SLFAHP in the News
UPCOMING EVENTS
Wednesday, April 10, at 7:00 pm EDT (USA & Canada) on Zoom
Merril Mushroom, SLFAHP’s own, hosts the Lesbians WriteOn Open Mic. a free, 90-minute, zoom.
Contact lesbianswriteon@gmail.com for more info and to get the link.
Wednesday, April 17, at 7:00 pm EDT (USA & Canada) on Zoom
Merril Mushroom and DrJazz Normand, both SLFAHP’s own, present a workshop for Lesbians WriteOn, in a free, 90-minute Zoom,
“Pickup Lines: What’s Your Best One?”
That enchanting lesbian across the room is giving you signs that you could to flirt with her. Tell us your best, maybe naughtiest, and most successful pickup line. Or that lesbian sees you first, and she is enchanted. What were some of the best pickup lines that have been used on you by lesbians?
There are some lines that are too good to forget even though they don’t always assure the desired outcome.
Tell us if you are a smooth operator, or if you have known a lesbian like that.
The creative prompts above are inspiration for this event. Listeners welcome.
Contact lesbianswriteon@gmail.com for more info and to get the link.
April 20, 2024 deadline to register
Registration for OUTrageous Voices: Spring Writers’ Retreat, May 16 through May 19, location near Atlanta, Georgia.
Registration deadline is April 20.
OUTrageous Voices is an inclusive lesbian writers’ retreat welcoming self-identified lesbians, bisexual women, trans, and non-binary folks.
Meals are included in the registration fee.
For info and to register, visit the website:
www.OUTrageousVoices.com
April 2024
A sister herstory website has relaunched:
Wanderground Lesbian Archive/Library
Wanderground Lesbian Archive/Library collects and provides access to a broad selection of New England-based publications, artifacts, and personal memorabilia from the period 1950-2000.
Wanderground offers community gathering spaces in order to preserve the vibrant past of local Lesbians, and in order to encourage present-day learning and discovery, to cultivate a future of thriving, Lesbian communities.
Additionally, Wanderground includes a collection of books, journals, and other materials from Lesbian and feminist independent presses, especially those from the early Women in Print movement (1965-2000) https://wanderground.org
Built on the energies and pride of Lesbians, Wanderground Lesbian Archive/Library reclaims Lesbian visibility, lifts our voices, honors lived experiences, and celebrates the creativities of Lesbians. Committed to the belief that the personal is political, we gather the stories of New England Lesbians to protect legacies that might otherwise be forgotten. Grounded in the knowledge of our past, we work to integrate the present and to build a transformational and equitable future.
RECENT EVENTS
Thursday, March 14, 2024, at 7:00 pm EDT (USA & Canada)
SLFAHP member meeting — All are invited. See what’s new in the new year. Tell us if you might want participate in or to contribute to the Herstory Project.
Do you have an idea? Share it in the meeting.
Or email us at:
SLFAHerstoryProject@gmail.com
March 2024
Registration for Dykewriters, the 2024 Southern Lesbian Writers Conference, meets in south Georgia, April 17 through April 21, location near Atlanta, Georgia.
The registration for this intimate gathering covers:
workshops, readings, a variety show, 3 meals a day, snacks, and if desired, bunk space in primitive cabins.
All lesbian writers, from beginners to published authors, are welcome.
Deadline for registration is April 1, and you must pay in advance.
To attend the conference, you must be a member of Dykewriters before March 31, 2024.
To join Dykewriters, email: dykewriteradmissions
@gmail.com
Tuesday, February 20, 2024, at 7:00 pm ET (USA & Canada)
SLFAHP’s own Emily Greene is in conversation on Zoom with SLFAHP’s own Rose Norman, author of the new book from Sinister Wisdom, The Pagoda: A Lesbian Community by the Sea, and with Sharon Thompson, curator of the Lesbian Home Movie Project.
There will be some home movie clips made by Emily Greene at The Pagoda.
Info to register at Sinister Wisdom.
Tuesday, February 6, 2024, at 7:00 pm ET (USA & Canada)
Rose Norman, SLFAHP’s own, and a panel of lesbians working on oral herstories in various communities talk about the value of preserving local stories, and about how people build local projects in their lesbian communities.
On Zoom — info to register at Sinister Wisdom.
Tuesday, January 23, 2024, at 7:00 pm ET (USA & Canada)
Rose Norman, SLFAHP’s own, celebrates on Zoom the release of her new book, The Pagoda: A Lesbian Community by the Sea.
This is a herstory of The Pagoda exploring this vibrant lesbian community just outside of St. Augustine, Florida. Did you stay at The Pagoda, swim in the pool, see a play, listen to a concert there, and generally participate in one of the great lesbian experiments of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s?
Info to register at Sinister Wisdom.
Wednesday, December 20, 2023
DrJazz Normand, SLFAHP member, presents for Lesbians WriteOn: Winter Solstice Celebration: Fire
Free, 90-minute Zoom at 7:00 pm ET (USA & Canada).
It’s the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. As one of the four, holy “quarter days” of our Earth’s year, it’s a fire festival.
We explore the meaning of celebrating a holy day or any occasion with a fire: a bonfire, a camp fire, a chiminea, a hearth fire, a candle.
Traditional shadow dances are done to firelight, revealing that the other-worldly shadows distorted by fire, along with the flames themselves, seem like spirits.
We live and we die by fire: our life process is essentially slow combustion. With creative prompts and sharing.
Listeners welcome.
Contact LesbiansWriteOn@gmail.com to get the link.
Wednesday, December 13, 2023
Merril Mushroom, SLFAHP member, presents for Lesbians WriteOn, “My First Woman”
Free, 90-minute Zoom at 7:00 pm ET (USA & Canada).
Who was the first woman to bring you into awareness of yourself as a lesbian? Was it sexual? Sensual? Intellectual?
Who was she, and how did it happen?
There is time for creating and sharing your story, poem, song, dance, drawing – however you express yourself. Creative prompts are available to use as you wish.
Contact LesbiansWriteOn@gmail.com to get the link.
Monday, November 6, 2023
The Herstory Project group’s next Zoom meeting: All members of the Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project (SLFAHP) group are invited.
Join us at 2:00 pm EDT (1:00 pm CDT) USA & Canada time.
If you would like to join the SLFAHP group, email us at SLFAHerstoryProject@gmail.com
Wednesday, October 25, 2023
Merril Mushroom, SLFAHP member, presents for Lesbians WriteOn, an event about the books we are reading, and our opinions of them.
Free, 90-minute Zoom at 7:00 pm EDT (USA & Canada). Contact LesbiansWriteOn@gmail.com for the link.
July/August 2023, SLFAHP in the magazine: Lesbian Connection
The Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project appears in the magazine, Lesbian Connection, July/August, vol 46, issue 1, on page 19, under the section, “Articles & News.” Read all about us there.
Lesbian Connection‘s website: www.LConline.org
Wednesday, October 4, 2023
Silk Jazmyne, SLFAHP member, hosts for Lesbians WriteOn, “Open Mic: Hope in Terrifying Times”
Bring something to share or come to listen. To participate, sign up in the chat for up to six minutes, or raise your hand.
Free, 90-minute Zoom event, at 7:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time (USA & Canada). Contact LesbiansWriteOn@gmail.com for the link.
Wednesday, September 20, 2023
DrJazz Normand, SLFAHP member, presents for Lesbians WriteOn: “Autumn Equinox Celebration”
The Autumn Equinox is one of the four, major, sacred Earth days.
For a creative prompt, we make a list of things that are not our fault, and we list ways to change our perspective.
We don’t have to save the world; but we don’t have to cede our agency. Using a bit of matriarchal mitzvah philosophy mingled with Voudou priestess recipes for gris-gris, we share celebrations of the spiral of life.
Free, 90-minute Zoom event, at 7:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time (USA & Canada). Contact LesbiansWriteOn@gmail.com for the link.
July/August 2023: SLFAHP in the magazine: Lesbian Connection
The Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project appears in the magazine, Lesbian Connection, July/August, vol 46, issue 1, on page 19, under the section, “Articles & News.” Read all about us there.
Lesbian Connection‘s website: www.LConline.org
Wednesday, July 5, 2023
Lesbians WriteOn presents “Open Mic: Lesbian Fashion through the Ages” with SLFAHP members, Merril Mushroom and Jeanine DrJazz Normand.
On the theme of the “Unfinished Revolution,” we talk about the revolutionary aspects of what lesbians wear. What was lesbian fashion from our youth and looking into history, too?
When you come in, sign up in the chat to read (up to 6 minutes).
Listeners welcome.
Creative prompt: What do you know about lesbian fashion past or present? How do you see lesbian fashion as revolutionary, and in what way? Explain, create, educate, explain.
Free, 90-minute Zoom event, at 7 pm Eastern Daylight Time (USA & Canada). Contact LesbiansWriteOn@gmail.com for the link.
Wednesday, June 21, 2023
Lesbians WriteOn presents “Summer Solstice Celebration” with Jeanine DrJazz Normand, SLFAHP member.
It’s Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. We talk about Goddess spirituality, the importance of the sacred Earth’s quarter days, and egalitarian matriarchies.
With creative prompts and time to share. Listeners welcome.
Free, 90-minute Zoom event, at 7 pm Eastern Daylight Time (USA & Canada). Contact LesbiansWriteOn@gmail.com for the link.
Monday, June 5, 2023
The Herstory Project group’s Zoom meeting: All members of the Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project (SLFAHP) group are invited.
Join us at 2 pm EDT (1 pm CDT) USA & Canada time.
If you are already a member of SLFAHP, go to the team access page for the recording of the meeting from June 5.
To Join SLFAHP, email us: SLFAHerstoryProject@gmail.com
Wednesday, April 26, 2023
Sonja Franeta, Merril Mushroom, and Jeanine DrJazz Normand present a Zoom for Lesbians WriteOntm,
“Practicing Poetry and Poetic Prose”
In honor of April as National and International Poetry Month, we have some prompts to inspire you. Bring your ideas on what poetry is. Also, you can write a short poem, haiku, or poetic prose. Discussion and elaboration on what we’ve written. Prose writers as well as listeners are welcome.
Free, 90-minute Zoom at 7:00 pm EDT (USA & Canada).
See https://www.facebook.com/Lesbians-WriteOn
and send an email to lesbianswriteon@gmail.com to get the links.
Thursday, March 30, 2023
Rose Norman and Merril Mushroom, SLFAHP contributors, facilitate a SLFAHP panel for OLOC* – a free Zoom on Thursday, March 30, 2023,
at 4:00 Eastern Daylight Time (USA & Canada):
“We’re Not Just Whistling Dixie: Southern Lesbian Feminists”
“We just about choked on our grits recently when we overheard yet another woman say, ‘There was no lesbian-feminist activism in the South, was there?’ Yes, there was a lot activism initiated by lesbian feminists, activism that proliferated through networking across all the states, not just the Southern states, activism that benefitted lesbians and all women.
We dykes who are involved with the Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist (SLFA) Herstory Project have created a performance to enhance your knowledge about the rich culture of lesbian feminists in the South from the 1960s through the 1990s, as well as to toot our own horns.
To register for the zoom, please contact *Old Lesbians Organizing for Change – OLOC*: info@oloc.org
If you would like to join the SLFAHP group, email us at SLFAHerstoryProject@gmail.com
Wednesday, March 15, 2023
Jeanine DrJazz Normand and Merril Mushroom, SLFAHP contributors, present a free Zoom for Lesbians WriteOntm: “WritingLesbian Legends and Myths of the Vernal Equinox”
In celebration of the Vernal Equinox, we create more lesbian legends and myths that we, or an imaginary, lesbian shero, would like to accomplish in this life, no matter how “impossible” the dream. Invent a lesbian-hearted, lesbian-centric fairy-tale, or imagine a way that a lesbian shero might change the world.
Examples and prompts for you to write, draw, sing, assemble objects, or to use whatever creative expression you wish. Listeners welcome.
Free, 90-minute Zoom at 7:00 pm EDT (USA & Canada).
See https://www.facebook.com/Lesbians-WriteOn and send an email to lesbianswriteon@gmail.com to get the links.
Monday, March 6, 2023
The Herstory Project group’s next Zoom meeting: All members of the Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project (SLFAHP) group are invited, at 2 pm ET / 1 pm CT (USA & Canada)
If you would like to join the SLFAHP group, email us at SLFAHerstoryProject@gmail.com
Wednesday, January 18, 2023
Edie Daly, SLFAHP contributor, presents a free Zoom for Lesbians WriteOntm: Lesbian Spaces: Lost & Found
Edie Daly, cofounder in 1982 of the St. Pete Salon in Florida, presents for Lesbians WriteOn, a zoom event about her personal herstory of being active in the creation of different types of Lesbian spaces, both in the past and right up to today. Her featured quests broaden the discussion with stories and examples of other well-known, women-centered spaces across the U.S. and the world.
Share your own reflection on how in your experience, Lesbians found and continue to find each other to build Lesbian community. Discussion with writing prompts and time for sharing. Listeners welcome.
Free, 90-minute Zoom at 7:00 pm ET (USA & Canada).
See https://www.facebook.com/Lesbians-WriteOn and send an email to lesbianswriteon@gmail.com to get the links.
Wednesday, December 21, 2022
Merril Mushroom, author and SLFAHP member, presents for Lesbians WriteOntm, “Writing our Lesbian Winter Solstice Legends.”
What do we know about the Winter Solstice? Because we don’t have lesbian legends and folk tales, we can make up our own.
Let’s write, sing, dance, and draw our own Lesbian Winter Solstice stories. Prompts, time to create, and sharing as desired.
Free, 90-minute Zoom at 7:00 pm ET (USA and Canada). See https://www.facebook.com/Lesbians-WriteOn and send an email to lesbianswriteon@gmail.com to get the Zoom link.
Wednesday, November 23, 2022
Jenna Weston, author and SLFAHP member, presents for Lesbians WriteOntm, “A Slice of Your Life: Writing Memoir,” exploring the components of memoir and how memoir differs from other autobiographical writing.
Discussion includes the purpose, process, sources, format, and concerns of writing from past meaningful experiences.
The writing prompt could spark a “scene” in your own, upcoming memoir.
Free, 90-minute Zoom at 7:00 pm ET (USA and Canada). See https://www.facebook.com/Lesbians-WriteOn and send an email to lesbianswriteon@gmail.com to get the link.
Wednesday, November 16, 2022
“The Jane Does, Jail, and the 1983-84 Women’s Peace Walk,” a panel discussion for Lesbians WriteOntm, by women from Gainesville, Florida, arrested for blockading the Savannah River nuclear bomb plant in South Caroline in 1983, a brazen act of defiance.
Six of these women refused to provide identification to local law enforcement. Thus, they became internationally known as the Jane Does. During their 17 days in jail, they talked to the media and planned their next action: the Women’s Peace Walk, a 41-day trek from Gainesville to Key West, Florida.
Corky Culver, featured on our SLFAHP website, is on the panel, which is moderated by SLFAHP’s own Marie Steinwachs.
Free, 90-minute Zoom at 7:00 pm ET (USA and Canada). See https://www.facebook.com/Lesbians-WriteOn and send an email to lesbianswriteon@gmail.com to get the link.
Wednesday, November 9, 2022
Merril Mushroom, author and SLFAHP member, presents for Lesbians WriteOntm , “Bar Dykes: Cruising,” and what it was like in the days of lesbian bars during the second half of the 20th century.
Discussion, writing prompts, and sharing if you wish. Listeners welcome. Free, 90-minute Zoom at 7:00 pm ET (USA and Canada). See https://www.facebook.com/Lesbians-WriteOn and send an email to LesbiansWriteOn@gmail.com to get the link.
Thursday, October 13, 2022
The Rev. Elder Carolyn J. Mobley-Bowie, Associate Pastor at Resurrection MCC in Houston, Texas, from 1990 to 2005; and Barbara Taft, Cantor at Congregation Shalom Rav, Austin, Texas, from 1993 to 2021, are some of the notable guests for this reparations vigil.
Rev. Elder Carolyn J. Mobley-Bowie’s feature story is on our SLFAHP website here.
This event, a Prayer Vigil for Repair & Redress, is coproduced and cohosted by SLFAHP’s own Salkana Schindler.
Our communities suffer because redress for generations of institutionalized racism has been denied. Let’s begin to repair the harm caused by centuries of racist government policy. Working together, we can put an end to racist laws and policies.
You must register to get the Zoom link. 8:00 pm EDT / 7:00 pm CDT. Please register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcscOqvpjgqHtxsHOYnZi7racBBCDJbM89X
Wednesday, October 12, 2022
Mev Miller present for Lesbians WriteOntm, “Wanderground Lesbian Archive and Library in New England.” Mev Miller introduces Wanderground, the archive and library that she’s currently developing, including a peek into the current holdings.
Discussion of her vision for the journey and future of the archive, and writing prompt exploring why lesbian archives are vitally significant to individuals, to Lesbians, and to the overall community. Share if you wish, and listeners are welcome.
7:00 pm EDT (USA and Canada). See https://www.facebook.com/Lesbians-WriteOn and send an email to LesbiansWriteOn@gmail.com to get the link.
Wednesday, September 21, 2022
Rev. Elder Carolyn Mobley-Bowie and Edie Daly present for Lesbians WriteOntm, “Whose Back Is the Bridge Now?” Reflections on the book, This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color, with guest readers.
Discussion of how this book first impacted our lives and how it may have guided our various relationships after experiencing the book. Discussion also on how have things have shifted – or not – in the decades since it was published. Writing prompts and sharing if you wish.
7:00 pm EDT (USA and Canada). See https://www.facebook.com/Lesbians-WriteOn and send an email to LesbiansWriteOn@gmail.com to get the link.
Wednesday, September 7, 2022
Corky Culver, presents for Lesbians WriteOntm, “The Many Ways We Work.” This Labor Day week, we explore what it means to labor: to bring forth, to work. It can be onerous or wondrous. It can be play, expression, creation, a mission, and a path to wondrous self-discovery.
Writing workshop with prompts and time for voluntary participant sharing.
7:00 pm EDT (USA and Canada). See https://www.facebook.com/Lesbians-WriteOn and email LesbiansWriteOn@gmail.com to get the link.
Wednesday, August 3, 2022
Pam McMichael, a SLFAHP contributor, presents for Lesbians WriteOntm, “Lesbians Impact the World: Movement Memories and Moments.” Lesbian activism has shaped multiple movements in multiple ways. It has transformed lives, structures, and policies, from local communities to the world.
This writing workshop includes a brief presentation, a writing prompt, sharing stories, and discussion. Listeners welcome.
7:00 pm EDT (USA and Canada). See https://www.facebook.com/Lesbians-WriteOn and email LesbiansWriteOn@gmail.com to get the link.
Wednesday, July 27, 2022
Merril Mushroom and DrJazz Normand present for Lesbians WriteOntm, “Love Stories, Letters, and Poems to the Insentient,”a place, a thing, or a concept: how and why does it moves you? What does insentient mean to you? Challenge your imagination in this discussion and writing workshop. Listeners welcome.
7:00 pm EDT (USA and Canada). See https://www.facebook.com/Lesbians-WriteOn and email lesbianswriteon@gmail.com for more info.
Wednesday, July 20, 2022
Merril Mushroom and DrJazz Normand present for Lesbians WriteOntm, “Love Excavations,” a discussion and writing workshop about what it feels like to be loved by a person or animal companion (or wild animal), listeners welcome.
7:00 pm EDT (USA and Canada). See https://www.facebook.com/Lesbians-WriteOn and email lesbianswriteon@gmail.com for more info.
Wednesday, July 13, 2022
Julie Enszer presents for Lesbians WriteOntm, “Why Our Legacies Are Important,” a discussion and writing workshop about writing our own obituaries as lesbians, and writing obituaries for lesbians that we know.
7:00 pm EDT (USA and Canada). See https://www.facebook.com/Lesbians-WriteOn and email lesbianswriteon@gmail.com for more info on Lesbians WriteOn events.
See also www.JulieREnszer.com
Wednesday, July 6, 2022
SFLAHP’s own Merril Mushroom and Jeanine DrJazz Normand present for Lesbians WriteOntm, “Unfinished Revolution,” a discussion and writing workshop at 7:00 pm EDT (USA and Canada). See https://www.facebook.com/Lesbians-WriteOn and email lesbianswriteon@gmail.com for more info.
Thursday and Friday, June 30 and July 1, 2022
SFLAHP’s own Beth York and Barbara Ester perform original music in the National Women’s Music Festival, the Composer Recitals – Atrium, from 2:00 to 4:00 pm. For more info: https://www.nwmf.info/2014/wp-content/uploads/2022_NWMF_Program_web.pdf
Thursday, June 23, 2022
AFLA-50 virtual celebration (free event)
The Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance (ALFA) was the first out-lesbian organization in Georgia. ALFA nurtured women-only space, and we celebrate their herstory, sponsored by the Archives for Research on Women and Gender of the Georgia State University Library. ALFA in its day organized and produced dances, plays, potlucks, sports teams, marches, rallies, and more. ALFA is featured in several interviews here on SLFAHP.
View the recorded presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKAYkjD-ybI
Tuesday, June 21, 2022
ALFA@50 virtual celebration
The Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance (ALFA) was the first out-lesbian organization in Georgia. ALFA nurtured women-only space, and we celebrate the first, official meeting on June 23, 1972. Hear from members, including our own SLFAHP members, who tell the herstory of organizing and producing dances, plays, potlucks, sports teams, marches, rallies, and more. ALFA is featured in several interviews here on SLFAHP.
This event is sponsored by Sinister Wisdom, the multicultural, lesbian literary and art journal.
View the recorded presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHeazNK9AY0
View slide shows from the presentation:
Founders: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4yOoEPM3Ek
In Memoriam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZSC1fJ_siw
ALFA in photos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXg34ZmXGeU
June 15, 2022
Lesbians WriteOntm presents “Red Dyke Theatre: 40 Years later,” a retrospective featuring the cofounders, Mickey Alberts and Pici.
Mickey and Pici are interviewed here on SLFAHP, and they will soon be sending us film clips and more programs from their personal archives of Red Dyke Theatre.
June 8, 2022
“The Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project and Archives: Who We Are and What We Do” presents an event with Lesbians WriteOntm.
The SLFAHP presents a Zoom event with Lesbians WriteOntm , including an overview of collecting and archiving herstories of lesbian-feminist activism. Several SLFAHP members describe their contributions to the project. Find Lesbians WriteOntm on Facebook.
May 24, 2022
SLFAHP in Sinister Wisdom: Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project Celebration and Tribute
A celebration of the six Sinister Wisdom issues published with the Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project. We pay tribute to issue editors, contributors, and all of the amazing women involved with the project. View the recorded presentation: https://youtu.be/37Mp_zowupU