Leatherpage.com Scholarship Awarded

SAN FRANCISCO – *Congratulations to Abby Tallmer of New York City!*

Abby has been part of the NYC queer leather scene for more than 30 years. She recently had a memoir/essay called *“*Losing the Meatpacking District: A Queer History of Leather Culture*“* published in the book “Best Sex Writing 2012″ (Cleis Press, Edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel & Susie Bright, 2012).

I will leave it to Abby to further introduce herself and the work she plans to do for Leatherpage. Suffice it to say that I am extremely excited to see what she will come up with.

Leatherpage received many very strong applications for this scholarship. It was very heartening to read through them, to see direct evidence of people with amazing skill sets who are dedicated to research and journalism in our community.

The experience of receiving and reading these applications was very moving. I am going to try to secure more funding so that Leatherpage will be able to offer additional scholarships.

If you have any leads for organizations that would like to combine efforts, please get in touch with me.

For those of you who may not remember, here is the original description of the scholarship:

*Leather Community Research and Journalism Scholarship *

On behalf of Leatherpage.com, Leland Carina is offering a privately-funded scholarship for research and journalism in the amount of $1,000. This money is intended to cover the flight and hotel for a weekend-long stay in Chicago, providing an opportunity for the recipient to research at the Leather Archives & Museum (LA&M). Any funds remaining after travel costs may be used to further the recipient’s work.

Rick Storer, Executive Director of LA&M, will meet with the recipient to suggest resources that may be useful and provide training on using the museum’s in-house catalogs.

The winner will document their process on Leatherpage.com in blog format and also publish a series of articles based on their findings. Specific subjects may include a wide range of interests; particular proposals are to be made at the time of application.

This scholarship is open to all members of the Leather Community. Applicants will be required to submit a Leather community resume, samples of previous writing/projects, and references. In addition, applicants are asked to respond to a provocative question with a sample article. The most innovative answers will be published on Leatherpage.com.

The scholarship recipient will be determined based on merit. Experience will be considered in relation to time in the community; a promising newer member has equal chance to receive it as does a seasoned veteran. Leland may enlist the help of advisors during the review process.

The mission of this Scholarship is to support community research and journalism, to invite critical thinking about the structure of our
community, and to spark engaged public discourse. It is Leland’s hope that this will start a new trend– inspiring organizations and individuals to sponsor similar investigations that will solidly and directly benefit our community.

Leland Carina
Leatherpage.com