Past, Present, and Future: A Writing Workshop for The Age of Emergency [Online]
Full Tuition: $100 for 1 session or $250 for all 3 — Scholarship options are available in the drop-down enrollment menu for you to self-select. To pay in installments, choose to pay with PayPal at check out.
Instructor: Monica Byrne | 3-weeks / drop-in | Tuesdays September 10, 17, 24 | 7:00 - 9:00 PM ET | ONLINE
Imagination is the root of all social change: someone had to see how things used to be, see the way things could be, and imagine a way forward.
We’re living through a hell of a historical moment. It feels overwhelmingly bleak, like there are no ways forward. Compassion for that feeling is right and needed. But ultimately, hopelessness serves power. One of the greatest tools we have to combat hopelessness—and power—is imagination.
Retrospectively, these acts of imagination—women’s suffrage, trans rights, anticolonial resistance—are enshrined, even fetishized, as if they were a given; but rarely celebrated at the time. In fact, power usually does everything it can to stamp them out. This is what we’re currently witnessing in the U.S., through the erasure of archives, corporate consolidation, and technocrats salivating at the thought of never having to pay artists again. As writer Alex Arrelia said, “They cut funding for the arts so that you could never imagine a way out of capitalism.”
How can we do exactly that, in spite of all the efforts to suppress it? How can we use imagination to enlarge our sense of possibility? Over three sessions—themed Past, Present, and Future—we will build and flex this muscle through a combination of lecture, in-class writing, and discussion of short readings by Walidah Imarisha, David Graeber and David Wengrow, and others. The workshop is open to all—professional writers, hobbyists, or just folks interested in using imagination as a social tool—to uncover the vast possibilities of human existence that fascism would have us to forget. The course will de-emphasize feedback and emphasize personal attunement (though of course, participants are welcome to form their own breakout groups in off-hours).
Workshop Schedule:
Sept. 10: Past
Sept. 17: Present
Sept. 24: Future
—
Recordings may be provided upon request for missed classes.
Sliding Scale: Night School Bar pays instructors and staff a living wage. We ask that people who make above the living wage threshold for their area strongly consider choosing 75% or higher tuition tiers in order to support our own living wage program. For Durham, NC, where we are located, the living wage threshold is $49,000 for an individual. All scholarship needs are self-assessed, and we will never request or require proof of need.
Scholarships: We are currently able to offer three full scholarships per class. Our full scholarship tier is a nonrefundable offering, limited to one per student per month. Because our scholarship funding is limited, selecting multiple full scholarships in a single month will result in disenrollment from all classes. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out please email us directly, and we will add you to a waitlist and notify you if additional scholarships become available. Please see our FAQ for more information, including installment plans and refund policy.
Asynchronous Auditing: Classes are discussion-based and designed to be taken synchronously. However, we do offer an asynchronous audit option for most online classes if you need to follow along at your own pace. You must choose the audit option to receive all course recordings; please do not register using a scholarship if you do not plan to attend the majority of class sessions as you will not receive the recording materials to follow along. We do not automatically offer scholarships for auditors, but if you need one, you may request one by filling out this form.
Full Tuition: $100 for 1 session or $250 for all 3 — Scholarship options are available in the drop-down enrollment menu for you to self-select. To pay in installments, choose to pay with PayPal at check out.
Instructor: Monica Byrne | 3-weeks / drop-in | Tuesdays September 10, 17, 24 | 7:00 - 9:00 PM ET | ONLINE
Imagination is the root of all social change: someone had to see how things used to be, see the way things could be, and imagine a way forward.
We’re living through a hell of a historical moment. It feels overwhelmingly bleak, like there are no ways forward. Compassion for that feeling is right and needed. But ultimately, hopelessness serves power. One of the greatest tools we have to combat hopelessness—and power—is imagination.
Retrospectively, these acts of imagination—women’s suffrage, trans rights, anticolonial resistance—are enshrined, even fetishized, as if they were a given; but rarely celebrated at the time. In fact, power usually does everything it can to stamp them out. This is what we’re currently witnessing in the U.S., through the erasure of archives, corporate consolidation, and technocrats salivating at the thought of never having to pay artists again. As writer Alex Arrelia said, “They cut funding for the arts so that you could never imagine a way out of capitalism.”
How can we do exactly that, in spite of all the efforts to suppress it? How can we use imagination to enlarge our sense of possibility? Over three sessions—themed Past, Present, and Future—we will build and flex this muscle through a combination of lecture, in-class writing, and discussion of short readings by Walidah Imarisha, David Graeber and David Wengrow, and others. The workshop is open to all—professional writers, hobbyists, or just folks interested in using imagination as a social tool—to uncover the vast possibilities of human existence that fascism would have us to forget. The course will de-emphasize feedback and emphasize personal attunement (though of course, participants are welcome to form their own breakout groups in off-hours).
Workshop Schedule:
Sept. 10: Past
Sept. 17: Present
Sept. 24: Future
—
Recordings may be provided upon request for missed classes.
Sliding Scale: Night School Bar pays instructors and staff a living wage. We ask that people who make above the living wage threshold for their area strongly consider choosing 75% or higher tuition tiers in order to support our own living wage program. For Durham, NC, where we are located, the living wage threshold is $49,000 for an individual. All scholarship needs are self-assessed, and we will never request or require proof of need.
Scholarships: We are currently able to offer three full scholarships per class. Our full scholarship tier is a nonrefundable offering, limited to one per student per month. Because our scholarship funding is limited, selecting multiple full scholarships in a single month will result in disenrollment from all classes. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out please email us directly, and we will add you to a waitlist and notify you if additional scholarships become available. Please see our FAQ for more information, including installment plans and refund policy.
Asynchronous Auditing: Classes are discussion-based and designed to be taken synchronously. However, we do offer an asynchronous audit option for most online classes if you need to follow along at your own pace. You must choose the audit option to receive all course recordings; please do not register using a scholarship if you do not plan to attend the majority of class sessions as you will not receive the recording materials to follow along. We do not automatically offer scholarships for auditors, but if you need one, you may request one by filling out this form.
Full Tuition: $100 for 1 session or $250 for all 3 — Scholarship options are available in the drop-down enrollment menu for you to self-select. To pay in installments, choose to pay with PayPal at check out.
Instructor: Monica Byrne | 3-weeks / drop-in | Tuesdays September 10, 17, 24 | 7:00 - 9:00 PM ET | ONLINE
Imagination is the root of all social change: someone had to see how things used to be, see the way things could be, and imagine a way forward.
We’re living through a hell of a historical moment. It feels overwhelmingly bleak, like there are no ways forward. Compassion for that feeling is right and needed. But ultimately, hopelessness serves power. One of the greatest tools we have to combat hopelessness—and power—is imagination.
Retrospectively, these acts of imagination—women’s suffrage, trans rights, anticolonial resistance—are enshrined, even fetishized, as if they were a given; but rarely celebrated at the time. In fact, power usually does everything it can to stamp them out. This is what we’re currently witnessing in the U.S., through the erasure of archives, corporate consolidation, and technocrats salivating at the thought of never having to pay artists again. As writer Alex Arrelia said, “They cut funding for the arts so that you could never imagine a way out of capitalism.”
How can we do exactly that, in spite of all the efforts to suppress it? How can we use imagination to enlarge our sense of possibility? Over three sessions—themed Past, Present, and Future—we will build and flex this muscle through a combination of lecture, in-class writing, and discussion of short readings by Walidah Imarisha, David Graeber and David Wengrow, and others. The workshop is open to all—professional writers, hobbyists, or just folks interested in using imagination as a social tool—to uncover the vast possibilities of human existence that fascism would have us to forget. The course will de-emphasize feedback and emphasize personal attunement (though of course, participants are welcome to form their own breakout groups in off-hours).
Workshop Schedule:
Sept. 10: Past
Sept. 17: Present
Sept. 24: Future
—
Recordings may be provided upon request for missed classes.
Sliding Scale: Night School Bar pays instructors and staff a living wage. We ask that people who make above the living wage threshold for their area strongly consider choosing 75% or higher tuition tiers in order to support our own living wage program. For Durham, NC, where we are located, the living wage threshold is $49,000 for an individual. All scholarship needs are self-assessed, and we will never request or require proof of need.
Scholarships: We are currently able to offer three full scholarships per class. Our full scholarship tier is a nonrefundable offering, limited to one per student per month. Because our scholarship funding is limited, selecting multiple full scholarships in a single month will result in disenrollment from all classes. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out please email us directly, and we will add you to a waitlist and notify you if additional scholarships become available. Please see our FAQ for more information, including installment plans and refund policy.
Asynchronous Auditing: Classes are discussion-based and designed to be taken synchronously. However, we do offer an asynchronous audit option for most online classes if you need to follow along at your own pace. You must choose the audit option to receive all course recordings; please do not register using a scholarship if you do not plan to attend the majority of class sessions as you will not receive the recording materials to follow along. We do not automatically offer scholarships for auditors, but if you need one, you may request one by filling out this form.