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“I can’t spell and my grammar is terrible, but I have a real story to tell. Is this workshop for me?
Please feel welcome. Many women without much formal schooling write happily in Herstory. In fact, they are often our most powerful writers. Their ears have been tuned to the stories they hear. And don't worry. We read what we have written out loud, so no one needs to see your writing. One story by a woman who couldn't spell was used by Suffolk County to help train police officers dealing with domestic violence. It was published in an international journal. Once you relax into the process, your rhythms will carry your grammar along.
“I’ve taken many college-level workshops and I don’t want to start all over again. Will I find this too elementary?”
The Herstory tools are designed equally for professors of literature and those whose main schooling came from living their lives. Our emphasis on pinpointing essences and dramatic structures grants those with manuscripts in progress opportunities to rethink structural strategies, while our empathy based vocabulary startles advanced writers and beginners alike into more intuitive levels. The mixed group provides a wealth of structural examples, not generally available in classes where a homogeneous level is sought.
“I don’t feel I have a real story, compared to most people. Nothing terrible ever happened to me and I feel self-indulgent when I sit next to people who have undergone real pain or major events. Would there be a place for me?”
Many people are concerned about whether their story is important or "serious" enough. We like to say that of course you can't write, How Green was my Valley, if your valley wasn't green. Similarly, if you were gifted with a relatively happy life, the challenge will be in how to tell it so that the telling can be a gift to others. It is in the mixture that the true interchange lays. One of the most powerful novellas written in Herstory was that of a 22-year-old who found herself in workshop with women twice her age or more, all of whom were survivors of serious trauma. To read of Chris Giordano's writing journey through the summer when she “taught her grandmother to love her,” click here for an excerpt from our manual.
“I already have a finished manuscript, but I can’t get it published. Do you help with publication?
We are not equipped to help with publication or public exposure of works not written in our workshops, nor do we have the resources to help our own members get published at this time. For those who wish for publication, we believe that the start-to-finish guidance we offer will take them a long way.
We do not have the resources to help with copyediting or proofreading; however we recently agreed to publish under the Herstory imprint the finished books of two members who took care of their own manuscript preparation and publishing costs, and who in turn agreed to donate any profits back to our programs. This is an option we can only offer those who complete their entire manuscripts with us. For the descriptions of these books, click here.
Through foundation support, we publish two magazines – one of prison writings and one of Herstory memoirs written in Spanish, again with any profits going back into our programming. Our public readings and presence in Stony Brook University’s Special Collections Archive become a resource for publishers who are actively looking.
“I am worried that uncovering my old wounds will be bad for me. How does the process work?”
Many people are worried about uncovering their old wounds. Herstory’s facilitators are carefully trained to help people find spots in their stories – however hard – where they may rest long enough to capture the spirit and beauty of the Selves they have been. To read more, click on an article written by Herstory’s founder, Lost Voices/Found Words, and on excerpts from our manual on working with more serious trauma.
When past moments are revisited with a wholeness that couldn’t be achieved at the time, in one Herstory member’s words, “They cease to be haunts.” They stand still on the page, grieved, and sometimes even celebrated for the strength of the survivor to navigate them, and old feelings of victimhood start to fade. Do remember that while we see the process as therapeutic, we see it in no way as a substitute for therapy. If you would like us to speak to your therapist to provide more information about the process, we would be happy to do so.
“What do you do about confidentiality?”
Herstory embraces both women who are writing to help others through their stories and those who would rather keep their stories to themselves. The nature of the stories being told evokes that special sense of intimacy usually associated with closed groups, yet Herstory’s mission to help shape each story so that it can be heard, distinguishes it from closed or anonymous groups. By and large, the women of Herstory are proud to have the stories they crafted told and retold by those new friends who bore witness to their first oral readings, as they vie with one another to be chosen whenever we have had a public reading, leaving the need for anonymity far behind. This goes along with Herstory’s mission of breaking silences and bringing out stories that were previously unsung.
Unless a writer specifically requests this, we do not make it a matter of policy to keep what is revealed within closed doors; however, we are happy to honor such requests. We have found that sharing the act of writing what is sacred and secret helps those who choose to enter into the risks and rewards of our process feel safe. For those who have had little control over their lives, the realization that memoir writing is not a form of true confessions, but rather a canvas in which one can design the telling of one’s lived “moments of being” to best reflect the inner journey, is deeply empowering.
"I’ve just come to this country and my English isn’t too good yet. Would I be able to follow?"
At any given time we offer one or two workshops in Spanish and one bilingual workshop. We have found that the experience of listening to one’s words being read back in translation accelerates language learning. Non-native-speakers, whatever their country of origin, are encouraged to follow their own rhythms and to allow bits and pieces of their own language to peek through.
Workshop member Bea Gravino, who began in our Farmingville workshop following the violence there, writes the following testimony about the power of bilingual workshops:
An office space without a sign became the site of my first meeting with the Farmingville bilingual group. Once I saw the power of Herstory in the faces of all who gathered there, both English-only speakers and Spanish-only speakers, I was captivated by the process. That power was the magic of translations of the writing and views into lives both here in the U.S. and abroad from lands Hispanic – developed through the mix of author, the other writers and our facilitator.
Hearing stories in English and Spanish dramatized being in moments that might never be heard or read without this process. We wanted to come together the next time to hear where the stories could take us. Where we have come is to a place of respect and mutual appreciation for the silken threads of the lives that were revealed through writing and reading before our group and before large audiences. These stories are the coins of our times.
We have worked closely not only with the Latina community but with the Charles B. Wang Center of Stony Brook, reaching out to writers of Asian origin, and we welcome new partnerships.
"What do you have available in other parts of the country or in other countries? Could I start a Herstory workshop in my part of the country?"
We produced our manual as a first step in bringing our approach to women who live too far away to participate in our workshops. With plans under way to establish an ongoing training institute, we are offering preliminary Train-the-Trainer Retreats. For updates. please sign our guest book and check off this request.
Looking ahead to the international Herstory dream, we quote the words of former Herstory member Ruksana Ayyub, who wrote:
I learned to dream in Herstory, and by putting my dreams on paper somehow was able to pursue them. My dream is that the women of the world find liberation through Herstory. While living in the USA, I wrote about women who had lived and died in Pakistan behind high walls and veils, and tried to give voice to their stories. I am working in the HIV field in Bangladesh these days. I see poor sex workers, trafficked girls, underage girls sold in to bondage . . . Will these girls ever find their voice, once they are able to pay off their debts and become free? Or will they stay on in the sex trade, so hardened by the cruelty they will pass it on to others? I tell my colleagues about Herstory and its wonderful work all the time. My dream is that Herstory reaches Pakistani women, Bangladeshi women and all other women, wherever they live, so that they are able to raise their voices on their own soils and be heard.
To see and listen to another dream for an international Herstory community, as expressed by Herstory board member, Tuzyline Jita Allen, co-editor of the Women Writing Africa Series for the Feminist Press, click here.
We have plans afoot for video segments to go with our manual, to be made by the Black Media Foundation.
"What sort of opportunities do you have for interns?"
We have many opportunities for interns, in community outreach, technology assistance, fundraising and communication. They vary from working with us in our office to presenting our project in neighborhood venues, helping with translation and transportation for handicapped members, and taking care of our literature tables at public events. Our current intern, Alyssa Lanz, is graduating as the salutatorian from St. Joseph’s College and has been involved in human rights work since high school, when she spent a year in Mexico translating for doctors fitting hearing aids for very poor people. During her college years, she has worked in Nicaragua and Egypt. In exchange for the work she does for Herstory, she attends two workshops a week, experiencing the approach while she readies herself to bring it to women in other parts of the world.
"What are the requirements for training in the Herstory approach?"
The most essential part of our training is an ongoing immersion in at least one Herstory workshop a week – but preferably two or more – during which participants write their own memoirs. We require a year of attendance as a writer in our community workshops before someone can become a Herstory facilitator. However, in the case of those with very strong backgrounds in literature and prior teaching experience, we have shortened this requirement by a couple of months.
Those who work as official Herstory facilitators must continue their own writing with us for at least several years – even as they start to teach. Most choose to continue with us as long as they are working with the program.
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