Entries by TATIANA

Goodmorning all my fans! I'm at Coffee Roaster (my office) this gray Monday, there is a heavy feeling of rain hanging in the air. Coffee Roasters changed to winter hours, they will now be closing at 3.....I'm usually here earlier than that so I should be fine. Two of my fave baristas quit to move away from this village down to "the lower 48" as we here in Alaska refer to the rest of the US (Hawaii not included). I don't blame them, they are young, pretty and want to see and experience what life has to offer. I told them about Burning Man, that's a good start.

So let me fill you in a bit about the latest stripper news, local and other.
The two clubs in Williston - Heartbreakers and Whispers are getting sued. I worked at both. Now you know ladies, in case you are thinking about traveling there for work. I'm sure that it's business as usual there, until this matter goes before a judge or however they are going to resolve it. I still get comments and e mails on my old blogs that I wrote about work in Williston from girls from all over, wanting to know how they can work there. Girls e mail me their pics thinking I am in charge of hiring or something. I haven't worked in Williston since March 2012, I don't know whether the money is good or not. Try for yourself, that is my advice.



Here are some snippets from the article, "A Williston attorney is leading a class-action lawsuit against the oil boomtown's two strip clubs, saying they violated state and federal laws by classifying dancers as independent contractors instead of employees."
"Documents filed with the state's Northwest District Court in late August say Mays and others were not paid an hourly wage at the clubs. The suit is seeking back pay for thousands of hours of unpaid work, along with attorney's fees and punitive or liquefied damages."
"Hale added that Williston's strip clubs received national attention as a goldmine for exotic dancers — with reports of women earning up to $3,000 in a single evening. But in reality, he said, women were earning less than $500 a night on average."
"In recent years, federal judges in several states have ruled that exotic dancers are entitled to minimum wage and protected by labor laws."

I think that most strip clubs are breaking labor laws. Girls working as dancers often get taken advantage of by owners and management, paying all kinds of house fees and fines, late fees, this fee, that fee, tip outs etc. If the dancers were treated according to the law there would be no lawsuits where the dancers would be winning. Now if the dancers are actually getting a large chunk of the money awarded to them by winning the cases or the attorneys involved get the most of it, that's another story. I am all for dancers suing if legitimate, absolutely!
Dancers have been mistreated by strip clubs for a long time and have rights just like every other person working and paying taxes in the US.
I might be packing my dancer suitcase and go on the road again next month. This suitcase......



Not to North Dakota but to the neighboring state, South Dakota. To the same place I couldn't wait to leave last year, I was counting down the days until my departure saying I would NEVER return. Well, never say never......! Nothing is for sure with me regarding travel until I'm actually on the airplane. What made me change my mind about going is that I will be working and staying with Mandy. Not with some crazy freaks that I got housed with last year, one of the many reasons I said I would never return. I'm only going for about ten days or so and I guess I can subject myself to the Square Of Torture (one of the stages there) and whatever else annoying for that amount of time. Money was OK there and I think it will be better this year. Plus I will get to hang with Mandy, we are getting along well and I think we will have fun. Plus she sent me this pic the other day, I was driving when she sent it and I almost ended up in the ditch from pure distraction. How can I NOT go after seeing THAT? Mandy now has to send me at least one SEKSI pic of herself a week, otherwise I will throw a fit.



Now to some local stripper news. I am back at work. I have been occupying myself with manually castrating men that deserve it. The other night a drunk and dumb man referred to ALL women as stupid more than once and dismissed me with having nothing worthy to say with "you are just a stripper". He got chopped up, his small penis thrown into the dark forest and the rest of him, his ashes, ended up in one of our many urns. Yep, this is what happens here if you rub me the wrong way. It's Alaska after all, we make our own laws here.
Don't mouth off in the strip club if you want to make it out alive!



Last night started out really slow. The main attraction until about midnight was Chuck, he slept on the stage. I wanted to sleep too. I get very bored and sometimes cranky when I just sit around. Some guys finally came in. I had some really good conversations, I think I made some new fans. Good!



For some reason a copy of this article has been put up in both dressing rooms at work.



A few years ago a massage place in town got busted after somebody got news about that there might had been some illegal activities going on in there. I guess they offered more than deep tissue massages. Prostitution is illegal in Alaska, Nevada is still the only state where it's legal and regulated in some counties. So the "madam", two of the ladies offering "massages" and seven guys so far have been charged and sentenced. I don't have any clue why this should be up in our dressing room, we are after all a STRIP CLUB? None of the ladies I work with would ever do these kind of things, in and out of the club? Right??? Or am I just being naive, having a blonde stripper moment? Listen, there is a GOOD reason for that article to be put up, I know this. It is obvious to me that some things are totally out of hand. I am not worried whatsoever for any kind of prostitution allegations against myself, I am strictly adhering to dancing, yes strip club style dancing, I am very much aware of that but still, only dancing. BUT some of the other ladies I work with might be doing something else......or? Certain things do NOT belong in a strip club (take it to the local massage place for crying out loud!), I think this is one of the topics I have written the most about in my blog. I have many strong opinions about this issue. If you want to be doing some non dancing stuff, get a room, I don't want to see it or be around it. OK!? Plus, I can't and don't want to "compete" with that. So when my "dancer" co workers engage in some questionable behavior then that takes away from MY income. And I don't do shit like that. Period. Actually a good friend of mine got some dances at the club here last week. One of the ladies that entertained him performed what he described to me as "a handjob and a blowjob" over his pants. He was not impressed and added that he was very surprised that this even happened, that it was allowed to happen.
But it is becoming more and more common. Very frustrating for us clean dancers. The clean dancer - a dying breed it seems.

Now to some sad news. A girl I worked with earlier in the year, Shadow, passed away last week. She only worked at the club for a short time. I felt great sympathy for her because I felt like she was going through some serious issues. Not the regular stripper attention seeking, crazy drama that I have witnessed too many times. In fact I did not think Shadow should had worked at the club in the first place, not a good environment for her, she needed help. I feel very bad that she died, she was a young girl with so much more of her life to live. I made her a little memorial, just to let her know that she is in my thoughts. From the obituary "She will always be remembered for her talent and love of art and dance, and as a kind, loving, beautiful and creative person. We can all know that she is resting at peace."
Ugh.....I want to cry now.

This is the first place I go to when I wake up, latte time at Center Camp!



I sit down and take my time, sipping and savoring my latte. People watching extravaganza in there. It's nice and cool, often with a little breeze. Some people sleep at Center Camp.....BRC Weekly called the place the Black Rock Homeless Shelter in this years magazine. I decided that I am going to take a nap at Center Camp next year, just for the experience, it seems like a cozy place for a nap. There is a lot going on in there, art, yoga, speeches......I love my Center Camp time.







How many pictures do I need of me and my latte? MORE! I don't have enough......I'm obsessed.

What do you do when the sun goes down in Black Rock City? The party is just starting.....I like to dance. In fact I LOVE to dance. I found Dancetronauts again this year.....
Dancetronauts moves around on the Playa. Nice looking go-go dancers too.



This place is badass. I missed out on Hernan Cattaneo and Dj Dan earlier in the week, I arrived Wednesday instead of Monday as I had first planned. I changed my ticket.....why I will explain later. I have a few fave dj's, Hernan I would had liked to see but I think the music is really good at Burning Man, regardless of what dj is on, if you don't like it you just move to next place.



I have seen many dj booths but I think this one might take the price for the coolest one. If I was a dj, this would had been my dream dj booth.



There is one place I HAVE to visit every night, Planet Earth. An inside club that plays mostly 80's stuff.....I love Planet Earth! Lots of interesting people in there showing off their jerky 80's dance moves. I suspect the club is named after Duran Duran's song with the same name. Check out the video and you will get a sense about what Planet Earth is about. It's freakin' awesome and they have a bar where you get all the free booze you want.



Here I am super happy and ready to have FUUUUUUN!!!!! Time to dance!



I also went to an hour long ABBA dance party. There's nothing like loudly singing along to ABBA songs in a room full of other ABBA lovers. Yes, I know most ABBA songs, I grew up singing them......

I can see it, feel it and smell it.....fall has arrived. In between the rain it's been nice, there is the feeling of fall in the air. The rhythm of nature has slowed down, I can feel the calm, things are slowing down in preparation for winter. I notice stuff like that because I walk Chhaya everyday.



I got a sugar pot today at Nortcountry Fair, I'm excited over that. My last one broke. You can see it there on the table. I also got my favorite bread (it is soooo good!) and some lentil and bean soups. I love soup, especially on a rainy day. One day I might try to make lentil soup from scratch. Another favorite thing to do on a rainy day is to read. I got some new books,
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman, a Swedish author, I'm looking forward to curling up in bed with that book. And then I got Bad Feminist by Roxanne Gay......no clue what it is about but the title seemed appealing to me.

Today I'm going to cover the art at Burning Man. I only saw a fraction, there were 233 pieces of art placed on the Playa this year. Without a bike you will be missing out on a lot. Bring a bike, it's a must I think.
Of course the Man statue itself is part of the art. The man burned down on a Saturday, I am not sure how tall the Man was this year but it was very tall.......



Then there was the beautiful Temple building......the Temple burned down on a Sunday.



This amazing structure was called Embrace. It cost about $266 000 (WOW) and a ton of willing volunteers to create, much of the cost was funded by Kickstarter and various fundraisers. Embrace burnt down on a Friday. Embrace symbolized the celebration of all our relationships. I loved Embrace, spectacular.







I spent spent some time one night out by this LOVE structure. You have to actually be there to capture the feeling and understand the beauty and magnificence of it all.



Some parting words that I feel have lots of meaning, definitely in the spirit of Burning Man and Black Rock City.

When I found this Playa Barbie box at Burning Man I got ECSTATIC! I went twice to get my pictures taken in it. As a TRUE feminist (hi to all my strong and smart women out there that can actually think outside of the box.....think outside the Barbie box) I love pink and I'm not ashamed of it and I also love Barbie. I am funny Barbie, angry Barbie, happy Barbie, outspoken Barbie - you can be whatever Barbie you want! There were men taking pictures in that box - SHOCKING I KNOW!!! Daaaaamn, I look good......





And I had to have a picture inside the Conversations With God phone booth, one of my favorites from last year. This time God was on a break, I guess even God needs a break once in a while. Last year I thanked God profusely for everything, because let me tell you......most of the time I absolutely LOVE my life and I am extremely grateful for every moment (except the hard and shitty times of course).