VALID :: a literary therapy session

. VALID :: The TBI Session September 19 @salon_rouge_pdx Doors 7:30 Readings 8pm The Salon offers lights bevs & snacks, donation only. Please donate if you can, we want to support The Salon because The Salon supports us!!

. On September 19, it will be 6 months since I survived a stroke while driving to work. It’s been a long hard 6 months, and I have a lot of long hard months ahead. But I am so grateful that it wasn’t worse for so many reasons, and that my recovery has been going really well. I still have partial paralysis on my right side. But I’m down to walking with only a cane (pink, natch). I just went back to work after 4 & 1/2 months. It was terrifying and overwhelming and exhausting. And I did it. Next goal? Driving. One thing no one talks about after a brain injury is the loneliness and isolation and depression that it is so easy to fall into. And fall I did. The only thing that kept me from falling through the floor was the couch. I want to tell my story to those who feel alone, and I desperately want to hear your stories. Connection, especially over shared lived experience, is powerful shit. It’s lifesaving and soul-saving. *Readers to be announced shortly September 19 8pm (Doors 7:30) @salon_rouge_pdx DM for address Salon Rouge offers free drinks and snacks. Please donate if you can. If you can’t donate, have some anyway❤️

. Please join us Tuesday, September 10 at 7pm, for an UNPLUGGED intimate evening of sharing stories of how suicide has touched our lives. No stage, no stage lighting, no mic. Just all of us. Raw and vulnerable. And strong AF. And some fairy lights & candles. If you need the address, please DM me or one of the readers! BYO chair/blanket/towel for sitting on the grass of the sprawling backyard of a family home. BYO Bev Please park on the street, walk into the cul-de-sac, DO NOT GO TO FRONT DOOR OR ENTER HOME, please follow the posted directions to the backyard. There will be access to a restroom in the home, please follow the posted directions to find the restroom. RESTROOM WILL BE AVAILABLE AFTER 7:30pm. **Please be mindful that this is a family home and we’d like to respect the land and the noise level. There will be a small altar. Feel free to bring a small token to place on the altar (you’ll take it with you when you leave), or a letter written to yourself or someone else, or to suicide or mental health in general. Small notecards will be provided, as will LED candles that you can place on the altar. Come sit back on the grass and hold space for yourself, the readers, the attendees, and anyone whom your heart holds❤️ Thank you for witnessing and sharing this special evening.

. Blue is a feralqueer crip neurodivergent artist. They have lived with wolves, rehabbed wild birds, danced across the continent, backpacked for money, performed drag in bars and backyards, are working to reclaim trust in their body, and are constantly exploring ways to queer form, genre, and subject within their writing and other art forms. They received their Ph.D. for their creative dissertation centering on the nature of trans pleasure as a form of healing and protest. Their work seeks to entangle ecology, social justice, diversity, and pleasure to demonstrate how our embodied natures are inherently queer. They are the founder of Queer EcoErotics, a ritualized practice of ecologically embodied queer pleasures, and enjoy getting to be outside with other neurodiverse queer babes witnessing how our divergence is reflected in nature and integrating that wisdom through art.

. Super excited to add Blue to the roster!!

. Lynne uses she/they pronouns. She is a mother, writer, poet, artist, queer, tattoo loving, mermaid, witch. Lynne works in the mental health field within the forensic system, using her lived experience to support folks who struggle with mental health and addiction issues. Some of her favorite things are her kids, the weight of a book in her hand, the electricity of ocean waves crashing in the dark, the sound of Stevie Nicks voice, and her mom’s matzah ball soup. Lynne is former co-founder and curator of the Grief Rites readers series, and current curator of the reading series, ‘VALID :: a literary therapy session.’ She also facilitates writing and poetry workshops. Lynne has studied under Tom Spanbauer, Lidia Yuknavitch, Beth Dunnington and Chelsea Cain, among others. Her essays and poetry about grief, mental illness, and the human condition, have been featured various places online. Lynne is currently writing a memoir about bipolar breaks, psychosis, and receiving Electroconvulsive Therapy...during a global pandemic. Lynne is engaged to the woman of her dreams and lives in the outskirts of Portland, OR, with her kids, and her two emotional support cats…one of whom has separation anxiety (cat not kid). . See Lynne on Tuesday, Sept 10, 7pm! In honor of World Suicide Prevention Day @valid_a_lit_therapy_session Location: Milwaukie area (DM for address) BYO blanket/chair/towel/beverage

. Aviva Schultz is a writer and performer who enjoys genre bending and grammatical pornography. She is happiest mixing poetry, creative nonfiction, bits of songs and, memories, and research to create an emotional travelogue. . See Aviva on Tuesday, Sept 10, 7pm! In honor of World Suicide Prevention Day @valid_a_lit_therapy_session Location: Milwaukie area (DM for address) BYO blanket/chair/towel/beverage

. Torrie Fields is a poet and storyteller living in Vancouver, WA with her feline companion. She is a two-time cancer survivor and a survivor of trauma, having experienced many circumstances that needed to be grieved by a very young age—from death and loss, to disillusionment and brokenheartedness. These experiences have led Torrie to attempt to make sense of the world around her and make space and reverence for the process of grieving in our lives. She is on a journey to share the joy these experiences of grief have taught her to receive. This has pushed her to live life more fully and to dare others to dream. By day, Torrie is a health administrator who works to improve the quality of life for people with complex and serious illness and their families. She has spent more than 15 years facilitating grief and bereavement groups at local hospitals, developing training materials for death and dying courses and facilitators of youth survivors of suicide groups. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, surfing, cycling, hiking, and is constantly in search of the perfect culinary experience. . See Torrie on Tuesday, Sept 10, 7pm! In honor of World Suicide Prevention Day @valid_a_lit_therapy_session Location: Milwaukie area (DM for address) BYO blanket/chair/towel/beverage

. Leah Baer is almost 80 years of age. She is a writer, storyteller, poet, actor & lover of life. She has performed her readings & storytelling at ROAR, Grief Rites, Booklovers Burlesque, Corporeal Writing, Beth Dunnington’s “Performing The Story” series, Songbook PDX, Burnt Tongue, Tell Me a Story, and Queer Writers Incite. She has been published in Unchaste Readers, Gleam, Journal of the Cadralor, Women’s E News and VoiceCatcher. She has acted in “The POE Show” at Clinton Street Theater, “It’s You, Not Me” at Alberta Rose Theater, “Fierce Female Voices” at Kiggins Theater, “Booklovers Burlesque” at Crush Bar and “Willamette Living History” at Living Theater. Leah hopes to have her memoir FINALLY ready for publication when she’s 85. Her motto is “In my old age — where Eros & Thanatos dance — is my beginning.” Leah’s theme song is “Being Alive”! . See Leah on Tuesday, Sept 10, 7pm! In honor of World Suicide Prevention Day @valid_a_lit_therapy_session Location: Milwaukie area (DM for address) BYO blanket/chair/towel/beverage

. Kelly Wilson educates, entertains, and inspires with stories of humor, healing, and hope. She is an award-winning author, comedian, speaker, and certified trauma, PTSD and grief recovery specialist in Portland, Oregon. Her business is called Map Your Healing Journey. She is the author of the award-winning book about grief, Caskets From Costco. She has also written and published numerous articles, poems, and short stories about trauma and grief for children and adults in a wide range of publications, including Huffington Post and Sweatpants & Coffee. Kelly Wilson is an extroverted introvert who enjoys talking and writing about trauma and grief, which makes things awkward. Find out more about Kelly at mapyourhealing.com. . See Kelly on Tuesday, Sept 10, 7pm! In honor of World Suicide Prevention Day @valid_a_lit_therapy_session Location: Milwaukie area (DM for address) BYO blanket/chair/towel/beverage

, See you Tuesday, September 10 for our special pop-up in honor of World Suicide Prevention Day. Come sit among community and hear stories of how suicide has touched these readers lives. **DM FOR ADDRESS** There will be an altar. There will be candles. There will also be plenty of community resources on hand to take with you for yourself or to pass along to someone who might need it. We are a community. A tribe. A village. We take care of each other. We look after each other. We talk and listen and hear and validate and cheer and get angry and get the messy cries. Together. *remeber this is an outdoor park-like setting (in a private backyard) with no seating, so please BYO blanket/chair/towel (if you need us to have something available to you please let us know ahead of time so we may accommodate you!) **DM FOR ADDRESS** And remember…this is a completely UNPLUGGED event! No stage. No mic. No lighting. Just community and hearts and stories. And tissues. Lots of tissues.

. Hey friends! VALID is skipping August, but we’ll see you on September 30, for National Recovery Month! AND….. Join us for a special pop-up reading on Tuesday, September 10, for National Suicide Prevention Day! Location TBA shortly! Interested in reading at one of these events? We have space for one more reader on Sept 10, and a couple spots on Sept 30. Hit me up! Leave a comment! DM me! Email me @ [email protected]! Wave a rainbow flag! Send smoke signals! Just please don’t send carrier pigeons, my car already needs a wash 😉🤣 **When you read at VALID you get a super sexy VALID personalized moleskin journal! You know you want one! Because pages!!!***