![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
judecorpOkay, so, I have some pictures and some stuff to show, but The Girl is being the absolute best and is making me pancakes so I don't have her camera hooked up and I'm too lazy to figure out her scanner... so those things will have to come in another post. But let me say this, and I say it especially for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
zuzubailey76:
DAR WILLIAMS AND I ATE DINNER TOGETHER AND DISCUSSED GENDER POLITICS.
Holy crap. I could just about die. You see, Jennifer and I went to pick up all the food for Dar. Melissa told me (no, not THAT Melissa) that only I would be allowed to bring the food up, but there was too much, so I needed my girl. Yay. Anyway, we get up to where Dar is supposed to eat and she's NOT THERE. She's still in sound check. So Patience and Erica come up, and Jonathan, and we decide that we're all going to sit there and wait because by gods, I was going to meet Dar Williams.
So finallyhopemcg brings Dar up from sound check and we all say hi, and she goes in to see her lunch and we decide to give her some time to chill. And Brett comes up and is like, "So do you want to meet Dar?" and I'm like, "DUH." So I go in, and Erica and Jen and Patience and Jonathan come, and I say something stupid like, "Hi, I'm Jude, I delivered your food." Heh. Anyway, Dar then says something to the effect of, "There's so much food here so you guys should all come in and eat some. Oh, and I have a song working itself out in my head but it's not ready yet so we can all chat." Hello, intimidating! We sit down and munch on baby carrots, and DAR WILLIAMS BEGINS MAKING SMALL TALK.
She asks if we're students and all of that, and then asks if we're from Columbus, and I tell her I'm from New England and she starts asking me if it was a shock to move here from the East Coast. Later, out of the clear blue, Dar starts talking about how someone emailed her asking her stance on the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival. (For those who don't know, Michigan is currently getting a lot of heat because some people maintain that only womyn-born womyn can participate, and many other people are fighting for trans inclusion.) So, wow, loaded convo. And Patience skirts around the issue a little, saying that it's a big issue around here, and Dar gives her opinion about how women have been fighting for a safe space and how she feels that when men are taken out of the equation, women have the ability to process their aggressions and direct them toward each other, and that she would worry about transwomen bearing the brunt of that aggression and all of that.
Now I am SOOOO not quiet or shy or shortwinded when it comes to gender, but I was trying not to say too much because WHO AM I TO PREACH TO DAR WILLIAMS? Anyway, so finally I couldn't help it, and started waxing all philosophical about how the Michigan controversy causes us to really examine the concept of gender and the privilege of being born in the correct body, and I bring up social change and struggle and tie it in with something she said about the peace rally in New York City. And then, oh my god, Dar Williams said, "That's a good point." And things got quiet.
A few minutes later, she said, "I'm still thinking about what you said. That's an excellent analogy." And she said that I was right that the current dominant population is /never/ ready for social change (because she had said that the coordinator of Michigan said she would consider letting transwomen in when the population was ready for it). And she said that I was right that by polling the people who are participating in the festival, you're getting skewed results because you can't hear from the people who are barred from participating or the people who are boycotting.
Later she told me that I "made her think." And that she was /still thinking/. She signed my "Mortal City" CD: To Jude, who made me think. Dar Williams.
OH MY GOODNESS, I MAY HAVE CHANGED DAR WILLIAMS'S POSITION ON TRANS-INCLUSION AT MICHIGAN.
And that is all.
zuzubailey76:DAR WILLIAMS AND I ATE DINNER TOGETHER AND DISCUSSED GENDER POLITICS.
Holy crap. I could just about die. You see, Jennifer and I went to pick up all the food for Dar. Melissa told me (no, not THAT Melissa) that only I would be allowed to bring the food up, but there was too much, so I needed my girl. Yay. Anyway, we get up to where Dar is supposed to eat and she's NOT THERE. She's still in sound check. So Patience and Erica come up, and Jonathan, and we decide that we're all going to sit there and wait because by gods, I was going to meet Dar Williams.
So finally
hopemcg brings Dar up from sound check and we all say hi, and she goes in to see her lunch and we decide to give her some time to chill. And Brett comes up and is like, "So do you want to meet Dar?" and I'm like, "DUH." So I go in, and Erica and Jen and Patience and Jonathan come, and I say something stupid like, "Hi, I'm Jude, I delivered your food." Heh. Anyway, Dar then says something to the effect of, "There's so much food here so you guys should all come in and eat some. Oh, and I have a song working itself out in my head but it's not ready yet so we can all chat." Hello, intimidating! We sit down and munch on baby carrots, and DAR WILLIAMS BEGINS MAKING SMALL TALK.She asks if we're students and all of that, and then asks if we're from Columbus, and I tell her I'm from New England and she starts asking me if it was a shock to move here from the East Coast. Later, out of the clear blue, Dar starts talking about how someone emailed her asking her stance on the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival. (For those who don't know, Michigan is currently getting a lot of heat because some people maintain that only womyn-born womyn can participate, and many other people are fighting for trans inclusion.) So, wow, loaded convo. And Patience skirts around the issue a little, saying that it's a big issue around here, and Dar gives her opinion about how women have been fighting for a safe space and how she feels that when men are taken out of the equation, women have the ability to process their aggressions and direct them toward each other, and that she would worry about transwomen bearing the brunt of that aggression and all of that.
Now I am SOOOO not quiet or shy or shortwinded when it comes to gender, but I was trying not to say too much because WHO AM I TO PREACH TO DAR WILLIAMS? Anyway, so finally I couldn't help it, and started waxing all philosophical about how the Michigan controversy causes us to really examine the concept of gender and the privilege of being born in the correct body, and I bring up social change and struggle and tie it in with something she said about the peace rally in New York City. And then, oh my god, Dar Williams said, "That's a good point." And things got quiet.
A few minutes later, she said, "I'm still thinking about what you said. That's an excellent analogy." And she said that I was right that the current dominant population is /never/ ready for social change (because she had said that the coordinator of Michigan said she would consider letting transwomen in when the population was ready for it). And she said that I was right that by polling the people who are participating in the festival, you're getting skewed results because you can't hear from the people who are barred from participating or the people who are boycotting.
Later she told me that I "made her think." And that she was /still thinking/. She signed my "Mortal City" CD: To Jude, who made me think. Dar Williams.
OH MY GOODNESS, I MAY HAVE CHANGED DAR WILLIAMS'S POSITION ON TRANS-INCLUSION AT MICHIGAN.
And that is all.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-02-16 01:10 pm (UTC)go you!
thats fucking rad...
yay for making people think!
*hugs*
no subject
Date: 2003-02-16 01:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-02-16 01:14 pm (UTC)Now if it really happens and she /does/ change her stance, even a little bit, I can only imagine the ramifications. She has a big fan base.
*hugs*
no subject
Date: 2003-02-16 01:27 pm (UTC)Well done!
no subject
Date: 2003-02-16 01:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-02-16 01:36 pm (UTC)Congrats, Jude. Sounds like you had a great weekend, with ramifications that may well reach well outside your own personal happiness.
no subject
Date: 2003-02-16 01:45 pm (UTC)Wow. I am still awed :-)
no subject
Date: 2003-02-16 01:49 pm (UTC)And now I am off to do more laundry. The lack of sun is making me be useful. (For all the snow we get back in Colorado, it sure is sunnier there and I miss that. I haven't seen the sun in a few days.)
no subject
There was some movie, I can't remember now, but some guy is yelling at somebody, "You made my girlfriend think!"
Wish I could remember what it was. Anyway,
And very eery coincidence, I have 2578 mp3s in Winamp, and just when I started to read this entry, "When I Was a Boy" came on!!!!!!!!!
no subject
Date: 2003-02-16 04:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-02-16 05:29 pm (UTC)are.
so.
cool.
(andIamsojealous!!!)
no subject
Date: 2003-02-16 08:51 pm (UTC)10am - attend conference
10:30am - hear Moises Kaufman speak
1:00pm - have sushi with girlfriend
2:00pm - forego conference to have amazing sex
4:30pm - return to conference to plan
5:30pm - pick up food
6:00pm - meet Dar Williams
7:00pm - finish eating and discussing politics with Dar Williams
8:00pm - see Toshi Reagon & Dar in concert. Front row.
10:30pm - keep front row seats to see Suzanne Westenhoefer
12:30am - go to Tee Jaye's with
Yes. :)
no subject
Date: 2003-02-16 08:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-02-16 08:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-02-16 08:53 pm (UTC)However, The Girl and I often wistfully pontificate wealthy days that consist of purchasing a summer home in 'hamp.
no subject
Date: 2003-02-16 08:54 pm (UTC)I'm just really glad Jen was there sitting beside me, holding my hand. I think it helped.
no subject
Date: 2003-02-16 08:54 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-02-16 08:54 pm (UTC)the world needs people like you. *nods*
Sometimes there are no coincidences.
Date: 2003-02-16 08:55 pm (UTC)I should email Dar and thank her. :)
no subject
Date: 2003-02-16 08:57 pm (UTC)Hopefully they'll change some things up there in Michigan soon.
no subject
no subject
Date: 2003-02-17 12:15 am (UTC)I've broached the MWMF subject with other lesbians in the past (not so much because I'm all interested in attending, because outside of one or two acts, there's really not the appeal to my tastes; but rather as a general matter of equality and fairness), and most of them trot out the same arguments that the organizers have fired back for years. The "safe space" arguments and all that jazz. And I can totally understand why some people would be uncomfortable around alot of MtF transsexuals. Hell, I'm uncomfortable around most of them! That's why I avoid the "support" groups like the plague. But I find it ironic that a movement that talks about breaking gender barriers then erect them when such barriers suit their purposes. And while I can understand the need for "safe space" in rape-survivor groups and that sort of thing, is that the same atmosphere that they're seeking to promote at MWMF?
Just some of my thoughts...
Re:
Date: 2003-02-17 04:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-02-17 05:44 am (UTC)Women under 25 almost wholeheartedly support the inclusion of MtF women. They are also the ones who seem to be actively boycotting, actively picketing outside of events, and actively contacting performers to find out their positions.
Women from 25-35 can be pretty evenly split. Either they see both sides and can't decide, or they're on one side or the other, but there is no set thing. And even if they disagree, they might still attend.
Women over 35 seem to be pretty solidly against trans-inclusion. They're very vocal about it. They're also the ones running it.
Dar and I were chatting about (ha ha ha, I am so loving writing this) how passionate the women who attend MWMF are about having a safe space, a male-free space. She mentioned that a friend of hers once said something like, "Where else can a 300 pound pagan lesbian with a beard not only fit in, but be a goddess?" (I didn't really like her friend's comment, but hey.) Having never attended, I can't really attest to the overall feeling, but from what I've been told, it's very positive and affirming for the women who attend, but at the same time it can be very hostile. It seems that in a space where women aren't encouraged to be meek, subservient, or quiet, things can get quite testy.
I think in a lot of ways this generational difference is also due to the struggle that these women (especially lesbians) have had to endure in their lifetimes. Those dykes in their 40s, 50s, and 60s did a whole hell of a lot of fighting, of struggling, of being jeered at, of being attacked, of standing out, of keeping secret... all in the name of progress. It is on their coattails that I have the freedom to walk hand-in-hand with my girlfriend on the street, to kiss her on the corner. And my generation has reaped some of these benefits, but we still had to fight a little more, and we feel the sting.
There are young people today who are able to experience coming out in high school, dating someone of the same sex in high school, and in some cases, having their schools and families support them and affirm them. This is an amazing thing! As the Indigo Girls say, "Rock is good, but the struggle is better." Everyone needs something passionate to bind to their souls and fight for. Some of the younger women aren't fighting (as much) for equality, and they're not fighting (as much) for queer acceptance. So they're kicking it up a notch.
I say, good for them. But for those women who came before me who fought so fucking hard so that I can bring pictures of my girlfriend into my workplace, I can only say, "Thank you for everything. And I understand a little better why you might be wary to rock the boat even a little." Dar helped me see their side a little better, and I'm appreciative for that.
But justice is justice, and wimmin are wimmin, and I still say we should be letting ALL wimmin in!
no subject
no subject
Date: 2003-02-17 06:06 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-02-17 06:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-02-17 07:09 am (UTC)It's such an incredible rush when someone you admire so much actually cares to listen to your points, and then possibly bases a change of opinion on said points. Congrats!
I totally wish I had a chance to go to college with you, everything you write about seems like things I've thought myself but had no outlet for them at the time.
no subject
Date: 2003-02-17 07:20 am (UTC)I was totally shocked that we had such an important conversation. I mean, I didn't go into it thinking we would ever say anything past, "Hi, I totally like you, will you sign my CD?" And to think we spent about 45 minutes just chatting, it was amazing.
Sometimes I forgot that there were other people in the room. And sometimes it seemed like she was only talking to me. It was pretty awesome.
I would have liked to have known you in college. You would have challenged me on many levels. That would have been awesome. :)
Re:
Date: 2003-02-17 07:28 am (UTC)did you go to school here?
photos; what i dont understand about LJ is that they seem to work on some peoples friends page and not others; likewise peoples photos on mine. oh well. come back for a visit (to mylastsigh)
Hi, Joe Eloquent...
Date: 2003-02-17 07:38 am (UTC)Wow, I am being way too sunshiny for me...but I am pretty damn pleased for you!
Re:
Date: 2003-02-17 10:44 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-02-17 02:27 pm (UTC)Do you know any homeowners who would like some extra money? I must move by the end of this month, and I would like to rent a room from someone. I can afford to pay $100 per month right now, and more by this summer.
no subject
Date: 2003-02-17 11:42 pm (UTC)i hear it's good.
no subject
Date: 2003-02-18 06:23 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-02-18 07:16 am (UTC)it's very hard coming up with new material :)
no subject
Date: 2003-02-18 07:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-02-18 03:55 pm (UTC)The pictures work, but they're really large, so they would totally throw off my screen. However, I will continue to look, because they're purrrrrrty! :)
No, I didn't go to school out there. My brother went to UMass, though, and I spent two summers with him. I went to school in NY.
no subject
Date: 2003-02-18 03:58 pm (UTC)I think I have a brochure at work. I will look for the phone number, or you could try searching the Internet for the Homesharing program. http://www.nwestcs.org/
Re: Hi, Joe Eloquent...
Date: 2003-02-18 03:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-02-18 03:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-02-18 04:00 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-02-18 04:02 pm (UTC)LOTS of snow yesterday.
Re:
Date: 2003-02-18 05:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-02-18 08:34 pm (UTC)