The HerStories Project

Updated February 16, 2011.

Embodying Our Words Schedule, February 18-19, 2011
**Learn how to register.

February 18
Opening Day at Michigan State University

12:30 p.m.
“HerStories Circle: now let us shift.” Residential College in the Arts and Humanities, C202 Snyder Hall.

Inspired by Gloria Anzaldúa’s essay “now let us shift . . . the path of conocimiento . . . inner work, public acts” (This Bridge We Call Home: Radical Visions for Transformation 2002), participants read aloud a selected quote and share a reflection about the theme “Embodying Our Words”. All are welcome to take part in this exchange. Guest: Lauren Spencer, Program Coordinator of the MSU LGBT Resource Center.

2:00 p.m.
Social Break. C202 Snyder Hall.

Guest: Cindie Alwood, Director of the Women’s Center of Greater Lansing.

3:00 p.m.
Workshop with Dawn Comer. “Vocabularies of Sight and Touch, Sound and Movement, Texture and Taste: Embodying Our Words in Writing, Art, and Life” LGBT Resource Center, 302 Student Services Building.

Writing in clay is different than writing on paper.  Opening our mouths and voicing a wordless song stirs up something deeper than words.

Embodying our words is about more than just writing; it is about how we live and move in the world, and how that movement can find expression through a variety of creative vocabularies. If Gloria Anzaldúa’s “nepantla” is about a space beyond categories and labels, then nepantla can also dissolve seemingly fixed (and therefore false) boundaries between forms of art.

This workshop will explore the theme of embodied writing through the work of artists in mediums beyond the written page, and will provide opportunities to play with various creative vocabularies in writing, art, and life. The session takes place surrounded by the visual arts exhibit “Transitions”, which opened November 2010.

Evening Suggestions

• $ MSU Vagina Monologues, Wharton Center. This annual production is a fundraiser for the MSU Sexual Assault Program. Tickets are available online.
• Free Full Moon Ceremony, Triple Goddess Bookstore, Okemos.  Group blessing and tarot reading. Neighbor to Traveler’s Club, International Restaurant and Tuba Museum.

February 19
A Day of Writing at the Women’s Center of Greater Lansing
1710 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing

9:00 a.m.
Doors open. Drinks and snacks.

9:30 a.m.
The day starts with “Composing with Voice and Movement, Introduction” facilitated by Melissa Dey Hasbrook.

In this first of four segments, Melissa introduces the body as a tool for writing. Her approach bridges the inner world – thought, emotion, spirit – with outer expression. By using voice and movement, she explores how to expand the composition process. These techniques are playful and serve as keys to unlock the written word.

10:00 a.m.
Open Writing: Quiet space and an open-ended time to write something new or develop a current piece.

or

Workshop with Mary Catherine Harper. “Spirit and Hand of the Same Body: A Communal Palm Reading Workshop”. **This session offers 10 spots.

Drawing upon Gloria E. Anzaldúa’s call to recognize that spirit and matter exist together in the body, the communal palm reading (actually, hand reading) workshop stresses the convergences between the personality fashioned into the hand of an individual and the larger communal “personality.” This workshop explores and celebrates the forces called Life, Heart, Head, Destiny, and other forces that are inscribed on a person’s hands. These physical forces are given full play. . . and fullness of expression . . . in a community of accepting individuals.

12:15 p.m.
“Composing with Voice and Movement, Part 2”

12:45 p.m.
Lunch. **Free with advanced registration.

2:00 p.m.
“Composing with Voice and Movement, Part 3.”

2:30 p.m.
Open Writing: Quiet space and an open-ended time to write something new or develop a current piece.

4:45 p.m.
“Composing with Voice and Movement, Closing.”

5:15 p.m.
Dinner. **Free with advanced registration.

6:00 p.m.
Celebratory Reading and Performance. Participants from the two-day program are invited to read, perform, and listen to work in a relaxed and supportive circle.