The Canadian Polyamory Advocacy Association sent out a notice that they are looking for some poly folks to take their survey on conjugal living. Please take a moment to take the survey to help them out.

As you are supporters of the CPAA's work, we are sending you a direct
notice (see below) about the survey we are conducting in support of
our court advocacy work. We greatly appreciate your interest in our
work and expect we will be seeking further information, advice and
thoughts from the polyamory community as we go along.

Even if you don't fit the criteria for the survey, we are also asking
polyamorous folks to help us craft our legal strategy by dropping us
an email note at support@polyadvocacy.ca to tell us as to what you see
as the benefits of polyamorous Conjugal Unions, both personally and
societally.

Thank you again for your support.

Sincerely,
Carol
CPAA member
Vanpoly moderator

The Canadian Polyamory Advocacy Association (CPAA) is doing a short
survey on polyamorous households in Canada where 3 OR MORE ADULTS ARE
LIVING OR HAVE LIVED TOGETHER in a form of "conjugal union".

The CPAA intends to use this information to give Canadian courts and
governments information about the number and type of polyamorous
Canadian households. For more information on current litigation and
the CPAA, please read our website at http://polyadvocacy.ca
.
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The survey is located at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XT8PM82

5 required questions. Approximately 4 minutes.
(Total: 15 questions. Approximately 10 minutes.)
Ending date of survey: May 7, 2010
PLEASE TELL PEOPLE ABOUT THIS SURVEY!! (even if they don't call
themselves "polyamorous")
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DEFINITION
In the survey, a "CONJUGAL UNION" means a marriage, common law
marriage, intimate partnership, handfasting, or any other
marriage-like relationship.
Example: In a three person situation, people living in such a Conjugal
Union could be in a GROUP (persons A, B, and C are in a Conjugal Union
with each other) or in an "OTHER" arrangement (persons A and B are in
a Conjugal Union and persons B and C are in a separate Conjugal Union
in the same household and sometimes in separate households).

So some of the amazing people in the poly community have been working *really* hard to get up an amazing social network for poly people. Think of it as Facebook for polys. Epic, right?

Check it out: Modern Poly

Sign up for an acct, find local poly groups in your area (or add yours!), join groups, and chat with other poly people.

Ashley, Lyndzi, and I will be at the University of Wisconsin -- Milwaukee this week for two showings of "When Two Won't Do" the documentary on polyamory. It's put on by UWM's SEXPO series and the Department of Sociocultural Programming.

Here is the link to the list of events: http://www.aux.uwm.edu/Union/events/concerts/socio.html

Ashley and Lyndzi will be at the UWM Student Union on Tuesday, November 17th at 7:00pm for the first showing with a panel discussion including them and one other member from the Coming Out Poly sponsored Young Milwaukee Poly Group.

I will be at the UWM dorms (which I believe requires a photo ID to attend) at the same time on Wednesday, November 18th.

If you're interested in attending either show, please do. We'll be discussing it at the group on Wednesday evening, which will be meeting at its regular time -- 7:00pm at the Tool Shed.

Also (from Lyndzi), if you're not on the google group then you haven't been up to date on the Thanksgiving plans. It will take place at Lisa's house, which we will give the address out to everyone that's interested via email or at the group itself, on Sunday, Nov. 22nd (That's this Sunday, for the people like me that can't believe this month has gone so fast!). It's a pot-luck function, like the Poly Picnic, so bring something to pass if you're able to. Hope to see you then. ^__^

This is a great article (with actual research to back it) about the invented culture of polyamory - not polygamy. It's well written and a very nice insight into the way in which we live.

I'm on the UWM campus today - and I tend to be when I don't have much to do - and I'm noticing more and more the gap in age between me and some of these students. I'm 28 (very nearly 29), and a lot of these students are a decade younger than I am. I suppose we're still in the same "Generation X/Generation Y" group, but it's hard to really relate to some of these folks, and I'm racking my brain trying to figure out how to do that.

There's been a bit of a movement amongst some of us to really address the issue of the "Older Generation" and "Younger Generation" in the poly community, because it's there, and it's something worthy of discussion. Alan mentioned in his response to our news spot and op-ed in the Shepherd Express that we were doing something few other poly's had done: coming out completely by giving our full name and showing our face. I think it shows the difference between the generations in that we, as the Younger Generation, are more open to outing ourselves because we're more comfortable with the openness and free exchange of ideas that the Internet provides.

"Sex and Geeks" as my wife termed it. It's a generational mindset that sort of puts a gap between us in terms of world view and how to approach the notion of addressing the public. As a Younger Generation, we have people like Tristan Taormino and Jenny Block to look up to because they have been outspoken and completed outed of their own volition. The role models (some, not all) of the Older Generation had pseudonyms even after publishing fairly recognized and well-researched books. Why? The stigma was too great to risk public exposure. Now, it's really not that big a deal - at least for us. The traditions still flow deep in the Older Generation (as Miss Polyamory said in our interview), and it's hard to break free of them.

So being on campus makes me feel like there's a whole group of people uneducated about the ways of poly, and it's a great place to present the subject to them and give them the education when they're still learning how to be themselves. Exploration is what college is all about - sexual, intellectual, social - and it's a great place to tap into the free exchange of knowledge.

I'll be posting fliers when I get an opportunity to advertise for our group, which I hope will bring a fair amount of people. We're happy that we've had a steady membership of about 15 every session since we started (with a little variation here and there throughout the year). That's good, and we're hoping for more because it's a world entirely foreign and best not explored alone. Believe me, Ashe, Lyndzi, and I have been there.