Brainstorm Week 10 - Emily Eckey

The groups from this week’s readings take the practices of resilience we’ve learned throughout the quarter to establish practices of health and well-being in the future. Ovarian Psycos: Film about Women of Color Bike Brigade is about a new generation of fierce women of color who confront injustice, build community, and redefine identity through their bicycle crew. The film follows many personal stories of these feminist women and traces how The Ovarian Psycos Cycle Brigade sprung from the diverse neighborhoods of Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles. Participating in cycling together allows for women to be a part of a smaller community and builds the concept of convivencia. This organization brings together healing and cycling as resilience practices by strengthening the confidence of these women and empowering them to overcome the oppression of society. The O.V.A.S. website also aims to accomplish this goal. The website states that O.V.A.S. “will learn tactics, build strategy and in the process find our purpose.. accepting that we may or may not ever heal” (O.V.A.S.). In this way, the organization works for a world where recognizing and embracing differences moves everyone toward emancipation. 

In “Chicas Rockeras: Empowering Girls in Southeast Los Angeles” Allison Wolfe discusses how people need a positive environment in order to imagine and activate their own potential. This Chicas Rockeras Rock Camp for Girls is a form of Chicanxfuturism, as demonstrated by the goal of “encouraging self-esteem and self-empowerment in young girls through a medium of music” (Wolfe). The camp in Southeast Los Angeles is customized to confront and embrace the realities of girls growing up in Southeast LA. As discussed by Jessica Schwartz in “Si se puede!: Chicas Rockeras and punk music education in South East Los Angeles,” Chicas Rockeras practices a punk feminist method of teaching that advances institutional and social change through classroom activities and community-based activism. It promotes healing, growth, and confidence by giving young girls an outlet to discover themselves through music education. The Ovarian Psychos and the Chicas Rockeras Rock Camp use the resilience practices of biking and creating music to help build a better, more inclusive, and hopeful future.