Posts tagged Bethra Szumski

Point 82: The President’s Corner: Bethrah Szumski

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By Jef Saunders, APP President

This issue of The Point is focused on Women in the Piercing Industry. There are countless women who have  inspired  me and  who I could thank for my own personal voyage. That said, I’d like to put the spotlight on someone who I couldn’t imagine the Association of Professional Piercers without: Bethrah Szumski.

Bethrah served the APP as Secretary for many, many years, and it was Bethrah who called me when I was elected to the Board to give me advice. Being a Board Member involves a lot of responsibility, and the learning curve is steep. Were it not for Bethrah explaining the ins and outs of joining the Board, I would have been lost. In hindsight she may regret making that phone call to me, because I have leaned on her for advice in all aspects of my life ever since. Very rarely does more than a month go by without me reaching out to her for insight, advice, or just a shoulder to lean on.

For those not in the know, Bethrah has been with the APP since just about the beginning. She has served as President and Secretary, but also was deeply involved in our Conference for years. She also spearheaded some of our organization’s forays into international Conferences in Amsterdam in the early 2000s. These Conferences helped inspire piercers in Europe to start their own organizations. There is virtually no part of the APP that has not benefited from Bethrah’s involvement.

It is tough for us today to remember that the APP was once a very young organization that could have disappeared without spectacular leadership and tremendous sacrifice by our early volunteers. Bethrah’s commitment to the APP and its mission led her to put in countless hours of blood, sweat, and tears. As someone who has benefited tremendously from the efforts of the early APP, I have huge amounts of gratitude for all of the early Board Members and volunteers. That gratitude knows no bounds when I think of Bethrah.

As she segued out of her role as Secretary (and in the process trained our current Secretary, Aaron Pollack), Bethrah pitched the Board a new idea: “Why don’t we do something for our Members that is different than Conference. Something in nature where they can learn and bond and relax together. It can be a Member’s Retreat where we all camp together”. A lot of people would have come up with the idea and then asked other people to do the work. Not Bethrah. She immediately found appropriate locations, developed a budget, figured out all of the things that would go into a wonderful camp experience and then made it happen. To say it has been a success is a gross understatement. Camp APP has quickly become a must-attend event, and once again it is due to the vision, leadership, and hard work of Bethrah Szumski.

Along with Bethrah, I’d like to send a special thank you to all of the women who make the piercing community a better place. The APP and the piercing industry as a whole are benefactors of your leadership, intelligence, strength, wit, and talent.

Point #63: Dallas Suscon 2013

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Bethra headshotBy Bethra Szumski

Before I begin, I should make a special note: this was my first Suscon, ever. The event was held in Dallas, Texas from March 29 through 31, 2013. As in the past, it was organized by Allen Falkner and his team of hardworking volunteers. I’ve been to plenty of shows, two One Project campouts, and helped out with hook placement and cleanup, but I never really jumped into the middle of the suspension bed so-to-speak. So when I arrived, I appeared as most: not as an APP representative but as a student , eager to learn more about the art of suspension, and apparently I arrived just in time to witness and participate in a historic event.

The evening before the event began, representatives of attending groups gathered for a dinner and discussion. Organized by Allen Falkner, the topic of discussion was about creating a non-profit organization that could serve as an official representation and a vehicle for advocacy for the art of suspension and its practitioners. The group voiced many concerns, both for and against organizing such a group (and all of which were valid). However, everyone agreed that they did not want to see suspension made illegal, and forming such a group could provide much needed representation with lawmakers. After much discussion, the general consensus was that organization—to a point—would be a good thing, though what comes next has yet to be decided.

Photo by Mark Kaplan
Photo by Mark Kaplan

As the event began, it quickly became apparent the focus of Suscon was to be a learning event. I took numerous classes—from knot tying to suturing, intro to suspension, and basic rigging and rituals. While many more advanced courses were offered, including aseptic technique, bedside manner, and outdoor rigging to name a few, I stuck to the “newbie” ones. Whenever I wasn’t in class, I was being included in suspension set-ups. (Thanks to Dana Dinius and Chris Jennell—both team leads—for including me.)

One of the most memorable moments was the evening lecture and art suspension performed by Stelarc. During his lecture, he discussed and showed his art pieces and performances. (He referred to himself in these works as “The Body.”) Ripples of laughter went through the audience as he described how The Body was arrested by the NYPD after a guerilla suspension he performed , long before the practice became more common in cities around the world. When asked why he refers to himself in this way, he responded that he didn’t believe in the Freudian view of the self (i.e., the id, ego, and super-ego); instead, he believes in the idea of a digital self—one outside control of the physical body, where man and machine act in a symbiotic states. The suspension itself was stunning. After an hour of complex rigging, the group went up, all pushing back from a metal symbol in the center of the circle. The machinery amplified the sound of grinding metal, and gears jutted out as the bodies were raised and lowered. The lighting was cool and one had the sense of quiet non-presence, even as the shadows of the participants were cast upon the floor. The nagging, unvoiced question in my mind as his talk closed was:

“So your saying the body contains no soul and your work is all about that idea?”

Being far from religious myself, my own experience with pain and ritual is still all about my body and soul in conversation, so it was absolutely fascinating to experience a view so philosophically different from my own and yet with similar practices.

Stelarc and Wings of Desire — Dallas Suscon 2013. Photo by Mark Kaplan.
Stelarc and Wings of Desire — Dallas Suscon 2013. Photo by Mark Kaplan.

The suspension community is unique as a body art group. For one, making a living from suspension is nearly unheard of; instead, it is a labor of love. Any money coming in generally goes to better equipment and promotion. Unlike other body arts, such as piercing or tattooing, suspension is performance art and ritual with practitioners coming from all kinds of backgrounds. (I met engineers, gymnastic instructors, IT specialists, professional riggers, hospital workers, an opera singer—I already knew her—and the list goes on and on.) This community has extended to include body art enthusiasts in a way no other has; in fact, many groups will only have one or two actual body modification practitioners. Napoleon once said that, in battle, “the moral is to the physical as three to one.” Loosely, this means that spiritual and mental attributes, such as tenacity, morale, teamwork, dedication, and willpower, are far more important than numbers, equipment, hunger, or pain. Never has this felt more true than at Suscon 2013.

I had always imagined my first time at Suscon much like when a little girl thinks of her wedding day. I decided on Saturday that on Sunday (Easter) I would suspend; I put myself in the hands of fate and asked those who had so graciously made me part of their team—and those in my network—to guide me through. My goal was just to get up in the air, and I did—for two short bursts. As I came down, the beautiful faces around me were wet with tears. Someone said “that was so beautiful”. It felt beautiful, though I wasn’t able to push past the pain. Even so, this event was not simply a learning experience; for me, it was a rite of passage.

For information about suspension, in general, click here.

Point #60: Internet Posting Etiquette

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By Bethra Szumski

Without question, the Internet—social networking in particular—is changing the way that people interact. It brings people closer by creating more convenient communication between friends, family members, and co-workers. In many ways it has reduced the “need” for more personal communication. This is creating a totally new mindset in our culture.

One of the major consequences of this transition is that people often have difficulty with the line between what is (and should remain) private information, and what is safe and suitable for public consumption. As Americans we have the right to freedom of speech—but that doesn’t mean what we say publicly can’t get us fired, arrested, or divorced. Most of us voluntarily post more information online than any intelligence agency in the world could possibly uncover. People in every field and profession from politics to education have lost opportunities and employment due to imprudent Internet activity.

In a field like ours, which on some level is built on freedom of expression, an individual is unlikely to risk being fired for posting profanity or political views. However, there are certainly online “dealbreakers” that have led to folks losing their studio positions. Based on these stories, I’ve come up with some general guidelines for body artists to consider when posting content to their social networks:

  1. Never assume, no matter how carefully you choose your “friends,” that something you post about a business or individual won’t be relayed back to them.
  2. Understand that nothing you post—even if you delete it—ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever truly goes away. [I wrote that six times because that’s how many backup copies Facebook keeps of every photo you upload, every word you type, and every page you visit.]
  3. If you have a problem with your studio, keep it in your studio. If you need to seek advice or vent about a situation, do it privately—preferably in person—with a handful of colleagues that you trust. Never post complaints about studio policy, coworkers, bosses, or clients on the web. Find a private place to vent instead.
  4. As a point of studio policy, it’s important for workers to know what kinds of posts are likely to get them in hot water. As long as you declare your place of employment—or if any of the people in your network even know where you work—you are a representative of that business. The argument “if you don’t like my posts, don’t read them” holds little water when you represent a business or entity. People will show their disapproval by not frequenting your establishment or purchasing your product. Studio politics play a big role here as well. Posting negative remarks about competing studios or practitioners will put your entire business at odds with that establishment. And even if what you say is true, gossiping about it online is unprofessional.
  5. Your personal social media accounts, especially on your cell phone, can catch you in a lie faster than anything else. If you call in sick, really be sick. Checking in at the bar or golf course that day is an offense that could get you fired, no matter what your position.

If any of these ring a bell it’s not surprising. Technology is moving too fast for most of us to keep up. The surprising thing to me is when people actually feel a sense of personal privacy and security on the Internet. Is this perhaps due to the intimacy we often feel with our electronic devices? After all, we talk to them, and they keep us company when we are alone, help us when we are lost, tell us everything we want to know about almost any topic, remind us of our appointments, provide us with sexual gratification—you name it. Most of the things we used to need from other people can now be found in a palm-sized device. It’s easy to believe that our special electronic friend could never do us wrong, but be cautious: this is a friend that could unknowingly betray you.