August 28--Readings and Conversation on Yearning To Breathe Free--Learning from and moving beyond 2020
poetlaure...@gmail.com
Readings from Yearning To Breathe Free—A Community Journal of 2020
Conversation on the impact of the times
You are invited to attend any or all of these events on Zoom:
Sunday, August 28, 3-5 pm Pacific Time
Sunday, September 18, 3-5 pm Pacific Time
Sunday, October 16, 3-5 pm Pacific Time
Zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86337714167?pwd=dlh1Y1dTMkRIL3B2bWphOEhZQlhLQT09
Scroll down for background and for specifics of August 28.
Background
The period spanning the onset of coronavirus restrictions and the 2020 elections was one of the most eventful, demanding, exhausting, scary and scarring in our recent history. We were not all in the same boat, but we all lived through the same storm.
More than sixty writers from diverse ages, backgrounds, and circumstances contributed to the Benicia Herald’s newspaper column “Going The Distance” from April 1-Election Day, 2020.
Readers of the column called it “a lifeline,” “a chronicle of our shared history,” with writings that “consistently stir truth…desperately needed truth.”
Those writings have been published by Benicia Literary Arts as the book Yearning To Breathe Free—A Community Journal of 2020. Collected in the book are the personal responses of a community, presented largely as they appeared, day by day, during the thick of uncertainty and doubt. They stand as a historical record from one small corner of America, a raw, unmediated testimony to hope and fear, anger and despair, inspired by events as they unfolded.
The writings are also testimony to the power of poetry and story to encourage individuals, strengthen community, and confront significant issues in a time of multiple crises.
Readings and Conversations
2020 was a year like no other. Now we can look back to those early days of the pandemic and acknowledge what we went through and what we’re still going through. The losses mourned, the celebrations put on hold, the wariness and well-founded fears that linger around climate crisis, embedded racism, and threats to democracy. We were not all in the same boat, but we all lived through the same storm. The Readings and Conversations are part of that process of looking back and moving beyond.
Each of the three Zoom events will feature a different program of selected readings from Yearning To Breathe Free along with the opportunity for those who attend to take part in conversation on the impact of the times. The readings will be presented chronologically, as they appear in the book, providing a journal covering the intense events of 2020 from April 1 through Election Day.
This Sunday, August 28 . . .
Nineteen readings will span the period from April 1 through October 23, 2020.
You will hear poems by Peter Bray, Suzanne Bruce, Mary Eichbauer, Johanna Ely, Tamar Enoch, Lauren Coodley, Evie Groch, Kathleen Herrmann, Joanne Jagoda, Galen Kusic, D.L. Lang, Ronna Leon, Aqueila Lewis-Ross, Juanita Martin, Carolyn Plath, Bobby Richardson, Nina Serrano, Sherry Sheehan, and Becky Bishop White.
I will be hosting the conversation. Benicia Herald Editor Galen Kusic, Benicia Literary Arts Editor Mary Eichbauer, and former Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson will provide brief commentary on the signficance of these collected writings. Please join us.
Zoom information
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86337714167?pwd=dlh1Y1dTMkRIL3B2bWphOEhZQlhLQT09
Meeting ID: 863 3771 4167 Passcode: 515278
Mary Susan Gast
Benicia Poet Laureate
poetlaure...@gmail.com
Readings from Yearning To Breathe Free—A Community Journal of 2020
Conversation on the impact of the times
Sunday, August 28, 3-5 pm Pacific Time
Zoom information
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86337714167?pwd=dlh1Y1dTMkRIL3B2bWphOEhZQlhLQT09
Meeting ID: 863 3771 4167 Passcode: 515278
This Sunday, August 28 . . .
Nineteen readings will span the period from April 1 through October 23, 2020.
You will hear poems by Peter Bray, Suzanne Bruce, Mary Eichbauer, Johanna Ely, Tamar Enoch, Lauren Coodley, Evie Groch, Kathleen Herrmann, Joanne Jagoda, Galen Kusic, D.L. Lang, Ronna Leon, Aqueila Lewis-Ross, Juanita Martin, Carolyn Plath, Bobby Richardson, Nina Serrano, Sherry Sheehan, and Becky Bishop White.
I will be hosting the conversation. Benicia Herald Editor Galen Kusic, Benicia Literary Arts Editor Mary Eichbauer, and former Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson will provide brief commentary on the significance of these collected writings. Please join us.
Background
The period spanning the onset of coronavirus restrictions and the 2020 elections was one of the most eventful, demanding, exhausting, scary and scarring in our recent history. We were not all in the same boat, but we all lived through the same storm.
More than sixty writers from diverse ages, backgrounds, and circumstances contributed to the Benicia Herald’s newspaper column “Going The Distance” from April 1-Election Day, 2020.
Readers of the column called it “a lifeline,” “a chronicle of our shared history,” with writings that “consistently stir truth…desperately needed truth.”
Those writings have been published by Benicia Literary Arts as the book Yearning To Breathe Free—A Community Journal of 2020. Collected in the book are the personal responses of a community, presented largely as they appeared, day by day, during the thick of uncertainty and doubt. They stand as a historical record from one small corner of America, a raw, unmediated testimony to hope and fear, anger and despair, inspired by events as they unfolded.
The writings are also testimony to the power of poetry and story to encourage individuals, strengthen community, and confront significant issues in a time of multiple crises.
Readings and Conversations
2020 was a year like no other. Now we can look back to those early days of the pandemic and acknowledge what we went through and what we’re still going through. The losses mourned, the celebrations put on hold, the wariness and well-founded fears that linger around climate crisis, embedded racism, and threats to democracy. We were not all in the same boat, but we all lived through the same storm. The Readings and Conversations are part of that process of looking back and moving beyond.
Each of the three Zoom events will feature a different program of selected readings from Yearning To Breathe Free along with the opportunity for those who attend to take part in conversation on the impact of the times. The readings will be presented chronologically, as they appear in the book, providing a journal covering the intense events of 2020 from April 1 through Election Day.
Mary Susan Gast
poetlaure...@gmail.com
Readings from Yearning To Breathe Free—A Community Journal of 2020
Conversation on the impact of the times
You are invited to attend this Zoom event:
Sunday, September 18, 3-5 pm Pacific Time
Zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86337714167?pwd=dlh1Y1dTMkRIL3B2bWphOEhZQlhLQT09
Scroll down for specifics.
Next Sunday, September 18 . . .
Twenty readings will span the period from April 15 through October 18, 2020. The readings will be presented chronologically, as they appear in the book, providing a journal covering the intense events of 2020.
You will hear poems by Jerry Bolick, Peter Bray, Johanna Ely, Carol Gieg, Brandon Greene, Galen Kusic, Ramona Lappier, Aqueila Lewis-Ross, Katrina Monroe, Deborah Morrison, James Quinn, Deborah Schmidt, Nina Serrano, Sherry Sheehan, Tom Stanton, Roger Straw, Diana Tenes, and Becky Bishop White.
You will have the opportunity to take part in conversation on the impact of that time of social distancing, and on the power of poetry and story to encourage individuals, strengthen community, and confront the challenges of racial injustice, climate crisis, and threats to democracy that pre-dated COVID-19 and continue to be with us. As one of the chat comments from the August 28th reading put it, “Thanks, everyone, for going back to that time for us today. It's been heart-rending, but we need to remember.”
Next Reading, Previous Reading
- Next reading and conversation: Sunday afternoon, October 16, 3-5 pm Pacific Time. Different readings, same Zoom link.
- Watch the video from the August 28 reading and conversation: https://www.benicialibrary.org/poet/past-poetry-events
poetlaure...@gmail.com
Readings from Yearning To Breathe Free—A Community Journal of 2020
Conversation on the impact of the times
You are invited to attend this Zoom event:
Sunday, September 18, 3-5 pm Pacific Time
Zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86337714167?pwd=dlh1Y1dTMkRIL3B2bWphOEhZQlhLQT09
Scroll down for specifics. Pass the invitation along.
Sunday, September 18 . . .
The second in our series of readings from Yearning To Breathe Free—A Community Journal of 2020
Readings by Jerry Bolick, Peter Bray, Johanna Ely, Mary Susan Gast, Carol Gieg, Brandon Greene, Ramona Lappier, Aqueila Lewis-Ross, Katrina Monroe, Deborah Morrison, James Quinn, Deborah Schmidt, Nina Serrano, Sherry Sheehan, Tom Stanton, Roger Straw, Diana Tenes, and Becky Bishop White will take you back to the time pre-vaccine, when social distancing kept us physically apart from one another during multiple crises. We look back to recall the impact of that isolation and those crises, and to assess what we’ve learned.
You will have the opportunity to take part in conversation on the impact of that time, and on the power of poetry and story to encourage individuals, strengthen community, and confront the challenges of racial injustice, climate crisis, and threats to democracy that pre-dated COVID-19 and continue to be with us. As one of the chat comments from the August 28th reading put it, “Thanks, everyone, for going back to that time for us today. It's been heart-rending, but we need to remember.”
poetlaure...@gmail.com
So, what did we learn in 2020?
Readings from Yearning To Breathe Free—A Community Journal of 2020
You are invited to attend this Zoom event:
Sunday, October 16, 3-5 pm Pacific Time
Zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86337714167?pwd=dlh1Y1dTMkRIL3B2bWphOEhZQlhLQT09
Pass the invitation along.
We lived through 2020. We lived with the hovering menace of a killer virus; with no vaccine in sight; with social isolation. With wildfires and ominous orange skies. With racial injustice ever more visible. With the rumbling of threats to democracy all round us. Now we can look back to those early days of the pandemic and acknowledge what we went through and what we’re still going through. The losses mourned, the celebrations put on hold, the wariness and well-founded fear that linger.
Acknowledging what we went through, we can tell the stories of how we’ve overcome and of what still needs to be overcome. Of how isolated voices can come together to sustain a community. Of hope that reaches beyond the return to “normal” and breathes compassion, justice, peace, and well-being into the future of this planet and its inhabitants.
This Sunday I will be the “page turner” for the journal, introducing readings by Dee Allen., Sandra Anfang, Genea Brice, Cathy Dana, Johanna Ely, Carol Gieg, Brandon Greene, Beth Grimm, Mary Harrell, Kathleen Herrmann, Galen Kusic, Ramona Lappier, Aqueila Lewis-Ross, Kathy Monroe, Krista O’Connor, James Quinn, Lois Requist, Alyza Lee Salomon, Nina Serrano, Sherry Sheehan, Roger Straw, Shawna Swetech, and Nancy Tolin.
Zoom information
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86337714167?pwd=dlh1Y1dTMkRIL3B2bWphOEhZQlhLQT09
Meeting ID: 863 3771 4167 Passcode: 515278
Video of September 18 Reading of Yearning To Breathe Free: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uYUDJVxNbY&list=PLM0ikbVPisiRZ8pQICTgekWPt9Ef7qWVt
Hike and Write
- Saturday, October 15, 9-1
- Flyer attached
Graphic Design Class (+ Poetry)
- Monday, October 17, 2 pm
- Flyer attached
poetlaure...@gmail.com
So, what did we learn in 2020?
Readings from Yearning To Breathe Free—A Community Journal of 2020
You are invited to attend this Zoom event:
Sunday, October 16, 3-5 pm Pacific Time
Zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86337714167?pwd=dlh1Y1dTMkRIL3B2bWphOEhZQlhLQT09
Pass the invitation along.
We lived through 2020. We lived with the hovering menace of a killer virus; with no vaccine in sight; with social isolation. With wildfires and ominous orange skies. With racial injustice ever more visible. With the rumbling of threats to democracy all round us. Now we can look back to those early days of the pandemic and acknowledge what we went through and what we’re still going through. The losses mourned, the celebrations put on hold, the wariness and well-founded fear that linger.
Acknowledging what we went through, we can tell the stories of how we’ve overcome and of what still needs to be overcome. Of how isolated voices can come together to sustain a community. Of hope that reaches beyond the return to “normal” and breathes compassion, justice, peace, and well-being into the future of this planet and its inhabitants.
This Sunday I will be the “page turner” for the journal, introducing readings by Dee Allen., Sandra Anfang, Genea Brice, Cathy Dana, Johanna Ely, Carol Gieg, Brandon Greene, Beth Grimm, Mary Harrell, Kathleen Herrmann, Sherilee Hoffmann, Galen Kusic, Ramona Lappier, Aqueila Lewis-Ross, Kathy Monroe, Krista O’Connor, James Quinn, Lois Requist, Alyza Lee Salomon, Nina Serrano, Sherry Sheehan, Tom Stanton, Roger Straw, Shawna Swetech, and Nancy Tolin.
Zoom information
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86337714167?pwd=dlh1Y1dTMkRIL3B2bWphOEhZQlhLQT09
Meeting ID: 863 3771 4167 Passcode: 515278
Video of September 18 Reading of Yearning To Breathe Free: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uYUDJVxNbY&list=PLM0ikbVPisiRZ8pQICTgekWPt9Ef7qWVt
Mary Susan Gast
