We have this year created a special award for an outstanding volunteer, our MVP Volunteer of the Year, if you will, to honor the service and special guidance provided to the TLA Network by John L. Swainston.
As a new member of our board, John has guided us as Treasurer on a path to financial health. He volunteered his services to us as a retired accountant with years of experience, including teaching accounting at area colleges. He has provided accessible and comprehensive monthly reporting to our board that continually helps us plot our course ahead. Because of John, our books, accounting, and tax status have been put in order, working closely with our bookkeeper. And because this has been a year of heavy transition, we have benefitted from John’s calm, cheerful, and witty presence, helping us keep our direction clear, and at times sharing his own poetry – as he is an artist in his own right. We are immensely grateful for his time, his talents, and his skills.
John says of the TLA Network: “At a young age I liked to dance. Then I discovered oil painting. When my grandpa retired he would come over and we listened to opera. Very late in life I became a poet. I never could find a place where I could enjoy all art forms. Until TLA Network. I just had to volunteer and help support the mission of TLA however I could. Discover for yourself all that they offer.”
Vanita Leatherwood exemplifies what life-saving difference one person can make. As the Director of Community Engagement at HopeWorks of Howard County – which provides support and advocacy for people affected by sexual and intimate partner violence – Vanita has founded TLA programs for survivor wellness, youth leadership, community self-care & social justice, and Dragonfly, an artsandtransformative justice magazine.
An award-winning poet with a MA in Transformative Language Arts from Goddard College, Vanita says, “The power of words led me to a place of safety, eventually to a place of joy, to that place within that I call the ‘YES.’ That’s part of what I wanted to create at HopeWorks – that’s what Dragonfly is; an opportunity to explore, learn, feel, connect, rebel and grow.”
We are honored to present our inaugural Outstanding TLA practitioner award to Vanita for her compassionate leadership, visionary program design, and community social justice programming, all of which she does with the heart of a poet and soul of a change-maker.
Here is a list of the programs Vanita has created:
Magazines (Founder/Editor): Dragonfly arts & transformative justice magazine and Cultivate youth arts magazine
Our Voice Project Monthly Support Groups: Preservation: Survivor Self-Care Circle, Reclamation: Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse Support, and LOVED: Survivor Self-Care Circle for Black Women
One-on-One Self-care Sessions with Survivors: Poetry N2 Wellness
Newsletter: Journaling Our Voice
Speakers Bureau Training
The Survivors Health Project Monthly Groups: ARTiculation: Support & Education Group for Survivors Living with Chronic Health Conditions and Thriving Together: Survivors Mental Health Awareness & Wellbeing Group
Devised Theater, Creator & Producer: Telling This Truth at Slayton House Theater
Educational Curriculum (public programs): Over a dozen programs, including Self-care & Social Justice Events, Know My Name: Self-care and the Healing Journey for Black Women, The Organizational Equity and Inclusion Project, Ain’t I a Woman: Using the Arts & Humanities to Explore Oppression and Revolution, Unapologetic: Using Arts and Humanities to Explore Revolution and Oppression, and WOMEN-Global: Using the Arts & Humanities to Explore Oppression and Revolution
Outstanding TLA Practitioner: Vanita Leatherwood — presented by Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg at the 2023 Power of Words conference.
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Dragonfly Magazine Call for Submissions: Dragonfly arts & transformative justice magazine is a publication of HopeWorks of Howard County Maryland. Themes for submitted work (visual, literary, and musical) should focus on reflections about activism, oppression, love, advocacy, hope, transformative justice, trauma, racial and gender equity, intersectionality, relationships, healing, or self-care. Writers/Musicians/Artists do not have to be survivors.Submissions accepted until Jan. 31, 2024. Find all the details here.
“Will create for love and money” could make for a perfect bumper sticker for many of our cars or a good sign on our front doors. We write, sing, facilitate, coach, collaborate, and work deeply in the arts with others and ourselves because it’s our calling and birthright. Yet what it takes to make a living, find even more of our purpose, or craft the next season of our lives isn’t something that easily fits on a car bumper or front door. Finding our way takes courage, guidance, clarity, and often, help along the way.
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That’s why, starting many years ago when I first developed TLA, I knew that Right Livelihood, the Buddhist tradition of work that builds our communities and betters our world, was essential. By holding brave spaces for people to share their truest words and name and claim their own visions of healing and transformation, we are doing the work of Tikkun Olam, the Hebrew term for helping repair the broken world. Yet we can only do this work if we find ways to sustain our livelihoods and respect our time and gifts.
The Your Right Livelihood classbegan as a TLA Network project, then grew from there, having helped dozens of people since 2018 discover their work (whether for livelihood, art, service, or purpose) and how to make that work come true. I’m delighted to be offering our comprehensive class with singer-songwriter and creativity and career transition coach Kathryn Lorenzen Feb. 19 – April 16. The class surrounds you with guidance, support, best resources for your work ahead, and good company for the journey, including:
Weekly Zoom discussions, many featuring luminary teachers, such as Gregg Levoy (author of Callings), Yvette-Hyater-Adams (facilitator, writer, consultant), Vi Tran (arts organizer and performer), and Alana Muller (networking expert) to explore the depths and breath of callings, personal strategic planning, networking tailored to you, and finding support and care.
Online exploration and writing about our emerging visions as well as the inspiration and nuts-and-bolts resources we need to put them into action, plus visiting podcast teachers sharing their wisdom, including creativity expert Eric Maisel, Oscar-winning filmmaker Kevin Willmott, singer-songwriter Kelley Hunt, poet and facilitator Marianela Medrano, and others.
One-on-one in-depth coaching on how to integrate our dream work into our lives through completing a pick-your-adventure portfolio guide so that you’ll have all you need (such as web copy, funding resources, proposals and descriptions of your work, outreach plans) when you complete the class.
As part of a generous partnership agreement, all TLAN members receive a discount on our class and retreat next October. Additionally, we invite any TLAN member to attend our Sun., Feb. 5 small group coaching session “Will Create for Love and Money” as our guest (7 p.m. CT/ 8 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. MT/ 5 p.m. PT on Sun., Feb. 5). Just email me and we’ll register you.
A number of TLA members have found great gifts and direction in Your Right Livelihood, and you can read their words directly here. We know through our experience how much a strong cohort group, excellent guides, and lots of good resources can help people make the leap into the work they love.
We come by this understanding naturally: Kathryn is a singer-songwriter who found her way into cross-country performing and having her music featured in films, along with her twin calling of coaching hundreds of people through career transition over the years. As a poet and writer, I discovered my twin calling in teaching and facilitation, which, along with writing are how I support my livelihood, do my service, and create my art.
Recently we asked our staff, board and founder what they are currently reading, and why. We thought you might enjoy getting a glimpse of our latest literary delights, listed below.
Share with us what YOU have been reading, and we might just feature you and your favorite book(s) in an upcoming newsletter, or as part of a Network book club! We would love to hear from you!
Kimberly Lee – TLA Network board member: The Happy Writing Book by Elise Valmorbida. Contains 100 bite-sized, spirited essays on writing inspiration and craft, for both aspiring and established authors who want to infuse energy into their work—and their lives.
The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré. A Nigerian teen, married off by family for her dowry, is determined to change her destiny and find her voice by achieving the education her late mother dreamed of.
Finding Me by Viola Davis. An honest, revealing memoir that chronicles the rise of the Oscar award-winning actress from a disadvantaged childhood to international acclaim, and the emotional demons she slayed on the way.
Katia Hage, TLA Network board member: La fin est mon commencement: Un père raconte à son fils le grand voyage de la vie, by Terzano Terziani. A book about an Italian journalist’s journey and his observations through his many voyages to Maoist China, Vietnam, Cambodia before communism, India and more. A fascinating new perspective about world events lived through in those countries.
Jen Minotti– TLA Network board member: All Boys Aren’t Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto by George M. Johnson. Super important, beautiful, honest memoir by a Black, queer voice for the YA population. I loved this book before it was banned from libraries and schools in 15 states, but now I am making sure to read all of the books on these banned-book-lists as my personal form of protest.
All about Love: New Visions by bell hooks. After bell hooks’ passing earlier this past Winter, I revisited her work. Although written over 20 years ago, this book is as relevant today as it was two decades ago, maybe even more so. My yellow highlighter practically dried out from all of the use it got while reading this book! And I now use the word “love” as a verb, as bell hooks instructed us to do!
Renu Thomas, TLA Network board member: The Girl with the Suitcase, by Angela Hart Angela Hart has fostered many children over the years. This is a true story about the joys, doubts and challenges in raising Grace who has had a difficult upbringing before coming to Angela’s home. It offers a fresh look at parenting and the nature vs nurture debate. Inspiring.
Hanne Weedon, TLA managing director: Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming, edited by Paul Hawken. I’ve been reading this incredible book with my 14-year-old daughter over the course of the past year – a few pages every week, and we are slowly turning our time, focus, and attention to how we navigate the climate crisis as a family. Each section is engaging and accessible, addressing the 100 most substantive solutions to reversing global warming, all based on meticulous research by leading scientists and policymakers around the world.
For Goodness Sex: Changing the Way We Talk to Teens About Sexuality, Values, and Health, by Al Vernacchio. This is a fantastic, illuminating, funny read by a thoughtful, youth-empowering sex educator who really knows his stuff. An incredible resource for anyone who is parenting/close to/working with teens, this book helps bridge the gap between what we thought we knew and what we actually need to know to help our young people navigate this complex and rapidly-shifting issue in their lives.
Palmares, by Gayl Jones. A 2022 Pulitzer finalist, this incredible epic novel is at once a love story, a fugitive slave’s odyssey, and an investigation into the meaning of freedom. Set in 17th-century colonial Brazil, the novel is that perfect combination of mythology, history, and magical realism – plus, Jones’ mastery of language and voice are a delight. This is the perfect read you will not want to put down.
Gabe Seplow, TLA Network intern: The Sentence is Death, by Anthony Horowitz. A fascinating murder mystery that has you on the edge of your seat, wanting more answers the further you get into the novel.
Kelly DuMar, TLA Network board member: The Rainbow, by D.H. Lawrence. Exquisite prose in this classic novel by a master about three generations of a British family who live in the east Midlands of England spanning 1840’s-1905, focusing on love, coming of age, marriage, family. Lawrence’s descriptions of nature are gorgeous and precise.
There Is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the 21st Century, by Fiona Hill. Really smart and thoughtful memoir of a brilliant British woman who rose to a powerful government position in the US from her working class, disadvantaged roots in County Durham, England as the coal industry failed. She does a superb job of exploring the role of privilege in the US and British educational systems. She stood up to Trump by testifying against him at his first impeachment from her role of serving in the Trump administration. Courageous and honest and authentic––and funny.
Recollections of My Nonexistence: A Memoir, by Rebecca Solnit. A literary feminist memoir in a powerful voice of poetic prose about the impact of the threat of sexual violence toward women in our culture.
Liz Burke, TLA Network board member: On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, by Ocean Vuong. Ocean Vuong’s novel is one of the most beautiful I have ever read. It’s a coming of age story and an intimate letter to his mother written by a poet whose language stings as forcefully as it soars.
Welcoming the Unwelcome: Wholehearted Living in a Brokenhearted World, by Pema Chödrön. Pema Chödrön shares necessary wisdom, guidance and practices to navigate and bring more compassion to our difficult world and all its inhabitants. She offers me hope as I face life’s challenges.
Postcolonial Love Poem, by Natalie Diaz. There have only been a handful of poets whose work, upon reading it, causes me to gasp in awe at the beauty. This is one of them. I feel Diaz’s work in my bones.
Jade Eby, Manager, TLA Network Classes: The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland. I’m a huge fan of family drama stories… especially where there are hidden secrets just waiting to be exposed. I love that the backdrop of this novel is Australian land and culture.
I Heard You Scream by Emerald O’Brien — My favorite summer reads are fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat thrillers. And I Heard You Scream fits the bill! This is a binge-able read with satisfying twists and turns.
Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, TLA Network founder: Embroideriesby Marjane Satari I fell in love with this graphic novel about the inner lives of Iranian women, written and drawn by the author of the astonishing Persepolis, a historical and deeply personal memoir in what Satari calls comic-book style.
frank: sonnets by Diane Seuss Here is an astonishing collection of poetry that’s a combination of fierce memoir, experimental language, and pure poetry, and hey, it’s by a TLAer at heart, and she just won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry!
The Painted Drum by Louise Erdrich I’m re-listening to this novel by the unparalleled Erdrich about a powerful legacy, haunting questions of identity and home, and brave forays into real love in many forms.
Beth Turner, TLA Network board member: The Diné Reader/An Anthology of Navajo Literature, edited by Esther G. Belin et al. Powerful testimony to keeping culture, faith, family, land connections alive via the written, spoken or danced word. This is a peaceful and powerful read, a rarity for me to experience both within so many different poems and essays. I found the works to be awakening and stirring – there is no shame or blame, but facts and truth.
Liminal Thinking: Create the Change You Want by Changing the Way You Think, by Dave Gray. This book is about the power of thresholds. Liminal space sits between you and me when we meet, when teams meet, when people groups gather – it is a rich land. I think this space as one filled with low-hanging, ripe fruit. Anyone can reach up and pick the idea, solution, opportunity, revelation, wisdom and share. I look to cultivate this sort of atmosphere in classes, retreats and within small groups. It is an activating read. I am pondering what action may be required/explored personally and communally.
When I developed TLA, I knew that Right Livelihood, the Buddhist tradition of work that builds our communities and betters our world, was essential. By holding brave spaces for people to share their truest words and name and claim their own visions of healing and transformation, we are doing the work of Tikkun Olam, the Hebrew term for helping repair the broken world. Yet we can only do this work if we find ways to sustain our livelihoods and respect our time and gifts.
Likewise, many of the qualities we cultivate for TLA—showing up fully, starting where we are, trusting our innate voices, and taking creative leaps into what wants to be written, said, or sung—are the keys to creating livelihoods that support you and grow the reach of our work. That’s what called me to create the Your Right Livelihood class and retreat, which began as a project of the TLA Network, then grew to be its own small business with new co-leader Kathryn Lorenzen. What’s more, thanks to a generous partnership agreement, all TLAN members receive a discount on our class and retreat.
Both Right Livelihood and TLA are actively revising some myths that don’t serve us, such as the myth of the damaged, starving, or invisible artist, or the myth (so popular in the writing world) that there’s only so many ways the pie can be sliced, leaving many of us with only the crumbs at best. Both Kathryn and I believe that writers, storytellers, and other word artists should be paid (or otherwise compensated) fairly for our time, effort, experience, and education.
We’re big advocates for bypassing the old only-so-much-pie storyline by baking more pies. After all, we’ve had the power all along to create our livelihoods to nourish ourselves and our communities. It’s important we get cooking because artists and facilitators of the arts are essential to this world, especially in times of polarization and uncertainty.
We come by this understanding naturally: Kathryn is a singer-songwriter who found her way into cross-country touring and having her music featured in films along with her twin calling of coaching hundreds of people in career transition over the years. As a poet and writer, I discovered my twin calling in teaching and facilitation, which, along with writing are how I support my livelihood, do my service, and create my art.
It’s no wonder that what we do in Your Right Livelihood is rooted in so much of what we’ve discovered as writers, performers, coaches, facilitators, and teachers is at the core of TLA: deep conversation, expansive writing, the power of the stories we live, the guidance we can glean from our creativity, and the importance of building a loving and wise community. Our annual class, Jan. 23 – Mar. 19, features a combination of all of this to help us grow our vision, plans, courage, clarity, and community, including:
Weekly Zoom discussions, many featuring luminary teachers (including Eric Maisel, Yvette Hyater-Adams, Gregg Levoy, Kevin Willmott, and others),
Online exploration and writing (and other arts) about our callings as well as the inspiration and nuts-and-bolts resources we need to put them into action,
One-on-one in-depth coaching on how to integrate our dream work into our lives,
A guided, personalized portfolio to create step-by-step sequences and priorities to make our next work happen.
To find out more, please contact us today for a Discovery Call (you can reach me here or directly set up a call with Kathryn here), and please consider joining us for our Jan. 4th Life & Livelihood Small Group Coaching session. Our super early bird rate ends Dec. 10th, so please contact us soon.
To consider whether the time is right for you, please take a look at Kathryn’s new blog post, “Waiting for the Perfect Time: Why?” Surely this is your time to shine, especially when the world needs your gifts so much, so please consider how to write and live your own Right Livelihood story in TLA.
P.S. Many wonderful people in the TLA Network (including a bunch of past and present board members) found the Your Right Livelihood class especially helpful in their work — see their testimonials here.
Looking for the chance to share your skills and talents with a thriving group of thoughtful, engaged peers who care deeply about the transformative language arts?
This part-time volunteer position is the perfect opportunity for the right person to build leadership experience in the field while developing and implementing a robust social media strategy for the Network.
Jennifer Minotti is The Network’s newest Board member. We were excited to sit down with Jen to talk about her new Journal of Expressive Writing, her Women’s Writing Circles, and what she hopes to bring to the TLA Network.
You created the Journal of Expressive Writing amid a global pandemic. Tell us about the journal and why you felt called to create it in this moment.
Long before the pandemic, I spent hours conceptualizing this journal. The idea first came to me while facilitating my Women’s Writing Circles, which I have been teaching since 2015 as a Writer-in-Residence at Suffolk University’s Center for Women’s Health and Human Rights in Boston. For years, I have had the privilege of listening to hundreds of women’s stories. These stories are so amazing! I am always astounded at what women produce in just 5 or 10 minutes from a single writing prompt.
My goal is to provide a sacred writing space that supports the personal and collective wellness, self-expression, and health of my participants. For most women, this meets their needs. But for others, there is a strong desire to also have their voices heard more widely. Many women have asked me for publishing advice over the years. As you know, the publishing industry is not an easy one to navigate, especially for new writers. In addition, facing rejection can be counterproductive to women who were just supported, many for whom this is not a regular occurrence. I wanted to facilitate a publishing process for my participants, as well as others, that would be more uplifting and gratifying and that would move their voices out of the circle and into the world where they could be heard more widely!
Amidst COVID-19, I realized that there was no better time to create this journal than right now. Many of us not on the front lines were asking ourselves how we could best be in service to others. Many felt helpless and didn’t know how to help. I’m not a seamstress, as an example, so making masks was totally out of the question! One day last Spring I realized that creating this online journal was the best way I could use my strengths and passion to make a difference in the world. I immediately started working on the website. I put out a Call for Submissions. I told myself that if I didn’t receive any submissions, it wasn’t meant to be. I’m not on social media, so that made things more difficult. But by the time I launched the Journal of Expressive Writing on May 15, 2021, I had received expressive writing from 31 people. I was shocked! It could have been a non-starter, but fortunately, I think people understood what I was trying to achieve, or at least I hoped they did. I then realized that I had to write a piece introducing the journal to the world as Editor-in-Chief. That was scary, but I figured if others could put themselves out there, so could I. If you’re interested in reading more, it’s called Belly Flopping in my Evening Gown.
You said that you thought people understood what you were trying to achieve with the new journal. What was that?
For as long as I can remember, I have always felt that many of our most basic social and emotional needs have been replaced by desires that accompany the dominant cultural norms that permeate our technology-driven, capitalistic, and boisterous modern-day world. Before the pandemic, many people were already anxious, scared, lonely, and unsure of their place in the world. For the millions of people who were struggling with recent losses—lost jobs, deaths, illness, stay at home orders, children learning remotely, lack of stability—those feelings of loneliness, separateness, and fear were intensified.
But I knew how much expressive writing could help. Expressing our emotions through writing can help ground us. It can help us manage our emotions. It can help us make sense of our lives. The more we free write and journal, the more empathy, gratitude, forgiveness, and joy show up in our lives. I know this through personal experience and also through years of research and studying this. Expressive writing helps support healing processes and illuminates un-awakened parts of ourselves. It opens us to new perspectives and narratives. It’s so easy to do and totally free, and yet it can shift our mindset, help us feel more connected to others, and is essentially a total game changer! Expressive writing is something we can do anywhere, at anytime, even during a global pandemic and lock-down.
In addition, I’m an activist at my core. At a fundamental level, I have this very strong belief that sharing our stories is a radical act of self-love and love for others. I couldn’t stop thinking that if we could just share our stories—in a raw, truthful and very real way—at this moment in time when we needed connection more than ever, it just might be one of the most valuable gifts we gave to ourselves and others. It just might help bridge the political, class, and racial divides that were simultaneously exploding and perhaps help in some small way.
That’s really interesting, Jen. Tell me more about the journal’s connection to social justice for you.
The easiest way to explain the connection for me is to borrow from what I have learned from Thich Nhat Hanh, who most of us know. He has this great way of explaining how, when groups listen deeply to one another—and this is similar to how women listen to other women within my Women’s Writing Circles—they start to recognize that the other group’s suffering is similar to their own, even when their specific situations may differ. I’ve studied mindfulness and mindful communications quite a bit and I love this concept of deep listening. But it’s not just about our voices. Our energies and actions spread energetically as well. I have witnessed first hand how generous commitment to sharing our stories can be a deeply healing and transformational process, and how pausing to write (and read) can yield reverence for other people and the moment we’re living in together. I can actually feel it energetically in my body.
So I guess you could say that the Journal of Expressive Writing calls on all of us to share what matters most as a form of individual and collective activism. It’s a platform to express who you are in a particular moment and to read who others are. I think too often, we hold ourselves back when we feel our writing has to be “finished” or “perfect” or any of the conditioned belief systems we carry with us. When we can write (and operate) from our authentic selves, when we no longer feel the need to hide from our feelings or the feelings of others, tenderness starts to take shape. People’s inclination to judge softens. It’s amazing to watch and experience. Clinging and attachment to any preconception or assumption about others starts to diminish. Love emerges and so does healing, not only for the writer, but for the readers, too! Eventually, it’s a ripple effect. This is ultimately what I hope to achieve with the journal.
Do you have other goals for the journal and your Women’s Writing Circles?
Yes, I do have a vision that I have been manifesting for a while. I view the Journal of Expressive Writing and the Women’s Writing Circles working in tandem. They both serve as spaces to share, honor and bear witness to personal stories. My goal is to have Women’s Writing Circle outposts around the world, where any women wanting to facilitate these circles can replicate its design. In doing this, not only do I hope to expand the field of expressive writing and its many benefits, it’s also my goal to support marginalized women who may be able to earn a salary for the first time by bringing the Women’s Writing Circle model to their community. In this way, women can experience being both a participant, as well as a global organizer of empowerment, peace and individual independence. This “train the trainer” model is something I’d like to teach within the TLA Network, as well as elsewhere.
The Journal of Expressive Writing then becomes the place where, as Women’s Writing Circles expand, so too does the journal. Next week, I will be celebrating the one-year anniversary of the journal (I can hardly believe it!) and the publishing of over 150 pieces of unbelievably beautiful writing from around the world! What would happen if, one day thousands of pieces of writing were published? How many voices would we hear? That’s exciting to think about!
That is exciting! And we’re excited that you will be joining the Network’s Board. Can you tell us how you view your work supporting the TLA Network?
As a writer, educator, and social justice activist, I’ve come to see myself as someone who is continually trying to uncover the truth. As women, we worry and care. As human beings, we scrutinize and explain. But when we arrive in spaces like the Network— which brings together writers and artists who share a willingness to be open, honest, trusting, attentive, caring, and receptive to others’ words and experiences—we are transformed as individuals and we are elevated as a group. I am so honored and humbled to be joining the Board. The work TLAN practitioners are engaged in continues to inspire me every day. It is my sincere hope that my background, as well as my experience advancing DEIJ (diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice) efforts within organizations can help support the TLA Network’s mission and goals.
As part of our effort to grow the TLA Network, we are always on the lookout for new instructors to teach classes for our community. Over time, we have developed a strong reputation for offering classes that speak to deep and meaningful human experiences, and, we are always eager to encourage fresh voices to join in the mix.
We invite you to consider teaching for the Network. If you are that person who has often thought, I would love to teach what I know to this community, consider joining us in learning the fine art of teaching a well-crafted, strong online class.
Curious about what it would take? Interested in learning how to market a good class? This month we launch a new series, Tools for Teachers, geared towards training people to teach for the Network – we hope you will join us in honing your craft.
We encourage you to be bold: speak your truth, share your vision, and join us in creating a learning environment that builds connection, provides replenishment, and supports our community to go out to do the important work of healing our world.
To the power of words, Hanne Weedon, Managing Director
Hanne Weedon comes to TLAN with 20 years of leadership and program development experience in not-for-profit and government-funded organizations. A longtime community, arts and social justice advocate, she resonates with the goals and values of the TLA Network. Hanne’s appreciation for, understanding of and dedication to building representative, inclusive and diverse communities is a core aspect in all her work.
The story we make of this moment becomes the life we lead. ~Christina Baldwin, Storycatcher: Making Sense of Our Lives through the Power and Practice of Story.
“I’ve run out of words! We need new words. The strongest words.”
My friend and I were texting back and forth about the latest NPR news alert to light up our phones. It would have been a much better conversation in person, far more satisfying to laugh together instead of trying to find the emoji that most accurately expresses our level of gobsmack, of anger, of despair.
But that’s where so many of us are right now: stuck at home and stuck for words to express the inexpressible.
So, I write.
I write to make sense of it all, to search for a semblance of meaning in the midst of the madness.
And I read.
I read the words of others to find solace in similar experiences, in our shared humanity, and in the connection established through empathy. To share our words beyond ourselves is to cultivate compassion and create community.
Two years ago at TLAN’s Power of Words conference, Storyteller, Activist, and Founder & CEO of #MeWe International, Mohsin Mohi Ud Din, gave a presentation called “Storytelling as a Tool for Healing and Community-Building.” He told the crowded room why he believes in the power of storytelling: “The stories we tell ourselves shape us and how we interact with the world and others.” Healing cannot happen in isolation, he said. We need each other—we need to hear each other’s stories.
Over the four weeks of this class we will record experiences and express feelings with prompts as a “trail-head,” then learn some basic creative nonfiction methods to turn our writing into a crafted personal narrative, which may be shared with others in the class—maybe beyond!
Because we need new words. We need your words. In this moment. Because as Toni Morrison reminded us in 2015:
This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.
Joanna Tebbs Young, MA-TLA is author of the award-winning biography of Vermont historian, Lilian Baker Carlisle, and has both a memoir and personal essay collection in the works. She holds a BA in History, an MA in Transformative Language Arts, and is currently an MFA-Creative Nonfiction student at Goddard College. A writing coach since 2009, Joanna is also a facilitator for Vermont Humanities Council and teaches online for the Transformative Language Arts Network. Historical articles written during her time as columnist and feature writer for the Rutland Reader can be found at Rutland When… Joanna lives in Rutland, Vermont with her husband and two teenagers.
Lesley Dobis serves as a member of TLA Network’s governing body and has played an important role in helping us make strategic financial decisions that are in alignment with our organization’s mission and values.
In her spare time, Lesley runs a financial consulting business, writes a blog about parenting, and periodically posts storytelling videos to her website. When she’s not writing, she shares her ever-expanding garden in northern New York State with her husband, many cats, and lots of chickens.
With the predictable good-natured humor and that innate ability to always land on one’s feet that seems to be the hallmark of a farmer’s grandchild, in the face of the pandemic and the resulting shuttering of her massage business, Lesley plans to open a street-side farm stand this fall to sell her abundant produce and to help feed her neighbors.
Lesley writes, “I’ve identified as a writer since I was 11 years old, however, I was always reluctant to put my own work out in public. I worked as a technical writer 30 years ago, spent the last 20 years as a massage therapist, and now run a financial planning business. I was introduced to TLAN in 2019, and that experience helped shift my writing to become my top priority. Currently, I write on topics as diverse as parenting and personal finances. I also dabble with storytelling. Since I have such eclectic interests, I’ve never felt truly at home in any group. That all changed with TLAN. The people I’ve met are creative, passionate, kind, and strong. They seem able to delicately juggle inner exploration and walking the talk. I’m honored to be among other TLANers and look forward to the future we create together!”
Transformative Language Arts Network Blog 