Karine–I really want to stay on top of what the RebELLEs are doing, and Winnipeg is, historically, a very fitting place for the next meeting. I’d love to attend. I also checked out Je Suis Feministe (though admittedly, my French is a bit rusty) and I’m really excited by what you’re doing with your site. I’m so glad we’ve connected!

Amanda from the august Antigone magazine–whoo! I’m so glad to have you as part of the discussion. And your comment is a great reminder that all over the country, the continent and the world, women are gathering, going, “Gee, I’m not happy about ‘X’. What can we do about it?” Glad to have you here.

MadamaAmbi–It is hard. It is. And you’re right that it’s a reality we need to accept. There’s no point in wishing otherwise because I think we’re wasting energy if we do. Part of the trick in dealing with it, I think, is like that line from that Leonard Cohen song: “There is a crack in everything/That’s how the light gets in.”

And Courtney Martin! Thank you so much for stopping by. I’m kind of in love with the blogosphere tonight. And totally dug the video about “The Notebook” by one of your contributors at Crucial Minutiae. I haven’t even seen the damn movie but I loved her heartfelt willingness to be a total cheeseball. Thank you for being here!

Okay, well, now I have to go solve the world’s problems so that I can post the solution here tomorrow.

I’m super interested in hearing more next week!

So, at the same time that I am united with the struggle, I want to be able to say that IT’S HARD! It’s hard to pour your energies into making something new come into being and then hear your own voice echo back at you. Whatever you are doing in the movement, whether organizing or donating time/energy/skills or training new leaders or raising consciousness on your blog–whatever it is–it’s hard. And it’s harder for some than for others. I just heard from a friend of mine who’s going through a very tough economic time, her baby has been sick for months, and as she put it, somebody left her a warm message of “die nigger die” next to her regular parking spot.

I implode hearing that. I absolutely implode. She is such a trooper, a single mother with so much to say about her experiences as an AfricanAmerican woman and the choices she has made. These are the voices that really matter to me, and these are probably the women that are the most stressed in their day-to-day lives. So…it’s hard…it’s hard…and it’s never going to stop being hard, sisters. I know you don’t want to hear that from me, believe me, I know. I know we all hold in our minds a vision of a far more just world, that if we only trudge a little further, we will discover just over the hill, just beyond that rainbow, just like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and her motley crew were overcome by the resplendence of The Emerald City.

But, that’s not the river we’re in. It’s gonna be hard coming together, it’s gonna be hard figuring out how to do multi-issue solidarity, it’s gonna be hard facing grim realities and ridicule…and failure. But, at least here’s a little bright spot, in my view! I am not afraid of failure! Never have been, don’t know why, but I am immune to what people think of me, and by this time of life have failed so many times in so many creative ways that I’m impressed with my resilience, my stubbornness and my genius at learning from mistakes. The greatest compliment anyone has ever given me was to tell me that I have “the guts of an artist.”

That’s a true statement. An excellent observation by someone who knows me reasonably well. I am united with this work and I can’t shake it; I see myself in a long line of feminists who have already passed the torch to me…and I have miles to go before I pass it off and rest…