Image by Uppity Biscuit. Thanks, Uppity!
I am leaving no stone unturned in trying to get myself to the Feminist Hullaballoo in Santa Fe next weekend to hear Mary Daly, Sonia Johnson, Cherrie Moraga, Alix Dobkin, Afia Walking Tree, and other amazing womyn, and so I am asking for your help. Yeah, it’s the last moment. I’ve always been a last moment kind of a person, and it has generally worked out okay for me (which is a blog post I’m going to write one day). 🙂 I’ve crunched the numbers every which way, upside down and right-side up– I don’t have enough money to get myself there and back. I do have babysitting all lined up, I’ve got the days off, I’ve got a place to stay, I’ve got a ride from the airport and back to the airport. But I’ve plain had too many financial emergencies and crises over the past couple of months (including my well pump breaking down. :/)
I promise that if I can get myself there, I will write my fingers to the bone reporting everything that happens in detail.
Mary Daly and Sonia Johnson, in particular, have always been my sheroes. Their writings have sustained me so many, many times. I want to meet them, hear them.
If you can help me, I will be so grateful. If you can’t, I understand!
You can help via Paypal by clicking here.
Heart
Hi Heart,
I can’t go, even if i had all the $$$ in the world (medical reasons), and *one* of us has to go, so it’s going to be you. 🙂
Donation sent.
Love, Mary
Posted by Mary Sunshine | June 16, 2007, 11:02 amThanks, Mary. I wish we could all go!
Heart
Posted by Heart | June 16, 2007, 12:00 pmI’m halfway there! Ah, crying my eyes out, too!
Posted by womensspace | June 16, 2007, 3:51 pmHi. I’ve been reading your blog for about a week now, and it’s been great to see such wonderful radical feminist views. (I live in the heart of Conservative Canada, sigh, where not taking a husband’s last name is radical.)
Anyway, I’ve sent a donation for you via PayPal, so I hope you make it! It’s the kind of event I long for, and one of us should get to go. But I expect many, many reports, including a lot on Mary Daly (as she’s been one of my writing inspirations for a long time).
Magic Always,
Trasie
Posted by Trasie | June 16, 2007, 3:53 pmDear Heart,
I only started reading this blog a short time ago, but it has blessed me so much that I wanted to say thank you by sending a donation (under a different screen name, just now). I’ve cried many times while reading things here. Just the way that you said, referring to the controversy about Bitch recently, that this is a place where women come first and where women’s voices will be heard–it brought tears to my eyes because that is so precious and so rare.
We have some things in common. Among them, I was part of an authoritarian religious community for many years, so your sharing of your experience has been really healing and valuable to me. Also, I have children that I love and I know what it’s like to try to raise them in a culture that is so hostile to any real love and caring. Mary Daly and Sonia Johnson are two of my most admired foremothers ever! I love their work so much. You will be taking my hopes and dreams with you to Hullabaloo, along with those of many others, I’m sure. So go and love every minute of it, and please bring back as much of the experience as you possibly can.
Posted by anuna | June 16, 2007, 4:28 pmI would so love to go, but as you know, my personal circumstances prevent me right now. My little contribution has been sent. Have agreat time and tell us all about it!
Posted by Branjor | June 16, 2007, 6:33 pmI love you, Trasie and Branjor and Mary Sunshine and all of you wimmin.
xxxooo
2/3 of the way there!
I’ve been walking around blubbering.
I have never asked for help like this in my whole life. Well, maybe until I was a young teenager. That’s sad. 😦 I knew it was something I needed and wanted to do, not just for myself, but for all of us. Sisterhood really is powerful. At some point I have to believe in it enough myself, personally, where the rubber meets the road, that I actually trust that sisterhood IS powerful and that I CAN trust it, you. Trust I don’t really do so well. 😦 I am stoic, I gut it out, I say I’m fine, I’m great, everything is all right, I vow that I will take care of myself.
But you women did not fail me! My trust was not misplaced, and not only because of your amazing response, but because of your support and encouragement, and that you didn’t scold me for asking, which I knew you wouldn’t, but I have that really, really deep, that fear of asking for what I need or want, and that’s a whole series of posts, but I know every one of you understands.
Radical feminists have been responsible for so, so much of my healing. I can’t even tell you how much. I can’t begin to say.
Blubber.
🙂
Heart
Posted by womensspace | June 16, 2007, 8:02 pmYou’ll be there.
Bring the wine.
Uppity, another Hullaballooer.
Posted by uppitybiscuit | June 16, 2007, 8:06 pmUppity– two bottles. 😛
Heart
Posted by womensspace | June 16, 2007, 8:14 pmOh, anuna. Thank you.
Heart
Posted by womensspace | June 16, 2007, 8:40 pmA woman turning to other women for help is one of the most radical, patriarchy-stifling acts there is. We’re made to believe it makes us weak or it places a burden on others but remaining silent when we need something just entrenches our isolation. I love helping people I like – I’m grateful for the opportunity.
I look forward to hearing back from you after the Hullaballoo! (And also, the word “hullaballoo” should be used more often, I think.)
-Amber (Sassafras)
Posted by Amber | June 16, 2007, 10:15 pmLiterally just a few bucks I’ve put into your fund. Enjoy the Hullabaloo Heart and come back bright eyed and bushy tailed – we wanna know all about it.
Posted by sparklematrix | June 16, 2007, 10:28 pmHey gf, just sent some $$ & lovew your way. Go for it!!
Posted by Amazonnight | June 17, 2007, 12:52 amMoney sent! I have stopped giving any money to patriarchal religion after tithing faithfully for many years. This has freed up a significant portion of my income to give in situations just like this. Glad for the opportunity to help.
Posted by Looking glass | June 17, 2007, 1:25 amHey, Heart, you didn’t say if you made it yet, but it sounds like you didn’t need what I decided to send you just in case you did. I’m curious about the Hullaballoo too.
Posted by Angry Scientist | June 17, 2007, 12:55 pmHey, Heart, if you’d already received enough by the time I donated, just put my donation toward your site maintenance/server costs. Or help someone else go. Or buy yourself some Turkish apricots. Whatev! 🙂
Posted by Amber | June 17, 2007, 2:14 pmI don’t want to speak out of turn, and I’m not sure why the idea was put out there that she has things covered, but I will go out on a limb and say that, as far as I am aware, as of now, things are not quite covered.
I’m sure Heart will be in to speak for herself, but as far as I know, any woman who choses to donate, as of now, will be helping her make the trip.
Posted by uppitybiscuit | June 17, 2007, 2:22 pm:”””)
I’m not quite there yet, but I am close. I would say, I am 4/5 of the way there. I have a place to stay that is comparatively inexpensive, but it isn’t free, I have to pay to get myself from place to place, shuttles, that kind of thing, i.e., I can’t afford to park my car at the airport, so I have to get to the shuttle that stops at the park n ride nearby, buy a round-trip shuttle ticket to the airport (50 miles away) from the park n ride and from the airport back to the park n ride when I get home ($30 round-trip instead of $30 a day at the airport!). I tend to always be over-optimistic about everything, including money, and I really didn’t calculate this too carefully til now because I didn’t think I would be going!
It is all very humbling. Thank you all so much, it would be hard to tell you how much this means to me.
Heart
Posted by womensspace | June 17, 2007, 4:40 pmHi Heart,
It needn’t be a humbling thing: it’s a situation from which we all benefit. It’s not begging, and neither is it an exchange transaction in the patriarchy. This *is* the new growth. Plus also, I feel, a re-discovery of the old ways of sharing amongst women in groups.
Perhaps if you tell us how much you still need to raise, time-stamping each post in a way that we can see, we can simply hack away at is in a work-woman-like manner. Repost every time you register a donation. It will help to have some actual figures to work with.
🙂
We’ll get you there!
Mary
Posted by Mary Sunshine | June 17, 2007, 6:05 pmMary, I believe everything you’ve written there with my whole heart, completely, and yet, I find I lack in the application! It’s a lot easier for me to help and serve than to be helped and served! A lot easier! My daughters are so thrilled for me and to them it makes total sense: “Yeah, mom! That makes sense! You’re going to represent!” Which is their language, but they mean as a delegate, on behalf of all of you wimmin and all of the wimmin everywhere, really, who still hold to the old ways, like you say, Mary, and who are also open to the new ways wimmin are creating and will continue to create to be and to live.
Being realistic, I still need $300. Which is NOT 4/5 of the total I need, as I said earlier — again, I am always optimistic, but Uppity has been helping me out 🙂 — which is actually more like about a third. My airfare and conference registration are covered, already bought my airline ticket (:D:D:D:D), but I still need to pay for the shuttle to the airport, for what remains for lodging, for my share of the gas from Las Vegas, where I’m hooking up with three Women’s Space wimmin (including Uppity), on Thursday and back, (we’re staying at the house of two of the wimmin Thursday night, driving to Santa Fe Friday, then from Santa Fe back to Las Vegas on Monday), for food, and a small amount for emergencies or things I didn’t consider or think of. Anyone contributing should know that some of what is contributed for lodging will be going to a wimmin’s land community, where I’ll be staying part of the time. (I’ll be down there for five days total.)
So, it’s 11:28 a.m. and I am still in need of $300. I will keep everybody posted. 🙂
Thanks, Mary, and everybody.
Heart
Posted by Heart | June 17, 2007, 6:29 pmHi Heart,
When do you have to leave?
We’re working to deadline, here.
((( Heart )))
M.S.
Posted by Mary Sunshine | June 17, 2007, 6:48 pmHere is a small sign I will be holding at the airport when Haert is gathered up for the trip. Not as small as it seems to look in this post, but you get the idea. (Oh, and if this doesn’t come out Heart, please delete it because I obviously don’t know about posting pictures to a blog)
Hullaballo Or Bust
(Or maybe some of both)
Posted by uppitybiscuit | June 17, 2007, 6:48 pmWell dang. Heart, I’ll send it to you at the other place, and you can maybe post it.
Posted by uppitybiscuit | June 17, 2007, 6:49 pmMary Sunshine, my plane leaves from Sea-Tac at 10:30 a.m. this coming Thursday. I’ll have to board the shuttle down at the park n ride by 7:30 a.m. 🙂
Uppity, I will go check. 🙂
Heart
Posted by womensspace | June 17, 2007, 6:58 pmPosted up at the top, Uppity. I can’t figure out how to post it in the comments, either, not sure it’s possible.
Thanks!
Posted by womensspace | June 17, 2007, 7:11 pmOkay, as of 12.14 p.m., I now only need $280. 🙂
Heart
Posted by womensspace | June 17, 2007, 7:14 pmAs of 8:09 p.m. PDT, the figure is now reduced to $195.
w00t!
🙂
Heart
Posted by womensspace | June 18, 2007, 3:10 amMy mother’s well pump goes out every now and then also. It sucks. It also sucks when her tank of gas runs out, I don’t know what kind of gas, but it is what makes the water hot.
Good luck. I know you will write for us well.
Posted by E. K.(Kitty) Glendower | June 18, 2007, 6:52 amIs anybody else having problems using a credit card on the Paypal site? This happened before when I tried to give money to the Andrea Dworkin memorial.
Posted by delphyne | June 18, 2007, 3:49 pmI’ve sent a small donation,too. You must look up my dear friend Kay Leigh Hagan (author of Fugitive Information, among other things). I will tell her to watch out for you, too! Wish I could attend if for no other reason than to give Kay a hug!
Posted by stacy | June 18, 2007, 4:44 pmdelphyne, you cutie. xxxooo
Stacy, I am really hoping to meet Kay Hagan! And thank you so much!
As of 10:13 A.M., the figure is down to $140. 🙂
Hey, Kitty, your mom probably has her well attached to a propane tank. I have one of those, but it’s just for emergency use, the pump is actually electric. It was something; for whatever reason the pump motor kept overloading, so we’d have water for an hour and then no, so I’d have to run down to the pump and hit the reset button on the pump and then we’d have water again for about an hour.
Since the pump is about 500 feet from my house, that system wasn’t working so well, not to mention there is another family on our well (the way it is so often out in the country where you make these informal agreements, someone moves in and says, “Hey, can we hook up to your well?” :/) I was actually more concerned about the other family, mostly because I find the guy difficult to deal with and rather creepy and scary.
Life in the country…
Heart
Posted by Heart | June 18, 2007, 5:20 pmI sent you a small sum, I hope it helps 🙂 xxx
Posted by Laurelin | June 18, 2007, 5:35 pmDelphyne,
I paid by Mastercard.
You have to scroll down the page to where you see the credit card symbols and underneath that the button that says “Continue”.
You click the Continue button, and progress to the next page.
Then you do the whole credit card thing, and at the bottom of that page you have to do a visual interpretation of a 5 character code, and press on.
If you have any further difficulty, contact me by email:
MarySunshine at ye olde gmail.com
Cheers!
Posted by Mary Sunshine | June 18, 2007, 6:12 pmOh, Laurelin, THANK YOU!
You wimmin are the BEST!
xxxooo
Heart
Posted by Heart | June 18, 2007, 6:15 pmThanks Mary, I phoned my credit card company and apparently they test it out first or something – they took 51 pence off my card yesterday – weird. Anyhow I’ve done it now, so there’s a little more to help you out, Heart.
You realise you are our emissary, Heart. Take our rad fem love and energy to the Hullaballoo!
Posted by delphyne | June 18, 2007, 7:08 pmI hope, very much, that you get to go!! The radfem community never ceases to amaze me. I can vividly recall that moment when I realized that there is a thing called sisterhood and damnit it’s powerful. Indeed, the first time I realized what a powerful community I was in I sobbed my eyes out. It was as if I had finally caught the tiniest glimpse of a world that was full of promise.
Please, report back to us so that I can live vicariously through you!! *biggrin* I can’t wait to hear how it goes.
Posted by bitingbeaver | June 18, 2007, 11:05 pmYeah, bb, me too. 🙂 And you will definitely get the blow-by-blow account, all the good parts and the bad parts and the parts I won’t be sure of until I get a bunch of feedback so I can work them completely through from top to bottomus. 🙂
Delphyne, the love, the energy, the dedication, the fierceness, the determination go with me. 🙂 It is a privilege and an honor! Ah. :””)
And I just need 80 bucks and I’m there. Sob.
xxxxxxxxxxoooooooooo
To all of my wimmin!
Heart
Posted by womensspace | June 19, 2007, 2:21 amThat’s as of 7:21 p.m. PDT. 🙂
Heart
Posted by womensspace | June 19, 2007, 2:21 amHeart,
I hope the conference is wonderful, I am so glad you’re going to make it!
Kendra/agavenectarandthemoon (finally delurking)
Posted by agavenectarandthemoon | June 19, 2007, 3:58 amOk, so now I’m confused. You are going to be on that flight to Vegas, right, Heart? I’d look pretty silly questioning passengers as they got off the plane, “Hi, are you Heart?” and no one admits that they are. Yeah, I can see it now. Security approaching me and saying “And you are?” “Oh, me? I’m Lucky.” “Well of course you are. Everyone is Vegas is Lucky. Now come with me.” 😛
I don’t foresee gas being all that much. Maybe 2 tanks to and fro? It’s not like we’re taking a tank or anything. 😛
And if you’re gonna get that wine here, you’d better get it here fast. Cuz the Pony Express was quicker than modern day mail is around these parts.
Now get prepared to have a wild woman ride and wild woman time. Cuz that’s where we’re headed. See y’all there!
P.S. Bring some sun block, white girl. 😛
Posted by luckynkl | June 19, 2007, 2:49 pmHeart, what’s the count? Can you go?
Posted by vera | June 19, 2007, 2:58 pmGOT IT!!!
As of 10:29 a.m. PDT today.
With 15 bucks to spare. 😀
I love you wimmin.
THANK YOU.
I will be present in every moment of the days I am there, I will not miss a thing, I will write it all down, I will tell you all about it!
xxxooo
Heart
Posted by womensspace | June 19, 2007, 5:30 pmThanks to you men, too, of course, who contributed! Four of you. It is very, very much appreciated.
Heart
Posted by womensspace | June 19, 2007, 5:32 pmHave fun Heart and take advantage of the rest, it is well deserved! Its in NM right? I thought i saw that, i saw it on another site, about week ago,
and if it is in NM, its a beautiful state and esp by Taos, Sante Fe, etc…its near impossible to go there and not have something positive happen,
and positively you know the Hullaloboo will be awesome, ok i just re-read it is in Sante Fe,
last time i was there was for hands across america…Taos though in late 80s, i used to camp there often,
i live near mountains [not too far from NM] so, yea kind of bias that way…:)
if you get a chance check out the artists square, tons of feminist & Indie places…its like a whole other world–
and bluebirds and wild white daisies are everywhere there, the flowers this time of year are wonderful, and the black bean burritos are the best!
can’t wait to hear all about it
peace & blessings your way,
tasha
Posted by Tasha | June 19, 2007, 10:26 pmYAAAYYYY!!! 😀 Oh, Heart! I’m so glad you have enough money to go!!!! I’m so excited for you!! XOXOXO
Posted by Britta | June 20, 2007, 2:25 amLate to the party, as always. I know you’ve reached your goal, but if there’s a need for pocket money, just let me know, and it’s yours.
Posted by justicewalks | June 20, 2007, 7:13 pmAh, Justicewalks, thanks!
Actually, since you mention it, 🙂 I just learned I needed to give my daughter Tiff some cash for when she is taking care of my youngest daughter. Tiff is the one who just graduated from college. Her job at her school ends this month and she doesn’t have a new job yet, so she is a little poorer than usual, which is poor poor anyway.
Anyhow, thanks again!
And Britta, thank YOU! I just wish you could go– you are the new generation of Wild Sisters for sure. 🙂
Well, I wish everybody here could go. Well, not Vinegar. 🙂
Heart
Posted by womensspace | June 20, 2007, 7:25 pmDone – it’s not much, but I hope it helps. Have fun, Heart. I hope you have a great time, and I can’t wait to hear about it!
Posted by justicewalks | June 20, 2007, 7:37 pmHeart, I’m late to comment to this blog post. Just want you to know that I’m so glad that you raised the money necessary to make the trip. I would have helped if I could but there’s no way right now. If, on Friday, I don’t make one of the two car payments that I’m behind, they’ll come take my car. And the wolves from the phone company are howling outside my door, too. Yipes! It’s a tough life, isn’t it? But I hope for better for my nieces and their daughters and granddaughters, which, along with looking forward to what I’ll read here afterward, is another reason that I’m glad that you’ll be in attendance there.
Here’s to the sisterhood. May the generations of woman after us benefit even more from it than we have. 🙂
Posted by CoolAunt | June 21, 2007, 2:12 pmhooray! \o/
I’m glad you got the funds necessary to go 😀
I’m sorry I’m late to the party, but things are so tight right now, I’m so behind on my bills due to being paid so damned late, that I just wasn’t sure if I could contribute 😦
So I’m so glad that you’re able to go! How exciting! I’m looking forward to your posts (as always, heh). I wish you a safe trip and a multitude of awesome radfem discussions and good times 🙂
Posted by Cinder | June 21, 2007, 3:47 pmYou know, I love this whole idea of “representing.” There are a bazillion conferences I’d love to go to but my travel schedule won’t allow it or I don’t want to spend the money on travel, registration, hotel, etc. Plus I just get antsy sitting in conferences.
But if I could help someone ELSE go and know I’d get a play-by-play report and possibly copies of any materials… well, that is just so appealing to me I’d gladly donate money to having someone “represent” me and report back.
Like the Ending Pornography conference a while back. There was no way I could justify what it would have cost for me to go out to Boston to attend. But I would have gladly paid something smaller for someone else to go. What these conferences should have are “ghost registrations” where someone like me can pay a reduced fee and “attend” the conference by proxy. Do conferences do this already??? I know a lot of time there’s scholarships… but what I’m talking about is I could pay a reduced fee, get all the conference materials, and my fee would go to subsidize the cost of someone else actually attending (with the expectation that this person would blog/email about it). Get say, ten ghost sponsorships or whatever to completely cover one actual person’s attendance.
Posted by Amber | June 21, 2007, 5:28 pmNow that Heart is gone, I imagine I will have to wait to find out what happened to the Rare Cyclone Hits Oman on Heather Jones’ Hearing Date entry! Is it really gone, or is my browser playing tricks on me?
Posted by Aletha | June 22, 2007, 7:25 amHey, Cinder and Cool Aunt, thanks so much! And yeah, Amber, this representing idea does have possibilities, huh?
Aletha (and Tasha in a comment elsewhere), re Heather Jones, I decided it was best to remove some posts in view of Heather’s upcoming hearing; I’ve received an e-mail from Heather’s mom. I will write more when I get back from the Hullaballoo.
Heart
Posted by womensspace | June 22, 2007, 12:35 pm