My pin vest

This is my pin vest.   It marks my personal history within the Leather community and also some times prior.  I put this vest together this past summer.

The oldest pin is the Ours Montréal pin which I picked up around 1997.  The newest pin is the Spearhead friendship pin.

The large patch represents my Associate Membership with the Rochester Rams.

The Mama’s pin was pinned on me by Mama during Mr. Leatherman Toronto 2009.  I was greatly humbled – and funny given we were trying to arrange a pinning for my then Master (now my Sir) into Mama’s family in recognition of all of His years of service in promoting HIV/AIDS awareness, safe sex practices, fundraising, volunteer work and His involvement in the greater Leather Community in Northern Ontario.  I am very proud of this pin on a number of levels.

There are three family pins on my vest – Master’s which is the Maple Leaf which had a mosquito trap attached to it;  The Leather Vajra Family pin next to Master Chuck’s and the black and blue pin represents a link to a Master in Dallas to whom I have much respect, and I believe he was the first person I was loaned out to for the weekend.

The South Carolina state flag adorns my Leather vest.  This pin represents hard work and personal growth.  In my professional career I have spent a significant amount of time in South Carolina.  When I switched from being a software developer to working in Professional Services, my first project was in South Carolina and I grew by leaps and bounds during that time period.  It’s also part of my first year as a Leatherboy.  It was a tough time period in my life. I survived it and it made me stronger.

The rest of the pins represent events, club relationships, bars and cities that have contributed to shaping me as I am.

I spent a lot of time at The Barracks.  Those who would have gone may have remembered a pin vest that was framed in the lobby.  I don’t know who it belonged to but it always inspired me.  I always wanted to put my pins on a vest – and now I have my own canvas to display my history.

Congratulations to my friend FL_AlphaGeek on FetLife, a man I have known for 21 years, on receiving his first leather vest tonight – his first canvas for his own history.