Activist Michelle Crone on a lesbian nation, the Seneca Women's Peace Encampment, and strategies for radical civil disobedience

For our first episode of season 3, Sarah sits down with long-time activist and radical organizer, Michelle Crone. Now in her 70s, Michelle has spent the better part of her life organizing women and building community in the upstate New York/Albany area. At 18, she began doing service work with communities in the Appalachian Mountains, but soon had to flee the country for (undoubtedly radical) reasons she is not allowed to talk about. She spent many of these years living in intentional community ("the lesbian nation") with other women, complete with talking sticks, ritual, and consensus-based decision making. In the summer of 1983, she started the Seneca Women's Peace Encampment, a demonstration in protest of nuclear weapons and warfare. She later went on to organize for the 1987 and '93 Marches on Washington, spearheading the only action to have ever successfully shut down the Supreme Court. In her charming, blunt manner, Michelle dives into all of these stories and countless other tales of lesbian community and creative activism. Thank you for listening to Cruising Podcast! -Reviews help other listeners find Cruising! If you like what you hear, please subscribe and leave us a 5-star review! -For more Cruising adventures, follow us @cruisingpod on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook Help save Michelle Crone's lesbian home in Provincetown through her GoFundMe. -Special thanks to this episode's sponsor, Olivia Travel -Discover Olivia at Olivia.com and save $100 on your next trip when you use promo code CRUISING -Support Cruising here! Cruising is an independent podcast. That means we're entirely funded by sponsors and listeners like you! -Cruising is reported and produced by a small but mighty team of three: Sarah Gabrielli (host/story producer/audio engineer), Rachel Karp (story producer/social media manager), and Jen McGinity (line producer/resident road-trip driver). Theme song is by Joey Freeman. Cover art is by Nikki Ligos. Logo is by Finley Martin. Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices