Anna and Molly
It was the pair's first time in Medium, and their first workshop focused on a poem about the human body. The directions were to verbally or visually represent a mark on their body, such as a birthmark or a scar. Anna thought that the workshop went well and that the six to eight women there enjoyed it. However, Anna mentioned the issue of incomplete participation by all the women - some just did not do it. How can SPACE facilitators deal with lack of participation? How formal is the workshop? Somewhere between a disciplined art class and an informal workshop...? Molly and Anna are planning to compile an attendance sheet every week as well as have the women compile their work into a super-glued collection book that they can keep for themselves.
Ariel and Becky
Ariel and I led our second workshop in Medium, and about 15 women were present. We brought in 30 photos of people in different scenes, including a cop pulling someone over, an LA county prison, Marilyn Monroe, an old woman, etc. Each person chose one photo, then prepared to write a short fictional story about the people in the picture. We began by having everyone brainstorm characters, including names, backgrounds, traits, etc, then brainstormed the plot and major event timeline. Then we wrote for about half an hour, then shared. All but 2 women shared their stories. About 4 of the stories were about prostitutes, in part because there were enough photos of women and/or prostitutes to choose from, and in part because the women did choose those photos over the many others available. At least one woman had an entirely non-fictional story about a family member, and one woman broke down crying after sharing her story. One woman commented at the end that "We thought this was gonna suck, but it was awesome."
Monday, February 25, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Valentine's Day 2008: Self Love
On Valentine's Day, Ariel and I led a workshop focusing on self-love. Since a day devoted to love can be difficult for those who are locked away from or abandoned by their loved ones, Ariel and I decided to celebrate and explore self-love during our workshop. The layout of our workshop was:
-Introduction of names and favorite ice cream flavor
-Attendance sheet around the table
-Free-write: what is self-love? what does it mean?
-We played, from then on, empowering and upbeat music
-Writing activity: write yourself a love letter or love poem as if you were separate from yourself. (A chance to be cocky, and tell yourself why you're beautiful and great!)
-Art activity: draw either flowers, chocolates, or candy hearts which each represent something that you want to give yourself for Valentine's Day. Again, remove yourself, and zoom out to see what you want to be given, or should be given, or deserve.
-Then we shared
About twenty women showed up, which was surprising but wonderful. Some went off into corners to talk or do their own thing, which was fine in the large group. Some in these side groups had difficulty thinking about the idea of self-love or articulating a declaration of self-love, which was part of why they did not participate as much. In general, a number of women struggled with articulating their self-love or even understanding the concept, but most ended up with messages to themselves. The music went over very well, especially Beyonce's "Irreplaceable" and DJ kool's "Let me clear my throat".
Some things that people gave each other included: a teddy bear, loyalty, respect, "sex, sex, and more sex", patience, acceptance, and sobriety. Two women who had never before attended a SPACE workshop said that it was awesome, which completely made my night. At the end, everyone was left with a Valentine to themselves with their poem/letter and their gift to themselves.
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Over the weekend, Courtney and Nina attended a nine-hour ACI volunteer training session. They enjoyed it, learned a range of prison procedures, and were amused and surprised by some of the comments made, including the stress against romantic relationships. They did not see any movie about Hepatitis, but they did see a movie about violations of sexual conduct.
-Introduction of names and favorite ice cream flavor
-Attendance sheet around the table
-Free-write: what is self-love? what does it mean?
-We played, from then on, empowering and upbeat music
-Writing activity: write yourself a love letter or love poem as if you were separate from yourself. (A chance to be cocky, and tell yourself why you're beautiful and great!)
-Art activity: draw either flowers, chocolates, or candy hearts which each represent something that you want to give yourself for Valentine's Day. Again, remove yourself, and zoom out to see what you want to be given, or should be given, or deserve.
-Then we shared
About twenty women showed up, which was surprising but wonderful. Some went off into corners to talk or do their own thing, which was fine in the large group. Some in these side groups had difficulty thinking about the idea of self-love or articulating a declaration of self-love, which was part of why they did not participate as much. In general, a number of women struggled with articulating their self-love or even understanding the concept, but most ended up with messages to themselves. The music went over very well, especially Beyonce's "Irreplaceable" and DJ kool's "Let me clear my throat".
Some things that people gave each other included: a teddy bear, loyalty, respect, "sex, sex, and more sex", patience, acceptance, and sobriety. Two women who had never before attended a SPACE workshop said that it was awesome, which completely made my night. At the end, everyone was left with a Valentine to themselves with their poem/letter and their gift to themselves.
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Over the weekend, Courtney and Nina attended a nine-hour ACI volunteer training session. They enjoyed it, learned a range of prison procedures, and were amused and surprised by some of the comments made, including the stress against romantic relationships. They did not see any movie about Hepatitis, but they did see a movie about violations of sexual conduct.
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