What does it mean to practice love?

I was asking myself this question as January 2021 drew to a close and Valentine’s Day advertising began ramping up. The consumerization of LOVE struck me as particularly dissonant, yet love was very much on my mind. Conversations around BLM, mutual aid, pleasure activism, decolonization, joy as an act of resistance, and the power of community prompted me to redefine what a love holiday could be and who I wanted it to include. The result:

During the entire month of February 2021, I created handmade “Love Notes” (rather than Valentines)…for everybody and anybody that wanted one.

I made an announcement on social media that read, “DM me if you know someone that could use a little extra love and I will mail them a love note on your behalf. Also, that person can be you!”

I made each card by hand with the “Wide Awakes” eye symbol on one side and the words, “You are loved. Mucho! “ on the other. Some of them had the Wide Awakes* principles: Healing, Listening, Justice and Love written on them. I taped Love Notes to front doors around my neighborhood, handed them to postal workers, and gave them to grocery clerks.

At the time I was reading bell hooks All About Love. In one passage she writes, “Men theorize about love, but women are more often love’s practitioners.” It was interesting to see this play out in my project. I received over 175 requests for love notes. With the exception of three, every inquiry was from a womxn. These womxn by and large requested love notes for themselves, their moms, sisters, and other womxn friends. I want to call out and celebrate the POWERFUL SISTER LOVE this project has spotlighted and reinforced for me. And three cheers to ALL the beautiful womxn and men Love Practitioners around the world!

May we strive to build a future where every human identifies as a Love Practitioner… where this role is seen as a vital and valuable one in society.

*Read more about the Wide Awakes!