Posts tagged community
Kae Burke: Co-Founder of House Of Yes on building inclusive culture.

How's the House Of Yes is intrinsically inclusive, because our creative culture has been inclusive art and collaboration has been inclusive. That was a part of our we were inclusive before it was intentional before it was a cultural buzzword. And it's actually been a very interesting cultural challenge to maintain the inclusivity while protecting and curating the vibe. There have been times when we've experienced like, wow, there's way too many bros way too many type, a type of person that isn't really tuned in or aligned with some of our values or some of our ways that we dictate that a good time is what we set out to be and so we've had to adjust one point we end up doing costumes mandatory. It's not mandatory any longer. But for while we're like, oh, if we want our parties to be the vibe that we are putting out there that are our highest self, this template expression that we set out to be, then our favorite parties are the ones where everybody's wearing costumes. So they know who hates wearing costumes is angry, insecure, homophobic, transphobic, there's something about wearing costumes that feels like too feminine for certain kind of person, especially especially a male identified person. So that became a good idea for a little bit. And then eventually, that became too exclusive because it wasn't accessible, like wearing a costume to a party is sometimes not accessible to certain people. And it actually wasn't being as inclusive as we intended. So it has been, I would say, it's been an experiment. And it's the journey that we are still on the path of just getting walking the line between inclusivity and creative curation of the audience.

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Episode 1. The History, Trauma, and Tragedy of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Womxn.

The idea for the MMIWR (R standing for relatives) series originated from a conversation I had six years ago with my sister-in-law. I first noticed airport signs in Washington asking people to keep an eye out for human trafficking victims. Our conversation quickly went from human trafficking to the MMIW crisis. I’ve never heard of either back East. It was astounding to learn that this was happening in the US (and Canada) and that the mainstream media was barely covering the issue.

The more I spoke who families and read articles, the bigger the MMIW story would become. The systemic struggles created an environment for many Indigenous Womxn, Boys, Girls, and Two-Spirits to be susceptible to murder and/or disappearances. Most are not aware that there are 5,712 cases of missing American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls in the US.

When a blond Youtuber by the name of Gabby Petito went missing in Wyoming, it made national news. In the same state, between 2010 and 2020 there were 710 Indigenous people missing. Not one of them has ever received national media attention. The goal of the series is to amplify Indigenous Voices and create a broader MMIWR awareness in the mainstream media.

This MMIW series features the voices of Indigenous survivors, relatives, state patrol, tribal law enforcement, sexual assault coalition directors, senators, lawyers advocating for tribal sovereignty, environmentalists, and many more voices impacted by the MMIW crisis.

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Gregory Stevens: Organizer, Former Baptist Pastor, GXDDESS.

Gregory Stevens moved to Palo Alto since he wanted to live and work in a Progressive town. This episode talks about a lot of very serious issues but it’s highly palatable (and delicious.)  Gregory is a bright and witty human who seems to never run out of energy. He became a Pastor at the First Baptist Church of Palo Alto — a Progressive Church. There he proceeded to question what Progress was and who gets to benefit from it. In a town filled with millionaires and billionaires, Gregory brought attention to the poor communities that are being displaced by gentrification, as well as Police Brutality. We talk about how we have to bring attention to dominant systems of power that are destroying our planet. Stevens says "Scream like hell when you see injustice. But don’t just scream — create. Your scream has to be a “doing". Create a space in which the world that you want is real. Do something that is not dominated by money. In the shell of this scary and dark world, we are creating a beautiful, bright, vibrant alternative. A heaven on earth.”  

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