The Awesome Difficult Work of Love is based in a sentence from the late poet, teacher and activist June Jordan:

“We need, each of us, to begin the awesome difficult work of love, loving ourselves so that we become able to love others without fear, so that we can become powerful enough to enlarge the circle of our trust and our common striving for a safe, sunny afternoon near to flowering trees and under a very blue sky.”

From the essay, “A Powerful Hatred” by June Jordan, 1994, in Affirmative Acts: Political Essays,
Anchor Books / Doubleday, 1998

By engaging across differences of race, sexuality, age, gender, ability, and socioeconomic background, The Awesome Difficult Work of Love challenges divisive narratives, amplifies underrepresented voices, and provides a platform for each participant to present themselves to their community as how they want to be seen and heard – to self-identify, rather than to be identified by others.