As a Black trans and or queer individual, what stories of Medicine do you carry in your body and in your bones? How have you experienced the medical system? How has the medical system experienced you?

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Black trans and queer folks have deep historical, political, and ancestral connections to the Medical System. As storied as we are in the context of Medicine, however, we are rarely afforded the radical freedom of recount our experiences. The intentions of this narrative gathering are to generate the space-time for us to A) perform the liberating act of sharing and embodying personal medical narratives that are often silenced, even within and to our individual selves B) practice a type of Afro-indigenous healing that supports each of our paths towards liberation; C) journey home-ward into the full expansiveness of our Black trans and queer bodies; D) be in tender and caring community with our individual selves, and with each other.

Each of us within the narrative circle will have the space to embody our stories through oration, restful silence, and individually-created visual arts pieces. We will create and add narratives to the art pieces over the course of the 9-week period. You are not responsible for the cost of the art materials.

A grounding principle of this gathering is for each story-teller to sit with "I" and "my." Too often, Black TQs spend perpetuity in the "we" narrative - the we as Black folks, the we as queer folks, the we as trans folks, the we as Black queer &/ trans folks, etc. - without being able to own our "I" narratives. The effect is that we spend so much of our lives carrying the "we", and in turn being carried by the "we," that we are not able to own, account for, and define our "I"s. And what is collective liberation if our own selves and narratives are left out?

And so…I want this to be an unapologetic space for each person to own and carry their individual narratives instead of/only that of the Collective. While I have listed community-building with each other as one intention of this gathering, I  also mean the part about community building within one-self. If you are interested in being part of this particular circle, I ask that you come ready to be responsible for, and to answer to, your own narratives. Yes, we will hold each other, affirm each other, journey with each other. And still, and also - I ask that you be willing and able to carry yourself, because you will not be carried here in this time-space, and I affirm you in also not doing the labour of carrying someone else. There is a type of delicious freedom in each Black trans and queer person being able to sit with unrepentant abandon in the "I", and I hope each of us can give ourselves permission to nurture this type of freedom within this space.

For the sake of fostering an atmosphere of deep intimacy and pure unhurriedness in regards to time, I shall be hosting no more than 8 folks (including myself) within this narrative circle.

We shall cook and eat together at each gathering. Before each gathering, we shall decide as a group what to cook as befits our dietary and taste needs. You are not responsible for the cost of food ingredients (i.e. it is free to you)

Free.

And: if you would like to donate an amount to support my labour/work, I will gladly accept. You can cash-app me @ $ohenewaankrumah or venmo me @ohenewaa-nkrumah.

iF you would like to be part of this gathering and or have questions, email me at liberationmedicineschool@gmail.com