Reclaim Your Voice

Singer/songwriter Lauren Arrow helps people who struggle with singing to “Reclaim Your Voice.” Lauren Arrow has devoted herself to assisting the shy singers among us in their personal, musical reclamations.

In Season 2, episode 13, we’re celebrating the new moon with the release of Lauren’s interview for “The Positive Fantastic” podcast. This Northern California singer/songwriter shared about her own journey from loving to sing as a young child, through being afraid to sing as an adolescent, and then to eventually reclaiming her voice in the service of song as a grown woman.

Now, she has created classes, workshops, and concerts to help us collectively liberate our voices. I met Lauren at a workshop about presence and living fully in the moment. She mentioned that she was a singer, but it wasn’t until a few years later that I saw her on stage at the Goddess Crafts Faire in Sebastopol that I was stopped in my tracks by her amazing voice and fabulous piano playing. 

Lauren, well, she’s got some real pipes, and it’s such a pleasurable experience to have her songs in my life. And, I appreciate that she is helping people to sing. Because singing is one of the most pleasurable things that we get to do as humans when we can reclaim our voice, release whatever baggage we have about belting it out, and simply sing for the joy of singing!

At the beginning of Covid, I moved into my tiny home, got myself a cd player (I know, I’m part of an ancient civilization), and listened to one of Lauren’s albums on loop for about a week. For me, listening to an album over and over really evokes new and interesting experiences as I become more familiar with both the music and the song lyrics.

And, I fell hard for Lauren’s music. She made a fantastic little video for a playful song she wrote, and which I’m sharing on my YouTube channel affectionately called “Love Erf.” I hope you’ll watch it and smile.

It was a delight to get to visit with her and dive into some of the ways that we can apply anti-racism to song carrying and make repairs for cultural appropriation in the music industry. 

In the podcast she offered to share a list of resources for reparations. Here are some of Lauren’s favorite organizations to give back to:

Reclaim Your Voice Suggested Resources

Info on some of Lauren’s favorite BIPOC Led Organizations dedicated to serving the Earth and it’s co-inhabitants. You are invited to dive in and learn how to support organizations intent on co-creating a create a just, balanced, and life-giving world!

• Sogorea-Te Land Trust 

The Sogorea Te Land Trust is an urban Indigenous women-led community organization that facilitates the return of Chochenyo and Karkin Ohlone lands in the San Francisco Bay Area to Indigenous stewardship. Sogorea Te creates opportunities for all people living in Ohlone territory to work together to re-envision the Bay Area community and what it means to live on Ohlone land. Guided by the belief that land is the foundation that can bring us together, Sogorea Te calls on us all to heal from the legacies of colonialism and genocide, to remember different ways of living, and to do the work that our ancestors and future generations are calling us to do. sogoreate-landtrust.org

• KAHEA Land Defense

KAHEA is a community-based organization working to improve the quality of life for Hawai`i’s people and future generations through the revitalization and protection of Hawai`i’s unique natural and cultural resources. We advocate for the proper stewardship of our resources and for social responsibility by promoting cultural understanding and environmental justice. We focus on issues that impact cultural rights and the ‘āina (land). We are cultural activists and practitioners, including kuma hula (teachers of dance, language, chants, history, and healing), environmental activists and people concerned about social justice. We are on every island. We are ‘ōpio (youth), mākua (adults) and kūpuna (elders) Together, we envision a truly just and sustainable Hawai`i in a world where people, culture and native ecosystems survive and thrive. kahea.org

• APTP (Anti Police-Terror Project)

The Anti Police-Terror Project is a Black-led, multi-racial, intergenerational coalition that seeks to build a replicable and sustainable model to eradicate police terror in communities of color. We support families surviving police terror in their fight for justice, documenting police abuses and connecting impacted families and community members with resources, legal referrals, and opportunities for healing. APTP began as a project of the ONYX Organizing Committee. www.antipoliceterrorproject.org

• RAICES 

RAICES is a nonprofit agency that promotes justice by providing free and low-cost legal services to underserved immigrant children, families, and refugees. With legal services, social programs, bond assistance, and an advocacy team focused on changing the narrative around immigration in this country, RAICES is operating on the national frontlines of the fight for immigration rights. www.raicestexas.org