#michigan framily reunion

[gender-critical-analytical]

I fr gotta buy my ticket for the women's festival soon

[d3nt4l-d4m4g3]

once again I'm going to be at the Michigan Framily Reunion in Hart Michigan by the 29th. I'm helping set up the festival. let me know if you'll also be there, we can meet up! you can see my pretty face

[carharttlesbian]

do you know anything about the event called Michigan Framily Reunion that happens annually on the land? is it basically the surviving offshoot of the womyn's fest? like the same event but less popular and with a different name or what? thank you in advance

Hi! MFR is an event that has herstorically occured in Michigan near-ish the land of Michfest, but not on the same land. It is my understanding that this is because the Land was not immediately available for use to host events post-Michfest. I believe that was due to the process of working out who would be purchasing it, and then that group, WWTLC, figuring out the structure/process for how events would be hosted.

MFR is not occurring in 2024 but is supposed to occur in 2025. The MFR land, which is a pine tree farm, will have a few camping weekends this year (with no programming) just for sisters to gather. I have not attended and have heard mixed things about it. I would definitely categorize it as one of the acorn fests - meaning, an offshoot of Michfest, where the metaphor is MWMF as an oak tree.

If you are looking to go Michigan this summer, the Land that Michfest was most recently held on (carveout cuz Michfest had a different location originally) will have three event weeks this summer. More info on wwtlc.org 🌿🌿🌿

[autumn-haunts]

Burn in hell, Michfest.

And may Michigan Framily Reunion join you in your glorious pitfall.

Fuck TERFS. 

[rad-octopus]

“Emily Levine has suggested an analogy from carpentry that illuminates how the process of compromise has functioned to erode radical values in [the Women’s Liberation Movement (WLM)]. In carpentry, when one has several boards that she has to cut down to the same size, each succeeding board must be measured, not by matching it with the board just cut, but with the first board cut. By measuring the length of each board against the first one, the carpenter insures that every board ends up the same length. If she makes the mistake of measuring each successive board against the one cut just before it, she’ll discover, when she finishes, that none of the boards are the same length. As the number of boards cut between the first one and the last one increases, so, too, does the extent of errors in measurement."

— Julia Penelope, “The Mystery of Lesbians,” For Lesbians Only: A Separatist Anthology(1988).

This analogy works really well for quite a few things, including if you choose to marry a man. Don't compare men to each other, because abusive men have lowered the bar for all men. Instead, compare how a man makes you feel to how women make you feel. I recently went to Michigan Framily Reunion and while the camping aspect wasn't the best, the sisterhood? Impeccable. You asked for help and 5 women would come running. Something broke and multiple butch lesbians would materialize with tools to fix it.

Women expect so little and give so much, and women will give you the space and support to be who you truly are. Find the place in the world where you are most cherished and loved and protected, and hold men up to that standard, not their own standards.

For me, that place was with women.

[friend-o-dorothy]

Hii I love your blog 💗 Any advice for putting yourself out there in the lesbian/radfem community, like arranging meetups irl or what to expect from events like OLF or Michigan Framily Reunion? I'm dying to connect with some like-minded women but a little nervous to get started all on my own. Hope you are doing well!

Hi anon! My best advice is honestly to get on Facebook! Some of the radfem groups I’m in have people from ALL over and you may realize there’s more women to connect with in your area than you realized!

I also suggest finding gatherings of older lesbians. A women’s night at a gay bar, lesbian owned coffee and book shops, and I just joined a lesbian choir! We found a lesbian owned bar that hosts lesbian dances!

OLF is technically inclusive of trans women but there were maybe three there, and I went with a crew of women who respected female only spaces. There was even a female only vendor space registered with the festival.

I haven’t been to Michigan Fram but I’ve wanted to go! I can also recommend smaller festivals across the Midwest if you’d like.

I’ve included a photo from a lesbian night at the local gay bar with a lesbian band for fun. :)

DM me your location if you want help finding spaces local to you 💕

[emeritusprofessorofnothing]

Finding out cowboy jen is going to be at Michigan framily reunion 🤩😍🤩

[butch-reidentified]

In radical feminism we're free to disagree with one another, and that's often jarring to people used to hivemind kweer spaces. There will be petty arguments and fights. Every online spaces eventually attracts certain personalities which can only thrive where they can be anonymous, and radblr is no exception. So just be realistic. Sisterhood is powerful but it hurt the first time I witnessed radfems be mean to each other because I had the community up on a pedestal. But actually if you're able to attend an event like the Ohio Lesbian Festival or Michigan Framily Reunion, it is incredible and magical to be surrounded by women.

I love and appreciate the thoughtfulness of this message ❤ I have seen cruelty from radfems before, on rare occasion, but I suppose the way I experience that cruelty is fundamentally different from how I experience male cruelty, even when perpetrated identically. I feel that "at home" comfort in rf spaces that is so hard to find as women in a patriarchal world.

I would love to attend an event like that at some point! I have spent the last few years dealing with some personal struggles and trying to survive, so I'm only now applying to grad schools and sorting career plans. When my life is stabilized a bit, I will absolutely make an effort to go to such things :)

[weebian-brain]

do you follow nansheonearth? she's a black lesbian separatist who attends the michigan womyn's festival (now reformed as the michigan framily reunion). there are spaces set aside for black women and woc. the same site hosts a predominantly black and lesbian gathering called big mouth girl featuring an old michfest performer named nedra johnson. def look up wwtlc sometime. it's mostly white but it has a fair amount of diversity too.

I do follow nansheonearth! Ive already seen your other ask and I am white myself. I am a minor and don't have much control over where I go unfortunately. I am excited to see that michfest is back!

[gender-critical-analytical]

will I be a pest if I bring my little sister to michigan framily reunion? she's four, she'll be almost five when go, and the website says that kids her age get in free, but I just wanna be sure that it isn't a 'kids are allowed, but ://" type of situation. I love her a ton and think it would be a good environment for her to experience, her favorite thing to do is just run around outside in a pair of shorts and no shirt, but our mom has already put a stop to that even though she's still just a little kid :( I'd like her to have somewhere she can just do what she likes, and I want her to get an early start on female only spaces, she already lives with only women

[d3nt4l-d4m4g3]

i'm going to michigan framily reunion! see you there :)

[agneswsblog]

Michfest Framily reunion. I used to be a little girl that adults called "tomboy". They also called me "sensitive", because I was always noticing the things little boys could get away with that girls couldn't and making a fuss about it. I'd organize the neighborhood girls to ambush the bully boys that threw dead worms at them with crabapple bombing raids from trees. The summer I was about to turn 11, my hips and thighs started to change in ways that were barely perceptible even to me. But men and older boys noticed, and the comments, jokes, and touching began. All my attention turned inward, and my body became a prison. I devoted all of my mental energy to starving the female flesh off of it, to make myself untouchable. I saw the fashion models on TV (this was the mid 90s, so there were a lot of them), all collarbones and eye sockets, and thought they had power and control, I sketched them in the margins of my school work. A friend's mom took me to Michfest the summer I was 13. I felt uncomfortable, like everyone could see that I didn't fit in, but I also felt true female power. Not the power of residing in a body that's looked at, but the power of being a body that exists because it has a right to. Just going to Michfest that one time didn't act as a force field against everything patriarchy (I graduated High School in the "girls gone wild" era, and decided stripping would be really "empowering", but that's a whole 'nother story), but it turned a corner for me. So... when I heard, years later, about what happened with Camp Trans, and the boycotts, I was shocked. How could any woman who'd been to Michfest deny future little girls the opportunity to be in that space. I think that was the first in a series of "peak trans" moments, which brought me to radical feminism. Andrea Dworkin's Letters From a War Zone was the first feminist book I read in a long time, and every word felt like the truest thing I ever heard. I've found some radical women's communities online, which is great for making you feel less like a lunatic minority of one, but it also feels sort of ineffectual. I've mostly just lurked on this site and read what other women write- which is brilliant- but I don't believe there's any substitute for meeting face to face and hearing each other's voices, sharing ideas (it's also a really good way to weed out bad actors. It's incredibly rare, but I have met a couple of women through going to some events that clearly had an authoritarian impulse- focusing their anger and attention on other women not behaving correctly). As much as I hear about women getting peak transed by engaging with radical feminist arguments online, and there are obvious advantages to debating on the internet (Googling and linking sources being one), I honestly hate it. I hate the impotent rage of it. Knowing that you just put together an ironclad argument, focused so much time and energy on making sure the methodology of the research you used to back it up can't be questioned, only to be blocked and then edited out of context. You really can't win anything this way. So... yeaah. Sorry this went on so long, I normally don't write on this site, just lurk and reblog for reference material (because one day, I'm gonna use it for... something?) When I found out there was a Michfest reunion, I had to go, even alone. This year was the year of the Mother, and we have to birth a new movement. There's really no other chouce. Please get in touch if you live in Michigan

[cowboyjen68]

jen it makes me so sad that as a young lesbian i never got the chance to go to Fest :( do you know anything about the Michigan Framily Reunion? i joined the facebook group & am hoping to go next year! :)

Women’s festivals are not gone. They are alive and well. Some feature camping, some in hotels and some in rental cabins. Some are heavy in discourse and others are basically camping with friends and relaxing. 

But it does break my heart and i am also saddened that MichFest is gone. I went for 22 years and it changed my life from the first full 24 hours I spent on that land. It helped me love me. It taught me about my butchness and let me feel wonderful about being a lesbian. 

 I met many friends who are still like family. Michfest was camping and reading, drinking too much beer and laughing. It was watching women drop their armor and dance in a field or around a sandy fire pit. One of my favorite parts was always the women I met and made friends with. That was second only to one thing. Every morning JLO and I would go to the outdoor “cafe” and get a coffee and donuts (plural) and sit and watch women dance. talk, drum and just walk by, deep in conversation. A true village of women. 

Everyone deserves to have their space once in a while and that was my space and an important healing space to many women. 

The Land is open again.. Run by a board and had 4 events on it this year. They are not Fest nor are they meant to be, but gathering even in smaller numbers on that ground is important to many. 

I was at MFR the second year and last year and this year. It is an amazing festival with a full stage and lots to do... OR nothing to do if you just want to kick back. I met two friends there the first  year, and their friends and this year i had some new friends (whom I met on tumblr--) We all had a blast. So many conversations... so many hugs, 

I presented my workshop on intergenerational lesbian mentorships and how we created our conference. It was very successful and at the end we all just shared our stories .

I say this often but women’s festivals like MFR will change your life. AND the more friends the better.. 

Morning hair after Friday night. 

[feralseraph]

WLRN’s edition 41 podcast celebrates women’s cultural gatherings by highlighting the spirit of community and female empowerment generated at the Michigan Framily Reunion (MFR), a women-only festival that takes place every year in the pines of Michigan.

Jenna and Thistle set up a WLRN table in the marketplace at MFR this year and had a blast meeting and greeting with all of the amazing women who showed up.

In this edition, hear the world news as written and delivered by WLRN’s youngest member from India, Damayanti, before enjoying Alix Dobkin’s classic song “If it Wasn’t For the Women.” Next, listen to an exclusive interview with Dawn Smith, founder and producer of the Michigan Framily Reunion as she reflects on the highlights of MFR 2019, the year of the Mother, and talks about plans for MFR 2020, the year of the Dragyn. After the interview, hear a sound collage of women gathered this year in the woods of Michigan chatting, attending workshops and singing. The sound collage is framed by Nedra Johnson’s song “August Moon” and begins with a brief interview with Alix Dobkin right after she led her workshop called Lesbian Issues that over 60 women attended. In the collage you will also hear Nina Paley and Ruth Barrett as they relax in the space Ruth set up in the marketplace for radical feminist discussion before it ends with a stroll along the trail and encounter with women singing together. Next, enjoy the song “Rocks & Water” by Deb Talon before WLRN’s Jenna DiQuarto rocks the commentary with her reflections on MichFest, MFR and radical feminist community-building.

[cafab-kayfabe]

Have any of you heard about the "framily reunion" that's supposed to be kind of the same spirit as the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival? Further info? Has it been well attended?

[old-school-butch]

what’s mfr? just curious!

Michigan Framily Reunion