Week of March 3rd

Britt and Katie - Medium
-The two got a late start, but were able to start off the workshop well
-Started with a conversation, which took up half the workshop, answering the question: If you could turn the prison into anything else, what would it be? How would you change it? Describe.
-K + B prefaced the convo by recognizing that individuals may not want to write about prison.
-Then, everyone individually wrote their ideas and presented them.
-Was a really cool workshop, good ideas came up, generally went well
-Some ideas included: place for children, interior redesign, mini-town with a theater, spa, and storefronts, animal zoo, hotel with gourmet food

Mariya and Chen - Minimum
-The two handed out a passage from Jane Eyre which described a red room.
-Then, they looked at writing by Gaston Bachelard who discusses the difference between spaces in a house in terms of their associated emotional experience.
-Instructions: write through a house, describing it room by room (break down the space). Then, pick an object in a room, take it out of the house, and write from the object's perspective from the outside.

Anna and Molly - Medium
-The two gave out a list of words, and instructed everyone to pick a few words.
-Then, they broke into 2 groups, and each group had to write a myth collaboratively using the words, then perform the myth
-The workshop was incredible, and Molly's favorite this year

Nina and Courtney - Minimum
-Theme of mirrors, beginning with a free-write asking "What do you see in the mirror?"
-Then, they all played the mirror game, wherein you mirror a partner's every motion and expression to the extent that others can't guess who the leader is
-Then, they wrote plays in groups of 3, focusing on dialogue. Then, the groups performed the dialogue.
-The workshop went really well, with great dialogue.

Becky - Medium
-Ariel was at a conference, so I went in alone. There was a different CO, and for whatever reason only one wing came down - only four women came.
-Collective poetry, circa last semester with Britt. Everyone has a page numbered 1-6, with line 1 "Underneath it all". Then, the paper is passed from person to person, with each writing every other line of the poem.
-After the first poem, we discussed our thoughts about each, including favorites, improvements to make...etc.
-Then, we did another poem with 10 lines, and the first line read "Set in Motion".
-The workshop was fantastic, and everyone participated and offered comments.
An example poem:

Underneath it all

Became the moon & earth

Through the leaves and dirt

With the wind blowing on my shirt

Away from the mess of nature and into the sun

I turn and look up, put my shades on and Run. Run. Run.

Week of Feb. 25

Chen and Mariya: Minimum
-8 women in attendance, all excited to start the new semester
-Began with free write on portraits and the meaning of portraiture (ie: one person depicting another)
-Presented color images from artist Kehinde Wiley and everyone shared responses to his art, discussed the implications of his art
-2 women dominated the conversation; C + M unsure of how to mediate it
-Writing: Pick 5 words from your free write that describe his work, and 5 words that do not describe his work
-Visual art: collages covered in pastels
-People did interesting things, and they tended to choose pictures that had meaning to them
-Chen and Mariya collected the work at the end

Katie and Britt
-Katie was mysteriously deleted from the DOC system, so they couldn't go in.

Anna and Molly: Medium
-10-12 women, big group, unwieldy
-Prompt: write a story, or draw something, or both, from the perspective of your feet
-Began workshop by playing the song "Red Right Ankle" (Decemberists), and the women overwhelmingly hated it. Many commented that it was "a song for 8-year-olds". This set the tone for the workshop.
-major issues with the women acting childish: one woman was clearly loopy and randomly danced, another jumped up and down in the corner...
-One woman took most of the tissue paper to do her own stuff, and others copied. Anna was particularly frustrated with this, and the woman eventually bargained with Anna so she could get more tissue paper. In our SPACE meeting later, Anna raised the issue of wasting materials.
-Anna and Molly didn't try to go around and share at the end.

Nina and Courtney: Minimum
-6 women, first workshop, focused on acting
-prompt: think about one day in your life, write about it, then walk around the room and interact with people as if it were that day.
-people got into it, and the vibe was positive, funny, and silly

Becky and Ariel: Medium
-about 8 women in attendance
-prompt: Write and illustrate a mini children's book. After looking at an example of an illustrated kids' book, we brainstormed characters, topics, plots, then wrote. After writing, we separated the lines page by page and added illustrations. We had pre-cut string for binding.
-Most people made books, and some worked in pairs. In particular, one woman did not do a book and distracted another woman from making a more detailed book of her own.
-All around, it was moderate, and no one was especially enthused or challenged by the workshop.