Spring 2017 Programming at the WCCW: Coalition

March 2016 – May 2017

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Last fall we held a programming quarter based around the idea of Civics to coincide with the national election. We had no idea that the outcome of the election would be so uprooting and worrying for all of us. For winter we moved to explore the theme of Co-Struggle in an attempt to regroup and unpack our intersections. This spring we will continue this line of thought by investigating the idea of Coalition.

We seek to form alliances with those who have overlapping interests to instigate combined action towards a common cause. What is the middle space in the venn diagram from which we can organize and move forward? What can be accomplished when we cooperate and build relationships to advocate for disparate groups? What formations encourage direct action? How do we develop shared strategies? Build partnerships? Negotiate terms and actions? Together we will reflect on past lessons learned and look towards future actions.

We will be joined in our investigation by three resident collectives; The Moozis, a collective of Muslim folks interested in making themselves count in the definition and understandings of their culture, Intersectionality NOW, a group who wants their feminism decolonized, inclusive, and international, and Small Fries, Full Lives Collective, who aim to explore how access to paid parental leave and universal childcare can create an equitable Los Angeles. Each of these collectives will offer regularly scheduled programming in conjunction with coalition based programs from the larger WCCW community listed below.

Small Fries, Full Lives Resident Programming

Let’s Get Started!
Thur, Mar 9, 7-8:30pm

Why is Paid Family Leave and Universal Childcare important and why are we looking at it now? For this first week we will introduce ourselves and we will ask and answer with your help: What do we currently have?, Why is what we have not okay?, What do we want and need?, and What are we trying to do over the next 12 weeks?

Know Your Rights + Questioning Policies: Paid Parental Leave
Thursday, Mar 16th, 7–8:30pm
Curious about California’s parental leave policy? Wondering if you qualify for short term disability from the state? Want California to do more? Join us to learn your rights for paid and unpaid parental leave, and what’s currently happening around the state level. We will start to brainstorm ideas on what we can advocate for at the local level and how we can better support advocacy at the state level.

Paid Family Leave: What the rest of the world has
Thursday, Mar 23rd, 7–8:30pm
The US’ Family and Medical Leave Act provides protected unpaid family leave for only 40% of the country’s employees! Yup, crazy! On top of that the US provides ZERO paid family leave, that’s less than the Bahamas, Kenya, and Iceland to name just a handful of countries. This week we will look at how the rest of the world provides family leave for their residents and how they got there.

How do we take care of our kids? Childcare in California
Thursday, April 6, 7–8:30pm
Scrambling to find child care for your 0-5 year old? Spending the majority of your paycheck on day care? This week we will be discussing challenges parents face to finding affordable quality child care, existing financial aid programs, and local advocacy efforts to increase the number of spots in child care.

Let’s get it done, LA!
Thursday, April 13, 7–8:30pm
Nancy L. Cohen will join us to help us explore the gender equity efforts happening locally and understand our local political climate.

Paid Family Leave + Universal Childcare are Good for Business
Thursday, April 20, 7–8:30pm
We will be exploring the often contentious position of business on Paid Family Leave and Universal Childcare. LA’s Chamber of Commerce will be joining us to help us better understand the position of business.

Refining Asks + Zine Development
Thursday, April 27, 7–8:30pm
We will firm up our asks, create a timeline and action steps, and develop a campaign. We will finalize our power map and use it as a guide for reaching out to and confirming allies and coalition members. We will be exploring the use of a Zine for distributing messaging and campaigning.

Call for Poster and Postcard Designs In Support of Job Protected Paid Family Leave
Deadline: May 11
Small Fries, Full Lives Collective are looking for designers, artists, friends to help design images that can graphically represent the importance of Job Protected Paid Family Leave for California communities! More info & design guidelines.

Moozi Resident Programming

Moozi Meeting

Wednesday, Mar 8, 7:30-9:30pm
Inviting people to join group and share thoughts on what programs they would like to see. Invitation only.

The Haft Siins

Wednesday, Mar 15, 7:30-9:30pm
Make and design all of the siins you need for your Nowruz sofreh. Open to all.

Diasporic Urdu Reading Club

Tuesday, Mar 21, 7:30-9:30pm
Dissecting Urdu ghazal poetry in English, Urdu, and Farsi. Must have some knowledge of Urdu and/or Farsi to participate.

Buraq Stitch Night

Wednesday, Mar 29, 7:30-9:30pm
Work together to create a needlepoint of the Buraq, a mythological winged horse that flew the Prophet to heaven. The Buraq is often depicted with a woman’s face. Moozi kindred.

Return of Buraq: Stitch Night
Wednesday, April 5, 7pm

Work together to create a needlepoint of the Buraq, a mythological winged horse that flew the Prophet to heaven started on March 29. The Buraq is often depicted with a woman’s face. Moozis only.

Diasporic Reading Club
Tuesday, April 11, 7pm
Dissecting prose and poetry in languages such as Urdu and Farsi. Must have some knowledge of these languages to participate. Groups will break out into individual sessions per language.

Oral History Comic Drawing
Wednesday, April 12, 7pm

A workshop for creating comics that put to paper our personal stories or oral stories our elders, friends, or family have recounted to us. These stories could range from family recipes to migration journeys. Led by Paradise Khanmalek, Azeem Khan, and Halla Keir. Moozis only.

Moozifuturism
Wednesday, April 19, 7pm
Visions of the future often mimic the present in that they marginalize or erase non-white populations from their prospective landscapes. At this workshop, attendees will be asked to imagine a future where Muslim women or femmes of color have survived an apocalypse and lived to rebuild a new society. What does this potential future look like? We’ll manifest these new Moozifutures and Moozidestinies in textual and visual art. Facilitated by Tasbeeh Herwees. Moozis only.

Ancestral Games
Wednesday, April 26, 7pm
Have you ever wanted partners to play Backgammon and be able to slam the pawns down hard while talking khara? Or drink Chayee, talk politics and play Pasour or Ludo with people who have some understanding of the game? Bring your “ancestral” game and we can all play together. Co-Hosted with Kiyaan Abadani. Open to Moozis and allies. Note: this space will center trans, femme, and otherwise marginalized folks, so let’s not assume pronouns and create a teahouse space where all aspects of who we are can be unapologetically present.

Moozis Remote Collage
Ongoing through May 12
The communal online art room is a virtual space to collaborate, collage, and have fun without physically attending any particular event. Users visit a specific URL, or “room” from where each artist can collage PNG images, draw, paint, and type all while communicating with one another in the chat box present at the bottom of the page. The production of this piece is not situated in any physical time or space, allowing for more and comfortable access. Considering accessibility is of paramount importance so that people living with all sorts of time restraints, physical abilities, and energetic resources can be involved in our enriching creative endeavors. To participate in the Moozis remote collage, go to this URL: cosketch.com/Rooms/lgkwplm


Urdu Diaspora Reading Group Night
Tuesday, May 2, 7pm
Discuss and dissect poems and short stories in Urdu, basic language experience required.

Feminist Quranic Sing-a-long
Wednesday, May 3, 7pm
Let’s practice together to discuss and sing feminist verses of the Quran. Lift our voices and spread the Suras as Trans, Women, Queer, Non-binary peoples. Moozis only!

Internalized Orientalist Auto-Ethnographic Portrait Night
Wednesday, May 10, 7pm
Pasadena Rug Mart, 530 N Lake Ave, Pasadena, CA 91101

If you’re a Moozi, you’ve probably encountered a ferengi (and probably more than once) who’s told you how exotic you are, how your skin is like brown butter, or how much they love falafel or tandoori chicken as soon as they assume what part of the world you originate from. Tonight, we invite you to orientalize yourself, fetishize yourself, and portray yourself as you please. We’ll provide some props, a backdrop and a photographer, but feel free to bring your costumes and accoutrements for your perfect auto-ethnographic portrait. Moozis only!

Moozis Remote Collage
Ongoing through May 12
Lead by Paradise Khanmalek
Embodying our Desires: Desire. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I was not raised to believe that I had a right to have my own desires…that somehow the desires that arose from me were frivolous, taboo, unproductive, even dangerous to manifest. I was taught to focus on achievement, productivity, being of service to others, being a “good Muslim girl” and focusing on how I could meet the needs of others. FUCK THAT SHIT. We each have a right to our desires. In that spirit, what if one of the collages was about our collective DESIRES. Submit photos, artwork, words, poems that give us a peek in to your deepest desires. Rich, layered, technicolor desires of the MOOZIS. Please send your art droplets by Sunday the 30th to [email protected]. After that, I will drop all your work into the Adobe suite and make a digital collage/cohesive piece. Depending on the level of participation, perhaps I will make multiple collages. Moozis Only.

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Intersectionality NOW Resident Programming

Solidarity Is (Still) For White Women (Workshop)
Monday, Mar 6, 7 – 9:30pm
In this interactive workshop, we provide a space for white women to learn how to be more effective in organizing spaces shared with women of color by unpacking their white privilege, processing their guilt and shame together, and learning how to make space for others to lead and speak. If you want to be an even better ally / accomplice, this workshop is for you. If you want to understand your whiteness and its origins and consequences on a deeper level, this workshop is for you. If you’re exasperated by the phrase “check your privilege,” this workshop is definitely for you. If you went to the Women’s March and didn’t feel uncomfortable at all, this workshop is for you! Facilitated by organizers from Alliance of White Anti-Racists Everywhere (AWARE).

Taking Up ALL the Space Vol. 1
Monday, Mar 13, 7-9pm
As part of our effort to smash White Feminism while hacking white spaces & resources, we invite womxn of color & radical queerdos to join us in a town hall meeting on at the Women’s Center for Creative Work. As part of our Coalitions Residency, we’re opening up the space to marginalized femmes who are implicitly excluded from fully participating. Snacks provided, BYO. Come print, copy, co-work, talk, hang, critique, comment, & get comfortable taking up ALL the space. 

Towards A Trans Inclusive Feminism (A Dinner Party)
Monday, March 20, 7-9:30pm
Facilitated by Jennicet Gutierrez (Familia TQLM), an. cinquepalmi, Yocheved Zenaida-Cohen, and Amanda-Faye Jimenez.

For this community discussion, we’re challenging the cis-centric nature of feminist organizing and practice. How can we work towards a more inclusive (expansive) definition of womanhood? Can trans women be empowered by reclaiming words used to degrade all femme folx? What language and symbols is it time to discard? What language has yet to be invented? What do all femmes gain by centering transfeminism in a movement for women’s rights? We invite trans women to frame the conversation. This event is open to both trans women and their allies, but the space will be trans & WOC-centric. Please be mindful of the amount of space you take up as a non-trans and/or white person at this event.

Mapping Feminist LA // Intersectionality NOW
Monday Mar 27, 7:30-9:30pm

Intersectionality NOW will join Mapping Feminist LA from 7:30–9:30pm on Monday, March 27th, to think about what defines a feminist resource and how women can be connected through various organizations and spaces in Los Angeles. In developing a web application, Mapping Feminist LA considers potential mapped locations and their impact on the local feminist landscape and establishes criteria that ensure shared resources are inclusive and intersectional.

Taking Up ALL the Space Vol. 2: WOC @ WCCW
Monday, April 10, 7-9pm
As part of our mission to smash White Feminism while hacking white spaces & resources, we invite womxn of color to join us in a town hall meeting on/@ the Women’s Center for Creative Work.

FPCC Zine-Making Workshop
Friday, April 14, 7-9pm
In collaboration with Intersectionality NOW, FPCC will host a zine-making workshop that starts off with a reading discussion of Feminist Pornographic Collective Consciousness, Volume 1.

Remember, Resist and Re-Imagine
Monday, April 24, 7:30-9:30pm
Artists Heisue Chung-Matheu and Grace Hwang invite Maythinee Washington and Chelle Babour into conversation with the public to reflect on the 25th anniversary of the 1992 LA Uprisings, and speak about how art has been a form of resistance and re-imagination for multiracial solidarity.
Selections from Anna Deavere Smith’s work Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 will be screened, followed by a Q & A discussion. Chung-Matheu and Hwang invite the public to a *fishbowlconversation on witnessing, representation and memorializing. The audience is invited to participate in a discussion about the role of artists in diverse, intersectional communities and the means to engage/tackle social issues with artistic/cultural production.


Having Left: Intersectional Perspectives on Migration
Wednesday, April 26,7-9pm
Human Resources: 410 Cottage Home Street, Los Angeles, California 90012
Transnational and intersectional perspectives on feminism encompass questions that challenge postcolonial frameworks and scrutinize the destruction carried out by Western imperialism. Several artists from the Asian diaspora—Christine Dianne Guiyangco, Thinh Nguyen, Seo Yun Son & Eunhae Yoo—will present work exploring global migration, labor, and gender identity. This program is curated by Hyunjee Nicole Kim and presented by Intersectionality NOW.

Feminists Against Capitalism
Monday, May 8, 6:30-8:30pm

Our feminisms—intersectionality, socialist feminism, anarchist feminism, platformist anarcho-communism, and Jineology—reject capitalism as fundamentally and necessarily patriarchal, racist, classist, ableist, and hierarchical.Because these feminisms share a vision of equality in a world done away with capitalism, their liberation strategies have sought to build the power of the people both within and also outside capitalist political formations and institutions.Two historical and now increasingly ever present threats—that of liberal feminist co-optation on the one hand and anticapitalist struggles that treat feminism as secondary on the other—prompt us to make clear where we stand NOW as FEMINISTS AGAINST CAPITALISM.An open discussion will follow the panel.

Taking Up ALL the Space Vol. 3: WOC @ WCCW
Monday, May 15, 7-9pm

For Taking Up ALL the Space Vol. 3, coalitions resident Intersectionality NOW would like to continue the conversation from Vol. 2! We invite womxn of color to join us again at the Women’s Center for Creative Work to talk, hang, eat, collaborate, and get used to taking up ALL the space.

A Conversation On Disability, Neurodiversity, & Chronic Illness
Friday, May 26, 6:30-8:30pm

This event will be a decentralized dialogue on the intersections of disability, chronic illness and neurodiversity within transgender communities, with a particular emphasis on the experience of transgender femmes and transgender women. This event is a space for disabled, chronically ill, and neurodiverse people to express and share their personal experiences, stories and truths.

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Boot Camp for Revolutionaries Pt.1:

Beyond Binaries, Hierarchies, and Capital
Sunday, Mar 5th, 4–7pm
Hosted by Jennifer Moon

Can there be acceptance within resistance? What does it mean to be abundant in a world defined by lack? Is there a hierarchy of trauma? What is your relationship to capital? In this workshop, we will identify the oppressive systems that weigh on you the most as well as develop your distinct abilities to transform any situation into an opportunity for expansion.

Boot Camp for Revolutionaries Pt. 2:
Merging Science and Faith

Saturday, Apr 22nd, 2–5pm
Hosted by Jennifer Moon

Are we interacting with each other or is it our beliefs that are interacting? Who are we beyond our beliefs? This workshop will explore recent discoveries in science such as dark matter and dark energy, quantum physics, cognitive science, gene expression, microbiota and the second brain in our guts, which point to alternative ways of being that can expand our reality beyond the matrix of our beliefs.

Boot Camp for Revolutionaries Pt. 3: Befriending Trauma
Saturday, May 27th, 2–5pm
Hosted by Jennifer Moon

How do you infuse a similar spirit of revolution to community organizing AND to your personal relationships and interactions with colleagues, friends, family, and social media? This workshop will delve deep into our shame identities forged through trauma to understand how we have learned to give and receive love to transform love into a political force for revolution.

SHARE YOUR FEM MENTOR

Sharing Your Feminist Mentor
Tuesday, Mar 14, 7:30-9:30 PM
Hosted by Art Muse LA

Art Muse LA invites you to gather for an intergenerational feminist cocktail hour anchored in sharing oral histories and cultivating new alliances. As we look ahead to the challenges in view, it is important to strengthen webs of connection and explore our collective knowledge. From one generation to another, can we ask each other for advice and support in mobilizing change? During this one-night event, let’s manifest as a temporary coalition, plant the seeds of community, and address these essential questions: (1) In moments of political change, how can past experiences provide knowledge and insight to current events? (2) What are the benefits of intergenerational sharing? What can older workshop participants pass on to younger participants, and vice versa, so we can learn from each other? (3) How can we extend our connections and conversations beyond this workshop?

Mujer Mariposa
Friday, Mar 24, 7:30-9:30pm
Hosted by Diana Cervera

This dynamic workshop will fuse theatre, spoken word, and dialogue centered around healing, corporal narratives, and empowerment of migrant and diaspora communities through art making practice. The aim is to create a space of plurality where the diverse narratives of self-identified womxn representing different perspectives and corporealities intertwine to create representations that serve as counternarratives to static representations of migrant womxn. In light of the anti-immigrant rhetoric used by the Trump campaign to target multiple minoritized and underrepresented groups, this workshop directly embodies the idea of working across lines of difference, uniting struggles through sharing perspective and lived experience. The intention of the space is to create critical dialogue among womxn by engaging the ideas of motherhood, migration, and visibility in popular media. *(space also be open to non-women identified community)

Community Chorus
Sunday, Mar 19th, April 2nd, 16th and 30th, and May 14th and 28th, 1-3pm
Hosted by Carolyn Riggs

Vocalizing is an act of protest! Community Chorus is a bi-monthly safe singing space and activist chorus that will be on-call for protests, rallies, marches, and community-building events. Our goal is to provide an additional platform where participants can rally together in a collective expression of commitment to justice, bravery, beauty, change, action, protest, dissent. The chorus requires no audition/prior skill, and no commitment. Chorus leader Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs will hold bi-monthly 90 minute gatherings with live accompaniment and monthly guest presenters.

Damn It Dolls! And My Good Friend, Anger
Sunday, Mar 26, 3-6pm
Hosted by Smaranda Luna and Jessica Jane Lynch

This workshop is designed to create a dialogue and community around the topic of anger, in addition to helping participants develop strategies and coping skills to deal with their own anger. By creating a safe space where anger can be addressed and looked at from different and creative perspectives, one will begin to demystify this “loaded” emotion, thus making it easier for the individual within her community to practice self-care, self-soothing techniques and to use the positive aspects of this emotion as fuel towards positive action versus destruction. Anger in women is often a taboo in our society and by reframing the way we relate to anger our hope is that this workshop will be a stepping-stone towards breaking this taboo. In learning to communicate anger without shaming and by recognizing it as an important tool, one can be empowered to view anger as a guide and a voice to make positive life changes and create strong coalitions towards common causes.

Parenting as Protest
Sunday March 12, 1 – 4 pm
Sunday, April 9, 1- 4 pm
Sunday, May 7, 1 – 4 pm
Hosted by Gilda Davidian

This group is intended to create a space for parents who are or who want to be engaged in social justice, movement building, advocacy, grassroots organizing, and other forms of protest to reflect, share concerns, collect resources, practice solidarity, and make choices about how to take achievable action with the support of other parents. Each monthly meeting will offer a topic for discussion, as well as time for open dialogue. Guest speakers and opportunities to share resources and make commitments to take action will also be included. Contact [email protected] w/ questions about event.

Feminist Future World Building Workshop
Sunday, Apr 23, 3-6pm
Hosted by Paisley Smith and Caitlin Conlen
$5-10 Suggested Donation

This workshop will harness the power of collaborative imagination in our feminist communities by envisioning a distant feminist future. World building is a design-thinking tool which is used often to create sci-fi, fiction, and fantasy narratives in film, video games, and literature.
First we use design thinking activities to facilitate creative visualization and begin to define the rules of our imagined world. Then we will use hands-on construction of various artifacts from our created world and the stories that have captivated our attention.
What do shoes look like in our feminist future? How about currency? The creation of tangible artifacts brings the details of our created world to life.

Protest 101 for Creatives
Tuesday, Apr 25, 7-9pm
Hosted by Bronwyn Mauldin

Did you know your right to protest is enshrined in the Constitution? What’s the difference between a “demonstration” and “civil disobedience?” Is it safe to take your children to a protest? Is it right to protest right now? Right now, more Americans are getting more engaged in democracy than ever before. They’re doing that in every way possible, from calling and writing elected officials, making donations, running for public office, and protesting. This workshop is designed for people who are new to protests, or perhaps are just protest-curious. It’s also appropriate for people who want to talk about the role of protest in democracy today. We will discuss the roots of political protest in law, the many different types of protest that exist, how to plan to participate in a protest, and what to expect from media coverage. We’ll also discuss any safety concerns you might have. All class participants will receive a handmade zine about protests, created by the instructor. Bring your questions and concerns – we will discuss them and help you find the answers that are right for you.

FemJam 2017: Jamming Feminism and Organizing Across LA!
Saturday, May 20, 12pm–5pm
Cielo Gallery/Studios: 3201 Maple Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90011

FemJam is an intersectional feminist symposium that will bring together both seasoned activists and folks new to resistance from across LA to discuss complex issues women face locally, build advocacy and interpersonal skills, and help grow networks and coalitions between feminists in our city. The stakes are higher than ever, particularly for those from marginalized communities,so we all need to show up for each other to build community, deepen our knowledge, discover new tools, and organize! Get more info here.

Rapid Raid Response Training
Saturday, Apr 15, 12:30–3:30pm
Hosted by Immigrant Youth Coalition
Free, consider making a donation to IYC if you can. 

The Immigrant Youth Coalition is an undocumented and Queer/Trans youth-led organization based in California.  We are also part of the ICE out LA Coalition, working to train volunteers to show up for undocumented community members by participating in our Rapid Raid Response and Deportation Defense Network. If you would like to equip yourself with tools and information to be ready to respond to ICE raid alerts through the IYC’s Raid Response phone tree, and to use your power to show up for the rights of undocumented and/or immigrant community members, this training is for you. Get more info here.

Healing Roots Meditation
Saturday May 6, 1-3pm
Hosted by Wikkid_Beat

This event is a guided meditation that has a community altar that guests are encouraged to contribute to. POC are encouraged to attend. Allies are welcome. Guests will be able to visit and contribute to the altar within the space of mediation. The guided meditation will last an hour, facilitated by Karine Fleurima who will provide the beats as well as the meditation instruction. After the meditation period, participants are invited to share their thoughts and post them to the altar.

Creating Successful Coalitions Across Organizations
Tuesday, May 9, 7:30–9:30pm
Hosted by Rosalind Helfand

Coalitions across organizations can be rewarding and effective for enacting large scale, long term societal change — when they work. But bringing multiple organizations together to take action is a challenge. In this workshop, Nonprofit and Government Advisor Rosalind Helfand will discuss several models for cross-organization coalitions from those that flourish in highly or softly structured environments to the holy grail of organizing — a long lived and effective coalition where all participants have input and decision making power. This workshop is designed to assist participants in strategies to form successful coalitions where all partners actively support a set of common goals. After the presentation, Rosalind will lead the group in an exercise and facilitated discussion where participants will have the opportunity to discuss their current or future endeavors and work through potential challenges. More info here.

Every Struggle is a Class Struggle: Socialism for Feminists
Saturday, May 20, 1-3pm
Hosted by Socialist-Feminist Committee of DSA-LA

Politically engaged feminists probably hear the word “socialism” often, but what is it exactly? Is it the Affordable Care Act? Is it “Bernie-bros?” Does it help feminism?
Come join members of LA’s Democratic Socialists of America chapter to discuss these and many other questions about democratic socialism… and to learn about ongoing leftist activism you can participate in locally. We’ll cover topics ranging from reproductive justice to queer socialism to racial justice, and distribute free/cool zines full of art and further reading. Read more here.

Words We Carry
Sunday, May 28, 3-6pm
Hosted by Beauty Breaks

Beauty breaks is a participatory art project in the form of a workshop series. This iteration highlights the importance of dynamic language and space for conversation amongst black-identified people along a spectrum of femininity. Amina Ross, will lead a meditation on words we carry from our past and language for our present – this is an affirmation exercise. From this meditative space the workshop will transition into a brief presentation on the Beauty Breaks workshop series and its origins in language by Amina Ross showcasing research from the Johnson Publishing Library’s collection of black-owned lifestyle and wellness magazines Ebony and Jet. The workshop will then transition into an experimental sound performance led by A.J McClenon. This session will end with a conversation prompted by Jamillah Hinson on the importance of familial oral history. Black-identified folks only please! Read more here.