We Can Live Like This - Lisa Vogel's memoir

Greetings Friends, Sisters, Amazons!

I have spent the last seven years crafting stories to ensure that the truth about the incredible community we established in the Michigan woods remains alive in the world. The pages of this memoir bear witness to my experiences, challenges, joys and unwavering love for our community. My intention is to scatter breadcrumbs for future sisters who will follow in our footsteps, and to illuminate the radical, compassionate and diverse community we forged with our blood, sweat, passion and ingenuity.

I have decided to bring the book that I want in the world, without wrestling with any publisher’s permission or interference, I will self-publish. I am currently working with a copy editor and have my sights set on going to print by the end of the year. It will be published in book form, electronic download and audiobook. I will read the stories.

The Michigan Womyn's Music Festival was an event, but more than that, it was a community. A community woven together by the tens of thousands of womyn from all over the globe who participated in its creation throughout her four outstanding decades. Together we reimagined a matriarchal culture, crafted our own radical value system, taught each other skills, expanded our ability to accept differences, and had one absurdly joyous time.

Our story is primarily being told by people who were never part of our community, and it rarely looks like what we experienced on the Land. This false narrative exists all over the internet, in books and magazines, as well as countless university courses. My commitment in writing this book is to tell the truth, as I know it, about our extraordinary community - complete with our abundant joy and unbelievable successes as well as the errors and struggles we faced along the way.

There are ways to make less expensive books, but I want this book to be beautiful, with color photographs of the Festival, the Land, and images that express the expansiveness of who we are - the uniqueness of the life we lived together. My aim is not to make income from this book, though I hope to not take a loss getting it into the world. I am doing this fundraiser to cover the costs of layout, indexing and formatting for print and electronic versions, copy and line editing, cover design, photo preparation, project coordination, promotion, recording of the audiobook, and a small first run. I am committed to personally ensuring that sisters who are unable to afford a copy can still access the book.

If you can contribute so this book gets made, fantastic. I so appreciate your support. If you are unable to make a financial contribution to the book’s publication, please share this fundraiser on social media - that’s so helpful. And if you can’t do either, please wish me well. This, my sisters, is my acorn.

With all my love,

Lisa