ihung.org

Allen of suspension.org fame has once again graciously organized a massive suspension practitioner’s convention for this Spring. Dallas SusCon 2011 is proving to be bigger and better than the previous two years, which is precisely how it should be. Along with the normal 3 days of suspensions and classes, this year we’re actively stepping up the documentation side of things. There are many reasons for this, but I’m going to touch on a few of the most important ones.

First and foremost is for liability and protection. If something terrible were to happen, it would most likely all come down on Allen as the head of the event, which is obviously something we all wish to avoid. In order to minimize this potential outcome, I’m working on documentation of the chain of command and proper protocols to follow. By having all of this documented, it should be possible to redirect liability to more appropriate persons, and thus help to ensure that SusCons can be continued.

Secondly, it’s allowing me to stretch my wings in a different direction. I’ve slowly been writing up documentation for ihung’s training and operations, but it’s slow going as I didn’t exactly have any guidance or directions on formatting or anything of the like. I’ve been communicating with Mr. Vidra of Health Educators to make the documentation for SusCon as thorough as necessary, as well formatted in such a way that makes it very similar to piercing/tattoo shop documentation which is enough to appease health inspectors.

The tertiary reason is that I wholeheartedly believe that appropriate documentation is the second most lacking aspect of the suspension community. The primary lacking aspect is that of proper education in rigging, but we have classes and instructors at SusCon to work on that one already. One of my personal agendas is to push the if it isn’t documented, it never happened mantra into the community so that we can add more accountability and responsibility. Many of us in the suspension community fear that inevitably some sort of accident will happen which makes us a target for legislation, most likely of an extremely aggressive nature, and our best bet to have control over this is to have solid documentation of our protocols. The idea being that if we have paperwork that shows that we take every possible precaution to keep ourselves and the suspendee as safe as possible.

I’m working predominately on two documents; one is all of the protocols and procedures, in explicit detail so that everyone will be on the same page before even arriving at the space, and the second is a full fledged Exposure Control Plan. The purpose of this document is to define all roles and responsibilities that will be performed, as well as what precautions each role must take, what equipment is available and what the purpose of each of them is.

This is the first year that we’ll have these documents, as well as my first time writing them, so they will be rough, but just like the goal of the SusCon is to improve the minimum standards, that’s what I’m shooting for with this.

Back in Summer of 2005, Evolved Body Art hosted an event titled The International Body Art Expo which was to be a “more than” tattoo convention. During the planning stages of this, I was contacted to see if I wanted to partake in a Kavadi walk ritual with a man named Ego Kornus. I, of course, accepted and on the day of was ecstatic to meet Ego as I was familiar with his work and had much respect for him. We’d chatted a bit online beforehand, so I wasn’t going in completely blind, and had done some preparation in the form of light fasting, increased water intake, and personal introspection in order to calm my mind for the experience.

My part in the ceremony was to receive multiple piercings on my torso and arms from which various fruits were hung. This is a very common practice in religious ceremonies such as Thaipusam, a ceremony we were borrowing heavily from. Along with myself, there were a handful of others adorned with fruits and flowers, and Ego who carried the kavadi, and a large cheek skewer, and also Nick who had hooks inserted in his back and dragged around several large stones from them. The ritual began late, and we were short on time, but despite this, all piercings were performed at a ritualized pace, with controlled breathing and a lot of coaching and support from everyone involved. Once all of us had our fruits attached, Nick had his burdens, and Ego had the spears inserted, we began the procession. I’m unsure of how long the actual procession lasted, but the experience was one I will never forget.

Often in the body modification world, we become so obsessed with the standard rituals of piercing, cutting, scarification, suspension, etc, that the others, like kavadi and ball dances fall by the wayside. It’s refreshing to have these other ritual experiences to elevate our awareness of the immense world of ritual modifications and ceremonies out there.

For more information on kavadi, and to follow Ego’s current endeavors, check out two of his sites:
http://kavadinfo.blogspot.com/
http://svasticross.blogspot.com/

We’re a little late to get this post up, but there’s still plenty of time to add this to your calendar. First though, the back story: on July 15th, several members of Disgraceland were in a severe car accident (details are on suspension.org). Although they continue to get better every day, their hospital bills are pretty large, so CoRE is trying to raise some money in Houston by holding a BBQ and raffle drawings at the Next Door Bar on August 7th.

We hope everyone in the southwest can make it out and have a lot of fun, and raise some money for the injured members from our community.