Women cry, laugh and reminisce as they scribble their personal histories as immigrants onto loose-leaf paper in a Highland Park church basement during a writing workshop designed to help boost their creativity and self-esteem.
The participants – mostly Latinas from Highland Park and Highwood – spend hours discussing the stories in Spanish over cookies and coffee, then painstakingly edit and rewrite them. At the end of 10 weekly sessions, they’ll compile their favorite pieces.
Instructors hope the workshop will inspire the women to be more confident and engaged in their communities. The women just enjoy the benefits of sharing their experiences.
“I think it’s brought us a lot more than we ever thought,” said Marielena Lara, 38, of Highland Park.
The class, led by researcher Janise Hurtig at the University of Illinois at Chicago, is the latest in a decade-long effort to bring writing workshops to immigrant or low-income communities in Chicago and the suburbs.
Hurtig said the Community Writing Project was inspired by the work of Brazilian educator Paulo Freire, who believed traditional education often failed to equip people to fight the injustices that victimize them. Freire proposed an alternate way of teaching, where students explore a subject with teachers who value their experiences and opinions. The hope is that the students can then improve their lives.
UIC’s College of Education has undertaken dozens of workshops in Latino and African-American communities under the writing project, Hurtig said, many of them in schools. The Highland Park Presbyterian Church group meets most Monday afternoons through the end of the month. READ FULL STORY
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