 Hi, welcome to the All Things LGBTQ Interview Show where we interview LGBTQ guests who are making important contributions to our communities. All Things LGBTQ is taped at Orca Media in Montpelier, Vermont, which we recognize as being unceded Indigenous land. Thanks for joining us and enjoy the show. A year ago, a new community center opened in Barrie, Rainbow Bridge, and the intention was to create safe space in Barrie for various groups to meet with a specific outreach to the LGBTQ plus community. Rainbow Bridge has seen some recent changes, so we thought it might be time to invite the current executive director to talk to us about Rainbow Bridge and what are the programs and services they're offering and the vision for the year ahead. So help me welcome for a first time Sean Trader. Welcome. Hi. Thank you, Keith. So why don't we start with a little bit about you? How did you happen to be in Vermont in Barrie and what brought you to Rainbow Bridge? All right. Yeah, so thank you for having me. My name is Sean Trader. I am the new executive director at the Rainbow Bridge Community Center. I'm an out and proud non-binary trans woman, and I use she, her, and they pronouns. And so let's see. I've been in Vermont for about a decade now. I'm kind of a Florida person originally. I moved around a little bit, but I'm from Clearwater St. Pete area in Florida. And how I got here to put it short is we sold all our belongings, bought a camper, and traveled along the Appalachian Mountains living in state parks until we found a place that we thought was beautiful enough to convince us to stop moving. And that was right here in beautiful Vermont, and I'm so happy to be here. I was going to say, you went as far as you could on the Appalachian Trail until you ran out of gas, and that was Vermont. Yeah. Yes, there was some of that too. Let's be real here. Yeah, the money doesn't last forever when you're traveling like that. So why Barrie? So I lived for a little bit in Colchester. I lived for five years in Waterbury. And it was about that time that I was looking to buy my first home. And Barrie was affordable and seemed like a nice area. So we did that. And we settled on the house the day that the lockdown hit March 25th, three years ago. So it was a weird time to come into the city. You know, it was like no man's land. Nobody was out. And I felt like I didn't really get to know anybody for the first year or two of the pandemic. And then when things started opening up and moving again during that time period, I had come out as trans. And I just wanted to get involved in my community and find something to do and give back. So I pretty much found the closest LGBTQ nonprofit that I could and walked in and said, I want to volunteer to help out with your next event. And that led to me being a point person for our first event in the fall. And here we are, the rest is history, as they say. OK, so stepping into the role of executive director, that's quite the transition from volunteering to help organize an event to taking over the organization itself. So what are the programs that were already in place when you stepped into your current position that you're looking at continuum? Yeah, approaching this role in the way that I did is kind of in line with my style. I'd like to know the I like to know the first step. I want to know what my people are going through. When I'm involved in an organization, it matters to me what the frontline workers are dealing with and handling just as much as the C suite executives, because I know that it's in those frontline people that the the brand is really made in the interactions and the purpose is really made manifest. And so starting as a volunteer and kind of moving into this role was important to me to approach it like that because there has been a learning curve. My background is health care. I've worked in health care for 20 years. I was an LNA for the most part, and I've worked in every department in the hospital and spent about seven or eight years of orthopedics at UVM in South Burlington. And it was there that I decided to go back to school for health care administration for my graduate degree. And those skills have kind of had some play with how to run an organization as a lot about that. I thought I might be the CEO of a hospital, but I am happy to be the CEO of this place here. The need is great, as we know, from looking around the country and in our community. And there hasn't been anything more fulfilling in my life than doing this work right now, so I'm super proud of it. I could say to answer your question, there was the beginnings of a trans group here. There was the beginnings of an adult LGBTQ group here. My fantastic Stephanie Otten is also on my board. She's fantastic. And she started the team tween group here. She has an outchild and wanted to create a resource where she couldn't find any. So those were kind of the gist of the groups. And I'm really happy to say that because of a big uptick in volunteer engagement, we have been able to diversify our programming extensively. So now, in addition to the team tween group, we have a team group. The trans non-binary group has expanded. We had 19 people at our last meeting, which if you live in central Vermont and you're thinking, there's no trans people here, think again, we are there. We are here. We also, in order to reach out to the people not in the LGBTQ community, we have a friends and family support group. So this is kind of like an allyship 101 group. This is for friends and family of LGBTQ folks, people struggling with questions that they have, someone they know, maybe they're LGBTQ. We had a lot of outreach from parents saying, help, I have a trans child and I don't know what to do. So if you fall into that category, the friends and family group is what you're looking for. And if you want to be a strong ally in general, that's the group you want to come to because we've got representatives such as myself and others who either are parents of LGBTQ kids or they are in some position that makes them able to speak on that topic. So I really suggest that one. Super happy to say our newest group is probably the veterans group. So Paul came in here. He's a volunteer. He's fantastic. He's a veteran and he wants to make sure that the LGBTQ veterans have a voice in this area. And of course, we support him 100 percent. And so we have that group as well. And the last group that we have is the sex positive group. So we have like a body positivity and a sex positivity group that's also started by another member of our board, Heather. So we just have such fantastic crew and volunteers that have stepped up. And my role as Ed has basically been to tell people. The Rainbow Bridge Community Center will be what we make it. If you don't see a group or a program that fits you, come and talk to us because we want to make a space and a time for it. And you will have the full support of the board and other volunteers to help get it off the ground and make sure you're happy and comfortable and supported and we want to make that happen. So it seems like a lot. And let me give you the list so you can share it with your viewers. But we even more. Well, I was going to say I had noticed on both your website and your Facebook page, there is an event listing where I can go could go in and look at a calendar for the entire month, see what groups were being offered on which days and, you know, some information about OK, what is the focus, etc. I noticed that there were like some game nights. And if you were also still doing the were open, we have no specific group or purpose is just we're open for you to come in and just sort of hang out and have casual social time. Is that something that still is happening at Rainbow Bridge? Yeah, so maybe let's back up and talk about the mission of the Rainbow Bridge Community Center is to uplift the LGBTQ plus community. And we do that through a number of ways. We have direct action where we're helping LGBTQ people. And then we have indirect action like how we're helping family and friends of LGBTQ folks, I would say that most of our groups, all of the things we just discussed are really our peer support groups. Those are for LGBTQ folks, of course, with the exception of the friends and family group. And then our social nights, in addition to the groups, we have the socials and those are a little more open. So we have like a queer game night. We have an RPG night, a writer's club and a knitting club. All these things are fun and a great place just to meet people and socialize. And the there this is an LGBTQ plus drop in center. So we are open seven days a week. You can come into the space if you haven't seen it, I suggest you stop by. It is basically a big, comfy, gay living room that you can hang out in and do whatever you don't want as so long as you're respecting the rules. The use the rules of use here, which are to remain respectful, obviously, and commit to, you know, living the values of the center, which again, are to uplift humanity in general and power people and power personal liberation and ensure that the future is filled with LGBTQ joy, I would say that is the vision of the center. We want to make sure that the future for queer people is bright, open, happy, free and powerful. So that's what we're shooting here for. So if you agree with those things, I welcome you to come down to the center and see what we've got going on. OK, you said seven days a week, what hours? So Monday through Fridays, 11 to five. Saturday is 12 to six and Sunday is nine to 12 noon. So and then in addition to all of that, most of the groups and most of the social clubs that we just referenced are happening after hours. So in addition to our normal hours, you will often find people here after hours participating in a group or a club. Now, initially. You had lots of space on your walls. So an invitation went out to local artists that they could come and display their works at Rainbow Bridge. Is that something you're still offering? So if if I have a new collection of photography that I want to put up for people to to look at and maybe give some feedback on is that the option it is? And I would just add to that that we're explicitly we want the space to be filled with LGBTQ plus artists work, you know. And so the promotion and the sale of the work, whatever you have, whether it's a painting on the wall, a sculpture, whatever. If you're an LGBTQ plus artist, we invite you to come down here and use the space because we want to share it with the community. Now, that was a very active events calendar that you just shared. Are there some specific things that you're looking at spending some time to develop during the next year? And are there specific opportunities for volunteers or are there specific functions for which you would like to invite people to come volunteer? Yes, absolutely. First, we do love having the center open seven days a week. I do like to have a team of two people here at all times, just so there's this backup and support. And we do, for the most part, we have that, but there are still some gaps in the schedule where we don't have the full team that we want. So if you're if you have even a half a day to volunteer to come down and operate the center, we would love to have you here. And I would say just email me at info at rainbowbridgevt.org for that. And we'll follow up on that for sure. And then in addition to the everyday operations of the space, we always have more ideas coming for groups. And I'll list a few if you don't mind. Oh, absolutely. Because we are either looking for a facilitator or another facilitator or people that are interested in participating in the group. So our coming soon groups include an asexual, a romantic group, a survivors of sexual harm group, which we do have a licensed therapist offering to facilitate for us. So we're looking for another co facilitator and people that are interested in that. We have an LGBTQ plus adults group. We have an LGBTQ plus seniors group for which we do have one facilitator. But again, we're looking for more support. We have a survivors of self harm group and a polyamorous peer support group. And then on the social side of things, we have a young volunteer here with a drama background that really wants to get a queer theater club started. So we are very excited about that. We do have one facilitator and a local drama teacher that's willing to help it with some time. But if you're interested in doing theater, we want you. And to give you an idea of how we're planning on using that at our events, at our functions, we would love to do like a queer improv comedy sketch. So if you're interested in queer theater, that's the kind of things that we're thinking about doing, basically incorporating your work into our show so you can showcase what you're doing. So this all sounds absolutely amazing. So which leads me to you must be engaging in some degree of fundraising. And I think there was an event that just happened, but there's another one occurring at the end of May for which Rainbow Bridge will be the beneficiary. People can go and watch and be supportive. But basically, how can we, as the central from on LGBTQ plus communities, support you? Yes, before we move on to that, one, there's more. Oh, go. If I could, because we also have committees at the Rainbow Bridge Community Center. So if you are interested in the governance and the mission of the center and how it's run and what we're hoping to do here, we have a space for you too. So let me just quickly say we have an advocacy and outreach committee, which has a political action subcommittee. So we are interested in getting involved politically, locally. We know what's happening out there. And if our voices aren't heard, we will be silenced. So please come and join us. Let's get active, organized and mobilized because our presence is necessary. And then in addition to that, we have a mission and governance committee, which also has an idea subcommittee and that stands for inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility. So if any of those subjects are a concern for you or if you think the Rainbow Bridge could do a better job at any of those things, we invite you to come to our committees because that's the space where your voices can be heard. So for fundraising, yes, the event you're referenced is May 20th. That's at the rehab gym in Barry. And I'm so thrilled to be partners with them. They are absolutely big supporters of the LGBTQ plus community. This is an invitational weightlifting competition and block party. So now we're going to be having fun, of course, first of all, and we're also going to be lifting up our community. So plan on that happening May 20th. Of course, we need volunteers too. And I'll be emceeing along with my good friend, Lucifer Matrix. She'll be DJing and it's going to be a good time. So that's our next events. In addition to that, looking further down the calendar, we have June 10th, which is very pride. So this is not a benefit for our organization, but we are a part of the organizing effort. That is to benefit Camp Outright of outright Vermont. And we're super excited to be joining all the other local LGBTQ organizers that are involved in that to be doing our part and making sure that it's a successful event. And if I could say, because I'm super excited about it on that day, June 10th, there will be a drag story hour happening right here at the Rainbow Bridge Community Center as a part of the festivities for Barry Pride. So we are stoked for that. I hope to make that a regular occurrence in Barry. And I would say to everyone and not just adults and also people not in the community and maybe even the haters. I would say if you haven't been to a drag story hour, you are missing out. Please come and enjoy it. It is about being uplifted and knowing that you are special and powerful and magical and beautiful. And that's kind of what drag is about in general. But when you go to a show like that to an event like that, you are going to feel better than when you walked in. So I would encourage all adults and everyone, of course, to come and enjoy it. It's going to be a good time. So with that, I need to say thank you for spending this time with us. I look forward to being able to report the next activity on our events portion of the All Things News. And coming back in the year and saying, OK, Sean. What have we done? I think we'll have done a lot. We've done a lot in a few months and we're definitely going to do a lot in 12 months. Thank you. And Brain Bar Bridge is lucky to have. Thank you. And can I just say if you're out there in the community, you know, we're open seven days a week. I'm here Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I would just encourage you to come down and chat with me if you have any questions. And if you're particularly interested in talking to a non-binary trans person who is not judgmental and not quick to anger, I am happy to answer your questions in a friendly, inviting atmosphere. So please just come down. I know you're out there and I know you need the support. So that's what we're here for. So come and see me. I'll make sure we have all of the contact information. Hi, everybody. I'd like to introduce Eika Thakston to our show and welcome Eika. How are you today? I'm doing well. Eika is a poet and works at Momentum at Price Center of Vermont. So let's talk first about like, are you from Vermont originally? So I'm originally from Southern California. That was where I was born and raised until I was about 28 years old. And that's when I moved here to Vermont with my family. So your whole family moved here? Well, not my whole family. So it was me and my partner at the time and our two kids. Uh-huh. Yeah. Her family moved up here originally because her her dad took a retirement job for Green Mountain Coffee Roasters. He was actually president of research and development. And yeah, and they were kind of like, we're moving to Vermont. We don't want to go alone. Do you want to come with us? And I was looking for a nicer place to raise the kids. So of course I was like, yeah, let's go. But then I was like, wait a minute. It's cold. No, not that. I didn't even know where Vermont was. Really? Because this is the early 2000s. Vermont's not even on the map yet. And I know, especially if you're in California. Oh, yeah. And Californians, we think the whole world revolves around us. So we're just like, yeah, let's say you ended up here. Yeah, so. And you work for the price that you're and your coordinator of Momentum, correct? Yes, I'm the Momentum coordinator. And I'm also one of the coordinators for Glow, too. OK, so you want to tell us a little bit about that before we we'll do the, you know, like what do you do work and then we'll get into the creative stuff of your poetry. So so what do you do there? So with the Momentum program, I work with the 55 and up community where I basically provide, you know, resources and events, you know, for for that age group. I love the work that I do. And, you know, I'm always open to any suggestions and things like that. I think what I'm going to be doing here soon is collaborating with AARP and having them come and join us for some of our socials like our coffee and conversations, you know, to help answer questions or have a better understanding of what AARP does and things like that. I also love working with the Senior Center down there in Montpelier. Yes, we had that awesome drag bingo. I can't wait to do that again. Yeah, that was amazing. And. And I know you have like coffee all coffee hours for Momentum, right? All over the state, right? At least this area, right? I mean, yeah, you're involved in. I've been doing Washington County and Shetton and County as of right now. Yeah, and I always enjoy going to those when they're in the area here in Montpelier. So when did you start there doing this? I've been with the Pride Center for a year now. OK. And. And you said you did something else with Pride, which was besides Momentum. Yeah, I just recently joined the GLO program, which is the women aligned program. And what what does that do? So that one's all ages. And same thing. It's I believe they're part of health and wellness. So we provide information and resources for women's health and women aligned health. Things like breast cancer screenings, cancer screenings, things like that. And then also the social aspect of it, too. So. Let's see, I think the 24th. We're having a movie night at Essex Cinemas, and we're going to be showing. But I'm a cheerleader. So if you know anyone that wants to have a fun, free movie night, that's going to be happening. It'll be at like six o'clock. Uh huh. OK, I love that movie theater up there. I think it's really nice. Yeah, I actually work there, too. In my early 20s, I worked at a concession stand. I mean, is it a concession like at the movie theaters? Yeah, it's just like this. Yeah, the concessions. Yeah, it was kind of fun. Because I got to see free movies, which was, you know, the role. Oh, yeah, absolutely. I do a little bit more than that there. I do a lot there. But yeah, I still have free movies, so. Absolutely, that's big plus. So writing in addition to all your hard work at the price center, you're a poet. I am. When did you start writing? So I apparently fell in love with poetry from when I was a tiny little baby. My dad would read, you know, like Dr. Seuss and like things like that to me. And I would repeat the entire thing right back to him. He thought I was a genius because he thought I could read when in actuality, I was just memorizing everything. But ever since I could pick up a pen and write, I have been writing poetry. You know, I I went through high school. I I forgot what they called it back then. I know it's like honors and AP and stuff like that now. But it was the highest you can go through as far as like writing and literature and English. And then I went on to college and part of my degree is in English and writing. So but the whole poetry thing. Yeah, I had one class in high school where the teacher was like, your grade isn't this great, but I know you write poetry. If you can get me 20 poems in. I'll get 20. I think it was like 24, like in a month. And I was like, that's it. And I got it in along with my assignments, got an A plus in that class. 20. Holy cow. That seems like a lot to me. So at a really early age, you started and then when did you start thinking about like publications and were you sending your work out all along through college and beyond? So because I was a young mom, a lot of it stayed on the back burner, never stopped writing, though. I've never saw I always journal. I have about seven books I'm writing. One of them is a book series, fiction, sci-fi, fantasy type thing. But I'm always writing and always writing poetry. It wasn't until lockdown where I was kind of like, you know, I'm sitting on like, I think at that point it was like 250 poems. So I thought, you know what, I have time. I can edit them myself and I'm going to go in and give self publishing a try just for fun, get my feet wet to see how it goes. And so I published my, you know, my it's actually like my second book of poetry. But this one was my pride and joy and my baby. And I made quite a few sales with it, so I was very proud of myself. Yeah. And, you know, I just I I don't do well on the marketing end of it. So if you're amazing at marketing and you can like build a online presence, self publishing will work great for you. For me, I'm not the greatest at marketing. So I was just kind of, you know, just posting on Facebook or my personal Instagram or I have a blog, I posted it there. So, you know, I made quite a few sales, nothing to make me rich. But it was fun. And my my book's been sent all around the world, too, which is really cool. Self publishing, you know, you have to do a lot of self motion. I find that hard. It is hard. Well, we have to like talk yourself up and, you know, all that stuff. It's really, I find it to be hard. And so, but you found that a rewarding experience. Would you recommend that people try it, at least for their first book or? If you have experience editing, it's so there's a lot of software out there that is that is user friendly. I want to say the hardest aspect of it is the editing part. And I don't have a whole lot of patience. So, you know, you you have your first draft and then you have to go through and edit and then you have like the the draft sent to you. And then you're you're looking through it and you're just like, oh, I don't like these margins. I don't like this. You know, you find one wrong letter and then you have to go back, you know, redo everything. So it is it's a process. It's not something you can jump in and do quickly at all. It takes a few months, if not longer, depending on like your experience. And the only thing that saved me is the fact that I've been writing so long and I read a lot and, you know, I went to school for English. So I have some of that. But yeah, I mean, you could always hire an editor too. But the self publishing, it's not an easy thing to do. And especially for someone like me, I'm very particular about the way I want the formatting to look, I want I like to have a very clean, simple look to my writing and very minimalist. So yeah, it all depends on the person, really. And like how much time you can put into it, too. And that's just like hybrid and where they have an editor there. Or well, I don't know. I haven't I haven't done that yet. But yeah, there's a lot of different avenues. I jumped in headfirst. And I was like, I'm going to do this. Start to finish. And you know what? It was locked down. I had nothing else to do. So and it still took me about a month. And that was without any work. Oh, yeah, well, that sounds great. And do you read around at all? You read around town or have you had readings in the area? And I'm pretty shy. So I haven't I haven't done any readings. I really need to get out there and do it. It's a good way to sell your books, too. You know, I think. Yeah. So well, maybe you'll get involved in the one here. And I'll tell you, we'll see how that goes and see what your time schedule is. And I'll be fun. So would you like would you mind reading a poem or two for our audience? And and and you said they could you could buy the book on you could buy your poetry on Amazon. It is on Amazon. Also, if anyone has Instagram, I'm on Instagram also and you could just direct message me. OK. And we could do it that way, too. And your book is titled Moonlit Tea. Yes, Moonlit Tea. A lot of times when I'm writing, it's, you know, at night and at night, I drink a lot of tea like chamomile tea. And so I was like, oh, that's what a lot of these written. So this one, this particular poem that I wrote, my my dog passed away who I had for a very long time and she was there for me, you know, with my kids and going through college, my divorce, so very attached to her. To this day, I still can't own another dog and it's been going on five years since she's passed. And she's just such a special creature to me. And so a lot of these poems are about her and my healing process. OK, going through it. So. OK, let me see if I can get through this. I might write you some pretty words when all the feelings are gone. I might paint you a pretty picture when everything feels wrong. I might give you a peaceful gaze while listening to a site to a sad song. I might smile through all the pain because the pain never lasts too long. It's the moments where I feel crazy that that never seemed to go away. I have to keep myself moving in order for normalcy to stay. The business and noise of others is what helps keep the sane this way. So I wish that the quiet of your arms could chase the demons all away. Thank you. That was lovely. And what was your dog's name? Her name was Petunia. Let me see. Would you like to read another verse? Yeah, here's another one that you can definitely tell us about her. There's pieces of you sprinkled everywhere. The little love notes to remind me that you were once here. It brings me great sadness, but also great joy, a girl's best friend. Thank you. So I think we'll leave the audience on that note. Thank you so much for coming in and we'll talk to you soon. Thank you. Bye. Thank you for joining us. And until next time, remember, resist.