Hello and welcome to this click. Today, we are going to discuss the long saga of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft which remains grounded and under various clouds. One of the issues that have come up is an ex-employee of Boeing has taken what is called the fifth amendment in the United States, which means he will not submit documents or give testimony of a kind that can actually cause problems to him in terms of criminal prosecution. That means it seems to imply that there could be criminality in his past conduct. The second issue, the House Congress committee has asked for essentially access to Boeing employees of this issue on which Boeing has expressed disappointment that in spite of their cooperation, this kind of notices are being made public. So, it appears that the issue is things being made public rather than the content of it. The third issue and this is a much more serious concern for Boeing, the European Aviation Safety Agency seems to be arguing there is still very serious problems with the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft and they do not see it getting resolved without a thorough check by them. So, these are the clouds under which the Boeing is currently. To talk about this we have the Raghunandan who knows the aviation area has been an aeronautical engineer. If we look at all of this, first issue is the Boeing is not going to return to service very quickly. Boeing 737 MAX is not going to return to service very quickly. It looks as if the way things are going now and I am sure we will discuss this further. The problem is that other major aviation markets, particularly in Europe and China are unhappy with the role of the Federal Aviation Administration in the US. So, even when the FAA certifies the Boeing 737 MAX for having undertaken design modifications etc. and they deem it to be air worthy once more, other agencies are not prepared to take the FAA's word at face value and regulatory agencies in other major markets are saying we will do such assessment on our own and then we will clear the aircraft. Independent assessment. That is right. Which means then that even if the FAA clears the 737 MAX, it looks as if initially at least it will fly only in the United States and in a few other countries whom the US can arm twist into following its lead rather than taking independent action. Now you know this is of course something which could be obviated if FAA and EASA for instance had put a joint team to evaluate and examine the shall we say the revisions being made. But also looking at the EASA's PowerPoint presentation which seems to be out which was presented to the European Parliament, they have put out a number of technical question marks over the aircraft and a lot of them has already been discussed among us. We had also talked about how essentially the MCAS remaining a secret from the pilot was such a huge mistake because he didn't know what the hell was fighting him. The questions about computers, single sensor, computers overriding the pilot but more importantly the airframe itself the fact that you had this retrofitted large engines on an airframe which was not designed to take it and therefore the characteristic of the flight of the aircraft having changed. All of this are really some things which do not seem heading for easy resolution, absolutely not. And that is the reason why in the EASA presentation they have highlighted major technical flaws not only in the MCAS and its allied systems which resulted in the runaway stabilizer condition of the two accidents of the Lion Air from Indonesia and the Ethiopian airline. They have highlighted these issues specifically and said we would like to fully understand the causes of these two crashes and until these crashes are fully understood we would not feel comfortable in allowing the 737 MAX to take to the air again. Second to carry out the various design modifications precisely for the kinds of problems that you discussed which we have discussed many times on this program which are known problems the design problems which have been reiterated by the European agency and they have also said that apart from reviewing these we would also like to undertake a more general review of the design of the 737 MAX which would then bring in issues that you talked about with regard to the airframe the mounting of the engine the position of the engine all of that and so on. And once again I would like to reiterate that these problems which the European agency has highlighted are due to a great deal of discomfort in the fact that the Federal Aviation Administration in the US had not conducted these necessary investigations on its own but had delegated these powers back to the manufacturer to Boeing to satisfy which is to put it mildly extremely odd that the manufacturer would be asked to certify his own designs. Yeah this is basically the self-certification issue and that the FAA claims it did not do but in practice that's what they have done and that's clear from all the record now publicly available and if you ask me the issue that you highlighted in your introduction of the Boeing employee not wanting to release is probably linked with this this issue that what he said internally and what he said internally and what he said externally he may have indicated his awareness of this conflict and how he was trying to mask certain defects that he had come across etc. You know the YASA documents also indicate what are called significant technical issues we have discussed some of them already but the more important issue for me is that they do not seem something you can resolve in a month or two so assuming that takes another 68 months and assuming they can be overcome sometimes technological problems are of a nature that actually if you correct it one sense some other flaw creeps up and this could be in that range but if it doesn't then and the flaws are can be rectified it does appear it will take time because I don't see it being done very quickly and they still haven't started the examination of the resolution of the problems that's right in fact when FAA did certain examinations it threw up more problems so in fact new problems cropped up on the question of the load of the flight control computer overloading it and so on but leaving all of it that out what does it mean for the aviation market because this market really had two big players the Russians and the Chinese have yet to come into this market they have aircrafts which are on the shall we say on the anvil or ready to roll but they really are not challenges anymore so this those whole segment of shall we say the medium level jets the passenger jets which are taking a large part of the traffic today the only other players airbus and it doesn't seem they'll be able to cater to the total demand so this is how do you see the aircraft industry moving in on this and what's likely to happen there's two aspects to this one as you said is capacity in the headline industry and how the failure of the 737 max link with this there is certainly going to be a capacity problem the longer the max stay grounded the more problems it's going to create however there is a window of opportunity here for Pratt & Whitney Pratt & Whitney has got this engine but there are other engines which Pratt & Whitney has which it may go back to in doing this and there is the leap engine which is a collaboration between General Electric and Safran of France I think this opens up an opportunity for them more to replace the Pratt & Whitney series of engines in further designs of the 737 Neo range and the max range if that is done and these modifications at least on the airbus as well as on the 737s have not met the same kind of problems as the ones with the Pratt & Whitney engine so that's one possible solution on the horizon that's 12 months 18 months for this to happen that's right it doesn't solve the short-term problem that's right it doesn't solve the short-term problem at all and the second problem which is going to come is with these conflicts between FAA and the European aviation agencies and other agencies agencies these two in the main even the Indian agency for the battles yeah but the last time this happened the Indian agency DGCA was inclined to go along with the FAA on this and may not resist the FAA as much as the Chinese or the Europeans would the problem here is it's also going to affect the insurance companies the insurance companies are not going to be happy at all well more than insurance companies Raghu if other agencies do not certify the aircraft I do not see Americans happily getting into a 737 max either that's precisely my point people might vote with their feet that's right that's the other issue and the same with the insurance companies if the Europeans are not certifying it the Chinese are not certifying it the insurance companies also will put up their prices yeah let's assume the insurance companies are also arm twisted to certify but there's very little way of arm twisting the passengers you know and in fact as we know immediately this accident happened the the lot of the sites which deal with aircraft that's right air reservations they also started telling you what was the aircraft being used on that particular leg that's right so that was an indication that passengers could choose whether they considered safe so this is the other aspect of the capacity constraint one is the physical capacity constraint the other is resistance by various stakeholders various stakeholders the passengers the passengers especially in fact I've seen comments that you know I prefer to drive rather than fly in this aircraft sure so at the US a 12 hour drive will be preferable to booking your flight on an air a Boeing 737 max last question you know this is something if it for instance for 12 to 18 months boy this max 737 max doesn't return to the air do you think there's a real chance of Boeing tanking is it too big to fail yeah or is it too big to fly at the moment it is too big to fail firstly its talks will certainly go down badly but it will be kept afloat to some extent at least by the military side of the business even though there are some problems there although there are problems there also but that's one part that would keep it going for a while until they are able to override this at least in the US market if they're able to do sufficient arm twisting to be able to continue to fly in the US that would give them some push cushion to fall back on although it would affect them a lot because close to 50 percent or more of their market is from planes which are sold to outside the US and it also is an opportunity not only for a bus but also for the Chinese and the Russian aircrafts which are also trying to fill this gap now and which you are about to take off in the market they're supposed to be debuting in this period that's right so that's also the other opportunity unfortunately the Brazilians have taken themselves out because Embraer has been sold to essentially Bohic that's right that is the unfortunate part of all this in fact I was just going to say apart from the Chinese and the Russians Embraer was one whose models could have been stretched to meet the 737 MAX or NIO sizes but then that's gone up the spout yeah one of Bolsonaro effect in Brazil as right thank you for being with us and explaining the larger issues regarding Boeing 737 MAX and also the aircraft industry the aerospace industry today this is all the time we have a news click today do keep watching news click and do visit our website


What's good y'all it's your boy Ross back again with another video So we're gonna check out Brian Danielson versus Daniel Bryan interesting topic interesting video. I'm looking forward to it Basically Brian Danielson is holding it down in AEW and when he's in WWE he went by Daniel Bryan So we're gonna see what they're trying to come what he's trying to compare here who has a better run so far granted Brian Danielson is just starting up in AEW and You know Daniel Bryan had been in a WWE for quite some time. So I'm interested to see What comparisons where the people are saying do they prefer him in AEW or do they prefer him in WWE? This should be a good one appreciate all the love and support on this channel road to 70k man. Let's do this thing the best professional wrestlers of all time I firmly believe you can seriously make an argument of him being included in anyone's top 10 list of the best wrestlers of all time Obviously those lists are subjective But it wouldn't shock me if someone included him in theirs Started his career in 1999. He would wrestle under his legal name Brian Danielson He was a part of the indies for a decade competing at the highest level in many different promotions that consisted of the WWF new japan Oh, wow ring of honor I didn't know he was in uh, he even competed in WWF at one time. Didn't I know that that's awesome Austin quickly made a name for himself and vincekman brought him back to the WWE But this time around he made the decision to actually utilize him making him a premier star for his company I think it's clear that daner brine was never going to become a top draw in 2000 Like it just was never gonna happen. The WWF roster was way too stacked at the time It was probably a good thing that he did not stay either because brine really perfected his craft in the indies finding his identity And that's good sometimes it it works out sometimes You not getting to that spotlight that you wanted to at that particular time especially in wrestling And you go to the indie scenes You kind of build your craft build your name up and then be being able to come back at a later time It works And I don't think we were the guy the dang of brine We have now If he didn't you know if he was if he stayed in WWF At the time and that persona would become the american dragon brine was a total badass ready to kick the heads off of his opponents rather than focusing on the sports entertaining aspect He fell in love with a professional wrestling side of the business And that is why the american dragon was one of the best athletes in the squared circle And so when he returned dan and brine had a fast rise to the top It only took him a few years to feed john syna to win the w w championship in the main event of summer slam Of course that reign didn't last too long since it was never the long term plan for the wwe Which is why he lost the title to randy orton on the same night brine's popularity though Is skyrocketed the wwe universe wanted nothing more than to see dan and brine win the belt again And the fans actually forced wwe to give them what they wanted They hijacked the war rumble rejected batista and expressed their opinions all over social media The wwe listened to their audience and brine won the wwe championship again Of course with the help of seam punk actually leaving the company that kind of really set things up But ultimately This was one of the few times wwe actually listened to the fans and it actually paid off At wrestlemania 30 making batista tap out It was a beautiful sight to see in fact the storyline is still one of my favorites of all time Anyways, we know the rest of the story dan and brine got hurt He came back he got hurt again and eventually he retired for a couple of years That didn't stop him from chasing his dreams though brine fought for years to come back And he did make that huge return after being cleared by the wwe doctors He had an exceptional second run with the company even winning the wwe championship for the third time in his career Things did change in 2021 though dan and brine was not happy with wwe anymore He wasn't being treated badly or booked terribly the opposite actually brine made events at wrestlemania 37 Which is true and Fantastic main event enjoyed that main event. Definitely one of the best matches of 2021 Um, but yeah, man. He he was actually getting Booked pretty well. He was in the main event scene. So and he even Said that when he went to a w like he was actually, you know, he was okay with it He just decided to leave he wanted to go somewhere fresh She like he he wasn't tripping with how he was being booked at the time. So Instead though, he felt unfulfilled and that is the contributing factor that led him to join aw returning as brian danielson And so far he's had an incredible run with the young commission We are seeing a totally different version of brine that we were used to from the wwe And that's why I thought it would be an interesting idea to compare the two and see which one is better With that being said, let's jump right into the video. I feel like aw allows him to be more Like true to who he is the american dragon.   So I like this. They let him be more free, especially on the mic, especially in the ring The first thing that needs to be discussed is the difference of the wrestling between both versions of danielson In wwe danna brine was easily one of the best performers in the ring He was brine had many fantastic matches in his decade long career for the wwe The match against johnson that was mentioned earlier was as good as it gets It is actually one of johnson's best matches. Yes, it was gambrine also took triple h to the limit at wrestlemania That opening match between danielman and triple h fantastic fantastic way to open up wrestlemania Great match great match giving him one of the better matches that he ever had at the grandest pay-per-view of them all The rustle mania 35 match was excellent as well and made kofi kason a true star in the business And who could forget about my favorite match of all time brock lesnar versus and that wasn't good match too Even though daniel was a heel people were still wanting daniel brine to win the match And oh man, so good Imagine this originally this match was supposed to be set up for him After he won at wrestlemania 30 He was supposed to drop in the belt to brock lesnar that was where reports were saying is at summer slam and Just imagine the yes movement being at what it was not sure if it still would have been as hot But being at what it was and him going against brock lesnar Oh, man, it would have been beautiful would have been beautiful to see because people were still kind of hating Brock lesnar because you know saying he beat the streak or whatever So it would just would have been a beautiful sight to see but nevertheless the mess survivor series fantastic Is daniel brine i think that is the perfect wrestling match even before leaving wwe brine put on some bangers against roman reigns and j. Usso It is clear that he is one of the best to ever do it in a wwe ring What's more impressive is that his matches are even better in aew. It seems like wwe was slightly holding him back A little bit in his wrestling ability in that ring. I can't wait to see him versus uh Uh adam hangman page from i sign me up. I uh wish i could read i'll try to react to it Like do a live stream reaction if i can but Yo if i can't i'm just gonna watch the match and get my thoughts and opinions on it Oh Just fantastic can't wait to see them go at it ring and that is not the case in all elite wrestling He's been given the opportunity to give every single match his 100 effort and it is showing brine janesan's already put on tons of incredible matches He had that outstanding performance with kenny omega in new york They'll follow in week him and nick jackson had a wrestling clinic After that we saw the dream match between brine and sezuki. It was utter violence eddie kinson Miro bobby fish dustin roads and others have also come up and stepped up to the challenge And they had their best matches in their careers against daniel sin This is a really special run I really think that it would have been really nice to see him wrestle like this in wwe Rather than always being the underdog, but it is what it is There's also a lot of other matches in ring of honor where brine daniel sin put on classics before arriving to wwe That is worth checking out because of all of these reasons i'm gonna give daniel sin the win here making it one to zero All right Interesting the other most important. I didn't agree with him on that one to zero I it makes sense his wrestling is it's more free. He can just go out there and do what he has to do He doesn't come off as the underdog. He comes off as Yo, do not take him for granted. He will beat the crap out of you and I like that Component of professional wrestling is the character work This is definitely equally important and I would even say maybe slightly more essential at least to me I'm more of a promo guy who loves to see stories develop I've said that many times in the past daniel brine was a great character in the wwe However, I feel like he was kind of one dimensional the creative team usually had him portray the underdog In most storylines and while this worked countless times It was a little repetitive Dana brine proved that he could work better as a villain and he was tremendous during his team helno run And brine was on a totally different level when he was the planet champion The problem was that those heel runs did not last too long The wwe turned him baby face way too soon many times not allowing those characters to play outs Thankfully aw is giving him complete freedom and he turned heel actually a couple weeks ago And I know it's really early to tell but I am more excited to see this character and where it goes Compared to his baby face runs I like it like I was just saying him turning heel or some can say maybe tweener But he's more of a heel here him turning heel Works it just works because we were you're used to you know who daniel brine is you know in wwe You're used to the goody two shoes to underdog overcome all the odds Now he's the american dragon.   That's I like that I I enjoy his character in the w a little bit more because it just seems more It seems more free like I said his wrestling moves that seems more free His character seems more free to just Kind of you know do what he wants and I like that It doesn't doesn't give me the underdog vibe because he's not the underdog Danielson has been an absolute savage on the mic as the bad guy And he even celebrated a victory with a broken tooth of his opponents This man is about to have the best character run in the history of his career And I'm gonna give danielson the win again here because I feel like this is something totally fresh and unique It is now two to zero When booking a star in the wrestling promotion Presentation is very critical to the success of said wrestler Tony con has done a really good job at making brian danielson feel like a top draw His debut was well produced. He's also undefeated right now beating everyone in his path brian was also pushed to the aw world championship picture quickly because he knows he is a superstar Yeah, they pushed him to the title like relatively quick like he's going for the head title now and that's because It's state. It's brian danielson. It's his in reworks says it all So, uh, man, I'm interested to see where they take this from. I really am Even before his time in wwe brian danielson was a big name in the indies However, the wwe is going to get the victor here because brian managed to become a top guy in an ocean You see, I think aw is still extremely young and they are a pond right now compared to wwe's ocean I give what he's saying. I give what he's saying is like he became a top guy in a in a sea of actual Other potential top guys not to say that aw doesn't have it, but you know say they've had they You know, they're building up their talent to become those household names Dan brian became a household name with other household names there that they were trying to go with so I give what you say there It's not too difficult for someone like brian to come into aw and become a top star On the contrary, it is a very difficult task to become a wwe champion in wwe and remain on the top for many years Dan brian joined the biggest wrestling promotion in the world and made it to the top of the mountain He stayed on the top thanks to the presentation of his character and his in ring work dan brian wins his category making his one to two I Think history is significant It should be a category that we consider and if we do take this into account Then obviously dan and brian will win instead of brian danelson. There's just a lot more that he accomplished Well, I mean, uh, I wouldn't have probably put this category in the video because that's like a That's a a category that you know, you can't really compare obviously because He had a longer run in wwe. He just got an aw So I wouldn't have actually put this in the video my personal opinion, you know, I would have came up with another category because history People know who he is because of the yes movement because of granted, you know, you got roh and what he did in indies, but we're talking about a lot of people a lot of the the Casual fans they know who he is Because of the yes movement and there's nothing wrong with that that made him more of a household name During his time in the wwe As I said earlier, he battled against some of the greatest in the business like john sena rock lesnar triple h randy orton batista c.m. Punk aj styles roman reigns sept ron's and the list goes on and on He's also a decorated champion winning practically every title on ron smackdown He's had many moments that people will remember forever daner brian is a wwe legend Brian danelson has had some great matches in the 2000s But that's about it his run in aw is way too short to really determine anything too monumental That means that daner brian ties it at two The final verdict is that it is going to be a draw between daner brian and brian danelson because honestly both versions of him Are great. I can't choose one being better than the other I could have easily created another category to pick a winner But I couldn't think of anything because he's such a well balanced wrestler in any promotion Whether he's daner brian in wwe or brian danelson anywhere else. He's always one of the best in that ring I ain't gonna lie to you It kind of it's kind of a mute point because I thought you know He was gonna at least pick one over the other granted There's nothing wrong that he you know, he you he likes them Like the versions of brian danielson daniel brian wwe's version a wwe's version He likes them equally I just felt like that last category the history one I was just kind of a give me to tie it up when it's like you can't really You shouldn't compare history because you can't you know what I'm saying? So I don't know Me personally if we just take the history out of it I do like the new version well the version that you know Was around in rlh. I never really got to see but I'm starting to see that now brian danielson. I like His version. I like that version of him of the character. I do because it's him Not to say there's nothing wrong with daniel brian daniel brian What he did wwe fantastic Enjoyed it memorable definitely Future Hall of Famer of course But the same time his new character. It's fresh. It's something new And it's true to him. It's true to the guy himself. And I love it. I love it. I'm enjoying it He doesn't come off as the underdog.  Let me know How do you guys feel? Do you guys like brian danielson? Or do you guys like daniel brian the aw version of him or the wwe version of him Comment why or why not or if you like them equally The same let me know, but I appreciate all love support row 2 said okay, appreciate y'all kicking with me. See y'all next week. Peace


Okay everyone, thank you for coming back for part two of Inside Leather History of Fireside Chats. And again, I'm going to start right at the beginning with my next guest. Please, tell us a bit about your family and growing up because coincidentally, you live within just walking distance of where you were born. Yeah, I have the pleasure of being able to say that I was born on Church Street and Church in Wellesley being in Toronto, one of the sort of the center of traditional LGBT community here. So yes, I was born in 1959 in Grace Hospital and I moved around a lot growing up and settled back here in 1980 and I've lived here ever since. Where were some of the places that you lived growing up? Montreal and a town in Connecticut and Brussels in Belgium. And why were you moving around so much? My dad. He moved around a lot in terms of his work and we followed. Okay. Well, very early on in life, you mentioned that your parents had taught you an interesting approach. What was that? Well, I think that one of the things that I have learned to really appreciate, I think we all go through this process of attachment to parents and then we go through this period usually during our teenage years, sometimes it lasts longer where there's disharmony for lack of a better word and we're all trying to find ourselves. The thing that my parents taught me was that I was responsible for my own actions. So how that translated was that everything good that happened to you was because of something you did and everything bad that happened to you was because of something that you did. So that actually sounds like a disadvantage and it is because it really creates a sense of responsibility of course but also for things that we may not have any responsibility for but just life happens and bad things happen and it's not necessarily because of something we did. But one of my core strengths is positivity and optimism and maximizing whatever situation I'm in and so what I took from that was when I started to deal with being HIV positive, I got it in 1984 and it was indispensable to me in terms of taking responsibility for my own health at a time when it was just crazy. I mean nobody really knew what was going on and it was a lot of fear and I had AIDS by 1990 and I was told I had two years to live and the only thing that was offered to me was high dose AZT and a lot of my friends were dying from the AZT so I didn't get on that train. I decided not to but then I didn't know where to go or what to do or what the map was. I had to create it for myself and it was in the process of doing a lot of volunteer work in the community initially with AIDS community of Toronto where I had this opportunity to contribute to programming around health promotion and develop programming and one of the programs I developed was something called HIV AIDS a spiritual journey and there was a lot of opposition to that idea because it sounded like it was kind of like I don't know pouring paint over something that was traumatic for many people including me but what I found in that circle of those men were other men who had come to a place where they understood that they were living with this thing they couldn't change the fact what could that inform in their lives how could that be a teacher for them and I learned a tremendous amount from those circles and from those men and gradually over time I figured out I made my map and bit by bit I followed it and I stuck around I was able to live through, recover from the AIDS and stick around long enough after 19 years to go on antiretrovirals and the sort of fourth and fifth generation drugs which have been very successful for me But on a slightly lighter note when you were very young a blue beach ball factored into your fantasies would you please explain that? Yeah I know he liked this story I'm not sure exactly why Well this is a question that Douglas asked about what's your first kinky memory and I don't know for me it wasn't like getting tied up at a tree or tying someone up at a tree I just I don't know I love bondage and I love rubber I like the sense of being encased in second skin whether it's rubber or leather I like my leather type Anyway so for years I think who knows what dreams mean actually but I think that dreams that I have on a recurring basis are important somehow and this was a dream that I had intermittently over about three years I guess from sort of age five and the dream was that I was I was floating through I was like this child of the cosmos I was like floating through the galaxy and no particular gender actually I mean I was just this sort of I don't know because I had no any pubes I didn't have any hair I was just but I was I was lying I was lying and I was and I was floating and I was completely covered like as if I had been dipped in this blue plastic with glitter in it and that was a my favorite beach ball at the time was this blue ball with I think it was gold glitter in it so that's the story well how did you learn about the leather world please tell us about coming out into the leather community well this surprises me to this day but I actually found copies of drummer in a dirty section of a smoke shop on Princess Street in Kingston in the late 70s so I was at the time I was a university at Queens in Kingston and you know I was I was always on the lookout for the most extreme that I could find and I was amazed at this world the drummer was this world for me that I had no other knowledge of and and I had never I never seen before I know it was just and and I would get the there was like I think they had three or four copies over like three year period like I would go back and you never know if they would have one or not and and I was afraid to ask when they would be getting another one and so and you know so get in the brown paper bag and I couldn't wait to get home and of course there were the pictorials and there was the editorial but in those days it was the the classifieds were were were in the magazine you know they were on the phone they were phone lines we had phone lines and then we then we went to to online so these ads for me which didn't have pictures but the words and the and the feelings and the gear and I just I remember jerking off to them over and over and over again and that was my introduction into leather was drummer what sorts of ads were you reading I mean I can't even imagine what they must have been depicting to excite you so much well you know I wish I had actually I could have brought some I once did I once did this talk on on pig sex at a conference in Vancouver and what I did was a almost like a performance piece where I I read classifieds that I had selected and in a certain order but I guess we'll do that another time well no I don't I don't have them I mean I could make them up we could all make them up we could each do one we could go right um no I I think that I think that even then I was always drawn to the stuff that was the most extreme I mean it was the things that were the most intense the heaviest that that was what drew me so that's kind of where I started I started with that well yesterday we had a bit of an opportunity to walk around the neighborhood and you pointed out a number of places some that are still existing and some that aren't that were all part of the Toronto leather scene the leather community please tell us about the Toronto scene you knew when you came into it well I arrived here in 1980 I had visited a couple of times before but I'd arrived 1980 and at that time the the culture was different in the sense that there were no leather bars per se in the church Wellesley area there was a bar called 18 East that some of you will remember anybody yes okay good good good 18 East 18 Eastern Avenue and that was I I think by any stretch certainly by today's standards by any stretch was really you know a hardcore leather bar that was definitely leather bar but there wasn't anything in the church Wellesley area and I think the culture was different I think wherever wherever I would go on occasion there would be Leatherman and one of the places that I went to on occasion I think a total of three times it just it wasn't really a place that I was normally drawn to but there were so many places some of you remember that there were quite a few bars that that had the gay guys went to and and sometimes in leather and I went to the manatee does anybody know the manatee a few okay all right so so that's a that's a the typical example of Toronto where the facade is still there on St. Joseph's Street but the rest of it is a condo so the manatee so I went there once and then a few months past they went there a second time the second time I went there was really significant because I met this daddy and boy they were the only ones there and leather and I was scared I was I was intimidated but I really wanted to meet them so I did meet them and conveniently they lived across the street so not so what was significant was this is the first time that I that I he became a mentor the daddy became a mentor and it was the first time that I had developed any kind of relationship friendship outside of guys that I might hope to meet when I was cruising I didn't know anybody until I met them so he died several years later from AIDS but I'm you know we talk about the importance of mentoring and and just for me even knowing there was so much power and just knowing that there was this possibility of a loving relationship that was based in DS so I think that that helped chart a course for me and that I've I've always sought that in my relationships let's revisit mentoring a little bit more you've alluded to it but what does that mean what does that how does that benefit people in the community well it's I mean you guys all know it's it's it's fundamental I mean it is it's actually the essence I think of community because we all have we all have knowledge you know we all have we all have something to offer the next person and and that's that's how community builds that's how community grows that's how community and and we have to be the ones to reach out to the new ones we have to be the ones to reach out to somebody standing in the back right now who's doesn't feel like they're part of it and and that's the way that people are welcome and that's the way that people are brought in and and I grew up into leather and sort of I guess the tail end of what we call the old guard but there's been so many I've been part of so many conversations over the decades about old guard new guard I don't know which new guard we're at now but it's several several generations from the old old guard but I've always approached that whole new old guard new thing with you know what what made sense to me and not worried too much about where it came from but but that tradition is something that I'm just so passionate about because that's how I learned you know I mean having having someone like Guy Baldwin as a mentor is you know amazing yeah and and we're all that for somebody else and and I think that what I've tried to do with with my boys or or my current slave is is really the contract is part of the contract is okay I'm going to share everything that I know as much as I can with you but the deal is you have to pass it on and that's I'm very explicit about that up front because I think that there is nothing that can replace the nuances and the conversations and the personal connections that we establish with each other and it's not just about it's not just about access to good information we can we can access good information sometimes we have to search for a little bit online and you know we all know that not all the information online is good but we can get good information what we can't get is is the human connection is the heart connection is the soul connection that happens and that for me is really the basis of all of this a few minutes ago you brought up having lived with HIV for more than 30 years and that you had a unique approach to that tell us about the early days of HIV what did you choose to do about it when you were confronted with this well I think the most important thing that drove everything to follow was deciding that I wasn't gonna die from it and that sounds you know as I say here and I say that I mean that sounds kind of I don't know what arrogance sounds kind of presumptuous sounds kind of because I know people that did you know quote-unquote all the right things that I did and they died and I did it so but I just I just figured that if I was gonna if I'm if I'm around that means I'm supposed to continue to be a service so that part was easy to figure out but I think I think that it became this inward journey I think that I had to figure out you know who I am what do I want to be how do I want to live my life and the things that I learned along that journey were you know we're indispensable I mean I was I was I was trying everything and because it turns out that there are there are other ways of looking at health there's I relied a lot on traditional Chinese medicine I didn't go on pharmaceutical medication for 19 years and I recovered from AIDS so I was I was it was a very creative process but it was also part of the journey journey of mastery you know it was about it was about taking charge of my life and figuring out what did I need to do for me and in this case it meant firing the doctor that I had because he wasn't on board with this he was too afraid that if I didn't you know all he had was the 1200 milligrams of AZT and he had nothing else to offer me so if I wasn't taking that then then he was really scared for me and so anyway eventually I found I found practitioners and and assembled a team and you know so much privilege that we have in this country and in this city in terms of supports and and those other men that I was telling you about and women as well who had been living with it for a long time also and had had had figured out some things and we all kind of learn from each other you helped to resurrect the mr. leather Toronto contest please tell us how that happened well I was actually I was working on a book at the time with an indigenous woman we were traveling the province and we were talking to people I'm gonna switch and not talk about HIV anymore in a second but it's been kind of a big part of my life anyway so we were collecting stories and the stories that we were collecting of men and women living in Ontario living with HIV for a long time and again it's back to this idea that these were individuals who identified this experience for them had become a spiritual experience and fascinating people fascinating people so doing this project and gentlemen by the name of Jay Wagner had I don't know there was some there was some politics involved we were joking yesterday that there's no no politics in our community but but apparently apparently there was some politics I don't know what the politics were exactly but so less might know but so anyway somehow Jay had this this guy Jay Wagner had gotten rights to the mr. Leatherman Toronto title which was the original title and was was putting on a contest which was in the fall of 1995 for the 1996 title year and it was about getting the title back back happening in the community back back having a representative from the city at IML etc etc and I guess I don't know I mean it was really kind of like beating the bushes trying to get some things having changed trying to get guys to come forward and and and I think you had I think you had a couple of people at the point where he approached me and I said well you know I'm working on this book like I you know this is not a good time for me I mean maybe a year from now you know I don't know I haven't really given it a lot of thought but right now I need to focus on this book or it's it's not going to get done and because I knew that if I took it and I was going to compete I was going to try and compete to win and if I won then I was going to have to do a good job and so I figured it was going to take up a lot of time and it always takes up more time than we imagine it's going to take so anyway so I said no and he came back to me I guess this was like the week before and he said I really need you to run because I don't I don't know we don't have a great contest and so I said yes and then the rest is history tell us a bit about that history what what did you do with your title year can't just drop that bomb well so there was no infrastructure really the back back in the day so so I had a I had a leather bar vest and so back in the day you know he took your took my vest into Georgia at Northbound and any and you know he put some studs in the back of my vest and no no colors no patches I think fancy my best I didn't get a vest that was how that's his low budget no it was really low budget in those days so and they got the title wrong I should have bought my vest so the title actually says Mr. Toronto Leatherman so but we didn't change it so so I started off I was sponsored by the black eagle the black eagle was amazing to me they gave me all kinds of VIP privileges and one of the things that one of the things that I I'm proud of actually is in doing the fundraisers well we all have to do those fundraiser things I had a guest list and so this is back in 1996 so I had a guest list and what I started doing was inviting leather dykes that I knew and putting them on my guest list and this was at a time when women were not allowed in the black eagle so so that started something and it was a little radical at the time and there were a lot of leather guys that weren't very happy about it but you know it was it was something I could do so I was happy to do that and I worked really hard we that year there were monies raised for something called the triangle program which is a program for LGBT youth the school program here in Toronto and for the Canadian lesbian and gay archives well you've been involved in community development work for many many years please tell us about some of the new approaches new programs that you're spearheading well I had a very long history with the AIDS community of Toronto AIDS community of Toronto was the largest organization of its type in Canada and it's known for doing innovative work and groundbreaking work and that was a place for me that started back in the early 90s doing these workshops and creating new programming as a volunteer but when I was hired into doing frontline work and then later in management and then finally as a senior director I was able to initiate new programs and new resources and I think that's one of the things that comes from you know when you have a certain amount of power in any situation you can you can use it use it for good you can use it for not so good I tried to use it for good and one of the things that I'm most proud of is a program that that I brought to act last year 2014 and it was a trans man's group project and so this was a program for trans men who identified as gay and the program was facilitated by trans men and developed by trans men and what I did was bring it to the agency hire the people and and they ran with it so they developed a curriculum they ran a successful program as a pilot and it's the first time it had been done this program and done anywhere in the world so so that lives on and and there's a step by step process with these things because then then there's no more money but you use those results to as a leverage to get to get more funding it's always a it's always a game of chasing funding for programming in community as we know so that's one thing I coordinated a production of a new web resource it's called shared health exchange and it's a it's a program about women and HIV or web resource about women and HIV and and it's won a couple of awards so I'm really proud of that and of course familiar to some of you would be the BDSM safer kinky sex resource which is a national resource that is developed here in Toronto and has a long history in terms of it started off as a little little eight and a half by eleven folded piece of paper and now it's a small booklet and it is the most sets of resource that I coordinate and edit and it is the most requested resource of all of the publications that act so it's a yeah it's really been awesome and and and with our national partner it's distributed nationally and and and it's so cool when I used to see the order forms they come in you know so certain number from you know 210 from Alberta and you know 140 from Saskatchewan and just right across the country and I've lost track now whether this is the eighth edition well anyway there's a new edition coming out in 2015 fantastic but if funding and logistics were not an issue if they were unlimited to you what would you like to accomplish with your programs well you know programs are again I just I just I'm in a position now where I can I can make things happen the programs are really driven by community you know so with the example of the transmins group the Ace Community was approached by that community to run this program so the programs really come from community and I think that the bottom line really would be if there were if there were more resources to be able to help people in more ways there's a lot of gaps in in in health care particularly around mental health and it's not it's not about not having the research it's it's about not having the resources and not dedicating the resources so I think that there's always an element of advocacy in the work that I do and the whole point of that is to try and meet people's needs better what's the biggest misconception about you I was talking to Dennis about a couple of your questions I you know I don't know I don't know what the misconceptions are if there are any so I have no idea how to answer that okay I don't know we can take I'll fill comments I don't know but I have no idea what they are what do you think was your greatest accomplishment as a title holder well I think definitely you know it was a transition year obviously and I think I'm I think I'm proudest of getting you know getting the title back back sort of on the map and and it continued for many years thereafter and I think it was really just about getting the title back and the visibility and and I've always been I've always been wrapped up in a phrase I've always been committed and involved in education work so I think that I think that I was able to help draw some more attention to some of that work as well but it really was about getting the title back up and running and if you could go back in time into your leather journey somewhere is there anything you would like you wish you could change or do better I think I think everything no and yes it's a short answer I think everything you know we we're always trying to do our best and I think that everything it's always easy in hindsight to look back and say well you know if I knew what I knew now I would you know I think that I think that I would not have been as intimidated I think I would not have been as shy I think I would not have held back I think I would not have doubted who I am and what I have to offer as much I think I would have all those times where I I hesitated you know where I had a chance to meet somebody and I just held back and I didn't you know I think that's I think that's what I would change if you know but confidence comes with age and experience and wisdom and so but yeah just to be more of of who I am fantastic and I thank you for a fantastic interview