Love Club is taking a break from holding meetings due to an increase in membership. The club was founded in 2018 by senior medicinal plant chemistry major Autin Clay. In order to abide by current social conditions, Clay said it would be unwise and disrespectful for the group to meet even if all guidelines were followed.
Love Club is a place where like-minded, free-thinkers can gather together to promote self-awareness and awareness of the world. The aim of the club is to provide a safe space where individuals can go to manifest positive energy and love.
“I created a club where people can come that thought outside the box or thought for themselves, and share and relate these internal battles authentically and express themselves openly,” Clay said. He wants to manifest a positive environment where the intention is focused on bettering humans and the Earth.
Sophomore and two-year member Abbie Lewis is one individual who was attracted to Love Club for those reasons.
Lewis said, “It’s like a little intimate circle of life, there’s dancing and laughter and music and sharing. We’re just being as real as we are able to be.” The club conducts activities such as drawing, reading, mindful writing, meditation and having complex conversations about all facets of life.
Similar to other communities on campus, Love Club is facing challenges regarding COVID-19 resulting in the postponement of meetings this semester. Before the pandemic, the club would meet one to two times a week in the Meditation Room located in the Northern Center, or they would gather in an outdoor setting to be immersed in nature. The club focuses on the human connection to mother nature and cultivating magical moments in the physical environment which Clay feels is representative of the Northern Michigan experience.
“There’s a lot of aspects of Love Club that would be diminished if we were to even meet anyways. I feel like there’s a lot of fear just in general due to the virus that would be detrimental to the energy that we’re looking for in the first place,” Clay said.
Clay describes Love Club as an intimate gathering where it means something to be able to see one another’s faces and not be fearful of each other.
Seeing as though it is Clay’s last year at Northern, he is despondent with the effects of the pandemic. He hopes to find individuals who are willing to facilitate the club after he graduates that can carry on his legacy.
“It is kind of sad because it’s my last year, but it’s given me the proper time to truly go internal and kind of step away from being the facilitator,” Clay said.
Lewis, having experienced the club both with and without circumstances resulting from COVID-19, would like to be one such facilitator once it commences again.
“I think the aim of Love Club is to reach people across the entire student body because it’s the message of love. It goes further than what you wear, or what clubs you like to go to or what you’ve done or who you are,” Lewis said.
While the club remains with the same integrity, the pandemic has compromised some of the closeness between members from face coverings and social distancing.
“Part of what makes the club so important is being with other people, and part of being with other people is being able to see their face, be close to them, touch them—which we can’t do,” Lewis said.
Members would like to see meetings commenced again by the end of the semester, but the club is unsure if that is in the cards. Their eagerness comes from using the club as an outlet for expression. “It’s very open for individuality, and it’s important to hear those truths. It helps us all as a community when we’re bringing in all these tools. It’s really amazing what potential is there,” said Clay.
Even though the club is taking a break, Clay is certain that COVID-19 is not stopping the love, he said.
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