About me
I’m a writer and educator who believes in harnessing the intersectionality of our lives and unpacking the mysteries of life through reading and writing stories. I rely on the principles of Black feminism, especially love and interdependence, to ground my pedagogy. I was a co-facilitator of the Dreaming Wakefulness Collective, which ran a summer intensive focused on the connection between writing and healing. I taught writing/composition at Diablo Valley College. I now teach and facilitate learning in a variety of ways at the University of California, Davis.
Past Workshops
In Spring 2017, I taught The Wonderland of Myth at The Liminal Center.
Description: Myths are the stories that make up our histories, inform our present, live in our bodies, and stimulate our political imaginations. They can be fantastical, rooted in historical reality, or a mix of the two. They can relate to an entire people, imagined species, or our immediate families. Our myths are a source of power; they illuminate intergenerational trauma; they give us the good and bad of our ancestral lineage. Writers use lore and our ancestral lineage to inform our work and create contemporary myths as we document and shape our current reality.
In this half-day intensive, participants will experience discussions and generative writing prompts that will foster connections to existing mythology (both on macro and micro levels) and produce new, contemporary myths. These exercises can be useful for writers working on a variety of projects, from the memoirist connecting to the past to the fantasy writer building vast and complex worlds from scratch.
In Fall 2016, I taught Characters for Social Action.
Description: Stories are a fantastic way to raise awareness about important issues. Now, perhaps more than ever, we need stories the champion issues of social justice and give voice to marginalized groups. But the danger with this kind of work that the writer’s cause and agenda can get in the way of the story coming to life. In this half-day intensive, we will spend time rooting our stories (and our agendas) in character. By building dynamic, flawed, beautiful, real characters, our social justice issues can really land in the hearts and minds of readers.
Jasmine H. Wade 