Polywood 2021 - Online Edition!

Polywood is once again offering a week of talks in lieu of our camping event. You can find the full descriptions of this year's offerings below.  You can purchase tickets for each talk individually or buy a bundle for all 5 talks at a discounted price. Any ticket purchase also grants you access to our Virtual Social to be held on July 11th.  Please note that tickets are per person and not per device.

All talks will take place between 7pm and 8:30 pm Eastern Time.

Some talks may have a maximum number of participants. If a talk is sold out and you were not able to purchase a ticket, please email us at polywood.camping@gmail.com so that we can determine the feasibility of adding another session. 

Polywood values community and the sharing of ideas and information and we do not want financial hardship to be a barrier for anyone hoping to attend our events. Polywood has limited scholarship funds available. Email us at polywood.camping@gmail.com for more information.

We will greatly miss our seeing you this summer and hope to see you all in person next year.

Until then, love well, live well, and be safe.

Talks:

Sun. Jul 11 - Polywood Social- Hosted by Ellen, Psykhe, and Lukayo

A Polywood tradition in a new format! Join us via Zoom to chat and catch up with the Polywood community and meet attendees past and present.  You will automatically receive the Zoom meeting info once you have completed purchase of any other Polywood 2021 ticket.

Sun. July 12 - Relationship Escalator - Hosted by Psykhe and Stephen

“Is this relationship going anywhere?” If you’ve heard this cliché (or perhaps thought or said it yourself): welcome to the relationship escalator. This workshop will cover what the Relationship Escalator is and how it can affect poly relationships.

Tues. Jul 13 - Safer Sex Conversations – Hosted by Ellen and Ian

This workshop will cover the why's, when's and how's of having a safer sex conversation, including both the physical and emotional aspects. By the end of the workshop, participants will have a practical understanding of how to have a safer sex conversation that is informative, responsible, fun, and possibly even hot! No late entry. Individual devices required.

Tues. July 14 - Relationship Anarchy Hosted by SparklePony

Relationships, whether they are with family, friends, coworkers, partners or our own self, and whether they are romantic, sexual or platonic, are an important crucible in which we discover and shape our identities and a crucial part of a life well-lived and worth living. Because relationships are so important, we have created and maintain a variety of formal and informal systems, rules and guidelines for how to be in relationship with one another. While some rules are helpful (e.g. don’t lie, cheat or steal), others can seem more arbitrary, and may lead to more confusion, hurt and missed opportunities than they aim to prevent. Relationship Anarchy (RA) aims to do away with the various rulebooks and our mental models for relationships and instead focusing on small set of clear core values that can help enhance any relationship. In this facilitated discussion, we will explore RA's core concepts, share ideas, experiences, and tools to help strengthen our relationships.

Thurs. July 15 - Metamour Relationships – Hosted by Psykhe and Stephen

Just as each of your relationships are unique, so are your relationships with your partners’ other partners, often called metamours. It can be important to consider how to navigate the potentially complex web of relationships with your metamours. How can you accommodate everyone’s needs, wants and expectations? Join us for a talk about how metamour relationships can develop and function and handy tips on evading troublesome roadblocks. We will cover methods of conflict resolution, baggage awareness, dealing with jealousy, tolerance vs acceptance, and more.

Fri. July 16 - Microaggresion in Polyamory – Hosted by Ellen

Are you dealing with the slow wearing down of not being recognized by society? Do people refer to your partner as “your friend”? Small things can have a big impact. A micro-aggression occurs when actions or language, possibly even well-meaning, contain an implicit, indirect, subtle, or unintentional discrimination. In this workshop we will look at micro-aggressions affecting polyamory; how certain terms and behaviours have biases in them; how they can come from within polyamorous relationships (e.g. couple privilege) and from without (e.g. "wow you must be tired from all the sex!"). The focus will be on recognizing a micro-aggression, healthy ways to respond, and how to own if you were the one that spoke it.

Host Information:

Ellen and Ian are life partners, who are passionate about creating community through their involvement in numerous organizations to promote education, awareness and understanding. Whether it’s leading a lunchtime running group, trail building mountain bike paths, or opening their home for poly-positive events, they create a fun and safe space for everyone. They lead a monthly discussion groupcalled “Open by Design” for people who are in polyamorous relationships, or who wish to explore ethical non-monogamy.

Lukayo Estrella is an artist, educator, and healer from the Bikol diaspora who currently resides in Gichissippi/Odaawaa/Ottawa, on the unceded and unsurrendered territories of the Omàmiwininiwak (Algonquin-Anishinaabeg peoples), as well as the Anishinabewaki, Haudenosaunee, and Wyandot. They have over 7 years experience in the field of social work and have been practicing consensual non-monogamy since they were 16 years old. Check out www.Lukayo.com for more information.

Psykhe is a thoughtful, engaging polyamorous gal who marshals her degree in Cognitive Science, keen logic, practised empathy, & years of experience with poly's ups, downs, & in-betweens to act as a poly ambassador.

SparklePony aka Mathieu, an avid life adventurer, is a curious, insightful, passionate, and empathetic person. By day, he channels his energy and creativity towards helping Canadians to live healthier, smoke-free lives. He is currently enrolled in a leadership and facilitation program which he hopes to leverage to bring more empathy, compassion and understanding to our hurting, fractured world. Mathieu enjoys an eclectic set of hobbies and passions including meditation, sports and physical fitness and singing loudly while playing the guitar.

Stephen wields his many years experience navigating various types of complex poly relationships for the powers of good. Mostly. He is passionate, empathic, more than meets the eye, & disturbingly knowledgeable about CBRNE warfare. He is an avid photographer, likes bad puns, good beer, & rocks a kilt