#atxbw

[marilysevfigueroa]

Like the youth don’t know.

REFLECTIONS ON A YOUTH WRITING WORKSHOP:

We had a truly supportive audience Saturday for the Barrio Writers youth’s live reading. 

The room was full of so much support, truth, and empowerment that it made me cry. If you know me, you're not surprised, but you may not know the Barrio Writers Familia.

The room was full of radical love, radical power, radical joy. It was the kind of space where you can be brown, orange, tan, or white, and still be you. It was the kind of space where you can speak Chinese, Spanish, Thai, or German and still be heard. Every time.

I tell the Barrio Writers youth this space is special, unique, rare. Like they don't know. The youth remind me: That's why we're here. To grow this space. To make every space special, unique, rare with support, truth, and empowerment.

[marilysevfigueroa]

Barrio Writers Workshop: Working to Empower the Youth

The Barrio Writers Workshop was started by in 2009 by Sarah Rafael García. Author of “Las Niñas,” mi amiga Sarah started with one chapter in Santa Ana, California and now has seven chapters in California and Tejas. BW is a free writing workshop focused on empowering youth (ages 11-20), teaching writers of color and writers of marginalized backgrounds, and building community. I am a writing mentor in the Austin chapter this summer. 

I wanted to participate in BW because I write for the young POC who need to see their stories on the page. But I wasn’t sure I could pull it off. Luckily, Sarah believed in me, a woman who survived workshops from an MFA who criticized her for using Spanish, her Chicano/a characters, and for demanding more POC visibility (read her article here) , so I trusted her judgment more than my own.

                                                 [My Serpent Self]

Why as a woman of color do I continue to doubt my ability to express myself clearly, intelligently, and artfully? I could say I was silenced early, punished in school for speaking Spanish. My ethnicity and otherness scrutinized by adults and peers alike. I could say I was taught how to succeed as a girl, to be sweet, passive, and again, quiet. But my soul as an artist, my soul as a queer Xicana, my intuitive soul cried out. If being loud made me lonely, then let me walk with the loners.

At BW, the youth are empowered to “own their space.” Owning their space looks like standing, no leaning on a chair or desk, speaking up, and usually staring down your audience. When the youth share their writing, we say own your space! And some blush, smirk, but most everyone stands up straighter. Holds their chin up higher. By God, these youth are learning at a younger age than I how to be confident, powerful, and proud. This is why I write.

                                       [Eagle & Scorpion & Phoenix] 

Every time I write, I’m working to empower youth. I know I don’t live in a perfect world in which I can spread the Barrio Writers’ pedagogy and expect understanding every where. But I am going to keep writing, empowering others, and keep working towards the self that cries out.