i see you, sisters

Hello,
How are you?  
I'm sure you don't remember me.
I remember you.  
I saw you when you walked the trails in the dust from our headlamps as we walked home from night stage.
I see you when we are out and about and you see me.  I SEE YOU.
I see you online. I SEE you in groups with your love and joy and pain.  Throughout the year as we miss each other and miss being together.
I see you when we hurt over the way the world has gone from bad to worse when we thought we had started some momentum and made some strides.
I saw you when we marched recently and gathered together: a sea of women, still wanting to change the world.
I read your posts and listen to your work.  You are amazon. You are fearless and fierce.  You are compelling and profound and we would be so honored and thrilled if you would consider sharing your wisdom and power at Michigan Framily Reunion 2017.  

Now MWMF has ended but the spirit of August lives in all of us.  We were each given an acorn to grow.  We were each charged to create something beautiful.  In these ugly times, it is important to remember WE are the SPIRIT, the HEART, and SOUL of Michfest.  We might not be gathering in Hart.  We might not have access to the sacred motherland (yet) but we have access to the heart of it: the fearless and fierce Amazon spirit lives in all of us!

Our little acorn is a reunion for our “Framily”.  What is Framily?  It is the friends that you choose as your family, since too often, our bio family abandons us. And our friends love us more than family. So we claim them as Framily.

Last year, our acorn, Michigan Framily Reunion was an effort to soothe those yearnings for Michfest. It was an effort to bring together festies but also to bring together our L2L community (Lansing Lesbians is a local lesbian social group that we coordinate). It was a melding of festies and L2L and we came together as FRAMILY. In the spirit of MWMF, we had a women of color tent, Gaia girls, women musicians, porta janes, mud, workshops, crafters, and womyn.  Such beautiful, wonderful, life giving womyn.

This year, we are having another Framily Reunion.  It is a little bit bigger, extending over a 3 day weekend, Friday through Monday (pack out day!).  It will be in Wayland, MI, August 4-7, 2017.  In the spirit of Michfest, we will be womyn camping in the woods, listening to women perform and teach and inspire and thrill.  

Michigan Framily Reunion 2017 is going to be on 80 acres of wooded property that a dear lesbian friend has graciously allowed us to use.  It's her family tree farm and homestead.  It is gorgeous and wonderful. The owner wasn’t a festie but she is part of L2L, another great connection. Thank you, Sister!
Since this is a new festival and not just a recreation of MWMF, we are creating our acorn and tending it and encouraging it to grow.
Part of our growing process is finding OUR identity.

We want womyn to understand that this is our acorn and it has its own identity and spirit.  We hope it is as energizing and fulfilling as MWMF; we believe that the spirit of the womyn is what created the power so we can gather that power and our acorn can grow and spread. In the spirit of creating something new while capturing and honoring the festival that brought us all together, we will be changing the names of certain things.  We also will be working to create a massive (oak) festival but growth takes time.  For our sisters that require a little more assistance to make it accessible, we will be offering “Special Services”, which is similar to DART but since we are a new festival, we do not have the infrastructure and support that MWMF had at the end of her 40 years.  While we will be able to assist with some Special Service requests, others will be something that we will need to grow into.
For our young Amazons, (formerly Gaia girls),  our young Amazon area will be called, “Acorn Amazons” (looking for a coordinator/facilitator, please email if interested lansinglesbiansl2l@gmail.com). Our “land” is not going to be called the land, although, that habit is suuper duper  hard to break.  We are calling the new home of Michigan Framily Reunion: MFR, Wayland Farms. Our dance area is L2L Lounge (think of August Nights Café). And last but not least, Twilight Zone. I am firm believer that Zoners created that space, and Zoners should name the new space.  I asked and the response was “The Zone”. I’m okay with that if you are but since this is a new acorn, if you have any further suggestions, please share them!

But we do not want to forget where we came from, in that spirit, the theme of MFR 2017 is “Wise Women: Share Your Jewels”. We learned and created so much during the last 40 years, please grandmothers, elders, crones, we honor YOU, share with us your wisdom.  We ask that you share your wisdom with us as we go forward so our acorn will grow straight and true and honor the memory of where we came from.

Please join us in August, sisters. There will be singers, dancers, musicians, spoken word artists,food trucks (one that even serves VEGAN milkshakes, sorry no nutloaf though). There were will be zone and breasts and outdoor showers.  There will be trees and fireflies. 
And there will be womyn.
​And womyn.
And womyn.

Please mark your calendars now and join us August 4-7, 2017!