Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Art,
CAEA Conference in San Jose this weekend
The CSLA/CLA conference last weekend in Sacramento was a blast, and now we’re off to San Jose this weekend for the 2010 California Arts Education Association conference. Maya will be presenting an Intro to Claiming Face workshop on Friday, Nov. 19th from 12:30-1:45pm. The conference will be held at the DoubleTree Hotel in San Jose from Nov. 18th-21st. More details about the conference on their website.
Plus earlier in the day on Friday Maya will be working with a group of student teachers at California State University Monterey Bay with her colleague and friend, Dr. Miguel Lopez. One of the goals of the sessions with these students is to present a case study in relation to Claiming Face and what it can accomplish in personal lives as well as in the classroom. Along with creativity and reflection, students will have the rare opportunity of practicing presence with Maya. One of the three main tenets of Claiming Face. We hope to share more about the outcome of this case study as a great way to continue to articulate the powerful work of Claiming Face.
Filed under CLAIMING FACE, Conferences, Maya in the Classroom | Tags: CLAIMING FACE, conference, creativity, educators | Comment (0)Join Maya at the “Navigating the New” CLA/CSLA Conference this weekend!
Join Maya in Sacramento this weekend at the “Navigating the New: Charting the Future Together” Conference, presented by the California Library Association and the California School Library Association. In addition to Maya’s Sunday morning workshop about Claiming Face, she will also be one of the authors hosting a table at the CYRM/Beatty Award and Author Banquet on Saturday evening from 7-9pm. Come have dinner with Maya, get your books signed, and learn more about her Claiming Face curriculum. Look forward to seeing you there!
| Important Details about the Conference: | |
| Conference Location & Dates: | Friday, Nov. 12th-Monday, Nov. 15th Sacramento Convention Center 1400 J Street, Sacramento, CA |
| CYRM/Beatty Award and Author Banquet: | Saturday, Nov. 13th, 7-9pm at the Sheraton Grand Sacramento |
| Maya’s Workshop: | Sunday, Nov. 14th, 9:30am-10:30am |
More details about the conference on the conference website, plus view the Program Schedule.
Filed under CLAIMING FACE, Conferences, Events | Tags: CLAIMING FACE, conference, educators, library, presentations | Comment (0)Teachers for Social Justice Conference and Maya’s Open Studios
This weekend in San Francisco is one not to be missed! The Teachers for Social Justice: A Labor of Love Conference starts off the weekend on Saturday from 9am-5pm at Mission High School. This conference is FREE and open to the public. With over 50 different workshops to choose from, this conference is sure to have you coming away inspired and empowered. Maya will be presenting one of her Claiming Face workshops during the morning session from 10:45-12:30. Reflection Press will also be tabling at the event alongside Children’s Book Press so be sure to stop by and say hi.
Workshop registration is done on the day of, on a first-come, first-served basis. The doors open at 8:30am and if there is a workshop that you are particularly excited about, it is recommended that you come at that time to sign up. Learn more about the conference on the T4SJ website or download the full program to start planning your day.
And as a special bonus, this weekend also happens to be the first weekend of Open Studios and Maya will be opening her studio doors to show off her latest Continue reading »
An Open Letter from Sylvia Guerrero urging acceptance of diversity
The time is now to make a difference. Our children must be supported to be who they are without fear of harrasment and bullying. We can change things, opening our minds to all the ways to be in this world is a start, empowering our children is the beginning of change. Change begins within each of us. When we are truly authentic to ourselves there is no need to judge or condemn others. Read Sylvia’s powerful words below and then ask yourself what can you do today to be more authentically you? Then go out and do it! Let these children’s deaths not be in vain, let it be a catalyst for change.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 4, 2010
CONTACT: Kristina Wertz, Legal Director, Transgender Law Center
PHONE: 415-865-0176
EMAIL:kristina@transgenderlawcenter.org
Sylvia Guerrero, Mother of Slain Teen Gwen Araujo, Addresses LGBT Youth Suicide
San Francisco – Today, on the eighth anniversary of her daughter’s murder, Sylvia Guerrero, mother of slain transgender teenager Gwen Araujo, released the following open letter addressing suicide and violence experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth:
Dear friends of the Transgender Law Center,
It is with a heavy heart that I write to you today. It has been eight years since my beautiful daughter Gwen Araujo was brutally killed because she was transgender. Gwen was the light of my life. She was taken from us at the young age of seventeen; she was a victim of a culture where people react with violence when faced with difference. It is this same culture that led to the suicides of at least six lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people in the last week.
My heart goes out to the families of these young people. I know what it is like to be the mother of a teenager who endured constant bullying. I cannot count the times that I held Gwen in my arms while she cried at the end of the school day. My Gwen was so smart. She could have grown up to be anything she wanted. But her opportunity was taken from her. Years of bullying forced her to stop going to school. She was harassed and threatened every day. At the time, I didn’t know that harassment based on gender identity and expression was against the law in California. My calls to the school went unanswered, and Continue reading »
Filed under LGBTQI Families | Tags: acceptance, courage, gender, GENDER NOW, lgbt, transgender | Comments (5)The Blessing of a Ban
This week we celebrate Banned Books Week. Banned books are insights into a culture’s deepest fears. They speak to what we’re trying not to face, what we’re in total denial of or what we feel we must suppress to maintain and protect the current order. Clearly these books hold power. For one, a book like this has become visible enough to be a problem and two, its contents are so powerful they must be controlled. These are books to pay attention to.
I imagine one day we will look back as a planet and be impressed with how limited our thinking was during this time. 
I imagine in this future day, we will generally think many more thoughts than we do now and we will feel completely free to do so. This is a natural future to me because in my imaginary world, thought and awareness always expand.
I have a professor friend I work with in Alabama. Last year during an interview I told him I didn’t think my new coloring book, Gender Now, would be banned despite the fact that it has naked children showing multiple gender expression. He said I should be so lucky to have my book banned. I laughed. Yesyes. I should be so lucky! Lucky enough for my book to join the list of those books that in their mere existence present the great opportunity for us to expand our minds to the point of freedom.
Here’s to all the banned books, the good, the bad, the brilliant and the brave. To you I show respect by happily falling through the dark, out of my clothes and into the dough of the night kitchen! In salutation of all those who have helped expand our minds…I play. I expand. I know. I am free.
And I sing into that night…You will never imprison my mind. (Gandhi)
About Banned Books Week: Banned Books Week is the only national celebration of the freedom to read. It was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. More than a thousand books have been challenged since 1982. More at: http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/
Filed under Events, General, LGBTQI Families | Tags: acceptance, ban, courage, gender, lgbt, library | Comment (0)
