AFFIRMING & Authentic Workshops
Workshops will focus on topics that are relevant to our lives: cultural issues, multiracial identities, API trans-masculinity, racism and stereotypes, family issues (including family of origin, families of choice, adoption, parenthood and prospective parenthood), health and well-being, sex and relationships, employment and careers, and more. This is your retreat!
We want this to be an affirming place where we can feel free to be our authentic selves. There is no pressure to participate in workshops or group activities. We do ask that everyone be kind, supportive, and respectful of each another. Some of the discussions may bring up a lot of feelings. We encourage you to take care of yourselves and each other.
Examples of session topics and activities:
Opening Panel: What does it mean to be API and trans, intersex, non-binary, gender expansive and/or questioning?
API Heart Circle: Heart-centered communication with those who can relate to our personal struggles, within a structure that is grounded in ancient wisdom about the powers of deep listening and collective witnessing.
Gender-affirming surgeries: A panel of individuals will share their experience with chest reconstructive surgery, phalloplasty and metoidioplasty.
Gender Splendor: Creative expression to celebrate how truly extraordinary you are just for being yourself. Create and participate in a group performance at the reading.
Community care
We are currently soliciting 90-minute workshop sessions.
Please send a title, 2-3 sentence description, 2-3 sentence bio, and a photo to info@apitransfusion.com. Please let us know if you can conduct a workshop on the afternoon of: Thursday, July 4 or Friday, July 5 or Either day
What topic do you have in mind? Here are some workshop ideas:
Family
Parenthood
Health and well-being
Social transition
Multiracial identities
Adoptee experience
Sex and relationships
Employment and careers
Performance
Legal issues
History
Skill share
Other
** This is an all-volunteer effort, and the community is grateful for the unique wisdom, creativity, and energy of workshop presenters, who will be compensated with a full registration to all events and activities July 4-7.
PERFORMANCE
Saxreligious: Solo performance of all original music by Saxreligious. Identity affirming jazz/videogame inspired musical daymares featuring all the saxophones, lo fi beats, and puns.
WORKSHOP SCHEDULE
Day 1: Thursday, July 4, 2024
Oakland (address provided once registration is confirmed)
| Time Start | Time End | Agenda | Presenter(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9:00 AM | 10:00 AM | Check-in; COVID testing Coffee, tea, and snacks | |
| 10:00 AM | 10:30 AM | Welcome and Icebreakers | |
| 10:30 AM | 12:00 PM | Opening Session | |
| 12:00 PM | 1:30 PM | Lunch | |
| 1:30 PM | 3:00 PM | Top and Bottom Surgery Panel Discussion | Jai De Lotto and other presenters |
| Custom Tie-making | Lynn Sugihara | ||
| 3:00 PM | 3:30 PM | Break | |
| 3:30 PM | 5:00 PM | Identity Origin Stories: Collaborative Zine Making | B and V |
| Protect our People: Flash De-escalation Training | Leo Hegde | ||
| 5:00 PM | 7:00 PM | Dinner | |
| 7:00 PM | 8:00 PM | Performance and socializing | |
| 8:00 PM | 10:00 PM | Chill Hangout Time |
Day 2: Friday, July 5, 2024
Oakland (address provided once registration is confirmed)
| Time Start | Time End | Agenda | Presenter |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9:00 AM | 10:00 AM | Check-in; COVID testing Coffee, tea, and snacks | |
| 10:00 AM | 10:30 AM | Welcome and reflections | |
| 10:30 AM | 12:00 PM | API Heart Circle | Alex Chen |
| 12:00 PM | 1:30 PM | Lunch | |
| 1:30 PM | 3:00 PM | Gender Splendor: Creative expression as a healing tool | Willy Chang Wilkinson |
| How to build a network of support | James Santos | ||
| 3:00 PM | 3:30 PM | Break | |
| 3:30 PM | 5:00 PM | Healing from work addiction | Jin Zeng |
| Spells for Safety Writing Workshop | Ching-In Chen | ||
| 5:00 PM | 7:00 PM | Dinner | |
| 7:00 PM | 8:00 PM | Reading and Open Mic | |
| 8:00 PM | 10:00 PM | Social Time |
Day 3: Saturday, July 6, 2024
| Time Start | Time End | Agenda |
|---|---|---|
| 11:00 AM | TBD | Beach Day in Alameda (location provided once registration is confirmed)
(lunch provided) |
| 8:00 PM |
2:00 AM | Club Night in Oakland (location provided once registration is confirmed) (We have a reserved area. This establishment does not have a COVID protocol, such as a masking or distancing requirement. Arrive before 9pm for free admission; cover charge after 9pm) |
Day 4: Sunday, July 7, 2024
| Time Start | Time End | Agenda |
|---|---|---|
| 11:00 AM | 1:00 PM | Nature Hike in Oakland (location provided once registration is confirmed) |
| 1:00 PM |
4:00 PM | Lunch and outdoor games (lunch and beverages provided) |
API TRANSFUSION July 4 - 5 Workshops
Top and Bottom Surgery Panel Discussion
July 4, 1:30pm - 3:00pm
This workshop will provide a panel of individuals who have volunteered to share their experience with chest reconstructive surgery, Phalloplasty and Metoidioplasty. Each panelist will explain the type of procedure they had, what they did to prepare for it, what they did for aftercare and how it has impacted them. There will be some time for Q&A towards the end of the workshop.
About the Facilitator
Jai is a 47-year-old, mixed race (Italian/Sri Lankan) man with a transgender experience. Jai medically transitioned back in 2007, had his top surgery soon after and completed bottom surgery a little over 10 years ago. Jai is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and has been in the social services field for 25 years and as a Social Worker for 16 years. Jai believes our community is our best resource and has coordinated surgery panels at various events for the last 8 years. Jai likes his simple life hanging out with his friends, working out at the gym, doing DIY home projects with his wife of 22 years and hanging out with his two Tabby cats, Nicoya and Foxy Brown.
Custom Tie-Making
July 4, 1:30pm - 3:00pm
In this workshop, Lynn will be sharing her custom tie-making skill. Many people find that ties are difficult to find- length and size not to their liking. Taking your favorite tie, one that works for you and making a pattern from it. You can purchase a minimal amount of material fabric and create your own tie. Coordinate design and color to go with your shirt and outfit.
About the Facilitator
Lynn is a retired Dental Hygienist, Community Activist, Founding member Richmond Rainbow Pride, Board Member QWOCMAP, BCC Member of APIQWTC, Member of Richmond Task Force on Gender Based Violence. Asian Butch she/her pronouns.
Identity origin stories: Collaborative Zine Making
July 4, 3:30pm - 5:00pm
In this workshop, participants share their beginnings and evolutions on their gender journey. Each participant will work on individual small zine, then collaborate on one large zine that will be printed and distributed after the workshop!
There will be an optional opportunity for share out at the end.
About the Facilitator
"godz rising" is a medium for connection, expression, and existence for the QTAPIA community, inspired by the legacies of “Phoenix Rising”, “Lavender Godzilla”, and “ALGA”. Emerging from 3+ years of an ongoing pandemic, multiple global catastrophes, and a time of loss and loneliness, "godz rising" hopes to be a way for queer asians to rekindle relationships with each other, heal from anti-asian sentiments, and connect across generations.
Protect our People: Flash De-escalation Training
July 4, 3:30pm - 5:00pm
Dominant institutions of “safety” like policing aren’t working, and ending violence doesn’t happen alone. Join us in protecting our people by learning strategies and skills to de-escalate conflicts. Especially in a world where existing systems continue to allow violence and harm to others, we keep us safe.
About the Facilitator
Leo Hegde (he/they) is a transmasc, second generation Indian-American who was raised in Edison, New Jersey. Leo is the Community Safety Organizer with Lavender Phoenix, where he supports trans and queer API members to build systems for true community safety and dismantle harmful institutions such as police and prisons. Alongside organizing, Leo loves listening to and writing music, and playing many instruments.
API Heart Circle
July 5, 10:30am - 12pm
Community connections, authentic interpersonal relationships, and the opportunity to share emotional vulnerability with those who can relate to our personal struggles are key things that draw many people to identity-based spaces. Using principles drawn from Indigenous talking circles and radical faerie heart circles, this session will provide an opportunity for participants to engage in heart-centered communication with other API trans masculine people within a structure that is grounded in ancient wisdom about the powers of deep listening and collective witnessing.
About the Facilitator
Alex Chen (he/him) is a gay trans second-gen Chinese-American who grew up in California, Canada, and Hong Kong. He is a civil rights activist, legal scholar, educator, and community organizer who founded the Harvard Law School LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic, and co-founded the Polyamory Legal Advocacy Coalition, the National Trans Bar Association, and Boston Trans Gay Takeover. He is also a musician, radical faerie, burner, and leatherman.
Gender Splendor: Creative expression as a healing tool
July 5 1:30pm - 3:00pm
When we narrate our own stories, we push back against disempowering forces in society at large. This workshop uses art to metaphorically transform life’s challenging experiences, and to assert one’s identity, resist denigration, and declare one’s rights. Attendees will have the opportunity to respond to inspirational sparks with various art forms, such as writing, drawing, and modeling clay. Embrace creativity to cultivate from within the freedom and love you deserve.
About the Facilitator
Willy Chang Wilkinson, MPH is an award-winning author, public health consultant, cultural competency trainer, and public speaker who has been advocating for marginalized populations since the early days of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. He is the author of the Lambda Literary Award-winning book Born on the Edge of Race and Gender: A Voice for Cultural Competency, which illuminates trans experience from a Chinese American and mixed heritage perspective. As a response to the global mental health crisis among trans, nonbinary, and gender-expansive people, Willy penned Gender Splendor: 50 Creative Sparks to Celebrate Yourself at All Ages and Stages. He launched the first trans healthcare access program in the nation and the first program for trans men who have sex with other men, organized the first support groups for transmasculine people of color, and co-organized the first API transmasculine retreat.
How to build a network of support while working on healthy dynamics in relationships.
July 5, 1:30pm - 3pm
This workshop aims to share skills around networking and resource building as well as how to have healthy relationships. Get the support you need while working on healing your relationship trauma.
About the Facilitator
James Santos is a first generation Filipinx, ex foster youth, CSA survivor, neurodivergent, disabled, trans masc nonbinary person who has lived in the Bay Area for over 20 years. He has been able to not only survive but thrive with community support while working on healing mentally, physically and emotionally.
Healing from work addiction: From “What Do You Do?” to “How Can We Just Be, Without the Need to Prove Ourselves?
July 5, 3:30 - 5:00pm
A workshop on healing from work addiction and the “model minority” myth. Participants will be invited to explore how normative and compulsive ways of working (including even how we think about work!) that we may experience are rooted in disconnection from ourselves and our marginalized identities, and how to discover the answers we need to heal, individually and as a community. Informed by a disability justice, neurodivergent, and trauma-aware lens.
About the Facilitator
Jin Zeng (he/him) is a chronically-ill Chinese diasporic person who came out as trans shortly after embarking on a journey of recovery for work addiction. He is deeply inspired by the writings of Tricia Hersey (Rest is Resistance) and the book Dear Elia: Letters from the Asian American Abyss by Mimi Khuc.
Spells for Safety Writing Workshop
July 5, 3:30 - 5:00pm
Using the anthology Poetry as Spellcasting: Poems, Essays, and Prompts for Manifesting Liberation and Reclaiming Power, we will create & dream poem-rituals & spells together as freedom maps for ourselves & our communities.
About the Facilitator
Ching-In Chen is a genderqueer Chinese American poet and multi-genre writer. They are the author of recombinant, The Heart's Traffic, and to make black paper sing. Chen is also the co-editor of the anthologies The Revolution Starts at Home: Confronting Intimate Violence Within Activist Communities and Here Is a Pen: An Anthology of West Coast Kundiman Poets.