call for workshop proposals: anarchist organizing in the midwest

Via Infoshop:

CALL FOR WORKSHOP PROPOSALS
2nd Annual FINDING OUR ROOTS: Anarchist Organizing in the Midwest

We are seeking workshop proposals for the second annual Finding Our Roots conference, to be held in Chicago April 25-27, 2008. This year’s conference topic is Anarchist Organizing in the Midwest.

Workshops should address any aspect of the ways in which anarchists do, can, or should organize in our region. Central questions to consider when formulating workshop ideas:

*How do we organize ourselves as anarchists?
*How can we organize across diverse communities and political tendencies?
*What does it mean to organize locally as communities, as cities, as a region?

We strongly encourage proposals covering intersections between anarchism and other communities of resistance. Potential topics include Queer resistance, anti-racist organizing, labor/workplace organizing, organizing by and with communities of Color, neighborhood organizing, gender equality, transportation rights, environmental justice, health care, housing and household-based organizing, anti-military/anti-recruitment campaigns, prison abolition and prisoner support, anti-hunger/food redistribution campaigns, organizing against sexual violence, media activism, student organizing, and any other area in which Midwest anarchists are organizing.

Proposals should be NO MORE THAN ONE PAGE and should include:

- Workshop title
- Your name and contact info (and those of workshop presenter(s) if this isn’t you ¡V though please make sure you have confirmed with all presenters BEFORE you volunteer them)
- Specific area(s) of organizing/activism covered (see above list)
- Detailed workshop description, including an explanation of how your workshop fits into the topic of Anarchist Organizing in the Midwest
- Questions to be posed/answered in the workshop
- Main workshop goals
- Workshop format (Will it be an open discussion? Panel/roundtable? Lecture followed by Q&A? **If workshop will involve a presentation followed by discussion/Q&A, please consider how much time you will devote to each.)
- Any special materials or equipment (ie, audiovisual) you will need
- BRIEF reading list [optional]

Workshops are one hour and fifteen minutes (75 minutes) long. Workshops will be scheduled in 90-minute blocks, which INCLUDES a 10-15 minute break between workshops. We ask that presenters be diligent about staying within this time frame. If you feel you need more time for your workshop, please explain why, and we will consider allotting a longer slot.

Submit proposals to: chicagoanarchisttheory@riseup.net
Proposal deadline: March 1, 2008

www.mayfirst.wordpress.com

a yule tale

Last night, Trillium Reclaiming gathered to celebrate Yule by sharing food and stories. I wrote my story before, because that works better for me than telling stories orally. I want to share the story here as well. It is based on some very old stories. It is also, in a way, my story. Perhaps you will find that it is yours too.

When the world was young, a god named Jehovah decided to create a garden. He sculpted the dry deserts sands into lush greenery. He sat in the garden, admiring his handiwork. It was good. But something was missing. Jehovah was lonely. And so he took the wet soil of the garden in his hands and formed it into two bodies, shaped like his own body. He kissed the earthen lips of each body, and blew into each of them the breath of life.

The two of them opened their eyes, and smiled at the wonder of the world around them. “Welcome home, my children,” Jehovah said. “You are Adam,” he said, pointing to the man. “You are Lilith,” he said, pointing to the woman. “Everything in this garden is yours to enjoy.” Jehovah was afraid that they would leave, so he added, “Only, you must never leave this place. If you step foot into the sands beyond the garden, you will surely die. You must not disobey me, for I gave you life.”

open letters

It took me a long time to realize the truth that the Internet is not a private place. Now that I have this blog, it’s pretty obvious. When people leave comments, I can see their ISP addresses. I can also see the search terms that people use to find their way here.

A few weeks ago, someone found my blog by searching, “how to turn your father in for molestation.” My heart goes out to this person, whoever and wherever they are. There is so much that I want to say to them. Some of it, I realize, is based on my own regrets and personal reactions – like my desire to say, “Run away! Get out of that house as soon as you can.” But, as I know nothing about this person other than what they typed into an Internet search, I don’t know if that’s good advice, or even if they are still living with their father. I also want to say, “I don’t know where you live, or the laws and social systems there, so I can’t really tell you how to turn your father in, but I can tell you this: keep talking to people about it. If you’re a child, tell your teachers, your relatives, adults that you trust. Whatever your age, start with the person you trust the most, who you feel most comfortable talking to about this. Know that some people might doubt the truth of what you say or react badly. This will be painful but don’t let it stop you. Keep telling people until someone believes you.” But, again, while I think this is generally a good approach, I don’t know the person’s situation, either psychologically or socially, and I can imagine contexts where this may not be the best plan.

So, this is what I want to say to the person who searched for “how to turn you father in for molestation”: I don’t know you. We’ve never met, not even virtually, or exchanged words. But we share a life-changing experience in common. I was molested by my father too. Many, many people have been. And so, in a sense, no matter what your life is like, you are not alone. There is a vast communion of survivors who have lived through the abuse, spoken out about it, and reclaimed their hearts and lives. I have faith that you can do this too. Although I know next to nothing about you, I know that you have survived so far. I know that you are searching out ways to bring about justice and stop the violence you have experienced/are experiencing. Because of these things, I believe that you have great internal strength, courage, and the power to cause change. I also believe that you have wisdom and insight: a voice inside you that watches the world and knows–the part of you that has kept you as safe as it could, and has done this difficult task well enough that you survived the hell of incest with enough strength left to seek out justice and transformation. You can trust this voice. You can find this voice deep inside of you, in the stillness beneath your stomach. I don’t know the details of your life, so I can’t tell you what you should do. But you know the details of your life. And that inner voice can tell you what you should do. Listen to it.

the need for heroes

Troy Williams at Queer Gnosis wrote an important post about the looming, potentially catastrophic challenges humanity faces. He discusses the dangerous allure of fantasies of being rescued by heroes, and the vital necessity of owning up to our own power and responsibility–the two edged truth that we have contributed to creating this mess and that we have the power to transform it. Here is an excerpt:

But there is a danger in how we engage our myths. There are often malevolent Archons that distort truth with deception. Conservative religions and political strategists have fostered an unhealthy and excessive dependency on external saviors and heroes. They perpetuate the delusion that we should look outside ourselves for power. Many frightened Americans look to President Bush to protect us from terrorists. Some of us look to religions to spare us from the wrath of vengeful gods. Many of us look to lovers to save us from loneliness. We are always struggling with self-doubt and self-loathing. We are vulnerable creatures perpetually in need of redemption. We too often look to others to rescue us from real or imagined monsters. We are still (to invoke the great Bonnie Tyler) “holding out for a hero till the end of the night”. But the real question is, who will save us from the monsters of our own creation?

Because here is the brutal truth: Jesus aint coming back. President Hilary Clinton will perpetuate war. Climate change is going to wreak havoc on the planet. Life in the very near future is going to be hell. There is no hero “out there”. We are all we’ve got. And the sooner we accept this reality the sooner we can seriously get onto solving our problems.

Read the rest here.

erasing the great lakes

I was displeased when I saw this Google Analytics map of the site visitors to The Bilerico Project, because of it’s inaccurate depiction of Michigan as a single, strange lump rather than two peninsulas separated by the largest bodies of fresh water in the world. Now, I can imagine that Google Analytics choose to depict Michigan in this way in order to avoid confusion about the two peninsulas being separate states. And I admit that it is partially native pride in Michigan’s unique shape that inspires my concern. But, seriously, in a nation that is embarrassingly geographically illiterate and dangerously ecologically unaware, do we really want to create maps that inaccurately erase enormous, irreplaceable lakes that are facing multiple, serious crises?