Civics

Fall 2016 Programming Theme

For Fall of 2016 we are thinking about Civics: from jury duty to neighborhood council meetings to the election on November 8, what are the ethics of our public lives as participants within a large nation? What are the actions we undertake together to create the space of the commons? What does feminist civic duty look like? What are our individual relationships to a larger system? What does it mean to be one of the many?

We are interested in challenging the traditional notions of citizenship by exploring all kinds of meaningful activities within public life; from personal bureaucratic processes like changing one’s name to public actions like protesting in the street. What does it mean to be a citizen of a family, a community, a country, the world? We want to occupy the idea of civic duty as a process of action between community members.

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Inspiring Social Change Through Storytelling
Wednesdays, Sept 7th and 21st, ongoing bi-weekly through the Fall, 7:30-9:30pm

Inspired by last season’s Writing for Performance workshop, this workshop (meeting for 2 hours bi-weekly) endeavors to develop more politically-driven and socially-conscious writing through personal storytelling in order to offer all audiences a deeper understanding of issues affecting women and inspiring them to act to address them. Throughout the course of the workshop, participants will be asked to share a speech by a political figure or activist (fictional or non-fictional) that inspires them. Their chosen speech will serve as a blueprint (structurally and tonally) for participants to compose their own monologue about a social or political issue of their choosing, examined through the lens of their own personal experience. This 8-week workshop will culminate in a reading of the writing developed in the workshop at the Samuel French Theatre Bookshop in Hollywood.

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Vote Your Values Workshop – Election 2016 Edition
Friday, September 23rd, 7-10pm

Attending this evening workshop allows each attendee to dedicate a few hours to understanding their rights and choices as a voter. Each participant will receive a copy of the zine, “The Guide to Voting Your Values” which will serve as a reference guide to find answers regarding your voting rights. Along with learning their rights as a voter, each attendee will have the opportunity to sit, contemplate and define their values and issues of priority.  With their perspectives in focus, each voter will learn how to find the information they need to make a decision on any proposition or candidate. This is a non-partisan, non-judgmental, how-to workshop to help individuals embark on their own research path to confident, fear-less voting. Armed with easy-to-access resources catered to your individual priorities, voting will be a focused and prideful activity. This workshop additionally serves to add information to the zine to be inclusive of ideas that participants think are important to research and add for future readers.  As an evolving zine, each workshop develops it further to include more perspectives as it grows. The zine will live on LoveArtVisuals.com as a free to access digital zine, updated as it evolves. This living, evolving project will be posted online prior to the 2016 presidential election.

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Social Justice Leadership Seminar For Teens: A Lesson in Shine Theory
Saturday, September 24th, 6-8pm

Isabel Grigoryan, a senior at Hoover High School, has a passion for politics and social justice. Underwhelmed by the lack of options in Los Angeles for teens in leadership, Isabel decided to take matters into her own hands and create her own seminar for teens of all ages. As a Middle Eastern girl, Isabel is preaching intersectionality in all aspects of the seminar; including topics on race, gender, sexuality, islamophobia, transphobia, and disability rights. Inspired by the principles of “Shine Theory” by Ann Friedman and ArtHoe Collective founder and blogger, 2jam4u, the seminar will be inspired by the fact that if one of us shines, we all shine. If we as a community are creating change from a grassroots level, then we are all promoting for the greater good. The social justice leadership seminar is to help teens interested in politics and social issues have a better understanding on how to help their community and get involved. Learn about the influence of social media in activism, debate on topics with teens with a passion for change, and even take a closer look on social justice through a pop culture lens (Ex: The influence of Beyoncé’s Lemonade and how to communicate your message through art). With amazing guest speakers such as Black Lives Matter, Critical Resistance, Progressive Action, the YWCA, and more, this seminar will help the leaders of tomorrow, build connections and create new opportunities within LA and their schools. Open to all high schoolers in LA with a passion for social justice and leadership!

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LA for Choice Clinic Escort Training
Sunday, September 25th 1:00-3:00pm

Come get trained to be an abortion clinic escort! Volunteer trainers from LA for Choice will talk about their experiences and the history of clinic escorting/LA for Choice, what it takes to be an escort, and the laws that protect clinics and property lines. Then we’ll do some super cool role plays, answer your questions, and at the end of the training you can sign up to be an abortion clinic escort if you so choose. It’s a rad way to serve your community and get involved in reproductive justice at the local level, and we are always looking for more volunteers.

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Unprofessional Development: A Healing & Brainstorming Space for K-12 Educators
September 25th, October 9th & 23rd,
9:00am-11:00am

While teaching children is a joyous career, it can also be draining and anxiety-inducing, especially for teachers whose identities fall somewhere outside of dominant societal norms. This series aims to provide a safe, unaffiliated space for K-12 teachers to reflect critically on their work and work environment, heal from trauma experienced or exacerbated on the job, and brainstorm a healthy future for all teachers and students. Each session will begin with meditation and roundtable discussion; the second half of each evening will be devoted to developing a collaborative self-care zine that can be independently reproduced and distributed to teachers in our extended networks.

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Presidential Debate Watching Party
Monday, September 26th, 6-8pm

Primary election debates are awkward as best, traumatizing at worst. Don’t stick it out alone in your apartment, come down to WCCW and let’s all go through it together! Comfy pillows and camaraderie will be provided, bring a drink or snack to share!

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Feminist Resource Mapping
Tuesday, September 27th, 7-10pm

Have you ever wanted access to a digital mapping tool to help you locate important feminist resources within Los Angeles?  What kinds of assets and services in our communities – cultural organizations, women’s health centers, feminist businesses – would you include as invaluable to women and civic life?  Join the Women’s Center for Creative Work for a series of working group meetings as we seek to unify the LA feminist community through a collaborative resource mapping project. All are invited to help identify and share submissions on feminist cultural resources located in our city.  Feminist Resource Mapping meetings will occur on the last Tuesday of every month this Fall — September 27th, October 25th, and November 29th.

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Civic Engagement Homework Club
Tuesdays, September 27th, 7-9:30pm; October 25th, 7-9:30pm; November 29th, 7-9:30pm.

We hear people in our community calling for CHANGE but struggling to find the time to ACT upon that change. The Civic Engagement Homework Club is a recurring meet-up for anyone to put in time on civic engagement or activism projects + processes. You may use the time to work on, research, write about, think about, draw about, or meditate about any issue that speaks to you. Activism is a multi-faceted process – you choose to use the time however you see fit. We will work as a group to create a supportive, respectful, inclusive & accommodating environment for those who show up. What will be provided: paper, pens, wi-fi, tea, coffee, water, non-lyrical ambient music, tables / chairs / floor cushions, 5 minute opening & closing meditations.

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Deconstructing Legalize: A Found Poetry Workshop
Thursday, October 6th, 7:30pm-9:30pm

“Deconstructing Legalize” is a found poetry workshop that examines contracts and codes imposed upon us by bureaucratic systems, and reconstructs the language to reclaim our personal histories. The nuances of our health, relationships, advocacy, creativity and identities are often dismantled through the use of legalese, such as rendering the brutality of divorce to capitalistic grievances, or the reducing the declaration of our gender identity to medical records and non-disclosure agreements. During this workshop, attendees take documents that have undermined significant events in their lives, and reconstruct the jargon into empowering and personalized pieces of writing. They are invited to do so through a physical process of cutting and reconstructing texts.

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Where to Start with Legal Research
Saturday, October 8th, 2-5pm

This workshop will cover the basics of legal research including free resources and a discussion of what resources are available at LA area libraries. Participants will leave the workshop with a clear jumping off point for finding their own self-determination in the legal system.  Participants who wish to follow along with the live searching may bring a laptop or other electronic device to search the internet with. Please bring a laptop or other internet compatible device to use during the workshop.

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Understanding California’s Ballot Measures Workshop
Know Before You Go: Understanding California’s Ballot Measures
Saturday, October 15th, 2-5pm

Know Before You Go: Understanding California’s Ballot Measures is a one-day public workshop intended to educate local voters about issues that will appear on the General Election ballot. While most voters are informed about the Executive and Legislative candidates, they do not have the time or resources to learn about state, county, and city ballot measures. The language of ballot measures is often written to be confusing and it can be difficult to decipher the impact of a proposition on one’s own. Often times only a few measures gain significant media attention, and the others are rarely discussed. As Californians, it is important that we become informed on these measures and have a say in how our state is run. Ballot measures play a direct role in our lives, whether we vote on them or not. This workshop would provide voters a space to have a non-partisan discussion about a selection of key issues that will appear on the ballot in November.  During the workshop, a representative from the nonpartisan political organization, League of Women Voters, will present a series of short presentations on a selected grouping of ballot measures. The speaker will provide vital facts about the measures and address the impact of a “yes” versus “no” vote. After each presentation, there will be an opportunity for audience members to ask questions and share comments. Each presentation is slated to last for 5 minutes and each accompanying question and answer section will be 5-7 minutes. The workshop will be approximately 3 hours with a scheduled midpoint break.

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Feminist Birding Workshop
Feminism, Birding & Unexpected Models for Community Based Change

Sunday, October 16th, 10am-1pm

Bring your binoculars, notebooks, and cameras to this active workshop exploring the feminist origins of popular birding and the impact of birding, in turn, on how we civically engage to enact change.  We’ll start at the WCCW with a little history and then head out to the LA River where we’ll walk, observe, and periodically stop and talk about unexpected models for community based change, beginning with the relationship between the simple act of enjoying birds and the environmental conservation movement, and including contemporary examples from across Los Angeles. Participants will be encouraged to develop their own ideas for unexpected civic engagement projects and outline plans to make them a reality by the end of the workshop. They’ll also, hopefully, have a great record of birds sighted along the way!

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Rock Haven Town Hall
Presented by FRIENDS OF ROCKHAVEN & WHICH WITCH
Thursday, October 20th 7:00-9:00pm

Rockhaven Sanitarium, established in La Crescenta in 1923 by nurse Agnes Richards, was revolutionary among other psychiatric facilities of its time. Not only was it unusual for a woman to found her own facility, Richards upheld a uniquely feminist mission throughout her operation of Rockhaven, which sought to provide dignified mental health care for women rather than the abuse and isolation that was the norm. Starting with a single stone house on Honolulu Avenue, Richards went on to purchase several adjacent Craftsman‐style bungalows that provided the facility with its “home‐like” quality. Ultimately acquiring 3.3 acres, Richards recognized the therapeutic value of a tranquil environment and fresh air. She created patios and arcades, beautifully maintained gardens, and nursing wings plastered with decorative floral wallpaper. As a non-sectarian facility, Rockhaven was also “open to all irrespective of race, creed, or color.” In 2008, after 80 years of successful operation, the city of Glendale purchased Rockhaven for $8.25 million with vague plans to preserve the site and its buildings. However, due to Glendale’s ensuing financial constraints, Rockhaven has sat in disrepair for the last 10 years. Over the past year the City has been accepting proposals from private developers who seek to purchase Rockhaven. In a city like Los Angeles, where the past is routinely paved over for a glitzier, more marketable future, how should we think about valuable sites in our cultural landscape? In what ways can we provide ethical stewardship of our historic architectures, and through them, preserve a cultural legacy bound intimately to a specific time and place? We invite the WCCW community to participate in a collective brainstorm regarding Rockhaven’s past and future. The Friends of Rockhaven is an advocacy group spearheaded by Joanna Linkchorst

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Jupiter into Libra Workshop
Jupiter into Libra: Justice, Balance and The Beauty of Connection

Saturday, October 22nd, 7-9pm

In this workshop we will explore Jupiter, planet of luck, abundance, law and philosophy. Jupiter is embarking on a 12 month trip through Libra, the sign of harmony, balance and justice. Jupiter will be actively encouraging growth in the area of our chart that contains Libra. Working with Jupiter as it’s moving through our chart can bring about a healthy expansion, help us to unlock opportunity and move us to grow along sustainable lines. In this workshop we’ll look at what this transit means both personally and collectively as Jupiter ventures through Libra from September 2016-October 2017 for the first time in 12 years.

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Finding your Voice and Promoting Community Workshop
Lessons from Nature: Finding your Voice and Promoting Community in a Garden of Egos
October 24th, 7:30-9:30pm

Laura Goldberg presents a workshop entitled Lessons from Nature: Finding your Voice and Promoting Community in a Garden of Egos. In this workshop, participants will learn why communication is important in a community and how getting our individual needs met can contribute to the overall empowerment of the community. They will learn to identify personality traits that contribute to the greater good of the community and those that prevent growth and inhibit connection. They will also learn 5 tools for increasing effective communication within the community.

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Decoding Key CA Ballot Initiatives with a Feminist Lens
Wednesday, October 26th, 7:30-9pm

Clockshop: 2806 Clearwater St., Los Angeles, CA 90039

Did you know that Angelenos will have to vote on a whopping 17 ballot initiatives this fall? Join local community advocates, the Los Angeles Women’s Impact Collective and the Women’s Center for Creative Work to take a closer at some of the key ballot measures we’ll be voting on this fall with a feminist lens. The discussion will be led by local issue experts and will examine how initiatives around homelessness, transportation, health and education, and drug and criminal justice reform will impact the lives of women locally and throughout the state. Featured speakers include:

Eunisses Hernandez, Drug Policy Alliance
Jessica Meaney, Investing in Place
Marie Kennell, SEIU 721
Araceli Campos, City of Los Angeles Commission on the Status of Women
Nithya Raman, former Special Advisor on Homelessness to the CAO, City of Los Angeles.

Join us for a night of education, voter information, and conversation to learn how you can advocate for women locally with your vote on November 8th!

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Working Group
November 19, 2016, 1-4pm;
November 20, 2016 10-4pm

How do we work? And how could we work, together, better? As the distance between psychotherapy and group team-building exercises grows steadily more narrow, we can’t help but ask ourselves what we are missing out on in the HR agendas of corporate America. Focused around those undeserved by management and interpersonal relations techniques that seem simultaneously hackneyed and a little bit useful, Working Group asks how we can offer ourselves better individual and group career services for the contractor, the adjunct professor, the arts organizer and other nontraditional workers of the new economy. By addressing a number of different types of labor and workplace environments, we hope to provide an alternative to more exclusive or adversarial options currently available, such as the “lean-in” philosophy aimed at already successful female managers in corporate environments. What of these rules apply to the challenges faced in non-traditional workplaces? Takes place in two sessions: Town Hall meeting on Nov 19, and the retreat on Nov 20.

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Know Your Spiritual Rights!
Sunday, November 20 7-9pm

What are our rights? Where do they come from? Are they innate or are they granted by something outside of us? How can we think of rights as a tool for both political and spiritual healing? What kinds of contracts are we making with the Goddess, the Universe, ourselves, and others? How can we consciously create contracts with the spiritual world that help us to make manifest a world of greater justice, connection and beauty? We will discuss these ideas and do some writing to help us clarify these ideas and make manifest our best selves and highest purposes.

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Inclusive Emoji Workshop
Saturday, November 12th, 3-6pm
 
Join us in a discussion of emoji politics, then brainstorm and create new emoji for feelings and situations unique to our identities and unaddressed by the current emoji set. We will supply markers and paper for participants. If you want to work digitally please bring your own laptop, tablet, etc. In communication on and off the internet, emoji are a core way for people to express themselves as a citizen of the internet and world. This character set is controlled and maintained by a small group of people, the Unicode Consortium. As a result, the emoji set fails to represent many aspects of a non cisgendered heteronormative white masculine experience. The act of creating our own emoji challenges the centralized role of the consortium and expands the experiences and identities that can be expressed with it. We see this as an act of rebellion, as we will focus our new emoji on marginalized experiences to reclaim this part of language for more inclusive, activist purposes.
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Activating Your faith in Community Workshop
November 11, 2016, 7:30-9pm

There are so many “hot button” political issues rooted in the name of “Faith” with a capital “F” that can be divisive. When feminists come together, there can be a more expansive understanding of faith. This workshop is designed to engage people in the spirit that WCCW describes, “of generosity & joy.” The purpose of this workshop is not to talk about religion, but to activate discourse about a meaningful topic and introduce ourselves to intersectional understandings. This is the personal side in the process of social participation between community members. This activity is designed to engage people who we are intrinsically linked to our lives, through a feminist network and community, about faith. Conversations spark connection and more often than not curiosity about our own choices or structure we see our beliefs through. The workshop is really a conduit for a dialogue that will contribute to a “radically expansive understanding of feminism, what is a woman & what is female experience.”

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The Law of Attraction for Radical Nonconformists Workshop
November 4, 2016, 7:30-9:30pm

“The Secret,” a book and film released in 2006 about using the “Law of Attraction” to attain “health, wealth and happiness,” is one of the best-selling self-help books of all time. Among other things, “The Secret” promises “massive wealth” along with “dream homes” and new cars to those who apply its principles. “The Secret” essentially states that reality can be manifested through one’s thoughts, and that one must simply learn how to envision their desires properly in order to see them realized. In less than six months after “The Secret” was released, nearly 4 million books were in print with more than 2 million DVDs sold in a year. The technique described by “The Secret”, and indeed by many magical systems, is to simply focus on what you want, think positively, and take steps to obtain your desires. “The Secret” model of the Law of Attraction disregards marginalized groups by ignoring systemic restraints and focusing only on the power of the individual. Additionally, while we all deserve to be compensated well for the services we offer, it is not possible that we as individuals can have as many cars and dream homes as we could possibly want without negatively impacting others or the planet. In this two hour workshop, we will explore ancient techniques for applying the “Law of Attraction” that are considerate of the whole of the planet, and learn tools for framing wants and desires in a way that is effective and feels healthful for you as an individual. I will introduce the concept of “three brained” wish making and other tools for self actualization. We will use meditation to get in touch with our needs, and then perform a ritual as a group to see them actualized. We will end by repeating this same ritual on behalf of all beings on planet Earth. Together we will explore ways to move from profit-centered, mechanistic models of desiring, to more service-interested, conscious models, holding space and promise for those who are seeking a type of prosperity that has greater awareness and responsibility.

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Civil Punk Yoga
Thursday, November 3rd 7:30-9:30pm

CIVILPUNKYOGA is a special workshop which extends the twice-weekly Kali Yoga #PUNKROCKYOGA classes at Bootleg Theater with the intention of congregating and healing en masse. What is #PUNKROCKYOGA? Radical inclusivity of a healing and wellness practice that is accessible to all ages, ability, genders and identity. What will #CIVILPUNKYOGA workshop be like? In this workshop, we carve out space in our lives for connecting with our community in order to discuss pressing issues, increase communication by learning conflict resolution using age-old yoga sutras, create boundaries by implementing visualizations, and end with a restorative, healing yoga practice which incorporates light partner work. Gathering in this way amplifies healing by creating connection, civility, communion. A crystal punk gift bag will be provided to set and share intentions. WHAT WE’LL COVER Community Discussion – How to use the language and philosophy of yoga to communicate about present issues and resolve conflict. A 75 minute asana practice wherein together we: – Access our root chakra, the center of security, community, safety – Visualizations (bhavanas) – Light partner work – Eye gazing Extended savasana with crystals and aromatherapy WHAT YOU’LL TAKE HOME – Body awareness, community connection, renewal – Tools for creating boundaries in order to focus on healing and restoration – Simple movements to recharge yourself at home in minutes – A crystal punk bag: crystals to set on your nightand and altar to access the intentions you set in class at anytime – Punk pins (Grace Jones or Blondie) to put on your most loved, soul illuminating punk jacket.