May 2021: Communing with Shadows w/ Simone Liggins
What do you do when you know the devil is alive in you? When Ol' Georgie comes blowing through at the wee 3rd hour, is the screaming coming from outside of you, or is it actually just behind your eyes? There have always been little fires everywhere, and before it felt as if one needed the right frame of mind, ears, or hue to catch that particular view (for better or for worse), but 2020 has come to show that humanity is currently experiencing a collective dark night of the soul, and the shadows of the night have become rude, reckless, and raw enough to manifest in the light of day.
This workshop is meant to help harness those shadows in ink, to find a way to catch what spins in the head at night and examine & embrace them on paper.
This is not meant to feel like a drill. This is facing the 9 of Swords, an emergency 3 am mental workout of the reflections etched on the essence, to liberate the spirit from the judgements and doubts that cripple it from its mission. The mad prophets are beginning to sparkle louder in the night, for Earth's sorrows, the shadows do what they do best: seek out eyes and ears that offer absolution. How do we understand and forgive one another’s shadows as we try to do the same for our own? May we discover the answers in our collective Hermit lights.
Goals:
My goal for this workshop is to hold fellowship with individuals who struggle with understanding what’s considered the “darker” emotions, the feelings that society, and possibly even family & friends, have condemned as too unsavory or confusing to hold space for better clarity. We will release our triggers onto the page and explore what it’s like to view them beyond the conditioned perceptions made by others and eventually ourselves. As we allow ourselves room to explore and face the joys and sorrows that have shaped who we have become thus far, the time spent together will hopefully inspire stronger levels of compassion and empathy for ourselves and others around us.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement:
There are fewer pains in the world more excruciating than recognizing how unwanted you are, or at least, perceiving that you are unwanted by those around you because of who you are. Whether or not it’s due to circumstances that you control, the experience of that pain can linger and reverberate throughout one’s being and possibly shape the perception of future encounters, for better or for worse. As an African-American mystic who has always had one uncomfortably awkward foot each in Black and White culture, I have always been considered the “token X-factor” in every environment I inhabit, to the point where I’ve been inclined to “prove” the validity of my personality and overall existence. The repeated experiences have instilled within me the belief that everyone deserves a place where they feel safe to exist, to express themselves without shame or worry, and to believe that breathing is worth the battle, no matter who they are, what they look like, or what they’ve endured. My hope is to make this class that place for you.
Materials: What you will need is any kind of writing tool of your desire: pen, pencil, marker, etc., any writing surface of your choosing: paper, laptop, etc., and a willingness to allow words to nurture what the soul needs to be acknowledged.
Bio:
Simone Liggins earned her MFA in Writing at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics of Naropa University. The foundation for her love of writing and literature was paved at an early age and blossomed during her teenage years through the kind of tortured freedom that only the ostracism & funk-weirdness of being an African-American Gemini mystic can grant a person. Her various influences include but are not limited to: Sylvia Plath, Kurt Vonnegut, Dorothy Parker, Audre Lorde, Lenore Kandel, Laurell K. Hamilton, Octavia Butler, The Beatles, Lady Gaga, Fiona Apple, and Jimi Hendrix. Her work has been featured in Raven Chronicles, Buddy--A Lit Zine, BEATS Poetry Periodical, Boulder Weekly, Outsider Poetry, SurVision Magazine, Reject Press, Queen Mob's Teahouse, Visitant Magazine, Petrichor Magazine, and S/tick Magazine.
Logistics:
- This workshop runs from May 1, 2021 - May 31, 2021.
- Workshops consist of one video per week for each week in the month. Videos are 45-60 minutes long, and are shared on a private YouTube account.
- Class discussions are held via Slack.
- All readings, creative prompts, and shared artwork will be exchanged via a private Google Drive folder.
- All workshops are designed for you. Dedicate as much or as little time to the workshop per week as you'd like.
- This workshop is taught in English, but collective.aporia offers subtitles for the workshop videos in over 60 languages. If you have questions about language accommodations, please feel free to email us at [email protected].
Donations:
Collective.aporia believes in paying working artists fairly for their time and work. As a diverse international collective, we also believe strongly in valuing fair exchange—whether that be monetary, energetic, or otherwise.
Because of these beliefs, our workshop donations all begin at a $40 base rate with the option to give additional donation amounts, if you’re able. Seventy percent of the donations go to facilitator, and the remainder goes back into collective.aporia for operational expenses.
Participants also have the option to donate money towards the community scholarship, which provides opportunities to folks from these communities to attend workshops at no cost.
Please check out this page to learn more and/or apply for the scholarship.
We understand that not everyone has the financial means to donate $40. In the spirit of collaboration and exchange, we have developed a work exchange initiative that allows folks to choose what kind of work they would like to trade for free entry into the workshop. Examples of this work include writing blog posts, creating and sharing social media content, editing video subtitles, etc.
Thank you for your generosity!
[Image credit:"Nude in a Cocoon" by Acierman is licensed under CC BY 2.0]