Hi all!

This newsletter is an open invitation to sign-up for my upcoming workshop in tkaronto/toronto on february 23rd and march 1st: “Decolonial Loving”! This free three hour in-person workshop will have guided discussion and activities on what decolonial looks and feels like in our lives. We will explore themes of: self-esteem, self-belief, self-love, and self-trust. This is the workshop’s first run through and it’s specifically for queer and/or trans people and allies. In future renditions, I would love to have different specific groups attend this workshop and also have the doors open to any and all. But, because this is my first workshop like this ever, I want to have this container of Love to be a tender space for my trans and queer kin and those who stand up for us.

This workshop is inspired by the contemplations of bell hooks in her forever classic:

All About Love: New Visions.

This workshop is for you if you are curious about the practice of Love in your life and how this can be further nurtured. There will only be 8-10 participants selected for this workshop and two dates available. You can find more info about the workshop on the application page, so please use the link below to apply!

Workshop application link🔗

✦✩ SOME BACKSTORY ON THIS WORKSHOP ✩✦✩

This will be my first time facilitating my own workshop and I am beyond excited to be able to offer a unique workshop like this one. All About Love has been a major catalyst for change in my life and showed me the way to living when my desire to be alive was low. It’s a text I’ve returned to time and time again through the years and it feels brand new with every cycle in my life. It feels like an absolute blessing to be able to curate a space dedicated to Love and, specifically, bell hooks’ road map to understanding Love.

This workshop has been a few months in the making. I’m able to host this workshop because of JAYU’s junior mentorship program I took in the fall of last year. It was a seven-week workshop series on the logistics and spirit that goes into workshop facilitation. At first, I felt absolutely stumped on what kind of workshop I would host and what it would look like. In time, I realized that the thread that connects all my various practices is Love. Because Love is about integration and something I always try to bring with me when I’m working with people or with my creation tools. And the Love that has guided me for many years, has been the mapping of Love by bell hooks. This workshop is my ode to bell hooks by discussing her work in community. This workshop provides a learning ground for me to explore what kinds of space I can co-create with people with Love at the centre. It also only recently clicked that this Loving workshop will be held during a month that has a day celebrating love (romantic love - valentines) and is during black futures/history month :~) I am amazed and stoked at the alignment for the workshop.

I am grateful to be co-facilitating alongside my good friend, dom sian (they/them). I have been in friendship with them for about four years and we have seen each other grow and change. They are an experienced facilitator and are committed to being a radical and compassionate being in this world. They are dedicated to kindness and change. Our friendship has taught me much and brought so much richness to my life. I am honoured and so grateful to be running this workshop with them.

Again, you can find out a bit more about dom and I, and the workshop through the application link. Please do apply even if you feel shy to talk about love!

Workshop application link🔗

✷ ✷ ✷

Store Update!

I finally added some items to my website store and you can view them here!

✷ ✷ ✷

Thank you so much for reading. If you enjoyed what you read here, feel free to forward it to someone who may enjoy reading these types of emails in their inbox.

Below are other independent or local writers who I enjoy getting emails from to avoid being chained to socials:

• Friday things by Stacy Lee Kong (smart pop culture analysis)

• The Grind Mag (radical independent mag and offers free physical copies avail all around TO!)

• SapphSociety (journal like observations and stories from a genius trans/black/caribbean mind)

• Bonesthrown (deeply mindful thoughts or interviews about the body and our relations to earth and each other)

• Soul Conscious Creative (beautifully written self-reflections by Akilah W.)

much love,

carah (care-rah)