When I put my virginity up for auction in September, it was in part a sociological experiment — I wanted to study the public’s response. Now it seems that the tables have turned, and the public is studying me.

I’m a 22-year-old woman who recently earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Women’s Studies, and soon I’ll be entering a Masters Degree program in Marriage and Family Therapy. During the time in between, in addition to my regular 9-to-5, I’ve been exploring my upcoming thesis project: the value of virginity. To be more specific, I’ve put my own virginity up for auction on the Moonlight Bunny Ranch website, and I recently received my highest bid so far: a cool $3.8 million.

In addition to bids, however, I’ve also received an astonishing, sometimes unnerving, amount of media attention. Many of these reports have portrayed me inaccurately, however, so let me tell you what this is all about.

This all started long before September. In fact, it started in college, where my eyes were opened by my Women’s Studies professors and fellow classmates. I came to understand the role of “woman” spanning culture and time. At the university level, I was given permission to think differently and form a moral code of my own design. College opened my eyes. Continue

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Into our second month here. We have moved into our place on a hill overlooking the town of Rincon.
Very pretty and breezier, thank god. It can be extremely hot here in the afternoon 87º+ on a regular basis. We just constructed a screen door, so we can keep the front door open being that there is only ac in the bedroom.

A couple of days ago, while driving back from dinner, I almost ran over a few stranded puppies that were left on the side of the road. There are so many stray dogs and cats here.  Not more than a month old, someone just dumped these 3 adorable dogs and cut out.  We stopped and put them in the back of our borrowed SUV. Home with us they went. Fortunately, we were able to find a home for one of the puppies and shelter the other two for adoption in Mayaquez.
The island has a cultural disregard for animals. Last year a horrible incident took place when animal control workers seized dozens of dogs and cats from housing projects in the town of Barceloneta and hurled them from a bridge to their deaths. Since then, there have been laws put into place to halt the abuse and negligence of dogs and cats.  Obviously, this has not stopped people from throwing them out of cars late at night. Very sad.

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Beautiful sunsets they do have, but living here in Puerto Rico has been an enlightening, frustrating and sad experience.

My partner (E) and I arrived a little over a month ago with the hopes of taking a break from NYC, and starting a seasonal bar/grill on the beach. E, would have time and space to read, write and do her artwork, and I would work on menus, cocktails, music and ambiance. How excited we were of the prospect of doing what we enjoy and of waking up to beautiful bright days by the sea.

We rented this small house on the beach. Not the tidiest, but on the beach afterall. We swam most morning before embarking on daily location scouting (for our new spot),  grocery shopping, book store hunting etc.

To give you some background, Rincon is on the far west side of the island.  San Juan is on the East side. There is a big surfing community here, both local and riders from abroad.  These beaches have some of the best surfing on the island.  Rincon also has a large ex-pat community. My guess is surfer dudes that started coming here in the 60’s and 70’s and just decided to stay or come back and settle in. Some have opened guest houses, casual eateries and of course…surf shops. As you can perhaps imagine, it is a very laid back town.

Coming from NYC, it has taken us quite some time to adjust. As New Yorkers, we are so accustomed to getting everything asap.  Here, there is no sense of urgency for anything. I’m not just talking about customer service, there is no urgency on the road, on the check out line, returning a call, keeping an appointment. They must be returning calls while driving because everyone is on a cell phone, which partly explains the turtle speed. I’m not sure if it’s the heat, but it’s unexplicable. I ‘ve heard of “tropical time” but this is ridiculous.

Rincon thrives on tourism. It’s their main source of employment and income. So, you would think that customer service would be priority. There is so much potential here, but I do not understand the disregard for some of the basic requirements to keep customers coming back. The funny thing is that I believe they know what it takes but, just don’t care. Maybe because no one really cares about them.

My parents are Puerto Rican. They both emigrated to the U.S. in the late 1950’s. Not by choice, unemployment was high in Puerto Rico. In the 1950’s, the United States under FDR implemented “Operation Bootstrap”. This program aimed to transform Puerto Rico’s economy from agricultural-based to manufacturing-based. The U.S. offered foreign businesses major tax incentives to get them to set up shop on the island which included hard-working men and women at a fraction of the price. Yes, cheap labor. In the meantime, farmers lost their land, some were bought or taken over by Americans or other foreigners and we stopped producing. If you go into any supermarket in Puerto Rico, all across the island, everything is imported. Puerto Rico has become a dumping ground for products and it’s people have become major consumers.  The U.S. will never give Puerto Rico it’s independence because it needs the island for business. Suzuki, Isuzu, Ponderosa, Burger King, Taco Maker. There are sooo many fast food chains here. Fish is imported from China. This is an island, surrounded by water, where is the fresh fish?

Does the U.S. care about the people of Puerto Rico? I’m beginning to think not. They ask, are we American? Are we Puerto Rican? This limbo state continues indefinitely. Do we have a voice? Certainly not in America. Puerto Ricans can not vote in U.S elections because they do not pay Federal taxes. They don’t seem to have much of a voice here either since many programs and funding need to be approved by the U.S. Federal government.

The island is having it’s elections for Govenor today. There has been a non-stop caravan of cars with loud music, and flag waving crowds along the roads cheering for either the red party (Popular Democratic Party) or the blue party (New Progressive Party). It just seems like an occasion to party and literally “burn rubber” with friends and family. I wondered if anyone really knew what their representatives stood for. Some of these kids weren’t even old enough to vote! I have been warned to stay indoors tonight and avoid the street frenzy that ensues after elections. If only Puerto Ricans were as enthusiastic about maintaining the beauty of the island and it’s waters, education, infrastructure, animal rights, gay rights…

I’ll be glued to the TV set tonight watching the elections in the States and listening to Reggaeton blasting out of souped up Hondas out my louvered windows.

…to be continued.

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Three days ago, eight lesbian bloggers set out to raise $8,000 in eight days to help defeat Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that seeks to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry in the State of California.

Bloggers Grace Chu and Grace Rosen of Grace the Spot, Pam Spaulding of Pam’s House Blend, Dorothy Snarker of Dorothy Surrenders, Lori Hahn of Hahn At Home, Kelly Leszczynski of The Lesbian Lifestyle, Sinclair of Sugarbutch Chronicles, Riese of This Girl Called Automatic Win, and Renee Gannon of Lesbiatopia formed the 8 Against 8 Campaign to call on the public to donate to the “No to Prop. 8” campaign and help defeat the anti-gay marriage measure come Election Day, which if it passes, will nullify thousands of now legal same sex marriages and make it illegal once again for lesbian and gay couples to marry in California.

What happened next exceeded their expectations.

Donations started rolling in by the thousands of dollars per day. Less than three full days into the campaign, the eight bloggers against Prop 8 reached their initial goal of $8,000.

“I am still in shock at how quickly and effectively the community responded to the 8 Against 8 campaign,” said Renee Gannon of www.lesbiatopia.com. “The money donated and the excitement generated in three short days have far surpassed what I ever could have imagined that we would accomplish in eight days, never mind three.”

The eight bloggers intend to continue raising money for No on Prop 8 through the “8 Against 8” campaign, expressing the urgency of fighting Proposition 8.

Donations can be made here.

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