NYWC’s 7th Annual Write-A-Thon: On Your Marks, Get Set…

By Erin Ehsani

Erin Ehsani is a former workshop leader and the current Summer Events Coordinator for NYWC.  She is an MFA candidate in nonfiction at Columbia University.

In his 2008 memoir, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, Haruki Murakami wrote about the parallels between running and writing.  “To keep on going,” he wrote, “you have to keep up the rhythm.”  As the author of more than a dozen books and at least as many marathons, Murakami has the kind of endurance one needs to write and run. (more…)

Poetry as Dissent in Afghanistan

“In Afghanistan, poetry is the women’s movement from the inside.” — Safia Siddiqi, renowned Pashtun poet and former Afghan parliamentarian.

Recently, I came across an article by poet and journalist Eliza Griswold about Afghan women who risk their lives to write and share poetry. I was deeply moved by the bravery of the women of Mirman Baheer, a literary society based in Kabul, with members scattered throughout rural Afghanistan. Through the struggle and suicide of one young poet, Zarmina, Griswold captures the way these women harness poetry as a political force and essential tool in the fight for women’s rights.  (more…)

Miller Time

In a previous post I described a prompt that used as its starting point seven sentences, one of which was written by Henry Miller (whose writing never fails to inspire and amaze me, even after multiple readings). I’m not sure what prompted me to think of Miller today; perhaps it had to do with my taking a look at the latest New York City Cycling Map (Miller was an avid biker, often professing his love for his two-wheeled friends). Or perhaps it was thinking about great autobiographical writers (this morning I purchased Harry Crews’ A Childhood as well as Sartre’s Words). In any case, I consider it good fortune that I did return to Miller today. I also consider it a sign that today’s prompt should include Miller’s prose. (more…)

Friday 5: Top 5 Pretty Darn Horrible Mothers

Sunday’s Mother’s Day; do you know where your greeting card is? If it’s not in the plane/truck/old-timey-carriage/stranger’s-mailpouch by now, good luck. Hell hath no fury like a Mothers Day Card delivered next Wednesday. (“I delivered you on time, you know,” Mommy Dearest might say.)

No matter what Mama Drama you have in your past, present or future, here are five fictional (one hopes) mothers that could make any parent look good.

Top Five Pretty Darn Horrible Mothers

1. Margaret in Carrie by Stephen King
2. Caroline in The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
3. Mary in Push by Sapphire
4. Ingrid in White Oleander by Janet Fitch
5. Mrs. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

The above range from downright horrific to extremely annoying. But maybe you disagree? Maybe you secretly want one of these lovely ladies as your progenitor? Then be sure to chime in below and speak up. Just be sure to put on your clean underwear and use your indoor comment voice, please – let’s make our mamas proud. Happy Mothers Day, all!

brooklyn women’s chorus: singing social justice by angela lockhart

Angela Lockhart was selected as a writing workshop leader for the New York Writers Coalition in 2010. She has led writing workshops for homeless women writers temporarily residing in the Park Slope Women’s shelter and most recently began a workshop at the Stepping Stones Residence for formerly homeless writers in recovery for serious and persistent mental health and substance use disorders.

Are you a woman who likes to sing?  Did you know every Tuesday for the last 15 years the Brooklyn Women’s Chorus meets to learn and sing a repertoire of social justice songs that include American folk, civil rights protest and South African Freedom songs? No? Well let me share the good news! Our director, the legendary folk singer Bev Grant, is a prolific songwriter and cultural worker who composes original choral arrangements sung by chorus.   Bev also composes choral arrangements from the work other culturally relevant song writers like Sweet Honey in the Rock, Garth Brooks, Bob Marley, Jackson Browne, the Neville Brothers and Emma’s Revolution.

 The Brooklyn Women’s Chorus sing as a group women from diverse backgrounds, work experiences, skills and artistic abilities. We sing together in celebration of women’s accomplishments worldwide and our passion is exemplified in Bev Grant’s and the Brooklyn Women’s Chorus signature song “We Were There”

 As one of the original choral members, I joined the chorus as a singer, playwright and poet who has collaborative writing and educational theatre experience with community members.  In 2006, Bev Grant, the chorus and I began to develop our multi-media, spoken word and choral production of Mother of Exiles for the NYC Mayor’s Immigration Heritage Week.  Our creative process includes historical research, collections of family photos and several choral members’ written “Herstories”.   The production has since evolved to honor the ancestors of stolen lands, stolen people, and Emma Lazarus “huddled masses yearning to breathe free”.

 If there is an anti-war protest, a political rally, or social justice demonstration, you will find a few, if not the entire Brooklyn Women’s Chorus singing. The chorus also sings for The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture and the Peoples Voice Café.  Mother of Exiles has been performed at Brooklyn College,  Judson Church (in support of the Grassroots Leadership Campaign to End Immigration Family Detention) and most recently at the BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center.

 Because Bev believes every woman can sing, you don’t have to audition to become a member of the chorus.  All you need is a strong desire to sing even when you think you can’t! The Brooklyn Women’s Chorus meets once a week,  Tuesday nights from 7:30 – 9:00 p.m. at the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture, 53 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn between 1^st & Second Street.  We welcome you to come sing, write and celebrate being a woman with us!

Spoken Word: My Grandmother’s Tongue

With Mother’s Day on the horizon, spoken word artist Melissa Beauvery pays homage to the matriarch in her own way this year with the release of her first spoken word album, My Grandmother’s Tongue.

Melissa currently calls Philadelphia home, but she’s a Brooklyn girl at heart. She grew up in Flatbush, and her work is colored by the traditional Haitian spirituality, the storytelling, and the songs she came to appreciate in the neighborhood. A child of Haitian immigrants, Melissa heard Haitian Creole spoken all around her, and trips to Haiti only furthered her interest in the culture of her second home. (more…)