Notes from the Motherfield LIVE! Aug 16
Friday, August 16, 5:30pm doors; performance 6pm
Jewish History Museum / 564 S Stone Ave, Tucson 85701
Sorry folks, but we are SOLD OUT! No tickets will be available at the door. Next Motherfield session will be on Friday, Oct 25.
If you purchased a ticket online, your name will be added to the guest list at the door; no paper or e-tickets are issued.
This event is a light fare potluck; bring something snacks or drinks to share, if you can!
Join Kore Press for the second session in the series of community-building and riveting mothers-telling-stories event with six amazing thinkers, artists, scholars, and activists. Based on Kore’s online essay series and newsletter feature , “Notes from the Motherfield,” this LIVE storytelling and listening session, curated by Lisa Bowden, presents two spoken sets by local mama-artists who perform 10-minute true stories about a particularly wild, wooly, sacred, thorny, liberatory, stunning, painful and / or sometimes frightening aspect of motherhood. The concept of the motherfield was coined by Joy Harjo on her blog long ago and refers to the imaginal colliding that happens in the motherfield––where only truth can be spoken: somewhere between fury and beauty, the ineffable and mundane, boundlessness and sharp routine, the sacred and profane.
The evening’s line up includes six powerful superhero conduits to the motherfield and about what happens there. Join us!
Grace Gámez, mother of two, 
runs the ReFraming Justice Project as the Program Coordinator of the American Friends Service Committee, where she works to position directly impacted people to challenge models of justice that are rooted in punishment towards ones that embrace radical community-making and healing. Dr. Gámez is a 2018 “Lead with Conviction” fellow with JustLeadershipUSA, a published author, researcher, and public speaker. She holds a Ph.D. in Justice Studies from Arizona State University and a Master of Science degree in Mexican American Studies & Public Health from the University of Arizona. See Grace’s story here.
Stephanie Troutman is a mother, a Black feminist scholar, first-generation college student, and tenured Associate Professor of Emerging Literacies in the Rhetoric, Composition and Teaching of English program in the English Department at the University of Arizona. She received a dual PhD in Curriculum & Instruction and Women’s Studies from the Pennsylvania State University in 2011, and is a former high school and middle grades public school teacher. Stephanie is a scholar-activist who has been widely recognized for her mentorship, student advocacy, and social justice leadership. Stay tuned for Stephanie’s story as part of Kore’s Motherfield podcast series coming soon.
Anna McCallister-Nichols embraces motherhood by being supportive, a companion, an advocate, and a safe-harbor for her children, by being a witness to their individual beauty and personal story. Anna and her husband, Kevin, met as teachers in Tucson and became the proud parents of two daughters, both of whom have cystic fibrosis. In their honor, they founded Playformance, a successful indoor gym offering play-based curriculum that develops character and strength. Tragically, their oldest daughter died at the age of 10, in 2017 due to complications related to cystic fibrosis. While learning how to survive the unbearable, Anna manages to find beauty in every day, and continually strives to provide her surviving daughter with the care and love she needs with her own diagnosis and grief. Within the cystic fibrosis community, she is an advocate for children and families, raising money, awareness, and hope. See Anna’s story here.
Debbie Weingarten is a Tucson-based freelance writer, community organizer, and a solo mom to two incredible little humans. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Guernica, The Guardian, Longreads, and Vela, among many other outlets, including the Best of Food Writing 2016 and 2017 anthologies. She was the nonfiction winner of the 2017 Tom Howard/John H. Reid Essay Contest, a 2017 Best of the Net nonfiction winner, and was a 2019 James Beard Award nominee for Investigative Reporting. She is a writing fellow with Community Change, where she writes about issues of economic justice, and is a writing partner with the Female Farmer Project where she documents the rise of women in agriculture. Stay tuned for Debbie’s story as part of Kore’s Motherfield podcast, coming soon.
Michelle Téllez, single mom and interdisciplinary scholar trained in Community Studies, Sociology, Chicana/o Studies and Education, has been committed to mapping projects of resistance, exploring shared human experiences and advancing social justice for the last 25-years. Having been raised along the U.S./Mexico border divide, both her scholarly and community engaged work has been deeply shaped by this experience. Her public scholarship includes writing for Truth Out, The Feminist Wire,and Latino Rebels. Her co-edited book The Chicana M(other)work Anthology: Porque Sin Madres No Hay Revolución was released in March, 2019, and she is founding member of the Chicana M(other)work Collective and the Binational Artist in Residency project. See Michelle’s story here.
Lizette Trujillo is a Tucson small business owner and community advocate for transgender youth and families. She spends much of her time volunteering for the Southern Arizona Gender Alliance, where she and her spouse facilitate a local support group for families of transgender, gender creative/non-conforming youth. Her local efforts have brought her national attention and she now serves as a member of the Human Rights Campaign Parent Trans Equality Council. Lizette is a proud mother to an 11 year old trans child, and enjoys being a mother above all else. She has learned so much through her child’s experience, and is committed to creating awareness and change around trans youth and their needs. See Lizette’s story here.
Thanks to Lisa Bowden, Motherfield visionary and curator; also to Jen Nowicki Clark for launching this series with her generous story coaching skills. Gratitude to alumni storytelling mamas Jenna Korsmo and Adiba Nelson for additional story support., and also to Tucson’s Jewish History Museum for hosting us again.
Please bring offerings for the potluck table if you are able to share some love!
Lisa Bowden, Kore Press Institute co-founder, has developed Kore’s 25-years long list of titles, artists, and award-winning community programming as a Publisher, activist, artist, editor, and intersectional feminist culture worker. She was named the University of Arizona English Department 2018 Alumni of the Year Award, the Maryann Campau Fellow for poetry from the University of Arizona Poetry Center, and a Woman on the Move Award from the YWCA.
As the Director of the consulting firm, Creative Narrations, Jen Nowicki Clark has been facilitating live and multi-media digital storytelling workshops for 18 years nationally and internationally. She is an educator, organizer, artist, story coach and parent who loves language and witnessing how sharing stories in new ways can transform and connect us as individuals and as communities. She holds a BA in Sociology from Boston College and an MA in Linguistics from the University of Arizona.She lives in Portland with her family.
Adiba Nelson is a New York City girl turned desert dweller. She currently resides in Tucson, AZ and is the author of the popular children’s book about inclusion, Meet ClaraBelle Blue. Adiba is also a contributing writer for online magazine The Mighty, My Brown Baby, Everyday Feminism, and The Huffington Post. Her book, Meet ClaraBelle Blue is loosely based on her precocious daughter, Emory, and for this reason she has made it her life’s mission to ensure that children and adults of all abilities have access to the same opportunities and representation in life. See the video of Adiba’s performance here.
Jenna Korsmo finds something both absolutely beautiful, and completely absurd in every single part of her life. She’s a nonfiction writer who often exposes her bad judgment, while hoping to unveil some kind of bizarre silver lining. She’s currently working on a book of essays which has made its way to be her favorite style of storytelling. Jenna lives in Tucson Arizona with her wife, their two children, two dogs, and all the cats. See the video of Jenna’s performance here.
Consider making a donation to sponsor Motherfield LIVE and support the intersectional feminist work of Tucson’s Kore Press Institute, a nonprofit arts and justice organization dedicated to lifting up women’s voices and keeping the margins in the center through literary publishing, social justice education, and innovative community programming. Kore’s award-winning art and justice work has impacted communities locally and nationally for 25 years.