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I think I fucked up a little.  I’ll get to that later…

“Each one teach one.”

Or as Vanessa put it, “if you have the knowledge, share it with everyone else.”  Omar told me that one of his former students was part of a crew organizing LadyFest Los Angeles at a place called Chuco’s Justice Center.  For the name alone, we had to go.  I’ve also been wanting to do something music oriented for a while… and then I saw the flyer that listed “D.I.Y. Gynecology” among the workshops.

Hello.

On one level I know what to expect.  The butcher paper signs.  The sitting in a circle.  Good people and a few straight-up freaks, where you think ” Do I really have something in common with this person?”  But the young, womyn of color vibe was new to me.  (Yes – i’m using the feminist spelling of ‘woman’.  No – it’s not something I normally do, but I don’t see anything wrong with it.  And, well, I don’t want to be anyone’s “Hispanic” either.  so, I get it.)

I didn’t want to end up cheerleading or exoticizing what was going on at LadyFest.  And it would have been  pretty easy to do since everyone is on the same page, saying similar things.  This is the part where I effed up.  I don’t think I did that as well as I could have exploring the depth and personal connection to the scene.  When I was interviewing Mariam, I should have been asking her more about her experience in punk rather than the punk experience.  The former would have been more engaging and specific, making for better context of the whole piece.  I think I was on the cusp of figuring out how to do that, but didn’t quite get there.

And as far as exoticizing I knew I had to avoid the pornography of the real.   So what if the drummer was playing in a jock strap?  I mean, you should see it, it’s part of the performance, but lets not dwell.  Or, if we dwell, let’s think about what it says about the female body, gender assigned adornments and, um.. what’s that word… googling… male gaze?  Maybe?  In either case, the best way is to explore without exploitation.

Then look at what else the LadyFest experience demonstrates.  The power of organizing, of communicative non-commercial relationships.  Where womyn folk can put together an event for 10 cents (estimated) and actually get people to come through the doorway.  Blending the entertainment with the knowledge sharing… ’tis smart my friends.   Emma Goldman said “If I can’t dance – I don’t want to be part of your revolution”.  (Disclosure, I didn’t know that.  I heard it on KPFK).  And this ain’t Miley Cyrus.  It’s hardcore and beautifully nasty. You will not see any of these young womyn doing an 80s white girl rap on YouTube.

It’s hard work to organize.  It’s harder work to organize well.  And they were packing people into those rooms like  sweaty, Chicana sardines.  That’s organizing.  It’s become a recurring theme in this series that you may not be living high on the hog, but… look how much god damn fun those kids are having.

¡D.I.Y. or Die! is  a series dedicated to people doing it their damn selves.  Each episode features different characters and a documentary style.  Stay tuned on the RSS feed for outtakes, extended interviews and more episodes to come.