This weekend, the Orion Grassroots Network’s Southeast Regional Gathering drew activists from around the region for a conversation on activism in the Southeast and where it’s going. Orion authors Janisse Ray, Jan DeBlieu and Orion Grassroots Network Coordinator Erik Hoffner and Orion magazine managing editor Tara Rae Miner were joined by folks from GA, VA, NC, SC, AL, and TN on the shores of the Albemarle Sound in Columbia, North Carolina, representing groups like WildSouth, South Carolina Coastal Conservation League, and Southern Environmental Law Center. The weather was perfect, the dialogue rich, and the fireside tribute to the writings of Wendell Berry was a high point!

Janisse Ray inspires the group at the edge of Bulls Bay.

Virginia Townsend, right, tells the group about the Community Organization for Rights & Empowerment (CORE) in Holly Hill, SC, which is organizing for cleaner air.