Newsletter #2
Dear friends and supporters,
I've been reflecting a lot on something I read in adrienne maree brown’s Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good. In it she asks, “How would we organize and move our communities if we shifted to focus on what we long for and love rather than what we are negatively reacting to?... Could we make justice and liberation the most pleasurable collective experiences we could have?” Women Unite! grapples with that very question, and suggests that yes, perhaps justice and liberation CAN be some of our most joyous collective experiences.
Our organization began as a reaction to something negative, an attempt to pull ourselves from what felt like the edge of an existential cliff. As we continue to explore the question – “what now?” – we’re finding ways to transition to a place of joy, attempting to embed it into all aspects of our work.
Recently, I was again reminded of the beautiful community Women Unite! is constructing. It was after a meeting with three of our board members to plan our third anniversary party and fundraiser, which will be on Saturday, December 7 from 7:00 - 11:00 pm at Hairpin Arts Center (shameless plug). After our planning session, we sat on my back porch, enjoying one of the year's few remaining summer evenings. We caught up on what’s been going on in our lives and eventually started talking about weightier issues like how we’ve been unlearning some of our messed up understandings of love. We talked about how love is often presented as a finite resource that must be distributed sparingly and uniformly. We waxed poetic about diverse ecosystems of love. We asked ourselves: what would happen if we - as individuals and a collective - had the freedom to love each other fully and in a broad spectrum of ways? (This conversation brought to you by our wine-infused interpretations of adrienne maree brown, and Sade playing in the background.)
I'm so grateful for Women Unite! and the many ways they’re helping expand my understanding of what it means to live joyfully and love fully. In this newsletter, you’ll get a chance to catch up with us and see how we’re slowly moving toward a practice rooted in love, focused on joy, and unabashedly open to the politics of feeling good. Are we there yet? Certainly not, but with your support, adriennes’s wisdom, and Sade’s music, we’re well on our way.
With joy,
Liz Jansen
Co-Founder & Executive Director