If Your Body Could Talk, What Would It Say?
Save the dates! Oct 1-7th, 2016
UnSilencing Anatomies kick-off events the first week of October are followed by a two-month-long city-wide, community engagement & body-based story-telling project along Tucson’s Street Car route from Banner Health to  El Rio & beyond
Kore Press, Tucson publisher of innovative women’s writings since 1993, is a leader in activism for a holistic community. UnSilencing Anatomies, inspired by Kore author Monica Ong’s work, is a city-wide collaboration between Kore Press and her partners, including the University of Arizona, Tucson Chinese Cultural Center, La Pilita and other cultural and justice centers. The series will focus on how the role of art and story-telling impact disparities in public health and safety, providing space for community conversation about the relationship of culture and medicine. Series collaborators will aim to provide individuals of diverse backgrounds with the opportunity to engage candidly with one another, and presenters will explore such issues as cultural assumptions, and silences that impede health and health education.
UnSilencing Anatomies is supported in part with a grant from the Arizona Humanities, and partnerships with UA Health Sciences Libraries, UA College of Humanities, and others.
OCTOBER SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Reception/Meet-N-Greet with Author Monica Ong, Saturday, Oct 1, 5:30-7pm
Sosa-Carrillo-Freemont House, 151 S Granada.  Welcome visiting author Monica Ong and hear about Kore Press’ Open Assembly of readings, talks, panel, story-telling and other creative opportunities, such as the “We are Listening” story-gathering, happening in October and November.
University class visits, Monday, Oct 3, 2-4pm, Monica Ong to visit Honor’s College and College of Public Health (Health Disparities in Minority Populations) classes.
Author Talk/Scholar’s Panel, Wednesday, Oct 5, 6pm, University of Arizona. Join authors, professors and scholars for a panel discussion and talks investigating the nuances surrounding “client-provider” relations.
A Talk: “Poetry as a Partner in Public Health” : Monica Ong, author of Silent Anatomies, gives a multi-media reading and talk about how communities can turn to poetry to expand cultural competence in public health.
The Panel, with Ken McAllister, Monica Ong, Monica Casper, Deanna Lewis, and TC Tolbert. In-depth examination of the power differentials, communication barriers, fears, and cultural assumptions that shape public health and public safety and potentially perpetuate silences, and/or aggression and misunderstanding.
Reading and Story-Gathering: Monica Ong and Kore Press at Tucson Meet Yourself, Friday, Oct 7, 12:30 pm, Tucson Meet Yourself. Author Monica Ong will read from her work at the “Kitchen Stadium,” and Kore Press will gather community stories about “taste memories” in the “Gastronomy Exhibit.”
 Artist Talk & exhibit viewing, Monica Ong, Friday, Oct 7, 4 pm, UA Poetry Center
“Design Thinking & Poetry: New Literacies of the Body.”Monica Ong will give a multi-media mini reading and artist talk as a vehicle for creating dialogue among medical, humanities, and cultural communities on silences of the body.
Streetcar performance with Poets TC Tolbert and Kristen Nelson, Friday, Oct 7, 5:30 pm, Bio 5 terminus, near UA Poetry Center. Ride the street car with poets TC Tolbert and Kristen Nelson who will perform their works and other’s. A group reading will be presented at our final destination, La Pilita Cultural Center.
UnSilencing Anatomies group reading, Friday, Oct 7, 6pm, with Monica Ong, curated by TC Tolbert and Kristen Nelson. La Pilita Cultural Center (next to El Tiradito shrine) 420 S. Main Ave., Tucson, AZ 85701
Public Health Digital Stories screening, with Creative Narrations, Friday, Oct 21, 6-8pm, at the YWCA. A Q&A and curated screening of digital stories focused on public health issues made with Creative Narrations over the past 10 years by Tucson’s underserved communities. Drinks and refreshments served.
ONGOING THROUGH NOVEMBER
Exhibits: “Silent Anatomies,” altered medical ephemera, text and image art objects by Monica Ong through October, at the UA Poetry Center.
“Silent Anatomies: Remedies” (a collection of altered medicine bottles, re-designed to address cultural anxieties) October-November, Tucson Chinese Cultural Center.
GeoMap: an interactive, digital map of the project’s significant cultural, social justice, and minority health-related content and designated “Nerve Centers,” will be available to users throughout the project. The map will become the online project archive.
Street Car Journey & Nerve Centers: The streetcar will be transformed into a metaphoric vehicle for understanding, reflection, and social engagement in October and November. Selected stops along the streetcar route, and nearby sites, designated as “Nerve Centers” (places of significant cultural, social justice, or minority health work) will invite participants to share unheard or forgotten stories about their bodies, voicing the pains and pleasures of the community through interactive experiences.
see more about Monica Ong’s Silent Anatomies on which this project is based