“If you’re not angry, then something is wrong with you!”
These words from the Honorable Nina Turner shook the room at the start of LividCon, where Pissed-Off Optimists came together to own our rage, and to channel it into something constructive, positive, and even beautiful. We gathered because we are pissed - about human rights violations, about systems that oppress, about power without accountability, and also about silence. We gathered to be loud.
The Livid Conference was a clear reminder that we don't need to wait for permission to design the world we want. We can provide collective care, regardless of who's in office. We can show up with humility and vulnerability, and build transformational relationships that are at the root of systems change. We can get outside our bubbles, listen without judgment, and find grace in each other's experiences.
It was also a reminder of the tender and necessary work of imagination. As panelist Jenn Chan said, “Imagination is the work of grief and care. When we care enough to imagine something new, we have to grieve that we don’t have it yet.” Speakers shared glimpses of the world as it could be, whether it was a high-quality education regardless of zip code, economic mobility, healing and repair, male birth control, or simply building civic trust through doing things together.
Finally, LividCon was a reminder that crisis and opportunity are sisters, and that there is possibility in this moment. As panelist Elmer Moore put it: “Now is the perfect time to build things that don’t scale, and to explore things that might not work.” Even as we mourn what could have been, we can transform our anger into collective action and co-design a better future.
Still Livid? Here are a few ways to continue the good trouble:
Visit our online store with swag for Pissed-Off Optimists
Want to continue the Livid conversation? GGS hosts monthly Fireside Chats via Zoom. Sign up for the next one.
Looking for videos of LividCon? If you attended, you’ll receive an email in the next few weeks with links to the recordings. If not, they’ll be shared publicly in six months.
Thank you for the hope, the care, and the community.
