Sisters, Guards, Family and Friends: We are just returning from…
Sisters, Guards, Family and Friends:
We are just returning from a week vacation in Orlando. We were so thrilled to be able to be present for one of the Novice Projects. We were able to drag Sister Konnie Chiwaa from Atlanta along with us to Orlando and let her experience Orlando and The Parliament House for the first time. Needless to say, a great time was had by all even with the EXTREME HEAT!
Again, it’s hard to believe that we are on Issue #7 of One Veil. Thanks so much to everyone who contributes their talents regularly to One Veil. Special Thanks to Sisters Raven Nevamore, Chiqi Eata Banenea, Ima Lush, Phyllis Withe-Litaday, Sexy Xie, Spinna DeVinyl, and Bella De Ball for the great articles that you gals are providing each month. We are also very thankful for the readers of the monthly magazine; we hope we are providing you with enjoyment. We never thought that this would become so popular and we are so happy for the success. Each month we have the pleasure of getting to know our fellow sister houses a bit better by doing an interview with some of the members of the featured house. This month is no different. The Seattle Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence – Abbey of St. Joan, has been able to share so much good information with us. The new Q&A that is happening with the founders of houses is coming as quite interesting. (Thanks Sr. Unity for such a great idea.)
It is with a very heavy heart that I found out about the passing of Mother Helen Highwater of Australia. If you’ll notice, she recently sent an email with a fabulous cocktail that we are featuring in Sister Spitz this month. She was always so quick to contact me and say “T’Keela, you forgot to send the blind bitch a copy of One Veil, you know I need it in WORD format”. I’d graciously tell her to keep reminding me. Well, those reminders are no longer necessary, and I ask that each of you mix up that fabulous cocktail she added to One Veil and have a drink in remembrance and sip it as we light a candle to help guide our sister to gather with the Nuns of the Above. Rest Well, Dear Sister!
If you have a story or a “shout out” that you would like for One Veil to publish, please let us know by sending us an email. Please know that to be used in One Veil, we must receive the information no later than the 20th of the month prior to publication.
Enjoy what is left of your Summer, stay cool, stay hydrated, stay safe and STAY FABULOUS! Please remember that October is National Coming Out Month and the Joyful Heart campaign will be in full force. If you want to join One Veil in this campaign, please check out the archived issue (June, 2012) and follow the directions given. Check out the Joyful Heart Facebook page and if you have trouble finding it, please let us know and we can send you a link.
With a joyful heart,
Sister T’Keela Mockingburd And Sister Isadora Knocking
Seattle Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence The Abbey of St. Joan…
Seattle Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence
The Abbey of St. Joan was founded in 1996 by Maria Caffeina Mocha Latte, Eva Destruction, Naga Baba Ganesh, Madonna Supermodel of the World, Carmina Piranha, and VixXxen as the first Novice. July 14, Bastille Day, was chosen as our birthday to commemorate St. Joan, patron Saint of cross-dressers and fierce women.
What is your full name and when did you become fully professed?
My full name is Sister Glo Euro N’Wei (for pronunciation, say it fast and think of the Fleetwood Mac song, which I claim was written as a foreshadowing of my birth). I took my Vows of Full Profession in January of 2003, after having started my journey in the spring of 2002.
Who is, or who do you consider your Big Sister or Mother to be within the SPI organization?
My sponsor as a Postulant was Sister Faerie Clara Voyant. My Big Sister as a Novice was Sister OpheliaOnassis.
How has the relationship with your Big Sister/Mother influenced your Sister journey?
I chose Ophelia because I perceived her to be the opposite of how I perceived myself at the time. She is very outspoken, gregarious, definitely not shy. She most certainly pushed me in ways the helped me grow out of my shell. OK, let’s be real – she clawed that shell off me! Now, these many years later, we are different kinds of Sisters in some ways, and very similar in others.
How often does the Seattle house have general membership meetings, and how long do they usually last?
We meet twice a month, during the afternoon of the first and third Sundays of the month. I can’t ever quite predict how long the meetings last, though generally they run anywhere from 1 ½ hours to 6 hours, with, say 2-ish hours being about the standard. Depends on how chatty folks are and what’s on the agenda.
What do you find most challenging while chairing a GM meeting? (explain)
Every meeting is a balancing act. We have a large membership, so meetings generally have 30 to 40 folks in attendance. Balancing what people are interested (or not interested) in discussing with people’s need to be heard with the length of time for discussion, not to mention that we’re all pretty strong personalities (and the need to open space so the more quiet folks can have their voice heard) – all that can be somewhat exhausting as the meeting facilitator. We have a culture of consensus building paralleled by a culture of democratic voting (go Robert’s Rules!). And, since meetings are generally the only time we’re together
when we’re not embedded in the community, folks want the opportunity to socialize along with getting through our lengthy list of business items.
Since the day you joined SPI, what are the biggest changes that you’ve noticed or witnessed in both the organization and yourself?
First off, I’d have to say the explosive growth in membership, in terms of the Abbey and all the new Houses. There’s more structure in place, more communication across the global Sisterhood, more of everything! That’s been incredible to watch and be a part of. In some ways, though, that growth makes me sad – because it’s a representation about how deep-seated the need for Sisters and our work is in our community. If we could nun ourselves out of a job, that would be swell – not likely to happen, though.
On a personal level, I would say that over the last decade the Sister Mission has infiltrated all of my life’s activities. I’m much more aware of the energetic exchanges involved in the work, and constantly amazed at how much I keep learning and at how spiritual it has become for me. I’m definitely choosier about where and when I manifest these days, in part because I keep busy with a lot of different things, and in part because I’m more conscious of how I spend my own energy. (And the administrative side of being in leadership takes a lot of time and energy.) I would also add that I’m much more self-confident, much less shy, and more at home in my own skin than I was when I started this journey.
If you could change anything about your journey to full profession, what would that be and why?
Nope – no changes. It has been exactly as it was meant to be.
As the president of the Seattle House, what are your expectations or goals of the house for the rest of 2012 and into 2013?
That we always filter our actions through our Vows and Mission, that we continue to connect with our Mission and our work with a spirit of service and humility, that we continue to cultivate and grow new fabulous Sisters, that we continue to cultivate the love of our community, and that we don’t ever become complacent in any of those areas.
What are you currently most excited about?
I am always passionate about the organization and continuously looking at ways to improve ourselves and the ways we work. We have incredible potential to be amazing examples of how to work through some of the negative b.s. that gets played out in queer communities – if we set our minds to it.
If you were asked to give advice to a mission house that was going through the process of becoming a fully professed house, what would that advice be?
Similar to what I would say to a Novice – figure out what being a Sister means to you, what your Sister identity is. There are many ways to be a Sister, and many types of Sister work. Look around at all the different Houses and learn from them – just don’t try to be them. Create your own identity in your own community based on the good things you’ve learned. Make it work for you within the Sister Mission.
What does being an SPI member mean to you, personally?
Other than getting a kick out of being a heretic? I’d say it’s a connection to a movement, the knowledge that I can go most anywhere and find people who share something deep and profound and who will take care of me. It’s about having a spiritual practice, and fulfilling a need within queer community. It’s about building bridges between different segments of our community. It’s about reclaiming and owning our genders and sexualities and identities. And it’s about love.
In one word, give your description of the SPI organization.
Joy
The Grumpy Nun Mary, Mary quite contrary like a fowl case of…
The Grumpy Nun
Mary, Mary quite contrary
like a fowl case of dysentery
ever nothing nice to say
just barks and spits and fart away
and once upon her own birthday
she’d ran and hid her cake away
“I hate birthdays!” did Mary say!
And so we sang, “Happy Morte Day”
The Busy Nun
The Busy Nun is on the run and won’t waste time on frolic or fun
she wants to stay and play all day but a Busy Nun ain’t made that way
she whirls and swirls and twirls and furls and gets her veil caught up in her pearls
she claps and snaps and flaps and raps but she never takes time out for naps
she keeps it simple and cleans her wimple and won’t smile enough to show a dimple
she works and works and never shirks the work she works for quirks and perks
she rends and mends and rends and mends and rends and mend and rends again
she sets the test and beats her best but she never takes time out to rest!
she won’t stop until it’s done, the Busy Nun that’s on the run
she has a habit of staying at it and hops in shops like the Easter Rabbit
she flits and flitters and tweets and twitters and glints and gleams and glows and glitters
she will not stop until it’s done and she never takes time out for fun!
The Lazy Nun
she prepares to begin to start to commence
she waits for a yawn then rides out a wince
she awakes in her habit of crumpled chintz
she dines in her bib colored mustard and mince
she’s back to her bed to light an incense
she prays that tomorrow is much less intense.
Please give me your name and when you became fully…
Please give me your name and when you became fully professed.
Sister Eva Destruction, professed 7/1996
When and how did you first hear of The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence organization?
In 1995, I was a volunteer for Chicken Soup Brigade’s “Gay Bingo”. My job was to make sure the prize winners signed all the right paperwork, and since that only happened when a game was won, there was a lot of down time through the evening. There was a house of Sisters operating in Seattle at that time and their involvement with Bingo was to verify that the winning games were legit, and since that only happened when a game was won, they had the same amount of down time. Our shared idle moments led to many conversations and questions about everything they did, and the rest fell into place…
What about this organization caused you to want to be involved in founding an Order of SPI in Seattle?
Funny thing, that, The Abbey founders were not creating an organization “ex nihilo”. We were more interested in restoring the grand tradition and established reputation that began in San Francisco back in 1979. It just happened that in order to do that, we needed to start anew.
What do you think was the most challenging part of beginning the process of founding the Seattle Order?
Educating the public about who we are, what we do and how they could play a role in shaping their community. The legal paperwork and interpersonal issues usually work themselves out – winning hearts is hard.
Being a founding member of your house, did you go through the process of first being a postulant or novice, or were you just considered a founding member and basically have the same rights as a fully professed sister?
I started in the lapsed Seattle house as a postulant and then moved to my novitiate, and when The Abbey was created, everyone “leveled up”. I guess you could say my novice project was taking hand in creating an order.
Did you find any challenges when dealing with the community for the first time? If so, what were the challenges?
We had a bit of a challenge in “reintroducing” the Sisters to Seattle. We made a special point to be professional, inclusive, approachable, warm and helpful wherever and whenever we dealt with the community. I remember talking to the, then, Board President, Sister Camille Leon about how long it took the San Francisco house to be understood, and she replied, “Well it’s been 17 years and I think we’re getting close, see what you’re like in 17 years…” Coincidentally, we’re starting our 17th year now, and I think we’re getting close.
Now that your house has been established for quite some time, what is the biggest difference in your house now from when it was first founded (not speaking of the number of members, of course)?
Actually, speaking of the number of members is valid. In the beginning, meetings were held on my sofa with a half dozen people, it was easy to reach consensus, but we were limited in what we could do. Now, we take up a large conference room, consensus involves rich discussion, yet there is never a shortage of helping hands.
If you could go back to the days of the order’s initial founding, what changes would you make, if any?
Nothing. The rewards were hard-earned and that much sweeter; the difficulties and fear (yes, fear) that we had to weather bonded the founding Sisters to each other and created a fierce feeling of protection over what we were/are building.
Do you have just as much excitement about being a Sister now, as you did when you were assisting with the founding of your Order?
I still giggle at what we do. How can you not?
What are you currently most excited about?
The new members and how they will take their interpretation of our mission to the community.
In one word (and one word only) please describe the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
Witwantonous (engaging in irreverent wit)
Please give me your name and when you became fully…
Please give me your name and when you became fully professed.
Sister Maria Caffeina Mochalatte, fully professed in February 1993.
When and how did you first hear of The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence organization?
The Sisters were a regular on Capitol Hill where I lived at the time, and since I was a former Catholic school kid, I thought they were simply fabulous!
What about this organization caused you to want to be involved in founding an Order of SPI in Seattle?
I looked at groups outside of the gay men’s community, and saw that there was a need there for more education about safer sex, especially how to incorporate barrier usage into one’s sex play. I saw that there were bridges we could be building with other areas of the greater queer community, and I wanted to do that. There were several Sisters at the time who also wanted to branch out a bit, into the straight community, into working with queer people of color, and into the swinging and leather cultures in our area. The Seattle house had its way of doing things, and was pretty happy as they were, which I could entirely understand. They had their own traditions and connections, which hearkened back to an older era of the queer community than we had relationships with.
What do you think was the most challenging part of beginning the process of founding the Abbey of St. Joan?
Making it as clear as possible to the original Seattle house that we were not hiving off because we didn’t like them, but because we felt called to work outside of where we had done so traditionally. We knew Seattle would continue their fine work with outreach and hospital/hospice visits, but we younger Sisters were branching out into the cis dyke community, the trans community, the straight community, and making a lot of connections with the pansexual leather community at the time.
Being a founding member of your house, did you go through the process of first being a postulant or novice, or were you just considered a founding member and basically have the same rights as a fully professed sister?
Because there was no time lapse in our activities, we simply stuck to being fully professed, and within a couple of weeks, under San Francisco’s oversight, professed some novices that were close to full profession. I think that, had we all taken several years off, I would have preferred that we be all put back on “novice” status, to relearn the Order as it stood at that time.
Right now that I am returning from such a long sabbatical, I FEEL like a novice, and am actively taking more of a “learning” role than most senior FPs do. I think that’s appropriate for me. The Order has grown, and the Abbey has changed. There is a lot more communication now, and no need to be a “one Sister show” in order to get a project done, as it is when a house is small. I had to learn that when I came back! ;-)
How did the community react to the Sisters on the first manifestation in Seattle?
They were very welcoming. There was some confusion at first, but we were clear about our mission, our reasons for the hive-off, and stuck to that with positivity and openness.
Did you find any challenges when dealing with the community for the first time? If so, what were the challenges?
I think there were some non-Sisters who really wanted a public fight, who wanted to take sides. We didn’t ever want that. The original Seattle house was still active, still doing good work, still people that we cared about. Fighting was not anybody’s aim, and in nobody’s best interest.
Now that your house has been established for quite some time, what is the biggest difference in your house now from when it was first founded (not speaking of the number of members, of course)?
MORE DIVERSITY, and a ton of cis women who are mothers!
We also have Sisters who have been at this a VERY long time, and with that, comes a greater sense of one’s history, and a sense of our continuity. I feel deeply humbled to be among so many talented and dedicated people in the Abbey.
If you could go back to the days of the order’s initial founding, what changes would you make, if any?
I think I would reach out MUCH more to the original Seattle house. We departed initially on good terms, but the tone changed a week or so later, and I think I missed an opportunity to sit down with them and say, “No, really: we mean this to be a good thing, an enhancing thing. Not something that tears you down or takes away from your work at all.” I have really kicked myself over making that opportunity.
I will always be in the debt of Srs. Ann R. Key, Penny Costal, and Hellen Wheels for standing with us, mentoring and guiding us, and recognizing what we were really trying to do. I know this caused some tension in San Francisco, but I hope they have come to not regret it.
Do you have just as much excitement about being a Sister now, as you did when you were assisting with the founding of your Order?
When I get a chance to get out with everybody, yes! And it’s even more exciting with my two children helping me manifest.
I am not as energetic as I used to be, but I also feel more tenderly about things now that I’m in my forties. Being at Portland Conclave made me tear up numerous times. We really were out there, showing love, joy, fun, pride, and a deep kindness to each other and everybody we ran across.
I think that’s when we are at our best: when we can manifest a face of unconditional love and acceptance to all that we meet, whether it’s that gorgeous person at the bar, or the horrified evangelical preacher who is yelling at us.
What are you currently most excited about?
I am excited about the current HIV vaccine trials, and the growing acceptance of queer folk around North America, and in Europe and Australia. I hope we can make a HUGE push for increasing acceptance for our extended LGBTQ family in Africa, Asia, and South America. There’s a lot of work to be done to overcome these prejudices, and so the work of Las Hermanas in South America excites me a lot as well.
In one word (and one word only) please describe the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
Love.
