Saturday, June 6, 10 am
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83524669734?pwd=ZTdrcUswdHloS1M2cWNTQTlYMENkZz09
Join writing workshop teacher extraordinaire, Maren Tirabassi, on Saturday, June 6, from 10-11:30 am specifically for members and friends of First Church Berkeley UCC and First Congregational Church of Alameda UCC. Maren is a gifted writer and poet, who is just as gifted at releasing the words of others in her fun, moving and affirming workshops. Hear from Maren directly:
From Spiritual Autobiography to Social Media, we are people who write our stories and share our feelings, knowing that others read them. During the pandemic many of us seek a safe place to try writing as a way to dip into this well of experience.
Some of us may want to write a message to a member of the class of 2020, graduating after a semester of missed special occasions. Others may want to create a poem to remember someone who has died and whose memorial is postponed, or a blessing for health care professionals or grocery store clerks. And most will want to express the joys or depression of solitude, the satisfaction or homicidal tendencies of family “closeness,” the lockdown on hope, or even complaints that seem to be too trivial to share (people with hearing loss usually supplement devices with lip-reading … and who can read a mask?).
Welcome also are those who would like a writing workshop to share some paragraphs of memoir, commentary on the strangest election year ever or a character sketch for that mystery novel you always meant to write.
Zoom in and write (sharing always optional) and talk about writing. Gentle guidance, prompts that go in many directions, personal commentary on work emailed to Maren during the following week, a good deal of laughter and, probably, a few tears.
Maren Tirabassi will also be our guest preacher on Sunday, June 7.
Maren Tirabassi has been a United Church of Christ pastor for forty years and an author. A Child Laughs: Prayers of Hope and Justice, is her twentieth book and two new ones are in process this year. She leads workshops and seminars, teaches writing in a wide range of settings including English Language Learning classes, correctional facilities, recovery and survivor groups, high school classes and senior centers — and mentors new authors. She loves hiking, swimming, quilting, beagles and attending science fiction and fantasy conventions.