Poly in your local media
High Plains Reader
Jay Esra is an organizer for the poly community in and around Fargo, North Dakota. "My local poly organization tremendously appreciated the notice your blog gave a local TV feature with members of our community last May," he writes. My point then was that it's easy to get good local visibility for your group — just call the paper or radio or TV station and ask if they'd be interested in what you're doing.
Local media are always desperate for interesting human-interest stories, and they'll almost always treat you well. (Just be prepared to walk away if it begins to feel otherwise.) Alternative weekly papers are an especially good bet. Maybe you can write a piece yourself.
The Fargo folks just did it again. Here's "a feature just published about PolyAware, the education/advocacy/outreach arm of the Fargo area poly organization," Jay writes. "This was in the alternative arts & entertainment weekly the High Plains Reader."
There follows a basic Poly 101 Q&A. It emphasizes the need for a community to provide wisdom and support in the face of widespread misunderstandings. The group is putting on a public talk March 26th and gets a plug for it, along with their Facebook and email addresses. The whole article (March 8, 2017).
Says Jay, "We were very fortunate that an out trans, lesbian, poly writer and member of our community was positioned to do a culture piece for this paper and that the editors chose to make the article a feature (which allowed for a fuller treatment)."
Don't dismiss local as small-time. Among other things, doing local media builds your skills, confidence and contacts for going bigger time. It's how lots of people get their start.
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Jay Esra is an organizer for the poly community in and around Fargo, North Dakota. "My local poly organization tremendously appreciated the notice your blog gave a local TV feature with members of our community last May," he writes. My point then was that it's easy to get good local visibility for your group — just call the paper or radio or TV station and ask if they'd be interested in what you're doing.
Local media are always desperate for interesting human-interest stories, and they'll almost always treat you well. (Just be prepared to walk away if it begins to feel otherwise.) Alternative weekly papers are an especially good bet. Maybe you can write a piece yourself.
The Fargo folks just did it again. Here's "a feature just published about PolyAware, the education/advocacy/outreach arm of the Fargo area poly organization," Jay writes. "This was in the alternative arts & entertainment weekly the High Plains Reader."
PolyAware
By Faye Seidler
I’m polyamorous and I live with my two girlfriends, who both mean the world to me. They contribute to making me a better person by challenging me when I’m wrong, supporting me when I try something new, and comforting me if I fail. It has been a relationship built on trust, consent, family meetings, and more happiness than I’ve ever had at any other point in my life.
That said, it’s really hard to share any of that with people I meet. It’s easy to talk about my girlfriend, it’s easy to come out as lesbian or trans, because we have narratives for that. Even if someone doesn’t like it, they understand what it is.
But if I come out as poly, I also have to prepare to spend time in a possibly awkward conversation, trying to justify my love and how we live. It’s a conversation I often avoid having with anyone other than those I consider friends, because the frustration just isn’t worth it otherwise.
That is why I am incredibly thankful for PolyAware, an organization in our area dedicated to educating individuals about poly issues. They also provide a plethora of resources and even support for individuals looking to explore what it means to be poly. I had the honor of sitting down with the members of PolyAware, among them Ashton Shepard and Andrew C. Tyson, for questions....
There follows a basic Poly 101 Q&A. It emphasizes the need for a community to provide wisdom and support in the face of widespread misunderstandings. The group is putting on a public talk March 26th and gets a plug for it, along with their Facebook and email addresses. The whole article (March 8, 2017).
Says Jay, "We were very fortunate that an out trans, lesbian, poly writer and member of our community was positioned to do a culture piece for this paper and that the editors chose to make the article a feature (which allowed for a fuller treatment)."
Don't dismiss local as small-time. Among other things, doing local media builds your skills, confidence and contacts for going bigger time. It's how lots of people get their start.
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Labels: north dakota
2 Comments:
Thank you, Alan, for the wonderful review! - Andrew C. Tyson
Excellent article! I agree completely, especially with the claim that working with local media and getting info about polyamory published in smaller local publications is very worth doing. This is not only because it is an effective way to gradually shift public opinion in the immediate area, but also because it can be an excellent "training exercise" and contact building activity that helps pave the way for doing similar things on a broader scale.
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