Welcome readers and friends! I hope you will not make assumptions about me because I am a poodle!  People have been misinformed about us for a long time. Like you, we are each unique and different.  I feek truly honored that you stopped by to visit!  My mission is to connect diverse people and inspire them to make a difference by standing up and speaking out!

I am "THE QUEEN" (as you can see from my picture where I was lounging in our back yard by the lavendar). Ah, those were the days of leisure before my mamas (the two women) got this idea about engaging hearts and minds, creating authentic connections, and dissolving differences that separate us...taking us all on a year long journey, Gay Into Straight America.  I will admit that it was a family vote, and I said "YES!"  Please don't mistake my official portrait for being high and mighty in any way.  I feel I am compassionate and loving to each person and animal I meet.  Well, I must confess that I did have one difficult situation where I was not able to act as non-violently as I would have liked!  To the right is me after our final speaking engagement of the year.  I celebrated by tangling with a skunk!  That led to me having my hair dyed red in the front and over half of my body (well, that is what the mixture of peroxide, baking soda, and liquid soap did), and then having my hair shaved.  (Dog lovers...make note of that concoction...it works!) Can you tell which one I am?  Ok, I am standing behind a former shadow of myself which was fashionhed into the shape of ME from my shaved off hair!  Although I understand the consequences of my behavior, I still think I can get that skunk!  Ok, as I said in Lesson 10 that I wrote on our GISA journey, Ancora Imparo...I'm still learning!  Progress, not perfection is the key!

The lessons I taught my mamas, the two women, as we traveled across America are ones that you won't believe!  I am going to share them anyway in my "tell all" book. (Contact me if you need a good therapist!) Hey, I kept a dynamic journal, and collected lots of pictures of my furry friends (and others). I will be chronicling this and more in my book, Rylee Joy: My Story on Connecting America.