Being Amber Rhea

Ahem. I had every intention of writing a WAM wrap-up post while it was still fresh in my mind, but then I had a little, er, fender-bender, and subsequently freaked out.

But as you’ve probably gathered by now, WAM was awesome. I had a blast, and it was energizing, inspiring, and fun (except for the Saturday night party, which brought back lots of bad middle school memories; but, I also met the super-cool Lisa Jervis and Debbie Rasmussen that night, so there was some good to the night).

I’ve been to a lot of conferences, but I can say with confidence that this was the best conference I’ve been to yet. Helen Thomas was introduced (appropriately) as “the patron saint of not shutting up,” and her keynote was wonderful. The sessions I went to were great. They were chock full of good, thoughtful discussion and useful, practical information. (True, I didn’t find the talking to editors session particularly useful, but hopefully there are people who did.)

Dacia’s session in particular was amazing. An entire hour and a half of conversation about sex work and the media, without devolving into the same old pro/anti bullshit. It was a smart move on Dacia’s part to lay out some ground rules at the beginning of the session; I think that’s a big part of what made the session actually productive. And, a cool new project that’s already got a lot of interest came out of it: Sex Work 101 (as mentioned here).

I am in awe of Jaclyn Friedman for making such an awesome event happen (and I told her so, in very effusive terms). I’m looking forward to next year!

All my live-blogging can be found here. Did I mention that Cover It Live rocks?

People I met:

• Joanne McNeil
• Sarah Jenny Bleviss
• Axon Damien Luxe
• Octogalore
• Apostate
• Hugo Schwyzer
• Debbie Rasmussen from Bitch Magazine
• Lisa Jervis from Bitch Magazine
• Jill from Feministe - I got the impression that Jill didn’t want to talk to me… we met at the Sunday brunch buffet and it seemed like she was faking a smile… but I could be wrong (stranger things have happened). Anyway, I was happy to meet her, and hopefully the feeling was mutual!
• Roy MacKenzie
• Tough Like a Creampuff
• Jaclyn Friedman

And, of course, a few photos:

More here.

See ya next year, WAM!

Re-posting from Dacia’s blog…

Sex Work 101 was inspired by conversations that happened during the Women, Action and the Media 2008 conference held in Cambridge, MA from March 28-30, 2008.

I gave a talk at WAM called Sex Workers and Media Representation (click to see notes for the workshop), and questions during and after the talk made me realize that many people are curious about the sex industry and want to support sex workers in their struggle for rights, but they have no idea where to start. This site is an attempt to fill that gap in public education in an approachable, easy to understand, and engaging way - it’s also the first public education project from Sex Work Awareness, a new non-profit in NYC founded by four $pread staff members. Sex Work 101 is meant to add to public knowledge about sex work and to encourage discussion about the issues sex workers face.

Participate in Sex Work 101! I’m looking for questions non-sex working people want answered and their perceptions of/thoughts about the industry, as well as posts from sex workers who want to share stories about their work (a day in the life, how I got into the industry, reposts from personal blogs, etc)

The official email for the site is ask[at]sexwork101.com but people can also email me at dacia[at]wakingvixen.com. I’d also love to hear from people who want to help with the site - writing posts, answering questions, etc.

Please get involved by asking questions and/or spreading the word about this project!

WAM was so so so much fun and so inspiring. I will write a wrap-up post soon. I meant to do it today, but then I wrecked my car for the second time in a week and I feel like a fucking moron and I spent a large portion of the afternoon crying profusely and freaking out. Currently we are waiting for USAA to call Rusty back, because when he called them earlier their computers were down. If we don’t hear from them tonight, he’ll call back in the morning. Then we’ll have to get my car towed to the Nissan dealership where I keep thinking they’re going to make fun of me, and the insurance adjuster will have to come look at it, and I’ll pay the deductible and hopefully not much more.

But god I feel so stupid.

Anyway now I need to get ready to go to pole dancing class. Rusty says exercise will make me feel better… so I’m going. I hope it helps.

And I’m trying to concentrate on the joy that was WAM.

• Had dinner w/ @audaciaray & @jomc at a yummy Indian place. Relaxing and reclining now. Will go to WAM party later. #
• The 3 of us are sitting in the hotel room each doing separate things. We are super social. #
• About to head out to wam party #
• This feels like a high school dance #
• Reading some other posts about sex work from other WAMmers. Kinda pissed off. #
• @grobertson - Uhhhh most of the time I’m *not* pissed off. WTF dude. Your tweet ain’t helping tho. #
• Up and at ‘em! Getting packed up, ready for 1/2-day of sessions and then heading home. #
• In independent media session, waiting for my wifi registration to go thru #
• Liveblogging independent media session, you can ask questions via Cover It Live http://tinyurl.com/3a82qe #wam08 #
• Funny, at work I *hate* multi-tasking, but w/ liveblogging etc., I just can’t help myself! And I actually like it. #
• I’ll be liveblogging How to Get Heard: The Art of Strategic Communication w/ Editors http://tinyurl.com/346tz3 #wam08 #
• Just walked into the YouthSpeak! Online Media & Activism session, will attempt liveblog #wam08 #
• Trying to catch-up and liveblog some of the YouthSpeak! session http://tinyurl.com/2xao5m #wam08 #
• LOL, I see SJ up there commenting on my blog ;) This is so meta and awesomely nerdy #wam08 #
• @jenbrock - Yeah, I am a *total* Cover It Live fan now. It’s freakin’ awesome. #
• @sarawara - It’s cold in Atlanta again? Dammit! I was looking forward to getting back to the warmer weather. #
• In long line for food #
• Heading to the airport. WAM is over and it was great! Best conference i’ve been to. #
• @rustytanton - what do you mean? #
• My flight is delayed til 5:15. There’s another flight to ATL leaving at 3:30 but I doubt I could get on it. #
• And even if I did get on the 3:30 flight I’d have to wait for my bag at home. So I’ll just sit here and read, probably eat. #
• Also my nails are so fucked up. I am *so* getting them done again on Tuesday. I’m such a girl now, ack! #
• @Sarawara - There was a Legal Seafood by our hotel, too. Unfortunately I hate seafood. #
• @Sarawara - And don’t kill me, but unfortunately we didn’t have time to go to Ana’s Taqueria. We didn’t leave Cambridge. #
• Ok Logan wifi is crapping out. Annoying bc i paid for it. :P #
• Aha, Logan wifi is back. My battery will die soon, tho. Oh well. I have a book! #
• Shutting down the MacBook #
• Summer shack is closed for renovations :( #
• Had yummy chicken & broccoli pizza. Plane now scheduled to leave @ 5:25. #
• starting to feel gross & worn out. i want to go home. #
• about to start boarding. plan to sleep on the plane so i won’t just sit there feeling gross. #
• estimated arrival in atl: 8:08pm. unrelated: chelsea clinton is cool. #
• Not boarding yet. Argh. #
• Ok, first class is boarding now #
• Finally on the plane. Want to be at home! #

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• Helen thomas: the press rolled over and played dead after 9/11 #
• Helen thomas: My adrenaline is outrage. #
• There’s no way i would have the ovaries to ask helen thomas a question #
• Helen thomas re: presidents: "you’re a public servant, i pay you." #
• HT: "you don’t have to praise a reporter, they’re doing their job & need to do it better." #
• LOLing about rival ATL tweet-ups #
• LOLing about the fact that every time I send a tweet, I hear @audaciaray’s iPhone buzz 2 seconds later #
• "Carb conscious" breakfast on room svc. menu involves 3 types of meat. It’s bfast "to fit your lifestyle!" #
• So @audaciaray thinks the rival ATL tweet-ups are gay, but I think they’re hilarious. Gotta love the competing boob shots. #
• Awake & waiting for bfast. Meant to get up at 8 but just couldn’t do it. Will shower after bfast. #
• Where the fuck is breakfast. I need to get in the shower but won’t do it til food gets here. #
• In "DIY Media" session. Excited! So far, WAM is great. There are 600 ppl here! Will try to visit "Feminist Blogs" session too. #wam08 #
• This session is stuff I already know but I am really interested to see what/how they present. #
• Neat analogy: car is the web site, license plate is the domain name, gas is the server #wam08 #
• In feminist blogs session now w/ octogalore(!), they’re making everyone introduce themselves (big crowd!) #
• Feminist blog panelists: @blogdiva, @randomdeanna, Jennifer Pozner, Veronica Arreola #wam08 #
• "Power is replicated in the blogosphere" (women and people of color are underrepresented in liberal blogosphere) #wam08 #
• Pozner: "White men were the ones who were called to answer the question of whether Don Imus was racist" #wam08 #
• I’m trying that Cover It Live thing on my blog now… we’ll see how it goes. #
• @reginalynn - It’s not that the numbers aren’t there; it’s more about who has the biggest megaphone and why #
• Almost collided w/ hugo schwyzer #wam08 #
• "Writing a Book Proposal that Sells" session is really interesting. I’m live-blogging it. #wam08 #
• Ok I hurt my tooth somehow #
• They are talking about Seal Press now. Yay! #wam08 #
• Ok so I stopped the Cover It Live thing I had going, and might start a new one for @audaciaray’s session @ 4pm. #wam08 #
• @playwithmatch - Polyurethane? #
• I’m liveblogging Dacia’s session; you can even ask me questions here. http://urltea.com/31jf #
• Irrelevant side tweet: we didn’t get our nails done last night and I really wish we had. I’m nail-biting again. #
• I am totally hooked on Cover It Live. Hey, it’s a good use for an iframe! (Now make one that’s compatible w/ XHTML Strict.) #
• Um I think I stink. How embarrassing. Shoulda put deodorant in my bag.. who knew. #
• LOL now people are coming up to Dacia being all fan-girl. They are also taking Sex 2.0 postcards… hell yeah. #
• I dumped a bunch of Sex 2.0 condoms on the table. Take ‘em, ppl! And take more postcards dammit! #

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Today was a great day and I had a great time… eh, can you tell I’m exhausted by the fact that I’m not trying to think of more creative adjectives? I’m lying in bed in the hotel now, and it’s soooo nice. Tomorrow we have to get up early (unlike today where we slept in and ordered room service, finally making it to the conference at 11:00) and I definitely need some down-time after the hustle and bustle of the day.

We went to the WAM party tonight, for about an hour, even though both of us would’ve been okay w/ staying in the hotel room. I guess we felt we had to make an appearance - maybe Dacia moreso than I. But I was a little interested/excited to go, too… I guess I thought I would get to meet people or something. But who am I kidding… it sucked like all parties like that suck. Loud music, claustrophobic, hot…

I mean don’t get me wrong, I did meet a few cool people from Bitch magazine and had fun talking to them. They were super nice and so I am happy about that part. But the rest of it? Honestly, I just felt like a major loser. It sucked. I don’t know how to get over that or if I ever will/can - or if I should! Personally, I don’t think I should try… it’s just how I am. But there’s always so much pressure from people to be all extraverted and shit, and sometimes it does affect me a little even if I try not to let it.

Then there was this random girl (I don’t know who she was, anyway) who came up and inserted herself into the conversation w/ me, Dacia, and the Bitch ladies, and wanted to take a photo. Okay, cool. So we all stood together and smiled… then she shows the photo and it’s the three of them and not me. And it’s not like I was standing off to the side or something! She very deliberately cut me out, and I don’t understand why. Then she took a second version of the photo and did it again!! That’s really fucking weird to me. I felt like I was back in middle school and I was the social outcast that no one wanted to be seen with.

Anyway. Speaking of photos (and trying to end on a more positive note). I tried to get a lot of good “action shots” of the conference today, and I think I succeeded. Tomorrow I need to get someone to take a photo of me and Dacia looking sexy and awesome together. Also she gave me a bad-ass Waking Vixen T-shirt, so I need a photo of me wearing it.

I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s sessions. Did I mention that Cover It Live fucking rules?

Update: Check out Dacia’s outline/notes on the session here.

WAM has kicked off! So far it’s exciting. I’ll probably be doing more Twittering than blogging (and don’t worry, Dave, I keep forgetting to use the hashtag) although I’m thinking of trying this Cover It Live thing Dacia showed me. Anyway, it should be a great day! This post might be updated, or it might not. Stay tuned on Twitter. :)

• Headed to manuels for a quick one. Then i need sleep. #
• @hyku an atl press club panel on new media #
• Email is backed up. Wanting to read the tweets from tonight. But I need sleep bc I have a n early flight. #
• @jenbrock - We did a podcast almost 2 yrs ago w/ Garrett & Duane on time travel, but I’m happy to do another! http://urltea.com/3166 #
• On marta, heading to the airport #
• Long security line @ hartsfield #
• Well, i can’t concentrate on reading my book here in the gate. #
• i hate when ppl hover around the jetway entrance waiting for their zone. we’re all getting on the plane, folks. #
• On the plane. Put my coat in the overhead even tho they said not to. Don’t tell. #
• turning off phone now. see ya in boston! #
• At the boston airport, heading to baggage claim #
• On the silver line bus. So far, transit here is confusing and ppl have been kinda rude. :P #
• My bag got wet. Hope my camera is ok! #
• Checked into the hotel! The room is nice. Starbucks downstairs, yay. #
• No free wifi @ hotel :P #
• oh shit i’m going to have to start using hashtags; @extraface will unfollow me. #wam2008 #
• I went ahead and paid for wifi bc I need to answer some emails. It’s not expensive or anything, but it’s the principle! #
• Ok wait a minute, #wam2008 isn’t even showing up on hashtags.org #
• Wired article I was interviewed for (along w/ @audaciaray & @melissagira) is up: http://urltea.com/31b9 (by @reginalynn) #
• Trying to answer hard questions from Cory Silverberg. Hoping I can manage to sound smart! #
• Whew! Sent my answers to Cory just in time for @audaciaray to arrive. #
• We talked about the lack of cumshots in porn… there is actually a method to the madness! Trying to find food & a nail place now. #
• Waiting for @audaciaray to get back from her quest to find a drugstore, so we can go to Helen Thomas keynote. HT was in the lobby earlier. #
• In auditorium for helen thomas keynote #

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…because I’m too tired* to do anything else. Sometimes cop-outs can work, though.

• As you may have seen if you follow my Twitter updates, I got into a little fender-bender yesterday morning. To be specific, I freakin’ backed into a parked car. :P Oh well… not much damage was done to either vehicle. Mine is getting repaired Thursday, and it costs less than my insurance deductible, so no need for a claim on my part. If the other driver has an issue, my insurance will take care of it. J. put a silver lining on the situation by pointing out that my new car would inevitably get dinged up at some point anyway, so at least I’ve gone ahead and gotten it out of the way - actively!
• We’re going to court Thursday. That’s all I’m going to say right now, but I’ll say more afterward. It should certainly be interesting, one way or another.
• This is also happening on Thursday, and Rusty and I will be there. I’ll need to remember to bring my “I’m Blogging This” T-shirt with me to change into, in case we don’t have time to go home after court. Other ATL bloggers, come on out! It should be a rollicking good time, especially if Susan Capaluto (sp?) shows up. (And is it just me, or does anybody else wonder why the Equifax guy is on the panel? That seems random.)
• On Friday I’m heading to Boston (well, Cambridge) for the Women, Action & the Media conference. The keynote speakers are Helen Thomas and Haifa Zangana. I’m excited! I’ll get to meet some bloggers I’ve read for a while, and Dacia and I will be sharing a hotel room so we can be shut-ins when the socializing gets too overwhelming. And I’m looking forward to Dacia’s session on sex workers and media representation; after the past couple weeks, she should have plenty to talk about! (Not as if she didn’t already!)
• Apparently my site, like a lot of Dreamhost sites, was down for a few hours today. One of these days I’ll actually switch hosts, I swear. Anyway, this means my del.icio.us links didn’t get posted today, which annoys me, because I had some good ones. I’ll probably post them manually tomorrow, but in particular I wanted to point out that this post really resonated with me, and I might have more to say on it later.
• I cross-posted my “Why I Quit Download Squad” treatise on BlogHer.
• Be sure to register for Sex 2.0 by Friday if you want to pay $40 instead of $50! Meanwhile, I will try not to freak out too much between now and April 12.
• I swear I’ll blog about the manicure thing one day. I have lots to say, oh yes. Dacia and I are getting manis and pedis Friday night in Boston. So maybe I’ll blog about it then!

* I’m a naturally sleepy person, but the Lexapro has made me feel downright fatigued. I don’t like that one bit. So this morning I cut the pill in half, and it seemed to help a bit. Hopefully that’ll be the way to go.