Sahara Dunes leads a burlesque workshop on Sunday afternoonAfter a weekend of partying, that is, celebrating women in art and music, you might not feel like your brain will be able to take in a lot of information. I urge you to give it a shot anyway. Saturday begins the family friendly fare at In Other Words bookstore (8 NE Killingsworth St). Mind and body combine in a healthy and kid friendly way for just the right Portland introduction.
Session 1 – 1:15 – 2:45 – Zines 101
Session 2 – 3:00 – 4:00 – What is Freeschooling?
Session 3 – 4:15 – 5:00 – Urban Cycling: How to Ride the Road & Feel Good Doing It.
But the workshops get down to the nitty gritty on Sunday at the Kennedy School (5736 NE 33rd Ave). The program’s first listed workshop is “Women and Orgasm,” a workshop designed to address the many ways women are and are not able to gain pleasure for all woman-identified people. And it only gets more provocative and conversation-inspiring from there.
Session 1 – 11:00 – 12:15
Women and Orgasm – Agnes Kennedy White (AKW) Library
Survivalist Skills I: Canning and Preserving How-To – Mina Parsons Room
Self-Defense by WomenStrength – Martha Jordan Room
Session 2 – 12:30 pm – 1:45 pm
Women’s Herbal Health by Dr. Jen Clemons – AKW Library
Drop Spindle Workshop – Mina Parsons Room
Music as a Tool for Social Change – Martha Jordan Room
Session 3 – 2:00 – 3:30
The Green Scare: What it Is and How to Fight Back – Library
Book Your Own Writing Career – Mina Parsons Room
Electronic Music – Martha Jordan Room
Session 4 – 3:45 – 5:00
Tales of Entrepreneurship: Women in the Business World – Library
Survivalist Skills III: How to Build a Portable Rocket Stove – Mina Parsons Room
Get Your Dance On: A Workshop on Burlesque – Martha Jordan Room
Though 2 of them compete for time there are 3 workshops I’m particularly jazzed about. Session 3’s Electronic music demo is the kind of solo music-making I’ve been eager to learn. Music is a boys continues to be a boys club even as we move beyond the snotty guitar store clerk who refuses to talk to ladies in a real way about instruments. The multi-layered nature of electronic beat-making can be even more intimidating and it’s about time to mystery was revealed.
The last session features 2 very different but equally compelling programs, rocket stove building and burlesque. I’m guessing both skills would survive the apocalypse but the portable rocket stove that uses mere twigs to cook instead of whole logs will is probably a bit more practical.
Even so, we all need to keep our spirits up and lustily dancing it out with Burly Girl Productions’ pasty-twirling Sahara Dunes will truly keep your spirit alive.
