Dear Writers and Friends,
I’ve had the great honor and privilege of teaching at Tassajara Zen Center retreat for the past few summers. This past July, my in-person retreat with my friend and colleague, the wonderful meditation teacher Tova Green, was canceled because of Covid. But now, under the auspices of Tassajara, Tova and I will be offering a one-day online retreat on Saturday, January 9th, entitled Writing Our Way to Hope and Commitment.
It will be the first retreat I have taught since the spring and the only one on my calendar. Please join me for this very rare and special opportunity.
Here are the details:
Writing Our Way to Hope and Commitment
Saturday, January 9th
This one-day online workshop, based on Joanna Macy’s The Work That Reconnects, will utilize writing in community as a way to kindle hope and motivate meaningful action for change.
Are you:
- Wanting to lift yourself beyond fear, apathy, cynicism, exhaustion and hopelessness to a place of hope and empowerment?
- Deeply concerned about where we are as a nation and in our world?
- Wanting to be inspired by others who share your vision of a just, equitable society?
- Ready to take positive action to create the world you want to live in?
Join us for a day-long journey through the four-part spiral of The Work That Reconnects. Expressing our gratitude, honoring our pain for the world, entering deep time–connecting with ancestors and future generations–and, finally, we will “go forth,” envisioning a better world and identifying steps to move closer to that reality. Interactive exercises and writing will guide us through this communal day of exploration. You do not need to consider yourself a writer or meditator to attend. Beginners are welcome.
Click for more information and to register.
Today’s Resources
Coronavirus & the Pandemic Response
11 Travel Resolutions from Professionals for 2021 – The Washington Post
TRAVEL IN 2021? What will travel be like in 2021? Some inveterate travelers look forward at the new year and their deeper goals for traveling in an uncertain future:
“Instead of thinking, “I’m going to visit 12 countries in 2021,” a more realistic resolution may have to do with how you’re going to travel in 2021. Do you want to see more art? Tackle more physical challenges? Live more in the moment?
Plante says travelers can think of resolutions like using a map for a road trip. If you don’t have a goal and a direction, you may get lost along the way. What travel did you dream about during the pandemic? What do you miss about travel that you’d like to experience next year?”
From the Washington Post:
Click here to access this resource.
NYTimes: Some Covid Survivors Haunted by Loss of Smell and Taste
Losing your sense of smell has many more ramifications than you might think. From the New York Times.
Click here to access this resource.
The Path Forward: Combatting Covid-19
From the Washington Post and the Director of the National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health partnered with biotech company Moderna to create a safe and efficacious COVID-19 vaccine and is also at the forefront of developing critical antibody treatments and therapeutics. While the first round of vaccinations commences in the U.S., NIH director Francis Collins, MD, will join The Washington Post’s Frances Stead Sellers for the latest updates on coronavirus treatment, the country’s historic mass inoculation campaign, and how public health officials are combating skepticism and educating the public about vaccines. Join the conversation on Wednesday, Jan. 6 at 10:00 a.m. ET.
Register here: https://collins.splashthat.com/
Click here to access this resource.
Writing Related
Submit Poems to Our New Interdisciplinary Project! – Cid Pearlman Performance
Four selected poets will each receive a $500 honorarium for an original work.
Five additional poets will each receive honorable mentions and one or more of their poems will appear on the project’s webpage.
(home)Body is an art installation with dance video, poetry, and live performance. This work is a collaboration between artistic director/choreographer Cid Pearlman, video artist Mara Milam, poet/dramaturge Denise Leto, and ten dance artists.
The poems we commission will seek to represent a multiplicity of voices. They will inform the content we create and will function as scaffolding and inspiration for the dance and video.
We are looking for poems that speak to ideas around home and body in personal, experimental, and/or topical ways. The poems can range in metaphorical and embodied complexity. For example, the body in question can be the personal/individual body, the communal/community body, the body politic and/or the synecdochal body.
- There is no entry fee.
- We welcome all poetic forms and approaches (lyric, experimental, performance poetry, slam poetry, prose poems etc.)
- We very much encourage new and emerging artists.
- We are particularly interested in seeing submissions from BIPOC poets, poets from the LGBTQIA+ community, young poets, and poets from disability communities across all cultural and socio-economic backgrounds.
Submissions open: November 24, 2020
Deadline: February 15, 2021 at midnight PST
Send to: homebodypoets@gmail.com
Please do not submit until you read the complete guidelines and learn more about the project at: www.cidpearlman.org/home-body-poetry-guidelines
Click here to access this resource.
Social Justice and Self-Care
A great two-part series on the realities of racism and mental health, produced by therapist Debra Sloss for KSQD radio and the State of Mind Podcast.
Part 1: Racism and Mental Health – The Effects
Episode #24: For this series on racism and mental health, we’re turning the microphone over to hear directly from Black community members who experience the difficult realities of racism and the detrimental effects it has on mental health. Join guest host Gail Borkowski, activist Joy Flynn, educator and musician Lisa Taylor and psychologist Dr. Robert Bartee as they share insights gleaned from their personal and professional experiences in our community. Guests describe how racism is a very real daily force and they illuminate the complex and subtle forms it takes. This is the first show in a series of two shows on racism and mental health. Part II will look at the impacts of racism on access to physical and mental health support and we’ll explore ways to address those barriers for Black individuals and people of color.
Click here to access this resource.
Part 2: Racism and Mental Health – Improving Access to Supports
Episode #25: Continuing our series on racism and mental health, we’re again hearing directly from Black community members as they discuss how access to physical and mental health support could be improved for Blacks and people of color. Join guest host and psychologist Dr. Robert Bartee, activist Joy Flynn, educator and musician Lisa Taylor and educator and activist Jason Seals as they share insights gleaned from their personal and professional experiences in our community. The panel explores the ways mental health systems have been and continue to be unsafe, culturally inappropriate and invalidating for Blacks and people of color. They offer alternative approaches to supporting wellness along with suggestions for how professionals can improve the accessibility of their services. This is the second show in a two-part series on racism and mental health. Part 1 looked at the effects of racism on mental health for Black individuals and people of color. Check out the extensive resource list posted with this show.