• Wed, Jun 06 - Sun, Jun 10, '12 SELF 17
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More dates will be added, particularly as I meet new friends and attend different munches and functions. Thanks to all of you who have already invited me and I look forward to meeting you soon!

When I first won this title last year Daddy was taking me back to North Carolina and I was hanging out the window yelling I'm a titleholder. I didn’t have my shirt on and I was yelling I’m a titleholder. Daddy said, you can keep your shirt off but you’re not a titleholder just yet. The reason for that was he knew something I didn’t know yet.
This community needs more than just people who wear a sash or a patch. For those of us who are titleholders this is not just about having a patch, this is not just about having a sash. Being a titleholder is about the respect that you earn from your community. It’s about teaching, educating, and allowing yourself to be educated as well. Being a titleholder is about earning the love and support of the community. Those of you from CAPEX know about my other group, which is BEG. Where I live right now all of the furniture factories and stores closed, most people are unemployed. When I announced I was running for an International title the people from my munch group, many of whom can only afford that one munch, that is their big deal, they gathered up not just stuff for my basket but money so I could have lunch in San Francisco. That is when you know you have the love and support of your friends.

I came so far in a year. I have been allowed to teach all over the country and people listened, and they heard me. And if you were here last year you know how nervous I was, I picked a hole in my skirt, I am not messing up my skirt tonight.

The thing is I am really proud to be a titleholder. This is a great region to be a titleholder in, it is a great country to be a titleholderfrom. Any single person could go out today and buy a sash. Or a patch and wear it around. It won’t make you a titleholder.

The only thing that makes us a titleholder is the people we represent. It is the love and support and respect that we earn that makes us titleholders. We would not have any of that if we didn’t have all of you out there in our community.

So I want to say thank you to all of my judges from last year: Thank you to Master David, Liza, Jody, Insatiable, Master Roy and elcca,  for giving me the chance to do this and to go forward and to grow. It’s been so much fun.
Thank you to every group who let me teach, thank you to everyone who fed me and everybody who gave me a bed and gave me everything in their house and donated to my baskets, who answered me when I called you at three in the morning. I really really thank you. This is a wonderful region and we have wonderful people coming out here tonight. This is a hard thing to do, but it is a growth opportunity and it is an opportunity for you guys to help those who come behind us to grow as well and I hope you will. Thank you.

June 2011
, when I first sent in my application to run for Ms. SELF I had one reason as to why I wanted to do it. I wanted to learn more about Leather. I have always been a fetish person until last October when I met my Sir—OB--, who inspired me to move toward the leather side of the community with nothing more than his belief in it. Like many of us who are not Leather aware I was afraid of that word, and all that it entailed. I had no idea that many of the things that I already believed in: Good manners, honesty, dignity, loyalty, integrity, respect for my own person and others, were, in fact, many of the basic tenets of Leather.

When I stepped into the meet and greet Thursday night I was overwhelmed by the reception I got from the entire community. I have been to many events and talked to a lot of people and many that I had spoken to before were there but many I had never met before came up to me and offered help, support, encouragement and words of wisdom and advice. Gypise is a wonderful and kind woman who gave me so many helpful hints to help me get through the contest and Master Rick is an amazing man who soothed my nerves with conversations on Music theory and Science. Country took my hand and told me to get my behind over to a judge I had overlooked and pointed to the spot on the floor where I needed to stand. Then he touched bases with me all weekend to offer me help and advice and his tammy, beautiful woman that she is used a lint roller on my dress before my interview and bought some raffle tickets from me as she talked me out of my nerves and into a calmer state of mind. Kevin September took out his time to give me a mock interview and Sebaztian did a heck of a job throwing one of the whips in my basket to drum up bids. The other contestants were incredibly kind to me and so was every single person that I had the good fortune to meet this past weekend. Even before the event people here in my home town were offering advice and donations and to help in any way that I needed. During that weekend I discovered that that is what Leather really is, it is not just a set of Protocols, it is a community reaching out to embrace a new member, it is basic human kindness and decency. None of those people did those things for any other reason than to help me and I appreciate it beyond words. CC Ma’am called me Baby Leather jokingly but I am taking that to heart. Like all children I need to grow and am looking forward to learning more about this life, and lifestyle, as I go forward.

The contest itself…the judges make you think, very hard, about what it is you are really there for. I found myself really opening up, really saying what I feel about things and when I left the interview room I was very shaken but proud of my responses and the fact that I answered the questions honestly and with answers that showed them who I am.

Boi-Ty is one of the reasons I came back into the lifestyle. I had left for a long time and he gave me advice and encouragement and on top of all of that he introduced me to my Sir, so I owe him more than I can repay. Boi-Ty and Mistress-Tan and my wonderful Sir were all onstage for my fantasy and backstage with me, helping me to dress and to stay focused and calm. The other contestants were back there, putting up with my nervous chatter and jokes and giggles.

When they called my name, I froze for a second. I was literally in shock. I was close to tears when I walked back onto that stage and heard the applause from the audience. I was running against some fairly serious competition, a woman who is a well- known figure in the community and whose experience within it far outweighed mine. To hear my name called was a moment I will not forget. I went through so many emotions on that weekend and the producers, the staff, the volunteers, everyone, was so kind to me and so supportive, even when I was nearly hyperventilating and close to tears. I had expected to be nervous; I had not expected to be terrified, which I was at times. I found myself joking that I was suffering from nonconsensual fear play a few times and just being able to admit I was that frightened, and not be condemned for it, was often enough to get me through it. There were times I would become simply elated and other times I would be very calm. Running for title is hard, it made me focus inwardly and see myself as others see me, which is not always an easy thing to do. A title does not belong to one person—it belongs to an entire community. It represents what a community is, and how it behaves. And this is one community I am so incredibly proud to be a part of.

I set out to run for title because I wanted to learn, to become more educated. I gained an amazing amount of knowledge in four short days. I learned many things about myself along the way, which makes it even better. The offers of help and advice keep coming in, it is a bit overwhelming but so appreciated. I am looking forward to beginning my title year. I have plans to begin teaching a Puppy 101 class soon and am going to be traveling far and wide. If you see me out and about, please, feel free to speak to me. I want to hear you. And I want to learn from you and to act as an intermediary between those who are Leather and those who want to learn about it.

Thank you much,
~Angel

So here we are—it is December and I am freshly home from the amazing Brimstone and my meeting with Lady Catherine, which was set up to discuss my fantasy for International Ms. Leather, the title for which I am about to run.  That event was awesome—I taught here classes—two on AgePlay and one on Bratting—and afterwards I had conversations with people who came up to me to say that they were glad they had attended, that they had learned something. For me that is one of the most gratifying parts of my title year, bringing my passions and kinks and quirks to the table and having people who share them get to explore themselves and maybe even learn something, although to be honest I always learn new things right along with the people I am teaching. Perk.

There have been many many highs the last few months-teaching at the Houston FFF and getting to see two of my closest friends again—presenting at DomCon and getting to help out with the contest by serving as Den Mom. Oh and I got to be the Raffle Grrl, which totally rocked, it never ceases to amaze me how giving the people in this Community really are.

I met great people at Debauchery and did a terrific class for the amazing people at T3WD. I met most of them at the vendor fair and SCLC and they are all so awesome I have joked we should move to SC. I got to hang out with Jackie again at the Leather History Conference, and Mama Vi was kind enough to talk to me for a bit about some common passions (books you perverts) and I donated an anthology of BDSM that I appeared in as well as some other things to the Library. DONATE! It matters that we preserve our History!

Along the way I also made friends with some of the most amazing people. I moved in with Daddy here in his house in NC and the transition would have been far more difficult if it had not been for the people at Burke education group and CAPEX, who have become my new hometown family. Thanks y’all.

So—what’s next? Well I am reading some of my erotica at the Happy Endings Lounge in NYC for Ravenous Romance’s Reading Nights Series. I just got accepted as a volunteer for SouthPlains LeatherFest2012, I am going to be competing at IMsL and am really looking forward to seeing what else comes around.
~Angel

In my travels, which are many, I keep running into people who totally amaze me. And I keep gaining experiences that, looking back, make me have to sometimes stop and think how grateful I am for all the opportunities this title and the fact that I live with a vendor has brought me.

I became a full- fledged member of CAPEX, and consider them, and BEG, as my home groups. I have been presenting a lot more, and my classes are always filled with awesome people who make me glad that I have the chance to share the things I know and enjoy with them. To hear, I get it, or thank you—I have waited so long to hear someone say they understand these things—makes me feel like the time I have spent doing and working and learning has been worth it.

I’m a writer, and one of my publishers, Ravenous Romance, built a Leather night around me so on Feb. 3rd I got to read a story I had done for the anthology Back Door Lover to a huge crowd. Among the authors reading that night were Laura Antoniou and Lolita Wolf. (Yes, I was nervous!)
I recently attended the FFF in Providence and am getting ready for a demo/party for BEG. I’m teaching lap dancing, which always makes me smile. I am also preparing for IMsL. It is a lot of hard work, and lots of nervousness at this point, but I am also having a lot of fun. More about that in the next column.

In the meantime, I will be at SouthPlains volunteering and hanging out and learning and having fun, I will also be at Kinkfest and my home groups BEG and CAPEX, and I will be presenting to Whippersnappers of Atlanta on Pet Play. I hope to see you all out there!

I’m home after my run for IMsL. I brought the title of first runner up back to the SouthEast, and am proud of that fact. My speech has become something of a sensation, thanks in no small part to the input of Catherine Gross. As producers go—she is the literal bomb. She even went onstage with me, sucking a lollipop in a most imaginative way. I leave that to you to think of….

I am contemplating the fact that I will soon be making way for a new title holder, despite the fact that when Miss Bettie sent me an email telling me to think of what I wanted to say in my step down speech  my answer was make me step down…okay, but at least I didn’t say bitches at the end of that. I started to but didn’t. I have learned restraint.

I am really thinking of how much I have grown, and how far I have come since I stood in front of a panel of judges and blurted out, I just am who I am, I don’t know what else to tell you. That was all they needed to hear it seems. I love every single one of those people, and am still and forever grateful to them for giving me this opportunity.

I am beginning to think of what comes next. I have a few plans; most of them revolve around my writing career, my Daddy, and my SELF family. I am still processing the past month, and there will be more on those topics later, but not now.

If you are reading this and wondering if you have what it takes to run for this contest-yes, you do. You have come this far. I read the columns of the former SELF’s and what impressed me most was the growth I could see in them. SO—grab that application and get to filling it out.

Best—and see all of you soon as my travel schedule is still likely too insane to even contemplate, I am the woman who did a demo in Columbia SC, drove to GA to visit my daughter, popped over to Alabama for a munch and still managed to stop in at an informal event in ATL on the way home and all in two days time.

For you application filler inners--- be yourself, above all else. And have fun.

Angel Propps
Ms. SELF 2011
First Runner Up International Ms. Leather 2012

Wow—so the year is ending. I step down in one week. I am so overwhelmed by all the memories I barely know where to begin.

I am in Dallas, Texas where I just finished competing for the title of Women’s International Leather Legacy 2012. I won. I just do not have words to express the gratitude and joy I feel for this honor. This is a title that works to record and preserve the history of Leatherwomen and I am ecstatic at the thought of being able to be a part of something like this.

But I am always going to be Ms. SELF 2011.
Right now I am just going to say this: Thank you. Thank you everyone for love, support, food, shelter. Thank you for hugs, donations, caring about me as a person and not just because of the patch on my back. Thank you for allowing me to teach, teaching me to lead and sharing everything you have with me.
See you in a week!

~Angel

Contact me at Ms.SouthEastLeatherFest2011@gmail.com