Poetry is Not a Luxury: Creative Writing Workshop + Open Mic

Poetry is Not a Luxury: Creative Writing Workshop & Open Mic
Hosted by the Asian American Resource Center, Creative Writing Workshops with 5C Wordsmiths, and Kasama

Wednesday, November 30, 2016
7PM-9:30PM
The Hive at the Claremont Colleges

“Poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence. It forms the quality of the light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change, first made into language, then into idea, then into more tangible action. Poetry is the way we help give name to the nameless so it can be thought.”
–Audre Lorde

Poetry has the power to create counter-narratives. We are holding this workshop as a critical space for building community and sharing experiences. We are inspired by the words of Audre Lorde, and we also seek to inspire workshop participants. This event will follow the format of a writing workshop, then group writing circles. The final part of the event will be an open mic where participants will deliver the poems they collectively created or any of their own works. No previous poetry-writing experience is required!

This event is open to all students of the Claremont Colleges, and will especially center on the experiences of marginalized communities—including students of color, indigenous students, low-income, first-gen students, undocumented students, queer and trans students, students with disabilities, Muslim students, womxn-identifying students, and students who identify as survivors.

WORKSHOP FACILITATORS
(short version)
Stephanie Sajor and Eddy M. Gana Jr., also known as Steady, are spoken word artists and community organizers based in Los Angeles. They are community leaders and co-founders of an open mic series in Historic Filipinotown as well as an Asian American spoken word collective. They got their start organizing within arts and activism as student leaders during college. As organizers, they believe that the arts serve as an important avenue for personal growth, developing community activists, and ultimately, greater social change.

(long version)
Stephanie Sajor and Eddy M. Gana Jr., also known as Steady, are spoken word artists and community organizers based in Los Angeles. They are leaders of KmB, Pro-People Youth, co-founders of Sunday Jump, an open mic series in Historic Filipinotown, and co-founders of Asian American spoken word collective forWord. They met at UC Irvine and got their start organizing in the context of arts and activism as student leaders for various campus organizations such as Uncultivated Rabbits and the Asian Pacific Student Association. They have been published in TAYO Literary Magazine, the Asian American Literary Review, and Salamin Magazine. They have performed on KSCI-TV LA18, at the LA Theater Center, the MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis, Brava Theater in San Francisco, the Museum of Tolerance, and more. They have served as co-curators of Literary Arts for the Festival of Philippine Arts and Culture since 2013. As organizers, they believe that the arts serve as an important avenue for personal growth, developing community activists, and ultimately, greater social change. They are also married.