Ariana Manov, 1946
To All of You Who We Hope Are Concerned, June 2011
I’m old …. I’m cranky … and I have something to say. But, if you’re willing to let this be a 15-word fundraising letter, let this suffice: “PLEASE SEND US MONEY TO SUPPORT OLD LESBIANS ORGANIZING FOR CHANGE. (WE’RE VERY NICE PEOPLE.)”
We appreciate your writing a check or putting us on a credit card. Go to www.oloc.org and use PayPal. (We're tax-exempt.) (YOU DON’T HAVE TO READ ANY FURTHER.)
For those of you who may need a little more convincing – please keep going.
OLOC is a very grassroots organization dedicated to improving the quality of our lives as Old Lesbians. Many of us see ourselves as aging agitators, making ourselves, and the causes that affect our lives, visible.
We explore and take action on lots of interconnected issues: quality of life, health reform, mental and physical illness, and Medicare; housing alternatives; first amendment rights and civil liberties; ageism; disability; the effects of race, class, and gender; economic justice; the criminalization of poverty; documentation/archiving, and inter-generational politics. We strategize to educate ourselves and our communities.
Sometimes, we discuss how things were “back in the day” – and how to get to a better future together. We’ve accumulated a lot of wisdom along the way – and we’re trying to create more of a demand for it! We agree on some things and disagree on many more. We laugh – a lot. (I love the philosophical notion that laughter is, for the oppressed, a rehearsal for liberation.) We are, above all, very resilient!
So, may I make a toast? “TO OLOC FRIENDS WHO ARE SOME OF OUR BEST FRIENDS BECAUSE THEY KNOW THE SONG IN OUR HEARTS – AND CAN SING IT BACK TO US WHEN WE’VE FORGOTTEN THE WORDS!”
Please be as generous as you can, and send us the money we need to survive!
Warmly,
Ariana Manov, 1946
Los Angeles, CA
Activist, Advocate, Broadcast Journalist
