Fran Zamore lives in Maryland, and signed up for our 2019 Don’t Kvetch, Organize! course as a member Jews United for Justice, in order to learn how to be a more effective activist. JOIN talked with Fran a few weeks after the course ended to share her experience in the course.
If you’re thinking about taking the course, trust the process and jump in! Just do it. I found the course valuable. You might get something entirely different out of it than you expect, but you’ll definitely get something. It’s all around your own growth so you can then make thoughtful decisions about how you want to proceed in helping repair this very needy world.
Part of what I’ve been noticing about myself is that as we’re living in this awful time in our history the only way that I can get up in the morning is by ratcheting up my meditation practice and by being part of the solution. I have a sign on my refrigerator that says “life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” Even though I thought this course would be a little nerve wracking, I knew I had to learn about organizing theory and tactics so that I can be more useful.
I discovered a lot of things in the course. I discovered I have good instincts and I can trust my instincts. I discovered language for stuff that I knew but didn’t know how to put language to well. I discovered that I don’t necessarily have the drive to do the things I thought I was interested in doing, but that there are other ways to plug in. It was very exciting to me to hear the richness of the conversation and the incredible thinking of the participants and the teaching material. It gave me a lot of hope—gives me a lot of hope.
I feel a greater sense of confidence. I’m a much keener observer. Other benefits include deepening some of my relationships because of people I know who participated in the program, and a willingness to stick with stuff even when it gets sloggy. I have a real appreciation now of how this kind of work isn’t one and done, this is ongoing.
