VONA stands for Voices of Our Nation. I found out about this fantastic workshop from a fellow writer, co-worker, and friend who pushed me to apply. Boy am I glad I did. I was accepted to the poetry writing workshop of the lovely and talented Ruth Forman. If you don’t know her work, Google her. Her voice resonates on so many levels, I won’t even begin to try to describe. Just check her out. 
The workshop was at UC Berkeley, which also gave me the chance to get to know a part of Cali that I had never been to before.
I kicked off my journey by settling in to my dorm room.
It was pretty trippy being back in a dorm at this stage in my life, but I spent very little time in the room. As soon as I was settled, I ventured out to get to know the town. I had a lovely breakfast at the corner café and then went for a beautiful hike that ended up with a view of the bay. 
After that it was all about buckling down.
The next 6 days were spent honing craft and producing work. On the first day we set goals for our class, some of which were to be less inhibited, to go deeper, to be playful, to find a place for our writing, and to learn about publishing. And that is exactly what happened. With Ruth’s guidance we explored our voices from every angle, the good the bad and the ugly. One exercise had us look at 10 aspects of our writing. This sounds pretty easy, but I, personally, had never really sat down and thought about what my writing really looks like. Another exercise simply started with the line I will not tell you… Each day we were given a prompt like this that brought about profound words and discussion. We also got down to the fine art of craft: lines, sounds, texturing. The two books for the course The Poet's Companion and The Discovery of Poetry served as great guides for this journey, and I will definitely use them in my classroom this academic year.
And lastly, we got in there and workshopped some poems. At times this was tedious, but always rewarding. We went as deep as we could go into the poetry , and offered honest, constructive, thoughtful, and sincere criticism. I left the week feeling like a new person on the level of artist, but also person of color. The 10 women that I had the pleasure to spend the week with created a safe space and I feel truly bonded to them.
The week ended with two explosive readings. The first was a reading of the instructors for the week, which included Stacey Ann Chin, Junot Diaz, ZZ Packer, Diem Jones, and our instructor Ruth Forman, to name a few. If that wasn’t enough to blow me out of the water, the next day was the student reading, which included group presentations from each class. The presentations were as varied as the writers that attended workshops that week. From grand impersonations of instructors, to symbolic offerings to artists far and wide, the presentations were well thought out and moving. Our group chose to do an ensemble piece on why we write. Here’s a part of my contribution:
I write because I have been swallowed by jungles that washed me in gecko chirps and night howls and then placed me on an elephant’s back to enter the world
I write because I have lain on a blanket of ocean that seeped into my skin and read me stories of Yemaya
I write because my hands fidget when not fiddling with canvases that can crack the small of the morning wide open for the dawn to seep into my bones
…
The last day of the workshop we gathered at the UC Berkeley Octagon, which is a large grassy space set off from the dorm we were staying in. We each took a turn to talk about what we would take from the workshop, and how we would carry the experience of VONA with us throughout the year. It is truly a privilege to be able to spend a week with people of color, to not have to explain, or deal with strange looks, to be able to express fully the experience of being a person of color without backlash, to feel comfortable with the people around. I’m not saying that I don’t feel comfortable in the “real” world, but it is a different experience to be surrounded by people who intimately understand your own experience because it is their experience too. I truly feel like we represented and continue to represent the voices of our nation. Many people spoke of renewed strength in the value of that voice. VONA showed us that it’s ok to straighten our backs, to lift our eyes. It showed us that there really is a place for our voices in this world, and that we must speak. No one else will do it for us.
My VONA experience was one that I will never forget, and I’m truly looking forward to going back some time soon. The knowledge that I gained about being a writer/artist/person of color in this world will stay with me. I recommend this workshop to any writer of color out there trying to find a place for their voice. It is an experience that we so seldom get the chance to have as “minorities”. One of my classmates said it best, “If VONA were a place, I would move there.”
For more information, check out www.voicesatvona.org
Next summer adventure: MEXICO!!!!
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