September 1, 2003

The following column originally appeared on Mama's Family web site.  Ray asked me to bring it over here also.  Mama graciously gave me permission to publish it here also.

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July 9, 2003

It's been a bit since I have written.  So much going on in the past few weeks that it has been hard to find the time to write with any regularity.  Mama's retreat was a blast.  I ended up being able to attend at the last minute.  It was nice to surprise her.  It was great to spend time with the family away from the busy city.  Roger and David (Mama's Piercers) put on a first class contest and fun was had by all.  The wife is 61 and never lovelier.  June was a busy month with Pride etc.

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Keith Folger, Mama's Leatherman '04 to the title family and to Mama's Family.  He is a great guy and a long time supporter of the community at large.  Good luck at SF Leather.

The leather contingent was huge this year at Pride.  It was great to see so many faces, new and old.  I attended the Dykes on Bikes 25th Anniversary party at Zeitgeist with the wife and John (Mama's Bubbles) on Saturday.  What a great bunch of gals.  If you haven't ventured into the women's community I strongly urge you to.  They are a great bunch of hardworking members of our community.  Then the wife and I went and got settled into our hotel room.  It was generously donated to Mama by someone who wanted her to be comfortable and close to the festivities. Then we went to Snatch's birthday party at the Edge and on into Pink Saturday.  I found myself dancing at Market and Castro with all the youngin's.  Crossing over with Daddy Ray.  OOPS

Sunday morning we were up and at 'em early with leather, floggers and angel wings in the lobby of the civic center holiday inn headed for the contingent and a long day of pride. The crowd was enthusiastic and the family was leathered up from head to toe.  The hotel was at the end of the walk so around 40 leather folk and Mr. Marcus piled up in the room for cocktails, snacks and a quick shower catch your breath before hitting the festivities.

I worked the Smirnoff booth from 2-6 for the Imperial Court and what an honor it was to work beside such dedicated, hard working people like TJ, Jason, Sheba, Tish, John, Doug, Suzie, Alexis,etc. but especially Marlena who continues to work, work, work, for the community.

Well, the wife is off the Palm Springs, AGAIN, this coming weekend to lend her name, time and efforts to festivities at Sidewinders.  Have a great time and send the Palm Springs family our love and hello's from SF.

Finally, Mama's Outlaws finished 5-7 for the season.  We had a lot of injuries and illnesses towards the end and just couldn't get that trophy. There's always next year. We had a great little awards ceremony just for the team afterwards.  Mama and Briggs were in attendance and Mama pinned 4 on the team which gives the team a total of 8 who are part of "Mama's family.  They are all apart of my family always but it was a nice surprise and addition to our awards.  On behalf of the team we thank you all for your support throughout our season.  We have playoffs this coming weekend and then a tournament the end of July at Russian River.

Just my opinion:  Are we ever going to truly let go of rumor mongering.  There seems to be a certain "faction" of this family that loves to spread rumors, be involved in rumors or stir shit.  This time it was me directly.  If you hear a rumor that is not directly from the horses mouth don't go around "miss-quoting" and miss informing.  It only makes for more work for the people involved.  I don't have the time, energy or inclination to deal with this kind of stuff.  I would hope that eventually "mature" heads will prevail on this he said, she said mentality and stop, once and for all this energy draining practice.

Secondly:  There are still a lot of  "family" members who are bad mouthing, judging, and criticizing current titleholders and community leaders for various reasons. I am overhearing things especially from past and current titleholders themselves.  If you can't be positive and supportive, shut up and stay away.

Finally: We are seeing quite a decline in the numbers of contestants vying for titles.  Even so, the contests and contestants are worthy of your respect and support.  You may one day find yourself in the position of being the only contestant or in the producer position.  Until next time, remember, manners and respect.

In Leatherhood
Ray Tilton
"Actions speak louder than words"