Del Martin

Del Martin died today.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/08/28-8

I'm not even sure why I'm posting this here, except for the fact that I'm learning this news while I'm at work, and there's no one here to tell.

And because the lesbian world of my play would probably not even be imaginable for me without the work of Del's life, the world that she imagined and worked to bring into being.

And because back when we were at the Rooted retreat at Alma de Mujer---as Sharon and María and Antonio shared with us some of the history in the land, the bodies, the spirits, the air, and the structures there--- as I thought about the times I'd spent at Stonehaven---as Sharon asked us to think about our own artistic lineage and how it informs our divine purpose---I realized, as if it were news, how lucky I am to have been in women's spaces. In lesbian spaces. How I have been lucky to experience these lesbian/feminist spaces, that they cannot be taken for granted (Stonehaven now gone), that I have a role to play in keeping these places going. Like I said, not news. But it's like the accusation that many women who've been doing pro-choice activism since Roe (and before) level at younger women: You were born into a world where abortion was legal, and so you take your rights for granted. They haven't always been here, and they can be taken away.

I was born into a world where Del Martin had been doing lesbian activism for nearly 20 years. I came to an Austin with an Alma de Mujer, a Stonehaven---an Austin built up by the work of women like María Limon, Sharon Bridgforth, Genevieve Vaughn, Marsha Gomez....

What does it mean to honor this inheritance?