Dear Friends,
We are just over halfway through our 45 cities on the Revolutionary Bus Tour. Scroll on to see all the highlights from this past week!
On the road, we invite our audiences and special guests to reflect on a powerful question: When did an act of love change everything? The stories we hear are astounding. Our stories are the heartbeat of the movement we are building— Revolutionary Love is the call of our times.
Now we get to ask YOU to share YOUR story.
We are thrilled to announce our new platform for sharing stories online! You can now submit your own Revolutionary Love story and listen to others. We’re building the largest collection of love stories ever told—virtually and in person at our storytelling booth (pictured below)—and we want yours to be a part of it. Listen to other stories and submit yours here.
I hope to see you on the road. Next up on our Midwest leg: 10/8- Notre Dame, 10/9 – Chicago, 10/10- Grand Rapids, 10/11 – Ann Arbor, 10/12 – Detroit, and 10/12 Battle Creek.
Bring all your people to the event — your friends and family, classmates and neighbors, people who are your allies, and those you see as your opponents. Invite them all into a space where we can open our hearts to our deepest humanity.
Let’s continue building this movement together —
See you soon!
With love and gratitude,
Valarie & The Revolutionary Love Project Team
- 9/20 – A Surprise Visit From Alicia Keys: At one of our tour stops, Alicia Keys astonished us by joining after the show to share music together. We pulled out the instruments passed down from our ancestors — pure magic.
- 9/23 – A Tearful Homecoming in Clovis and Fresno: I shared the stage in my hometown with my childhood best friends Brynn Saito and Lisa Freeman, and we explored ancestral solidarity and pathways back to each other when the world want to divide us. Plus, a surprise appearance by the church organist Faye from See No Stranger, the first Christian I met who loved me just as I was.
- 9/24 – Under the starlit sky (indoors) in San Francisco: Under the full moon, a heartfelt on-stage conversation with Dr. Melissa Canlas, who led our research and education work that helped me create the Revolutionary Love Compass. We talked about grief and the power of community.
- 9/25 – Our Visit to the Largest Gurdwara in the the U.S. in San Jose: On a mountaintop overlooking the city, at this breathtaking Gurdwara, we gathered a diverse audience to sip chai, share langar, and listen to storytelling and music. Rev. Michael-Ray Matthews shared the wisdom of Black ancestors; Komal Kaur Minhas lifted up the feminist intervention that is #SageWarrior.
- 9/26 – The Electrifying Crowd at La Pena in Berkeley, CA: A packed house at this cultural center founded by exiled Chileans as a space to gather people around liberation and love. There wasn’t a dry eye in the audience as we were joined by special guests the legendary john powell and Jose Vargas.
- 9/28 – Our Visit to Granite Bay High School in Sacramento: Students and teachers shared an unforgettable night with us, featuring special guest Kevin John Fong, who told his story growing up Asian, Hawaiian and queer in Sacramento — and becoming a healer.
- 9/30 – Inside Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver: We filled the bookstore with stories and songs and had a magical conversation with sage women elders Mirabai Starr and Sister Simone Campbell about grief, courage, and the work of standing in humanity.
- 10/1 – Enriching Conversations at Colorado College: We met with students immersed in their study of Revolutionary Love and explored how to respond to crises with courage. With special guests Rev. Logan Bennett and Naureen Kaur Singh.
