From Resistance to Transformation
Three Decades of Writing to Right the World
I have been teaching various versions of my signature course, "Writing to Right the World," for thirty years now.
It began back in the '90s as "Women Writing Resistance," emerging from my doctoral thesis and focusing on personal narratives by contemporary women from all over the world who were involved in resistance to oppression rooted in patriarchy, homophobia, racism, imperialism, colonization, politics, religion, etc etc—there have been so many ways that women have been oppressed by dominant systems and their proponents.
From that course emerged my first edited collection, Women Writing Resistance: Essays on Latin America and the Caribbean, which includes essays and poetry by some incredible women activist writers like Margaret Randall, Edwidge Danticat, Julia Alvarez, Gloria Anzaldua and many others.
My Women Writing Resistance classes included other parts of the world too, primarily women writer-activists from the Middle East, China and South Asia, North America and Africa. My second anthology, African Women Writing Resistance, is a powerful collection of African women's essays and poetry in resistance to various forms of oppression on that continent, particularly in the wake of religious and political colonization.
About a decade ago, I expanded the course to explore "Writing to Right the World" more generally, giving myself the freedom to include writings by people of all genders as well as cultures.
Still, I continue to be most interested in women's voices and visions, and in recent years I've been teaching an online version called "Women Write the World" through the Bard Open Society University Network, which gives access to students from many parts of the world, including Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Kenya, Colombia, and until recently, Russia and Palestine.
It's been fascinating to study personal narratives by women activists and leaders for social and environmental justice in the company of such an international group of students. I always assign independent research projects on students’ own interests within the broad fields of social and environmental justice, and their final presentations are often as intriguing as the published works we study together.
And of course I am always reading, listening and exploring, casting my net for contemporary writer-activists to include in the course and invite as class speakers.
One year I invited Nina Simons, co-founder of the Bioneers Conference and author of the award-winning guide to contemporary women's leadership, Nature, Culture & the Sacred, which I was honored to publish with my Green Fire Press. Nina is inspiring in the way she makes space for a softer, kinder form of “full-spectrum” leadership, rooted in compassion for self, others and our world.
Another year Amisha Ghadiali, host of the long-running podcast The Future is Beautiful, now called All That We Are, gave a moving talk about her own experience as a leader and leadership coach cultivating intuition and community in contexts where these "right-brain" skills are not always valued.
Last year, author Manda Scott came to take us on a cosmo-political journey from the dawn of the Homo sapiens era to the present, underlining how humans have always used shamanic techniques to access the deeper forms of wisdom that have guided our development—until the modern capitalist industrial "death cult," as she calls it, took hold. Manda is the host of the podcast Accidental Gods and creator of the Thrutopia masterclass, both of which aim to help us tap into our creativity to find ways to build bridges to a thriving future.
Manda’s new book, Any Human Power, combines her background as a writer of political thrillers with her shamanic training and Thrutopian vision to imagine how a small group of young people, aided by ancestors and guides from beyond the Veil, can succeed in changing the world for the better. I eagerly devoured this fast-paced novel; I understand that a sequel is already in the works, and I can't wait!
As you can tell, I am interested in forms of leadership that go beyond working within existing systems.
While I respect activists like Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is working for change with the US government, or Bill McKibben, who uses standard oppositional tactics to challenge the system, I am more interested in learning from leaders who have the vision and courage to think and act outside established norms, reaching for deeply transformative pathways to a better future for us all.
Adrienne Maree Brown has been inspirational for me and my students in this regard, distinguishing between punitive, restorative and transformative justice, and arguing, in a deeply polarized time, that we must resist "cancel culture" and instead seek communication and collaboration.
Like all of my favorite activist writer-leaders, Adrienne knows that we cannot separate human flourishing from environmental, planetary flourishing: we are nature in human form, and we cannot thrive unless our entire ecosystem (plants, animals, insects, microbes, air, water, earth) is healthy and happy.
My newest course in this series is "Writing/Righting the Future," in which we read writer-activists who are explicitly using their imaginations to envision a better world and, via Thrutopian writing, showing us how to get there. As a final project for that class, students write their own well-researched and extravagantly imagined creative Thrutopian stories.
It's rewarding to see students, who come into this course stressed and upset about what's happening to our world, begin to open up and get enthusiastic as we focus on creative solutions that already exist to all the problems spawned by capitalism, colonization and industrialization, as well as some they dream up themselves.
I've also developed a sister course called "Speak Your Truth: Leadership, Writing & Public Speaking for Social and Environmental Justice," which I'm currently teaching for the Bard Open Society University Network, and just taught in a condensed version for Bioneers Learning.
In our social media age, writing is all very well but it must be accompanied by speaking out, in various formats and through a range of media platforms. It's essential to learn how to craft effective talks of different lengths, adapted for various target audiences, as well as learning to give clear, thought-provoking interviews on whatever you're passionate about.
Right now, I'm in the process of writing a book that gathers all I've learned about "Writing to Right the World" in a clear, accessible guidebook that writer-activists of all ages can put to good use.
I'm also developing an online class that will combine the study of personal narratives by outstanding writer-activists with guidance on writing and speaking with the aim of making the world better.
This is an all-hands-on-deck moment. None of us has the luxury to be a passive bystander when the very possibility of a viable future on Earth is at stake.
Especially in the age of AI, our human imaginations are a precious resource to be cultivated, nourished and shared.
Looking back, I can see how my own understanding has shifted from oppositional "resistance" to forward-looking creativity that prioritizes collaboration, communication and the transformation of what is to what could be.
As Manda Scott wrote in the latest of her series of articles on Thrutopia in Permaculture Magazine, adapting the immortal Rumi poem: "Out beyond the boundaries of our fears lies a land of unimaginable promise. Let's meet each other there."
Coming up….An Inspiring Author Conversation
On May 16 at 7 pm Eastern, I’m hosting a free online Green Fire Press author conversation with Adrian Dubow and Laura Koffsky, authors of Good Work, Grit and Gratitude: The Bittersweet Lessons of the Lemonade Generation.
When the world was derailed by Covid-19, the Lemonade Generation was launched as adult children came home with laptops, dirty laundry and one-way plane tickets, seeking stability to ride out the cyclone of uncertainty.
In this honest, humorous, and profound memoir, Adrian Dubow and Laura Koffsky share how they learned to mask up, shut up, listen, laugh, let go and let the next generation lead, grateful to be along for the ride in the passenger’s seat, giving directions—when asked!
Adrian Dubow and Laura Koffsky are the cofounders of Good Work Miami LLC, which emphasizes collaboration and leadership development in connecting individuals, organizations, and philanthropists to opportunities for advocacy, engagement, and purpose.
Register here to receive the zoom link and come along for a refreshing dose of lemonade!
Come write with me in Tuscany this May!
Step off the beaten path of your routine life and join me for a fabulous Il Chiostro writing workshop May 25 - June 1, 2024 at the luxurious Borgo San Fedele, a meticulously restored monastery set in exquisite gardens amid a classic Tuscan landscape of olive groves and vineyards.
Our days will unfold in a perfect balance of guided writing and productive sharing; excursions guided by our Il Chiostro hosts to nearby picturesque medieval towns; coming home to San Fedele to relax by the pools and gardens, eat delicious meals and visit with new friends; and taking time for your own contemplative writing and thinking.
You’ll come away from this magical sojourn simultaneously enlivened and relaxed, with a deeper understanding of your purpose in writing memoir, along with many pages of new writing providing a plethora of potential doorways into the story of your life.
More information (and beautiful photos) here.
Ready to book? Click here.
Come Riding & Writing with me in Iceland this June!
I have not found a better creative tonic than RIDING and WRITING in the spectacular Icelandic countryside. Join me in the height of the bright summer season, June 10 – 16, 2024.
Every day we’ll ride out on sturdy, sweet Icelandic horses through the expansive rolling vistas of western Iceland, led by our experienced guides from Hestaland. Once you’ve experienced the exhilaration of the fast, smooth tolt, a gait unique to Icelandic horses, you may not want to go back to the trot!
We’ll eat delicious meals together at the beautiful Hestaland Guesthouse and participate in thoughtful, open-hearted guided writing sessions.
There will also be plenty of time for sharing and discussing your writing projects and visiting the nearby hot spring spa at Krauma.
Learn more about costs and accommodations on the application form.
Whether you’ve been to Iceland many times, or this will be your first experience there, this trip is sure to be transformative!
More information (and beautiful photos) here. Email me with any questions!
Friends, it’s my pleasure and my passion to support you as we stretch towards living our lives creatively and to the fullest.
The motto of my author consulting business is “Writing to Right the World,” and the motto of my book publishing business, Green Fire Press, is “Books that Make the World Better.”
If these intentions resonate with you and you are working on a book, or have one in mind, don’t hesitate to get in touch!
Supporting creative people bring their work more strongly out into the world is one way I try to make the world better….
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"This is an all-hands-on-deck moment. None of us has the luxury to be a passive bystander when the very possibility of a viable future on Earth is at stake."
So true Jennifer... thought provoking work with so much dirt to dig into and plant. Many of these books I hope to read and your course so inspiring... thank you!