Teaching Philosophy
My name is Alexa Young
Ariana Brown (she/they) is a queer Black Mexican American poet from San Antonio, TX. She holds a BA in African Diaspora Studies and Mexican American Studies, an MFA in Poetry, and an MS in Library and Information Science. Ariana is a 2014 national collegiate poetry slam champion. She is the author of We Are Owed. (Grieveland, 2021) and Sana Sana (Game Over Books, 2020). She has been writing, performing, and teaching poetry for 14 years.
As a teacher, Ariana believes there is no wrong way to write a poem. She encourages discovery by asking participants to identify what excites them or what they notice most about poems. Ariana is skilled in teaching writers of all levels, creating opportunities for everyone’s thoughts and experiences to live harmoniously in the classroom. She teaches from a queer Black feminist approach, meaning she invites participants to safely engage in vulnerability and mutual support, as she works to craft a comfortable and challenging learning environment for all.
Virtual Writing Classes
Building a Sustainable Writing Practice
Thursdays 7pm-9pm CT
June 1st- through July 20th
$205
Building a Sustainable Writing Practice is a supportive 8-week virtual class designed to help you create a writing practice tailored to your individual needs. If you’ve struggled to maintain a consistent writing schedule even though you really want to, this class is for you. Whether your biggest obstacles to writing are time, illness, self-doubt, writer’s block, or just a general sense of being overwhelmed, Ariana Brown will provide guidance to address them. Building on disability justice and anti-capitalist principles from the books How to Keep House While Drowning and The F*ck It Diet, Ariana’s teaching incorporates gentle approaches to things like scheduling and meeting goals. Because writing should be something you enjoy, not something you stress about!
Together, we will identify the obstacles to our writing and try new techniques to address them. Class discussion will reveal what did and didn’t work. Lectures will introduce mindset shifts, key concepts, and writing prompts to constantly change the way we think about “producing” work. The final class consists of an open mic so students can share work in an encouraging space. Students will leave this class with a personalized plan for how to maintain their writing practice outside of this class.
Deadline to sign up is May 30!