Melissa Kaplan joins Daedalian on this edition of The Convo to preview this year’s Take a Stand! Sit In! event, taking place April 14 and 16. The 2026 theme, “Joy as Resistance,” highlights how creativity can inspire reflection and strengthen community connections through artistic expression, including film, storytelling, and music.

Website: Take A Stand! Sit In! - April 14 & 16

Website: Capital City Film Festival

Facebook: Cute cats with Hats (Mention during the episode)

Welcome to Community Convos, a podcast and radio program from LCC Connect with conversations about what's happening in Lansing and around Mid Michigan.

Hey, this is Daedalian on The Convo once again. And joy is resistance. That's the theme of this year's Take a Stand event. It's an experience that will bringing together film, storytelling, creativity, music, laughter and community connection as well. It's going to happen on the 14th and 16th of April this year. And this year's event invites participants not to just attend, but to be creative, reflect and discover joy as resistance.

Now joining us in the studio to talk about it is Melissa Kaplan.

Thanks for having me, Daedalian

Thanks for coming in to talk about it. So Take a Stand, Sit In. How many years has it been going on? And for somebody that's never even heard of it before I how did it begin?

But we do want to do something in support of that that fall, which was in response to the Black Lives Matters. And we want to take a stand by having faculty and staff and guest artists and community leaders come in and lead sessions.

And we sit in and we learn, and they take a stand on topics of social injustice and racial justice that they're researching or teaching or passionate about or creating. And all of us sit in, we learn actions that we may be able to take as well, or we learn more about the world that we live in.

And so it started the fall of COVID It was all on WebEx, and there were two days, I think four sessions each day.

I can't remember what session I attended, but I was so taken with the event and its purpose that I volunteered to become part of the organizing group and have been since then. The group also includes Annescia Dillard, who joined at the same time I did, I think feeling similarly.

And so for a couple years we held the event both in the fall and the spring, and we realized in order to do a really good job, our capacity as well as people's capacity to attend things here at LCC.

There's always so much going on and we'd rather do it really well once a year than twice a year and not have as many people attend or us be spread too thin. So we began, I believe it was the spring of 23, where we now do it in the spring. We just hold the event in the spring.

Yeah, it was probably a good move. And I absolutely love that you've got this theme for it each and every year.

And I think this year's is probably one of my personal favorites, at least the way I envision it. Joy is resistance. What exactly does that mean to you?

I love that you are responding to that theme because without knowing that is kind of much about it. That's what we're hoping people will see. To me, joy is, in a way, it's a muscle to build our experience of joy.

That with all that's going on in the world and others might say, well, 20 years ago or 40 years ago, similarly, it's easy and for good reason to be overwhelmed, to feel despair, to wonder, what can you do to make a difference? How do you manage your life? How do you manage the lives for your loved ones? What does the future hold?

And a lot of times creativity is limited because you're exhausted and you're not. That's just not where you're putting it.

But to actually kind of turn that around and look for the things that exist all around us that could bring joy, as well as the things we can create and the things we can do that bring joy. It is powerfully healing. It builds our resilience by building this, like I said, this muscle of a more positive outlook.

And it gives you a sense of agency to be able to experience positive outlook and hope without it being any type of Pollyannish. You know, like, the sun will come up tomorrow. Well, it will come up tomorrow.

But, you know, it's not something that's just, oh, don't worry, be happy. It really is exercising your right to. To be joyful. A big part of being human is the ability to experience joy and to create joy for others.

Yeah, to find peace in it. I guess that's a lot of the times what I think of as joy is when you're doing those activities, almost like a meditative kind of vibe.

For me, when I'm doing something creative, for sure, that's the idea, is to, as you said, build that muscle.

I think so you're focusing. Like, for example, one of the things I do outside of work that's a creative practice is I'm in a writing group and we write to prompts and we share.

And while I'm doing that, I'm really focused. I'm really focused on whatever is flowing. Not with, oh, is this going to be something good? Is this going to get published, whatever.

That's not the purpose of it. It's to allow your thoughts to spark other thoughts and words to spark words.

In the practice of writing, each creative practice has its own kind of techniques. And then the rest of the world can fall away for a little bit.

It's interest. You mentioned the writing process and then also writing with other people in the area, it kind of acts as a connector.

Even though you're doing your own individual thing, very often you kind of feel connected to these other people that are doing the same kind of thing. So why do you feel like creativity is such a powerful connector between people?

I also know that I experience this if I'm in a drawing class or something like that, where I'm drawing something and other people drawing. You just kind of feel connected to everybody.

And there's probably science about this. But I think being in a room where people are both trying and learning and expressing themselves.

Like for example, in a drawing class, everybody is looking at a. You know, maybe there's a still life that everybody's drawing, but everybody's seeing it from a little different angle.

Different people put, you know, different pressure on their pencil and decide, I'm going to shade this or I'm going to outline that. And you end up with a dozen drawings of this group of bottles and fruit that each one is really unique.

But each person is kind of putting themselves through that pencil, through that medium, out into the world and to participate in that together, there's great energy. I just think it's really positive energy.

Very cool. So three years now, you've been partnering with the Capital City Film Festival. How has that collaboration evolved?

You know, it started solid and it has just continued. It is an excellent partnership for us. The film festival, first of all, I think it is one of the great events here in the Lansing area.

It's really unique and it's a renowned film festival. It's recognized as one of the top film festivals.

Such a creative approach to festivals in all the different locations they have and all the different events that they have in conjunction with it. And a lot of music, a lot of interesting programming in addition to films. And I think that for us, it has expanded our audience.

It's connected other people with LCC who may not have come to anything at LCC or known about take a stand. So it's brought more attention to that. And I think it's an opportunity for our students to get out and experience something a little different.

It is an event. Even though we've been doing Take a stand on WebEx. The film festival is an in person event. And so that started in 24.

And our theme that year was investigating incarceration. We had three short films and filmmaker talk discussion afterwards. Last year it was exploring environmentalism.

And so again we had short films and a filmmaker discussion afterwards. And one thing that's evolved is where in the film festival schedule it lands.

The first year, we were their very first event on the afternoon before their big opening night. And it wasn't as highly attended. Last year we were smack in the middle of the week. And it's a free event.

Whereas the majority of film festival events, you need a pass or you need a ticket. But this one being with LCC, it's free and it was really well attended. And I think this current year, Joy is resistance.

We've got a couple of really special things planned. In addition to showing the films, we are also.

This event is connecting the Mid Michigan Environmental Action Council with LCC and the film festival Midmeak, as they are called. They received an NEA Big Read grant, which means they have a book that they selected.

And then over the course of this spring, they have multiple events that they're doing in the community. This is one of them. And we were asked, could we partner our Take a Stand event with the environmental council?

While our theme isn't environmental, I am a person who views all the films. And I'm on the film selection committee for the festival too.

The actions that happen in regards to the environment, Joy as resistance as very much depicted. And I looked for films that would show that in a number of ways. One of the films is a PBS series called Wild Hope.

And it's one of the episodes of that. And it's Reclaiming Bear River. And it's about a indigenous tribe in the Northwest who has reclaimed land. And they are rehabit.

Habitating it, habitating it, reworking it to bring back its wildness what it had been. So they, in a sense, are resisting the tendencies of development and extraction to reclaim this land, repurpose it to its wildness.

Another film, which takes place in Flint, is about community gardens there. And the power of creating your own food source in a community where the water has been deadly.

And where the groceries are limited and not always accessible by foot or to neighborhoods. So to create these community gardens brings joy by working with the Earth.

And resistance to the situation in which a lot of residents find themselves. Which is not having the resources that they need to live healthy life. So they're resisting that by taking charge.

Another film that at first glance you wouldn't think connect to the environment, but to me, it's very much about Joyous Resistance is about a dancer. It's a Brazilian film and she has low vision and yet she dances.

And in common narrative for dancers is you need to have all your physical senses in order to dance. She resists that and she responds to the environment.

She might be dancing outside, you know, but whatever her environment is, she is using her senses in different ways. She may not see the way that people with full sight would, but it doesn't mean that she can't dance.

So she's finding joy in her art and she's bringing joy to others and she's resisting a common narrative. I mean, we live in a world where narratives serve a purpose to identify, you know, groups and possibilities, but they limit. They can really limit.

And I think there's joy in expanding one's idea of one's own limitations. And that film really, really.

It sounds beautiful.

It is. It really is. And then there's two other short films. There's. You'll have to come. And we've got some of the filmmakers coming.

And a cool thing is we're starting the event with a Community Sing.

Yeah.

Sally Potter, who is for those who know the folk community or who you know, are familiar with like the Great Lakes Folk Festival, she is an absolutely wonderful Community Sing leader. And you don't have to be a singer and you don't even have to sing. We're gonn start with 15 minutes. She's going to have music of Songs of Resistance.

I think there are going to be people there who like to go to Community sings.

So I'm excited about that too, because I think our audience is really going to be a mix of LCC people from the Environmental Action Council audience, people interested in Community Sing Film Festival, just really building community.

And I think that's, to me, that is the heart and soul of our partnership with the Capital City Film Festival is building and strengthening our community.

That's great. And to go back to the beginning again, we talked a little bit about it, but you know, you need a pass for more. This is still a free event, right?

Yes.

As far as this part goes.

Right. Our evening on Tuesday, April 14th at 6 o'. Clock. There's no charge for that.

Okay, very cool. So what are you hoping people walk away with after the filmmaker panel and especially the Community Sing?

I hope they feel uplifted.

I hope they feel a sense of power in their own creativity, in their own ability to also be part of a community that raises their voices together, that watches films together, that ask questions together, that is interested in these topics together.

Well, I've seen Sally do her community sings before and it's always a fun time. So yeah, hopefully people get a chance to participate. This is the first time you're hosting a full day of in person sessions.

So why was it important to expand

into that format for us and for our organizers? And I'll mention that our team is myself, Anne Heutsche, Brad Hicks and Annescia Dillard. The four of us are the Take a Stand team.

This is a great opportunity to do something in person. We've talked about it from the beginning, but with COVID we couldn't.

And then for accessibility, providing sessions on webex not only gives our community here a chance to participate, but it lets us bring in presenters from much further afield who can webex in and lead a session.

But here the idea of creative action and exercising your creative muscles and playing to whatever extent you want with different creative activities, we just thought this is a great way to do this, to bring people together, to bring the LCC community together. So the Thursday the 16th is for the LCC community, students, faculty, staff, everybody is welcome.

And we've got, we'll start at 10 in the morning and go till 4:30 in the afternoon.

Now you got like crocheting, beading, macrame, journaling, knitting, community mural.

So our art faculty, Susan Hardy and Laurie Bishop are going to kind of create an outline of something on a large panel roll of paper. We're gonna have that out on the Gannon highway.

And we're gonna have materials and we're gonna have guidance so that people could come and they can add to it. They can. You know, maybe that means coloring in part of a letter. Maybe it means attaching some paper, some collaging.

It will be for whatever somebody wants to contribute. And I think it's going to say the word joy. I think that's what they're planning. And then we will find the place to put that for everybody to enjoy.

And we'll probably have puzzles, we might have games, we might have a trivia. And we have different faculty and staff who are going to be leading those stations.

So you don't have to like, I don't know how to knit or crochet or bead or just play trivia.

The people that don't really feel creative.

Well, don't. Everybody's creative. Everybody is creative.

I was gonna say you're a very creative person.

These things I've not done, so I was. So the thing is out of your

comfort zone a little bit.

Trying. Trying something new. Is exciting. Is exciting. Going in, not expecting.

I'm going to, you know, knit a blanket today or I'm gonna have some baby booties done. But maybe you're creating a little square.

Maybe you're just learning what it feels like to work with these needles and this yarn or beads or make a keychain or try your hand at trivia. Or.

We're gonna have a session, a dance and movement session that'll either be in a theater classroom or the dance studio with Lauren Moodry, who's our LCC dance instructor and guest artist. Jared Autry, who's an. He's with all of the above. Hip Hop Academy and Everett Dance Team. Amazing dancer brings dance teams.

Have you ever done the dancing before?

Nope.

Okay.

We've never done that.

This is brand new.

We're gonna have a comedy improv session led by April Dreek in the afternoon. So both of those, you can go and watch. You can go and participate. Comedy and improv.

You can just sit and be in the audience and watch the fun happen, or you can participate to whatever extent you're comfortable. We want people not to be uncomfortable. We want people to have a good time, maybe meet somebody new, try something new.

The improv's new too, right?

The improv's new too.

So how does laughter fit into the theme of joy as resistance?

Well, laughter is an expression of joy.

I think it's been said that if we couldn't laugh, we'd go insane.

I think that makes sense.

So resisting insanity, for sure.

For sure. And I think that it. It's just a positive expression. It feels good to laugh.

It feels good to see something that's absurd or something that's silly or something that comments in a way that surprises you and that can make you laugh. I think movement, too. It may feel odd at first.

And I will say that Lauren and Jared are very aware of the majority of people coming in are not gonna be, like, doing dance and knowing dance, but the chance to just even move a little bit. Just like we know with exercise, you move your body, you feel better, you build those, release those endorphins.

Right. I will even say that myself personally, and I'm not the only one that feels this way.

In this current day and age, occasionally I feel a little bit overwhelmed by where we're at in the world.

And I have found myself more and more often, if I'm gonna sit down and just chill in front of the television, I have found myself searching out and looking for things that are going to make me laugh, even if it means the silly kitty videos on YouTube, those kind of things like kind of pick you up and they keep you going again. So yes, it is a way to resist for sure.

There's a guy who has three cats. I watch his reels religiously. They have these little hats and he takes them out like around New York City or in the airport. Oh my goodness.

They sit on the airplane, they're little pudgy, little cute cats with little hats. And it's just.

All right, you'll have to share that with me so we can put it in the show notes. We need to put that in the show notes.

I will, I will. That brings me joy.

So what surprised you the most about it? Since the event has grown over the

years, first of all, the continued interest in it and that it has legs in that giving faculty and staff and guest artists and community leaders, inviting them in to share what they know and what they care about. There's been continued interest and then there's been continued interest in attending particularly.

One of the things we try and do is schedule sessions on WebEx when they can align with classes so that the faculty may use this opportunity. So that has been really gratifying and you know, a lot of things we put our effort into. You try, it's okay, you try it again.

Maybe it doesn't work 100%, but I think the organizers, we believe in this and the support of the arts and science division. Our dean, we have a Star Day of giving fund that helps bring guest artists in. So there's a commitment to this and that has really helped sustain it.

And I think venturing into an in person activity, one of our, what we've talked about in the past, the organizing team is, you know, bringing this into the community, expanding it. Who knows what that means? But I, I think we're all really pleased with how it's been sustained.

So if somebody wanted to find out more information, I mean, we will have this in the show notes, of course, but where should they go to find that?

So our website is takeastand.openLCC.net that will have the full schedule and the locations and the times and yeah, that's a great place to find information. There's also the events are listed on the LCC website, the event calendar. So you just go to those dates, April 14th or 16th, and that's a way in.

And if you don't happen to be able to write it down, I will have it in the show notes as well as just go on the webernet there to your favorite search engine and just type in Take a Stand, Sit In. And it usually comes right at the top.

And the Capital City Film Festival has a whole website and it's organized by date, so the evening of films will be that for April 14th.

Well, that's cool. Take a Stand, Sit In. It's taking place April 14th and 16th. The theme, Joy as Resistance, which I absolutely love.

So congratulations to you and the steering committee for putting it all together. Is there anything else that we haven't hit on that you want to let listeners know about before we go?

Well, I feel like you are not alone in what you shared about in this time, and I think there's a lot of folks who are feeling that way.

And when Anne Heutsche and I were talking, she said, and I want to quote her because I think it just really relates, she said, we are intentional choosing to face all the upheaval right now, not only by not blinking at the issues, but digging deep to challenge it, by expressing and experiencing joy holding on to hope. Hope is a radical discipline.

Awesome. We're going to let Annee's words take us out.

You've been listening to Community Convos, a podcast from LCC Connect. Listen to this episode and others at LCCconnect.com or wherever you get your podcasts. If you or someone you know would like to feature an event on Community convos, email us LCC-Connect@lcc.edu and thanks for joining The Convo.