Anna Schlecht

Matrix: the Rise and Fall of Olywa’s Feminist-Lesbian Magazine – By Anna Schlecht

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Everything about Matrix started small. We were a grassroots, community-based magazine, written by a handful of local women-identified people and published in a small community printshop with a circulation of less than two hundred. But we quickly realized that we were part of something much larger, and that our work to create and publish it each month followed a powerful tradition of lesbian activism via the printed word. 

Violence and Non-Violence; A Tale of Two Tactics – By Anna Schlecht

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Crabshell Alliance was a VERY different kind of political action group for me. Up until 1975, my political experience had involved bouncing around the antiwar movement in Madison, Wisconsin, most of which was DIY, male-dominated, and raucous. But in Crabshell Alliance, I found myself part of a well-organized effort with clear strategies, effective tactics, and women in leadership. Vastly different.

Joe Tougas and the Great Wave Mural – By Anna Schlecht

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This was not a small project. The wall was over 15 feet tall by 15 feet wide. “I sketched out the image to create an outline,” said Joe, “and then I created a color chart showing where the various blues, grays and whites would go.” This made it easier to paint, and easier to get other folks to help him. “I would recruit passersby to come pick up a brush and help me paint,” said Joe. “The entire mural took about a week and a half to finish.”

The First Lesbian Community Meetings – By Anna Schlecht

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We stood there befuddled on Columbia Street until other women began to arrive for the meeting. Many had come pumped up to argue about who should be invited, but once they heard what had happened, most of the divisions fell away. Suddenly, everyone there had the shared experience of being discriminated against as queers, whether they publicly identified that way or not. Nearly 50 women found themselves standing sullenly on the dark street with nowhere to go.

Life on a Hippie Farm By Anna Schlecht

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In the early days of Evergreen there was little housing on campus and not much rental housing available in town. Apparently, many of the first students lived in tents and lean-tos in the woods surrounding campus. When I first came to Olympia in the mid-1970s, I was enchanted by those stories and decided that was the life for me. Somehow I heard about IOCWAT Farm (In Our Community We Are Together), most likely one of the other residents rolled through my check-out line at the downtown food co-op and told me there was an opening. Or perhaps I found a flier about the farm with a tear-off number to call. However it was that I found the farm, moving to this rural commune began my chapter of living off grid.

The Launch of the Columbia Street Food Co-op By Anna Schlecht

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Since this was the first year of operation, there wasn’t much history to go on. Process was something we made up as we went. No bosses and lots of opinions. As part of our emergent way of doing business, the early hiring decisions were done by a vote, and anyone interested in Co-op business could just show up at the meeting to vote. The night I was hired there were only two of us who wanted to become the second staffer.

Gay Nights at the Conestoga! – By Anna Schlecht and Alexis Jetter

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After a few minutes, though, the tone changed, and the music stopped. The owner, who was at the club that night, cut us off from the bar and ordered us to leave, telling us that we’d be arrested if we returned. We were shocked—as were several people at the bar, who looked at us with a mixture of curiosity and discomfort. We refused to budge from the dance floor and demanded an explanation. The owner said he had the right to refuse service to anyone he pleased. “If you let certain types or elements, take over a place,” he later told the Daily Olympian, “you’re going to be hurting.”