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FenFest: Learning herstory from lesbian legends

The fact that AfterEllen.com exists is a testament to how far we’ve come in our fight for equality and social recognition. Gender outlaws, radical feminists, and lesbian separatists of the 1960s and 1970s are the first people to create communities where lesbians could feel safe. They made incredible art in many forms and paved the way for the television, movies, and music that we love today. We don’t learn this history – or herstory – in school, we have to teach it to each other.

But why should we?

Until recently, I wasn’t sure that learning about lesbian communities from the past was important; it was interesting to see what they were up to back then, but I didn’t understand how it related to my life. Then, I went to FenFest, where I learned this herstory and saw why it was important to my own life.

FenFest is an annual music festival run by Ferron and Bitch that takes place in Michigan the weekend after the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival. This was the festival’s third year, and it has grown to a three-day event with eight different main-stage performers and approximately 100 attendees. It is a music festival, but it is so much more than that – FenFest gives every attendee the opportunity to actually engage with the artists and with each other.

Folk artist Ferron has been described as “the Canadian Bob Dylan.” Most Americans, and even younger lesbians, have never heard of Ferron, but she has toured internationally and lived as a very successful musician for decades. Ferron began the festival with her partner, Mary, and protégé, Bitch, to allow her to play music for an audience without feeling lost.

During a “talking circle” around the fire on Sunday morning, Ferron shared the experience of being a performer as one of inherent separation and loneliness. She said that she played for anonymous audiences that stared at her when she was offstage. No one spoke to her like a peer; they enjoyed her music and cheered for her from a screaming, unknown mass but failed to relate to her as a person. So, Ferron created a space where she could perform her music and poetry without losing herself – she created FenFest.

FenFest takes place on the land that Ferron shares with her partner. The land, itself, is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. There is a dense forest interspersed with campsite clearings accessible by winding paths. One such path cuts through the mass of trees with a series of long wooden planks that carry you over marshes to finally reach a gently flowing river. On the riverbank sits a small boathouse filled with six kayaks and a larger house that is more modern in design but still feels rustic. At the end of the forest is a clearing upon which sits the small, but effective, stage. In front of the stage is a hill perfect for comfortable, stadium-like seating.

At the top of the hill sits Ferron and Mary’s two small houses with a beautiful garden and fire circle between them. There are also additional small cabins to house tentless campers, large tents for dining and craft areas, porta-potties, outdoor showers, and a “kitchen” area equipped with an outdoor refrigerator, sink, and grill. This land acts as a comfortable, welcoming, and incredibly beautiful setting for the festival.

When I arrived, I noticed the festival schedule printed on single sheets of paper and taped up around the land. The list of events is unlike any other festival, and signals the unique spirit of FenFest. The entry for the welcoming ceremonies reads: “Bitch welcomes feminist energy to the land inclusive of men, women, children and all nature . . . and invites everyone to go play.” Aside from the performer sets, time is set aside for a general open mic, “talking circles,” and “play time.”

The performances, themselves, were incredible. Never before have I seen artists so relaxed and connected with an audience. At the start of each set, the performer would get up out of the audience and walk to the stage; at the end of the set, she would simply return to the audience. It was almost impossible to distinguish performers from non-performers amongst the attendees, except when they were actually on stage.

This year, performers included Tret Fure, Holly Near, emma’s revolution, poet Bob Vance, Bitch and Ferron. Each performer brought something unique to the stage; they were folk musicians, singers, and poets. It was incredible to see the diversity of the performances and each artist’s respect for the others with whom she shared the stage, as well as the members of the audience.

The music was incredible, but more important to the FenFest experience was the overall atmosphere that Ferron and Bitch created. Though music, talking circles, panel discussions and simple conversations Ferron, Holly Near and Tret Fure taught me so much about what it felt like to be a lesbian. Their songs conveyed the loneliness, frustration, and hurt inherent in them because of the society in which they were living; their words taught me how to know myself as a member of a minority group in modern society. emma’s revolution sang songs of peace for today’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and proved that the folk songs of the Vietnam era are not as irrelevant as one might have thought.

During a conversation about moments of doubt in activist work, Pat of emma’s revolution reminded me that we need only influence one person to make an impact; her impact upon me was immediate.

Bitch was the same unique indie-rock fierce poet-musician, and her set consisted of the same songs she sings in Brooklyn or LA, yet something about her performance was different. Bitch was more comfortable on the FenFest community stage than anywhere else she has performed. Also, Bitch’s set managed to reflect both the queer community of my peers, as well as the feminist, lesbian herstory of Ferron and Holly.

FenFest was a weekend of community in nature. It allowed me to connect with my peers and my elders. It gave me the opportunity to have basic interactions with normally out of reach performers. Most importantly, FenFest proved to me that in learning the herstory of my community, I could learn a great deal about myself.

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