that rare old Mountain Dew
Alcohol, Colonization and the Irish-American Diaspora
how have we been shaped by legacies of colonization and alcohol?
join us this season for a community exploration into the impacts of alcohol use and colonization on settlers of the Irish-American diaspora. how have we been shaped, and then gone on to shape our surroundings, because of them?
During our time together, we will discuss the interweavings of alcohol and colonization in Ireland, as well as these same threads in the colonization of Turtle Island/N America. We will explore how we have experienced these threads in our personal lived experiences, our familial lines, and our broader cultural lineages.
What is the cost of these threads, historically and today? What does it mean to be shaped by these legacies? How have we shaped the world because of these thread? What has been lost because of them? What might be possible for cultural reconnection & repair, as well as unsettling, if we face these threads frankly and compassionately? And how might we begin to unweave them?
We will sit with these questions and many more. This will be part info share, part guided community reflection & dialogue. There will be optional embodiment practices as well.
Who is this for?
This is intended for folks of Irish-American diasporic experience here on Turtle Island/N America – or other settlers descended from lineages of the Celtic Isles who have experienced cultural experiences.
this is especially for folks who are engaging in ancestral reconnection work or community organizing work as settlers on N. America; reckoning with legacies of domination and violence is an essential, ongoing thread of this work.
This is for folks who are interested in unpacking internalized settler colonization and extractive/consumptive (read: white supremacist) orientations in themselves, who are interested in politicized ancestral reconnection work, or who simply want to be in space where the impacts of alcohol abuse are frankly tied to empire, cultural disconnection, and systemic oppression.
We will be centering on the Irish American experience in this gathering but all are welcome.
LOGISTICS
This community exploration series will take place on Wednesdays – May 8, 15, 29 and June 5. (Note: we will not meet on May 22nd)
Our sessions will run from 1 – 2:15pm ET / 10am – 11:15am PT
This is an online Zoom gathering. There will be live closed captioning available.
These sessions will NOT be recorded. Please plan to attend all four sessions if you can. The slides will be shared after each session.
This will be a gentle and lovingly held container. It will include frank conversations about alcohol, substance abuse, colonization in the Celtic Isles and Turtle Island/N America, white supremacy, and embodied trauma. Folks are welcome to be on or off screen, participate or not as they feel called, and are free to utilize the unmute or chat functions to contribute. Come as you are.
CULTIVATING INTIMACY
Space is limited to ten participants for intimacy, depth and connection.
Note: If this first section fills up, a second cohort will be opened up for Thursday evenings 6:30pm ET. If you’d like to participate in that second cohort, please email me at ofhawthornandyew@protonmail.com to get added to the list.
Join us in community to explore the legacies of alcohol abuse and colonization in our cultural & personal lineages.
Cost
Early bird pricing is available through April 1, 2024. Early birds are welcome to sign up for this offering at the rate of $160, either paid in full or in two payments. Sign up today!
BEYOND THE EARLY BIRDS
After the early bird period has past (if there are still spaces!), this offering is available via multiple sliding scale tiers of pricing.
The base rate for this series is $360
Feel free to use the sliding scale below select that which is most appropriate to your financial circumstances, your access to resources and generational wealth, your earning potential, and your societal positionality.
Sliding scale access for this offering is $240 – 480 USD // $360 (base), $240 (alternative) and $480 (support).
Payment plans are available for all pricing tiers.
Join us for an exploration into the threads of alcohol and colonization through the Irish-American diasporic cultural lineage, as well as in our intimate personal experiences.
Together we will explore the question – how have we been shaped by these two threads?
Registration
Registration was open in April 2024
Sign up for my newsletter to hear when the Autumn 2024 cohort is open for registration.
Space is limited to ten people for intimacy and connection.
a note on stigma & shame in this space:
This will be a compassionate space facilitated with a harm reduction approach. No one will be shamed for personal choices around alcohol or other substance use; sobriety is not required nor will it even be encouraged. We are merely going to consider together the origins and impacts of culturally uplifted substance over-use, and its interconnections with colonization, empire and whiteness.
As always, take care of yourselves as you need to within this space; we each come into these conversations with our own experiences, triggers and pain points on these topics. Many of us carry internalized stigma, judgment and harsh stories around substances. We are all invited to be self-responsive to our own needs during our time together.
together
we explore how
colonization,
substance abuse
and whiteness
have shaped
our lineages
Who is facilitating this offering?
For folks new to me & my work –
my name is rowan (they/them) and I’m a qt herbalist, writer, researcher, big nerd and devotee to plant kin. I deeply believe in justice, radical community care, and embodying our values even under pressure.
The threads of my work include politicized ancestral reconnection for settlers on Turtle Island/N America, queer healing, ritual and devotion with the holy, navigating chronic illness, long-c & DJ, cultural traditions and ethnobotany, and more. I’m a white-bodied 3rd gen US person who comes from Irish, Lithuanian, Scottish & Sicilian lineages.
I base my work off of my lived personal experiences, relationships with the holy wild, and deep research. I love researching and learning, and then sharing what I’ve learned with community. For this offering specifically, I am also holding this space after my own personal work around substance abuse, familial experiences of alcoholism as an Irish Americans, and wider cultural exploration into my lineages on the intersections of alcohol and colonization.
thanks for being in community with me, for your support of my ongoing work, and for being a part of this broader weaving.