8:46 Book Club

“Inverse Cowgirl” by Alicia Rothy Weigel

Mondays, April 15 – May 6

7:30-9:30pm EST

From a celebrated activist on the forefront of fighting for intersex representation and rights—a funny, thought-provoking collection of essays about owning your identity and living your truth.

Two percent of the world’s population—the same percentage of humans who have naturally red hair—is born intersex. Yet many people aren’t even familiar with the word.

Intersex individuals are born with both male and female reproductive organs, yet many are stripped of their identity at birth when a parent designates M or F on a birth certificate. That subjective choice is often followed by invasive, life-changing surgeries, performed without the individual’s consent. Intersex people have become a target of politicians, attacked for who they are and threatened by legislation that attempts to categorize and define them.

Disarming, funny, charming, and powerful, this is a vital account of personal accomplishment that will open eyes and change minds.

Alicia Weigel is fighting back against the hate and fear-mongering to protect the rights and lives of EVERYONE. In this book, she boldly speaks out about working as a change agent, explores how we can reclaim bodily autonomy, and encourages us to amplify our voices to be heard.

When we talk about getting our Holy on, we mean individually and collectively. We are therefore committed to addressing the one thing that affects all of us, that has been responsible for much of the pain and inequality and injustice in our country…

…systemic racism.

In 2020, the world erupted in one voice against police brutality fueled by racism after the murder of George Floyd, a black man, by a white police officer, who knelt on his neck for 8 min and 46 sec. His death was not the first like it, or sadly the last, but perhaps because the world was able to witness the entire cruelty of it, a nerve was struck like never before and an awakening was triggered.

Since then we’ve led book studies with the intention of educating ourselves about systemic racism and what’s our to do individually, and collectively, to dismantle this scourge, and to create a world that works for all. In honor of George Floyd, all the needless deaths before and since his, and in recognition of the work that’s collectively ours to do, we are calling our ongoing book studies the 8:46 Book Club.

While we later learned through the course of Derek Chauvin’s murder trial that the length of time he brutally knelt on George Floyd’s neck was much longer, 9 minutes and 30 seconds, we chose to stay with 8:46 – a number that had already been carved into the minds of millions – a number that reminds us of our individual and collective work of deconstructing racism and building an antiracist culture.

The only cost for anyone to participate will be a donation of your choosing. A portion of the proceeds we collect are donated to organizations committed to antiracist work.