Red Thread Letter #919
Doing What Matters
Dear One,
Thank you for caring about doing what matters. And also – for caring if I do what matters to me too. I get lots of messages and cards hearing that what we do here at MUSEA does matter to you – so thank you. So. Much.
I was raised by powerful women. Powerful women create a powerful impact. I sat at the table with women so wise – from the time I was a little wild-flower – and I think it rubbed off – ya’ think? I do. One of those women was Alice Walker. Her work, her writings, but more than that for me, the things she has said to me all of my life. One is this – and it isn’t a direct quote but summarizes to me, to mean this – As long as you are doing what is yours to do – what matters to you – you may as well enjoy your life – being happy is the ultimate revolution.
In a future letter, I am going to write about the WHY behind this event – because it has shaped every single part of my life. Every. Single. Part. Tears are coming as I write these words. Yet for today, I feel it is enough to just share with you and invite you to join us in Sonoma. Alice was dear friends with the Mother of my Heart, Sue Hoya Sellars. OH the stories they tell…
This is a photo from an event I hosted for them in Berkeley, California oh so many years ago now….Maybe you were there?
So yes, on June 3 I am inviting you to an event in Sonoma that has been in the making for close to 9 months. But really – I feel like I have been planning on it pretty much since my early twenties when I first watched Pratibha Parmar’s collaborative film with Alice Walker called Warrior Marks.
I almost feel like since that time I have wanted to share the movie with our community and that was in 1993. That movie is a part of our cinema line up! I can’t wait to introduce you to the work of two women I absolutely adore who have been advocates for social justice through their independent films and books – and their very lives – Pratibha Parmar and Alice Walker.
We are overjoyed to collaborate with the Sonoma International Film Festival to create a focus on women and celebrate Pratibha’s work with these three benchmark fimls. It is my deepest desire that having the opportunity to witness these films inside of a curated container and this will be as life-changing for you, as they continue to be for me. Looking to improve your social justice, human rights, diversity, and inclusion through the arts and activism. We got you. Start, or continue right here.
Engaging with our unique cinema event will be soul-stirring, eye-opening, and action-packed. We look forward to being in deep, heart-centered, and intentional conversation with you. I have a much bigger story to share about this in another email – for now – I just wanted you to hear the news.
I HOPE YOU WILL JOIN US – it is so important – let’s show up HERE for Living the Truth. Please help me share this event if you live in the Bay Area. Of course, our community can also fly in – many of the BIWOC Musea team will be in the house hosting this truly special occasion!
Okay onto the next event, a virtual one for those of you not in the Bay! Let me just say this. Our Black, Indigenous, and Women of Color and Culture community within our Musea Membership has come along so beautifully since it was first born in 2020 with the loving guidance of my Elders and Teachers, Lauren Adorno-Weatherford and Semerit Strachan. This membership rose out of a series of Re-Membering Circles we had as part of or work in Mending Racialized Trauma, inspired by George Floyd, as well as the work of Resma Menakem in My Grandmother’s Hands.
I could never have imagined the PURE JOY of how this community would expand and grow as a colorful weave along the red threads of MUSEA. They bring richness, power, activism, culture, beauty and friendship. Musea would not be Musea without them and I wouldn’t want to do this without the women who are hosting this festival and those that are featured. We have close to 100 women who participate who are part of our membership here at MUSEA.
When the women leaders, Lauren and Semerit first asked my view of having a women of color and culture ONLY membership I jumped at the chance – of course – that makes PERFECT sense to those of us who have been tending to the spaces of diversity. Now TWO YEARS later the leadership has come together to create their own festival – having arisen organically from within the circle. I could not be happier – I get to invite you – and also open the festival. The festival is open to all – the leadership and speakers are women of color and culture. They have authored this, thanks to the excellent work of Lauren and Semerit and Sumaiyah Wysdom Yates.
Join us complimentary here for Echoes of your Sacred Well!
I hope you will join us this weekend and get to know this amazing group of women. I have had the personal joy of getting to know many of them and their work – and you are in for such a treat!
This was at Vivid 2021 with Sumaiyah Yates, Milagros Suriano-Rivera, Lauren Adorno-Weatherford and Anasuya Isaacs
Check it out and get your ticket now so we can start sharing the important details with you.
All right dear ones – I have a circle to lead tonight, it is the in person circle for Cura Council at Musette. Time for my cowgirl boots – because while it might be High Spring here, the rain is still a’fallin fresh on the green grass of my mind and this sweet little sleepy Sonoma. But you know what – Sonoma is about to get a whole bunch brighter!
With so much joy for this work, thank you for caring about What Matters to me. Women matter to me. Creativity matters to me. Black, Brown and all Colors of Woman, matter to me.
