Two workshops for Safetyfest.
Dear beloved queer family,
As part of CUAV's Safetyfest, I am facilitating/teaching/ throwing down two events.
The first, Resilience Gives Birth to Resistance, is a super-fun, chill, queer and trans POC community writing workshop/ circle. Inspired by the work of brilliant Alexis Pauline Gumbs, this writing circle is a space for queer and trans people of color to collectively write love letters to our ancestors, heroes and selves, remembering the ways we find to survive, resist and be resilient to violence. I like the idea of writing love letters to our ancestors and selves- especially on a Monday night, at The Bikery, within a circle of fly loved ones with support and hot beverages. I have been really inspired lately by the Young Women's Empowerment Project, an amazing organization of young women, girls and trans people in the sex trade, and their idea of resilience (all the ways we heal from violence and trauma) giving birth to resistance (all the ways we fight back), and how a lot of the writing and art reflects that. Let's do the same, and maybe even make a quick zine!
The other is a Community Accountability 101 workshop based on The Revolution Starts At Home, the zine (becoming a book in January 2011!) edited by myself, Ching-In Chen and Jai Dulani, about community accountability strategies to partner abuse and sexual assault, particularly in small and/or activist communities. If you've been curious about the nitty-gritty of community accountability strategies, this workshop is a great place to learn some concrete tools and strategies to start building safety in your communities without the prison industrial complex, and without creating a giant mess.
Both workshops are free, though donations will be accepted to help support CUAV, which has been fighting to make queer and trans communities safer since 1979. CUAV recently made the brave move of switching to a collective structure and working fully from a community accountability perspective that challenges the nonprofit model of violence prevention.The recession and the state of California's elimination of all funding to domestic violence and anti-violence services have dramatically impacted CUAV. Safetyfest is their answer- a 100% free festival celebrating queer and trans safety from violence and power in our communities, that also raises funds grassroots-style for CUAV. You can donate at either workshop, at other Safetyfest events, or online at www.cuav.org.
Finally, the QTPOC love letter writing circle will feature blackberry limeade and barbeque made by yours truly. The Revolution Starts At Home workshop will feature some bangin' rosewater and mint fruit salad, fresh salsa and chips. ;)
Please come out, and spread the word to folks who you think might be interested!
In respect and movement,
Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
Important notes: Please note that Resilience Gives Birth to Resistance is open to queer and trans and gender variant people of color only, while the community accountability workshop is open to all. Both spaces are wheelchair accessible in the main space; the Bikery has a nonaccessible bathroom, although we may be able to use the accessible bathroom next door. Modern Times is fully accessible.
Please refrain from wearing perfume or scented products so that folks with chemical disabilities (which includes the facilitator, aka me!) can attend without getting a headache, throwing up or having a seizure. (For more information about fragrance, environmental racism and chronically ill queers and how fierce we are, please check out http://www.peggymunson.com/mcs/fragrancefree.html, and/or I can send you my "Fragrance Free For the POC: Why You Should Care" article.) Folks with cancer, migraines, lyme disease, multiple chemical sensitivity, environmental illness, fibromyalgia, and many more chronic conditions are folks you love, and we like it when we can leave the house ;)
Resilience Gives Birth to Resistance! *
When: Mon, April 12, 7pm - 9pm
Where: The Bikery: Cycles of Change; 2289 international blvd oakland (map)
Description: In this writing circle, we'll write love letters and self-valentines to our and our ancestors' fierce skills at resilience (healing) and resistance (fighting back) to oppression, abuse and violence as queer and trans people of color. Come for some blackberry lemonade, barbeque, talking story and mutual hang out time and love! In the spirit of alexis pauline gumbs' brokenbeautiful writing circles, this space will be a chance to speak our stories, family secrets and everyday truelifeadventurestories. we'll maybe even make a zine at the end! By donation! All monies go to keep CUAV going! * Concept formulated by the Young Women's Empowerment Project (www.youarepriceless.org)
The Revolution Starts At Home: Practicing Community Accountability In Real Life
When: Sat, April 17, 2pm - 4pm
Where: Modern Times Bookstore; 888 Valencia St, SF (map)
Description: Partner abuse and sexual assault within our little queer/of color/ activist communities is an issue many of struggling to deal with. Lots of us talk about "community accountability" strategies to deal with violence, but we're not quite sure how to pull them off. In this hands-on workshop, we’ll talk about the nitty-gritty issues of intimate violence in our communities and discuss community accountability strategies that can help us walk towards building accountability, justice and violence free zones in our lives.
As part of CUAV's Safetyfest, I am facilitating/teaching/ throwing down two events.
The first, Resilience Gives Birth to Resistance, is a super-fun, chill, queer and trans POC community writing workshop/ circle. Inspired by the work of brilliant Alexis Pauline Gumbs, this writing circle is a space for queer and trans people of color to collectively write love letters to our ancestors, heroes and selves, remembering the ways we find to survive, resist and be resilient to violence. I like the idea of writing love letters to our ancestors and selves- especially on a Monday night, at The Bikery, within a circle of fly loved ones with support and hot beverages. I have been really inspired lately by the Young Women's Empowerment Project, an amazing organization of young women, girls and trans people in the sex trade, and their idea of resilience (all the ways we heal from violence and trauma) giving birth to resistance (all the ways we fight back), and how a lot of the writing and art reflects that. Let's do the same, and maybe even make a quick zine!
The other is a Community Accountability 101 workshop based on The Revolution Starts At Home, the zine (becoming a book in January 2011!) edited by myself, Ching-In Chen and Jai Dulani, about community accountability strategies to partner abuse and sexual assault, particularly in small and/or activist communities. If you've been curious about the nitty-gritty of community accountability strategies, this workshop is a great place to learn some concrete tools and strategies to start building safety in your communities without the prison industrial complex, and without creating a giant mess.
Both workshops are free, though donations will be accepted to help support CUAV, which has been fighting to make queer and trans communities safer since 1979. CUAV recently made the brave move of switching to a collective structure and working fully from a community accountability perspective that challenges the nonprofit model of violence prevention.The recession and the state of California's elimination of all funding to domestic violence and anti-violence services have dramatically impacted CUAV. Safetyfest is their answer- a 100% free festival celebrating queer and trans safety from violence and power in our communities, that also raises funds grassroots-style for CUAV. You can donate at either workshop, at other Safetyfest events, or online at www.cuav.org.
Finally, the QTPOC love letter writing circle will feature blackberry limeade and barbeque made by yours truly. The Revolution Starts At Home workshop will feature some bangin' rosewater and mint fruit salad, fresh salsa and chips. ;)
Please come out, and spread the word to folks who you think might be interested!
In respect and movement,
Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
Important notes: Please note that Resilience Gives Birth to Resistance is open to queer and trans and gender variant people of color only, while the community accountability workshop is open to all. Both spaces are wheelchair accessible in the main space; the Bikery has a nonaccessible bathroom, although we may be able to use the accessible bathroom next door. Modern Times is fully accessible.
Please refrain from wearing perfume or scented products so that folks with chemical disabilities (which includes the facilitator, aka me!) can attend without getting a headache, throwing up or having a seizure. (For more information about fragrance, environmental racism and chronically ill queers and how fierce we are, please check out http://www.peggymunson.com/mcs/fragrancefree.html, and/or I can send you my "Fragrance Free For the POC: Why You Should Care" article.) Folks with cancer, migraines, lyme disease, multiple chemical sensitivity, environmental illness, fibromyalgia, and many more chronic conditions are folks you love, and we like it when we can leave the house ;)
Resilience Gives Birth to Resistance! *
When: Mon, April 12, 7pm - 9pm
Where: The Bikery: Cycles of Change; 2289 international blvd oakland (map)
Description: In this writing circle, we'll write love letters and self-valentines to our and our ancestors' fierce skills at resilience (healing) and resistance (fighting back) to oppression, abuse and violence as queer and trans people of color. Come for some blackberry lemonade, barbeque, talking story and mutual hang out time and love! In the spirit of alexis pauline gumbs' brokenbeautiful writing circles, this space will be a chance to speak our stories, family secrets and everyday truelifeadventurestories. we'll maybe even make a zine at the end! By donation! All monies go to keep CUAV going! * Concept formulated by the Young Women's Empowerment Project (www.youarepriceless.org)
The Revolution Starts At Home: Practicing Community Accountability In Real Life
When: Sat, April 17, 2pm - 4pm
Where: Modern Times Bookstore; 888 Valencia St, SF (map)
Description: Partner abuse and sexual assault within our little queer/of color/ activist communities is an issue many of struggling to deal with. Lots of us talk about "community accountability" strategies to deal with violence, but we're not quite sure how to pull them off. In this hands-on workshop, we’ll talk about the nitty-gritty issues of intimate violence in our communities and discuss community accountability strategies that can help us walk towards building accountability, justice and violence free zones in our lives.