As promised, here are our minutes from the last meeting, as recorded by the lovely and talented JV:
9/7/10
Girls to the Front Planning Session
*Bear with me, I tried my best to record what I could, edit where you see fit/ if you remember something and I missed it.
Attendees:
Alex, Natasha, Lauryl, Isabella, Monica, Julie, Milo, Chris, Mary Catherine, Sarah, Aldin, Erin, Angie, Brandy
Items Discussed:
Friday the 22nd there will be an event involving guest writer Sarah Marcus and her new book about Riot Grrrl history.
Reasons for and goals for having the event:
One reason was that Sarah was touring with her book
Goals include bringing Milwaukee’s queer and feminist community together in one place at one time through the lens of Riot Grrl. There are pockets of people doing really creative things but this would be a chance to bring everyone together.
Main Sponsors:
-Q-zap
-Broader Vocabulary
Space:
This is something of a larger discussion. With the little time we have, and with little resources, what are the best places for events to take place?
-Pink House - confirmed space
-Cream City Collectives - confirmed space
-public spaces
-Stonefly
-all over town or just in the Riverwest area?
Events:
-music (duh!) Whomever knows/wants to play can play
-kids space-mention was made to have allies and non-trad care takers give moms a chance to participate in events as they watch the kids
-art gallery, portraits
-healing space
-sexual violence workshop
-mention was made to what should and should not be a part of the events
-Do It Yourself Tattoos
-Miltown Kings Events
-Pedal Pusher event
-gaming/er workshop
-Welfare Warriors
-Riot Grrrl 101
-female spoken word
-zine making/showcase event
-faces of feminism ("Ask a Feminist" booth in public spaces)
-porn
-DJ event with Brandy?
Schedule and communication:
-google calender? Isabella?
-who has final say in booking and scheduling? - lauryl and evelyn are more technical backbone so if you’re interested in organizing an event, talk to them for logistics
-Julie - I will volunteer to continue the minute making/recording process as well as facilitating communications just let me know what ideas you have
-Next meeting will be on Tuesday Sept 14th. at 6:30pm as was tonight’s meeting.
Lauryl's Update:
-Isabella contacted the Pink House (corner of Booth & Wright in Riverwest) for a potential meeting space, but they are booked on Tuesday nights. Can anyone think of another good space? OR, should we reschedule meeting for Thursday, when Pink House will be available? What says the gallery? Comments, please!
Friday, September 10, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Post-Meeting Thoughts
SO. I just got back from this week's GTTF planning hangout and here is my report
We were kind of worried that it would just be the two of us, alone with our little notebooks and our dreams of solidarity. Instead we got such a big crew that we had to move our asses outside and have our meeting out on Alterra's blustery patio. We've gone ahead and scheduled our next meeting for next week Tuesday (Sept. 14th) at 6:30, but we will be changing locations to better accommodate such a large posse. We'll post the new meeting spot as soon as we lock it in. Also, I am going to bring Newman-O's. Because Newman-O's make meetings awesome.
I will post the meeting minutes here within the next day or two. In the meantime, I'd like to post some thoughts on our purpose for putting this shit together, and maybe also humbly ask all y'all to post your thoughts in the comments section. Maybe we can get a totally rad convo going.
The largest question of the night was: What is our purpose in putting together this event? Here are some answers that we came up with...
1.Solidarity in a climate of non-acceptance. We discussed how the current political climate is being dominated by talk-radio fake-asses and reactionaries who seem to think that they are speaking for the "true America", and who are bent on promoting the idea that most people in this country share their views. Girls To The Front can provide a counterpoint, at least here in MKE. Visibility, baby!
2. Creating a safe, supportive space for people who are marginalized by sex, gender identity, race, ability, or economic status.
3. Thinking specifically about the Riot Grrrl movement; how it formed many of our identites, how it contributed to the discussion of gender in the 1990s and how those contributions have survived, been assimilated, or been co-opted today. Also, asking ourselves what was important about riot grrrl, what things defined it...music, zines, activism, meeting like-minded people, meeting people who were different from yourself... We can also stir up some of that awesome riot grrrl energy and apply it in new ways!
4. Bringing together disparate groups with common or complementary goals and vibes. We talked a bit about how Milwaukee has a lot of awesome people who do awesome things, how we often do these things near but not with others in our community who are doing other awesome things. Think about how many people you know in your neighborhood alone who do incredible work...music, art, activism, writing, theater, weirdness, whatevs. We want to bring people together and make contact! We want even MORE awesome shit to occur, and if we all get together in the same places, there can be totally exciting fusions!
5. Promoting feminism. We talked about how lots of women today seem to push away from the label of "feminist", even though women benefit greatly from the advances wrought by feminism. We are interested in reaching out to people who might be unsure or misinformed about what it means to be a feminist. We want to show people that there is a whole spectrum of feminist thought. We want to take back feminism from those who would like to corrupt and co-opt it to fit their decidedly anti-woman agendas. Also, it would be great to reach out to men and show them that feminism is for everybody, that there is benefit for males in feminism as well.
6. Because it will totally be awesome in every way.
7. Also, SA, MCC, and I discussed how we think it is perfectly okay to use the phrase "balls to the wall". What do you think? Is ball talk inappropriate in a feminist setting? Lordy, I hope not.
I'm probably forgetting things...other peeps feel free to add to this list. I'm going to go to bed now, but before I do, I'm going to leave you with this quote:
"You don't need to call yourself a feminist in order to be doing great feminist work. People often ask me that: Well don't you think it's important that they call themselves feminists? Not for me it's not. For them, though, there's a real benefit in calling yourself a feminist because you have access to this community and this support system that you may not know is there. So that's why I really try to encourage young women to not only keep believing in those feminist values, keep fighting for them, but also to identify as feminist for their own sake, and for their own well-being." -Jessica Valenti
Posted by Lauryl Sulfate
We were kind of worried that it would just be the two of us, alone with our little notebooks and our dreams of solidarity. Instead we got such a big crew that we had to move our asses outside and have our meeting out on Alterra's blustery patio. We've gone ahead and scheduled our next meeting for next week Tuesday (Sept. 14th) at 6:30, but we will be changing locations to better accommodate such a large posse. We'll post the new meeting spot as soon as we lock it in. Also, I am going to bring Newman-O's. Because Newman-O's make meetings awesome.
I will post the meeting minutes here within the next day or two. In the meantime, I'd like to post some thoughts on our purpose for putting this shit together, and maybe also humbly ask all y'all to post your thoughts in the comments section. Maybe we can get a totally rad convo going.
The largest question of the night was: What is our purpose in putting together this event? Here are some answers that we came up with...
1.Solidarity in a climate of non-acceptance. We discussed how the current political climate is being dominated by talk-radio fake-asses and reactionaries who seem to think that they are speaking for the "true America", and who are bent on promoting the idea that most people in this country share their views. Girls To The Front can provide a counterpoint, at least here in MKE. Visibility, baby!
2. Creating a safe, supportive space for people who are marginalized by sex, gender identity, race, ability, or economic status.
3. Thinking specifically about the Riot Grrrl movement; how it formed many of our identites, how it contributed to the discussion of gender in the 1990s and how those contributions have survived, been assimilated, or been co-opted today. Also, asking ourselves what was important about riot grrrl, what things defined it...music, zines, activism, meeting like-minded people, meeting people who were different from yourself... We can also stir up some of that awesome riot grrrl energy and apply it in new ways!
4. Bringing together disparate groups with common or complementary goals and vibes. We talked a bit about how Milwaukee has a lot of awesome people who do awesome things, how we often do these things near but not with others in our community who are doing other awesome things. Think about how many people you know in your neighborhood alone who do incredible work...music, art, activism, writing, theater, weirdness, whatevs. We want to bring people together and make contact! We want even MORE awesome shit to occur, and if we all get together in the same places, there can be totally exciting fusions!
5. Promoting feminism. We talked about how lots of women today seem to push away from the label of "feminist", even though women benefit greatly from the advances wrought by feminism. We are interested in reaching out to people who might be unsure or misinformed about what it means to be a feminist. We want to show people that there is a whole spectrum of feminist thought. We want to take back feminism from those who would like to corrupt and co-opt it to fit their decidedly anti-woman agendas. Also, it would be great to reach out to men and show them that feminism is for everybody, that there is benefit for males in feminism as well.
6. Because it will totally be awesome in every way.
7. Also, SA, MCC, and I discussed how we think it is perfectly okay to use the phrase "balls to the wall". What do you think? Is ball talk inappropriate in a feminist setting? Lordy, I hope not.
I'm probably forgetting things...other peeps feel free to add to this list. I'm going to go to bed now, but before I do, I'm going to leave you with this quote:
"You don't need to call yourself a feminist in order to be doing great feminist work. People often ask me that: Well don't you think it's important that they call themselves feminists? Not for me it's not. For them, though, there's a real benefit in calling yourself a feminist because you have access to this community and this support system that you may not know is there. So that's why I really try to encourage young women to not only keep believing in those feminist values, keep fighting for them, but also to identify as feminist for their own sake, and for their own well-being." -Jessica Valenti
Posted by Lauryl Sulfate
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