It feels great to be back in Washington Hall! This is my third WWR. The aroma of home cooking greets us as we go up the stairs. The altar and ofrenda are bright, colorful, gorgeous. The film fest is underway—the audience is the usual beautiful mix of young women (and a few young men). Alice Bag’s hair is blue this year! The UW grad students are sprinkled through the crowd–they stand out to me because I’ve seen their work deepen over the last three years, and seeing them makes me wish I knew as much about every other young woman here–I want to know what questions and what hopes drive each of them. I aim to chat with at least some of them this evening.
Author Archives: taikodeb
WWR graduate mentoring panel
Had a great time today listening to grad student work and faculty suggestions. What a vibrant group of women!
Bowled over
One of the bloggers just turned to me and said “There’s some major friggin talent here.” Spot on.
Open mic night
I’m knocked over by the power of these performances, from spoken word to original songs. The audience is totally locked in—-attentive, supportive, aware, responsive. So much of this work speaks truth to power with grace and clarity. So much passion. So much bravery.
Bloggers
Wondering who’s doing all the blogging? Here are some of us. I love the intensity of writing quickly and responsively, as the unconference unfolds!
Nobuko Miyamoto and Monica Rojas rehearsing this morning
Just a few minutes from now, we’ll hear these two amazing women in performance!
“What does hist…
“What does history mean to you? Where do you encounter history? History allows us to think about who we are.” (Deborah Vargas)
Critical mass
Wow, the intersectional/multiple identity unconference session is JAMMED. There must be 40 people here, crowded into a corner of the ballroom, and they’re an amazing mixture of (mostly) youth of color—folks in their teens & twenties; at least half are men; ah, I think they’re high school students brought here by their teacher…
OK, it’s 45 minutes later and they’re all still hard at it! Now there are over 50 participants and they’re really FOCUSED—they’re into it! They’re hearing about Audre Lord, Tupac, the dissonant divas Deb Vargas has so lovingly written about, etc.—this is good stuff.
Ofrenda
The WWR altar is taking shape!
Critical energy
One of many great moments yestreday in the mentoring workshop at UW!
Women Who Rock 