My proposal is for a participatory reading and discussion group that begins with audience/participants reading an autobiographical text I’ve written. It is about the oppression I have experienced in my life as a US citizen, and culminates in a sharing/analysis/problem-solving discussion where I will not speak. This will be a social assembly, where injustice will be discussed, analyzed, and seen.

Traumas will be worked through instead of commodified because people will not listen to me speaking my experience, but will read it aloud themselves. I have spent my whole life being othered and written off as strong and resilient. This will be a personalized performance of my own life which I will not perform; they will be the performers, not I. I use my existence as an example to first dismantle problems in the “system” that are implemented by individuals, then invite the audience to come up with alternatives, solutions, and actions that will lead to justice.

By using index cards with cues, I invite an audience member to read aloud my written work. The narrative in three or four sections, for different participants to read:

(a) my early life of sexual and physical abuse and how doctors, teachers, school nurses, and immigration workers ignored my injuries and strange behaviors, often punishing me for my degenerate behavior instead of asking questions;

b) my teenage to adult life and my experiences with the mental health system, lack of justice for sexual abuse on the job, stigmatization, and my parent’s criminal behavior blocking me from taking steps to better my life;

c) 2009 to present: housing problems, abuse of the system by doctors, social workers, shelter managers, and a mental health housing nonprofit; also the medical system using my injuries to try to make an addict/scapegoat out of me.

Another reader reads the questions that I pose, first for participants to speak their own truths about oppression, then for solutions for exposing the injustices, and steps to take to find a just outcome.

I provide potato chips, pretzels, and candy. A sign says that there will be no censorship, and that audience participants are free to come and go, and eat snacks.

I will record audio of this performance and upload it to a Tumblr site. I will warn the audience about this, and advise the audience not to say their names if they do not want recognition for anything they speak. I will facilitate by not speaking but by cue cards and gestures, and passing a microphone.