Jennifer Browdy, Ph.D., will offer a talk and inspirational writing workshop relating the political and planetary implications of the proliferation of fossil fuel infrastructure to our personal histories and our individual and shared visions of a livable future. The event, a benefit for the No Fracked Gas In Mass campaign, will take place May 13 from4 – 5:30 p.m. at the Sandisfield Arts Center, 5 Hammertown Road, Sandisfield MA. Tickets are $10.
Dr. Browdy, a professor of comparative literature and media studies at Bard College at Simon’s Rock, is the author of a new memoir, What I Forgot…And Why I Remembered…A Journey to Environmental Awareness and Activism Through Purposeful Memoir, as well as a writer’s guide to purposeful memoir. Believing in the value of telling our stories in ways that include the political and planetary backdrops of our personal lives, Jennifer offers local workshops in purposeful memoir through the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers.
She will read short excerpts from her memoir, tracing her development as an environmental activist, and will discuss the importance of shocks—personal, political and planetary—in pushing us to move beyond our comfort zones and begin to contemplate and work for real social and environmental transformation. Jennifer will offer prompts inviting the audience to do some free-form writing on these topics, and will facilitate an open-hearted, inspirational discussion.
Jennifer Browdy, Ph.D., is a pioneer in the field of purposeful memoir and a leading voice for global social and environmental justice. A professor of comparative literature at Bard College at Simon’s Rock, she teaches and lectures widely on the necessity of aligning the personal and political in the journey to planetary stability. She is the founding director of the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers, dedicated to cultivating the voices and visions of women of all ages in the Berkshire region. In addition to numerous academic publications and articles for Common Dreams, Kosmos Journal, Yes! Magazine, Berkshire Magazine and The Berkshire Edge, Jennifer has edited three anthologies: Women Writing Resistance: Essays on Latin America and the Caribbean (new edition forthcoming in 2017 from Beacon Press); African Women Writing Resistance: Contemporary Voices (University of Wisconsin Press, 2010); and Writing Fire: Celebrating the Power of Women’s Words (Green Fire Press, 2015). Her blog, Transition Times, offers a personal take on issues of social and environmental justice; it has received more than 150,000 visitors from all over the world since its inception in 2011.
Praise for What I Forgot…And Why I Remembered
“Jennifer Browdy has chosen to write what she calls a “purposeful memoir….”Her choice can inspire us all to see how our lives have been hijacked or distracted from what we most deeply desire, and how we can reclaim our lives for the sake of life on Earth.”
—Joanna Macy, author of Coming Back to Life and Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re In Without Going Crazy
“She documents the process of waking up to the world around us and she demonstrates how vibrant and rewarding an engaged life can be.”
– Mary Pipher, author of Reviving Ophelia and The Green Boat: Reviving Ourselves in Our Capsized Culture