New Class Announcement!

Introducing: Grief Studies

From bonnyclea’s instagram

It is I, Fariha, the resident grief doula.

In the past few years, I’ve come to understand myself as a keeper of pain, a vault of memories past and present, the person in her family who releases the stored trauma, and therefore is tasked to face them — like no one else in my family has or can, before.

I think this is perfectly encapsulated in my writing, all the aches of my existence have been channeled into my words, and I believe it’s one gift that has been imparted onto me from something beyond. I think my life has been the experience of learning how to alchemize grief. So I feel a sense of urgency to teach what I know and have come to understand as valuable skills for writing, but, also, really - for life.

I’m sensing that many of us are moving through similar terrain and I feel grateful that I might have something to offer through this. My time on here has been met with a lot of challenges since birth, since inception, and through this, I’ve learned to nurture my writing and voice and learned how to trust what I needed to say, even if those things were uncomfortable to share with myself, or even others.

I think many of us, myself included, are also craving outlets to understand and shape together these feelings of grief and sadness that are constantly usurping us as we bear witness to what is happening in Palestine, Congo, Sudan… these are not experiences that many of us can just… overcome… we need to process them, to face them. In my life, the best way to do this is by documenting your feelings and thoughts - your writing, your voice, and nurturing that… and if there’s anything I’ve come here to do, it’s this - it’s to show us how to move through this in a way that confronts and releases the grief so it doesn’t stay trapped inside of you. I think this is how you let the writing flow, too. For me, it’s always been about alchemy.

So how do we grieve this genocide? This ecocide? This dying planet? The traumas others inflicted? The loss of loved ones? How do we process that we’re still living in a pandemic and that the world has not gone on normally for many of us? How do we begin to process such challenging times? … Call me corny, but I do think writing helps. And this is where I believe I can be of some service.

I’m introducing Grief Studies, a 6 part-writing workshop.

Starting March 3rd at 9 am PST…

A quick note: I have not taught any of my own (longer workshop) classes since 2021, generally because they require a certain kind of dedication and sorcery I have only previously been able to muster sometimes, but as I look toward the revolution… I’m beginning to understand that all of us must learn how to sharpen our knives and strengthen our toolkits, if this is resonating - this class might be for you.

Anyway, I do think writing is a tool against the oppressor.

Each class will focus on one of the five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance) alongside the five stages of decolonization (rediscovery/recovery, mourning, dreaming, commitment and action) using writing prompts and works by Billy-Ray Belcourt, Aracelis Girmay, Hala Alyan, Agha Shahid Ali, Hanif Abdurraqib and Noor Hindi (to name a few of the brilliant writers whose work we will be reading every week) to let theirs and other’s works guide us to the center of our own grief.

This workshop is for anyone who wants something that will push them through some stagnation. This class will move you and will help you, and, at the very least, better understand your grief and tend to it.

More information:

We will meet for 6 weeks every week from March 3rd 9 am PST - 12 pm PST

Where: Zoom (I’ll send a link)

Will this be recorded? Yes. But if you’d like to attend and would feel comfortable not having this recorded, let me know.

How much is it? It’s a sliding scale $500-$650 for Black, Indigenous, and Palestinian folks as well as CSA survivors, and $650 for everybody else. I also take payment plan!

How about if you can’t afford that? There are no more full scholarships but there are still a few partial scholarships for those of you who are unable to pay the full price!

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The workshops I teach are a place of care and radicality. I prioritize the voices that are silenced in this everyday white supremacist, Zionist, ableist, anti-Black, Islamophobic, anti-Arab/Palestinian, transphobic world and so these workshops are an attempt to create a space where we can acknowledge that these systems of oppression exist, and understand that it’s our responsibility to unlearn these things, especially when (and while) we are in community. If you are a privileged-bodied person, please move with that understanding.

I don’t tolerate harmful language, at the same time, I endeavor to create a space of accountability and witnessing. This is hard work, grief work requires ego work, if you are willing to do this work, and are hungry to be in space with others who want to do this work, please reach out.

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How to apply:

(SCHOLARSHIPS ARE NOW CLOSED; PARTIAL SCHOLARSHIPS STILL AVAILABLE)

Email me at mofhasan@gmail.com before March 1st

If you want to apply for the class (with our without the scholarship) tell me why!

Class attendance is limited, so reach out soon!

Thank you, I look forward to sitting, and deepening with you.