Our first in-person session focused on understanding systemic oppression and how it shows up in our lives and communities. Using the Tree of Oppression exercise, students identified the roots, branches, and fruits of oppressive systems. From there, we introduced zine-making as a way to tell personal stories and challenge those systems through art. 

Weekly Invocation:
“We are in an imagination battle.

Trayvon Martin and Mike Brown and Renisha McBride and so many others are dead because, in some white imagination, they were dangerous. And that imagination is so respected that those who kill, based on an imagined, radicalized fear of Black people, are rarely held accountable.
Imagination has people thinking they can go from being poor to a millionaire as part of a shared American dream. Imagination turns Brown bombers into terrorists and white bombers into mentally ill victims. Imagination gives us borders, gives us superiority, gives us race as an indicator of ability. I often feel I am trapped inside someone else’s capability. I often feel I am trapped inside someone else’s imagination, and I must engage my own imagination in order to break free.”

― Adrienne Maree Brown, Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds.

For our second week together, Elyssa, a recently graduated FEEST Student Organizer, led an incredible workshop on comix and political cartoons. Students learned about the history of comix as a medium for activism and used this powerful form of visual storytelling to address issues they care about. Elyssa’s passion for comix was contagious, and students had the chance to create their own comix, pushing themselves creatively and politically!

Weekly Invocation:
The Three Radical Truths of Community Organizing:

1. Heart work is hard work.
2. You have to keep dancing even when you can’t hear the music.
3. The path that makes you afraid is the path to take.
   — FACE (Faith and Community Empowerment), based in LA.

Week three brought a deep dive into creative writing. Facilitated by storyteller and journalist Ari McKenna, students explored different writing techniques to express their thoughts, feelings, and stories. We dove into our subconscious brain, and reflect on what shows up there and how we can be more attuned to understanding our subconscious thoughts. Afterward, Ari led students through an activity where we got a chance to pair up and brainstorm interview questions for partner interviews! Students took their interviews and were sent to write a Portrait of a Youth Activist profile. Young people were given the freedom to creatively write what they wanted to based on their interviews. Some students wrote biography narratives, other students wrote fictional stories based on their partner’s interview stories. Students stepped out of their comfort zones, putting pen to paper in new and meaningful ways.

Weekly Invocation:
“Forget talent. If you have it, fine. Use it. If you don’t have it, it doesn’t matter. As habit is more dependable than inspiration, continued learning is more dependable than talent. Never let pride or laziness prevent you from learning, improving your work, and changing its direction when necessary. Persistence is essential to any writer — the persistence to finish your work, to keep writing in spite of rejection, to keep reading, studying, submitting work for sale.”
— Step 7 of Octavia Butler’s Writing Advice.

Our final session was a celebration of everything the students had accomplished. They compiled their zine pages, reflecting on their personal journeys throughout the program. It was a day filled with pride, joy, and the satisfaction of seeing their hard work come to life in a tangible way. We ended the program with a celebration that honored the creativity, courage, and growth that each student brought to the table.

Weekly Invocation:
“When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.”
— Audre Lorde.