So here I am, at the pre-Game Changers book party event at Jolene’s queer bar, dancing like a goofball in the ‘boob room’ with a few friends, trying to shake off the jitters before moderating the Game Changer’s panel at Manny’s scheduled for later that evening.

I randomly decided to put on an event in early June that didn’t follow any existing model. It was meant to celebrate a major milestone of a project that doesn’t match any existing model either.

If you ask me about this blog (Epochalips) and how it all came to be, I will tell you that it just sprang out of me, not unlike the book. Both these things seem to make absolutely no sense. Ultimately however, it did all come together and make sense. I think it’s in the not knowing— the lack of attachment to outcomes—that allows creative inspiration to soar.

Throughout this whole process I didn’t know exactly where it was all headed. But because of friends who stepped up to help, and the encouragement and enthusiasm from students, educators and my family, I stayed committed and reached my goal. Game Changers is making its way into every public high school in the entire San Francisco Bay Area! Woo-Hoo!

Manny’s is a new-ish community space in San Francisco’s Mission district, run by Manny Yekutiel, a humble and adorable 30-year-old gay man. Manny’s has been getting national attention as a model for creating a welcoming civic social gathering space and hosting groundbreaking events such as staging a reading of the entire Mueller report. They’ve also been hosting a “meet the 2020 presidential candidates” series—Kamala Harris will be there this Saturday night. Needless to say I was super proud that Manny’s was hosting my event!

I had gathered on stage some amazing women featured in Game Changers: Kate Kendell, Franco Stevens, Jenni Olson, Crystal Jang, plus special guest Olga Talamante, slated for Volume 2.

I asked each of them a couple of leading questions and one by one they outdid each other with their compelling stories of ah-hah moments in their lives and inspirational thought-provoking commentary about our future as an intergenerational and diverse community, as women of color, and of course, as lesbians.

The evening started off literally with a bang…just as I finished explaining a bit about the book and was about to introduce my panelists—in my head I’m hearing my droning voice “blah, wah, wawa…” and I’m imagining everyone’s eyes glazing over—I turn toward my panel, cross my legs, and suddenly in an unintentionally slapstick moment—my chair tips off the stage and a table filled with glasses and water goes crashing to the floor! I am saved as Jenni Olson grabs my arm before I fall on my ass. Holy crap! Well that woke everyone up! The crowd relaxed – we all had a good laugh—and Manny rushed over to sweep up the mess—ha ha!

The event was mind-blowing! Everyone was riveted by what these five amazing women had to say, and we all learned a lot.

I made some good connections, signed books and was lucky enough to have Channel 5 News crew in the house filming for a segment about Game Changers!

Click here to see the 3 minute KPIX Original Report online!

VIVA EL GAME CHANGERS!

Robin Lowey is author of Game Changers- Lesbians You Should Know About, a fun, inspirational and informative history book featuring 30 living lesbian role models whom helped shape today’s queer culture.

The Game Changers Book Series aims to educate young adults by providing schools with valuable resource books that fill the gap in education about lesbian history and foster an atmosphere of LGBTQ+ visibility, inclusion, acceptance and pride.

Game Changers has been gifted to every public high school in the San Francisco Bay Area, reaching more that 300,000 students in over 300 schools as a resource for inclusion of LGBT history and social studies which is now legally required in the California public school curriculum.

If you’d like to learn more, buy a book and/or donate one to a school, please check out the website here.

Your tax-deductible contribution will help to create a Volume 2 featuring many more amazing and deserving women

www.Lesbiangamechangers.com