I'd never
been to Salt Lake City before, so I was excited to check it out. After
a long drive in from Denver, I was even more excited to be greeted by a
plate of vegan cookies, freshly-baked by our host, Courtney Maguire
(thanks, Courtney!). Courtney is one of the folks involved with the Female Empwerment Movement (FEM),
a new(ish) feminist group created in response to the high rates of
sexual violence in Salt Lake. FEM also helped organize and get the word
out of the evening's events, and I'm grateful.
I'm also grateful to Angela Brown, Meghann Griggs, and the rest of the folks at SLUG magazine,
who responded almost immediately to our call for assistance in helping
put together the discussion and fundraiser in Salt Lake. SLUG was
founded in 1989 and remains Utah's oldest alternative paper.
This past weekend I attended a talk by Jen Angel – media activist, writer, and cofounder of Clamor magazine – whose energy and dedication to radical media activism never cease to amaze me. Jen recently published a pamphlet called Becoming the Media: A critical history of Clamor magazine (PM Press), a review of which will be running in the upcoming Loud issue of Bitch.
I was about a month into my job at Bitch and seeking meetings with many who are closest to B-Word's heart. I had the pleasure of meeting the individual who wrote this pitch about a year ago in a Seattle coffeeshop. Her words have blown us away and got us thinking about raising money and the values around procuring donations, sponsorship, planning events/fundraisers and grant funding and different ways to get folks engaged enough in our work to make a contribution.
Last night I co-hosted a fundraising house party for the kick-ass feminist media organization Women in Media and News. I've been involved in the organization since its planning and launch, and am proud to be its founding board chair.