Cultivating Our Voices: Writing Life Stories for Change // with Dr. Liz Burke-Cravens

Start
05 September 2018
End
16 October 2018
Location
Online
Spaces left
7

Registration

Members – $210.00
$35 per week
Non-Members – $240.00
$40 per week

Registration is closed

When we discover, explore, and (re) connect with our voices—that perspective, knowledge, and expression that is uniquely ours—our life stories become intimate and emotionally powerful. We begin to offer a glimpse of what it’s like to live the complex constellation of privileges and disadvantages, joys and heartbreaks that are exclusive to each of us. Embarking on this type of self-reflective inquiry not only has the potential for healing and developing a greater understanding of one’s self and experience, it also holds the potential to open the hearts and consciousness of others, becoming narrative catalysts for change. Throughout this 6-week course, we will explore our various life experiences as a springboard for generating life stories that reflect our distinctive voices. By the end of the course, you will have a body of new writing, a clearer understanding of your writer voice, and an enhanced ability to connect with your audience. This course is also beneficial for non-writers, such as storytellers and other performers, who want to generate new material to use in their work.

Week by Week

Week 1: (Re) Connecting with Our Voices

This week we will explore the concept of voice and begin (re) connecting with and understanding our own.

Week 2: Naming Our Uniqueness

This week we will reflect on our various identities, as well as notions of belonging and difference.

Week 3: Memory, Imagination & Truth-Telling

This week we will consider the co-mingling of memories and imagination in our writing and what it means to tell the Truth in story.

Week 4: Stories of Home & Family

This week we will write stories of home and family, diving into our formative narratives.

Week 5: Stories of Places and Locations

This week we will contemplate how our voices are shaped by the places we come from and how the intersection of place and identity informs our language and stories.

Week 6: Stories of the Past Illuminating the Present

This week we will explore how stories of our past can illuminate the present as a basis for connecting with the reader/audience, building empathy and understanding.

Who Should Take This Class?

This class is ideal for a wide variety of people, including poets and writers of all genres, storytellers, healing arts professionals, teachers, songwriters, and anyone interested in reflecting on, writing about, and sharing their personal experiences as a way to make connection, build community, and foster understanding of self and others.

Format

This is an online class. Each week, you will receive a new collection of resources, reflections, discussion questions, and writing prompts. Students should expect to spend 3-5 hours per week perusing resources and readings, participating in discussions, and engaging the writing prompts. From our interactions, we sustain a welcoming and inspiring community together.

About the Teacher

Dr. Liz Burke-Cravens is an interdisciplinary educator, poet, writing coach, passionate scholar and determined optimist. She is the founder of A Brave Space, a learning community that seeks to create positive social change and personal transformation through writing. Her work has appeared in Ireland and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History: A Multidisciplinary Encyclopedia, Volume 2, The Irish Herald, Soulstice: A Feminist Anthology Volume II, and Sandy River Review. Liz enjoys traveling, kickboxing, cycling, photography, and cooking. She has a deep love for language and a passion for teaching and supporting student success. Originally from Portland, Maine, she now lives in Oakland, California with her wife, Amber, and their two dogs, Schmoopie and Mr. Bits. You can learn more about her work, courses, and inspirations at http://www.drlizburke.com and http://www.abravespace.org.

The TLA Network exists to support and promote individuals and organizations that use the spoken, written, or sung word as a tool for personal and community transformation.

The Transformative Language Arts Network (TLAN) is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion in our offerings, organization, and aspirations. Words have the power to question, subvert, and transform limiting cultural narratives as well as reinforce entrenched stories and stereotypes. The TLA Network wants to make clear that we celebrate and uplift conversations across identity and difference, whether rooted in race, religion, social class, ethnicity, disability, health, gender, sexual orientation, age, military service, and other identities. In the past we have responded to a lack of diversity by actively recruiting underrepresented groups to: present and keynote at the Power of Words conference; serve on the TLAN board; teach classes; and contribute to our publications. We will continue to look at ways to incorporate greater access and representation in all of our projects, not just through the power of words but through the specifics of our practices.

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