Sharing our concerns.
People in different life situations have much to learn from each other. By coming together in community to act on our concerns, we can begin to break down the stereotypes that tend to keep us apart.
This Mother Tour program was the first time we brought together an intentionally diverse community in terms of life situations, for the performance and MAU Vocal Empowerment Workshop. Present were the founders and many board members of Philathropiece, the four founders of Mothers Acting Up, members of a Denver church hosting the event, and women from The Gathering Place, a day-shelter for women and children in Denver. This community was brought together to begin to breakdown stereotypes about the kinds of women who end up in shelters, and why.
After watching the performance together, we all shared a meal in the church hall and then participated in the workshop together. Once we began sharing concerns and acting out ways to act on these concerns, the contrast between distant, well-intentioned concerns versus immediate crisis-level concerns, came into sharp relief. In the group I was in, one woman from The Gathering Place was having trouble getting adequate care for her persistent health problems. The rest of our group, which consisted of a C.U. Law professor, a middle-school teacher, and a film-maker; coached her in creating a list of questions for her doctor before her appointment. The group also suggested that she take an advocate (played by a friend of hers from The Gathering Place) along with her, in case she got flustered or emotional, which she said she often does.
Our teacher portrayed the doctor, and the woman and her advocate rehearsed coming to an appointment and getting her medical needs truly attended to. Though this session certainly didn’t solve all of this woman’s woes, it did give her the opportunity to be in real community with people who truly cared about her situation.  It was also useful for well-off people in the group to confront that level of need within their own community. We completed the workshop by all holding hands in a big circle and declaring together that we have strong voices and are taking them out into the world. Then the kids joined us from where they were being babysat, and we all enjoyed ice cream together!
