Help send Shirl to VONA!

Dear friends,

I’m excited to announce that I will be attending the VONA/Voices Writing Workshop for writers of color this summer! VONA was founded by Elmaz Abinader, Junot Díaz, Victor Díaz and Diem Jones in 1999 and is the only writers' conference in the country with a multi-genre focus on writers of color as students and teachers. I am so looking forward to Faith Adiele's travel writing workshop, which addresses journeys and quests of all kinds--cultural, spiritual, physical, and metaphysical.

I write in the intersections of food, culture, place, and histor(ies), personal and political: about growing up in San Francisco in the 80s--shopping with my grandmother in Chinatown, going to see movies at the Great Star, and the delicious flaky pie crusts at Sun Wah Kue bakery. I write about the the journeys and distances created by the death of my beloved father when I was 11 going on 12. I write about mental health issues from my experiences as a family member, caregiver, consumer, and also as a former civil rights attorney who represented prisoners in CA jails and prisons with a brother who also spent time inside. I am on a personal quest to make sense of these disparate experiences, battling external and internal stigmas in different spaces and cultures about mental illness, addiction, health and wellness, class, and inequality.

I also write about friendship, love, and community - the things that bring us together in times of trouble and hardship, the places and the people we circle back to. And of course - food: there is nothing more comforting than chowing down on a banh mi while watching the waves crash at Ocean Beach--a sight that makes you feel small, but in that smallness, one with the rest of the small things in the universe and thus just a little bit less alone.

Tuition for the workshop is $900; room and board $750; and the flight to Philly is about $350 (the workshops are at UPenn). Tuition and fees are due by June 1st. Anything you can share to help defray the cost would be so helpful and appreciated.

Thanks to everyone who's read this far and to everyone that has supported me, my work, and my writing in the past - with feedback, critique, coming out to readings, and all manner of advice and resources. Thanks for your friendship and your care. It has truly been a time of transition and uncertainty for me - navigating life post-divorce, post-law practice, and post living my life as others would wish me to live it. Thank you for being part of my journey forward. 

No pressure if you cannot give, but as a token of appreciation to those who can contribute $25 or more, I will send or deliver to you a tasty homemade treat (cookies, marinated wood ear mushroom salad, or tea eggs) along with a special collection of mini-essays about food and family.

With so much love and gratitude,

Shirley