Touch...Poems & Others Writings of Love, Erotica, & Sensuality by Jair, The Literary Masturbator NOW AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE On Lulu.com

Official Book e-Retailer (Purchase): Lulu.com

Touch...
Poems & Others Writings
of Love, Erotica, & Sensuality

For some reason sensuality and erotica have been labeled dirty and bad. In our society we are often taught that having those urges are impure and sinful. For me the truth of the matter is a healthy combination of spirituality and sensuality creates a much better balance for a person to understand who and what they are. How can you explain to a lover what it is you like if you’ve never explored what that is? I am not suggesting that a person needs to have a lot of sex or try many things but to not even be able to think about and suppress what comes natural seems like the most unnatural thing to me.

Hopefully you will find this collection of poetry (and other writings), artwork, & photos to be fun, fulfilling, entertaining, and on some level it expands your ideas of connecting to yourself and others. In other words I hope it “Touches” you...

- Jair, The Literary Masturbator

Official Blog: Confessions Of A Literary Masturbator™

Touch... Will Also Be Coming To
Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble Soon!
Meanwhile, Get Your Hard Copy At Lulu.com
- An Indy Book Publisher

Also Available For Electronic Download
To Kindle And iPad Devices For $5.99

VEP Writers Retreat SAVE THE DATE! May 21st - 23rd, 2010 The Oaks/New Dawn Foundation New Rochelle, New York

VEP Writers Retreat

SAVE THE DATE!

WORDS TO LIVE BY: 2010 and BEYOND
vepress.com

Vintage Entity Press Writers Retreat

May 21-23, 2010
@
The Oaks/New Dawn Foundation
New Rochelle, New York
theoaksndf.org

Join us for
Workshops, Networking, Open Mic,
Readings, Book Selling, and Community


Invited Presenters:
G. Winston James
Cheryl Boyce-Taylor
Pamela Sneed
Curu Necos-Bloice
Herukhuti (Editing and Revising)
Steven G. Fullwood (Creating a Manuscript Proposal)
April Silver (PR and Marketing)
Lamar Ariel (Self-Publishing)
Lenelle Moïse (Reading and Performing)
Anton Nimblett (Fiction)
Ellery Washington (Creative Non-Fiction)
And More!

Check back
for more information about the retreat this week!


Contact Herukhuti, Associate Editor-at-Large
at heru[at]vepress.com or 917.403-0536
--

Affordable Workspace For Artists And Organizations! NYFA (New York Foundation For The Arts)

In response to the current economic downturn, NYFA is opening its Affordable Workspace program to artists and organizations who have been directly affected by the recession—be it through loss of office space, employment, etc. Activity must be arts, literary, or culture-related; artists and organizations working in all genres, graphic designers, creative writers, journalists, and art historians are welcome to apply.
Affordable Workspace Program Benefits:

* A private workstation within the NYFA space dedicated to you
* High-speed wireless Internet access
* Meeting space available by appointment (in NYFA’s small conference room and library)
* Free scanning (black and white)
* Free printing quota of 200 pages per month (discounted printing fee for larger printing projects)
* Discounted rate for copying
* Fully equipped kitchen with hot coffee, tea, and filtered water
* Individual phone service available for additional fee

For more information and an application, click here.
New York Foundation for the Arts
20 Jay Street
Suite 740
Brooklyn, NY 11201
http://www.nyfa.org

Travel Directions: "F" train to York Street

Announcing FOOTNOTES MagazineAnother Spin-Off of GBM (Gay Black Men) Magazines.com

Announcing FootNotes Magazine

I am very proud to announce the debut issue of FootNotes Magazine. This publication is our new literary eZine hosted on GBM Magazines.

FootNotes will feature reviews of new literary releases, creative writing, serialized books and poetry. Additionally each month FootNotes will feature exciting articles about writers, publishers and general industry news of interest to book lovers.

Thanks to the hard work of editor D. Kevin McNeir and our many volunteer contributors, I know each edition will be more exciting than the last.

Please check out FootNotes out here: FootNotes Magazine

Thank you!

Ralph Emerson
Publisher
GBMNews.com
GBMMagazines.com
(760) 294-9434

“HIV is My Reality, This is My Story”World AIDS Day Photographic & Written Word Art Exhibit (Sponsored By GMAD)Thurs, Dec. 3rd, 2009, 4-6:30PM

Gay Men of African Descent, Inc. launches
“HIV is My Reality, This is My Story”
World AIDS day photographic and written word art exhibit

“Too often HIV is presented as a bar chart, a timeline or a dense paragraph of statistics and predictions,” announced GMAD Executive Director Tokes M. Osubu. “The goal of this project is to put human faces and individual stories on a frequently misunderstood diagnosis.”

These thirteen black & white portraits, by renowned photographer John Labbe, will be displayed alongside the stories the subjects tell of their diagnosis. Their stories of trials and triumphs range from the heartwarming to heartbreaking, but they are all compelling and all very human.

*HIV is My Reality, This is My Story* is co-sponsored by the Brooklyn Community Pride Center. Tom Smith, President of their Board of Directors stated that “the faces of people with AIDS in Brooklyn reflect every nationality, culture and gender identity throughout the world. Keeping our children and elders safe from the threat of AIDS and insuring that those
with AIDS in our community receive the highest levels of compassionate care is one of Brooklyn Community Pride Center's top priorities."

The exhibit, which will include an opportunity to meet with some of the models, will be on display in Brooklyn’s Borough Hall, at 209 Joralemon Street on Thursday, December 3rd, 2009 from 4:00pm to 6:30pm.

Gay Men of African Descent, Inc. a 501(c)3 not-for-profit agency, is the nation’s oldest and largest organization dedicated to the well-being of black, gay men and will celebrate its 24th anniversary in 2010.

www.GMAD.org

OTHER COUNTRIESA Monthly Black SGL Writing Workshop Saturday, September 12th, 2009 6PM - 9PM (NYC)

Man, I LOVE this picture!. Vintage and Elegant...

- ROD

Rodney Dildy, David Warren Frechette, Colin Robinson,
Carlos Raúl Segura & Donald Woods of "Other Countries", 1987

The first September 2009
"Other Countries" Monthly Writing Workshop will be:

Date & Time:
Saturday, September 12th from 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Location:
The LGBT Community Services Center
208 West 13th Street
(between 7th & 8th Avenues)
Room 102
New York, NY 10011

GOOGLE MAP

If you plan to present work on September 12th:

• please confirm with Kevin McGruder by Thursday, September 10th at kevmcgr[at]pipeline.com
• bring 8-10 copies of your work for distribution.

For those interested, we will go out to dinner afterward at a nearby restaurant.

Below are guidelines for the workshop.

Other Countries Writing Workshop Discussion/Critique Guidelines

The Other Countries Writing Workshop is a peer-facilitated workshop. In order to ensure a supportive atmosphere and to encourage constructive criticism of work please keep the following in mind:

• Before reading their work, writers should introduce it by telling about the FAP (Focus, Audience, and Purpose) for the piece as well as its genre. They should think of specific questions they want answered by the workshop, e.g. “Is this ready for submission to literary journals?” “Does this first chapter pull you into my novel’s story?” “Does this character seem too cardboard or cliché?”
• The moderator will facilitate the discussion/critique of the work
• Participants should:
  

- avoid cross talk between other participants while a comment is being made
- address both positives and negatives in the work;
- avoid extraneous “amen-ing” (repeating the comments) of previous speakers;
- avoid personal commentary of the writer and others;
- provide suggestions for further development of the work, etc.

We welcome contributions to defray room rental costs. Checks or money orders can be made payable to Other Countries and sent to:

Other Countries
345 West 145th Street, Suite 12B2
New York, NY 10031-5323

Other Countries: Black Gay Expression Monthly Writing Workshop Saturday, August 22nd from 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM (NYC)

Other Countries:
Black Gay Expression Monthly Writing Workshop

The second August 2009 Other Countries Monthly Writing Workshop will be:

Date & Time: Saturday, August 22nd from 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Location:
LGBT Community Services Center
208 West 13th Street
(between 7th and 8th Avenues)
Room 102
New York, NY 10011


If you plan to present work on August 22nd:

* please confirm with Kevin McGruder by Thursday, August 20th at kevmcgr[at]pipeline.com
* bring 8-10 copies of your work for distribution.


For those interested, we will go out to dinner afterward at a nearby restaurant.


Below are guidelines for the workshop.

Other Countries Writing Workshop Discussion/Critique Guidelines

The Other Countries Writing Workshop is a peer-facilitated workshop. In order to ensure a supportive atmosphere and to encourage constructive criticism of work please keep the following in mind:

Before reading their work, writers should introduce it by telling about the FAP (Focus, Audience, and Purpose) for the piece as well as its genre. They should think of specific questions they want answered by the workshop, e.g. “Is this ready for submission to literary journals?” “Does this first chapter pull you into my novel’s story?” “Does this character seem too cardboard or cliché?”

The moderator will facilitate the discussion/critique of the work

Participants should:

- avoid cross talk between other participants while a comment is being made
- address both positives and negatives in the work;
- avoid extraneous “amen-ing” (repeating the comments) of previous speakers;
- avoid personal commentary of the writer and others; provide suggestions for further development of the work, etc.


We welcome contributions to defray room rental costs. Checks or money orders can be made payable to Other Countries and sent to:

Other Countries
345 West 145th Street, Suite 12B2
New York, NY 10031-5323

Other Countries: Black Gay Expression Monthly Writing Workshop

Other Countries: Black Gay Expression Monthly Writing Workshop

The second June 2009 Other Countries Monthly Writing Workshop will be:

Date & Time: Saturday, June 27th from 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Location:
Room 102
LGBT Community Services Center
208 West 13th Street (between 7th & 8th Avenues)
New York, NY 10011

If you plan to present work on June 27th:

• please confirm with Kevin McGruder by Thursday, June 25th at kevmcgr[at]pipeline.com
• bring 8-10 copies of your work for distribution

For those interested, we will go out to dinner afterward at a nearby restaurant.

Below are guidelines for the workshop.

Other Countries Writing Workshop Discussion/Critique Guidelines

The Other Countries Writing Workshop is a peer-facilitated workshop. In order to ensure a supportive atmosphere and to encourage constructive criticism of work please keep the following in mind:

• Before reading their work, writers should introduce it by telling about the FAP (Focus, Audience, and Purpose) for the piece as well as its genre. They should think of specific questions they want answered by the workshop, e.g. “Is this ready for submission to literary journals?” “Does this first chapter pull you into my novel’s story?” “Does this character seem too cardboard or cliché?”
• The moderator will facilitate the discussion/critique of the work
• Participants should:

- avoid cross talk between other participants while a comment is being made
- address both positives and negatives in the work;
- avoid extraneous “amen-ing” (repeating the comments) of previous speakers;
- avoid personal commentary of the writer and others;
- provide suggestions for further development of the work, etc.