Write LEFT
A Salon Workshop for Writers & Thinkers @ Vis Voice
In fellow Cool Cleveland writer Mansfield Frazier’s book From Behind the Wall, his essays on crime, race, punishment, and the underclass dig deep into how the United States deals with crime. As the cover flap says, in the book “We learn about the wages of racism and its lingering effects within the very system of justice commissioned to eradicate it.” Frazier spends time today trying to change the way we deal with crime and our incarcerated subculture by writing and talking about prison reform. He urges all of us to “write left” by which he doesn’t just mean being a liberal-progressive thinker but a person who finds problems and seeks solutions.
Mansfield Frazier is an author, editor and publisher. His work can be found nationally on The Daily Beast, and locally on Cool Cleveland, The Cleveland Leader, and The Cleveland Free Press. He planted a vineyard on vacant land in the Hough community of Cleveland last year, a move that will enable unskilled neighbors to obtain vineyard job skills, make good use of the land, and eventually open a winery with wine fresh from Chateau Hough.
People are always asking me why I lead workshops for writers. Frazier didn’t ask me that question when he contacted me about teaming up with him to stage an afternoon workshop called “Write Left.” That’s because he knows that anyone who would put the effort I put into retreats and programming is passionate about making a difference. And I am. I believe everyone has something to say. Every day I meet people who want to write but don’t know how to get started. I try to help people find their voice, write deeply about what they’re passionate about, put the words into a form that will communicate what needs to be said, and get their words published. And when I tell them I write, they say they would like to as well. All you have to do is get started.
Have something to say? Looking to find your voice? What issues call to you? How do you get heard? Who do you want to influence? What venues can work for you?
On Sat 4/30 from 2-5PM, Mansfield Frazier and Claudia Taller present WRITE LEFT: A Salon Workshop for Writers and Thinkers. In this workshop, professional writers will lead you to answers. What we have in mind is a workshop where you’ll explore why you want to write, what you want to write about, and how to get started. Mansfield and I started from two different places, so we each have our stories, but part of the point is that we all have stories and we all have experiences with things in this world that we want to share or speak out about. Many people want to say what they need to say, but they either don’t know how to say it or don’t know where to say it. We hope to get people on the road to writing.
Cost is $30/person. RSVP at ctallerwrites@wowway.com. Workshop will take place either in the Garden Courtyard or the upstairs Meeting Room space at Visible Voice Books in Tremont, 1023 Kenilworth, Cleveland. Visible Voice is a store where many of the books are outspoken and its in a neighborhood that has historically taken a stance on human rights issues. There’s no telling where this idea will lead.
Join us at Write Left: A Salon Workshop for Writers on Sat 4/30 from 2-5PM @ Visible Voice Books, 1023 Kenilworth, Cleveland. Be sure to RSVP at ctallerwrites@wowway.com.
From Cool Cleveland contributor Claudia Taller, whose book Ohio’s Lake Erie Wineries will be published by Arcadia next spring. Her passion for words has led to creation of the Lakeside Word Lover’s Retreats, an outgrowth of her work with Skyline Writers. Her favorite foods are red wine, salmon, ice cream, and chocolate. She loves to read, write, tour wineries, ride her bike, ease into yoga, and cook gourmet meals for friends. Find her at http://www.ClaudiaTallerMusings.blogspot.com or at http://www.OhioLakeErieWineries.blogspot.com.
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