Learning to Say 'I' Again CIIS EXA workshop with Dr Joy Ladin Part 1
It's common for writers to say things like "writing is my life" or "writing keeps me alive." This class will explore how the intimate, reciprocal relationship between writing and life can support the psychological and spiritual aspects of healing.
I have experienced the healing power of writing in two very different ways: as a transsexual whose transition from living as a man to living as a woman was partly done through writing; and as someone shattered by chronic illness, struggling to rebuild a relationship with God. The class will be structured around three readings:
• a reflection on how specific writing activities can help those whose sense of self has been ruptured by physical or psychological trauma "learn to say `I' again"
• rebuilding a sense of self that includes but is not ruptured by that trauma; a short excerpt from my forthcoming memoir, Through the Door of Life: A Jewish Journey Between Genders
• a selection of psalms I wrote in response to diagnosis with a debilitating autoimmune condition in an attempt understand my relationship with the God who had both created and undone me.
We will use each reading as a jumping-off point for a frank discussion in which we will pool our different experiences of gender, identity, illness and spiritual longing as healers, writers, human beings.
Dr. Joy Ladin, October 2012