Group storytelling with the Community Arts Partnership for Spring Writes Literary Fest
Thursday, May 11th, 7-8pm online. Registration here.
Storytellers include Rachel Dickinson (memoir about loss, grief, and running away from home), Kyara Perkins (excerpt from a memoir about childhood experiences molding our adulthood), Carolyn Clark (poems blending nature, mythology, friendship & family, pets included), Jon Raimon (poems related to teens, fatherhood, coming of age, and gender), India Sada (poems about black spirits memory-leaking, sounding and superimposing), Cai Quirk (short story story about gender, spirituality, and community healing), David Guaspari (excerpt from “The MIddle-aged Man and the Sea,” a comedy of travels to and from Alaska).
Beyond Pink and Blue Workshop for Spring Writes Literary Fest
We grow up with many narratives fed to us about how the world is ‘supposed’ to be, but so often these tales are limited or false versions of deeper truths. Oppression has narrowed gender to a binary, but together in this interactive writing workshop we will discuss and write poems that invite healing and freedom. This workshop will be based on Cai’s poetry series Beyond Pink and Blue, using metaphors of color to explore gender and other identities. Through small and large group discussions and writing prompts, together we will create visions of a world beyond binaries.
Wed, June 28, 6:00 – 7:30pm on zoom, register HERE
Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting Annual Sessions
Plenary: A Rainbow of Spiritual Gifts
Imagine a rainbow with red blending to orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet… all colors coming together to reflect the beautiful array of this world. Blue is no more or less important than yellow or green, and just because red is on the edge doesn’t mean rosy hues are forgotten. The colors come together in harmony, just like the various songbirds at twilight or the many instruments of an orchestra, each individual part creating a vibrant divine whole. What would the rainbow be like without blue, or the orchestra without the woodwinds? Many people cherish spectrums in color and music but begin to hesitate when it comes to celebrating the vibrant diversity of humanity. What do our communities lose when we only support some of the gifts and identities Spirit has given people among us? More specifically, how does supporting and nourishing the people most often marginalized by society truly help us all grow, both as individuals and as Quaker meetings?
Annual sessions: June 14-18 in Cincinnati, OH, more information here. My plenary is Thursday evening, my workshop is Friday.
