Travel

COM|PASSionate Events

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Heyo ADVENTURERS! Is everyone ready for the weekend?

We've been thinking a lot about change and journey- all the ways that we plan for the worst and hope for the best. We've been contemplating the positive potential of intentions versus the negative potential of expectations. We've been doing our damn best to travel with the spirit of The Fool and the wisdom of The World.

{Image Credit: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/77616793554654339/}

We've been thinking about what it means to traverse the road of life in this way. We've been asking ourselves how to sink into trust that this is the best way to live. We're taking road trips and paths less traveled. We're stopping to smell roses (and fennel and sage and lavender) that we find on the side of the road. We're uncovering wonders in each other and treasures in ourselves.

{Image Credit: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/3307399703597611/}

How are your journeys going, loves?

EVENTS

Get out, take care of yourself and heal in community!

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Don't forget there's lots of upcoming ways to get involved!

  • Gender Odyssey is coming up at the end of August! Aunty Kate is doing the keynote and the programming looks rad! We're still not sure if we're going to make it up Seattle but we're crossing our fingers! We've heard the community and events around the actual conference programming is also the jam! Check it out if you can or put it on your roadtrip wishlist!
  • Some music and art love!
    • Heart of Art Gallery : This gallery/event space just popped up into our awareness and we are loving everything we've seen! We haven't made it out yet but hope to soon! Let us know if you go to anything! 80's night coming up!!!
    • Annenburg Space for Photography just popped onto our radar (okay, full disclosure we weren't doing anything artsy or cultured- we saw banners in Highland Park while we were getting vegan donuts at Donut Friend). We're hoping to catch the Emerging exhibit soon. We're also interested in this lecture on Radical Love. Lots of great free events!
  • OCFTM Annual Beach Party coming up on September 19th!

RECOMMENDATIONS

We are going to make it up to Seattle for Gender Odyssey next week so we're going to leave you with some travel music.

We'll miss you SoCal but all the good coffee will help ease the pain! <3

spotify:user:compassionaterevolt:playlist:4pPK2n2ohX14YyRfxteRDP

Missing you,

The COM|PASSionate REVOLT Community<3

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*Events are put on by the CR Community/CR Community members. Other events are by friends of the CR Community or of interest to the CR Community. Feeling a little nervous about getting out and involved? Email us and if we can we'll make some introductions so you have a friendly face to say "Hi" to when you get there!

**Most of these events will be local to Southern CA (unless we notice an event that sets us off into road trip dreamland.) If you want to do a COM|PASSionate event round-up for your local area let us know!

***Are you an individual, meet-up or community group that has some COM|PASSionate events of your own? Email us for details on how to submit your event to our calendar!

****Have your own story about healing or thoughts on healing? Are you a queer vegan healer? Want to talk to your community about ways you're living consciously and connected? Do you want your blog, org, or event to be featured on one of our running series or want to do an interview introducing yourself to the COM|PASSionate REVOLT Community? Are you a unicorn in a pony world disguising your magickal star dust sprinkling mane to live amongst the commoners?

Pitch us a blog series or interview idea!! Contact us at compassionaterevolt@gmail.com!

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There are photographs in this post that were borrowed lovingly from the internet and do not belong to us. All are linked and credited to the best of our abilities in hopes of attracting more traffic to the photographers and websites who have blessed us with this imagery. The inclusion of a photograph here should not be interpreted as an assertion of the subject's or artist's identity or beliefs. If there is a photo included here that belongs to you and you want it removed, please email compassionaterevolt@gmail.com and it will be removed promptly, no questions asked.

Isn't It Queer?: Finding Our People

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Banner Have you ever run headfirst into your people? After unconsciously shielding and censoring your speech for people who you didn't feel safe around, after dressing yourself down or "less loud" to avoid being asked ignorant questions, or for some of us, wondering if we "pass" with anxious tension, there they are, like a big fucking rainbow cake. Like a gay fairy tale, you walk into a family of incredible humans that accept you in all your queerness and polyness and with all of your kinks AND they are so fucking queer (and poly! and kinky!) you can barely handle it AND these magical bastards think that every word of passionate discussion on gender politics you utter is the sexiest thing they've ever heard. WTF. You people exist? You mean you've been here the whole time?! Oh Los Angeles how you spurn me! Theatrics aside, the experience reminded me of a conversation I'd had recently with a dear friend.

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My incredible, life changing, ally, Lyneonme, once described the bittersweet experience of having visited Brooklyn for the first time. She grew up as one of the only black women in her neighborhood and at the schools she attended. She said that it was the first time she felt like she didn't stand out for just walking down the street, almost baffled that she wasn't being tokenized, and also one of the first times that she lacked the constant haunting isolation of being the sole black face in a community, as she went about her daily business. This is when she introduced me to the concept of "finding your people" and how important it was for her personal growth, to surround herself with a healthy community of people who identified with experiences she'd had. Her words stayed with me as I visited Oakland on my recent road trip.

Everyday I was introduced to a series of incredible individuals who could discuss gender politics, trans politics, and sex workers rights, and each conversation left me feeling more and more affirmed and confident in my identity and in my life choices. I saw personal style that reflected mine. I met a variety of polyamorous folks and was absolutely enamored with their ability to give each other real constructive feed back and validation during challenging life events. The experience was powerful and transcendent and to be honest, it initially left me bittersweet, like Lyneonme described.

It made me resent Los Angeles for it's materialism and vanity, and especially for it's fragmented queer communities. If Oakland has families of poly, kinky, and queer folks, Los Angeles has a series of estranged cousins, who are missing the shit out of one another. Jealous and bitter, check...but once I set aside my catholic (possibly genetic) martyr complex, the experience left me overjoyed that such supportive, inclusive communities existed. It also left me pondering a few questions regarding community building.

If I were to move north in hopes of building a chosen family in the Bay Area, would I be abandoning the growth I am making in Los Angeles by facing adversity? Would I be robbing myself and Los Angeles of the possibility of building community and creating my own chosen family here. Fighting to build a kinky, poly, queer friend circle in L.A. would then provide a space for others who are feeling isolated, to feel affirmed. We all deserve a chance to be held in the arms of a community that provides nurturing and safety, that is obvious. Not to mention, through the process of searching for affirming alternative lifestyle comrades in So-cal, I have built a small family of incredible allies of different backgrounds, who have educated me on the struggles of other marginalized communities. I also know that these allies have supported me and loved me for who I am, in every phase of my growth and when they didn't have the information they needed to affirm my life choices or gender identity, they had genuine curiosity and open arms to learning that information. I've heard great activists say, "You can't build a movement if you move" and I've also heard great activists say, "Surround yourself with your people," The question remains then, what is the importance of settling into a city and building community and alternately what is the impact of moving? You tell me bold spirit.

-To your personal revolts and riots and especially to your learning,

Cory

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Cory is a poet and novelist in the Los Angeles area. They have worked in mental health, education, social justice and fashion blogging and they aim to lead by example by bravely living an examined lifestyle.

"The learning process is something you can incite, literally incite, like a riot."

Audre Lord

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**ATTENTION QUEER,  KINKY, POLY FAMILY** COM|PASSionate REVOLT will be at the Contemporary Relationships Conference in Austin, TX on May 15 + 16, 2015 doing a workshop on Queering Consent: Navigating Consent Outside of the Hetero AND Homo Normative.

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There are photographs in this post that were borrowed lovingly from the internet and do not belong to us. All are linked and credited to the best of our abilities in hopes of attracting more traffic to the photographers and websites who have blessed us with this imagery. The inclusion of a photograph here should not be interpreted as an assertion of the subject’s or artist’s identity or beliefs. If there is a photo included here that belongs to you and you want it removed, please email compassionaterevolt@gmail.com and it will be removed promptly, no questions asked.