The world is on fire and nothing is okay. What does this feel like? There are a lot of standard names for what we feel when we think about global warming, wide-spread extinction of ordinary and extraordinary creatures, and, well, [gestures generally]: Anxiety, grief, anger, fear, blankness. Sometimes the way we talk about feelings shapes what they are, and so it matters what words we have. We might not have all the words we need to understand the experience of climate crisis. In this hands-on workshop, we’ll discuss some theories about emotions and expression, why writing is a good way to explore feelings we don’t have a name for, and how to practice finding our “outlaw emotions” about big problems.

Alexis Shotwell is a Professor in Sociology at Carleton University. Her work focuses on complexity, complicity, and collective transformation. A professor at Carleton University, on unceded Algonquin land, she is the co-investigator for the AIDS Activist History Project (aidsactivisthistory.ca), and the author of Knowing Otherwise: Race, Gender, and Implicit Understanding and Against Purity: Living Ethically in Compromised Times. She is a nerd who loves science fiction, makes functional pottery in her spare time, bikes all winter, and owns a banjo.

Website: alexisshotwell.com

For ages 13-18. Registration required. Registrants will receive an additional email with the Zoom link ahead of the program.