New Editor for the Black and Poly Magazine
Welcome to the Black & Poly magazine! I am your new editor. Simply put, my job is to bring to you the voices of the black community who are practicing consensual nonmonogamy. In these pages, you will read about love, relationships, and identity. We will share what we do in our lives, how we see ourselves, and what we want for the world.
Why is there a need for Black & Poly? I have long had this theory that nonmonogamy is familiar to the black community. Mainstream polyamory has an accepted history that is centered on white, middle-class experiences. Our goal is to highlight the experiences of others who have lived before and after the term was put in the dictionary. There’s no one way to do polyamory, and the diversity in styles you’ll see will be just as diverse as our community.
What qualifies me to edit the blog? I have considered myself polyamorous for nine years. I will expand on my experiences in future posts, but for now I have healthy relationships that meet my needs. I am a leader in the local polyamory community and I draw on my life history to help others. As far as writing, I have been a word nerd for all my life. I edited our high school literary magazine and a regional newsletter in college. I have written fiction published online. I currently manage three websites and I wrote my senior thesis in an entirely different language (Russian).
If you are interested in contributing to the blog, contact us and submit your ideas. We are interested in hearing from people who identify with the black community and are pursuing non-monogamous relationships. You can be single, married, solo-poly, relationship anarchist, straight, or queer. We welcome fiction, essays, interviews, poetry, audio, and video that are about your experiences in this life. Even if you are new to polyamory, we welcome your questions and stories of exploration. Everyone has a voice that can be shared with the community.
Through the work of Ron Young and others, I see the Black & Poly community growing from local meetups and a Facebook group to a global, interconnected community of lovers and activists. Our online presence may be your first view of these relationships, but real learning comes from interacting with experienced practitioners and, of course, making your own mistakes. I hope to continuously encourage you to live your truth and embrace love despite the criticism and judgments you will see in the mainstream world. The Black & Poly community will be here to support you.
-Crystal
