Maya Hosaka (she/they)
This wasn’t my first Flash Foxy festival and I’m hoping it will be far from my last. I attended the festival in 2024 with a friend and returned home with a changed perspective on climbing as a sport, a discipline, and an intersection of community building. This year I was worried that, with the past year’s festival leaving me feeling over the moon, I would be left wanting, chasing the feelings I had experienced the previous year. Not only was this not the case, but I came away with completely different experiences and thoughts that I can hold separately but highly from those of the previous year.
As an Asian American person socialized as a woman, I have always held unrealistically high expectations for myself. I’ve been taught through the reinforcement of gendered and racialized norms that I should perfect and ameliorate–my math abilities, my music capabilities, my relationships, my life. Unlearning these deep-seated expectations for myself is a lifelong journey, and very seldom am I given clear opportunities to do so. The Flash Foxy Festival was one of these opportunities. When asked about my experience at the festival, my first description was, “It was one of the most organically safe and supportive spaces I’ve ever been in.” Safe in the sense that there was an absence of a threat, either from the presence of cisgender men whose presence always initially makes me put up my guard or the feeling of judgement from others. Supportive in the sense that not only was I supported, but I was celebrated. Not myself as an individual, but as a collective whole. I felt a sense of reciprocity and understanding through being surrounded by so many women and gender queer folks who shared sentiments of feeling unsafe and unsupported in all aspects of life with the common ground of a climbing community and, instead of focusing on these negative experiences (although they’re important to deliberate as they are often at the root of being driven away from communities and opportunities such as the festival), we partied and cheered and cried.
There is no one definitive way to exist, and I think with the goal of oppressive systems of capitalism and white supremacy being to homogenize for the purpose of dividing, it makes it even more revolutionary to just exist authentically. I’m still learning what this means for myself, but I think entering spaces like the festival that tout joy and love as acts of resistance, I’m able to begin to understand what this can mean for my future and present self.
My relationship with climbing remains in flux, but I truly believe that the relationships I’ve built with others and myself through the journey of rediscovering my love for the sport are what keep me touching real and plastic rocks. I’ve met so many wonderful people through the festival and have exchanged words and experiences with them that I will continue to carry with me every time I climb, even though it may be subconscious. I look forward to continuing to learn from community members, tribal elders, star climbers, and friends knowing that I can do so safely and with love.
Thank you for this opportunity, and I’m excited for whoever is able to receive this scholarship for the next festival to experience the magic that is Flash Foxy.
