MW: I didn't really have expectations. It was certainly bigger than other Sister Giants we've done, but, on the other hand, there hasn't been a moment like this, before. I was trying to respond to the urgency, the upset people were feeling after the election; I just knew we had to get together, that's all. I read somewhere that the "fight or flight" pattern in reaction to stress applies to men, but that women "tend and mend." To me that's what Sister Giant is, even though it's not just for women. Millions of us had to go through a state of shock and grief after the election, obviously. But then we could all instinctively feel when it was time to get it together and start to DO something. And we have! Look what happened this last week: Human shields in front of deportation forces; Standing Rock; thousands at Congressional Town Hall meetings throughout the country. Sister Giant was and is just one of a myriad things that are part of the larger Resistance. We're all doing what we feel guided to do, and no one's piece is more important than anyone else's.
JB: How many people participated in this year's Sister Giant? And what specifically went on there to help people "tend and mend"? While your conference enabled its participants to glimpse a brighter, more active and proactive path, many more of us were not able to partake. Can you talk more about specific workshops or sessions so that we can have more of a taste, albeit second-hand? We all know on some level that we have to do, and keep on doing, but we don't necessarily know how to go about that.
MW: There were almost 2,000 attending live, and 4,000 on livestream. People can still see the video archives if they go to www.SisterGiant.com . And people who participated did a lot more than "glimpse a brighter path." They heard some very profound sharing from people who have spent decades of their lives working to understand certain political and spiritual issues more deeply, and pursuing strategies for change. People can see ideas for further action on the Resources page at www.SisterGiant.com , plus there's a Community Forum there, etc.
Right now I'm feeling I should do The Spirit of Citizenship Rallies in five cities: they would be day-long, mini-Sister Giants culminating in evening workshops on political activism leading up to the 2018 midterms: cities like Detroit, Minneapolis, Atlanta, one of the cities in Florida, perhaps Denver. The locations aren't totally determined yet. My own deepest concern now is voter suppression; the more active we get, the more I assume there will be those doubling down on the nefarious trend of systematically narrowing the voting franchise. One of the speakers at Sister Giant was Ari Berman, who wrote the book Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America. I want to do everything I can to help put focus on that issue in a meaningful way.
Once again, people have obviously moved into action now. The spontaneous activism we're seeing is really stupendous. I've always been clear that Americans have a way of staying asleep to really important matters for far too long, but boy, when we do wake up, we slam it like nobody's business. And we're starting to do that. Someone, so brazenly standing for who we aren't as a nation, is reminding millions of us who we are. And making us willing to take a stand.
It's an all-hands-on-deck type of moment, and I just want my hands to help.
Quote from Marianne Williamson's 'A Return to Love'
(Image by courtesy of Marianne Williamson) Details DMCA
JB: I'm happy to hear that those of us who were not able to be there can check out your video archives. I agree that we all have to get off the couch and engage. As the long-time Election Integrity Editor for OpEdNews, I'm glad you included at least one speaker on the topic of our dysfunctional elections. We must make it much easier for eligible voters to register and vote, with the vote counting process more transparent and verifiable, as well. In 2014, you ran for Congress. With your focus on spirituality, it was not an obvious or predictable career trajectory. How did that decision come about?
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