The Power of Words
Liberation, Transformation & Celebration through the Spoken, Written & Sung Word * September 23-26, 2010, Goddard College, Plainfield, VT
Explore how we can use our words — written, spoken or sung — to make community, deepen healing, witness one another, wake ourselves up, and foster empowerment and transformation. Organized by the Transformative Language Network, and founded by Goddard College, this conference features experiential workshops on a wide range of the expressive language arts and right livelihood, performances, open readings, and celebrations. Make community with others who share your passion. This year the conference will feature a number of TLA practitioners as keynote speakers and special guests, including the following:
GREGORY ORR: Considered by many to be a master of short, lyric free verse, Gregory Orr is the author of nine collections of poetry. His most recent books are Concerning the Book that is the Body of the Beloved and How Beautiful The Beloved. He is also the author of astonishing memoir, The Blessing, and an extended meditation on the power of poetry, Poetry as Survival. He has been honored by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Guggenheim Fellowship, two NEA Fellowship, and a Rockefeller Fellowship at the Institute for the Study of Culture and Violence. Read about his conference offering here.
NANCY MELLON is a storyteller, teacher, and author of Body Eloquence: The Power of Myth and Story to Awaken the Body's Energies about the vital link between our bodies, psyches and imagination; The Art of the Imagination (republished as The Art of Storytelling), & The Art of Storytelling with Children. She performs and leads workshops internationally and believes that the growing storytelling and storymaking movement strengthens resilience and awakens new inspiration for life. Read about her conference offering here.
GREG GREENWAY is a rare combination of instrumental expertise, a soulful and moving singer, powerful poet, and sparkling entertainer, drawing from gospel, rock, blues, Jazz, and world music and especially music as a force for waking up and changing the world. He has been described as "one of the strongest, and finest voices in folk music" and his concerts are always such high spirited give and take of such good humor that audiences unfailingly walk away uplifted. Greg will be performing for the fall Conference on Saturday night.
S. PEARL SHARP is a writer, actress, filmmaker, spoken word artist and broadcast journalist whose work focuses on cultural arts, health and history. She is the author of Black Women for Beginners, four volumes of poetry, two poetry with jazz CDs, theater pieces and commentaries. She's created many documentary and art films, including Picking Tribes and The Healing Passage/Voices from the Water. Read about her conference offering here.
KIM ROSEN, MFA, has touched listeners around the world with poetry’s power to awaken, inspire and heal. She is the author of Saved by a Poem: The Transformative Power of Words and the co-creator of four CDs of spoken poetry and music, including Only Breath , an interweaving of spoken poems of ancient and modern poets with the music of cellist/composer Jami Sieber. Combining her devotion to poetry with her background as a spiritual teacher and therapist, she gives "Poetry Concerts", inspirational lectures, and workshops throughout the U.S. and abroad. Read about her conference offering here.
KATHERINE TOWLER is the author of the Snow Island trilogy, which includes her latest, Island Light along with Snow Island and Evening Ferry. These critically-acclaimed and much-loved books speak to the human condition over three generations. "Towler's characters are as complex and contradictory as those with whom we live our lives… A master of pacing, [she] accomplishes the higher art of bringing us to see the drama in the commonplace," writes Donald M. Murray in The Boston Globe. Towler teaches in Southern New Hampshire University's MFA program. Her poetry, essays and fiction have been widely published. Katherine will be doing a reading from recent works on Saturday night.
YVETTE HYATER-ADAMS MA-TLA, is a writer, consultant and Transformative Language Arts practitioner who founded Renaissance Muse, offering writing workshops, executive and personal effectiveness coaching teaching individuals how to shape their experiences into transformative stories. She also has founded Transformative Narrative Coaching. This former bank-executive-recovered-artist is an accomplished organization development and diversity consultant, working with CEOs to find ways to unleash the power of silenced voices within their organizations. Read about her conference offering here.
VANITA LEATHERWOOD, MA-TLA is founder of Living Well Workshops, a writer and activist who believes in working in unison to make poetry political, a transformative art, and a great tool toward action. Through Living Well, she offers workshops integrating expressive and creative writing; painting, coloring and collage making; stress relief techniques; music, movement and play; and journaling techniques. Read about her conference offering here.
The 2010 conference will carry particular focus on the following thematic tracks, offering a number of workshops relating to the topics below.
- Narrative Medicine/Healing Stories: The stories we tell ourselves, and our culture tells us about how health and illness can be examined and revised to bring us greater meaning and richer lives.
- Right Livelihood: Learn innovate ways to use your gifts for making a living, listening to callings, creating effective business plans, self-care, and related topics — all to be presented by experts in the field.
- Social Transformation: Explore how our words can bring together people to tell their communal stories, and transform our communities and culture.
- Engaged Spirituality: Immerse yourself in the spiritual and/or religious dimensions of the word, spoken, written and sung, through workshops, performances and presentations that connect the work of our souls with the words of the world.
The 2010 conference offers a wide range of workshops, including special pre-, and post-conference courses in a variety of topics.
The complete list of conference workshops is as follows. Each title links to detailed information about the workshop and workshop facilitator.
Pre-Conference Workshops
Coyote Medicine Institute – Lewis Mehl-Madrona and Barbara Mainguy
The Quest and Texts that Guide Us – Gregory Orr
Transformative Narrative Coaching – Yvette Hyater-Adams
Conference Workshops
Catalyst: Finding the Voice of Your Healthy Self – Vanita Leatherwood
The Center for Stories: Help for those Carrying a Storied Burden – Elizabeth Beasley
Community Transformation and the Video Documentary – Valerie Harris
Crazy is Just a Story: Narrative Approaches to Mental Health – Lewis Mehl-Madrona and Dana Waldram
Journeys of the Heart: Coming Home to our Most Authentic Selves – Mary Dowd
Khenuta: An Inner and Outer Sense of Justice – Whendi Broderick
Light Comes: Theatre for the Sustainable Revolution – Sarah Moon
Making Sense of Peace – Geraldine Becker
Memories of You: Healing Journeys Through the Garden of Grief – Paula Dail
Narrative Ecology: Story as Home – Stephanie Wade
Planning for Business/Non-Profits – Lynn O'Connell
Poetic Ritual: From Imagination to Transformation - Travis Poling
ReStorying Health and Disease: Narrative Medicine's Emergence – Dr. Robert Crocker
Reclaiming Your Ancestral Power – S. Pearl Sharp
Reclaiming the Erotic Story: the Liberatory Potential of Writing Desire – Jen Cross
Stand and be Counted: A Poetic Reimagination of the World – Sha Cage
Story Telling the Healer – Osese Tuti
The Transformative Process of Creative Collaboration – Maria Johnson
Weaving Dreams into Being Through Words and Objects – Karen Ogg & Jan Hitchcock
Post-Conference Workshops
Conversing With Your Calling: Your Work, Livelihood, and Life – Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg
Fundraising Basics – Lynn O'Connell
Making the Leap: Knowing When You Are Ready – Scott Youmans
Speaking the Soul: The Transformative Power of Poetry – Kim Rosen
“A wide open door into the multiple layers of words and their healing nature.” – Marianela Medrano-Marra, Ph.D., writer and psychotherapist
“Rarely have I felt so present and full in each and every moment…from the beginning to the end, I was moved, inspired, challenged, and changed. I did, indeed, leave differently than I had arrived.” – Embrya deShango, spoken word performer, Cincinnati
