Not being who I am is unacceptable.
- Nikky Finney
Caring for myself is not self-indulgence,
it is self-preservation, and that is an act of
political warfare.
- Audre Lorde
A catalyst to choosing ourselves through difficult times and practicing the importance of our truth, “I Am Here: Affirmation as Resistance” is a workshop where participants can speak back to what has made us feel small, invisible, and impossible. This workshop encourages participants to reclaim their bodies and histories. Whether it is a bully from childhood, someone who told you that you can’t, or a country with systems that have shown they don't care whether you are alive, it’s time to denounce the false truths others have given us about who we are and our worth.
All writing levels welcome. The facilitator will supply the writing prompt(s) and attendees are invited to write from them.
ABOUT THE FACILITATOR
Gabriel Ramirez, author of the chapbook IF PIT BULLS HAD A GOD IT’D BE A PIT BULL (The Head & The Hand Press) and the children’s book We’re Community, is a Queer Afro-Caribbean writer, performer, and educator. A 2023 Gregory Djanikian Scholar in Poetry at Adroit Journal and 2024-2025 Poetry Coalition Fellow, Gabriel has received fellowships from the Palm Beach Poetry Festival, The Conversation Literary Arts Festival, CantoMundo, and Miami Book Fair, and been a graduate fellow at The Watering Hole and a participant in the Callaloo Writer’s Workshops. Gabriel has performed on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theatre, United Nations, Lincoln Center, Apollo Theatre, The National Museum of Romanian Literature, and other venues & universities around the nation. You can find their work in various spaces, including YouTube, and in publications like Poetry Magazine, Poem-a-Day, Muzzle Magazine, Adroit Journal, Split This Rock’s The Quarry, BOMB, Bettering American Poetry Anthology (Bettering Books 2017), What Saves Us: Poems of Empathy and Outrage in the Age of Trump (Northwestern University Press 2019), The Breakbeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNEXT (Haymarket Press 2020), and Latino Poetry: The Library of America Anthology (Library of America 2024). Learn more about Gabriel Ramirez @RamirezPoet and at their website.
ACCESSIBILITY
Accessibility is a core value for Split This Rock. We strive to provide programs, materials, and communications that allow people within the disability community to engage fully. Zoom auto-captions will be provided. Written versions of poem prompts and poems used for discussion will be provided via screen share, the chat, or links.
Let us know of any accessibility questions or accommodation requests via the workshop registration form or by emailing [email protected] with "ACCESS REQUEST" in the subject line by Friday, October 24th. Given our ongoing funding challenges, we cannot promise accessibility services, but will do our best to provide accommodations.
SCHOLARSHIPS
Split This Rock is committed to providing more affordable options for paid poetry programs. There are a limited number of scholarship seats available on a first come, first served basis. Please email [email protected] to claim one of these seats or tickets. We will send you a discount code you can use when registering. When these seats are all claimed, we will update this page.
ABOUT SPLIT THIS ROCK
Split This Rock is the only national organization with a mission to integrate poetry and social justice. We materially support poets who are often excluded and underrepresented in the literary landscape, particularly those who are BIPOC, LGBTQ, disabled or chronically ill, and/or working class. With strong commitments to racial, gender, economic, and disability justice, we work to expand the horizons of inclusion and assert the transformative power of language to bear witness to injustice and provoke social change. We believe poetry acts as an agent for change by revealing the diversity and complexity of human experience, reflecting on daily lives and struggles, considering personal and social responsibility, and envisioning a better world. Learn more at Split This Rock's website.