March
    •    3/31 North Carolina Leather Contest, Raleigh, NC - Judging

April
    •    6th & 7th Frolicon, Atlanta, GA
    •    7th Charlotte Woodshed's 10th Anniversary Party
    •    13th - 15th Atlanta Leather Pride Weekend featuring Mr. Atlanta Eagle & the reintroduction of Ms. Atlanta Eagle
    •    26th - 29th CLAW, Cleveland, OH - Presenting

May
    •    4th - 6th Trademark - Charlotte Tradesmen 26th Anniversary Run, Parliament House, Augusta,  GA - Dan
    •    4th - 6th Submissive Journey Weekend, TN - Mel Presenting
    •    18th - 20th Northwest Leather Celebration, San Jose, CA - Presenting

June
    •    1st - 3rd Women in Leather International, Dallas TX - Mel
    •    7th - 10th SELF, Atlanta, GA - Presenting and Step Aside Speeches

Master Dan's Speech

Well, we have been carrying the privilege of having 2 titles for the past 3 months and now we must step aside for the future, our up and coming southeast Master/slave representatives. Though we may not currently have a Master/slave couple to rise to the occasion at this time, I would encourage you to consider making the sacrifice at a future date. So on to the speech.

I really do not know where to begin as I write these words. We have so many people to thank and stories to tell.
So I will start with the thank you’s- As many of you know from my stage speech last year, I’m really good at thanking people…..even better now.
The day after we won the Southeast Master/ slave title, we received an email.
The title of the email “Now your work begins”.

There was someone other than us, who saw that special something in slave Melissa and myself and they were on a mission to see a couple of rough stones put through the grinder, polished and transformed. While she didn’t mince words, she and her slave opened their doors, fed us, guided us down the path, coached us, prepared us and made damn sure we were ready to face what ever should come….

She said “I have never coached a couple and lost……No pressure there. I could talk about her all day, but, to our leather bubby- Ms. Susan goes the first thank you. Thank you Ma’am and thank you slave Ed.
To all the Mast chapters who opened their doors, we thank you.
To NLA Atlanta , We thank you!
To Aurora of RSVP in Louisiana, who fed us the best Cajun food, oh my g-d, thank you for your hospitality. You were our favorite host home!

To Archer and Elegant, who opened their home and gave us home cooked meals while going from one part of the region to another, who offered us wise council, and polished the hell out of some boots for us. We thank you.
To boy dave, who suckered , let me rephrase that, (talked) us into running at SELF in the beginning, who made sure there was an ear to kvetch at, and all the help he provided us, we thank you, we love you, you are family. Without you, we would not be here today, without you, we would have never stepped out of our comfort zone.
Never underestimate the power and influence of a boy.

To everyone at MaST Atlanta, Mistress Kikih , Roger Curtman, slave jez, Boy Clifford, Wayne Brawner, and his boy Keith and everyone else, who critiqued us and told us, we can do better, who made Mel cry for 2 hours on the drive home from our International preparation, I thank you. Without your words of support, your critiques, encouragement and assistance in our preparation we would have not been ready for South Plains.
To slave Sonya and her Master John Junkins, thank you for taking care of Mel at southwest when she was ill….. And for the cookie.

To the best producer we could have wished for, Catherine Gross. Catherine was the most awesome and supportive producer. Though I was not always nice to Catherine, she over looked my brash attitude, and with a smile, did her duty to us. We never had to kiss her ass and we were never under her thumb. Catherine was always supportive in every aspect. She was amazing in her critiques and helped polish us up for the big time. She sent us back more than once and said it can be better. Thank you Lady Catherine Gross!
So, I am sure we missed people, but we needed to keep the thank you’s short, to get to the real meat of boring you to death, as now I have a soapbox.

So finally, Melissa and I are riding along to the Master / slave conference, last September with boy dave and we are discussing who the heck we could talk into being our handler (basically our working whore for the weekend of the International Master /slave contest.)

So boy dave goes, well I know this person who was like the den daddy for these really huge contests, like Drummer, and he has a ton of experience, and can make sure you look spot on, all the time and I said who….well Sir David Labriola… of course….um just our head judge last year.

I was like Yeah right. And dave says oh you should call him…. I don’t get nervous much, but to ask your head judge to come polish boots and fit your clothes, iron Mel’s shirts and stuff, is asking a bit much- don’t ya think…. Well, maybe not to some people in the car of course, but to me it was a little much.

Since I happened to have his number I called Sir David and asked him… and before I could finish he said yes.. I got off the phone and boy dave and mel start laughing… boy dave said, god almighty that took some balls…. I felt they set me up, once more he tricked me out of my comfort zone and it worked.

I could tell you all kinds of stories and the exhausting weekend we put Sir David through, but I won’t. We cannot thank you enough for the time you sacrificed for Melissa and I.
I am honored to call you family and we are blessed to have you.
Thank you to our leather daddy, Sir David Labriola.

So enough of the thank you’s.

Let us move to the ADHD portion of our step down speech, this should seem like a shot gun of information, as I did not want to stay to one topic and bore you to death. So I am going to keep this short and my slave who just will patiently await this speech to be over….as she keeps praying I leave the politics of our year out and they joy of our year in!

Having a title can be expensive, let us not kid ourselves, but if you do it right, there will be awesome people to put you up in their homes and provide you with a home cooked meal. So you can fellowship by breaking bread and really get to know the people in your region. This beats a hotel room and a restaurant any day.

But the great thing is, you can do as much or as little as you want with a title- it is yours to do with as you wish. Yes, being from the south, we may not be as blessed with huge travel funds, but the south is rich in history and influence and there are those who have shared that influence with us time and time again. So I encourage you, as Master /slave couples, if you decide take that step out of your comfort zone to represent the southeast region, you may find these unexpected blessings in your title year also.

During our title year we traveled all over the south, and yet it still seems that we could not adequately represent the region. Look, this place is huge, time and money are limited, so we want to let you know, we are not done, but are pulled away for a while. Once we attend to our newer duties and obligations, for all the people and groups we could not get to, we will be back, and so please be patient.

Politics- this is a great subject, as we did not know the community politics, the lay of the land, the past histories people had with one another, the past issues with other title holders that would directly affect how we were treated… it was an eye opening experience.
However, the greatest compliment we received over and over, ….we gave people a renewed faith about title holders in the south and what they represent, and I also expect that was said many times about our entire 2011 SELF title family.
But I’ll keep this positive, as we were treated extremely well by so many.

Fortunately we did not have preconceived notions of others, whom we had not met, we just went out with open hearts- We had the pleasure and opportunity to have been provided good council and the elders of our community who would provide us with the “lay of the land” per say. Those who counseled us, also opened doors and opportunities, I am not sure why, I never asked, but they did so and without them, our title year would not have been as fruitful or as much of a blessing.

But that’s all I’ll say about politics, because we did our duty, we provided an opportunity for others to make peace- and some did. Melissa and I built bridges and crossed boundaries in the het leather (that’s “pansexual” for the straight folks) and gay leather communities- We came home with the title and our integrity intact.
So moving right along, I could tell you all the places and people we met, but I will spare you, so we jump forward to our baby. You didn’t know we had a baby during our title year did you? Well our baby was not literally as Master Daniel and slave Pink’s but it was the birth our hard work.

So March 2012, was really the birth of the title year. 9 months after beginning our journey, our title year bore fruit, all this happened in 30 days:

First- Melissa was asked to be the Judges slave at women in leather. This was a great honor. For me as, well as Melissa…… Sometimes a Master stands in the shadow of his or her slave. I could not be more proud.
On March 3rd 2012, I had the honor to become the First Heterosexual Male to become A Tradesmen. My brothers have been a blast, and have been so supportive of Melissa and I.
I am honored to be a Tradesmen and slave Melissa as an associate member.

The next weekend we went to South Plains Leather Fest, which will be held next year March 8th -10th, and after a very stressful and exhausting weekend, on March 10th 2012, exactly 9 months to the day from being honored with the southeast Master slave title, we were awarded the International Master/ slave title. We made new acquaintances and new friends;
We competed against some really great master/ slave couples from every region in our country,
We were bestowed gifts for our service and assistance to others, which we, especially me, will cherish forever.
Finally, that weekend we became part of a leather family with a strong history of community and service.
And it did not end there. The last weekend of the month we were honored to be Judges for the North Carolina Leather contest. It was this weekend that I really became aware of how much I had personally grown.

So March was the pentacle and month of celebration of our SELF title year. And now we are in the home stretch.
In April we had the honor and pleasure of presenting at the Cleveland Leather Awareness Weekend (CLAW for short). It being a gay male dominated event, slave Melissa had the honor of being the first woman ever on the stage strutting here wares for the Cleveland rocks vendor showcase. We had a blast.

In May, we, as in my brothers and I, had the 26th anniversary party for the Tradesmen- TradeMark 26, so I was off having a blast, while Mel was presenting at Submissive Journey weekend.
After going all over the country this year, I realized we have missed opportunities in our local community. So in our final opportunity before SELF we were able to attend our local Charlotte MaST group before heading off to Northwest Leather Celebration in San Jose, Ca.

My last event was just two weeks ago, I went to International Mr. Leather and was blessed to be of service to boy dave as he ran for International Mr. Bootblack, where he placed and made us all very proud. It was an amazing weekend and thanks to the leather brotherhood and members to the SECC, I understood what it meant to belong to such a large and diverse group of leather folk.

Melissa and I have stood alone many times over the years, because we do not fit into a mold. We find no spiritual woo side to the Master slave dynamic, we find structure, we find a way of life many cannot live within, but we love who we are and we love the life we live. We speak on topics others often overlook, we look to help others build those foundations for the longevity of having a Maser / slave relationships. But overall we find joy and beauty in living the life of being Master and slave and we are willing to share our joy as the opportunities are presented to us to do so.

But after all this being said, the most important event we saw our title year together was growth. Growth that our relationship has stood the test of time, growth in how we view the politics of others, growth in that we moved forward from issues of the past, growth that we see a bright future for the leather and M/s community, growth in our love of community and each other.

My property and slave, Melissa, and I believe we have done our duty to the title as best we could, you should never ask more of us, we should never do less. We thank you.


-- 
Dan, 
International Master 2012

 
Slave Melissa's Speech was off the cuff otherwise we would include it.

Now the Work Begins

First, thank you to Lady Catherine, Kyle, Nic, Ms. Bettie, and Joel for all of your help and support.  To Joel, especially, your sense of humor, knowledge and patience are so appreciated that we wanted to take you home with us.

Another huge thanks goes out to our judges, Sir David Labriola, Ms. Liza and Jody, Master Roy, Insatiable Amazon and slave elcca…you all rocked!  We had an awesome time meeting you and look forward to continuing to learn from all of you.  And we can’t forget boy Thomas, so calm, and yet so wickedly funny…Sir David, you are one lucky man.

So, this week…waking up to that many emails was an experience.  Sir handled a lot of the emails so that I could get back on a regular schedule with chores and pets.  The weekend before SELF, I had been at Women In Leather, and the week before that, Sir had been on the West Coast, so we have been concentrating on each other, either out white water rafting or around the house with the dog.  We’ve been joking that we don’t have time for any kind of drop…when we decided to run for this title it was with the intent of doing our duty to our southeast region.  While a lot of that is going to have to be around our base in the Carolinas, we feel that our platform is one that needs to get out to as many people as possible in the southeast.  So, feel free to email me at southeastslave2011@gmail.com or Sir at southeastmaster2011@gmail.com .

Thank you! And we really look forward to meeting as many of you as possible.
Master Dan
Southeast Master 2011
slave Melissa
Southeast Slave 2011

As another busy month dawns upon us we sat back today and reflected on how lucky we’ve been and how generous the community has been to us.  So far we’ve attended and participated in the following:
    •    T3 Annual Picnic, Columbia SC
    •    MAsT Monroe NC (our home MAsT group)
    •    Stonewall Commemoration and Wedding Celebration, Charlotte NC
    •    The Tradesmen, Charlotte NC
    •    NLA Atlanta GA
    •    MAsT Atlanta’s 8th Anniversary
    •    The Georgia Leather Contest Car Wash Fundraiser, Atlanta GA
    •    Mr. & Ms. Georgia Leather Contest, Atlanta GA
 
The community has fed us and given us places to sleep, donated time and items to fundraisers that we’re involved in, and just been so open and welcoming to us that we are in awe. We have met so many wonderful people, and we’re only two months into our year.

We have become associate members of the Tradesmen in Charlotte NC. These wonderful men have enthusiastically welcomed us into their group, asked questions, and have helped us without being asked.  We are humbled to be a part of their group and ask that everyone get our and support your local Leather / Levi groups!
We were also honored to be a part of a wedding celebration for 7 same sex couples.  The couples went to Washington DC in April and celebrated their marriages on Stonewall.  There was champagne and cake and very few dry eyes in the house as the pictures of their wedding weekend were shown on the big screen.

The Georgia Leather Contest was a wonderful weekend and we’re sure the winners will do great things for their state.  We had a great time with many of our SELF family being there and next year’s contest is on our calendar.
August is a really busy month for us.  Our next free weekend will be sometime in the middle of September, but we’re really looking forward to meeting and talking to as many people as possible.

Master Dan
Southeast Master 2011
slave Melissa
Southeast Slave 2011

Wow, the past six months have been so busy and so much fun.  And so much driving   after last weekend’s trip to MAsT Athens, we’ve put over 6,000 miles on the Prius thus far for our year.  In the past few months we’ve been to Indianapolis, IN for Great Lakes Leather Alliance, Washington DC for the Master / slave Conference, Baton Rouge LA for the RSVP Halloween Fundraiser, and many other places in between.  

I’m not sure how often sir and I can say how blessed we feel and how welcomed we are by the community, so as it is close to Thanksgiving, here are some thanks that we need to give:

 Boy Dave, thank you for keeping us sane and laughing (especially at ourselves), we love you and if you ever need anything, all you have to do is text or call sir…you know how he gets about the texts.

Ms. Susan and slave Ed, y’all rock.  The understanding and help that you have given to us is something that amazes both of us.  You opened your doors and hearts to us, and we are truly blessed to have you both in our lives.

Master Archer and Elegant, thank you, thank you, thank you.  You’ve given us chances and encouraged us to poke our heads out of shells and experience so many new things. We look forward to seeing you again soon and plotting more ways to make sir eat vegetables without realizing it.

Sir David Labriola and boy Thomas, Sir David, thank you for taking us under your wings and the warmth you show us every time we are lucky enough to see you.  Thank you so much for all that you are doing for us.  And the fundraiser is still a go!

Master Roy and leatherwoofcub, We miss you!  When things get settled down I’m sure we’ll visit and spend lots of time getting advice and having fun.

Liza and Jody – thanks, you know why.

Aurora, The weekend that we spent with you and RSVP re-energized us in a way that we really needed.  Again, we can’t thank you enough for how you took us in and cared for us.  We miss you and know that we will see you, our dear new friend, again.

Lil Red, Buz, Kyle, Nic, Alex, Bear Prowls & Angel, Ejay, thank you for being a great family.

And to all the others out there, we will thank you in person.  We’ve been shown so much love that it brings tears to our eyes.  We have two more meetings / events in 2011 (MAsT Monroe and The Trademen’s House of Mercy Holiday Supper) and then we are leaving for a much needed vacation.  While we relax with beers on the beach, we will be getting ready to rev back up in January and continue having fun.

Thank you!

We spent December in Mexico exploring ruins and snorkeling, sitting on the beach drinking beer, getting back to some Us time... we had a merry experience and got out of shape. Mel and I had great thinking sessions about preparing for the International Master/slave weekend... really we just had fun.

Dan has pledged to The Tradesmen, the first straight man to be allowed this honor.  Thanks to Mast Atlanta and all the folks there for helping us prep for IM/s weekend in January.   Also in January we attended Southwest Leather Conference and had a wonderful time.

This weekend, Feb. 17-19th, we will be at The Parliament House for the SECC weekend and contest.

We look forward to representing the Southeast Master Slave community in a few weeks in Dallas at South Plains Leather.   

Master Dan
Southeast Master 2011
slave Melissa
Southeast Slave 2011

So, wow…it’s been a wonderful few months.  If you haven’t heard…we won!   It was an incredible experience and we were fortunate enough to have not only Lady Catherine there to support us, but SELF’s head judge emeritus Sir David Labriola there cheering us on (and making us look great) too.
 It’s been a few months since we updated our journal…so here’s a short look at what we’ve done since February:

Other than South Plains, we got to judge at the North Carolina Leather Contest!  Thank you slave elcca.  Being on the other side of the table was very relaxing J.  We’re sure that Daddy Blackheart will make a wonderful state titleholder and we will hopefully see him at SELF in a year or two.

It was The Woodshed’s (The Tradesmen’s home bar) 10th anniversary the first weekend.  Besides having a great time hanging with the brothers and watching the bachelor auction, we also gave a small dinner party for some of the brothers.  The conversation, food and camaraderie made for a great night and helped educate some on M/s and leather.

Frolicon YAY…otherwise known as spring break.  We had a great time with our SELF family and other friends.  A big thank you goes out to Archer & Elegant for letting us crash on the floor.  The other big Frolicon thank you goes out to Nic and those awesome drinks!  Ya know…SELF is the week after my birthday…just sayin.

This weekend is Atlanta Leather Pride and the Mr. & Ms. Atlanta Eagle Contest.  We are so excited to spend some more time in Atlanta, which has become our home away from home this past year.  We’re sure it will be a great weekend.

The 26th – 29th we will be in Cleveland at CLAW.  We’re presenting our Household Manual / Butler Book class.  Thank you Master Roy for that invite.

The first weekend of May is the Tradesmen’s 26th Annual Run (Trademark 26) for Master Dan while slave Melissa will be at Submissive Journey Weekend presenting on the Household Manual / Butler Book and Self Esteem & Self Image for Slaves.

The second weekend of May is our weekend off.  We will hopefully get to spend some time on the water making our muscles sore from paddling. J

May 18th – 20th we will be in San Jose, CA for the Northwest Leather Celebration! It’s a celebration…it needs an exclamation mark.  We will be presenting Household Manual / Butler Books and cheering on the couples who will be running for the Northwest M/s title.  We will also be honored to watch and “celebrate” Bus Driver and –pink’s- title year come to a close.  They’ve done a wonderful job and we know they will continue to serve the community.

May 25th -27th Master Dan will be in Chicago at International Mr. Leather being -get this- boy Dave’s bitch as dave run’s for International Mr. Bootblack.  So if you’re in Chicago that weekend, look for that…besides having dave do your leathers, get a picture of Master Dan working.

June
June 1st – 3rd slave Melissa will be in Dallas at Women In Leatherfest.  She is judge’s slave for the Women In Leather Legacy contest that weekend. 
June 7th – 10th is something…wish we could remember…oh...SELF.

Master Dan
International Master 2012
SouthEast Master 2011
and slave Melissa
International  slave 2012
SouthEast slave 2011

Contact us at 
southeastMaster2011@gmail.com | southeastslave2011@gmail.com