cripchick's blog

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.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYG7wwMAxoE&hl=en]