Moving Forward, Still Marching
Updated: Jun 14, 2020
On June 1st, we put a lot of things on hold. It was super important to us that we not overshadow this amazing movement that's been filling the streets. Continuing our conversations as normal would have been disrespectful.
This is still very true: conversations cannot go on as 'normal'; we cannot let ourselves slide back into our every day routine without also actively folding the Black Lives Matter movement into it. The reform this country needs is not going to happen overnight. This is going to be a journey. It is time for us to put things on the calendars again AND also make sure that everything we do is built within the framework of Black Lives Mater.
Social justice has been and always will be deeply rooted in our hearts here at Maude's Paperwing Gallery. As two queer witches, one a woman of color, we are adamant about boosting the voices of those who have been oppressed.
That said, we are not perfect. And we have so very much to learn. We have heard the call to take a hard look at ourselves here at Maude's. And we sure hope we continue to be challenged to grow and learn. We firmly believe that as witches, it is our DUTY to fight oppression and stand with those who need our help.
So what are we doing about it? Honestly, we're still working on that. I mean, we have some ideas in place right now, but also this work will never be over. This isn't ever going to be a one solution kind of thing. Instead, this is a long term commitment to evaluate ourselves at each step, to listen for feedback, to continuously grow and evolve for years to come.
But we are also doing some things RIGHT NOW:
Our book club and movie watch party events have an optional $3 donation to cover the cost of our zoom membership. We've decided to commit all excess funds that come in from those tickets to the Bail Project this month.
During the remainder of June, 15% of our sales will be donated to Pittsburgh, I Can't Breathe.
Our social media streams will be boosting witches of color, especially Black witches this month, and on going as well.
It's not enough. We have some other plans in the making, but it will never be enough and we are so very aware.

Upcoming Events:

Watch Mary and the Witch's Flower with us!
June 21; 7PM
We rescheduled book club, but we don't want to wait that long to see you all! Join us for a movie night and celebrate Indigo's birthday as well!
In order to watch along with us, all you'll need is a chrome browser with the Netflix Party extension. We will post a link to the party at 6:45 and the movie will start at 7PM! After the movie, we'll open up a Zoom room for anyone who wants to say hello, discuss the movie, tell us fun stories about their life, etc.
Indigo will be sharing a recipe ahead of time so that we can all make our own cute witch's flower snack! If we can't be together in person, we can at least all share the same yummy treat!
We'll send out some specific information about how to join a Netflix party... if you're not tech-savy, we'll absolutely help you to the best of our abilities!
This event is about building community together. And self care. We very much hope
you'll join us virtually for some relaxing and hopefully revitalizing energy.
Find out more here!

Book Club, Rescheduled!
June 28th; 7PM Join us for the second installment of Maude's Grimoire Book Club! We know that this event is way later than it was supposed to be, so let's start the conversation now! Send us some thoughts you had about the book or some questions you want to discuss together! We want to hear from you! We miss you!
This event will be on Zoom again. The Zoom room will open up at 6:30 for anyone who just wants to chit chat ahead of time. We'll start discussing the book at 7PM!
We would like to choose the next book club book together, but we're hoping we can choose a book that was written by a woman of color or a member of the LGBTQIA community. (Ideally both!) We'll be putting together a list of suggestions ahead of time. If you have any books in mind, please send them our way!