Donna's photos

The visit to the Oregon Historical Society with Kendall to look into the archives of Bonnie Tinker’s civil rights work with “Love Makes a Family,” (a lesbian activist dedicated to acknowledging/protecting our families) was the first step in my effort to actually archive Donna’s photography collection. The atmosphere in the library was quiet and remote.  The envelopes within manila folders which contained memorabilia seemed sanitized and constrained.

This morning I continued to sort hundreds of Donna’s black and white photographs into subject areas which I place in plastic envelopes and label.  My mind awash with memories…our youth, coming out…lesbian love and struggle, our families… faces, places, women and children, work.  How to let go what coalesces and shimmers in my mind? How to relegate it to the quiet boxed stillness of an archive collection? It puts me up against my life, my death.