pet play and the Pet community. I don't think I would have learned as much as I did using the "send questions, wait for answers" format that I use. Get ready to get deep, because this is a five-course meal of an interview.
Read more

Twelve Favorite Moments from San Diego Pride 2019

-
Image
by Eric Crow July 12-14 marked the 45th anniversary of San Diego Pride, and as with all other Pride events, celebrated the 50th anniversary of Stonewall.  The first year of Pride was march of just 25 people who marched with bags over their heads to conceal their identity (fear of being outed and then fired and/or evicted was very palpable then). The next year, 400 showed up for to march (organizers managed to secure a permit) ending with a rally at Balboa Park.  ( https://sdpride.org/1974-2/ ). In 1999, San Diego Pride turned 25  and had the tear-gas incident along the parade route, which nearly shut down the parade. Once everything was cleared, the parade continued and attendees had  a double-headline bill of Berlin and Joan Jett and the Black Hearts with the fabulous Judy Tenuta taking the stage just before Joan Jett. I managed to secure the opening slot on the Youth Zone stage that year, and returned the next year in the same slot. 2000 San Diego Pride was also the year of the
Read more