hi, china, it's traci (formerly from providence). we are on this communey-type place in upstate ny, remember how we had the weekend with sandor katz-it was very successful which gave me confidence to do more stuff and i have had a long cold winter to think about what event is next. i am hosting a roundtable discussion about living in community for a new zine, plus i wrote a zine about cooking for community and one called xxx on the farm, and i still have copies of dumpster manna and an iww-themed zine. at our mardi gras party we are going to plan a zinefest, maybe for late spring. i mean, nothing fancy-zines, art, speakers,roundtable, food, and a falling down shack on a heartbreakingly gorgeous chunk of land in upstate ny.

I thought I knew you. YOur oldest and my only daughter are penpals (when they remember to respond to each other's letters)

Maybe what you have is the seed of a writer mama's retreat. I've been told about other writing retreats (presumably for those without kids) and China was telling me about the idea to do a retreat where there would also be childcare for us writer mamas. (I don't mean that YOU should do the childcare, but having a stretch of land and 3 other kids to play with, plus one or 2 non-parent allies to run around with them for a week, would be MUCH better than trying to arrange a week of childcare back home so that I could take off for a retreat somewhere else)

Keep us posted about the zine fest. Sounds like a lot of fun! (And thank you for all the invites this past year. Sorry I've been lame and haven't made it up yet)

Sometimes paper is the only thing that will listen to you.

yes, i am planning some type of mama retreat. well, parent and caregiver. ok, i am into writing and my man is into building a recording studio and i thought it would be a great idea to make it family-friendly. it would pretty much be the only family-friendly radical multi-arts retreat and herb farm i know of. i would even be up for a lot of the childcare, but not all! and it being a commune and all, we have family-friendly childless folks already living here. and a few little houses, and a community space,and...and... all of which need work right now, but lemme tell ya sister i got big plans.
and i am really committed to it being very accessible and super low-budget, like maybe a work trade or contribute to meals or remember-us-if-you-get-rich-and-famous.
plus-- yeah, your kid really made an impression on mine, they think she's really cool, and i was (rudely) like "you only met her once" and they're like "whatever, we just KNOW she's great." so fucking sweet.

sounds awesome. And it sounds even *better* that it'll be a *radical* multi-arts retreat (cuz I'm elitist like that. No, seriously, I would sooo love for my kid to run around with other kids being raised by radical parents (yours and whoever else is there) and trust that she's not just watching PowerPuff Girl videos and getting indoctrinated into the American Girl doll fetish while I try to work out the kinks and flaws in my book.)

Work trade sounds good. So does contributing to meals. I will remember you regardless, but I'm not sure how rich and famous a book about women in prison will make me, so no promises there...

By the way, I believe it's your kid's turn to write to mine.

well, you wouldn't have to swear your allegiance on our favorite chomsky book to enter or anything, it's just that if you're there to write about how all the ills of the world are the fault of feminists sinners and women who think about stuff maybe you should move on. (think ann coulter, tim lahaye)cause there are already sanctuaries for people with lots of money, non-parents, "normal" people, etc. (which are probably a lot nicer than our place!)so i want to fill the gap and make a space for strong ladies, queers, people of color, poor people, kids, hobo-punk-weirdos, etc. but "radical" is my fall-back term for all non-mainstream humans. we would love to have you here for however much time to write! i need to converge a planing committee!

and..the letter is sent!

ha! thats great that I actually thought there were 2 mamas living on farm/collective talking about doing a zine fest...cuz there could be.

I deffinately want to come up, if possible!

hey I remember you from hipmama! I don't go there anymore either due to the brainsucking thing too. Glad to see that you did form your own community. happy writing!