Keeping Joy Alive as an Emerita

Thirty-four years ago, in a neighborhood near the Philadelphia airport, I knocked on my very first door as a canvasser. My ‘career,’ such as it was, is now old enough to have children of its own, if it were a person. In a lot of ways, organizing is a young person’s game. I have many, many coworkers, collaborators and allies who were not yet born when I knocked on that door.

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Over the course of 34 years spent in movement organizations, I’ve won major legislative and electoral victories. I’ve helped working people form unions, and then taught them how to use their joint energy to make the world better. I’ve organized giant demonstrations, and led marches, and just generally had a blast, because if you’re not experiencing joy, why even do this hard, hard work?

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A lot of that time, I did it in stiletto heels, full makeup and party dresses, carrying giant puppets, or dancing through downtown streets. Unfurling banners inside hotel banquet halls where rich guys talked about how they made money on the backs of the rest of us. Having art-making days, where members and volunteers painted signs, made props, wrote chants and songs and learned line dances to be able to protest with fun. Before anything else, I am a trained theater artist, and that training has informed my political work for my entire life.

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Around this time last year, I wrote a post about my theory of the Organizer Life Cycle. Maybe even before I’m a trained theater artist, I am a teacher’s kid, and I need to teach people what I’ve learned in my life, or else again, why even do this hard, hard work?

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Since I wrote that post last year,  I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting about organizing life, and I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to add a fifth stage to the Life Cycle–that of Emerita–because that’s where I feel I am, at this point. The Emerita role is not retirement, per se. It’s more a realization that what I have to offer as a guide and advisor is more important than the work I can individually do myself. Partly, I’m just older and slowing down. But also, the type of advice I can give can make a difference for multiple campaigns or organizations, much more of a difference than if I were just running a single campaign or organization.

As part of my own transition to Emerita,  I’ve gradually shifted from taking consulting contracts that involve direct organizing myself, to working as a coach with Executive Directors or Campaign Directors. Come back tomorrow to read about work with one client with whom I’ve spent a lot of time over the years…

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