2004-12-20 - 2:48 p.m.
Seriously I wish that everyone had a chance to get interviewed the way I did. Last Saturday, I had my second interview with a grad student who was doing her dissertation on activism. She interviewed me about everything. From my childhood, family structure, and schooling, to my professional accomplishments. I was able to give her a thorough history of how I became an activist and ALL the influences and experiences that led me to where I am today. That includes my family, friends and community. I talked about how I realized I could never go back to school because it would be too difficult to be back in a system that wasn’t ever going to measure the things I am good at – building networks, maintaining relationships, empowering people to define their own agendas.
I am hoping this dissertation stays in the mustier areas of a campus library because I did let the dirt fly more than I should. It was cleansing to talk about past hurts I experienced on the job. I wasn’t there to but I did learn how to be a caring and compassionate activist and professional through the pain of being thoroughly fucked over in my job. I learned how to defend myself and stand up for myself and see how we need to behave as a movement if we want to move forward.
One of my insights was that the coalitions I have always participated in the most fully were the ones where I knew the members as people. Ones where we went to lunch and hung out and talked about each other’s lives. I think in Western society so many people think of this as wasting time and frivolous but it truly build solidarity for the long haul. If I were ever to start my own consulting business, I know I could be an expert on how to build a chapter-based network. One that is engaged and involved.
