LOSS AND MOURNING
Join us for this month’s Icarus gathering, where we will come together to share experiences of loss and mourning. This topic is open to whatever it means to you. We will come together to support each other and explore how we make meaning from endings. This include endings of all kinds; mourning of the passing of significant others, coping with the ending of relationships, or the loss of our past selves in relation to these significant changes in our lives. The loss of certain identities and ways of being in this mad world, loss of hopes for the future or visions of freedom and the melancholia that comes from increasing awareness of the vast depth of inequalities, of oppressions that prevent us from actualizing our true selves. The Permanent Loss, giving up, and acceptance of No Longer having, of leaning into our traumas and inter-generational pasts binding us to ancestors – in stark contrast to the “upward ladder” liberation offered by neoliberal capitalism. And yet, what is lost can be found. What can’t be found, can be re-grown. And what can’t be regrown, can be created. Let’s create a space together; in between endings and beginnings.
EVENT AGENDA:
General Breakdown:
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our project introduction
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shared reading of our Community Agreements
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group Introductions and Safety Guidelines
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Group Discussion
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Movement Activity
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Sharing of support and resources
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Closing Activity
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Check Out
TRANSPARENCY: Though we are committed to collective liberation and are a mixed race collective, our history has traditionally brought in white, middle class people. In order to protect Queer Trans People of Color (QTPOC) from tokenization and psychic harm, we as a collective commit to prioritizing the needs of QTPOC in our public events and promoting QTPOC leadership in our collective. We acknowledge the emotional labor that QTPOC may perform in these spaces, which often go unrecognized. Therefore, we want white cisgender people to independently undo racism, gender binarism / sexism, while remaining accountable to QTPOC. We are currently engaging in an ongoing process of integrating these goals internally within our organization, among our mixed race organizers, and within the structuring of our external events. *
ACCESS ISSUES: The space is accessible for wheelchair users but does not have a bathroom for wheelchair users. We use mics to support people who are hard of hearing.
Bluestockings is wheelchair accessible, with no steps or platforms, and wide aisles between shelves. Our bathroom is not wheelchair accessible. There is a Starbucks two short blocks down the street with an accessible bathroom (at Allen and Delancey). Metered street parking is readily available in the blocks surrounding Bluestockings. Bluestockings is not a scent-free space, but we encourage visitors to please refrain from wearing perfumes, colognes or other scented products (including essential oils) and smoke far away from the entrance to the space.
And then we’ll hang out for a little while and be gone until another month. Make sure to sign-up for the mailing list at the event or email nycicarus@gmail.com.
DATE: Feb. 6th, 2019
TIME: 7pm
LOCATION: Bluestockings Bookstore, 172 Allen St, Manhattan
Hope to see you there! Mad love, Icarus Project NYC