who couldn't be here today but sent best wishes.) After the initial reception, monthly meetings and three retreats yearly followed, as well as many courses and workshops given by individual PCSD members. Here is a brief overview of happenings (to use Carl's word) over the last ten years.

1992: First issue of the newsletter. First Creative Self-Development Conference (CSD), held in fall at George Washington University. The theme was "From the Dark Ages of Homophobia to the New Era of Creative Self-Development," and our keynote speaker was Dr. George Weinberg, author of Society and the Healthy Homosexual (1972). He is also responsible for defining and coining the term homophobia.

1993: First brochure developed. Participation in the April March on Washington with a beautiful banner. Second CSD Conference with the theme of "The Art of  Living," featuring keynote speaker Catherine Tuerk,  nurse practitioner, and president of PFLAG.
                                                                   
1994: Designed the log  ian photographer and videographer, with several books of photographs and videos to her credit. 

1995: The Fourth CSD Conference, with the theme of "Becoming Whole," featured Christopher Reynolds,  Orthodox priest, psychotherapist, shaman, and former dancer with the Alvin Ailey Dance Troupe.

1996: The Fifth CSD Conference was entitled "Exploring Our Inner and Outer Wilderness" and featured Deb Price and Joyce Murdoch, authors of And Say High to Joyce: America's First Gay Column Comes Out.

1997: The Sixth CSD Conference, entitled "Renewal," featured Bob Bernstein of PFLAG, who wrote Straight Parents, Gay Children. The first Cultural Enrichment Outing (CEO), suggested by Carl Robinson, was held in October with a visit to the American Visionary Arts Museum in Baltimore. Since then CEOs have followed every two to three months with attendance at movies and plays with Gay themes, most recently the film "Trembling Before G-d."

1998: We changed our name to the Community for Creative Self-Development (CCSD) to emphasize our commitment to people rather than to a program. "The Art of Gay Living and Loving: Then and Now" was the theme of the 7th CSD Conference with a double feature of keynote speaker Jane Troxell, owner of Lammas Books, and a 13-person multigenerational panel representing every age group from teens to seventies.

1999 was full of activities:  Beverly Southerland, former president of PFLAG, offered CCSD the space of the Mt. Vernon Unitarian Church for one of our events. In April we  combined the annual anniversary celebration with outreach to the Gay and straight communities. Entitled "Reuniting the Human Family: Love and Healing in Gay-Straight Relationships," the morning and an afternoon programs each had a speaker (Katherine Tuerk in the morning and the Rev. Ken South in the afternoon) and a six-person panel, followed by small discussion groups.

In March '99 we held our spring retreat out of town for the first time, on the beautiful island of Chincoteague, VA. The retreat was so enjoyable that it has become an annual event on the Eastern Shore.

In fall '99, the 8th CSD Conference, entitled "The Arts and Creative Self-Development," was held at American University. Our keynote speaker was Nisha Ganatra, Lesbian filmmaker, who had just finished her award-winning feature length film "Chutney Popcorn." There was also 13-person panel discussing individuals' relationship to the arts.

2000: We changed the emphasis in our mission statement from the original sequence of psychological, spiritual, and creative empowerment" to creative, spiritual, and psychological empowerment." In September we had a successful open house to attract continuednew members. The 9th CSD Conference, entitled "Coming Into the Light: Entering the

Mainstream" featured keynote speaker Lilli Vincenz, former Gay activist and currently a psychotherapist, as well as a six-person panel discussing "Coming Into My Light." 
                                                      continued