shy shy shy. when you approached me that night at the show, i couldn’t believe it was you. a blooming cross-continental friendship. connected by this silly blog i keep. even more beautiful in person.

i forgot to mention i was shy, huh? call myself a radical woman of color feminist, a disability right activist, a youth organizer but maybe i am just a quiet girl who doesn’t know what to do with herself. maybe systems are the only way i know how to talk. maybe it’s like he says— blahzay blah, what does that even mean, girl?

the third day comes and we are sitting together quietly. over and over again i tell you that i can’t believe you are here. we spend a lot of time sitting like that. smiling. so much to take in. it’s okay though, all the secrets we carry have already been shared. all that is left are merely the details of our lives.

maybe all of these things i do aren’t really about movement-building. maybe this is the only way i know how to deal with the alienation, the loneliness, of being a person of color in white space. asian in black brown space. queer in homophobic straight space. a conservative army town girl who randomly transformed into a lone lefty. simply calling all of this “identity politics” does not do my life justice- it misses the quietness, the sadness that comes with living at the borderlands, the constant compromise, the necessity of an intersectional politic. i didn’t choose to be a bridgebuilder.

i grab every person i know that walks by so they can meet you. the way you speak is so beautiful. words connect and flow out of your mouth like poetry. you are so sharp and on point with your perspective. you understand isolation & the beauty of coming together more than any one i know.

lately, i can’t push myself to move, to be productive. haven’t left the house in weeks. feels like i’m stuck, overwhelmed with nothingness. realizing that this may happen every time this year because i have spent the last few summers in community— not community as the folks you live near but chosen family community— and when you have to say goodbye to that & face the realities of your life… nothing feels like “enough”. my family is amaziiiiing- they are the kind who will massage you to sleep when you are hurting and stay up all night rotating toasty blankets for you when you are sick. but still. once you get to be who you are, fully, it’s hard to go back to this hiding.

need more of you in my life. let’s see each other again soon. love you, sister.

look at little ms. social butterfly
wings carrying her between movements
that girl finds commonality
everywhere

look at little ms. social butterfly
holding your hand & greeting you with a kiss, a hug
she will come
to read poetry
with you
to organize
with you
to walk, talk, and overanalyze
with you

but somewhere between hello
and how are you
she is gone

always pollinating
look at the way she has brought us all together!
no can’t you see
she flies between us all
never calling one place home

could you love little ms. social butterfly
knowing she will be fully present
but only for a little while?

could you love little ms. social butterfly
knowing this, this fluttering between communities,
is the only way
she has figured out
how to survive?

maybe she is all of us:
a breadth of experiences and identities reflected in the patterns of our wings
let’s fly to new heights
and find somewhere to return

weaving together bridges
and relying on no one’s backs

look at little ms. social butterfly

detroit was really powerful to me because it meant that there were always 20-30 people in a half mile radius that i could trust with ANYTHING. still, after the conference, every single person i have talked to has said something along the lines of “it was great to see you! i wish we had time to hang.” i am seeing so many pictures and jokes of moments i missed with people because i was somewhere else. where was i? how many communities am i flying between? if you are having conversations with multiple groups of people, do you ever get to go deep with any of them?

a friend once told me that disability often rejects and transcends what is considered “correct” body language. maybe we are stimming. maybe we are using an interpreter. maybe we are interacting with physical pain, depression, assistive technology.  maybe we are sitting when we are supposed to be standing (or vice versa).  to try and deny ourselves these needs are either exhausting or impossible. that’s just who we are.

i have been thinking about what it means to listen deeply. at the allied media conference, the media makers i surrounded myself with looked at communication as more than trying to get one’s message across. (loved what my girl little light said about media—”media is what we grow when we are trying to communicate with each other.”) at the amc, i would open up about something really personal and the people around me would use their whole bodies to hear me. sitting still. quiet. ears attentive. eye contact. not thinking about other things. reaching out and holding me if i needed it. being listened to like this was the most beautiful thing i have ever experienced. who knew listening could be so transformative.

but knowing that what my friend said is truth (’cause it is!), now i am thinking about where disabled people fit into this. for example, how much is the way i perceive that you are listening to me shaped by ideas of neurotypicality? (love the tshirt that says “eye contact is overrated”). how do we deal with a situation where my communication style is legitimized and yours is not? what do i do if my communication needs don’t mesh with yours? what are all the ways we can show each other that we are listening? is it just a matter of saying holla if you hear me? & i got you, i hear you, yes

so much listening to be done. . .

amc opening:

crisis not as destruction, but the darkness that exists in the womb when birth is happening

light recognizes light!

–

dinner conversation with rich feldman:

what do we want? what do we believe? ground your work in your principles.

short term solutions has led to the end of many movements. remain visionary.

leadership is not having a solution and leading folks to it but supporting the creation of an environment where people are coming up with the answers together.

–
the magic of popular education and strategies for using it in unmagical education settings (led by mark gonzales):

popular education as what you feel and what is relevant to your life

shakespeare isn’t going to liberate my community

public education as an institution has scarred us, can be very traumatic

what does freedom look like to you and your community?

schools as reproduction, cloning. very few move up, it is about keeping poor people poor, rich people rich.  schools are not broken, they are doing what they are designed to do!

life work description v. a job description. we need a new description for the goals we have for ourselves

mine is: i want to live in a community where we can do right by each other, support each other, love each other, heal each other, hold each other accountable, live and have relationships that transform and grow us

you can’t expect people to open up in emotional space until you do so. to do so is to be reckless

what are the issues attacking your community? how do they come into your work and how do you engage them?

check yrself before you wreck someone else!

be aware of opening wounds before having the knowledge and skills needed to heal

recognize that all committed to change but not all are in same proximity to vulnerability

how are you engaging with code-switching?

regardless of language (body, words, action), always ask yourself “what is the truth this person is trying to communicate to me?”

i am beyond rhetoric, i want relationships

–

purpose of education panel (notes below from during grace lee bogg’s portion):

exodus of students out of schools to sell crack in 1980s is a great critique of the academy. what is the purpose of education? schools need to be about learning about relationships, being more of use to one another and growing in our humanity.

factory systems of top-down education doesn’t work, it’s not relevant

–

facilitating for truth and reconcilation (led by adrienne maree brown):

the 4 agreements:

don’t take things personally. let dynamics of room happen. if you are self-focused, you can’t absorb what is happening

don’t make assumptions. there is so much stuff you can’t even know. ask why are you upset? do you need to bring something to the room?

be impeccable with your word. don’t lie about time or skill set.

always do your best. be fully present.

when in conflict, ask yourself: do you care? why are you upset? what do you need?

how to A.C.T. right:

A: awareness

C: communication

T: truth and reconciliation

must have complete awareness of who you are, triggers you have, your communication styles. recognize when people are speaking from a place of non-awareness or insecurity.

what are your facilitation strengths? triggers that effect your facilitation ability?

trick for facilitation: when you folks divide into small groups, give them one single question to ask each other repeatedly. this makes it so they can listen wholly without mind thinking about what they’re going to ask or say next

exercise with a partner:

what is a lie that has saved your life? after partners tell each other,  point out that lying is a survival technique, if you are going to take away someone’s lie you better make sure they survive.

when have you experienced truth and reconcilitation?

where do you need truth and reconcilitation? two partners act as triggers for each other, causing pain but figuring out how to work through that

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

SPEAK! WOMEN OF COLOR MEDIA COLLECTIVE RELEASING SELF-TITLED DEBUT CD
UNITED STATES — March 7, 2009– SPEAK! Women of Color Media Collective, a netroots coalition of women of color bloggers and media-makers, is debuting March 7, 2009 with a performance art CD, accompanied by a collaborative zine and classroom curriculum for educators.

handful of Speak! members at the Liquid Words studio

Compiled and arranged by Liquid Words Productions, the spoken word CD weaves together the stories, poetry, music, and writings of women of color from across the United States. The 20 tracks, ranging from the explosive “Why Do You Speak?” to the reverent “For Those of Us,” grant a unique perspective into the minds of single mothers, arrested queer and trans activists, excited children, borderland dwellers, and exploring dreamers, among many others. 

“We want other women of color to know they are not alone in their experiences,” said writer and educator Alexis Pauline Gumbs of Broken Beautiful Press, one of the contributors to the CD. “We want them to know that this CD will give sound, voice and space to the often silenced struggles and dreams of women of color.”

The Speak! collective received grant assistance from the Allied Media Conference coordinators to release a zine complementing the works featured on the CD, as well as a teaching curriculum for educators to incorporate its tracks into the classroom environment.

“Speak! is a testament of struggle, hope, and love,” said blogger Lisa Factora-Borchers of A Woman’s Ecdysis. “Many of the contributors are in the Radical Women of Color blogosphere and will be familiar names… I can guarantee you will have the same reaction as to when I heard them speak, I was mesmerized.”

To promote the initiative, the Speak! collective is coordinating listening parties in communities across United States, creating short YouTube promotions illustrating the CD creation process, and collaborating with organizers and activists online and offline.

The CD is available for online ordering at http://speakmediacollective.com on a sliding scale beginning at $12. All inquiries for review copies should be directed to us at speakcd@gmail.com. Proceeds of this album will go toward funding for mothers and/or financially restricted activists attending the 11th Annual Allied Media Conference in Detroit, MI from July 16-19.

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Please spread the word on your blogs and websites!

i’ve been dreading this post (and after a childhood of being the cute crip holding the car wash/bake sale/whatever sign on the side of the road, you would too) but if i want to make it to detroit for the allied media conference (amc), it’s gotta happen…

i am fundraising to go to the amc! my fundraising goal is a big one but it’s gonna cost me $768 total to go and i currently have $250 in the amc piggy bank. (literally, i have an amc piggy. it’s blue and it’s nose lights up as an attack piggy if someone comes close.) i’m still waiting for the day when the airlines have a buy one free deal so PAs can ride for free….

so not to turn this into a capitalist/consumer-provider type relationship but some benefits of me going to amc for you are:

1.) live blogging, a lovely feature. i missed WAM! last weekend but felt like i was there cause of all of the great womyn who blogged every moment of it. [live blogging is when people go to an event and use their blog to report what's going on while it's going on]

2.) work on a caucus for disabled women of color and allies, a session titled Beyond Sickness, Medicine and Charity: Disability in the Media, and the INCITE! WOC track. (this is all dependent on the proposals being accepted, however.)

3.) a surprise thank-you package! this package will either consist of buttons i make for you with my wonderful button machine, a mix cd, or a shirt featuring the words of disability activists, rwoc writers and activists, and other amazing people…or a package of all of the above! (pls, put your addy when using paypal for me to send this to you.)

the best way to donate is by using the paypal button on the left. paypal is completely safe and will not share your financial information with anyone.

aaminah, my lovely lovely aaminah, noemi, and vicky have also put out funding requests (more to come i’m sure.) if you haven’t thought about going to the amc yet, here’s more information and a PSA about it.:

The Allied Media Conference cultivates media strategies for a more just and creative world. Held every June in Detroit, MI, it is the primary point of intersection in the U.S. for alternative media makers and committed social justice activists from around the country.

We come together to share tools and tactics for transforming our communites through media-based organizing. The panel discussions and workshops of the AMC are hands-on and practical, intergenerational while youth-centered. They showcase the solutions emerging from places where creativity is a matter of survival. Out of the AMC, we evolve new skills and strategies to bring back to our local contexts. We deepen our relationships and expand our networks in ways that support ongoing collaboration throughout the year.

Allied Media Projects (AMP) presents the 10th Allied Media Conference, June 20-22 2008, in Detroit, Michigan.

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