I had the pleasure of doing another workshop on romance with the Fireweed Collective, following up on my Valentine’s Day 2021 workshop on the Romance Myth, below.
Below is a video of the ASL interpreters for the Romance Myth workshop.
Video: The Revolution Is My Personfriend Workshop
The Poetry Project invited me to give a workshop in December 2021. I shared some of the material from a book I’m working on. This interactive workshop focuses on what the Romance Myth is, how it fucks us up, and how friendship can be a useful support.
Workshop Series: Building Capacity for Mutual Aid Groups
October 2021-January 2022 I am offering this series of four workshops about how to meet common obstacles facing mutual aid groups. For each of the posted workshops, you can find the slides, links to resources mentioned, templates of proposals I discussed in the workshops, and other tools in the links below each video here. The last in the series is coming up January 20. Register here.
WORKSHOP 1: No Masters, No Flakes
Group culture, capacity, overwork, procrastination, and perfectionism in mutual aid groups.
Presentation slides (PDF)
Results from the live polls (PDF)
Resources
Dean Spade: Facilitating Conversations about Capacity in Mutual Aid Groups (video)
Dean Spade: Burnout in Mutual Aid Groups (video)
Building Capacity for Mutual Aid Groups (Workshop 2): Decision-Making (video)
WORKSHOP 2: Decision-Making
Resources
Dean Spade: Facilitating Conversations about Capacity in Mutual Aid Groups (video)
Dean Spade: Burnout in Mutual Aid Groups (video)
Building Capacity for Mutual Aid Groups (Workshop 1): No Masters, No Flakes! (video)
Consensus (Direct Democracy @ Occupy Wall Street) (video)
WORKSHOP 3: Skills for Abolitionist Practice
Live transcription is available here.
A workshop with Dean Spade about giving and receiving feedback in mutual aid groups.
Resources
- Slides from the workshop
- Workshop template – slide deck template to put on a workshop about group culture and feedback in your mutual aid group (Google slideshow)
- Turning Toward Each Other: A Conflict Workbook
- In It Together – a new workbook/toolkit for groups doing social movement work about conflict in our groups
- Centered Self-Accountability by Shannon Perez-Darby
- Building Accountable Communities video series
WORKSHOP 4: Bringing New People Into the Work
More videos from this series:
- Why Should Mutual Aid Groups Use Consensus Decision Making?
- Building Trust in Groups Using Consensus Decision Making
- Basic Steps in Consensus Decision Making
- Facilitation for Consensus Decision Making
- Mutual Aid and Internalized Cultural Messages about Work
- Horizontal Group Structures in Mutual Aid Work
- Group Culture around Capacity in Mutual Aid
- Facilitating Conversations about Capacity in Mutual Aid Groups
- Burnout in Mutual Aid Groups
Video: Beyond the Bars 2021 Panel
I had the great fortune to be part of this discussion about abolition in 2021 with Gina Dent, Dawn Harrington and Ivan Calaff.
Video: Mutual Aid Workshop for CAT-911 with ASL Interpretation
I recently got to do a political education workshop about mutual aid for a group I really admire, CAT-911. They are working to build ways of responding to emergencies without calling the cops, and their work is very thoughtful and inspiring!
Video: “Facing the Limits of Law Reform in these Times of Crisis” Lecture
Video: In Conversation with Kelly Hayes about Mutual Aid
I had the great honor to be part of the Women’s History Month Annual Symposium at Northwestern University, where I got to be in conversation with Kelly Hayes about mutual aid. Check it out!
Resources about the Role of Lawyers in Social Movements
People who are considering going to law school are already started or finished law school ask me about this question a lot. Here are some of the things I have put together over the years that may be useful.
Here’s a captioned video from a recent presentation at Northwestern: “Fighting to Win: The Roles of Lawyering and Law Reform in Liberation Struggles”.
Here’s a captioned video of a May 2021 conversation with Stanford Law students about the role of lawyers in movements and how people who are in law school or have graduated from law school can be of service to movements. Here is a captioned video recording from an event titled “What Every Activist Should Know Before Going to Law School” hosted by the University of Washington’s Legal Pathways program in April 2020.
And finally, about ten years ago I published this short essay in the lefty law journal Unbound about the myths that mislead a lot of people who want social change to think they should go to law school, and the realities people should know before going. I think it is still a pretty good summary of the issues.
Video: Conversation about Mutual Aid with Nikkita Oliver
It was such a treat to have a conversation with Nikkita Oliver, one of my favorite collaborators and teachers, about my new book on mutual aid in January.
CLAGS 30th Anniversary Event Video: Queer and Trans Activism Then and Now
It was such an honor to be part of this panel of Kessler Award winners, with Urvashi Vaid and Amber Hollibaugh, skillfully facilitated by Shanté Paradigm Smalls.