We are in West Virginia, with the great folks of Shepherdstown who just put on their annual Global-Local conference. Having just done a shindig (we've been looking for names for the thing that is not like 'show' or 'presentation' that imply one way flow of information... so we're calling it a shindig now) in Baltimore and finally got to see and eat at the legendary Red Emma's
We made it in time to spend an evening around the fire with the folks here with our Evan plus Ryan Harvey (another part of Riot-Folk) sharing some of their songs with us all. I've never seen folks dance so energetic to guitars around a fire.. Shepherdstown Rocks!
We hung out for the 2nd day of the conference - doing a little of our thing and being part of the other workshops. The first workshop was Palestine 101 which was wonderfully interactive, including some games very similar to the ones we do and was followed by a great discussion on global white supremacy, US imperialism, and the tricky depths of trauma, identity, and the Zionist charge of anti-semitism for any critique of Israel.
We did a shortened version of our workshop which flowed directly into a well-facilitated anti-oppression workshop focused on deliberative dialogue and Hurricane Katrina. Deborah, the facilitator, pushed the all white but "anti-racist" crowd to go outside of our comfort zones, saying "if you're not pushing yourself into uncomfortable situations, then you're not doing your work." We then watched a clip from Spike Lee's documentary on Katrina and did a role playing exercise of framing the many issues from the perspectives of New Orleans residents, outside helpers and aid-workers, and FEMA/Coppers.
(Julian:) I had the joy of playing a National Guard officer restoring order in post-Katrina New Orleans! "We're here to restore order and get things up and running, if only you'd stop looting and killing each other!"
All in all, the workshop reinforced the necessity of starting with the foundation of real community dialogue (outside the confines of white radical spaces) in order get any other real work done. Hopefully this tour will be a major step for us pushing ourselves to meet people where they're at, initiating and continuing meaningful dialogues with all those most affected by the disaster that is this society.
(Soph:) I think things we learn on tour are just as valuable as what we communicate - especially for me being in a different culture to where I grew up - and this was a great exercise to try to understand where different folks are coming from in trying to work through problems together.
Before Baltimore was a crazy whirl of shindigs and meeting amazing folks from Florida to Appalachia. We've been welcomed and fed buy some very inspiring communities. The Shepherdstown dumpster diving crew made the most amazing 'freegan' food; it always amazes me how well we can eat from dumpsters.
We visited a high school near Richmond and ran a class there with about 40 kids.. It was great! We broke down their stereotypes of what 'environmentalists' are and we heard they thought we are cool. The fact that we have a rocking folk singer with us really helped, and that we swap around different styles of communicating.
There was a strange moment when we were interrupted by a PA announcement for all the teachers to turn on their TVs which we ended up just carrying on and ignoring.. but the sound over the school PA continued and the point where they were meant to pledge allegiance arrived, when all of the kids stood up and put their hands on their hearts. I think they noticed the bewildered and slightly horrified expressions on our faces, and didn't all really go through with it.
I think we've all been inspired by the great reaction of the class and hope to visit many more high schools on the road.
- Julian & Cookie
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