Polyamory in the News: More Valentine's poly media

This year's Valentine's week was a big one for poly notice. Here's some further roundup, following my last two posts.

At Nerve.com, "dedicated to all things smart, sexy, culturally important, and entertaining" with 1.5 million visitors per month:

How Polyamorists Celebrate Valentine's Day

There's more than one way to love.

By Kate Hakala

...I wondered how ethical non-monogamists tackle love on a day when the world is so preoccupied with it. As you might expect, the answers were just as diverse and variable as love is.

Sabrina Morgan, a sexuality speaker and sex workers' rights advocate, uses the term solo poly to describe her specific dating style.... Last year, Sabrina celebrated Valentine's enjoying tapas and champagne with one lover, but this year her sweetheart and his wife have invited her to a convention, a kind of group outing....

Louisa Leontiades, writer at Postmodern Woman, is in what she calls an open triad. She and her nesting partner Gösta began as the cross couple of a quad, or two couples in a relationship together. She told me, "that relationship broke down in 2009, which is what prompted my book The Husband Swap. My ex-husband and Gösta’s ex-wife are now married." Currently, Louisa has another boyfriend who spends time with her and her husband. In the poly world, that’s called a "Vee" due to the shape of the relationship.... "Gösta has also recently started seeing someone. It’s early days, but she and I get along really well," she explained. This Valentine's Day, Louisa, Gösta, Louisa's boyfriend, and Gösta's girlfriend will have a dinner as a group, with candles and laughter. "Just like any others," Louisa expressed.

...Mischa Lin, Founding President of Open Love NY, believes that for some, the first instinct in the poly community is to downplay Valentine's Day. "By their very nature, poly people tend to eschew society’s rules about love, including when and how to celebrate it.... For many poly people, love is something that should be celebrated every day of the year," she explained.

Mischa offered me an example of a Kimchi Cuddles webcomic drawn to portray the outlook of some poly people when they're asked about Valentine's. It's been circulating around the internet:

[Says Mischa,] "Each February we celebrate with an anniversary version of Poly Cocktails that routinely draws one of the largest crowds of the year, usually between 200 and 500 people in a single night."...

See the whole article (Feb. 14, 2014),

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An open couple in Chattanooga, Tennessee, was interviewed for the college radio station at the local University of Tennessee campus. And then the segment turned out to be a hot property nationally. Posts one of the people on the show,

I should preface this with, we were out to all of our families. Today I get a call from my mom, and she asks me why I didn't tell her I'd be on NPR. Apparently my aunt heard the interview.

I then get messaged by a friend who lives across the US, asking if it was us in the radio segment. It was.

So an interview that was suppose to be for a college radio station's being played all over the US. This is kinda cool.

It was another sign that the media's demand for poly spokespeople outstrips the supply. Here's the blurb:

On this Valentine’s Day, WUTC wants you to ask yourself:

What is the number of love? How does a relationship function?

In this story, we follow the relationship between Chattanoogans Amy Lolmaugh and Gryffon Daughtery. After meeting at drama club, their relationship takes many interesting turns which include Halloween haunts, jealousy, marriage, and a Google calendar.