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Live Event Summary: The Portland-Minneapolis Connection — Fierce Love, OWLs, and the Power of Showing Up
This live conversation between Teri Leigh (Minneapolis) and Mel (Volcano, California — formerly Portland) explored the unexpected kinship between their two cities, the rise of older women in resistance movements, and what it looks like to lead with love instead of rage.
The Portland-Minneapolis Link Starts with George Floyd
The conversation opened with the question of how Portland and Minneapolis became so connected. Both agreed it began with the murder of George Floyd in 2020, which catalyzed the Black Lives Matter movement in Portland, including the formation of the Wall of Moms.
Mel shared her firsthand experience joining the Wall of Moms — a group of women, organized by Black activists, who stood arm-in-arm on the front lines outside the federal courthouse in Portland to create a human barrier against the National Guard. At 4’11” and in her late 50s, Mel showed up in a ski helmet, goggles, and a rain poncho. They were taught how to link arms, when to break and run from flash bangs, and to write an emergency phone number in Sharpie on their arms.
Mel described the experience as both empowering and traumatic — watching armed officers in riot gear just feet away while standing ground with strangers.
OWLs: Old White Ladies Stepping Into Their Power
Teri Leigh connected the Wall of Moms energy to what’s been happening in Minnesota, where older white women have been calling themselves OWLs — Old White Ladies — stepping into their privilege and using it for resistance. Key points included:
Women over 50 who have reached the stage of “I have no more fucks to give” are showing up in ways that are uniquely powerful
Their perceived invisibility as older women has become a kind of superpower — no one expects them, and that’s exactly why it works
OWLs have been escorting school buses to protect families from ICE, protesting at the Whipple ICE headquarters, and writing their lawyers’ phone numbers on their arms
Many have been detained and had wedding rings cut off, but none have been formally charged — which says everything about where the real power lies
The Frog, the Dildos, and the Absurdity of Resistance
One of the most vivid stories was about a 57-year-old Minnesota woman who, inspired by Portland’s protest frogs, showed up to the Whipple ICE headquarters in an inflatable frog costume. From inside the costume she witnessed a moment that captured the whole movement: an older woman standing toe-to-toe with a young ICE agent in bitter cold, their breath mingling, telling him gently that he didn’t have to do this — and watching a single tear fall from his eye.
Minneapolis then “upped the ante” with its own brand of creative resistance — throwing dildos at ICE vehicles, which became its own viral moment. Both women celebrated the role of humor and absurdity in resistance, noting that Portland brought the frogs, Minneapolis brought the dildos, and the silliness itself makes the point: this is how absurd things have gotten.
Resistance, Not Protest — Love Over Fear
A central theme was the intentional use of the word resist rather than protest:
Resistance is a boundary, not an attack
It’s holding love in place, not forcing opinions
It’s “calling in” rather than “calling out”
Both women emphasized that rage and “fuck you” energy, while understandable, doesn’t lead to peace or connection
Both women shared that they’ve moved through their own periods of anger and come out the other side — realizing that nobody is irredeemable and that the path forward has to include joy, humor, and love.
Fierce Love in Action
Mel shared how she’s now living fierce love daily in her tiny community of Fiddletown/Volcano, California — running a pop-up art gallery called Mel’s Messy Love Lab Live, doing community theater, and bringing strangers together over art-making. She also described her 52-week analog letter-writing practice: creating mixed media art while thinking about someone she loves, writing them a letter, and mailing it.
Teri Leigh announced that she’s expanding her WOMN (Women of the Resistance of Minnesota) project into a mixed digital media storytelling format — combining watercolor imagery with video narration of these women’s stories for YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Substack.
The conversation closed with a shared conviction: the world needs these stories because the fierce love of old white ladies stepping into their power isn’t just a Minnesota thing — it’s a model for everywhere.
