Background Photos...

Someone asked who are all the people in the pictures making up the background of the blog. Good question! Here's a description, based only on my memory and the info I have from the photo itself, going left to right...

• The first photo is folks from INCITE! New Orleans and some volunteers (Shana - do you remember if the volunteers in this photo are from INCITE! chapters?). They are posing outside of the fabulous clinic that they refurbished.
• The LIBERTAD graphic was designed by favianna rodriguez giannoni, the same sista that designed several INCITE! posters.
• Then, down and to the left, the folks holding the sign that says "INCITE PEACE" are from INCITE! Seattle at a march against the war on Iraq.
• The woman standing to the right of this photo is from INCITE! D.C., speaking at a rally against street harassment.
• The next pic below this one are women at the chapter meeting in Colorado on police violence against women of color. I'm not sure, but I think these women might be from INCITE! Colorado. If y'all know, please affirm or correct!
• To their right is the cover of the book, "Color of Violence: The INCITE! Anthology."
• Below and to the left are members of INCITE! New Orleans and a volunteer from a different INCITE! chapter at a march against police violence in New Orleans.
• To the right of this is the poster for the COV III conference designed by samia saleem.
• Below this is a portion of an INCITE! anti-war poster also designed by favianna.
• Below and to the left is a photo of a panel presenting at COV I. (Let's see, I think these folks are Kelly Mitchell Clark, Kata Issari, Mimi Kim, Andy Smith, and Loretta Ross.)
• To the right of this photo is Lisa Calderon at a forum on rape and racism organized by INCITE! Colorado.
• Below and to the left is the beautiful Sisterfire poster. (I don't know who designed it. If anyone wants to fill this in, that would be great!)
• To the right of this poster is a photo of the audience at COV I.
• And below this photo is a photo of sistas at the chapter meeting on police violence against women of color.
• Below and to the left is a photo of women from INCITE!'s national steering collective.
• The tiny graphic to the right of the Black women with her hand raised is from the SisterFire poster designed by INCITE! Seattle.
• Below and to the left, there's a photo of young women with their fists raised - those are women from Sista II Sista.
• To the right of this photo is Ije Ude, a member of INCITE!'s national steering collective and of Sista II Sista, facilitating a conversation at a national steering meeting.
• And below, the photo is of members of the national steering collective, as of August 2006.

We can always add more photos! Please e-mail your photos from INCITE! activities to incite_national@yahoo.com and we'll continue to incorporate them here on this blog and in other INCITE! materials.

Hope that helps!

- Alisa, national

Welcome to INCITE!'s blog for INCITE! folks!

As it says up there in the description, this blog is one center of critical dialogue and exchange between all folks connected to INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence including chapters, affiliates, partners, current members of the national collective (aka 'the mothership'), former members of the national collective (aka 'the force'), and any other women of color collectives and individual organizers and activists engaged in INCITE! work.

In the summer of 06, the national collective did a survey of chapters and affiliates and one thing folks consistently asked for was better tools for communication between groups affiliated with INCITE!. We got the idea of building a national blog from INCITE! Boston. Hopefully, this blog will be one productive tool towards creating meaningful cross-national dialogue -- a place where we can build our work with one another, learn from each other, and generally create a collective heartbeat across our different locations.

We have so much to talk about! Upcoming projects (locally and nationally), a discussion of past projects, critical discussion about our collective politics, organizing strategies and agendas, etc, etc. But first, a few logistics about participating in this blog.

What Is A Blog?

Blog is short for weblog and it was initially used as an online journal or diary. But it is also re-imagined as an interactive website that facilitates dialogue among people. Like this one!

Who's Blogging On This Blog?

Here is a list of folks who have been invited to participate in the blog:

* National Collective (aka 'the mothership)
*Former Members of the National Collective (aka 'the force')
* INCITE! Chicago
* INCITE! DC
* Sisterfire NYC
* INCITE! Colorado
* INCITE! New Orleans
* INCITE! Philadelphia
* INCITE! Boston
* INCITE! Ann Arbor
* INCITE! Austin
* INCITE! Seattle
* INCITE! Toronto
* INCITE! Binghamton
* Sista II Sista (NYC)
* Young Women United (Albuquerque, NM)
* Latina Mami (Austin, TX)

This list is not exhaustive! We'll probably continue to add folks as we go on and I could be missing some groups. But the list will be updated in the inciteblog profile which is on your left.

How Do I Blog?

If you're a member of one of these groups, you should have received the username and password. If not, e-mail us at incite_national@yahoo.com. Once you log in, you can add posts by clicking on "New Post" up there on the right hand corner of the black blogger banner. See it? You do not have to sign in in order to comment. But we do ask everyone who is posting or commenting to sign your name and your INCITE! affiliation if you have one. If you'd like to say more about yourself, please do so!

Who's Writing This Post?

My name is Alisa Bierria and I have been on the national collective since 2002, I think, or maybe 2003. I also used to organize with INCITE! Seattle and with a woc-led organization that partners with INCITE! from time to time, CARA / Communities Against Rape and Abuse. But now I'm a student in California and INCITE!'s resident techie that is learning on the job. You can reach me at INCITE!'s main e-mail address above or at abierria(at)yahoo.com. I'm currently working on the blog admin at least until it's off the ground... So, if you have questions, you can e-mail me or, better yet, comment to this post so that everyone can see the question and answer.

I think that's it for now. Looking forward to building with everyone!

-Alisa, national collective