Three interrelated literary events on the topic of “honoring and making peace with our loved ones” will be held in Tucson in January and February.  The workshops will be held at two different venues, and the last event is a reading and open mic.

On Sunday, January 16, from 10 a.m. to noon, at Congregation Chaverim, 5901 E. 2nd Street, Deborah Mayaan, MA, will lead writing exercises and Rabbi Stephanie Aaron will teach about an ancient practice of choosing the spiritual qualities you would like to pass on to the next generation.

The workshop will be repeated on Wednesday, February 16, from 10:30 a.m. to noon at Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging, 2221 N. Rosemont Blvd. in the Great Room.

Deborah Mayaan and Lynn Saul will read from their work followed by an open mic at Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging, 2221 N. Rosemont Blvd. in the Great Room on Sunday, February 20, from 1:30 to 3 p.m.,

People are encouraged to attend one of the writing workshop but it is not a prerequisite to read at the open mic. For more information, contact Deborah Mayaan, deborah@deborahmayaan.com, 881-2534.

All events are free and funded by a grant from Poets and Writers.

Deborah Mayaan is a healing practitioner, artist  and writer, whose writing has appeared in a wide range of publications, including the Arizona Daily Star, Arizona Jewish Post, Natural Awakenings, Spirituality & Health, Tucson Green Magazine, Tucson Lifestyle, and the Tucson Weekly.

In teaching workshops, she creates a safe place for people to write for self-healing, This workshop and reading series arose out of her work with clients who were facing life-threatening illnesses and desired to make peace with their lives, her own experience with writing as a healing activity, and her recent writing to heal family issues that were unresolved at the time of her mother’s sudden death last spring.

Lynn Saul s a teacher, writer, and retired attorney.  Her multi-genre book Learning to Say “Satoraljaujhely”, was published in July 2010 and features poetry, short fiction, creative non-fiction and photographs based on her family from Hungary and her own experiences traveling there twice.   Other publications include poems and fiction in several literary magazines and anthologies including SandScript, Sarah’s Daughters Sing, Poetica, and Jewish Women’s Literary Annual. She holds an MFA in poetry from the University of Arizona, a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and a bachelor’s degree in American government from Harvard University, and she has lived in the Tucson area since 1971.

Have you ever been to a spoken word or performance art event where there was no jurying and appeared to be no criteria for what constituted an acceptable presentation?  Like an open mic where anyone can have their five minutes of fame or the event formerly known as 7-Up where anyone can volunteer to take the spotlight and present what they are interested in.  They can be pretty exciting!  You never know what to expect and you can make some amazing discoveries.

On the other hand, it’s possible to sit through some pretty painful performances so a measure of control seems to make the audience’s experience smoother.

There’s a philosophical difference in these two approaches that seems to divide spoken word into two camps.  I’ve recently had an email discussion with Traci Moore, the editor of Monsoon Voices, the Live Literary Magazine.  Her method is to have people submit their stories just as they would with a print or online magazine.  She edits just as an editor would and that give her some assurance that the end product – the performance – will be up her standards.  As she says, “the selections we make are based on the quality of the writing/music and whether the content fits with our guidelines/mission.”

I was on the other side of the debate (well not entirely because we do have a theme and a rehearsal for Odyssey Storytelling.) My idea is to get as many diverse people on stage as possible and let the audience possibly suffer through a not-very-good story in exchange for hearing some spectacular ones. At the very least, they are learning about other peoples life experiences that may be very different than their own.

It always amazes me that when I do my informal poll at the end of a show on “which story and storyteller did you like the best / didn’t like at all”, I get a different answer from everyone.  The ones I thought were questionable always have a defender – someone who the story touched.   The ones I thought were clever and well done always have their detractors.  That’s what keeps it interesting to me.  I can never predict the impact of the event.

Do you like to be surprised or do you like to know that there will be a predictable level of skill and talent?