Looking for a way to improve your literacy around issues of the the carceral state, the
system of oppression it rests on, and how to organize against it? Meet new comrades and
build an analysis at a monthly book club with an emphasis on the abolitionist framework.
Each month we will discuss one book, exploring its topics and themes as well as trying to
relate them to our own work organizing against oppression and state-sanctioned violence. For more info about the book club or questions about upcoming books, email colinweyman@gmail.com.

January’s Book: Are Prisons Obsolete? By Angela Davis

Looking for a way to improve your literacy around issues of the the carceral state, the
system of oppression it rests on, and how to organize against it? Meet new comrades and
build an analysis at a monthly book club with an emphasis on the abolitionist framework.
Each month we will discuss one book, exploring its topics and themes as well as trying to
relate them to our own work organizing against oppression and state-sanctioned violence.

Get On the Stage is an open mic based around uplifting and centering the voices of Queer/Trans People of Color, Trans, Two Spirit, Gender Non-Conforming, Non-Binary, Intersex and anyone who falls between these labels. Speakers can bring poems, prose, music, stand-up and spoken word of any kind.

Cis white queer folks are prohibited from participating but are encouraged to attend to support and help boost the voices of marginalized speakers.

This event will celebrate the NYC  book launch of Getting Wrecked: Women, Incarceration, and the American Opioid Crisis (UCPress, 2019). Women have become increasingly targeted in the War on Drugs, resulting in the “feminization” of the US War on Drugs. In the era of the overdose death crisis, whose bodies are most vulnerable to increased risk of harm, death, violence, social surveillance and policing? What can we do in order to envision a world where substance use is not pathologized and where prisons and jails are not a standard policy solution?

Kimberly Sue, MD, PhD is the Medical Director of the Harm Reduction Coalition where she works to improve the health and well-being of people who use drugs. Her PhD work in medical anthropology examines the intersection of US prison systems, addiction policy, mental health and treatment with women in Massachusetts.  She currently sees patients in syringe service programs providing low-barrier buprenorphine treatment and serves as an attending physician at Rikers Island Jail system in NYC practicing primary care, chronic disease management, HIV, STIs, substance use disorders and transgender care.

Every Thursday, Bluestockings will be hosting a free, walk-in harm reduction training and discussion on overdose prevention! Walk away from this narcan training with your own nalaxone kit and help support all community, including drug-using comrades!

This class is an introduction to herbalism to support mental well-being. Through a harm-reduction and anti-oppression lens, we’ll talk about how stress can affect the body and common herbal allies for balancing the body’s stress response and easing symptoms such as tension, anxiety, insomnia, and fatigue.

Jay Bartel is a white queer herbalist and holistic health educator who seeks to empower people to better care for themselves and their communities through connection to the natural world. Find more info about their practice at jaybartel.com. 

Sarah Lyons, activist, witch, and author of “Revolutionary Witchcraft: A Guide To Magical Activism” will host a panel discussion on the political dimensions and possibilities of witchcraft as a practice. The discussion will look at how witchcraft has historically been treated, both by proletarian practitioners, as well as the state, the nature of witchcraft today as a tool of empowerment and marketing buzzword, and finally, we will look to the future and imagine witchcraft as a potentially revolutionary tool. 

Sarah Lyons (she/her)

Sarah Lyons is a writer, activist, and witch currently living in New York City. She is the author of “Revolutionary Witchcraft, A Guide To Magical Activism.” Both she and her writing have been featured in Teen Vogue, Vice, and The CW. Currently, Sarah sits on the Organizing Committee for the NYC Democratic Socialists of America’s EcoSocialist Working Group.

Aerinn Hodges (she/her)

Aerinn Hodges is an artist, magician, and animist excavating the role of women and transfemmes in magic and religion. Her work is inspired by the embodied mysticism of medieval visionaries, the practical sorcery of early modern cunning folk, as well as old and emerging transgender folkways. She is fascinated by the deep enchantment of old wives’ tales, lucky pennies, and popular grimoires.

Al Cummins (he/him)

Dr Alexander Cummins is a diviner, magician, consultant, and historian. He received his doctorate in early modern magic from the University of Bristol, and publishes and teaches on topics including astrological magic, grimoires of spirit conjuration, cunning-craft, geomancy, and working with dead magicians. He is a founding editor of Revelore Press’ Folk Necromancy in Transmission series, and a co-host of the Radio Free Golgotha podcast.

Kristen Solleé (she/her)

Kristen J. Sollée is a writer, curator, and educator exploring the electric intersections of art, sex, and occulture. She lectures at The New School and across the US and Europe on the sex positive feminist history of the witch archetype and has written two books on the subject: Witches, Sluts, Feminists: Conjuring the Sex Positive and Cat Call: Reclaiming the Feral Feminine.

Celebrate the release of Robin Gow’s debut chapbook HONEYSUCKLE by Finished Line Press with a reading by Gow and other emerging trans and gender non-conforming poets. Robin Gow‘s poetry has recently been published in Poetry, the New Delta Review and the Roanoke Review. Their first full-length collection is forthcoming with Tolsun Books. They are a graduate student and professor at Adelphi University pursuing an MFA in creative writing.

HONEYSUCKLE explores the words we use to name our queerness and finds queerness of the natural world–reveling the possibility of queer language in the past, present, and future.

This is a peer mediated support group for people age 15-35 who experience chronic pain or live with chronic illness. We provide a place to discuss the complexities of being a young person with a serious medical issue, as well as offer support, resources and strategies. This group is open to all illnesses and conditions, diagnosed or undiagnosed, and all levels of ability.

For more information or for accessibility questions contact matilda@bluestockings.com

The Feminist Book Club reads and discusses feminism. We make no claims to any particular feminist platform. We read theoretical texts, literature and primary works. All are welcome inclusive of gender, political persuasion, and familiarity.

For more information, email feministbookclubnyc@gmail.com.

In this two hour class, we’ll learn about herbal allies to prevent sickness and address common cold and flu symptoms. Attendees will leave with recipes for syrups, soups, and teas to support respiratory and immune health.

Jay Bartel is a white queer herbalist and holistic health educator who seeks to empower people to better care for themselves and their communities through connection to the natural world. Find more info about their practice at jaybartel.com.

This will be a safe, judgement-free space for current and former sex workers of all genders, sexualities, religions, abilities, and academic backgrounds to share their creative work and hone writing skills. Participants will read each other’s poetry and provide feedback, engage with creative prompts, and offer personal insights. Please bring printed copies of your work if possible. If printing is not accessible to you, please email facilitator SageSamois@gmail.com to discuss alternatives.

About the facilitator: Sage Samois (they/she/he) is a transgender poet based in New York City and an affiliate of the Poetry Society of New York. They hope that this workshop will cultivate community bonding, lasting friendships, and lots of poetry.

The Icarus Project NYC is a local chapter of http://theicarusproject.net, a radical mental health a support network and media project by and for people who experience the world in ways that are often diagnosed as mental illness. We envision a new culture that allows the space and freedom for exploring different states of being, and recognizes that breakdown can be the entrance to breakthrough. We aim to create a language that is so vast and rich that it expresses the infinite diversity of human experiences. Our monthly workshops explore these themes through peer-based discussion, guest presentations, art, forum theater and more. For more information about this month’s event see: http://nycicarus.org

This event has a video call.
Join: https://meet.google.com/miq-wniv-erg
+1 609-736-2848 PIN: 732457238#

Every Thursday, Bluestockings will be hosting a free, walk-in harm reduction training and discussion on overdose prevention! Walk away from this narcan training with your own nalaxone kit and help support all community, including drug-using comrades!