I really did not think that picture would actually take place.
Over a year ago when I launched #365FeministSelfie, I did not think so many people would participate. Then when they did and started to talk about organizing a retreat? Shut the front door! No way. People are going to travel to meet people they met via selfies? Well over the weekend we did. It wasn't a ton of people and in fact, it was the perfect number of people for the first, beta #365Feministselfie Retreat. I am so terrible at names, it was seriously perfect for me. You would think after seeing each other for over a year, we'd all know everyone's names. haha! But I wasn't the only one who needed a little help now and then.
And just as advertised we did not just sit around taking selfies. We heard from Caitlyn of In Other Words (aka the bookstore from Portlandia) about the rewards and challenges of a volunteer-run bookstore/community center. It's hard y'all. Then we heard from one of our selfie sisters who has a background in international affairs. That was pretty awesome. When we did our wrap-up meeting on Sunday most of us said they want to hear more from expert sisters. Not that we did not love our body love workshop (going find a new pencil skirt to buy & rock) or hearing from Andi Zeisler, co-founder and current editorial/creative director of Bitch magazine.
We had some great conversations with our guests and ourselves about feminism, mothering, the medicalization of life (pregnancy, birthing, breastfeeding, and so forth), the benefits of backyard chickens, babywearing, body image, being an emotional being when the world wants you to suck it all up, and our love of books. I get the sense that we could have been just as happy sitting around the pool (that I don't think any of us got to) reading and catching up.
The power of the internet never fails to amaze me. Sixteen months ago most of us were strangers. Now we call each other sister. We are all very different from each other, but what brought us together was the idea of taking a selfie every day for a year to reclaim our everyday feminism.
Thanks ladies. And the rest of ya, stay tuned for news on a Midwest Retreat in the fall.
