It’s encouraging to read feedback from those who’ve already attended the sessions, whom Laurel and I have come to know through their openness and authenticity. It is therefore important to acknowledge that as some work requires anonymisation we have also committed to that for all of the statements below. Elsewhere on the site, when it comes to extracts from individual’s work, however, we’ll let the author decide whether or not they wish to be identified alongside their work.
On the classes:
“I’ve found them really interesting and thought-provoking, not only in terms of the recollection and thinking about how to write about my own experiences, but the hearing the stories that other people in the group have spoken and written about. What I wasn’t expecting so much was how powerfully the recollection and writing of certain early experiences evoked emotional responses. Although I’ve a little experience of starting to write memoir, these exercises also provided a sharpened focus on how we recall and retell our life stories (Participant Six)
“The sharing of others’ stories gave me inspiration as a man to consider the influence of women on my own journeys. (Participant Twenty-Four)
“I have found these sessions to be very useful in understanding that I do indeed have stories to tell, and that this need not be linear. (Participant Seventeen)
On what counts as activism:
“I wasn’t sure at first, whether my experience would really ‘count’ as activism – not compared with people who’d been involved with rigorous campaigns, been in alliances and on marches and overseas missions and Greenham. But in fact, I soon realised, in these group sessions, that activism is both relative and personal. It all counts, it all matters, every single, tiny act of agency, authenticity, advocacy – all of these actions are activist in some way. (Participant Six)
“I don’t feel like an activist, but I took agency of my life in a few different ways that I feel would be an empowering story to others, that’s what I realised through this course, not to judge yourself against others, I feel like I’ve achieved things in my life and just wrote about them, if it’s not activism, then I feel it’s at least agency. (Participant Fourteen)
“I’ve started to think of other things I’ve done in my life as doing them with agency. I don’t feel like an activist as I haven’t protested or anything and I think what activism means to me maybe a little different, but the agency I have taken over my own life, after this course, I now feel proud. (Participant Fourteen)
“[These classes] made me realise that I wasn’t an activist prior to transition.” (Participant Twenty-Nine)
On the writing:
“with every paragraph, every memory excavated, more thoughts and reflections and memories come tumbling out of the compartments they’ve long been kept in. (Participant Six)
“It was important to get some feedback on my writing. I also enjoyed listening to other stories and writing styles. I was inspired by what I heard about how others had overcome challenges (Participant Twenty-One)
On the project:
“I feel a representation of women in Portsmouth and their lives is a great thing to do. Women can be lost in history and having this opportunity to be heard has been amazing for my self-confidence. (Participant Fourteen)
“It would mean the world [to be published] as it would solidify the hard work and exposure [of] retelling our own personal accounts and life journey. (Participant Seven)
“I have always wanted to produce writing worthy of publication. (Participant Twelve)
Herstories from Portsmouth (UK) 