The true beauty of HOPE is the constant sharing of information, and the openness of it's design.  In addition to three structured tracks, a fourth free form track is open to the public.  Anyone interested in being a presenter signs up next to an available time slot, along with a brief description of their talk.  Topics are extremely varied,, most tend to be grey hat leaning more towards black hat, however  I attended a session on polyamorous relationships which is at the other end of the topic spectrum.

Polyamory (poly for short) is a lifestyle in which you have several boyfriends or girlfriends, and they in turn have several as well, with the key difference being that everyone knows about each other.  The point of the discussion was to educate people about the poly lifestyle.  The speaker, *Sabrina, was quick to point out that these relationships involve romantic love, and are not purely sexual, like the swinging lifestyle tends to be.  Sabrina, describes herself as a pomosexual (post modern sexual), in that she is not comfortable with being labeled bisexual, though she is into both men and women.

The discussion was fascinating and very different from my own experience.  As a serial monogamist, I was amazed by the openness of the relationships.  Sabrina brought her primary partner, who explained the complexities of figuring out who you are dating and when.  He mentioned that a tracking program would be helpful because of all the logistical challenges with the poly lifestyle.

Sabrina was a wealth of knowledge and recommended the following two websites for the poly curious:

1.www.okcupid.com – This website allows people that are dating others to signify that they are in relationships, and that they are open to additional connections
2.www.fetlife.com – Once you are a member of this site, you can choose to find individuals which share the same fetish interests.

In addition to the websites, Sabrina's primary partner recommended a book entitled, “The Ethical Slut” he found it to be very informative and helpful.

Though I did find the discussion fascinating, I would caution anyone not familiar with this lifestyle, to tread lightly.  As was discussed at various times, the poly lifestyle is fraught with complications and frustrations.  Something as simple as a family dinner, can lead to a minor catastrophe.  Also keep in mind that if you become poly you will need to keep track of multiple birthdays, anniversaries, etc.  This is a very complex way to live, but is increasing in popularity.

*Sabrina is not the name of the presenter, I have changed it to protect her privacy, Sabrina if you read this and would like your name in the post, please feel free to contact me

i'll 2nd that. one person nagging is enough