Dear friends,
We’re writing to users and emissaries of Stoke Your Woke: An Interactive Journal to tell you about upcoming opportunities to wake up and put our woke to work. We’re excited to host two events at which momentary communities will envision a brighter common future on our fragile and turbulent planet.
On June 18, we will host a soulful circle session to reconnect with ourselves, deepen conversations, and create a world that works for all. This two-hour sessionwill include movement and yoga to center and ground ourselves, followed by a session of writing and facilitated sharing using questions from Stoke Your Woke. We’ll close with celebratory music, dance and revelry. We’ve attached a poster announcing the event, which will run from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Sol Alchemy, 2150 NE Studio Rd. in Bend. The sliding-scale investment in our work is $15-20.
Then, on July 25, we’ll facilitate a focused circle session from 5-7:30 at the Downtown Bend Library, 507 NW Wall St. We’ll explore timely questions with thought-provoking prompts, quotes and images. Participants will connect with each other through writing, sharing and listening. We’ll create a space in which diverse perspectives will be heard with appreciation and nonjudgmental hospitality. The session will go deep, showing participants what Stoke Your Woke has to offer them — and the world. We’ll conclude with a cheat sheet on how to join the movement to get woke and act on your woke. Books will be available for sale.
To ensure that everyone is heard, we’re limiting the library event to 25 participants. The session is free but registration is requested(required?). To register, click (link).
Stoke Your Woke lays out exercises to facilitate spiritual awakening and social transformation. Published in March, it’s packed with questions that stimulate thought, discovery, revelation, discussion and connection. Beyond waking up to inequality, racism, patriarchy, and the thoughtless squandering of natural resources, we encourage our fellow woke-stokers to grow up — to live our everyday lives in accordance with our most cherished values. Already we’ve sold nearly 100 copies of our first run of 225; with the community’s support, we hope to print and distribute many more books.
Like a garden implement, the journal only works when we use it. Having written and designed it, having celebrated the big release, we’re now kneeling down in the earth and putting our rugged tool to work. We’re tilling the soil, disrupting crusty thoughtways and behaviors. We’re planting seeds of love, equity and mindful decision-making. By guiding groups through these simple but provocative exercises, we’re providing support to help mere concerns grow into strong new habits — fresh, life-affirming ways of seeing, sharing, listening and living.
Recently we presented Stoke Your Woke to the Big Picture meetup group in Bend. That group’s members naturally brought more curiosity than commitment; by way of illustrating the processes laid out in the book, we discussed just one question. These next events provide opportunities to explore the material in a more intimate, engaged way. We hope you’ll join us at one (or both!) of these invigorating explorations of our souls and common future.
Please help us grow the Stoke Your Woke community. Forward this email to Central Oregon connections who share our commitment to wake up, grow up, and change the world. Print out our poster and pin it up at your favorite café. “Like” our Facebook page, Stoke Your Woke Interactive Journal. Order additional copies of the book to share with loved ones and friends through our website, stokeyourwoke.com.
Supporters of our work — and folks who are curious about it — will enjoy Carol’s recent interview on The Point, the community affairs podcast of community radio station KPOV.
Thank you for your ongoing support and encouragement. Let’s make the kind of change our children’s children’s children will thank us for.
Carol Delmonico, author, and Casey Davis, designer, Stoke Your Woke