Holding Space on the Page with Hedy Gerace & Laurie Morency
Chatham’s monthly Holding Space on the Page program is a collaboration between the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and the MFA in Creative Writing program that works to amplify the artistic voices of marginalized communities while giving the Chatham community a space to reflect and write. This February, in honor of Black History Month, co-facilitators Hedy Gerace and Laurie Morency (both MFA in Creative Writing students) will guide participants through a reading, discussion, and prompted writing activity. In anticipation of this month’s session, on Wednesday, February 16 from 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm over Zoom, we caught up with Hedy and Laurie to learn more about this unique program.
Can you tell us a little bit about Holding Space on the Page—what is it and who is it geared towards?
MFA in Creative Writing student & Holding Space on the Page co-facilitator, Laurie Morency
Hedy Gerace: Holding Space on the Page is a partnership between the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and the MFA in Creative Writing program. It started as a way to use literature and creative writing to uplift marginalized voices. It usually [coincides] with the history or heritage month we are currently in. In March, we’ll be doing women's history, and so we’ll read women writers. The idea is to make sure we're listening to different kinds of writers with different kinds of identities.
What do you have planned for this month session?
Laurie Morency: We have two poems that we'll have people look at, read, and discuss, and then we'll do a couple of writing prompts. For this month, we're focusing on Black women and their relationship with white women. I feel like a lot of the time [during this month] we focus a lot on Black men, which is fine, but I like talking about women, specifically white women and the dual struggle of not just racial identity but also gender identity.
HG: We're trying to encourage [writing] but it's also a space where after people hear the pieces, they can sit and reflect if they want to. Alternately, they can follow the prompts which are inspired by the writers that we choose.
What do you hope participants gain from this month's session?
LM: A greater understanding of womanhood and how that gets defined by different groups and complicates things. One of the poems is by Beulah Richardson, who was also a well-known actress in the 1940s and 50s. In her poem, a Black woman talks about white womanhood. She focuses a lot on white supremacy and the role that white women play in that. I hope that people get a greater sense of how these conversations are complicated. It's more gray than you think when you're talking about race and racism. I hope it sparks some curiosity.
MFA in Creative Writing student & Holding Space on the Page co-facilitator, Hedy Gerace
HG: Something that I find really interesting about these pieces, which Laurie chose, is that we have a piece from the 1950s and a piece from the 1970s. And so we are talking about Black history as part of Black History Month. But what we can also look at is how those pieces are still unfortunately relevant today, and how there is still ongoing systemic racism. There are still specific relationships that Black and white women might have. We want to honor the past but we also want to talk about the present. I think having a conversation between a Black woman and a white woman is notable, and I'm so glad that I have the chance to do that, but we want to be in acknowledgment that the problems have not gone away. They might look a little different, but we still have things to work through.
Can you talk a little bit about what the process of planning and structuring one of these sessions looks like?
HG: I reach out to someone to ask them to co-facilitate with me, and if they're excited about it, we both collect some ideas for [that particular] history or heritage month. Next, we come together and start going through the pieces to see if anything is striking us as a pattern or if anything is of particular importance. Often, what happens is each person will pick one piece, but that isn't always the case. In this instance, Laurie had two pieces that already went really well together, and I really appreciated that. From there, we plan our discussion and prompts.
LM: Sometimes we add clips of the writers reading parts of their work. People get a visual after reading the actual text.
“Even if I had some pieces that I pored over for hours, there would still be something in there that I wouldn’t notice that somebody else would and I think that’s really fun. Everyone I’ve worked with has blown my mind because they look at some part of whatever topic we’re exploring, and they see something else in it.”
What would you say the benefits of participating in a Holding Space on the Page session would be?
LM: Since last year, I've been coming to these events as a participant and I always love the prompt part when we write and share at the end. Mia, one of our fellow classmates, co-facilitated for Black History Month [last year]. I was excited to see the types of stories and poems that she brought in. And so I though, that'd be cool if I could do it. It's a very engaging process. People are probably busy or stressed halfway through the week so this is a nice way of coming together. It's usually between 12:00 pm and 1:00 pm. A lot of people will excuse themselves after the readings and say, Oh, this was really nice. You have the option of coming and not staying the full time.
HG: We tend to get a lot of the same people that come to each one. That's really cool because it creates a community even though we've been doing them on Zoom. It's really nice to see the same people enjoying it and having conversations together and then also, new faces appearing. We appreciate this Zoom format also, because hopefully, it is helpful for accessibility. We can screen-share and read the piece aloud so that people can follow along by reading and/or hearing. We can also put documents in the chat. [I hope that] changing topics and changing authors and identities helps us attract different kinds of people to come to the event and hear these wonderful authors.
Since we're uplifting voices, that's something that anyone can come and listen to and be a part of. You might find a new author that you really like in that process. It is also a space that you can come and reflect on what you think about the pieces or the prompts. You don't have to write if that's something that scares you. It's also important to say that you don't have to share if you choose to write. You can do it as a personal exercise—there are no requirements. You can show up with your Zoom camera off if you want. It's a low pressure environment.
How do you personally benefit from hosting this sort of program?
LM: I appreciated [Hedy’s] willingness to be open to hearing my ideas. Sometimes it can be hard when you're working with a co-leader, wondering if it is truly 50/50? This was and I appreciated that.
HG: The thing that I like best about it is working with another person. In this case, Laurie. I truly enjoy and appreciate the process of hearing what somebody else is interested in doing and getting to work together to make something that a bunch of people will enjoy. It's always important to make sure that the audience enjoys the program but I also really like the process of building something with someone else and having that collaborative spirit to make a community event.
Interested in joining Hedy and Laurie for this month’s Holding Space on the Page: Black History and Heritage session? You can learn more, register, and find the Zoom link here.