chicago
– ILLINOIS –
We gathered in Bronzeville, a neighborhood shaped by resilience, artistry, and Black liberation. At Bronzeville Winery, we were surrounded by flowers honoring Black feminists, their presence woven into the space, just as their legacies are woven into this city. The air carried a deep sense of pride and tradition, a reminder that Chicago has long been a place of transformation.
At the heart of it all were Tiff and Jenn, our incredible hosts, who brought together a table of people as beautiful and authentic as themselves.
The conversation moved fluidly—from the mundane to the profound, laughter one moment, reflection the next.
We spoke of those who came before us, those who fought and dreamed, and in that moment, we became their dreams realized.
Over exquisite food and wine, we weren’t just sharing a meal; we were stepping into a lineage of love, resistance, and possibility.
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[ sift through photographs ]
After each gathering, I created a poem as a way to reflect on what we experienced together—a way of immortalizing the energy, questions, and quiet truths shared around the table.
[ listen to poem read by author ]
the gospel of fluidity
– LESSONS FROM CHICAGO –
Invocation
Oh, Chicago River,
cradle of migrants and dreamers,
witness to the birth of Bronzeville,
home to freedom dreams and debts unpaid.
Here we gather, queers from the block and beyond
to feast in tribute to our fluid essence.
Passionate blooms, shared dishes, pouring wine,
offerings to Black feminist wisdom.
Oh, holy bell hooks and Audre Lorde,
mothers of the word that sets us free,
bless this table,
let the current of your lineage
wash over us, cleanse us,
carry us forward in its wake.
First lesson: fluidity reveals our humanity
At this table, we live what authenticity unveils:
a gathering of souls answering the sacred call to be.
Ironic, how the closer we come to ourselves,
the deeper we go into the sea of us.
In every shared laugh,
in every honest glance,
lives the constant reminder,
the invitation to be more you,
a reflection ever-shifting, ever-true,
of the humanity we share.
Second lesson: everyday resistance is sacred
At this table, we learned that revolution
isn’t always shouted, isn’t always fought.
Sometimes, resistance is passed around
a plate, a glass, a gift,
a deep, unshaken laugh
that affirms we are here.
May you forge the eternal in the small,
find the sacred in the mundane.
Every act of care,
every gesture of tenderness,
keeps the current of freedom alive.
Closing: The Lineage flows, and flows, and flows
This dinner was neither a beginning nor an end
but an act of continuation, an act of creation.
We honor those who fought before us,
and at this table, we dream forward
for those still on their way.
The lineage moves like water,
weaving through stones, crossing borders,
flowing from ancestors to us,
from us to others, and others, and others still.
Revolutions are not won
they are shaped, transformed, expanded,
like water, always finding a new path.
Let queer grace touch your spirit,
and carry with you the beauty of its freedom
a freedom that heals, that binds,
that calls us to imagine, to create,
to dream new worlds into being.
Chicago’s Gift: The Butterfly
At each gathering, participants were invited to choose a meaningful gift to send to the next city—a symbol of what the moment held, and what queerness made possible for them.
These offerings—tender, playful, ancestral, or poetic—became a thread of connection across borders. Each one carried the love and intention of its table, a gesture of kinship to those still to gather.
In Chicago’s Bronzeville, a neighborhood shaped by the Great Migration and now home to many immigrant communities, the group chose the butterfly—a symbol of transformation and migration. It was offered as a tribute to becoming, to crossing borders—internal and external—and to the beautiful, necessary fight to be fully ourselves.
Every beautiful moment at this dinner was captured
by Ally Almore