On the downside, the constant deluge prevented us from leaving the hotel for any great length of time, so Sunny Florida might as well have been the rainy five boroughs we left behind. It was just as well, since the 2011 National Conference for NOW was the kind of thing from which it was difficult to disengage.
Attending the conference last weekend, to say nothing of presenting therein, was an incredible honor, if only to breathe the same air as the countless movers and shakers who have worked so hard to bring gender equality to fruition.
I took part in two separate panels in the course of my time there.
The first was part of the Young Feminist Task Force panel. I spoke on the subject of male feminism, and how to recruit men in the struggle for women's rights. Other panelists, including the monumentally inspiring Erin Matson, Action Vice-President of NOW, addressed means of bridging the generational gap between feminists - how to foster mentor/mentee relationships and make the feminist movement a truly ageless machine.
My other panel also addressed the subject of male feminism, this time in the company of two other men whose commitment to achieving gender equality lent much to admire.
My presentation began by focusing on my own story of becoming a feminist - what worked for me, what held me back - and then, echoing my focus on the previous panel, how to recruit other men to the cause.
I was followed by Ben Atherton-Zeman, author of Voices of Men, a one-person play that offers incredibly moving portraits of men and boys making stands against sexism and violence against women. Ben spoke on the stumbling blocks that can arise once men join the movement, including but by no means limited to their tendency to act in a domineering capacity toward fellow female activists.
Our panel wrapped up with Ken Gruberman, a music copyist, librarian, contractor, orchestrator, score supervisor, researcher, and six-time winner of the Grammy Award, who in typically humble fashion discussed none of his own accomplishments, but spoke instead to his experience of "living with a powerful woman" - his wife, Ellen Snortland, an astonishing artist and activist in her own right. Ken's presentation also included recordings from his exclusive interview with Dr. Riane Eisler, author of The Chalice and the Blade, who endorsed the need for all genders to participate in the struggle for equality.
Long story short, I felt great about the presentation, and working with Ben and Ken was as much of an honor as any I experienced in the course of the conference.
Jerin moderated my panel with Ben and Ken. She was also involved with two other workshops, one on the intersection of feminism and the immigrant woman's experience, and the other looking at feminism in the context of Islam.
As Jerin has frequently brought to my attention, I speak from a certain bias where she's concerned. Nonetheless, I have no reservation saying she was outstanding on both panels, particularly the latter, which attracted a number of people whose attitudes toward Islam were, to put it gently, less than enlightened.
Those who arrived with an inflexible mindset left with an inflexible mindset, but from my vantage point at the video camera, clumsily trying to capture the discussion on tape, I could see many an attendee who were simply misinformed, whose faces slowly shifted from criticism to curiosity as Jerin and the other panelists discussed the Qur'an's strong declaration of equality between men and women, and the role that women have played through the development of the faith. It was a beautiful thing to see.
Participating as we did in a total of four different discussions, we had limited opportunities to partake in the rest of the conference, but we made sure to attend the closing plenary. Its speakers included Maya Rockymoore, President and CEO of Global Policy Solutions, who made the outrageously cool suggestion that someone wrap the Capitol Building in saran wrap with the label "misogynists work here." Maya was followed by Patricia Shroeder, a former member of Congress and a lifelong activist, who said, "You know your dreams are big enough when they scare you. They have to scare you." As a testament to the thoroughness with which gender norms have saturated my thinking, I'm halfway embarrassed to admit that the line brought me to tears.
To round out the experience, and to raise the bar on just how many honors a single weekend can contain, Jerin and I closed out the night by sharing dinner with Sonia Fuentes, one of the founding members of NOW, who was gracious enough to give us her time.
Alongside her incredible strength of character and her immense capacity for story-telling, I was most struck by her willingness to listen, and her openness to new ideas.
More and more, I feel as if it's the world's most unsung virtue.
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