From the Top
by Penny Cullers, FHA President

Greetings fellow Flint Hills Alliance members.

As I look back on the year of 1996 I think of how the year began for Flint Hills Alliance with the death of a respected young member. I think of the pain that I saw in the eyes of so many of my friends as they struggled to understand and cope with Jennifer Hirschfield's suicide. I think of the leadership of the Alliance who valiantly helped us to mourn together. I consider now as I write this letter to you that we are on the precipice of the one year anniversary of these difficult events. I think of the anger, the confusion, the spiritual riptide, the dissolution that I felt a year ago when I learned that this friend of ours had done what she had done. In the memory of these events from a year ago perhaps then it is best to remember how much stronger we were when we held each other. This is what I would like to remember on the anniversary of this sad, sad loss.

Now as I embark on the new year of 1997 I find that I am happy that a new year is dawning. When I look to the future I wish for so much more positivity for all of the members of our community. I hope for all of us that we can get along with one another that we can share with one another all of the creative, thought provoking, exciting, unique, loving, vibrant personal talents and skills and ideas that so many of us possess as lesbigay people. I hope that we can find a reason to want to get together in meetings, to fulfill one another by learning more about what it means to be a lesbian, gay, or bisexual person. I know each one of you has a lifetime of experiences to bring to the group, and I hope that you have time in hectic schedules to attend meetings regularly so that we can crack open each others' shells and discover the beauty that is inside. We have a lot of interesting ideas to implement this spring.

This new year I personally dedicate to Jennifer Hirschfield. I hope she is watching over us. I hope for all of us that there is peace in our worlds.

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