Wow - It has been 363 days since I won the title of International Leatherboy 2011.  What a year its been.  Everyone has been asking me if I'm sad that I'm stepping down. The answer is "No".  This year has been incredible for me, and it is far from over.  However, it is now time for the next boy to write his chapter.
Thank you so much to everyone who helped to support SIR Alan and I this year we really appreciate it.  This year has meant so much personal growth for me in ways that I never really thought would happen. I had so many emotional breakthroughs this year that were not even on my radar to accomplish.
There is so much that happened to me this year that I could probably crash BlogSpot talking about it.  I'm just going to sum it up and say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.

Today I sit here in the hotel for ILSb/ICBB 2012 enjoying breakfast before we get ready to go to the Producer's meeting and the contestant's meeting for this year's contestants.

Good luck everyone and have fun!

pup Nitro
International Leatherboy 2011

A Southern Pup's Journey to the Frozen North (Western Canada LeatherSIR/boy contest)

I have never been tempted to start a blog post with the word “Y’all” so much in my life (insert “eh?” here) as I do right now.  I am sitting on a Delta flight from Calgary, Alberta, Canada on my way back to the U.S. and the Dirty South.  There were certainly plenty of people who got a kick out of my Southern phrases this weekend, and I even got the chance to throw around an “Eh?” here and there myself. 

SIR Alan and I flew off to Calgary this weekend on our first International Trip.  We were invited there to judge the Western Canada Leather SIR/boy contest alongside our classmates from ILSb, Sir Chuck and his boy Iain, Eastern Canada LeatherSIR/boy 2011, and Rob who is one of the producers of the awesome rubber event Rubout in Vancouver.  Sir Scott and boy Renee, Western Canada LeatherSIR/boy 2011 (boy Renee is also First Runner-Up International Leatherboy 2011) elected to emcee the event instead of taking a seat on the judging panel.

I must say that leading up to the weekend SIR Alan and I were certainly a little intimidated by the weather forecast, as it was scheduled to drop down to WHOA DAMN COLD as I called it, but I would not have traded it for the world because of some of the beautiful scenery the cold allowed us to see.  We were taken by one of the Regional Producers (Thanks Mr. Jimmy!) up to a local retreat town of Banff which is located in the Canadian Rockies and I got to see frozen bodies of water for the first time in my life.  I even got to see a waterfall that was frozen over.  As most people know I am totally allergic to nature, but even I have to admit that the site was simply breathtaking.

Friday night we kicked off a meet and greet at the Calgary Eagle (Awesome Bar by the way), and we were treated to some Western Canadian Hospitality.  The judges and crowd got the chance to meet the three contestants for this year’s contest, SIR Marc, boy Daniel, and boy Berith.  Saturday morning we all met back at the Eagle for the private interviews of the contestants followed by some great workshops.  This is the first year that the contest has included public workshops for people to enjoy, and they certainly went over very well.  Sir Chuck and his boy Iain taught a great Electro class focusing not only on Pleasurable E-Stim, but also Electro Torture.  Soon after that Sir Scott taught a hot wax play class. 

Saturday night after an amazing home cooked dinner by Sir Jonathan’s boy we all geared up and headed back to the Eagle.  Within minutes of walking in the door we were greeted by more of that Famous Western Canadian Hospitality…. This time in the form of shooters LOL. 

The bar was packed wall to wall for the evening’s contest, and everyone sure as hell enjoyed the speeches, jock strap presentation, as well as Fantasy scenes that were all well thought out by the contestants.

At the end of the evening the new Western Canada LeatherSIR/boy pair for 2012 was named as SIR Marc and his boy Daniel. 

I would like to congratulate each and every one of the contestants from this year’s class because in just a short weekend’s time I got the chance to see each of them grow.  Great job guys, I look forward to watching you over years to come.

We had a blast!
pup Nitro
International Leatherboy 2011

Gulf Coast LeatherSIR/boy/CBB weekend

A few weeks back I had the great opportunity to join SIR Alan for our first trip to Dallas, TX.  I was one of the two tallymasters for the Gulf Coast LeatherSIR/boy/Community Bootblack contest held at the Dallas Eagle. 
The weekend got off to an awesome start when Parker picked us up from the airport and took us to one of the best burger places I've ever eaten at, Hunkies. 

OMG talk about a good thick juicy piece of meat.... What I'm talkin about the hamburger!

Then we went to the home of Jeffrey Payne, International Mr. Leather 2009, and his partner David (and their six four legged kids).  It was such an honor to be welcomed into their home like family.  They are such great men.

So many people came in from out of town and from other ILSb/ICBB regions to support the event, it was a great reunion.  SIR Olivier and his family came down from Oklahoma, Dan, Stephen, and SIR Bill came out from Phoenix, and lots more.  It was also so great to see my brother Cully as he finished out his regional year as Gulf Coast Leatherboy 2011.

The entire weekend was such a blast.  We had a meet and greet Friday evening to meet the contestants and the participants for the weekend.  Saturday we had the contestant interviews as well as the rest of the contest that evening.  Then it was time for some social time at the bar and we got the chance to meet a lot of the locals who make this such a great city. 

Sunday morning we all got ready and headed off to a great Mexican Food retauraunt before we headed home.  Had such a blast in Dallas and can't wait to go back again soon!

I'm very proud to announce that the new Gulf Coast Leather Family is:

SIR Jack Duke
boy Michael Dang
Community Bootblack Brenton who will be serving his region for a second year.

Congratulations to all of you and I can't wait to see how your year goes.

Busy weekend but SO much fun.

This past weekend was certainly a busy one, but damn it was a lot of fun.  Friday night was our monthly barnight for our Leather/Levi Club, Panther L/L, at the Atlanta Eagle.  It was great to spend the evening with our club brothers and friends.

http://www.pantherll.org/

Then Saturday marked the 5 year anniversary for SIR Alan and I.  We spent the day relaxing at home with slave scott and our friend Thomas of LeatherHorseGear (http://www.leatherhorsegear.com/).  Then that night it was time for us to head to the local dungeon space, 1763, for our friend LizzyBrat's Bikers for Babies fundraiser to benefit the March of Dimes.  She shared a very personal story about how one of her daughters was born premature and the MoD helped her out when she needed it.  The event brought the fundraising totals to over $3700 so far and still climbing. 


Congrats Lizzy - We are proud of you!

 Many local groups/vendors/businesses contributed items to the auctions and Raffles including:

MikeA

Southeast Leatherfest

Xanny

Sir Nicholas/slave nic

DominaDea & Fetclinic

Shadowdragon
Geek72

Atlanta S/m Solidarity

Lee David

Mistress Ayn

Ms. Martha

and lots more.

Then on Sunday SIR Alan and I were off to a photoshoot with a local photographer who wanted to do some shots with us at a local abandoned warehouse.  Unfortunately the Atlanta Police Department broke up our shoot not long after we started LOL.  They were really nice about the whole thing, but they did make us leave.  So we came back home and did some shots under the bridge near our place.  Had a HELL of a lot of fun.  Can't wait to take some more shots with Brent for sure!

Had so much fun shooting these pics - Can't wait to do some more.  Perfect end to a GREAT weekend. 

Now it is time to get ready for our monthly Panther L/L business meeting.

My Updated Event Calendar

Event	Location	Dates
Trident Knights Run	Augusta, GA	Aug 26-28, 2011
Northwest Regional LSB/CBB	Seattle, WA	Sept 2-4, 2011
Gulf Coast Regional LSb/CBB	Dallas, TX	Sep 23-25, 2011
Southeast Regional LSb/CBB	Atlanta, GA	Sep 29 – Oct 1, 2011
Southeast Olympus	Atlanta, GA	Oct 8, 2011
Atlanta Pride	Atlanta, GA	Oct 9, 2011
Atlanta AIDS Walk	Atlanta, GA	Oct 16, 2011
Leather Vampires & Fang Bangers	Atlanta, GA	Oct 29, 2011
Mr. International Rubber	Chicago, IL	Nov 4-7, 2011
Western Canada Regional LSb/CBB	Calgary, Alberta, Canada	Nov 17-21, 2011
Leather Mask Ball	Ft. Lauderdale, FL	Nov 25-27, 2011
Twelve Days of Christmas	Baltimore, MD	Dec 9-11, 2011
Twisted Toyland	Atlanta, GA	Dec 17, 2011
Northern California Regional  LSb/CBB	San Francisco, CA	Feb 10-13, 2011
Eastern Canada Regional LSb/CBB	Toronto, Ontario, Canada	Feb 16-20, 2012
Florida Regional LSb/CBB	Tampa, FL	Feb 24-26, 2012
Southwest Leather Pride Regional LSb/CBB	Phoenix, AZ	Mar 2-4, 2012
CLAP/Mid Atlantic Regional LSb/CBB	Baltimore, MD	Mar 23-25, 2012
International Ms Leather	San Francisco, CA	Mar 30-Apr 1, 2012
Atlanta Leather Pride	Atlanta, GA	Apr 13-15, 2012
Spring in the South	Atlanta, GA	Apr 27-29, 2012
Tradesmen Run	Augusta, GA	May 4-6, 2012
Panther L/L Anniversary Weekend	Atlanta, GA	May 11-12, 2012
Southeast LeatherFest	Atlanta, GA	Jun 8-10, 2012
Rocky Mountain Regional LSb/CBB	Denver, CO	Jul 13-15, 2012
ILSb/ICBB & Dore Alley	San Francisco, CA	Jul 26-28, 2012
Great Lakes Regional LSb/CBB,	Indianapolis, IN	Aug 10-12, 2012

Amazing time at Northwest LeatherSIR/boy/Community Bootblack 2012 contest

Well SIR Alan have now attended our first LSb/CBB Regional contest during our title year.  We were very honored to have been invited to Seattle by SIR Hugh to stay in his beautiful home for the weekend.  SIR Alan, Luna, and I each served together on a judges panel of eight for the weekend.  The weekend was a great success with the Meet and Greet being Friday night at Doghouse Leathers followed by the Bootblack Interpersonal skills at the Cuff Complex, and the contest being held Saturday evening at the Cuff Complex.  This was actually my first time judging a Leather contest and I certainly enjoyed seeing things from that side of the table.  The contest as a whole went very well, and I would like to again congratulate the newest LSB/CBB Title Family, SIR Jim, boy danny, and Bootblack Ruin who will be serving as Northwest LeatherSIR/boy/Community Bootblack.  I can’t wait to see how they all grow together over the course of the next year. 

I can’t say enough about the amazing hospitality that was shown to us by SIR Hugh this weekend.  It is such an honor for me to be invited into the beautifully peaceful home of a man whom I have such a high level of respect for.  He treated SIR Alan and I like members of his own Family, and to say it was greatly appreciated would be a gross understatement.  We also had the awesome chance to share the House with my brother, 1^st Runner-Up International Leatherboy 2011, boy Renee from the Western Canada region.  I’m not going to give any details here about THAT part of the weekend, but you can only imagine what happened when you put the four of us under one roof WOOF.  We even had the wonderful treat of SIR Hugh’s fantastic Italian cooking (he said that the dish containing two full blocks Cheese and other ingredients was an attempt to test to see if SIR Alan was really human and could gain weight).  I really enjoyed the time getting to know SIR Hugh and his boys so much more during the weekend, and I can’t wait to see them all again very soon.

I also had another fairly new experience this weekend.  During the play party Saturday Night at Lady Lydia’s dungeon space SIR Alan flogged me with his braided flogger.  This was only my second time being flogged because Impact play has always been very difficult for me to overcome mentally.  As many of you know I was formerly in an abusive D/s relationship (that’s a whole other post though) so there were some mental barriers to overcome here.  However, SIR Alan was able to help coach me through the experience without even saying a word.  About half way through he came up behind me and placed his hands on my shoulders and the dam of emotions broke loose.  It is certainly an odd feeling to cry that hard from the release of pent up emotions rather than from sorrow, but today I feel like an entirely different person.  I really feel like a compartment of baggage that I have been carrying around for years flew away last night, and I’m very grateful.

To sum it up in a nutshell our first trip was very fun, but I am certainly missing slave scott and our dog Sandy.  SIR Alan and I are on the plane headed back for Atlanta now.  I’m VERY glad that we have tomorrow off (Labor Day) so that we can rest and relax as a Family. 



No really... We are a VERY Serious bunch LOL




2012 Contestants - SIR Jim, Bootblack Ruin, boy danny





SIR Hugh's cat decided to energize some of SIR Alan's Leathers





Mama's Family



My Speech from ILSb -

Good morning everyone,
During the ILSb contest each contestant is required to give a speech of up to 120 seconds.  Going into the contest I decided that I was going to take a very personal approach to my speech.  I have received several requests to post my speech online for others to read.  If you have any questions about my speech please let me know. 

Thank you so very much everyone,
pup Nitro

Good afternoon brothers and sisters in Leather.  My name is Bryson Hankinson but many of you know me by a much more intimate name, pup Nitro.  In 2004 I was leaving a D/s relationship that was emotionally and physically abusive in which I was given no voice of my own.  Almost five years ago, I had the honor of being collared by Sir Alan Penrod.  Soon after, I was given my pup name of “pup NITRO” meaning “Needs Intense Torture to Reach Orgasm”.  Today I am humbled to be standing on this stage in front of you all, and I am truly honored to be sharing this stage with the man that helped me find the strength inside to rebuild myself to where I am today.
Sir Alan taught me that even as a sub I can still have a strong, yet respectful, voice within my community and I can help lead.  This is a concept that in the beginning was very foreign to me, but I now embrace this empowerment openly.  My goal is to help others who felt the same way as I did in 2004, beaten and alone, learn to stand up and have their voice heard.  My hope is that I can help even one sub within the community find the voice that is in their heart, and help them to use it with strength and respect to warrant a change in their life and in their community.
I want to thank you very much for this opportunity today, and to Sir Alan I would like to thank you for taking a chance on a 22 year old boy who’s young head and heart needed a guiding hand.
I love you Sir.

A truly blessed, happy, and humbled pup.

To say that the last two weeks has been an amazing experience would truly be an understatement. 
This time two weeks ago my family was getting ready to open a whole new chapter of our lives.  We were getting ready for the Meet and Greet to kickoff ILSb/ICBB 2011 weekend in San Francisco.  During the course of the weekend I opened a lot of very private doors about my past, and I am very glad that they are now seeing the light.  I very much look forward to seeing where this adventure takes me in my own self discovery.  I also hope that I can help some other people learn a few things about themselves along the way.

In 2004 I never would have dreamed about sitting here writing a blog about how I was recently named International Leatherboy 2011 by a group of amazing judges.  Nor would I have imagined that I would be doing this alongside an amazing Sir who would hold the key to my collar.  I sure as hell wouldn't have dreamed that we would have an amazing slave, my brother Scott, who would be keeping us on an even keel for the weekend. 

Even though that wouldn't have been in my imagination those years ago, that is exactly what happened.  I am so blessed to be able to share this experience with my amazing and wonderful Family, and I certainly couldn't do it alone. 

This is going to be the first blog of many during this ride, but I hope that it gives you a brief idea of where I am starting out from.

In Leather,
Bryson "Pup Nitro" Hankinson