"We recognize it is with conscious effort and intention that we are each here at this very moment on the Land. Together we create a time and space to be in community--a breathing place to stoke the precious flame that fuels our female spirit throughout the year. Relaxed, open, engaged, and strong--we move toward who we are meant to be."
--Michigan Womyn's Music Festival program, 2011
I came out late: at 40, after a marriage and a life fueled by grossly unsuccessful strategies for avoiding my various truths. As part of my coming out process--my learning to understand the core of me--I found Fest online. I read the message boards fiercely, I found blog entries and journals and books. My forward progress into community was interrupted when I went to grad school, but when I graduated, when I was finally where I needed to be, I opened the door again. I went to MWMF for the first time in 2010, when I was 49 years old. I was solo and single, and I drove 17 hours, terrified but determined.
