Join Us for Our Five PAMLA Warm Up Acts

Five PAMLA Warm Up Acts

When: Thursday, Nov. 14, 11:20 AM – 12:50 PM

Come join us for one of our five fantastic Warm Up sessions that we are premiering on the first day of the conference! All are welcome to these free sessions, but please sign up for them at our Registration and Membership page: https://pamla.ballastacademic.com!

1. Creative Writing: A Poetry Reading

Where: Pacific A Ballroom

Four talented poets will read a variety of their poems written in a variety of poetic forms. Free to all–invite your friends. But do please make a reservation.

2. Gender-Neutral and Gender-Inclusive Instruction

Where: Pacific C Ballroom

Please join us for this 90-minute conference session dealing with contemporary pedagogic issues affecting transgender and gender non-binary people. For language instructors, creating a gender-neutral and gender-inclusive classroom poses significant challenges. In this session, we will explore how questions of gender neutrality and inclusivity inform instruction from grammar to cultural norms.

3. ImagiNation: Exploring the American Political Circus

Where: West Coast Room

In an era of increasing distance from the concept of political truth, humor occupies the highest office. Under such circumstances, the nature of reality itself has become blurred, suggesting that our political existence is composed more of the imagined than we may have previously understood. This event highlights the ways the imaginary creates, maintains, destabilizes, or runs parallel to the ways in which we conceive of or understand the nation(al).

4. The Art of Teaching Creative Writing in Our Communities: SCIPP Workshop (Sold Out–but feel free to check in on the day of to see if there is room available)

Where: East Coast Room

This 90-minute workshop will introduce participants to SCIPP, a community literary and artistic program focused on the whole family. SCIPP workshop leaders will share their educational principles: that every child is creative, with a rich history and culture, and we should create activities that bring their history and culture into the classroom/workshop. Workshop leaders will demonstrate their pedagogical practices by having participants work on a series of creative tasks using a transdisciplinary approach. Participants will create a “six-sided story” in the shape of a cube or work with a unique feature in classical Nahuatl, using semantic couplets or difrasismo: the pairing of two words to create a new concept. All ages welcome.

5. Poetry Therapy: The Practical Application of Poetry to Everyday Life

Where: Embarcadero Room

In this hybrid presentation and workshop, author Igor Goldkind will share excerpts from his book of poetry and art, Is She Available?, his life in the world of comics and art, and his theories of therapeutic poetry. Goldkind at fourteen served as volunteer Science Fiction Coordinator for the fledgling San Diego Comic Con, where he met Ray Bradbury, Theodor Sturgeon, Larry Niven, Harlan Ellison, and other science fiction stars. After sharing his poetry, Goldkind will introduce workshop participants into his practice of poetry therapy.

We look forward to seeing you for these surely exciting opening events for our annual PAMLA Conference, so not delay and sign up today!