How can we use the emotion of anger in our art and writing to fuel discussion and ignite restorative practices in the classroom? Often, we’re taught to see anger as a harmful or negative emotion, particularly in educational settings. But what happens when we give anger space to bloom and give our students the opportunity to explore this shared emotional space in solidarity?

Through collaboration, discussion, meditation and generative exercises, we will explore this infamous emotion in the educational and artistic space. Through self-exploration and written work, we will see how actively honoring and truly sitting with the emotion of anger with our students can build community and create space for deeper inquisition, interrogation and emotional relief in our classrooms.

Facilitator Bios:

Chelsea Asher is a writer, educator and disgruntled human. She has an MFA in Writing from Sarah Lawrence College and she has facilitated workshops across the county in visual arts and writing, for individuals aged 6 to 65. She is the current lead of Mixed Media arts curriculum for middle-schoolers with East Harlem Tutorial Program. Her work has been featured in Dark Moon Digest, Lunch Ticket, and elsewhere. She co-hosts An Angry Reading Series in Harlem. She lives in Queens with her equally disgruntled cat.

Meher Manda is a poet, short story writer, journalist, and educator originally from Mumbai, India, currently based in New York City. She earned her MFA in Fiction from the College of New Rochelle where she was the founding editor-in-chief of The Canopy Review. She is the author of the chapbook of poems Busted Models published by No, Dear Magazine in Fall 2019. Her fiction, poetry, and essays are published and forthcoming in Catapult Magazine, Hobart Pulp, Peach Magazine, Los Angeles Review, and elsewhere. She is one-half of An Angry Reading Series in Harlem, New York.