My new etsy shop with the silly hats and maybe (post BM) other random clothes and crafts I'm sewing up. Yay! I'm even hearted by three people. Granted, one of them has to love me. :)

As anyone within a mile of me knows, I'm getting ready to leave for That Thing in the Desert. I can't wait to flavour trip, get a seaweed spa mask, make some horns, adopt some art, and have a drink at the mead bar.

But what you might not know is that I am forever grateful to a Burning Man camp called the Bureau for Erotic Discourse (or, B.E.D.) for giving me the wherewithal to state my boundaries. I have a button from them I wear a lot- "negotiate sex", and it was that simple phrase that made me a better lover, and a better sex worker. You may've also heard me say "communication makes the best lube"- well, that was something they said, and another clever phrase that sticks in the mind. Both phrases are easy to remember, and playful enough to not offend if you have to step back and say, "whoa there, cowboy, ask first, yeah?" I like that.

Burning Man is one place where it feels, for a short week, that I don't have to worry about people judging my work, or judging me because I enjoy my work. Everyone gets to be crazy and countercultural and creative and interesting. No one needs to delve deeper, unless you both have the focus and desire to. I mean, I feel sometimes like I have to talk endlessly about my work, and be super careful about what I say, because I become the face of Sex Workers to that person, and I don't want to be misunderstood. At Burning Man, I can let go, and just be me, not a representation of a whole group.

And it's a relief. I can't wait.