This blog post was written by Es Topolarova, one of the wonderful student organizers that participated in this year’s Fossil Free Fellowship.
Organizing is like a puzzle without the top of the box for knowing what you are going to create. That’s why I love it — and what makes it so hard.
We all know we’re working for a wonderful vision, but we’re not sure how to actually put these pieces in place to make a picture that fits together. Throughout my Fossil Free Fellowship with 350Maine, I learned how joyful and confusing and emotional these puzzle pieces can be. Organizing is a little bit of everything. It is:
1. Meeting and collaborating with people you would not have otherwise met
Like the time when I met an activist who was part of the 1967 kayak flotilla that stopped export of arms to Pakistan…
Photo credit: 350Maine
2. Spending a lot of time in discussions to reinvent a way to communicate
David Solnit taught us how to create a street theater without as much talking and with a lot of movement. One of many ways we communicate…
Photo credit: 350Maine
3. Feeling part of something much bigger and powerful
When we stood in a vigil to commemorate the victims of Lac-Megantic, we created bonds and motivation through the silence. We were there in solidarity.
PORTLAND, MAINE — 07/06/15 — Activists hold a vigil in Portland’s Monument Square on Monday marking the two-year anniversary of the Lac Megantic oil trail derailment fire which claimed the lives of 48 people. Troy R. Bennett | BDN
4. Finding out that motivation can be hidden in the strangest parts of your consciousness
When my supervisor and I were too tired of organizing, we both did art together and we felt much more energized afterwards.
PORTLAND, MAINE — 07/06/15 — Jacqui Deveneau of Portland hangs portraits of those killed in the 2013 Lac Megantic oil train derailment fire in Monument Square on Monday. Activists with the international climate change group 350.org and the Sierra Club held a vigil marking the two-year anniversary of the disaster. Troy R. Bennett | BDN
5. Developing an addiction to something wonderful that you know will keep you running for a very long time
I have developed an addiction to black tea with milk, which I get every time I have a meeting with anybody and which keeps me going for a few hours. Not healthy but wonderful.
Photo credit: Me!
6. Challenging yourself to break the status quo and being supported by others while doing so
On July the 4th, we made a flash mob and talked to people about climate change and the Gulf of Maine, chanting and holding banners in a very populated area.
Photo credit: 350Maine
7. Organizing is the place where I can be myself with all the flaws I have, but still feel like part of a family and make a small and humble contribution to the world.
Photo credit: Ben Donato-Woodger