creative writing about social justice

Social Justice Writing Prompts: Explore Themes of Equity

My name is Debbie, and I am passionate about developing a love for the written word and planting a seed that will grow into a powerful voice that can inspire many.

Exploring Social Justice Through Writing⁤ Prompts: An Introduction

Unearthing ⁢the ⁣roots of inequality: delve into historical perspectives, unveiling systemic ⁣bias: analyzing power structures and privilege, lending a voice to the marginalized: amplifying underrepresented experiences, building bridges: promoting dialogue and⁤ understanding, taking action: writing as a ‍catalyst for social change, frequently asked questions, insights and conclusions.

Social justice is an essential concept that encompasses the fair distribution ⁢of wealth, opportunities, and privileges among all ⁣members of a society. ‍To better understand and explore​ this⁣ complex ⁢topic, writing ⁣prompts ⁣can serve as‍ powerful tools to provoke‌ critical thinking and reflection. By ⁤engaging in writing ⁣exercises, ⁤we not only⁣ gain insight into the different ​dimensions of ⁢social justice, but also strengthen our ability to articulate ​our thoughts and opinions on these issues.

When using writing prompts to explore ​social⁣ justice, it​ is important‍ to approach the⁣ task with⁣ an open mind and a willingness to challenge ⁢our​ own perspectives. These prompts can⁣ help us examine the ‌roots⁤ of inequality, the⁤ impact⁣ of systemic prejudices, and the need for advocacy and‍ change. By exploring various social justice themes through writing, we⁤ can learn to empathize with marginalized​ communities, develop a deeper⁣ understanding ⁢of the societal ⁢structures that​ perpetuate injustice, and ⁢ultimately become agents​ of⁣ positive social ‌transformation.

• Developing empathy: Writing prompts on social ⁣justice enable us ⁤to step ‌into the shoes of others and gain ​a deeper⁣ understanding of⁢ their experiences, struggles, and triumphs.
• Uncovering systemic ⁢biases: Through writing, ​we⁣ can critically analyze the systems and institutions that ⁢may perpetuate discrimination⁤ and inequality in our ‍society.

As we‍ embark on this journey of exploring social justice through writing prompts, let‌ us‌ embrace ⁣the opportunity to challenge our perspectives, broaden our horizons, ‌and contribute to a more equitable world.

• Exploring historical evidence is crucial to‌ understanding the roots of inequality. By⁢ delving⁢ into‍ the​ past,​ we can comprehend the complexity of ⁢this ongoing issue ‌and address it more effectively.
• A ‍historical perspective reveals that inequality is not ‌a ⁢recent phenomenon, but rather a deeply ingrained social construct that has ⁢plagued societies for ​centuries.
• Engage with​ narratives of different cultures and regions ‍to gain a holistic understanding of how inequality⁤ has shaped the⁣ world we live ⁣in today.
• Examine the socioeconomic divisions that emerged during different periods in⁢ history, such⁣ as feudalism, slavery, or the caste ​system. Uncover the⁤ impact​ these divisions had on⁤ wealth distribution, access to⁢ resources, and social mobility.
• Explore the ​significant ​events, revolutions, and reforms‍ that have attempted ‍to​ challenge inequality and promote justice throughout history.
• Discover the ‌stories of courageous individuals​ who fought against‌ inequity, whose struggles⁢ and triumphs continue to inspire the modern-day ‍fight for ⁤equal rights and opportunities.

When examining⁣ the concept of systemic ⁢bias, ⁢it is⁢ essential ⁢to⁢ delve into ⁣the intricate web⁢ of​ power structures and privilege that exist within society. These intertwined systems of influence often perpetuate unequal treatment ⁢and hinder social progress. ⁣By thoroughly analyzing these power dynamics, we‌ can shed light on the disparities and ​work towards creating a more just and⁤ equitable world.

One crucial aspect to ‌consider is the⁢ presence of‌ privilege. Privilege can manifest⁣ in various‍ forms such⁤ as wealth, ⁣gender, race, or education‍ level. It ⁢grants ‍certain individuals advantages and‍ opportunities that others may‌ not have access to. Acknowledging the existence of privilege is a ⁣key​ step in‍ understanding⁣ how systemic bias operates. It allows ⁢us to recognize that different ‍groups ‌face different challenges and obstacles in accessing resources, opportunities, and overall⁢ well-being.

Examining power structures is another ⁤vital aspect of unraveling systemic bias. Power can manifest ⁢in‌ economic, political, or‍ social spheres, often resulting in those with more power wielding disproportionate influence and​ control.‌ These structures can perpetuate ‍existing ‍inequalities, creating​ a‍ cycle that disadvantages marginalized individuals ‍and communities. By analyzing⁢ how ⁣power is distributed ⁣and maintained, we ‌can identify the mechanisms that uphold systemic bias and take steps towards dismantling them.

To⁣ combat systemic bias effectively, it is crucial that individuals and institutions actively confront ⁤and‌ challenge existing power structures and⁢ privilege. This entails promoting inclusivity, diversity, and equal‌ opportunities for all, dismantling⁣ discriminatory policies and practices, and amplifying marginalized voices. It requires ongoing critical self-reflection and ⁤a⁤ commitment to continual learning and⁢ growth. Only ⁣through persistent‍ efforts can ‍we hope to create ‍a society that is ‌truly equitable and free from the ⁣chains ⁢of systemic ⁤bias.

At the ⁤core of our mission lies ‍the commitment to lend a voice⁣ to ⁣those whose experiences are often silenced or‍ overlooked. We‍ believe ‌in⁢ creating a platform where the marginalized can freely express themselves,​ fostering an inclusive ⁣society‍ that values and uplifts ⁤every individual. Through our efforts, we aim to amplify ⁢underrepresented experiences and bring about lasting change.

Empowering through‌ storytelling:

• Stories have the power ​to humanize​ and connect us. They bridge gaps, dismantle misconceptions, ‌and ‌empower marginalized⁣ communities.
• In collaboration with diverse storytellers, we provide a platform ⁣for sharing authentic narratives that shine a light on underrepresented voices.
• We celebrate ⁢personal⁤ stories of resilience, triumph, ‍and⁢ the complex realities faced by individuals from different backgrounds.

Advocacy ⁣and awareness:

• We ‍actively raise awareness and advocate for social justice ⁤issues that ⁣disproportionately affect marginalized communities.
• By⁢ shedding ⁣light on systemic inequalities, we encourage meaningful dialogue and foster understanding‌ among individuals​ from diverse walks of life.
• We‍ promote ‍the importance of allyship, educating and engaging⁣ our audience ​to actively support and uplift underrepresented voices.

At a time when division and conflict seem to dominate ⁤headlines, it is crucial to focus on building bridges to foster dialogue and understanding among ⁤individuals and communities. Embracing⁣ diversity and promoting open conversations are key to⁢ creating ​a more inclusive and empathetic society.

Building bridges starts​ with recognizing that everyone’s‌ perspective matters. By⁤ valuing ⁤the⁢ unique experiences and viewpoints of others, we can bridge gaps, break ⁣down barriers, and promote a​ world where dialogue and ⁢understanding thrive. Here are some ways we‌ can ‍actively promote dialogue and understanding:

• Listen actively: Engage ⁤in ⁢sincere and ⁣active ​listening, giving ⁣others‌ the space ​to ⁤express their‍ thoughts and ‌feelings without judgment. This ​allows for a deeper understanding and empathy‍ to ​emerge.
• Seek common ground: Identify shared‌ values and interests to build connections⁣ with others.‍ Focusing on commonalities helps transcend differences and ‌encourages ​collaboration.
• Challenge biases: Constantly examine our ‌own biases and challenge⁤ them ⁢by seeking out diverse perspectives. This⁢ enables personal growth and fosters a ​more inclusive mindset.

Through ⁣these efforts, ⁤we can⁤ create⁤ an‌ environment where honest and respectful discussions take place, leading ​to greater understanding ⁤and meaningful change. ​Remember, building bridges takes time and effort, but‍ the rewards are invaluable – a society built on empathy, compassion, and unity.

Writing has always been a powerful tool in⁣ igniting‍ movements ‍and sparking societal transformations. In ⁢times of unrest and inequality, the written word becomes a ⁤driving force ‌for​ advocating social change. It allows individuals to express their ⁢thoughts, challenge the ‍status quo, and​ give voices to the ⁢marginalized and oppressed. Through the timeless craft of writing,⁣ movements are born, awareness is raised, and much-needed conversations ​are initiated.

When wielded effectively, writing has the ‍potential to inspire⁢ action ‍and mobilize masses. It ⁢has the ⁤ability to document history and⁢ shift‌ narratives,‍ fostering empathy⁢ and ⁣understanding​ among diverse ‍communities. By capturing ‌the⁢ raw emotions⁢ and personal stories of those affected ‍by ‍injustice, the written⁣ word becomes​ a⁣ medium‍ for empathy, driving readers to confront their own ‍biases and cultivate a desire for​ transformation. Moreover,⁤ writing can ⁢serve as a catalyst for⁣ organizing‍ communities, rallying people behind a common cause, and demanding justice. From powerful manifestos to ‍thought-provoking⁢ essays and poignant poetry, writing empowers individuals to share their experiences,‍ shed ⁢light on ​pressing issues, and ‍propel ⁣impactful change.

Q: What are‍ social justice writing ⁤prompts? A: Social justice writing prompts⁣ are thought-provoking ⁢statements ​or ⁣questions designed⁢ to explore ⁣themes of‍ equity and encourage⁤ critical​ thinking around social justice ‌issues. They​ can inspire individuals to ⁢reflect ‍on topics such as racism, gender inequality,‌ poverty, ⁢and discrimination, fostering ‍awareness and promoting empathy.

Q: Why are social ‌justice⁤ writing prompts‌ important? A: Social justice​ writing ‍prompts encourage⁣ individuals to think ‌deeper⁢ about societal ⁤issues​ and⁣ consider different perspectives.⁤ They provide a platform ‍for self-reflection,‍ allowing ⁤writers ⁤to explore their own biases and challenge the status quo. By engaging with these prompts, individuals can develop a ⁣stronger⁣ sense ⁢of empathy and ‍understanding, ‍leading to positive societal change.

Q: ‌Who​ can benefit ​from using social justice writing prompts? A:‍ Anyone ⁤can benefit from⁤ utilizing social justice ⁢writing​ prompts. Students,‌ educators,‌ activists, and individuals looking ⁢to gain a ‍clearer understanding⁢ of social justice⁤ topics can use these prompts to delve into ‍complex​ issues, broaden‍ their perspectives, and develop their own voice. These prompts allow for self-expression and​ provide ​an opportunity to contribute to important ⁣conversations about equity and⁤ justice.

Q: How⁢ can social justice ‌writing prompts be ⁢used? A: ​Social justice writing prompts ⁢can be used in various ways. They can be ⁤given as assignments ‍in ​classrooms to encourage critical‍ thinking ​and⁣ cultivate⁣ empathy. They can⁤ also be used for⁢ personal reflection or journaling to deepen one’s ‍understanding of social justice issues. Additionally, social justice ⁤writing prompts can serve​ as starting points for⁤ group discussions, sparking dialogue⁣ and ‌creating spaces for learning and growth.

Q: Where can I ⁤find social justice writing prompts? A: ​Social justice ⁢writing prompts can‍ be found‍ in a variety of resources. Online ⁢platforms‌ dedicated‌ to social justice education often provide⁣ collections of prompts.‌ Educational websites and blogs focused ‍on equity and inclusion can also be excellent ⁢sources. Additionally, social⁤ justice-oriented books, workshops, and even social media accounts may offer prompts ​to ‍explore‌ and engage ‌with these important topics.

Q: Can you ‍provide ⁢a few examples of social justice writing prompts? A: Certainly!​ Here ⁣are a few social ‌justice ‌writing prompts to get​ you‌ started:

1. How⁤ does privilege manifest itself in your‌ daily life? ⁣Reflect on occasions ‍when you have experienced or observed ⁢privilege and its impact on others.

2. Write about a social justice issue that you are‌ passionate about and explain why it matters to ‌you. What⁢ steps could ‍be taken ​to ⁣address this issue in your community?

3. Imagine a⁢ world ⁣without racial discrimination. Describe what it would look like and how ⁣it would impact society.

4. Write a story or poem that highlights the importance of inclusivity and⁤ celebrates diversity.

Remember, ‍the⁣ key is to engage with these prompts thoughtfully and honestly, allowing them to prompt deeper reflections ⁤and promote positive social ‍change.

Mother’s Day Writing Prompts for Middle School: Celebrate Moms Through Words

Game Night Magic: What to Write on Jenga Blocks Game

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Reach out to us for sponsorship opportunities.

Welcome to Creative Writing Prompts

At Creative Writing Prompts, we believe in the power of words to shape worlds. Our platform is a sanctuary for aspiring writers, seasoned wordsmiths, and everyone. Here, storytelling finds its home, and your creative journey begins its captivating voyage.

© 2024 Creativewriting-prompts.com

Another Word

From the writing center at the university of wisconsin-madison.

Writing for Social Justice: Writer-Activists Share Their Work

By mia alafaireet and nancy linh karls, featuring jesus galvan, erica kanesaka kalnay, tiffany lee, and amy salinas westmoreland –.

What kinds of power do words really have? What does it mean to be a writer-activist? How can each of us use our writing to push for social change?  These are the questions that fuel the UW-Madison Writing Center’s newest workshop series: “Writing for Social Justice.”

In the time since UW-Madison released the results of a 2016 Campus Climate survey, we at the Writing Center have confronted questions of diversity and inclusion with renewed vigor. [1] As we contemplated the survey’s results and how our programs might play into students’ overall experience of campus life, we began to wonder:  What actions can we take to signal our commitment to diversity, inclusion, and social change? What can we do to foster a sense of belonging for students who may otherwise feel unwelcome on campus?

While we knew there were no easy answers, we decided to start with a series of social justice-oriented workshops designed to spark conversations about the power of writing to elicit equity, inclusion, and change. We hoped that inviting speakers from across the campus community would draw a wide audience and range of perspectives.

We coordinated our first event, “Writing as Activism,” in collaboration with our partners at the campus Multicultural Student Center (MSC) . Amy Salinas Westmoreland and Tiffany Lee, who coordinate the MSC’s social justice programming, collaborated with us to brainstorm approaches, reach out to speakers, and host the event in April of 2018. The event featured four writer-activists, each of whom shared an excerpt from their work and prompted us all to reconsider the intersections between our individual lives as writers and our engagement in broader communities.

“It was a beautiful sight,” says Amy Salinas Westmoreland, Assistant Director of Social Justice programs for the MSC. “All the chairs were filled with students that were engaged, and wanted to know what they could do to make a difference.”

During the course of the session, the panelists presented and shared writing that spanned a wide range of genres.

Jesus Galvan, a senior undergraduate Writing Fellow , shared an outline proposal that he and the former Chair of Associated Students of Madison had collaboratively drafted. As Jesus explained to those gathered in the MSC that day, the objective for this outline was to provide more opportunities for discussion and reflection among incoming first-year students participating in the Our Wisconsin program.

“My piece was a bit different,” Jesus writes, “because it was more of a pedagogical piece, which may be more cut and dry but also very valuable from a systemic standpoint. Personally, I tend to have a knack for thinking about how things are done systematically, and it was awesome to have the opportunity to talk about this collaborative effort.” Although Jesus noted that he and his colleague fell short of their goal to facilitate four pilot discussions, he believes that “this process of trying to instill systemic changes to Our Wisconsin was insightful.”

In terms of presenting his work at the panel, Jesus recalls, “I remember feeling humbled and excited to share this piece – to both the audience as well as the people I presented with. From my experiences in college, I understand that sometimes it can be difficult to get a good turnout with events like this. I was pleasantly surprised to see the number of individuals in attendance that day. It really shows the intrinsic value that students hold in regards to social justice topics and discussions.”

Since graduating from UW-Madison, Jesus continues to work toward social justice by beginning an AmeriCorps fellowship and working at a residential high school in Estes Park, Colorado. Jesus writes, “Although my opportunities to produce creative, social-justice-oriented pieces of writing are limited, I have ample opportunities to help students here in their college admissions essays – something I consider to be social justice work in and of itself.”

Another panelist, Erica Kanesaka Kalnay, a Ph.D. candidate in English, shared one of her short stories, “Duck, Duck, Goose.” Erica writes, “A few months later, what sticks with me about this conversation is how inspired I felt by the level of political engagement among undergraduate writers of color at the UW. When I was an undergraduate student, I went to a predominantly-white institution and did not have a community of writers of color. In workshops, many of my peers and professors regarded writing that was too overtly ‘emotional’ or ‘political’ as substandard, and I internalized many of these beliefs by cloaking my struggles with identity and mental illness under a veil of obfuscation.”

Erica continues, “In retrospect, I understand the pressure to adhere to a tone of ironic detachment as more than just an aesthetic demand, but a mode of silencing voices that challenge dominant narratives. Our conversation touched upon trauma and pain, and at the very same time, gave me hope that writing can be an act of healing, reclamation, and resistance.” (For more of Erica’s work, please see her website at ericakanesaka.com .)

Two other panelists also shared samples of their writing. Erika Gallagher, a senior undergraduate Writing Fellow and Posse Scholar , shared an abstract of her research project, “I Can’t Speak: Changing Perceptions of Linguistic Variations in Leadership.” Francisco Velazquez provided audience members with a copy of “Cardi B Conquers on the Highly Anticipated Invasion of Privacy ,” a review he’d written and had published in The Daily Cardinal just one week prior to this panel. (Both Erika and Francisco have since graduated from UW-Madison.)

Tiffany Lee, the Director of Crossroads (a collaboration between the MSC and the Gender and Sexuality Campus Center ), served as the panel’s moderator.

As she looks back on the panel, Tiffany writes, “What I appreciated most about this event is listening to different writers talk about how their writing is interwoven with their activism. Even though the writers had very different styles and backgrounds, they shared a common belief that writing has power.”

One of the audience members in attendance that day recalls, “I attended the panel with, what is for me, a perpetual skepticism when it comes to thinking about writing acting for good in world. And despite how well attended the event was, despite knowing almost all of the panelists by name from different work they’ve done around campus, and despite the energy of the MSC, I still waited for the panel to begin by wondering how successful writing can be as activism.”

He continues, “But after listening to each speaker, it became so clear to me how powerful writing can be even when its broader effects aren’t apparent yet. What I saw were several students at a variety of different moments in their academic careers, both empowered by the writing they do and already undertaking the difficult work of communicating injustice in a way that is compassionate and compelling. I think it can be easy to not immediately think of writing as activism because it tends to work slowly like a glacier, but the panelists help showcase that, like a glacier, writing can eventually reshape the world.”

These kinds of reflections underscore the power and the potential of writing for social justice.

As Amy Salinas Westmoreland notes, “Whenever we do a social justice workshop, panel, or bring a social justice speaker, our hope is to have an audience engage with the material and leave with some new information. We want folks to leave knowing that they have the power to create change, and this workshop did just that. I specifically remember all the questions that were asked by the audience. I’m proud of our collaboration with the Writing Center, and I hope that we can continue our partnership in the future.”

We were thrilled to see that “Writing as Activism” drew an even larger crowd than anticipated, and the depth of audience engagement encouraged us to expand the series through the 2018-2019 academic year. Keep an eye out for our Fall kickoff event, “Writing Is Power,” and other exciting social justice programming coming in the future!

[1] See the survey results here: https://diversity.wisc.edu/climate/survey/

2 Replies to “Writing for Social Justice: Writer-Activists Share Their Work”

What most delights me about this piece, as well as gives me hope, is the revival of the term “writer-activist” being used in the context of higher education. Today, in my classes and the articles I read, I notice a small distrust of writing as a force that can carry out the work of social justice. At times, the allure and flashiness of public protests and organizing can detract from the more “quiet” forms of activism– writing. The work of the panelists and writers featured in this post imply that writing is one of the necessary platforms and means to approach social justice aims.

After reading this, I am struck with a line of inquiries about the role of writing in high education: How does the context of writing in higher education position writing as a mere task or skill to learn for the job market? How can writer-activists and writing center communities re-cast writing as a transformative act that produces visible changes in the world? What possibilities can writer-activists produce within the institutional limits of higher education? Lastly, how can writer-activists frame their writing as doing the work of public humanities to engage the wider community outside of UW? Food for thought.

I am really looking forward to continuing to following the work of the social justice writing center collaborations and hopefully getting involved myself.

Thank you so much, Nancy and Mia, for this wonderful post. I am so inspired by the examples of students who have used writing for change. Like Amy, I am constantly trying to think about how we can teach students that writing is about more than sending polished emails on the job. This is the goal of my Writing for Social Justice class, but teaching it has been a continual learning process for me, too! Thank you again for sharing. I would love to get involved with the next workshop.

Comments are closed.

8 Tips For Writing A Social Justice Essay

Social justice covers a variety of issues involving race, gender, age, sexual orientation, income equality and much more. How do you write an essay on a social justice issue that’s engaging, informative and memorable? Here are eight tips you should take to heart when writing:

When writing a social justice essay, you should brainstorm for ideas, sharpen your focus, identify your purpose, find a story, use a variety of sources, define your terms, provide specific evidence and acknowledge opposing views.

Do you want to pursue a career in human rights?

Our eBook “ Launching Your Career in Human Rights ” is an in-depth resource designed for those committed to pursuing a career in the human rights field. It covers a wide range of topics, including the types of careers available, the necessary skills and competencies, and the educational pathways that can lead to success in this sector. Whether you’re considering a master’s degree, looking for your first job, or exploring specific human rights issues, this guide offers valuable insights and practical advice. It’s a helpful tool for anyone looking to understand the complexities of working in human rights and how to effectively navigate the challenges and opportunities that come with this important work. Learn more .

#1. Brainstorm creatively

Before you start writing your social justice essay, you need a topic. Don’t hesitate to look far and wide for inspiration. Read other social justice essays, look at recent news stories, watch movies and talk to people who are also interested in social justice. At this stage, don’t worry about the “trendiness” of your idea or whether a lot of people are already writing about it. Your topic will evolve in response to your research and the arguments you develop. At the brainstorming stage, you’re focused on generating as many ideas as possible, thinking outside the box and identifying what interests you the most. Take a free online course to get a better understanding of social justice.

You can take a creative brainstorming approach! A blog on Hubspot offers 15 creative ideas such as storyboarding, which involves laying out ideas in a narrative form with terms, images and other elements. You can also try freewriting, which is when you choose something you’re interested in. Next, write down everything you already know, what you need to know but don’t already, why the topic matters and anything else that comes to mind. Freewriting is a good exercise because it helps you decide if there’s any substance to a topic or if it’s clear there’s not enough material for a full essay.

#2. Sharpen your topic’s focus

The best essays narrow on a specific social justice topic and sharpen its focus, so it says something meaningful and interesting. This is often challenging, but wrestling with what exactly you want your essay to say is worth the effort. Why? An essay with a narrow, sharp focus has a clearer message. You’re also able to dig deeper into your topic and provide better analysis. If your topic is too broad, you’re forced to skim the surface, which produces a less interesting essay.

How do you sharpen your essay’s focus? Grace Fleming provides several tips on ThoughtCatalog . First, you can tell your topic is too broad if it can be summarized in just 1-2 words. As an example, “health inequity” is way too broad. Fleming suggests applying the questions, “Who, what, where, when, why and how,” to your topic to narrow it down. So, instead of just “health inequity,” you might end up with something like “The impact of health inequity in maternal healthcare systems on Indigenous women.” Your topic’s focus may shift or narrow even further depending on the research you find.

Writing a human rights topic research paper? Here are five of the most useful tips .

#3. Identify your purpose

As you unearth your topic and narrow its focus, it’s important to think about what you want your essay to accomplish. If you’re only thinking about your essay as an assignment, you’ll most likely end up with a product that’s unfocused or unclear. Vague sentiments like “Everyone is writing about social justice” and “Social justice is important” are also not going to produce an essay with a clear purpose. Why are you writing this essay? Are you wanting to raise awareness of a topic that’s been historically ignored? Or do you want to inspire people to take action and change something by giving them concrete how-to strategies? Identifying your purpose as soon as possible directs your research, your essay structure and how you style your writing.

If you’re not sure how to find your purpose, think about who you’re writing for. An essay written for a university class has a different audience than an essay written for a social justice organization’s social media page. If there are specific instructions for your essay (professors often have requirements they’re looking for), always follow them closely. Once you’ve identified your purpose, keep it at the front of your mind. You’ll produce an essay that’s clear, focused and effective.

#4. Find a human story

The best social justice essays don’t only provide compelling arguments and accurate statistics; they show your topic’s real-world impact. Harvard’s Kennedy School’s communications program describes this process as “finding a character.” It’s especially useful when you’re writing something persuasive. Whatever your topic, try to find the human stories behind the ideas and the data. How you do that depends on the nature of your essay. As an example, if you’re writing something more academic, focusing too much on the emotional side of a story may not be appropriate. However, if you’re writing an essay for an NGO’s fundraising campaign, focusing on a few people’s stories helps your reader connect to the topic more deeply.

How do you choose what stories to feature? Harvard suggests choosing someone you have access to either through your research or as an interview subject. If you get the opportunity to interview people, make sure you ask interesting questions that dig beneath the surface. Your subject has a unique perspective; you want to find the information and stories only they can provide.

#5. Rely on a variety of sources

Depending on your essay’s purpose and audience, there might be certain sources you’re required to use. In a piece for Inside Higher Ed, Stephanie Y. Evans describes how her students must use at least 10 source types in their final paper assignment. Most of the time, you’ll have a lot of freedom when it comes to research and choosing your sources. For best results, you want to use a wide variety. There are a few reasons why. The first is that a variety of sources gives you more material for your essay. You’ll access different perspectives you wouldn’t have found if you stuck to just a few books or papers. Reading more sources also helps you ensure your information is accurate; you’re fact-checking sources against one another. Expanding your research helps you address bias, as well. If you rely only on sources that reflect your existing views, your essay will be much less interesting.

While we’re talking about sources, let’s touch on citations. If you’re writing an essay for school, your teacher will most likely tell you what citation method they want you to use. There are several depending on the discipline. As an example, in the United States, social science disciplines like sociology and education tend to use the American Psychological Association (APA) style. Some places are very rigid about citation styles, while others are more relaxed. If you’re writing an essay where your citation won’t be checked, you still need to give credit to any ideas, thoughts, or research that’s not yours. Proper citation builds trust with your reader and boosts your credibility.

Here are more tips on writing a human rights essay!

#6. Define your key terms

To make your essay as clear and effective as possible, you want every reader on the same page right at the beginning. Defining your key terms is an important step. As Ian Johnston writes, creating an effective argument requires “the establishment of clear, precise, and effective definitions for key terms in the arguments.” You may have to adapt an existing definition or write your own. Johnston offers principles such as adjusting a definition based on the knowledge of who you’re writing for, focusing on what a term is and not just on its effects, and expanding a definition so it covers everything a reader needs to know.

How do you decide which terms are important in your essay? First, never assume a reader understands a term because it’s “obvious.” The most obvious terms are often the ones that need the clearest definitions. If your reader doesn’t know exactly what you’re talking about when you use a term like “health equity,” your essay won’t be as effective. In general, you want to define any terms relevant to your topic, terms that are used frequently and terms with distinct meanings in the context of your essay.

#7. Provide specific evidence and examples

Social justice issues are grounded in reality, so an essay should reflect that. Don’t spend your whole paper being philosophical or hypothetical. As an example, let’s say you’re writing an essay about desertification in Mali. Don’t discuss desertification as an abstract concept. Include real statistics and case studies on desertification in Mali, who it’s affecting the most and what is being done about it. For every argument you make, present supporting evidence and examples.

The strength of your evidence determines the strength of your arguments. How do you find strong evidence? Cite This For Me lists a handful of examples , such as studies, statistics, quotes from subject matter experts and/or reports, and case studies. Good evidence also needs to be accurate and in support of your argument. Depending on your essay topic, how current a piece of evidence is also matters. If you’re not relying on the most current evidence available, it can weaken your overall argument. Evidence should also be as specific as possible to your topic. Referring back to our desertification in Mali essay, that means locating examples of how desertification affects people in Mali , not in Chad or Russia.

Academic essay writing requires specific skills. Here’s an online introductory course on academic writing .

#8. Acknowledge your critics

Not every social justice essay requires an acknowledgment of opposing viewpoints, but addressing critics can strengthen your essay. How? It lets you confront your critics head-on and refute their arguments. It also shows you’ve researched your topic from every angle and you’re willing to be open-minded. Some people worry that introducing counterarguments will weaken the essay, but when you do the work to truly dissect your critic’s views and reaffirm your own, it makes your essay stronger.

The University of Pittsburgh offers a four-step strategy for refuting an argument. First, you need to identify the claim you’re responding to. This is often the trickiest part. Some writers misrepresent the claims of their critics to make them easier to refute, but that’s an intellectually dishonest method. Do your best to understand what exactly the opposing argument is claiming. Next, make your claim. You might need to provide specific evidence, which you may or may not have already included in your essay. Depending on the claim, your own thoughts may be a strong enough argument. Lastly, summarize what your claim implies about your critics, so your reader is left with a clear understanding of why your argument is the stronger one.

You may also like

Child Rights Jobs: Our Short Guide

17 International Organizations Offering Early-Career Opportunities

7 Online Courses on Child Protection and Children’s Rights

Gender Rights Jobs: Our Short Guide

Apply Now for the United Nations The Hague Immersion Programme

The UN Immersion Programme Is Open for Applications!

The UN Young Leaders Online Training Programme is Open for Applications!

Apply now: Essex Human Rights Summer School (Fully Online)

Free MOOC on Children’s Right to Education in Armed Conflict

9 Online Courses on Leading Diverse Teams

40 Top-Rated Social Issues Courses to Study in 2024

Register now: Global Institute of Human Rights Certificate Program

About the author, emmaline soken-huberty.

Emmaline Soken-Huberty is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon. She started to become interested in human rights while attending college, eventually getting a concentration in human rights and humanitarianism. LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights, and climate change are of special concern to her. In her spare time, she can be found reading or enjoying Oregon’s natural beauty with her husband and dog.

Storytelling for Social Justice

Craft your passion for justice through urgent stories that address pressing social issues in this course.

What you can learn.

• Identify urgent and important stories in your life and your community that only you can write
• Develop work rooted in fact and experience while writing across genres and formats
• Read published works that help you identify opportunity for your writing
• Spark new work you can develop into complete projects

About this course:

Fall 2024 schedule.

No meeting November 28. Enrollment limited to 15 students; early enrollment advised. Visitors not permitted. Internet access required. 

Internet access required to retrieve course materials.

This course applies towards the following certificates & specializations…

Corporate Education

Learn how we can help your organization meet its professional development goals and corporate training needs.

Donate to UCLA Extension

Support our many efforts to reach communities in need.

Innovation Programs

Student Scholarships

Coding Boot Camp

Lifelong Learning

• Accounting & Finance
• Architecture & Interior Design
• Business & Management
• Communications
• Design & Arts
• Digital Technology
• Engineering
• Entertainment
• Environmental Studies & Public Policy
• Health Care & Counseling
• Humanities & Social Sciences
• Landscape Architecture & Horticulture
• Legal Programs
• Osher (OLLI)
• Real Estate
• Sciences & Math
• Specializations
• Online Courses
• Transfer Credit Courses
• Conferences & Boot Camps
• Custom Programs & Corporate Education
• Instruction Methods
• Environmental Studies
• Accounting Fundamentals
• Business and Management of Entertainment
• College Counseling
• Cybersecurity
• Data Science
• Digital Marketing
• Feature Film Writing
• Human Resources Management
• Marketing with Concentration in Digital Marketing
• Personal Financial Planning
• Project Management
• Sustainability
• User Experience
• Payment Options
• How to Purchase Parking
• Enrollment Conditions
• Concurrent and Cross-Enrollment Programs
• Bruin ID Cards
• UCLA Recreation
• Course Drops, Transfers, and Withdrawals
• Accessibility & Disability Services
• Textbooks & Libraries
• Financial Aid
• Scholarships
• Military & Veterans Benefits
• Tuition Discounts
• Tax Advantages
• Grading Scale
• Credit Options
• Course Numbers
• Transcripts and Enrollment Confirmation
• Receiving Your Academic Credentials
• Instructors & Staff
• Parking & Lodging
• Keynote Speaker
• Career Resources
• Alumni Benefits
• Rights and Responsibilities
• Career Services
• Featured Jobs
• Browse Certificate Programs
• Certificate vs. Master’s Degrees
• Dates and Fees
• How to Apply
• Academic Requirements
• OPT, CPT, and Internships
• Upon Completing Your Certificate
• Hummel Scholarship
• Program Details
• Online International Programs
• International Student Services Office
• New Student Orientation
• Maintaining Your F-1 Visa
• Health Insurance
• Academic Advising
• Frequently Asked Questions
• UCLA Campus Amenities & Activities
• Daily Needs
• Public Transportation
• Request a Proposal
• Board of Advisors
• Instructors
• Join Our Team
• Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
• Accreditation
• Student Home
• Canvas Log In
• Student Log In
• Instructor Log In

Cookie Policy

We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience, including personalizing content and to store your content preferences. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. Read our privacy policy .

Anya Achtenberg

Award-winning author and teacher of fiction, memoir and poetry

Writing for Social Change: Re-Dream a Just World

Photo by Shashank Sahay on Unsplash

A 3-part series; each workshop stands on its own, or can be taught as part of the whole. For writers across the genres interested in shifting and expanding their ideas about craft and language, through reframing and recontextualizing the concepts of creative writing. Each workshop uses multicultural and interdisciplinary materials, integrates many writing explorations into the discussions; and goes deeper into concepts which leave “writer’s block” way behind. Centrally creative writing courses, these workshops also offer powerful tools to support work for social change; self-transformation and personal growth; diversity training; and community-building.

“A dream can be the highest point of a life.” —Nigerian writer Ben Okri, The Famished Road

Whether you are a member of a writing group or connected with a literary or educational institution, contact me to arrange a writing workshop in your area.

The workshop series consists of three sections:

• Writing for Social Change: Re-Dream a Just World
• Place and Exile/Borders and Crossings
• Yearning and Justice: Writing the Unlived Life

These workshops have been and can be taught in many different formats and time schedules. Each section stands on its own, or can be taught as part of the whole, whether in private workshops, conferences, or retreats, or in a semester-long university course. They treat writing across the genres, using multicultural and interdisciplinary materials.

While it is named a writing course and certainly has that focus—it also offers powerful tools for activists and social change agents in many settings; for self-transformation; for building community; for diversity training; for healing; for leaving “writer’s block” way behind; for developing tools to write and speak the truth in its fullness; for integrating the parts of the self.

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS

1. writing for social change:   re-dream a just world.

Writing for Social Change: Re-Dream a Just World , begins with an exploration of the profound connection that the act and art of writing have to the work of increasing social justice. We will find in our passion for justice a powerful engine to drive our writing; to reveal, to witness, to commemorate, and to explore language, character and story. But potent as well in freeing and deepening our writing is our work to re-examine the craft and concepts of good writing, whether poetry or prose, fiction or nonfiction, by grounding the craft in its political and historical context. The work of association, for instance, of revealing the connections between things that seem not to be connected, is basic to both the poetic and the political. The readings for this course bring forward an understanding of the craft and issues of creative writing, as well as offer examples of prose and poetry, fiction and nonfiction, that bring together extraordinary craft with concerns for social and economic justice. The reading selections are, by the nature of this course, far-reaching, multicultural and interdisciplinary, and support and inspire much participant writing.

Through a series of writing explorations, and with the inspiration of authors who have grappled with how writing makes an impact on the world, the work we do together offers ideas for and practice in ways of using writing for social change. These workshops support us in coming to voice, which is an intrinsic part of the process of overthrowing personal, group and societal censors and tyrants to recover what has been silenced and to empower each speaker. It goes much further, examining some of what is at the heart of writing that can break the social silences, recover people’s history, reveal connections among all things and beings, and re-dream a just world.

For writers at all levels of experience, across the genres, whether prose or poetry, fiction or nonfiction.

2.  Place and Exile; Borders and Crossings

This workshop breaks ground in expanding our writing in both content and craft. We will work to go beyond the usual instruction that all writers must write from a sense of place, and instead catch up with a world of peoples in exile from their ancestral homes; often in flight, in war, in refugee camps, and crossing borders that are not only geographic, but also cultural, linguistic, racial, and gender- and class-related. The participants will also be encouraged to create work that speaks of the massive changes to “place”, to environment, that climate change has put into motion. This work on borders and crossings connects directly as well to the building of story, and the understanding that there is always a story next to each story we tell or write. As well, the full development of characterization has much to do with the ability of the writer to cross borders, with knowledge, compassion and respect. The ability to enter another’s world, including that of an object, as Neruda does in his  Elemental Odes , is of course of central importance for poetry and essays as well as narrative. We explore the work of entering and writing the lives of others with a sense of inquiry that does not appropriate.

Very important in our exploration of the relationship of writing to place is the way that writers, even those writing in a language that is not their first tongue, work to make a home in language, thereby filling their creative expression with tension and resistance, music and power. We will look at these evocative and emotional issues in our discussions, and in the illuminating work of other writers, and challenge ourselves in our far-reaching writing explorations to cross boundaries that will free our writing, and deepen our understanding of and respect for the worlds and characters we write about. This workshop yields a great deal of new writing for the participants, as well as a re-visioning of the concepts of literary craft.

Writing to Change the World: Teaching Social Justice through Writers Workshop

Diamond, Lily | October 11, 2016 | Leave a Comment Download as PDF

The collective hum of the room quickly subsides as the classroom phone begins to ring. I can practically feel the anticipation as my class of sixth graders angles their bodies toward me, leaning so they can better hear the voice on the other side of the phone.

“Hello, this is Ms. Diamond’s class,” I say loudly and clearly for the benefit of my students. They wait eagerly, unsure of why instead of our scheduled read aloud, I had prepped them to quiet down when the phone rang.

I click the phone to speaker and tell my class, “Someone wants to talk to you!” They exchange uncertain looks, but grow even quieter, a rare occurrence for a group of 27 twelve-year-olds.

“Hello, this is Mayor Martinez,” the voice booms out, “and I’m calling to say that I received your letters. I have to tell you, I am truly impressed.” Now the excitement is palpable as the children look around, first giving each other bewildered looks then glancing up to me to confirm that what they’re hearing is true. I nod encouragingly, my pride evident.

Two weeks before, my class had sent out persuasive letters to the mayor of East Palo Alto, imploring her to hear their arguments in defense of initiatives such as reducing the number of plastic bags used by the city, potential steps to help the persistent gang problems in the community, and the importance of funding youth sports leagues. After weeks of gathering, sorting, and weighing evidence, my students had produced clearly structured, thoroughly researched essays, and they were thrilled to send their writing out into the world. They considered their target audience, and many of them had decided that the mayor was someone who would consider their arguments and take actionable steps to address issues in our community.

And now here she was, the mayor of their city, addressing each student individually over our classroom phone, specifically stating what she appreciated about their ideas and solutions. “Fatima,” she said, “I completely agree that we use too many plastic bags. And your point that we could put a tax on plastic bags like they do in San Francisco is very convincing.” Fatima, one of the quieter students in our class, blushed and smiled shyly.

At the end of her call, Mayor Martinez reiterated the importance of their writing. “You can each make a difference,” she stated. “I can see that you want to change things in the world, and you can use your writing to do that.”

With those words, she hung up and we returned to our normal classwork, but something had shifted: my students had experienced the power and potential of writing for change.

As a teacher of preadolescents, one of my primary duties is instilling a deep love of learning and curiosity about the world. I have taught sixth grade in a charter school in East Palo Alto, CA and fifth grade at an independent school in New York City, and though the contexts vary greatly, I have found that upper elementary students find issues of social justice to be particularly compelling.

Middle schoolers straddle the world between childhood and adulthood, eager to try on more adult roles. When I teach students that their work is meaningful and purposeful, our learning community becomes more invested and engaged. To foster this burgeoning sense of independence and purpose, I integrate themes of social justice across the three major genres we study, emphasizing the power of writing as a way to make one’s voice heard and ultimately as a means to change the world.

Personal Narrative: Crafting Stories That Explore Themes

Like many teachers, I love to launch the school year with a personal narrative unit. It offers me insight into my students’ personalities and lives, and children’s familiarity with the genre enables me to set the foundation for a productive writers workshop. However, many students start the year with a reluctance to tell real stories, instead deferring to the oft-told time of “when I went to the beach” or “how I broke my arm” that they’ve written again and again. By fifth grade, I tell my students, we cannot just write any old story; we are responsible for crafting narratives that matter, ones that others would benefit from hearing.

Telling a story that conveys deeper meaning takes courage and a sense of trust. I model such risk-taking in my own writing, sharing small moments of the time I faced the third grade bully, a middle school crush gone awry, a fight with a close friend. As I reveal myself to my students, comparing my own small personal tragedies and triumphs to those in beloved mentor texts like Sandra Cisneros’s “Eleven” and Francisco Jimenez’ “Inside Out,” they begin to see the universality of certain themes. We may not all have wildly exciting tales to tell about ourselves, but when we closely examine our lives, we can find meaning in unexpected, even mundane moments.

To encourage crafting meaningful stories from the start of the writing process, we begin by brainstorming social issues we’ve encountered in our lives – bullying, friendship, identity. Then students generate small moments connected to the issues most pertinent to them. One of my students immediately began drafting a small moment story about a soccer game. Through writing conferences where we talked about what his story was really about, he was able uncover the heart of his story. His narrative transformed into a reflection of a time when he let his team down. He wrote, “I stood up slowly. I was still goalie at least. I played while tears ran down my face. For the last few minutes of the game we didn’t score 1 goal. But they didn’t score a goal either. We still lost though 2-1…I thought to myself it’s ok to lose the game if you have fun. I was proud that I did my best.”

This first unit lays the foundation for leading a writerly life, where students become acutely aware of the way their lives intersect with important themes. They begin to align themselves with certain causes and issues, which allows us to establish a community that seeks deeper understanding.

Information Writing: Integrating Content into Workshop

To energize our informational unit, I draw heavily on our social studies curriculum, which allows me to integrate themes of social justice. In my classroom we study several ancient civilizations over the course of the year, and students enthusiastically make connections between past and present. In order to think like historians, students practice questioning the information they learn, testing where certain facts appear biased or unreliable, and thinking about perspective.

In this unit, developing the ability to analyze the past goes hand in hand with writing informational texts. As we learn the basic structure for an essay, I also emphasize the skills necessary to be a strong researcher and historian. To place these skills of research and informational writing in an engaging context, I integrate our writing unit with our study of Ancient China. Students select appropriate structures for their chapters, gather a variety of information, and use a teaching tone to make their work engaging. More importantly, we begin to look closely at whose perspective we get when gathering research and figure out whose voice is missing. This work fascinates upper grades students, as they are constantly aware of fairness and equity in their own lives.

After building background knowledge on Ancient China, students select their own expert topics, aware that they need to develop their own ideas and conclusions through their research in order to bring something new to their subject. We practice gathering information and using the facts to grow our own ideas and theories. Students study the role of religion, treatment of women, and the impact of the economy, and each writer is fueled by his or her own interests and research questions. My students’ ability to relate issues affecting our society with those of the past has amazed me. One student introduced her essay with the following comparison: “Today women rights are legitimate. We have a lot of opportunities and we appreciate them. If you lived in Ancient China though, you would not have had the convenience, of having these opportunities. Men were the leaders of Ancient China, and where were women? They did not matter.”

As students explore social issues that have persisted throughout history in their texts, they gain insight into the typically one-sided nature of the historical narrative and the resulting bias that comes with it. By leveraging history as a context for understanding others’ perspectives, students begin to recognize that the issues we study are complex and multidimensional. In their texts we seek to not just reiterate information gleaned through research, but to make something more of it. This integrated curriculum lifts the level of our writing and critical thinking, helping students fully understand the ways in which nonfiction texts can lead to more sophisticated ideas and connections.

Argument and Debate: Becoming Advocates Through Writing

Persuasive writing is perhaps my favorite genre to teach. Nothing comes more naturally to middle schoolers than arguing. Over the course of the year, my students find reasons to debate just about anything and everything: what is the central theme in our read aloud, is a hot dog really a sandwich, was Athens truly a democracy? By the time we get to our argument writing unit, my students have been exposed to debate across the curriculum and they are eager to apply what they know about crafting strong arguments. This work builds upon the informational writing unit as students continue to practice and hone their skills as researchers.  When we begin working on argumentation, we talk at great length about suspending initial judgment. “How can we know which side is stronger until we have fully researched both positions?” I ask my students, and they dive into their research with zeal, eager to see if the research will change their minds.

Students select their own inquiry topics to research, generating debatable questions within an issue of their choosing. They gather, sort, and rank evidence. They respond to counterarguments, hold debates with classmates, and look for patterns across their sources. Where they can question or challenge the perspective of one of their texts, they do so with a keen eye for bias.

We talk at length about who to target with their argument in order to actually implement change. Students think carefully about their audience and revise their work so that their tone, word choice, and solutions will appeal to their intended reader. This year we sent letters to congressmen about money for space exploration, to the Central Park Zoo imploring them to consider how the environment affects animals, to parents asking them to rethink the dangers of extreme sports. One student sent an email to the Nepalese government. “Dear Bidhya Devi Bhandari,” he wrote, “I am writing this letter to inform you that climbers and Sherpas are dying because of little training from climbing other mountains and lack of experience. More than 300 people have died climbing Mount Everest and more are dying as you read this letter. Climbing Mount Everest is dangerous and I am writing this letter to prove it.”

As students develop their own persuasive voices, they also become more critical of the arguments of others. Whenever we read texts together, students practice identifying and analyzing the arguments presented and determining the strength of the evidence provided. At the end of the year while reading a picture book about famous person, one student brought up the author’s bias in the text. “It seems like the author just wants us to think this person is a hero,” the child explained, “so they don’t even tell us the whole story.” Students around the room began to nod, and another volunteered, “It’s like nothing is really true. There’s always another side. You can’t just agree with what you read.” This is why this work is so vital. When students challenge and question ideas and texts, they develop critical thinking skills and begin to position themselves as active learners and citizens.

At the end of the school year, I ask students to reflect on their progress and growth. One student shared, “This year I learned that in writing I get to be me.” This is my purpose as a writing teacher: to teach my students that through writing we can develop our unique voices, to share our lives, communicate our ideas, and most importantly, change our world. The arc of our year allows students to identify how specific issues affect them personally, to explore the perspectives of others, and to communicate compelling solutions to prevalent problems in their lives. Students expand their awareness of social issues affecting our world and address them through writing. This is an early step to social activism, and it all takes place through writers workshop.

The above essay was originally written by Lily Diamond as a   2016 Donald H. Graves Writing Award Reflective Essay, and is republished here with the author’s permission. The emphases have been added.

MAHB-UTS Blogs are a joint venture between the University of Technology Sydney and the Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere. Questions should be directed to  [email protected] .

MAHB Blog:  https://mahb.stanford.edu/blog/writing-change-world/

Write On! Words Have Power! Writing for Social Justice

• All upcoming dates

Upcoming dates (0)

Not scheduled at this time. Join the mailing list .

• Badger Summer Scholars

In Write on! Words Have Power!, students will explore the intersectionality between writing and activism. Students will broaden their idea of what is possible through inspirational readings, writers, guest speakers and activities. Combining UW-Madison resources and a vibrant community of fellow high school writers, you'll learn how to integrate personal experiences and Social Justice into your work and find authentic expression to answer the following questions: What kinds of Power do words really have? How can each of us get involved in writing for Social Justice? This course is intended for students interested in creative writing, social justice, English, language arts and sociology.

Student profile

This course is intended for students interested in creative writing, social justice, English, language arts and sociology.

Important dates

Application deadlines.

Application opens: Nov. 28, 2023 Deadline: Apply by May 1, 2024

Tuition deadlines

The first half of tuition is due by May 15, 2024. The second half of tuition is due by June 1, 2024.

More Precollege|Badger Summer Scholars Offerings

• Write On! Words Have Power! Writing for Social Justice More
• Philosophy of Law More
• Influencing the Influencer: Media Strategies and More More
• Elections Have Consequences More
• (FULL) Veterinary and Animal Science More
• (FULL) Unlocking the Future: Exploration and Innovation in Biotechnology More
• (FULL) Think STEM! More
• (FULL) More Than Just a Game: Sports, Media and Culture More
• (FULL) Insight to Medical Fields of Study More
• View All Precollege|Badger Summer Scholars Offerings

Join our mailing list

• Name * first last
• Please add me to your email list.
• I am over the age of 13.

By submitting this form, you agree to receive marketing email from UW–Madison Continuing Studies. We will never share your email address or information about you. Read our privacy policy .

• Name This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Program Questions?

Contact Jamison Wendlandt at [email protected] or 608-890-3260

Badger Precollege Program Overview

• College Ready
• EducationUSA
• Imaging Self
• Badger Precollege Online
• Latino Youth Summit
• Senior session
• Junior session

Szabo Creative Consulting

Write better. feel better., creative writing for social justice and personal wellbeing.

Online Workshop July 21, 22, 23, 24

Space is limited.   Registration deadline June 21

Words are power.  If ever there was a time to advocate and honor the written word in service of justice and self-care, that time is now. Censorship is becoming the norm, important stories are being erased, and the deluge of bad news can be overwhelming. This online workshop will explore the use of creative writing for:

• social justice : creative writing offers a way to illuminate injustice, and advocate and inspire social change.
• personal transformation : creative writing can help us to discover our stories, make meaning of our lives and facilitate healing.

Using PowerPoint presentations, writing prompts and facilitated discussions of student work,  this online, immersive, 18-hour workshop  is designed to help participants discover and amplify the spirit and purpose of their writing. Previous writing experience is not necessary; focus is on exploration and discovery.  In a supportive, stimulating atmosphere, participants will:

• expand and enhance writing skills  in fiction, non-fiction, poetry, essays, blogs etc.
• explore the transformative potential  of creative writing.

Topics include:  Writing for Social Advocacy; Activism in Fiction; Writing to Feel Better; and Fiction as Memoir. Participants may be beginners, experienced, or published writers. Many participants have not previously attended a writing workshop or even thought of themselves as writers. Diversity of experience and active curiosity about the possibilities inherent in creative writing are the essential ingredients for this fresh and exciting workshop experience.

All Times are  Eastern Time

Friday, July 21, 6PM-9PM Saturday, July 22, 10AM-4:30PM Sunday, July 23, 10AM-4:30PM Monday, July 24, 6PM-8PM   Space is limited.  $450.00. Registration deadline June 21 Early registration by June 10 $435.00

Spread the word...

• Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
• Subscribe Subscribed
• Copy shortlink
• Report this content
• View post in Reader
• Manage subscriptions
• Collapse this bar

• Craft and Criticism
• Fiction and Poetry
• News and Culture
• Lit Hub Radio
• Reading Lists

• Literary Criticism
• Craft and Advice
• In Conversation
• On Translation
• Short Story
• From the Novel
• Bookstores and Libraries
• Film and TV
• Art and Photography
• Freeman’s
• The Virtual Book Channel
• Behind the Mic
• Beyond the Page
• The Cosmic Library
• The Critic and Her Publics
• Emergence Magazine
• Fiction/Non/Fiction
• First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing
• The History of Literature
• I’m a Writer But
• Lit Century
• Tor Presents: Voyage Into Genre
• Windham-Campbell Prizes Podcast
• Write-minded
• The Best of the Decade
• Best Reviewed Books
• BookMarks Daily Giveaway
• The Daily Thrill
• CrimeReads Daily Giveaway

On the Ethics of Writing About Social Issues (While Minimizing Harm)

Kavita das lists some key questions to ask.

Like so many other writers, I was shocked and saddened by the brutality of the recent attack on famed author Salman Rushdie. As someone who transitioned to becoming a full-time writer ten years ago after working in social change for close to fifteen years, I held Rushdie up as much for his craft as his conscience. I admired the way he unwaveringly championed the rights of writers from his perspective as a writer who has faced the consequences of engaging issues of religious tyranny with the ever-present threat imposed by the Fatwa issued against him by the Ayatollah of Iran following the release of his novel The Satanic Verses .

It is tempting to view this horrific attack as an isolated incident, one borne by the specter that followed Rushdie for decades. However, we have only to look at the heightened climate of hostility and divisiveness in this country and in other parts of the world to know that writers whose work engage fraught social issues are at risk of harassment and harm.

When I worked in racial justice, I was inspired when writers and activists in our movement wrote powerful, thought-provoking pieces illustrating the urgent need for racial justice. But I also watched in horror when those same individuals I admired became targets of racists and xenophobes and faced harassment from online trolls and bullies.

I felt compelled to write about issues of inequity and misogyny once I transitioned to becoming a full-time writer. And given my experience, I should have been prepared for the response. I wasn’t. I was prepared for a debate. But I was stunned when I was met with hostility and hatred.

I took many writing classes and workshops with respected writers however the focus was most often either on the craft of writing or strategies for getting published. Proclamations of “writing your truth” and “speaking truth to power” were thrown around as inspiration but little if no attention was paid to preparing writers for the possible risks of their work being out in the world.

I especially worried about marginalized writers being further harmed when they wrote honestly and courageously about the fraught issues they face because of their identities. There are risks of being alienated by family and friends, who see their writing not as a quest for truth but as transgression. There is the risk of losing jobs and professional opportunities for revealing personal struggles, past and present. They also face hostility and harassment from those who oppose their views or live in vehement denial. And, as we painfully learned through the attack on Rushdie, there is the danger of fanaticism, which seeks to silence voices by any means necessary.

This was my motivation for discussing both the negative and the positive implications of writing about social issues in my Writing About Social Issues class and my book Craft and Conscience: How to Write About Social Issues . I believe it is my responsibility as a writing instructor to prepare writers to think about how their work in the world could elicit reactions, sometimes negative ones, to them and to their subjects. I don’t seek to dissuade my students, but I want them to think of ways to mitigate or prepare themselves (and their subjects) for this possibility. I want them to be more prepared than I was. That a writer can learn the craft of writing but not how to weigh and face possible negative implications to their work needs to be remedied.

Ethics are not ancillary to craft but, in fact, critical to the craft of writing. And when it comes to writing about social issues, I will go so far as to say that you cannot write about social issues responsibly unless your work is grounded in ethics. So many problematic essays that have been and continue to be published, sometimes to the regret of the writer and to the distress of many readers, could be avoided by foregrounding discussions of ethics and moral clarity in the work and in the editorial process.

Since motivation, perspective, opinion, and ethics are important drivers for writing about social issues, we can acknowledge that we are motivated by the possibility of our writing having an impact. But what do we mean by “having an impact”? often, when we talk about wanting our work to have an impact, we are talking about wanting to raise awareness and change the conversation, and if we are really fortunate, change hearts, minds, and culture and contribute to policy shifts. So, when we talk about impact, we are usually presuming a positive impact.

However, we need to be aware that our work can also have a negative impact, such as provoking an angry reaction towards our subject or towards ourself, as the writer. Whether the overall impact is positive or negative, there are implications to writing about social issues, which may be felt far and wide, like the ripples from a powerful wave we have set in motion. We should consider and prepare for how these implications may play out in our own lives and in the lives of others.

It is especially crucial to consider the implications of our work when we write about subjects outside of our experiences and communities outside of our identity. Here are some considerations:

How might your subjects be impacted, positively, negatively, or both, if this story is published? Even positive attention for an issue can have negative implications for individuals or communities affected by that issue if it violates their privacy by creating undue scrutiny on their lives.

Have you been transparent with your subjects about the intent of your work on this issue and their portrayals in it? What is their reaction? When possible, writers should be transparent with their subjects about the intentions of their work. This ensures that the depiction of the subjects’ circumstances is fair and accurate and, ultimately, strengthens the work as well as the relationship between the writer and their subjects.

What can you do to prepare your subjects for any positive and negative attention the piece might attract to them? It’s important to let individuals and communities featured in your piece know the possible positive and negative implications of your piece being published and talk with them about how to handle these potential situations.

Are featured individuals dealing with existing stigmas that make them additionally vulnerable? How will the piece impact their security and well-being? It is critical to think about how the security and well-being of vulnerable subjects might be impacted by your writing. Are they made more or less vulnerable by your work? For instance, if you are writing about individuals who are undocumented or in substance abuse recovery, how will your work impact them, and are they prepared for this?

Does the published piece reflect the identities and lives of your subjects responsibly and with integrity? If not, are you willing and able to make changes and corrections if the writing or editorial process has resulted in mischaracterizations of your subjects? Hopefully, you are familiar and comfortable with your publisher’s approach to social issues. Be sure to ask your editor for a clear understanding of what interventions are available to you, as the writer, during and after the editorial process, to mitigate any issues in tone or accuracy.

If you are directly or indirectly connected to the subject you are writing about, be sure to consider the implications, positive and negative, to yourself as the writer. Start by assessing how close you are to the subject. Here are some questions to help in that assessment:

What is your relationship to the subject/story/issue?

Are you part of the community or outside of the community covered in your work?

Are you directly or indirectly impacted by the issue?

How indirectly are you learning about the issue? How many levels of filters has the story been through before reaching you?

How will you be impacted by your coverage of this issue? Who might view your coverage of this issue favorably or unfavorably?

If you are directly or indirectly affected by the publication of your story, you need to consider the impact on yourself. Are you prepared for the possible positive or negative implications for yourself? If you are telling the story of a social issue through your own lived experiences or your eyewitness account, it is critical to feel comfortable with that part of your life being exposed to the public. You have to prepare yourself for the range of possible reactions from strangers as well as people you know, from those who are understanding and supportive to those who are judgmental and critical.

Most of all, you have to be at ease with the idea that once your story is in the public domain, it no longer belongs just to you. Therefore, I encourage writers to carefully consider whether they are comfortable with the loss of privacy that comes with telling your life story.

If you are concerned by personal implications to you if family members, friends, or colleagues learn about this aspect of your life, then consider asking if it is possible to publish the piece anonymously or under a pseudonym. Or consider fictionalizing it.

Bear in mind, every writer has a different threshold for what they are comfortable revealing about themselves and their lives through their writing, so do not feel pressured to share details that other writers share in their work, unless you are truly comfortable with making those details public. This is why I believe it is often worth hitting pause between writing a fraught personal piece and submitting it and publishing it, to give yourself the time and space to reflect on the implications of it being out in the world. Social issues matter, but so does your sense of comfort.

It is crucial to encourage writers to consider the implications, both positive and negative, of publishing writing about social issues, and to push forward, with eyes wide open, to how it will impact others and themselves. We write to be seen and heard so why not be clear-eyed and earnest in our assessment of how our work might ripple out into the world, hopefully joining forces with the currents created by others who also seek progress. I’m grateful I have had the opportunity to witness, connect with, and guide others along their own currents, as we collectively create the momentum for sea change.

__________________________________

Adapted from Craft and Conscience: How to Write about Social Issues by Kavita Das, available via Beacon Press.

• Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)

Previous Article

Next article, support lit hub..

Join our community of readers.

to the Lithub Daily

Popular posts.

The Annotated Nightstand: What Ross Gay is Reading Now and Next

• RSS - Posts

Literary Hub

Created by Grove Atlantic and Electric Literature

Sign Up For Our Newsletters

How to Pitch Lit Hub

Advertisers: Contact Us

Privacy Policy

Support Lit Hub - Become A Member

Become a Lit Hub Supporting Member : Because Books Matter

For the past decade, Literary Hub has brought you the best of the book world for free—no paywall. But our future relies on you. In return for a donation, you’ll get an ad-free reading experience , exclusive editors’ picks, book giveaways, and our coveted Joan Didion Lit Hub tote bag . Most importantly, you’ll keep independent book coverage alive and thriving on the internet.

Become a member for as low as $5/month

The Braided Essay as Social Justice Action

The braided essay may be the most effective form for our times

I was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. The nouns in that sentence define nearly all of my writing. I write from a first-person point of view, from a place that defines and makes that “I”—I am as much Salt and Lake and City as anything. Salt is a place noun but, here, also acts as an adjective, describing the kind of lake. Salty also describes a kind of writing—irreverent, maybe even sailor-like. The lake part is misleading if it suggests to you potable water and schools of fish. This lake is undrinkable. Until recently, the city part also seemed inaccurate. Tumbleweeds still roll down State Street—street number one on the grid, a perfect square, each road big enough to turn an ox-cart around. The city seems more like a map of a city than a city itself.

Salt Lake City is an intense kind of place. The Mormon Church dominates most of everything—or at least it did while I was growing up. Or seemed to. My parents, having both been raised in the church, then having left Utah so my dad could go to grad school in New York City, thought Mormonism stifled their hippy ways. They would have stayed in New York, but the job market was weak, and my dad, a geological engineer, found a job with his grandfather’s drill-bit diamond company back in Salt Lake.

Geology, or at least the results of geological formations, brings a lot of people to Utah. Brigham Young, the second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, after trekking up the Rocky Mountains, wended his way down through what is now called Emigration Canyon, saw the vast bowl that was Salt Lake Valley, and declared, “This is the place.” No matter that the big body of water—which would have suggested to any pioneer that this valley was a good place to start a new civilization—turned out to be full of salt. The mountain streams would supply the pioneers with enough water to turn this desert into a Midwestern oasis, with less persecution than they had suffered in Illinois and Missouri.

The glaciers that cut through the canyons of the Wasatch Mountains; the rivers that flowed between banks of granite cut by those glaciers; the water that irrigated farms and chchchchchhed out of lawn sprinklers; and the river Jordan, which collected all the canyon streams, and their attendant sewage and pollutants, into one and funneled the leftovers into the stagnant Great Salt Lake, were powerful forces. The Mormon Church, Manifest Destiny, and 19th-century Revivalist culture proved to be equally powerful at shaping those mountains and those rivers.

The church pushed, tucking rivers underground, turning a brown valley green, pumping water up and down and around the valley until it looked like a kind of Eden—a green Zion. Orchards and gardens, fountains and trees. Sometimes, though, the mountains pushed back. In 1983, 700 inches of snow, rather than the usual 300, fell. That spring, rain compounded the melting snow, and those ox-cart wide streets turned to rivers. As much as the Mormons had sculpted those mountains to fit their grid, the mountains took their turn to undo it.

What is creative nonfiction writing but the shaping and reshaping of self against fact? You take a personal story and give it syntax, grammar, language, punctuation. The simple fact of putting it on paper reshapes it. But now you’ve got to give it context, associate meaning to it. So next to that personal story, you set a paragraph about apples, or condoms, or chickens, or gun violence. Suddenly, your personal story is reshaped by these new facts, and the facts of your personal story cut into the hard statistics of your paragraph about imported apples or the failure rate of condoms.

The facts are the glacier to the soft canyon of your own history. You see the history newly. You see the facts a little more softly.

The geological forces that shaped Salt Lake City, and the work the church did to shape the geology, played out on the bodies and psyches of Mormon children. Or, at least, this child. Technically, I was Mormon if only by relation. My grandmothers were both LDS. My parents were both baptized although I never was. I went to church on Sundays only when I slept over at my grandma’s on Saturday nights. School was mostly fine, except when it wasn’t, or when my friends couldn’t come over to play because my parents drank wine, or when my friends went to after-school church activities like Mutual and I went over to the non-Mormon neighbor’s house where my body got shaped further by the neighborhood boys. At some ages, we’ll do anything to belong. In my book Quench Your Thirst with Salt , in an essay about a slide that happened after that 700 inches of snow melted and changed the landscape of many parts of Utah, and also about the hernia I developed from carrying my twin sisters around, I braided together scenes of land and scenes of body.

Symptom: I was showering in my mom and dad’s bathroom when my mom opened the shower curtain to hand me a washcloth and noticed the lump. She asked how long it had been there. I did not like her looking at my vagina. I told her as much. But she kept looking anyway. I told her I was OK and showed her my neat trick. If you pushed on the lump, it went away. I thought she would like that—it was a little like ironing—press it down and the protruding wrinkle goes away. She did not like it. She called the doctor.

Symptom: For a while, those floods transformed the riverbeds and the canyon floors, but the most dramatic changes came from underneath. As the water sopped into the sandy ground far above in the mountains, the underlying valley aquifers began to fill. The aquifer just above Thistle filled to the brink and then it bubbled over like any lid that tries too hard to hold the contents of its burgeoning cup. The land that capped the groundwater spectacularly split from the underlying ground and steamed right in to the town of Thistle. Thistle—dry, pokey, brittle. Nothing wet about it. Not usually. Not until 1983, when the rules changed and the lid was no longer tight enough and the cup no longer big enough and the whole side of the mountain shifted its weight up and over and then down on the town of Thistle.

How literally can you take the metaphor between land and the body? My body houses a number of species of mite and yeast and bacterium and occasionally another human body. A chemical imbalance of any sort can disrupt that number, but even if I manage to kill all the mites off of my eyelashes, if they were to go extinct all over me, six billion other human-planets would continue to sustain the very same species of mite. The Earth, though it may have six billion other brothers and sisters in the universe, as far as we know, is the only one to house anywhere from one-and-a-half to six million species on it. See how a body repairs itself. See how a planet does.

Reality is not my strong suit, which is rough for a nonfiction writer. Happily, the braided essay lets me pop in and out of different realities—not so much manipulating the facts as pacing them—and digest reality in drops.

Forces that shape your childhood parallel forces that shape the natural world. That should be an easy enough metaphor to make. But add toxins to the mix, and you have a ready-made drama on your hands. In Salt Lake, drought presses down from the parching August sky. Mercury and nitrates trickle downstream, layering the Great Salt Lake with bird-killing bands of poison. Oil refineries hidden behind the folds of the mountains spew layers of carbon, which combine with the parching sky to stave the clouds off. In Salt Lake, there used to be rain in August. Combine that dark narrative with a story about a girl who was born in that valley, whose friends weren’t allowed to come to her house because she wasn’t a member of the predominant religion. Add a trickle of paternal alcoholism and a band of sexual abuse. Press those layers together in memory’s time-lapse. Let them sit for a few years. Start writing. Start digging.

A problem for both memoir and nature writing is that some authors assume that nature and hardship inherently signify meaning: an addiction overcome must be meaningful; a bird, flying, must be meaningful.

I do think, depending on how you write it, that birds and addictions can make meaning, but I think meaning often lies in what F. Scott Fitzgerald called “first-rate intelligence”: the ability to hold two opposing ideas in your mind at the same time. The tension between two unlike things working against each other does, with enough stress and repetition, press out meaning.

Environmental writing, like any political writing, can be preachy, overly earnest, and super reverential. The authorial habit of invoking birds and trees and turtles, and imagining that just invoking these names conveys significance, can be off-putting to anyone who doesn’t think turtles or birds are inherently significant. As for critics of memoir, there’s a whole contingent of people who say, You’re only twenty-seven years old: how can you write a memoir? You haven’t even lived yet. You’re not famous. You’re not an addict. Your insights about life and living cannot possibly be significant.

In fact, it is memoir that offers something unique to environmental writing. By situating the self in the story, the writer personalizes what in some nature writing might come off as eulogizing and obvious. When I toggle between myself and the rest of the world, not only do I stop myself from boring myself with what I already know, I also find surprising commonalties with prairie dogs, or gutters, or the way geological formations seem permanent until they’re not, which reminds me that my bad habits or unattractive character traits, like writing about myself, are not necessarily permanent either.

The braided essay isn’t a new form. In fact, I think nearly every essay uses a kind of braiding—a New Yorker story about Bill Clinton’s fundraising skills, for example, toggles to scenes from his Arkansas childhood. But radical braiding is a foundation of creative nonfiction. The first book I read that I consider creative nonfiction was Terry Tempest Williams’s Refuge . Braiding together stories of the Bear Lake Migratory Bird Refuge and her mother’s cancer, Williams develops the idea that environments, personal and global, are inextricably related:  the way the cancer moves, conversations move; diagnoses, hope, healing, and death proceed as the plover, the seagull, and the long-billed curlew migrate.

Perhaps the braided form is most effective when the political and the personal are trying to explain and understand each other. The process of pulling together two disparate ideas allows for surprise. In an essay I wrote about geothermal power in Iceland, I asked the question: although geothermal power is a sustainable, green energy, is it infinite? Will the supplies run out? Research revealed that an overtaxed well could, in fact, run dry, and the power produced by that particular natural hot-spring could come to an end. In a parallel story, I got mad at my husband and stormed off, wondering whether or not a church on a hill was Catholic, and angry that he had made me walk there if he didn’t want to know. Neither of us would let the issue go. I wandered by the ocean long enough to make myself abysmally sad. I stayed gone long enough to get really mad. I came home and fell asleep on the bathroom floor. When I awoke, I couldn’t find my husband. I found him waiting for me across the street, letting it go, forgiving me. The essay led me to understand that our relationship might be elastic and strong, possibly infinite in its resources, but perhaps I should be cautious before I tax it.

The form of the braided essay embodies the subject of the essay. The braided form is one of resistance. The further apart the threads of the braid, the more the essay resists easy substitutions and answers. I write politically, but I have found that political writing is often shallow and ideological; in political writing I agree with, I often find nothing new, and in political writing I don’t agree with, I find nothing persuasive. I keep my Facebook friends close as we confirm each other’s beliefs, sarcastically commenting, “But her emails!” on every new political spectacle. We don’t even have to explain. But the braided form expands the conversation, presses upon the hard lines of ideology, stretches the choices beyond right or left, one or the other. Metaphor helps challenge the stultified pathways of our neural networks and test the elasticity of thought. Two ideas. One time. The brain resists new ways of thinking, but resistance is an important political tool. Resistance is the metaphor that will rule all other metaphors.

I tend to write in braided essay form, but in a recent essay about wolves, I took it to a different level. In this essay, I didn’t make so many explicit transitions. Instead, I used the research itself to catapult the essay’s questioning. I found “62 Interesting Facts about Wolves” using Google and considered how each one was really a fact about humans. If so many of the facts involve human-and-wolf interaction, can we imagine the wolf as a separate existence-worthy species? Or are wolves only a reflection of human fears, violent capacities, love of wilderness, ability to adapt? Should humans save them to save these elements of ourselves, or does wolf existence matter for reasons beyond its relationship to the human?

If the essay is a chalkboard onto which we scrape our ontological questions, then this essay fits right in. Who are wolves? Are humans wolves? Can facts exist without humans? If the wolf changes, does the very being of wolf change? As climate change and habitat loss force the wolf to breed with the coyote, do we lose not only a species, or even two species, but also a metaphor for how we understand ourselves? How is the wolf and human already a braided idea? If one is being eradicated, is the other? Or is it just the idea of the other that is eradicated?

Is braided form a broken form? Perhaps. If so, perhaps it is the form that best represents a broken self and a broken world. But there is also something reparative about the braided essay. The way one dips into one section of research, looking for that one right word to express the personal brokenness. As you stitch an essay together, you stitch yourself into the world. The world, stitched by you, is made more whole. I think it’s incumbent upon us to make a case for what we believe. I also think it’s incumbent upon us to check our beliefs against a prismatic understanding of facts. Humility and curiosity come from the same place. “How does the world work?” and “Who am I?” are two sides of the same coin. The personal story asks the reader to hear you say, Isn’t this what it’s like to be human? The research-based story says, See how being human is like being everything else in the world? Strange and wondrous. Wild and mutable. The job of the creative nonfiction writer is to say, Here I am world, and here is the world, and out of this oxymoronic writing, we are here to make each other.

Thanks for putting a name to Thanks for putting a name to a style of writing that I seem to naturally fall into. I can’t wait to read some of your essays. I so enjoy reading essays that explore a sense of place, and the myriad relations that grow from it.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

e-Publications@Marquette

Home > ARTSSCI > English > ENGLISH_STU > Writing for Social Justice

4210 English: Writing for Social Justice

This course asked students to become writers for social justice even as they worked to answer these large, but critical, questions. To do so, they collaborated with and learned from a community partner: the YWCA Southeast Wisconsin, specifically their Racial Justice Program. Throughout the semester, students worked with the YWCA’s Racial Justice Program to learn more about one type of social justice—that is, racial justice—and to produce multi-modal texts that can be used in efforts toward “eliminating racism, empowering women.” Much of this work was collaborative in nature, involving co-authoring and group work, as well as ongoing and active reflection (e.g., reflective writing, in-class processing, and participation in reflection sessions sponsored by Marquette’s Service Learning Program).

As students engaged in a range of thinking, reading, writing, and research work, they also set their own learning objectives through grading contracts, compiled their work into midterm and final assessment portfolios, and composed carefully crafted cover letters, reflecting on their agency, thinking, and growth throughout the process. These reflective moments provided opportunities to assess their work and to set new goals for future writing and learning.

The students of 4210 English made short (2-5 minute) educational and promotional videos, in partnership with and for use by their community partner, YWCA Southeast Wisconsin’s Racial Justice Program. These short videos involved co-­authoring scripts; conducting and filming interviews; using already-­recorded video footage; working with audio and sound quality; applying visual design principles; captioning video; responding to feedback; and editing for quality.

The students interviewed staff members and teen participants of Everytown Wisconsin, a week-­long, social justice leadership camp for teens. The week-­long camp is intended to help teens (entering grades 10-­2 or recent high school graduates) develop leadership skills, challenge stereotypes, and build self-­confidence—all while having fun. The videos created are intended to highlight participants’ experiences with the camp, tell about the camp in the participants’ voices, showcase what they report learning, and promote the camp to various stakeholders.

Submissions from 2015 2015

Camp Everytown Promotional Video for Parents , Olivia Castro, Chelsea Drenning, Wyatt Massey, and Ebru Singer

Everytown Wisconsin Promotional Video for Teens , Amy Chang, Caroline Mahoney, and Kaitlan Watson

Everytown Wisconsin Promotional Video for the Public , Seamus Doyle, Megan Hahn, Eric Hale, and P.J. O'Connell

English 4210—Grading Contract , Beth Godbee

English 4210—Syllabus , Beth Godbee

What's this all about? A short video about making short videos , Beth Godbee and Elizabeth Andrejasich Gibes

Advanced Search

• Notify me via email or RSS
• Collections
• Disciplines

Information about e-Pubs@MU

• General FAQ
• More about Everytown Wisconsin

Home | About | FAQ | My Account | Accessibility Statement

Privacy Copyright

Harriet Beecher Stowe Center 77 Forest Street Hartford, CT 06105 860-522-9258 [email protected]

Creative Writing for Social Justice - Writing Workshop

Write your story in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s house! This workshop provides writers of all ages and levels a supportive and inspirational environment where they can craft and share their efforts at writing for social justice. Participants will explore how writers can use or teach creative writing as a form of activism. Through expert-led prompts, activities, and discussion, participants will learn how to use their writing skills to bear witness, build empathy, and advocate for positive change. Writers are welcome to bring something they’ve been working on or begin a new piece at the workshop. Lunch, coffee, tea, and snacks will be provided.  Space is very limited.  Registration closes one week prior to the workshop.  

$25 for members and Hartford residents: $40 for non-members

School Group Interest Form 2024

Thank you so much for your interest in a group tour at the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center! Please help us schedule your visit by answering the questions below.

Group Tour Interest Form 2022

Please provide your name and email address to play media

Isabella   Holmes Beecher Hooker (1822-1907) An ardent member of the woman’s suffrage movement, Isabella Holmes Beecher Hooker joined in the cause along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.

Isabella was the first child of Lyman Beecher and his second wife, Harriet Porter Beecher.

Isabella began her education at Catharine Beecher’s Hartford Female Seminary and lived with her sister Mary Perkins. In 1841 she married John Hooker, a descendant of Thomas Hooker, the founder of Hartford. John Hooker was a lawyer and an abolitionist.

In the early 1860s Isabella got involved in the woman’s suffrage movement. Isabella joined Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony as a member of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association in 1869. She was a founding member of the Connecticut Woman’s Suffrage Association. Isabella’s ideas of equality were influenced by John Stuart Mills’  On Liberty  and the  Subjection of Women .

In 1871, Isabella organized the annual convention of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association in Washington D.C. and presented her argument before the Committee on the Judiciary of the United States Senate. Her husband,  John Hooker , believed in his wife and supported her activities. He helped Isabella draft a bill to the Connecticut Legislature giving married women the same property rights as their husbands. The bill passed in 1877. Isabella annually submitted a bill granting women the right to vote, but it did not pass in her lifetime.

Due to inclement weather, the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center is closed today, Monday, December 2.

Storytelling for Social Justice

Craft your passion for justice through urgent stories that address pressing social issues in this course.

What you can learn.

• Identify urgent and important stories in your life and your community that only you can write
• Develop work rooted in fact and experience while writing across genres and formats
• Read published works that help you identify opportunity for your writing
• Spark new work you can develop into complete projects

About this course:

Fall 2024 schedule.

No meeting November 28. Enrollment limited to 15 students; early enrollment advised. Visitors not permitted. Internet access required. 

Internet access required to retrieve course materials.

This course applies towards the following certificates & specializations…

Corporate Education

Learn how we can help your organization meet its professional development goals and corporate training needs.

Donate to UCLA Extension

Support our many efforts to reach communities in need.

Innovation Programs

Student Scholarships

Coding Boot Camp

Lifelong Learning

• Accounting & Finance
• Architecture & Interior Design
• Business & Management
• Communications
• Design & Arts
• Digital Technology
• Engineering
• Entertainment
• Environmental Studies & Public Policy
• Health Care & Counseling
• Humanities & Social Sciences
• Landscape Architecture & Horticulture
• Legal Programs
• Osher (OLLI)
• Real Estate
• Sciences & Math
• Specializations
• Online Courses
• Transfer Credit Courses
• Conferences & Boot Camps
• Custom Programs & Corporate Education
• Instruction Methods
• Environmental Studies
• Accounting Fundamentals
• Business and Management of Entertainment
• College Counseling
• Cybersecurity
• Data Science
• Digital Marketing
• Feature Film Writing
• Human Resources Management
• Marketing with Concentration in Digital Marketing
• Personal Financial Planning
• Project Management
• Sustainability
• User Experience
• Payment Options
• How to Purchase Parking
• Enrollment Conditions
• Concurrent and Cross-Enrollment Programs
• Bruin ID Cards
• UCLA Recreation
• Course Drops, Transfers, and Withdrawals
• Accessibility & Disability Services
• Textbooks & Libraries
• Financial Aid
• Scholarships
• Military & Veterans Benefits
• Tuition Discounts
• Tax Advantages
• Grading Scale
• Credit Options
• Course Numbers
• Transcripts and Enrollment Confirmation
• Receiving Your Academic Credentials
• Instructors & Staff
• Parking & Lodging
• Keynote Speaker
• Career Resources
• Alumni Benefits
• Rights and Responsibilities
• Career Services
• Featured Jobs
• Browse Certificate Programs
• Certificate vs. Master’s Degrees
• Dates and Fees
• How to Apply
• Academic Requirements
• OPT, CPT, and Internships
• Upon Completing Your Certificate
• Hummel Scholarship
• Program Details
• Online International Programs
• International Student Services Office
• New Student Orientation
• Maintaining Your F-1 Visa
• Health Insurance
• Academic Advising
• Frequently Asked Questions
• UCLA Campus Amenities & Activities
• Daily Needs
• Public Transportation
• Request a Proposal
• Board of Advisors
• Instructors
• Join Our Team
• Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
• Accreditation
• Student Home
• Canvas Log In
• Student Log In
• Instructor Log In

Cookie Policy

We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience, including personalizing content and to store your content preferences. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. Read our privacy policy .

Using Art to Teach Social Justice

S cience and creativity combine to imagine a place where everyone flourishes

A scientist and a comedian walk into a classroom. They start a discussion about how art can influence social justice.

You’ll have to wait for the punchlines. Emory first-year students will create them as part of a new fall seminar “Human Flourishing: Imagine a Just City.”

“Humans cannot flourish without true justice,” says Micaela Martinez , Emory assistant professor of biology, who developed the class. “We have so many huge societal problems that need creativity, imagination, hope and optimism to solve.”

The class is among the new First-Year Flourishing Seminars , aimed at deepening what students know but also who they aspire to be. It is also part of the Emory Arts and Social Justice Fellows program , which pairs Emory faculty with Atlanta artists to explore how creative thinking and artistic expression can inspire change.

Martinez is co-teaching with Arts and Social Justice Fellow David Perdue , a comedian.

“You can’t save the world with jokes,” Perdue says. “But humor can be a good way to raise awareness of what’s going on. It’s a first step.”

Comedian David Perdue and scientist Micaela Martinez hit it off immediately. "I never imagined that I'd be co-teaching with a comedian," Martinez says, "but it's awesome working with David."

Martinez, who joined the Emory faculty last year, is an infectious disease ecologist. Her lab studies how ecology, social determinants of health, immunology, climate change and demography intersect to shape health and disease.

She comes to Atlanta from New York, where she was on the faculty of Columbia University. “During the pandemic we saw Black and Brown New Yorkers dying at two times the rate as white New Yorkers. It was quite stark,” Martinez says. “It really shined a light on the social inequities of the city.”

Civil rights lawyer Norman Siegal tapped Martinez to serve on a commission tasked with making social justice recommendations to the newly elected mayor of New York, Eric Adams, to improve the lives of all New Yorkers.  

"I feel a moral imperative to use my scientific training to help address the injustices I see around me," Martinez says.

“We were asked to imagine New York being a just city and what we would have to do to get there,” Martinez says. “We came up with a set of policies covering everything from health, policing, climate change, food systems, housing and education.”

Her idea for the Emory seminar grew out of that experience. “Emory undergraduates are eager to get a diverse, wide-ranging education,” Martinez says. “That gives faculty the freedom to develop seminars like ‘Imagine a Just City.’”

Co-teaching with a comedian puts an interesting twist on the class.

"We want to foster a spirit of optimism and stewardship in the students. We're giving them the freedom to imagine a better world."

One way David Perdue has honed his sense of humor is coping with sharing a name with a former U.S. senator, who also recently sought the Republican nomination in the race for governor of Georgia. “When he lost I was like, ‘Oh, thank God!’” Perdue recalls. “I’ve been dealing with requests to fix potholes and other annoying remarks for years.”

A native of Georgia, Perdue graduated from Morehouse College with a degree in sociology and leadership studies. “A leadership studies professor, Dr. Walter Fluker, had a heavy influence on how I think about using comedy to reach people and talk about difficult things,” Perdue says. “He opened my eyes to how to build community. Sharing laughter with someone from an opposing view can add a little depth to humanity. Good comedy threads the needle and connects people across divides.”

"Laughter is a communal experience," Perdue says. "Getting people to laugh together is a super power that comedians have to facilitate community."

A prolific entertainer, Perdue co-produces the free 1AM Secret Show for stand-up comedy on Saturdays at Smith’s Olde Bar. He has appeared at comedy festivals throughout the country and on Comedy Central. He co-hosts two comedy podcasts, “Forth and Ten” and “The Confused Caucus.” And he co-produced and co-created the stage show “Double Consciousness” with poet Adan Bean, which uses humor to process the social traumas of the Black community while also celebrating hope.

Becoming an Emory Arts and Social Justice Fellow was one more way for Perdue to apply his talent in meaningful ways.

"It's one thing to know information," Martinez says. "It's a completely different thing to be a citizen of the world who can navigate conversations about difficult topics."

Martinez and Perdue hit it off immediately through their shared commitment to social justice and building community.

“I feel a moral imperative to use my scientific training to help address the injustices I see around me,” Martinez says. Too often, she adds, scientists, activists and artists act in silos when complex social problems require a holistic approach. A sense of hopefulness is also vital, she stresses.

“It can be quite wearing on the spirit to keep going over the statistics for Black infant mortality, or the fact that if you’re Black in this country you’re so much more likely to die at the hands of a police officer,” Martinez says. “We want to foster a sense of optimism and stewardship in the students. We’re giving them the freedom to imagine a better world.”

In addition to scientific reports and articles, the seminar syllabus includes visual media, such as the documentary “John and Yoko: Above Us Only Sky”; creative writing, including the poetry of Ono and the essays of James Baldwin; and podcasts like the History Channel’s “Tulsa Burning.” Joint classes will be held with the “Fairy Tales and Flourishing” seminar led by Vincent Bruyere, associate professor of French and scholar of fairy tales, and “Nonhuman Flourishing” led by Sean Meighoo, associate professor of comparative literature and a founding member of the Animal Studies Society.

"Whether I'm doing standup comedy, writing or now teaching, I try to be creative as I can with the tools around me," Perdue says.

Each week, the students discuss a different justice topic, such as food insecurity, sexual and reproductive health, incarceration and policing, climate change, environmental justice as well as chronic health disparities and infectious diseases. They are then challenged with questions such as, “If you had executive power and limitless resources to create one policy to address this issue, what would it be?”

Workshops will help the students hone group class projects on their chosen topic, some of which will be presented in December at an Emory Arts and Social Justice Project Showcase and Community Conversation.

“We’re learning from the students as well when it comes to the form the final projects may take,” Perdue says. “My generation got a lot of its news from the comedy of ‘The Daily Show.’ Today, TikTok and Instagram are big sources of information.”

“When students leave Emory we want them to not only have a solid grounding in critical issues of social justice but also make sure that they are conversant in them,” Martinez says.

“It’s one thing to know information," she adds. "It’s a completely different thing to be a citizen of the world who can navigate conversations about difficult topics in a comfortable, responsible, respectful way.”

Story and design by Carol Clark. Photos by Kay Hinton.

For more information:

The martinez lab emory arts and social justice program, emory first-year flourishing seminars media contact: carol clark, [email protected], 404-727-0501.

DigitalCommons@Hamline

A service of the Bush Memorial Library

• < Previous

Home > HSEL > HSEL Student Capstone Projects > 674

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Identity placement in social justice issues through a creative writing curriculum.

Tamara Johnson

Summer 2021

Capstone Project

Degree Name

Facilitator(s).

Jana Lo Bello Miller

Content Expert

Andy Maurer

In our current society, there is a growing need for educators to approach curriculum with the knowledge and awareness of the inequities that affect our students based on how they identify. The exploration of student identity in the classroom not only encourages reflection on how students are placed in the context of social justice issues but also promotes the reflection of educators who teach through a social justice lens. This capstone project focuses on the research question: How can curriculum be designed to place student identity in the context of social justice issues through creative writing and reading in an English Language Arts classroom? This project examines the current approaches and resources for social justice pedagogy and how using creative writing in an English Language Arts classroom can promote identity exploration and critical thinking of social justice issues. The result of the research concludes with a project that is a 12 week curriculum design of a creative writing unit for an ELA classroom. The unit focuses on reading, discussing and writing about social justice issues and identity and is broken into mini units based on three genres of creative writing: poetry, nonfiction and fiction. It can be concluded through this project that integrating identity exploration through writing and analyzing texts with a social justice focus has the potential for enhancing student growth in communication skills and their understanding of their voice in conversations surrounding social justice.

Project Type

Recommended citation.

Johnson, Tamara, "Identity Placement In Social Justice Issues Through A Creative Writing Curriculum" (2021). School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects . 674. https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/hse_cp/674

dc_publisher

application/pdf

School of Education Student Capstone Projects

Since September 08, 2021

Included in

Education Commons

Advanced Search

• Notify me via email or RSS
• Collections
• Disciplines
• Authors/Creators

For Authors/Creators

• Bush Library
• University Archives
• Faculty & Staff Works

Home | About | FAQ | My Account | Accessibility Statement

Privacy Copyright

“I played it to him on an acoustic guitar and he went, ‘That sounds kinda French… let me write some lyrics’”: Gary Moore on how Thin Lizzy’s Phil Lynott helped shaped one of his most iconic guitar tracks

The two were regularly at loggerheads over personal and creative differences, but they did collaborate on Moore’s 1978 solo album Back on the Streets

Gary Moore's stint with Thin Lizzy may have been fraught with personal and creative disagreements with the band's co-founder, vocalist, and bassist Phil Lynott. However, the two did collaborate on several tunes, most notably on Moore's 1978 solo album Back on the Streets , which remain forever etched in rock history.

Discussing Lynott's role in writing his UK top 10 single Parisienne Walkways, Moore told Classic Rock , “It was such a lovely, creative process. I played it to him on an acoustic guitar and he went, ‘That sounds kinda French, let me write some lyrics.’

“I’d never even thought of that possibility. You should have seen us trying to play this fucking accordion in the studio; him on one side squeezing, and me on the other trying to play the keys. When it came out and was a huge hit, I was so proud that it showed what we could do together.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Moore asserted that Lynott's songwriting and unique musical sensibilities were underrated and not as recognized as they should've been.

“To me, Thin Lizzy reached a peak with Jailbreak [their sixth studio album, released in 1976]. By the time I joined them, they were on the way down,” he acknowledged.

“I’m still proud of the Black Rose album [their ninth and the band’s first with Moore], but it’s not regarded as a classic Lizzy album. He was writing better songs in those earlier days. I used to love going to see them with Scott [Gorham] and Robbo [Brian Robertson].”

He continued, “If the songs had stayed at that standard, he’d have had no problems cracking the next level – being on a par with the likes of Springsteen and Van Morrison. Lizzy never really cracked America, but Phil was one of the first people to bring that poetic, romantic Celtic style to rock music. He deserves credit for that.”

Get The Pick Newsletter

All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!

Thank you for reading 5 articles this month**

Join now for unlimited access

US pricing $3.99 per month or $39.00 per year

UK pricing £2.99 per month or £29.00 per year 

Europe pricing €3.49 per month or €34.00 per year

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Prices from £2.99/$3.99/€3.49

Janelle is a staff writer at GuitarWorld.com. After a long stint in classical music, Janelle discovered the joys of playing guitar in dingy venues at the age of 13 and has never looked back. Janelle has written extensively about the intersection of music and technology, and how this is shaping the future of the music industry. She also had the pleasure of interviewing Dream Wife, K.Flay, Yīn Yīn, and Black Honey, among others. When she's not writing, you'll find her creating layers of delicious audio lasagna with her art-rock/psych-punk band ĠENN .

“The first time I went to Jeff Beck’s house, he sat me in front of a ton of amps and gave me a guitar… he wanted to see if I could get my tone no matter what”: Carmen Vandenberg recalls Jeff Beck’s ultimate tone test

“I don’t think bad guitar solos even exist anymore. Everyone is just so much better than they used to be”: Kirk Hammett doesn't pay attention to solo trolls – and thinks “bad” solos are a thing of the past

Guitar World deals of the week: get a $99 phase shifter, over $300 off SSL software, plus loads of big savings on Fender gear

Most Popular