Lou’s Love Letter to STAY
The STAY Project Co-Coordinators- FJ, Mekyah, Jules, & Lou at their staff retreat in Zionville, NC September 2021
Dear STAY Project family,
Today is my last day as STAY Project Co-coordinator and I don’t know if I fully have the words to express how my time with STAY, and particularly being in community with all of yall has shaped and changed my life, but I’m going to try.
Being a young person in Appalachia is not easy. It is not easy to love and belong and in a place that doesn’t always love us back and it’s not always easy to explain to others why we stay. When I joined STAY in 2015 I found a community who were also struggling with these feelings but were committed to transformation and joy and youth leadership in Appalachia. STAY was the first place where I felt people cared what I had to say, where I felt like I could belong, where I could be queer, where I was given the space to really fuck up and do better…
In 2017 when I became the coordinator I was terrified that I didn’t have the skills needed to do the job, and the truth is I didn’t. But with the love and patience of all of y’all in this “electric network of care” that is STAY, I grew… as a leader, as a person, and as a friend. Working with STAY over the last six years has changed my life forever and I am so proud of the work we did together to build joyful, transformative, life-giving spaces led FOR and BY young people in Appalachia— oh yeah and I’m definitely proud of all the dumplings we made together.
Leaving y’all is hard but I am excited about what you will do next and I have complete faith in and love for the leadership of Mekyah, Jules, FJ and all of STAY’s steering committee and members who will love and guide each other’s leadership in this Appalachian Youth Movement.
I believe in STAY’s vision for a better Appalachia and world, I believe that better world is possible, and I believe in the power of youth-led movements to get us there. I am committed to supporting young people in Appalachia and I am committed to continue stepping aside to make room for youth leadership when necessary. I love you all so so much. Thank you for changing my life, please don’t be a stranger.
Solidarity, kinship, & my whole damn heart,
Lou Murrey