Workshop Series at The Sou’wester
Writing Through the Cracks: Self-Forgiveness & Compassion in Memoir Writing with Cooper Lee Bombardier & Gina Senarighi
‘Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.”
– Leonard Cohen
To write about pivotal events from our own lives requires a reckoning with our pasts. How do we interrogate ourselves to get at the truth of our stories when the details do not always shine a glamourous light upon us? Writing Through the Cracks will give you tools to get vulnerable in your writing, scrutinize the past from a place of compassion, and help you to discover the story beneath your stories. Join educator, coach, consultant, and professional shame slayer Gina Senarighi and nonfiction writer and educator Cooper Lee Bombardier for an engaging, accessible, and intensive day-long writing workshop at the beautiful and historic Sou’wester Lodge. Writers of all levels are welcome!
Cooper Lee Bombardier is a writer and visual artist based in Portland, Oregon. His work appears in many publications and anthologies, most recently in The Kenyon Review, CutBank, Nailed Magazine, Original Plumbing, as well as the anthology The Remedy–Essays on Queer Health Issues, (ed. Zena Sharman) from Arsenal Pulp Press. Cooper’s visual art was recently curated in an exhibition called “Intersectionality” at the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami. He teaches writing at the University of Portland, Clark College, Portland State University, and at various Portland-area high schools as a writer-in-residence through Literary Art’s program Writers in The Schools.
Gina Senarighi, MS, MA, CPC is a communication consultant, sexuality counselor and certified relationship coach specializing in queer love polyamory, open relationships, jealousy, and infidelity. She’s been leading retreats to build courage and slay shame in LGBTQ community across Washington and Oregon since 2003.
COST: $30 ($50 for both classes)
(This workshop will run on Tuesday August 15th and also on Wednesday August 16th. The cost for each workshop is $30, but if students wish to take both classes, the returning students on Wednesday would receive guided writing time. and both classes together would cost only $50.)
BRING: an open mind, a couple of pens and a notebook or paper to write in/on. A legal pad with a cardboard back is ideal! Please bring a sack lunch and/or snack. Hot tea and coffee provided.
All workshops are open to the public.
Workshop for students age 18 and older.
All Skill Levels Welcome.
RSVP via souwesterfrontdesk@gmail.com or 360-642-2542