Heritage Lecture and Performance Series
Kimberly Dark
Becoming the Subject of Your Own Story (Rather than the Object of Another's Gaze)
Friday, March 7, 2008
SSU Cooperage at 7:30 p.m.
Admission is Free
Workshop on the following day, "Courage In Creative Writing: Exploring the First Person Narrative".
March 8th from 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m., in the Center for Culture, Gender & Sexuality
Admission is Free - Space is Limited - Please email us at ccgs@sonoma.edu to reserve your space!!!
Becoming the Subject of Your Own Story (Rather than the Object of Another's Gaze)
This is both as a performance and as a lecture because of the power of Dark's poetry on beauty, body image and the goal of being liked. This spoken word performance combines poetry and performance on the topics of body image, beauty, the desire to be liked and objectification in the female every-day experience. This show is particularly suited to a college/university audience, though applicable to anyone who's ever wasted a moment of precious time wishing to be more attractive, more popular, more prestigious, more sexy, more respected… Oh, how the list goes on!
Workshop on the following day, "Courage In Creative Writing: Exploring the First Person Narrative".
Writing in the first person (using "I") can feel very vulnerable and self-revealing. This type of writing is sometimes called autobiography, memoir or autoethnography. In this workshop, we will explore the power of first person story-telling and practice writing in the first person. We will work with the nuances of telling enough of the story - knowing when to stop! Kimberly will also help participants understand how to use personal stories to write about broader themes. As she often says "Every story is about me, but I am not the subject." Participants will leave the workshop with greater courage and skill at storytelling in the first person and will have started a few different stories for completion at home.
For more information on this event email ccgs@sonoma.edu or call 707-664-2710.
Sponsored by the Center for Culture, Gender & Sexuality Heritage Series, School of Social Sciences, Women's and Gender Studies, Instructionally Related Activities and the Sonoma Student Union Corporation.
Kimberly Dark continues to work tirelessly on her abilities as a parent, poet, professor and raconteur who can unfold the world through performance, smooth out the crinkles from folding, read the legend and say "You Are Here." Someday she will even be able to refold the world and fit it back into the glove-box. Her practice includes writing every day, walking on the beach with her teenage son, teaching in classrooms, online and anywhere else that seems appropriate.
She travels far and wide performing stories that scandalize some audiences and affirm the very existence of others. She wins theatre awards, enjoys standing ovations and endures days when settling down to a more regular life seems more sensible. She has performed and taught in fancy theatres and esteemed classrooms as well as in the jungle where the frogs chirp so loudly and the rain falls so hard, one has to pause to accommodate. She loves a technically well-equipped venue, but also loves a stage where there’s nothing swanky – just the body, the voice, the word and the audience. Some of these things qualify her as an artist; some of them just qualify her.
Kimberly's writing and performances have delighted and incited audiences at theaters and universities across North America and Europe for the past ten years. She continues to teach sociology at Cal State San Marcos and University of Hawaii when her schedule allows. Her frequent themes are gender, sexuality, poverty, privilege, parenting and education. Her work blends humor, poetry, story-telling, education and social research to stimulate both social analysis and action.
