The HerStories Project

We are pleased to feature many talented and soulful people at Embodying Our Nature 2012

Co-organizer Melissa Dey Hasbrook is a writer based in Lansing, Michigan. She began The HerStories Project in 2010 to celebrate stories about women, and in 2011 expands its scope to celebrate gender expression. Her poetry is significantly inspired by her homeland in the Great Lakes and North America, ancestral legacies, and the personal-political of everyday life. She is an alumnus of Michigan State University with studies in linguistics, community literacies, and pedagogy. Melissa’s community-based work focuses on creating spaces to explore word art and healing. Drawing upon past teaching experiences in literacy programs, college classrooms, and tutoring offices, she strives to celebrate the lives of everyone participating in her events.

Co-organizer Dawn Comer received her MFA in Creative Writing from The University of Notre Dame. She currently teaches part-time at Defiance College and is writing two books: Raised in a Corn Palace: Stories from the National Association of Tourist Attraction Survivors, and Fella With an Umbrella: Discovering Joy on the Autism Spectrum. The Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature (SSML) has awarded her with The Paul Somers Prize for Creative Prose for the story “Raised in a Corn Palace” (2008) and the memoir “Fella with an Umbrella: Finding Joy on the Autism Spectrum” (2009).

Despite having recently completed her formal education, Julia Brown has experienced much in her career as artist and teacher.  Much of her inspiration is taken from those she has had the privilege to teach.  As an art educator, Julia Brown endeavors to encourage her students to develop a positive and informed sense of self through creative expression.  Her award winning artwork is deeply rooted in the natural world but also in the ethereal.

Barb Barton:  ”As far back as I can remember I have been hunting for wild foods and playing the guitar.  I was raised in a family that couldn’t wait for the first signs of spring, because that was when the morels and leeks would be appearing, and when sassafras root was harvested. And I remember the times of neighborhood sing alongs after a long day of mushroom hunting.  Since those early days, I have continued to seek out those tasty offerings of the woods and sing songs of the Earth.  Where the Wild Foods Grow is a natural offshoot of my lifetime love of all things wild.”

Poet-activist Jan de la Torre just moved back to the Lansing area from Kalamazoo, where they were the lead organizer of Pulse, an LGBT people of color arts group at Fire Historical and Cultural Arts Collaborative. Last April, Jan also opened for Cheryl Clarke, Willie Perdomo, and Stacyann Chin at an Arcus Center for Social Justice event.

Christine Wilson teaches English at Wright State University-Lake Campus and writes fiction and creative nonfiction. She’s been a yoga practitioner for over ten years.  Christine is especially interested in using yoga to create a mind body connection that fosters creativity and healing.

Julia Brown and Dawn Comer - “Circles of Motion”: Letting Go, Journeying Honestly

In “Eagle Poem,” Joy Harjo speaks of “circles of motion” both beyond and also within our selves, a fluid unity that resonates with this year’s theme.  Drawing from selected poems, Katherine Dunn’s Creative Illustration Workshop for Mixed-Media Artists, and Julia’s and Dawn’s experiences as a visual artist and a writer, this workshop will explore possibilities for creating with an openness to the journey rather than an emphasis on the end product. Conversational in tone and hands-on in approach, Julia and Dawn desire a balance of engaged community dialogue and personal creative space, an interweaving of circles of motion within a workshop setting.

Barb Barton – Wild Foods:  For Body and Soul
Wild foods foraging and harvesting have been a traditional practice in all cultures across the globe, both providing sustenance and community bonding.  Barb Barton will share her knowledge of Great Lakes wild foods and traditional harvesting practices, and the impacts that their decline has had on community.

[CLOSED] Christine Wilson – Saturday morning yoga session
Yoga is sometimes defined as a “coming together.” As such, it represents a time when the relationship between the mind and body emerges more clearly because as we move into our bodies, we see how all of the workings of our minds manifest in our muscles and tissues, and vice versa. This gentle class will focus asanas (poses) that create openness so that we have the space to explore ourselves, our bodies, and our writing. Yoga helps us learn to let go of our egos and attachment to particular outcomes, which are two things essential to writing. There will be a period of guided meditation at the end.

Jan de la Torre – Writing With Your Senses in Mind
This workshop will explore how participants can incorporate the five main senses in their writing. Prompts will be given by the presenter as the students take a short walk around the workshop location. The participants will be asked to remember the sensations they felt during the walk. The remembrances will be used to compose a group written literary piece.

Rather than selecting a single text around which to focus discussion (as we did in 2011 with Gloria E. Anzaldúa’s “now let us shift . . . the path of conocimiento . . . inner work, public acts”), for Embodying Our Nature we are inviting participants to share texts (poetry, prose, music, art) that speak to them about the theme.  Our hope is to promote and encourage conversation both during and beyond the event, including the HerStories blog and Facebook.  Already there is no shortage of texts, and we would encourage everybody to be active in reading, responding to, and thinking about this year’s theme, engaging in conversation at whatever level you feel comfortable.

Read more…

Embodying Our Nature explores relationships between gender expression, nature(s), and bodies. To better understand this theme, we must first begin with descriptions of theme as pointers for our general direction, nuggets of understanding to springboard further exploration:

Read more…

The HerStories Project presents two programs in early 2012! Click the image for the full-sized flyer.

As a grassroots endeavor, HerStories relies on word of mouth and helping hands to spread news about programming. Thanks for any assistance to pass on the flyer! Also, volunteers are most welcome for a variety of tasks; just email herstories.project @ gmail.com with interest or questions.

These free programs are being held at Gone Wired Cafe (2021 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing). Thanks to owner Colleen Davis for her open-door policy to community events!

Registration is encouraged for both events due to limited seating. Email herstories.project @ gmail.com or contact the listed phone number for the corresponding program.

1/27 ~ READING BY MARYCELA

The first program is a reading by visiting author Marycela on Friday, January 27, at 7:00pm with seating at 6:30pm. Her novel El Libro de Marcia is a fantastical story about a woman who escapes to the sea to write, and is inspired by Marycela’s experience as a domestic-violence survivor. The book now is available at Everybody Reads Bookstore (2019 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing) and online. Here is an interview (PDF file) from May 2011 with the author. Also visit her website in Spanish or its translation in English. The bilingual program is supported by the Capital Area Response Effort (CARE), End Violent Encounter (EVE) Inc., and the Women’s Center of Greater Lansing. Resources about domestic-violence services will be available. Register by email herstories.project @ gmail.com or phone Caroline from C.A.R.E. at (517) 420-6888.

2/17 & 2/18 ~ EMBODYING OUR NATURE

This writing program is running for its second year with a new theme that explores relationships between gender expression, nature(s), and bodies. Also the program welcomes all writers — new to seasoned, across genres and genders. Under development are workshops, talking circles, self-directed writing, and a reading by participants — so stay tuned! Partners include the LBGT Resource Center of MSU and the Women’s Center of Greater Lansing. Sessions may be attended in part or in whole, and run Friday, Feb. 17, from 12:00pm to 5:00pm, and Saturday, Feb. 18, from 9:00am to 4:00pm. Register by email herstories.project @ gmail.com or phone the Women’s Center at (517) 372-9163. Due to the food-service venue, outside drink or food are not allowed. For requests regarding dietary needs, please inquire upon registration.

 This call-to-action and calendar highlights some events in Greater Lansing that resonate with the international campaign 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence and its theme this year that intersects militarism with violence against women. There are limited copies available for local use, so please contact me if you would like some for distribution.

The program starts at 7:00pm at (SCENE) Metrospace, 110 Charles St., East Lansing, Michigan! The cover is only $3, which goes to (SCENE), a gallery and performance space funded by the City of East Lansing. The venue is a valuable resource for Greater Lansing. Thanks, Director Tim Lane, for making the space available to grassroots programs!

There’s good news, Michigan State University students, faculty, and staff: the first 50 guests hailing from Spartan country with an ID gain free admission! This offer is made possible by a generous donation from the MSU LBGT Resource Center, an event partner. Thanks, LBGTRC, for the donation!

More thanks to Shari Murgittroyd, Program Coordinator of the MSU Sexual Assault Program, another Bridges partner. She connected co-emcee Jeffrey Franckowiak (read more below) and I, which strengthened the program in many ways. Also the office printed our beautiful posters and flyers!

Bridges features lesbian poet Bobbi Byrd, who’s traveling from her home in Osseo, Michigan, for the event. Thanks again, Peace Education Center, for providing her gas funds! And Bobbi’s in good company with these stellar guests and contributors:

Co-emcee Jeffrey Franckowiak, a community organizer and advocate whose work creates safe and supportive space for the LBGTQ community of Greater Lansing, especially for trans gender identified persons.

Poet-activist Jan de la Torre, who just moved back to the area from Kalamazoo, where they were the lead organizer of Pulse, an LGBT people of color arts group at Fire Historical and Cultural Arts Collaborative. Last April, Jan also opened for Cheryl Clarke, Willie Perdomo, and Stacyann Chin at an Arcus Center for Social Justice event.

Drew Prosch-Jensen, who lives in Flowerville, Michigan, believes everything in life is an art-form, and that there aren’t any boundaries between life and art.

Max D, a transmasculine youth poet, hails from the eastern reaches of Greater Lansing.  As a local queer kid, he is excited to step up to the mic.

A representative from the 2012 MSU Vagina Monologues, who delivers “They Beat The Girl Out Of My Boy… Or So They Tried.”

Lauren Spencer, Program Coordinator of the MSU LBGT Resource Center, reading “It Doesn’t Get Better” by MC Lane.

Lee Sayles, a Lansing-based wordsmith whose performances include the Women in the Arts Festival and the collective Two Butches and a Broad.

See you soon!

Thanks to Professor Amy Drees and her design students at Defiance College (Ohio), Bridges Open Mic has bright and bold materials! Here are a poster (11×17), a letter-size flyer, and a mini-flyer (2 per letter-size). Please pass these on digitally and in print, so that word about the program may spread. And, remember, registration is open! Sign up today at herstories.project@gmail.com!

Poster (11x17)

Letter size

Mini-flyer (2 x letter-size)

Bridges Open Mic, coming November 22, continues to gain momentum! Since the program’s last update, the Capital Area Response Effort (C.A.R.E.) of Lansing has become a partner. Also, the Peace Education Center is donating transportation funds for featured poet Bobbi Byrd. And I’m both excited and honored to be collaborating with Jeffrey Franckowiak, a Lansing-based community organizer and advocate whose work especially creates safe and supportive LGBTQ spaces. Jeffrey and I are developing the program, and will co-emcee Bridges!

Meanwhile, it’s time to register for the Open Mic segments of Bridges! The more contributors the better to celebrate gender expression; challenge gender violence and militarism; and honor Trans gender and Two Spirit voices. Register by email at herstories.project[at]gmail.com, with information about your work — written or spoken word.

It’s amazing to see this event bring together talented circles and converging priorities across Greater Lansing. Stay tuned for the official flyer, which is on its way from design students of Defiance College in Ohio. Thanks to Professor Amy Drees for facilitating their contributions!

And here’s the scoop on one of the featured artists:

Bobbi Byrd is a lesbian poet who lives in Osseo, Michigan. In the past, she has been a member of the Lansing Poetry Club, Poetry Society of Michigan, and smaller writing groups in Jackson and Hillsdale Counties.

She self-published her first collection “Poetry the Music of a Woman’s Words” in 1981. Her latest book “Seasons of the Soul” (2003) was published by Booksurge. Her first poem published by a periodical was in “The Island Lesbian” after she and her beloved partner returned from a trip to Hawaii. She since has been published in “Faith @ Work,” a nationally juried gallery, as well as local papers.

Bobbi has shared her work in a variety of venues: Lansing’s Capitol step, Schuler’s Bookstore in Okemos, and readings in Hillsdale county. She also regularly shares poems of a spiritual nature in her church. She was invited to share her work by the Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature for two years, but last year chose to present and share poetry at the National Association for Esoteric Healing instead.

Bridges Open Mic is building support across the Greater Lansing community! The Peace and Justice Committee of Red Cedar Friends (Quaker) Meeting made a donation toward the event venue. The Sexual Assault Program at Michigan State University is the most recent partner to join the program. And youth from the Gateway L.G.B.T.Q. Support Group are excited to step up to the mic!

Collaborators and participants are still wanted, so send word with your interest (herstories.project[at]gmail.com) and pass the news on to those who may want to take part! The updated bookmark for the event makes it easy to invite others.