Just three months after launching The Word for This, creating a platform to share my own and other survivor’s stories, engaging directly with survivors in intense and deeply personal ways, stepping into the realm of advocacy and intersectional feminism, and taking the work to a new level by joining RAINN as a volunteer online hotline staffer… I’m returning to my original creative instinct with “The Word for This: #TWFT52.”
When my story first wrote itself, it came out as poetry. Like a distant constellation or a snarling dog, I had to see it from the side, gaze averted, to get close enough.
When I began this work, it was to create a platform for sharing our experiences – to give us all the voice I never had. I knew some would express through art, others would simply write facts, still others would find themselves – as I did – surprised by how creativity serves us when we need it most.
#TWFT52 is a year-long creative healing journey for survivors of sexual assault, abuse, and related trauma, though anyone can participate. We’ll begin Sunday evening, January 6. Each week, I’ll post a prompt: “The Word for This is ______.” The words are abstract, selected to be non-triggering (though we all know it’s not always the obvious ones that do it), randomized so I’m not dictating the order of your process.
I’ll also post a few questions to spark ideas, as well as my own answer to the prompt. I’m limiting myself to 52 words for each, so I can sustain the pace and not overwhelm you. (If brevity is a virtue, I don’t possess it. Also, my name is Jess and I overuse parentheses.)
Write as much or as little as you like – comment, DM, journal. Take a photo of your writing (or any other art this inspires) and add it to your feed, including #TWFT52 and @thewordforthis. Email me or submit through the form on my website. Share as much as you like, or not at all. This is for you.
I’ll be compiling, and I may ask permission to post something you create. And of course, I’ll continue sharing our stories on my website, whether they emerge from #TWFT52 or not. We’ll always have that voice here.
I have ideas about the power of our collective words, and what we might be moved to do with them at the end. But right now, the journey is what matters.
I can’t lie. I wanted to be more buttoned up – to have the new website, logo, etc., ready to go all at once. But this is a process, and it’s imperfect. Honoring (and being transparent about) that feels especially important.
Questions? Concerns? Want to be tagged? Receive prompts by email? I’m planning for that, so if there’s interest let me know. Ask me anything.
Much love,
Jess