"Shedding the Skin of Shame, Bearing Our Bodies' Truths"

Call for Artists -- Please Forward Widely!

ARTISTS AGAINST RAPE:
"Shedding the Skin of Shame, Bearing Our Bodies' Truths"
October 18th, 2008
This dynamic event features local poets, artists and activists, speaking out against sexual assault and offers a unique supportive space for expression and community building. We are seeking volunteers help to make this event happen. If you are interested in volunteering for the event, our first meeting will be in July 2008. Check website for updates on meeting times.

SUMBISSIONS:
* To submit poetry, prose, flows, songs, and music, artists must send in a cassette or CD of their piece, along with a written copy of all words/lyrics. If work is received in written format only, the piece may not be considered for inclusion.
* Visual artists may submit work in the form of high-resolution (300dpi) digital images in the following formats: TIFF, JPEG, JPG.
* To submit dance pieces, please send a VHS, DVD or weblink of the entire piece.
* All performance pieces (i.e. poetry, dance, music/songs, dramatic sketches, etc.) must have a total running time of 5 minutes or less. The suggested length for performance pieces is 3-5 minutes.

Please include a short biography (300 words or less) and contact information with your submission. Pieces must be related to healing from and/or speaking out against violence, sexual violence and gender and/or sexual oppression. Due to space limitations, not all submissions may be accepted, and selection is at the discretion of the artistic committee. Performers will receive a modest stipend. All SUBMISSIONS due no later than AUGUST 15th. No exceptions!

For more information or questions, please email janetuphadye@sfwar.org or visit the SFWAR website at www.sfwar.org!

Metaphysical Fitness -- Classes start soon!

Jen's Note: Sista Nau*T is my dear friend and compatriot in the work of transformation & healing -- she's deeply invested in the work of helping us remember the importance of our bodies and connect back into these selves we sometimes forget to take such good care of:

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Doshe Healing Arts in collaboration with Bushmama Productions present:
Metaphysical Fitness Training

Come explore practical solutions for common obstacles to health and wellness.
Learn to work out anytime, anywhere engaging in small daily activities that have profound life long impacts.

Classes begin Aug. 2, 2008 at 10a
We offer the class at a sliding scale $10-$25 suggested donations NTAFLOF
Register now, space is limited.

For more information please visit our website
http://web.mac.com/sisnaut/iWeb/Doshe%20Healing%20Arts/Contact%20Us.html


Peace, Love, Guidance, Protection and Prosperity in Abundance,
Sis. Nau~T
Doshe Healing Arts
Founder and Executive Director

Sexuality writing retreat in the Upper Midwest, July 25-27!

Once more with feeling - Sexuality writing reatreat in the Upper Midwest, July 25-27!

I get to go back to the Upper Midwest at the end of this month, and write with some of the fantastic folks I met when I was out in Minn. for the Body Heat tour -- please join us if you can, and spread the word!
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Sexuality and Writing Workshop
For Self-identified Women and Trans People
Facilitated by Jen Cross and Susan Miranda

Friday, July 25 –Sunday, July 27, 2008
Cost: 275.00
To register or with questions: write miranda_susan(at)yahoo.com!

This workshop will be a first time ever combining of the work of Jen Cross and Susan Miranda. Jen will facilitate the writing portions of the workshop. Susan will facilitate the conversations on the topics of intimacy, body, touch, sexuality, love and relationships.

Why a sexuality/writing retreat?
Transform your relationship with your sexuality, with your writing—and with yourself!

- You may be a writer who feels timid about describing sex and sexuality in your work, and want a place to explore sexual expression.
- Maybe you have particular erotic desires that you'd like to play out on the page before playing them out in person.
- You may simply enjoy writing about sex and desire!

We believe that much of our sexuality and erotics are manifested through our language. In this AWA-method sexuality/writing writing retreat, join with other writers as we wrap ourselves in the language of longing, celebrating the complex textures of sensuality.

Spend the weekend delving into the interweaving of desire: memory, fantasy, relationship with the body, spirituality, and so on. The exercises are playful, thought-provoking, and inspiring, designed to leave you more confident with sexual language, erotic expression, and your own writing practice.

The goal of the conversations about sexuality, touch, intimacy, love and relationships is to honor the entire body and our whole selves. Through these conversations, the workshop experience and cabin setting, our hope is to facilitate understanding of our connection with self, the body and with other individuals.

You'll end the weekend with:
- a rich body of new creative writing;
- feedback from your peers about what's already strong in your new writing;
- and engaged connection with a new community!

Setting for this workshop: This workshop will be held in a small cabin in a wooded area near a river in Wisconsin 80 miles northeast of Minneapolis. We'll provide meals and snacks Friday evening, throughout Saturday and on Sunday morning. A sauna will be available to the group the entire weekend and will be optional. The workshop will start 7 p.m. Friday and go until 2 p.m. on Sunday.

Sliding scale may be available; Spaces are limited and beginning to fill! Please contact us with any questions or to register: miranda_susan(at)yahoo.com

About the facilitators:
Jen is an extensively-anthologized writer, whose work appears in more than 20 anthologies and webzines (some as Jen Collins), including Best Sex Writing 2008, Best Women's Erotica 2007, Best Fetish Erotica, Best Bisexual Women's Erotica, Nobody Passes, and many more. Jen received her MA in Transformative Language Arts from Goddard College (where she studied the healing uses of erotic writing), has led erotic writing workshops since 2002, and is a firm believer in the transformative power of smut. To learn more, visit www.writingourselveswhole.org.

Susan has an M.A. in Human Development with an emphasis in women's sexuality. She has studied experiential forms of body and sexuality education including Body-Mind Centering™, and Ancient Hawaiian Bodywork or Lomi Lomi massage. Since 1989, Susan has taught seminars such as "Unlearning Homophobia, Biphobia and Sexphobia" and on various sexual healing and sacred touch topics. In the past, she has worked as a pelvic model/patient instructor for the medical community and a reproductive health counselor at a women's health clinic. Currently, she works as a caregiver for people with AIDS. www.susanmirandablog.blogspot.com

Reminder: Summer writing workshops begin next week!

Eight-week writing workshops
With Writing Ourselves Whole!

Summer workshops begin July 14 and 15
www.writingourselveswhole.org


**Write Whole-Survivors Write**
meets Monday evenings, beginning July 14.
Open to women survivors of sexual trauma.
Gather with other survivors to create new art and new beauty out of your experiences, and deepen your sense of wholeness. (note: both "woman" and "survivor" are intended to be self-defined.)


**Declaring Our Erotic**
meets Tuesday evenings, beginning July 15.
Open to folks of all sexualities and all genders!
DOE workshops provide a space to get more comfortable exploring and talking about sexuality and desire, and to become less inhibited in your own writing. Share your manuscripts with peer writers for well-rounded response to your erotic work, and create an exciting body of fresh and (often) surprising new writing in 8 weeks!

No previous writing experience necessary -- Open to folks of
all writing abilities!

Workshops held in San Francisco in an accessible space, a half-block from BART and on many MUNI lines. Spaces are limited and pre-registration is required! Cost for 8 weeks is $250. To register, visit www.writingourselveswhole.org!

About your facilitator: Jen Cross is a freelance writer
whose work has been published in numerous anthologies, and
is fresh off the very successful Body Heat tour with
kathleen delaney and Vixen Noir/Veronica Combs! She's a
queer incest survivor, and has facilitated writing workshops
for the past 5 years. She received her MA in Transformative
Language Arts from Goddard College, and is a certified
facilitator of the Amherst Writers & Artists method
(http://www.amherstwriters.com/).