Home Alive

Home Alive is a Seattle-based anti-violence organization that offers self-defense classes on a sliding scale payment system.

Home Alive sees its work as integrated into larger social justice movements, recognizing how violence is often perpetuated through oppression and abuse.

Home Alive classes included basic physical self-defense, boundary setting, and advanced multi-week courses.

[1] Following the rape and murder of local singer Mia Zapata in 1993, a number of artists and musicians within Seattle began to meet and discuss the problems of violence within the community, and the lack of available resources such as self-defense classes, which were considered impractical and somewhat unaffordable.

[2][3] The birth of this organization was informal, with meetings originating as heated discussions in the living rooms of concerned women from the scene.

However the group had trouble deciding how to organize and agreeing on the best methods of self-defense training to teach, so they chose to bring in teachers to help direct the course of their learning.

[4] This group of women, now recognized as the founders of the organization, pooled resources such as arts and music benefits in order to raise funds and study self-defense.

With primary support still coming from the arts community, Home Alive continues to ground its self-defense education in a movement for social justice.

Home Alive taught not only physical self-defense but as well verbal boundaries like saying "no" when feeling uncomfortable, escape route techniques and much others including going to a therapist, writing in a journal, talking to friends and exercising.

They announced their decision to close in an email sent out to the Home Alive and Capitol Hill community, choosing to celebrate their years of work with an all ages party at Hidmo Eritrean cuisine featuring live music and an open mic.

[4] Home Alive consequently decided to move away from the formalized government structure of a non-profit and instead chose to create a website teaching self-defense.

[12] Kathleen Hanna, lead singer of the Seattle punk band Bikini Kill and kick-starter of the Riot grrrl feminist movement, also appears on the album.

The album features 17 tracks from various artists including The Gossip, Amy Ray and the Butchies, The Need, the Pinkos, Sanford Arms and more.

They fundraised $10,000 to make the film in sound editing and to pay off legal fees through the Kickstarter campaign, grants and donations.

In 2014 Therrien and Michaels are on tour screening their documentary across the country, and have recently shown support for the feminist movement YesAllWomen on their website in light of the 2014 Isla Vista killings.

Zapata's death led to the organization of a collective community, which evolved into Home Alive and the mission to provide affordable self-defense training, education tools and grassroots activism.