Back in February 21st of 2022 this year, I did a one-hour workshop for Blue Stoop, an interesting Philadelphia literary organization that has been growing consistent in soliciting the local authorship (if u will) to participate in doing paid workshops for their audience. ::curtsies:: I liked it.
I believe this is the only recorded instance of my Desire Practice worksheet in action, followed by a Q&A with not enough time, barely dipping the ladle in a deeper pool of conversation about desire in a white supremacist society, sensing the constraints of one’s own taboos, and responsibility towards ur audience.
In this Wednesday on the Stoop, we investigate: is it possible to write yourself out of a bad situation and into your own fantasies? This speculative writing workshop is for people who find themselves stuck, conflicted, in denial, or self-sabotaging of their own desires. Using sci-fi, magic, and smut logics to unstick themselves—and maybe even conjure a new narrative—participants will receive a set of prompts to fill out during and after, along with time for discussion. Bring your favorite notebook, and be ready to go easy on yourself.
The worksheet referenced in the video is here: https://cyborgmemoirs.com/2018/10/ven…
M Téllez writes and performs speculative tales about desolation/intimacy, class/objectification, borders/land-based memory/media control, and the violence in relying on binaries to order the world. A heavily cyborg storyteller and sloganeer from the 215, they are a founding member of METROPOLARITY, a corner store sci-fi & thought collective that uses speculative thinking as a shield and wand against standing empire. M is rendering a novelization of their All That’s Left series about disabled cyborg workers in a flooded out near future. Visit CyborgMemoirs.com for more.
https://www.bluestoop.org/events/wednesdays-on-the-stoop-speculative-writing-w-m-tllez