PRIDE GUIDE 1998 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

B-27

Celebrate the Summer Solstice on women's land

Nashville, Ohio-June 21 is Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, when the sun is most north in relation to the earth.

In most pagan cultures, it is a time to celebrate the most of who we are and the abundance of nature. This makes Summer Solstice a perfect time for women in Ohio to gather on women's land in Holmes County for LandFest 98 on June 19-21.

SHIRTS ON?

EGG MOON FARM

A sign reminds women to make sure they have their shirts on before crossing the street to visit Kimbilio Farm.

Last year was the first LandFest, and over 100 women attended the weekend celebration. Again this year, LandFest will be an opportunity for all women to enjoy camping, women's music, great food, a variety of workshops, a Summer Solstice ritual, and the chance to take part in creating women's vision on women's land.

LandFest is a gathering presented by Egg Moon Farm, a women's land collective formed in 1995, and Kimbilio Farm, a women's retreat space and bed and breakfast in Holmes County. The festival helps raise funds to support the collective land—the mortgage is currently paid through pledged monthly commitments from collective members, and currently there is more money going out than coming in.

Another goal of LandFest is to create community among women interested in playing and working in the country. The organizers have modeled LandFest on the much larger Michigan Womyn's Music Festival held every August.

Tractor driver Chris Hayward hauls in LandFest visitors from the parking lot.

Workshops will be presented at various places on the land about a great variety of topics, including lesbian families, spirituality, traveling on a budget, a bird walk, and issues for younger lesbians. There will also be a drumming circle led by the extraordinary Linda Thomas-Jones.

Musicians scheduled to appear include Shelly Graff, Lee Hoffman, Hedi, Horizon,

Pride at Work forms Cleveland chapter

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender labor organization is now part of the AFL-CIO

Cleveland-Pride at Work, now an affiliate of the AFL-CIO, has formed a Cleveland chapter.

PAW is a national lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender labor organization founded in June 1994. Since last August, PAW has been an official constituency organization of the AFL-CIO.

Pride at Work has a number of goals. One is to work as a trade unionist for the rights of lgbt workers, to oppose harassment and job discrimination, and to fight for equal benefits.

Another is to build solidarity between the

AFL-CIO president John Sweeney has voiced his commitment to increasing the involvement of women, people of color, and lesbians and gays.

lgbt community and the trade union movement. This involves winning labor support for our issues, as we did in the state of Washington during the attempt to pass a gay rights initiative last November, with the state Federation of Labor giving political and financial support. This also involves bringing the lgbt community out in support of labor issues, such as sending delegations to picket lines.

A third goal is organizing unorganized workers, a major focus of the new leadership of the AFL-CIO.

In addition to organizing the unorganized, AFL-CIO president John Sweeney has voiced

his commitment to diversifying the labor movement, to increasing the involvement of women, people of color, and lesbians and gays. Secretary Richard Trumka and executive vice president Linda Chavez-Thompson have also echoed these sentiments.

It was in this spirit that in August of last year the AFL-CIO executive council voted unanimously to make Pride At Work a constituency organization. The other constituency groups are the Coalition of Labor Union Women, the A. Philip Randolph Institute, the Labor Committee for Latin American Achievement, and the Asian Pacific Labor Alliance.

"Last August's executive council vote was an historic event of monumental significance," said Pride at Work co-vice chair Martha Grevatt, a Cleveland activist who has been involved in fighting discrimination at Chrysler.

"It has great meaning for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered workers, and also for the entire labor movement," she added. "It comes at a time when workplace discrimination is a major focus of the lgbt community, and the perspective of the working class must not be overshadowed by the few lesbians and gays who are in upper management positions."

All interested lgbt workers are invited to the meetings. PAW meets the third Tuesday of every month. As a labor organization, PAW is not open to anyone in a supervisory position. However, worker supporters who lack the benefit of union representation are welcome to join.

For more information call Martha Grevatt at 216-531-5188 or Susan Schnur at 216631-2415.

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and many others. Jam sessions are expected to break out often, and all are encouraged to be prepared to join the song.

At last year's Land Fest, meals and evening entertainment were held at Kimbilio, which is across the road from the land. Since that time improvements made to the Egg Moon Farm land make more activities possible on the collective land.

"This year lots more events can happen on the new land thanks to the newly-installed electricity," says Sue Bennett, co-coordinator of LandFest 98. "We will have more camping areas cleared, allowing for more choices in campsites."

Egg Moon Farm is a mix of open farmland and woody areas near a creek. In addition,

EGG MOON FARM

Egg Moon Farm has built a storage shed and cleared lots of hedgerows that previously prevented access to the wooded areas. According to Bennett, the collective is currently planning a second structure, which will be a community house of some sort.

The suggested donation for LandFest 98 is $50. The organizers have built into the donation a scholarship fund, which allowed them last year to grant scholarships to all the women who requested them.

To request a brochure or more information, call Sue at 216-932-0977, Kimbilio at 330-378-2481, e-mail LandFest98@aol.com, or check out Kimbilio's web site at http:// www.valkyrie.net/~kimbilio.

-The Egg Moon Farm women's collective

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