Oct 7: MGH community convening

What:  A gathering for folks who have read My Grandmother's Hands (MGH) with Conie and PLM or Music that Makes Community (MMC) over the last year.  To check-in and support each other's journey's, grow community.

When:  Thursday, October 7, 2021, 1 p.m. EDT.   
(10 a.m. PDT // 11 a.m. MDT // 12 noon CDT)

Length: 90 minutes

Where:  online via zoom.  To get the link, send a note via the Contact Us form or reply to the email you received.

Help Wanted: Advisory Board Members

 

Help Wanted:

Creating new  

Biracial & Rural* culture 

through storytelling events & retreats.

Do you fit the description of 

being black, indigenous, person of color 

who experienced otherness 

in predominantly white rural spaces. 

AND 

(pick one or several)

- desire to create more community and care 

for and with others like yourself?

- want to dig into the Mixed Bill of Rights and 

the Oath of Responsibility by Maria P.P. Root

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A post shared by Conie Borchardt (@pointsoflight_mu)

- want to explore the somatic practices 

within Resmaa Menakem's My Grandmother's Hands book

with other mixed folks?

- love to share your artistic practice with others?  

Or accompany folks on their artistic explorations?

- have space and interest to plan and implement logistics 

for an arts-centered retreat for next summer?

 

* Read more about our thoughts on inclusion, 

the limitations of names, 

and what we're doing about it here.

Help Wanted: Spreading the Word

Help Wanted:

Spread the Word of 

Biracial & Rural* 

to those that fit the description of 

being black, indigenous, person of color 

who experienced otherness 

in predominantly white rural spaces. 

* Read more about our thoughts on inclusion, 

the limitations of names, 

and what we're doing about it here.

What's In A Name OR "How to say: Your story is important & you're welcome here"

What's in a name?  

So much meaning, including a sense of belonging.  

And it's also just a conglomeration of sounds smooshed together.  In a particular sequence, yes.  One that has been developed over time and shifted in changed in different times and contexts.  One that continues to evolve today and into tomorrow based on what we knew then and what we will learn in the future.   

Biracial & Rural was a phrase we started using to refer to the experience of living in a pre-dominantly white rural space as a person whose ancestry was from two different continents.  In 2019 we applied that phrase  to title an autobiographical transdisciplinary performance art piece of Conie's story.  

By 2020, we realized that one person's story could not encapsulate the breadth of experiences possible in that phrase, Biracial & Rural (BnR).  It took until the end of 2020 to be able to articulate that BnR was a community of care and storytelling space and that Conie's story in that was called Freeing Refrains.  

This year, 2021, we're realizing the limitations of using Biracial.  With a conversation partner from Midwest Mixed, we realized the wide net we were hoping to spread using Biracial might be more deterrent as some folks see themselves as multi-ethnic or mixed.  It is a complexity that needs space to unfold and real relationship to feel the inclusion.  

And begs the questions:  How wide do you want to fling the net?  And will you change the name?