For the inaugural National Latinx Writers Gathering,  I wrote, produced, and directed the opening and closing virtual sessions as a new hybrid form of performance and interactive workshop/ritual space in response to the mission of the conference and the limitations of the pandemic.

I scavenged typewriters for the video and still images that would create a visual motif for graphics that I created and the videos that I conceived, wrote, and directed. I enlisted the help of local musicians to realize a musical motif based on the rhythmic pattern of “clave,”) executed on the keys of a typewriter used as a percussion instrument. 

I collected material from the participants to incorporate into our opening and closing rituals--pictures or videos of themselves at work writing; pictures of and text from their favorite literary ancestors and icons; pictures of themselves with a response to the prompt, “Something you can’t tell by looking at me…”  

I facilitated a “Speed-Meeting” session that enabled the participants from across the country to make quick rounds in a series of breakout rooms making brief contact to plant the seeds for future connections over the course of the weekend and beyond. I concluded our closing session with “The Dream Spiral”/“Social Dreaming,” an exercise that I adapted from my work in community and in the classroom.