Dear Diary
a 4 week class to guide you in cultivating a writing practice, finding your own voice, learning tools of resistance & community, & getting curious, every day
this class is about diaries. diaries as artifacts, as acts of resistance, as outsider art, as daily companions, as survival, as silly and boring and anti-capitalist and, most importantly, an extreme act of hope.
each day for 4 weeks, we’ll do our best to keep diaries of our own in some form.* when we meet in class, we’ll focus on excavating our own experiences, talking about class materials, doing writing/art/creative prompts, cheerleading each other’s efforts, and being curious. sometimes there will be a little homework that you never have to do, but will always reward you if you do it!
*Diaries can be so many things and take so many forms. I can’t wait to see what kind you make!
class details:
there’ll be 2 class options, both in CST. you’ll pick one to go to at the price point that makes sense for you. it’ll look like this:
🌻 sundays jan 12-feb 2, 2pm-3:30pm CST
🌻 wednesdays jan 15-feb 5, 7:30-9pm CST
i’m capping these classes to keep them feeling small and intimate — diary classes are always better that way.
what do diaries have to do with anything?
i might be biased here: i’ve been keeping a diary since i was a kid, and reading them just about as long. as a person with a complicated childhood, my diaries then were full of lies to help me pretend my fantasies about what my life should look like were real. eventually, they became private havens where i learned to let myself be as i was. i never would have written a book, made 2 albums, created a substack, gotten an mfa in creative writing, or come out as trans without being first and foremost a diarist. the daily act of untangling something about yourself, in any form, is one of the bravest and most important things we can do, especially in a time when we are being dehumanized daily by our governments, our jobs, and even in our personal relationships.
this is why i find it so interesting that diaries are so made fun of! diaries are for girls only. diaries aren’t real literature. diaries are silly. diaries aren’t worth anything. what if diaries are the ultimate act of resistance? of hope? of anti-capitalism? of community? from the dear america books, to the pages of anne frank’s diary that were edited out posthumously, to hemlock’s song-a-day albums, to the AIDS memorial quilt and beyond: by making and studying diaries, we can unlock a lot about ourselves, our futures, and how to survive together.
i first taught this class in person in austin, tx, and it ended literally as the pandemic began. it was one of the most impactful writing classes i’ve ever had the privilege of teaching — which is saying something, since i’ve been teaching writing on and off for a decade now. i’m excited to return to this topic 5 years later and see what new things wait in store for us, and what timeless themes never stray too far away.
some forms your diary could take: journals, daily videos, newsletters, song-a-day albums, quilts, walks, lists, poems, archives, collections, meals, paintings, mending, post-it note sentences, chronicles, dream diaries…
stuff we’ll try:
🌻 doing something every day for 4 weeks
🌻 failing at doing something every day for 4 weeks
🌻 finding our voices
🌻 asking questions ~ of ourselves, of others, of systems
🌻 noticing ~ our bodies, other bodies, the world around us
🌻 carving out time for something that is ours
🌻 identifying what helps us find ourselves when life gets noisy, hard, and distracting af
disclaimer:
who you are will have everything to do with how you participate in this class, what you take away from it, and what your experience is — and all options are okay! these will be virtual classes conducted over zoom: you never have to turn your camera on if you don’t want to. we’ll cover a lot of different topics, and we’ll all be people with our own needs and desires, and i encourage you to both have respect for your classmates as well as respect for yourself. it’s important to remember that i’m a facilitating artist, not a licensed therapist or someone trained within the modalities of mental health, which means your experience with this is totally up to you. may the challenges you need help you grow, and may the stuff that doesn’t work for you get left on the table! see you there!
what you get when you sign up:
🌻 writing prompts
🌻 cool weird homework
🌻 a reading/listening/watching list
🌻 a community of people to make art & grow with
🌻 additional resources & threads for continuing your diary practice
🌻 lifetime access to the materials and recordings from class
who is this class for?
anyone stuck in a rut. anyone who wants to get better at writing, but can’t figure it out. anyone starting a substack or a patreon or a newsletter. anyone who feels lonely. anyone who feels hopeful! anyone who wants to get good at tiktok! anyone confined to bed. anyone looking for new friends. music lovers. book lovers. movie lovers. artists. mathematicians. engineers. scientists. teachers. social workers. tech company consultants. queer people. straight people. i-don’t-know-who-i-am people. i’m-just-starting-to-figure-it-out people. YOU. <3
Have questions? Concerns? Write me at cartersainthogan@gmail.com and we’ll figure it out together <3