Reasonably Logical

This post was written while at Creating Change, but was not posted until the Tuesday after.

All I can say is “Wow!” I’m sitting at a table outside the ballroom where the last plenary at Creating Change 2008 just finished. (Though this won’t be posted until I get home probably.) As always, Creating Change exceeded my expectations and renewed my passion for working around GLBT rights issues. Here were some of the highlights for me:

• For the first time ever, I co-presented a workshop at Creating Change. Mandy Carter, Pauline Parks, and I have been working together since the last Creating Change in Kansas City to prepare two workshops to continue the conversation around LGBT adoption and foster care. Pauline’s workshop was Friday morning; I haven’t had a chance to discuss it with her yet to find out how things went. Ours though was an absolute success! We had expected somewhere around 10-15 people to show up; Instead, I’d estimate we had closer to 35! (I haven’t actually counted the signup list yet.) I’m still high off the experience two days latter!
• I mainly focused on fundraising and organization building workshops this time around. As a result I picked up a lot knowledge that I hope to be able to apply back home. On that front, I ran into the interim executive director of the LOFT – the LGBT center in Westchester County, NY which is not far from where I live. We’re going to talk more, but it sort of sounded like there might be a lot more opportunity for me there than I had previously thought. More on that later though.
• I ran into so many friends and acquaintances it wasn’t funny. While it was definitely different to be attending by myself without a whole crew of other students, it was still a lively and enjoyable time. I had a chance to see some folks – based in Michigan – that I haven’t seen for two years or so. Also had a chance to catch up with a few of the kids from Camping.OUT - which I staffed for - two years ago. I barely recognized most of them; they’ve changed so much.
• This was year 4 for me at Creating Change. Next year – which I definitely plan on attending – will be in Denver, Colorado. That’ll be number five for me.

Next on my conference agenda will be MBLGTACC 2008 at UIUC in two weeks. This is going to be one heck of a busy month!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 12th, 2008 at 7:54 pm and is filed under GLBT, Personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.