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thrilled and chilled

i’m writing from a laundromat in a small town in minnesota. i’m washing the participants’ underwear and sleeping bags which got soaked in 3 torrential downpours yesterday during the ruckus society advanced action bootcamp for ecojustice.

it’s been cold and beautiful, rainy and challenging.

i have to say that i am deeply thrilled by the level of conversations and skills being shared in this space. we started off with the Ruckus Action Framework, a collective work that has been in the process of development and practice for the last 5 years. the framework is fairly simple:

1. ruckus comes where we’re called.
2. ruckus supports action where the community is the leader of the strategy, vision and execution.
3. we support action that builds and creates space
4. we support actions where the vision is more compelling than the injustice (what we are FOR is more compelling than what we are AGAINST)
5. no social movement in history has succeeded without direct action and we must step up to our role now
6. “transform yourself to transform the world” (grace lee boggs). we must be the organizational model of the change we wish to see in the world.

we covered this and folks got to reflect on how that framework intersects with their work. we also covered movement generation’s ecojustice powerpoint, and then had a powerful conversation on allies and impacted communities, led by some of the most respected indigenous organizers in the country, heather milton-lightning, kandi mossett, with marty aranaydo and others contributing.

in that context, folks are now off in their tracks, focusing on arts and communications, blockades and climbing. i am focused on staying warm and taking care of folks logistics needs as the assistant to megan and sharon (camp directors and incoming co-directors of ruckus).

in a VERY cool twist, the camp medic and i have exactly matching tattoos – labyrinths on our inner right arm! its so very grounding to see how healing manifests in all kinds of choices.

ok – time to fold clothes and get back to camp. brrr. send love and wishes for warmth. 🙂