"Happy New Year all!

This will be Queens Talk Second Annual Pre-Valentine’s Day themed meetup: Centering the Love on Ourselves!

As Valentine’s Day approaches, we all can feel the love that is in the air and can also expect the flood of photos of those showing love and appreciation to their significant others/romantic partners. As a pre-Valentine’s Day treat, we will be centering the love on ourselves by discovering what it means to pour into our own cup and cultivate healthyrelationships. We will be establishing boundaries and gratifying ourselves and the ones we love by gracefully practicing assertiveness through discussion questions and relationship building exercises.

Our featured speaker is Tiffany Mangum. Tiffany is a charismatic, energetic, down to earth Southern Belle with a Midwest city twist. After growing up in the DC Metro area and then moving to Chicago where she received her yoga certification, she decided to make Boston her new home in 2013. She brings over 8 years of experience and teaches many styles of yoga catering to all fitness levels and body types. Along her teaching journey, Tiffany found that yoga was not as accessible to the community as much as she desired. She founded Trupeace Wellness - a wellness collective designed to create opportunities and spaces where people from the community could gather and connect to mindful living.

Her commitment to sharing Trupeace Wellness’ vision makes it possible to partner with both for-profit and non-profit local wellness programs to make and mindfulness more accessible. In her own self-care journey, she realized committing to “self” was both challenging and rewardful. Through other Women's stories about their self-care journeys, she also found out that she wasn't alone.

In early 2018, she curated “The Mindful Woman: Goddess Coffee hour” and “Mindful Woman: Roots to Blossoms Self Care Series” as safe spaces to allow women to come together from all different backgrounds, to be vulnerable, to be radiant, to reconnect to self-awareness, self-love, and to share both the intricacies and simplicities of their journeys. She leans heavily into divine wellness as she fosters spaces that motivate, incite open expression, and expunge fears of "not being good enough" or not being worthy. Tiffany is a true inspiration and leaves a mark of self-love and self-awareness whenever she expresses herself.

This meetup is brought to you by our Development Officer, Iris Lapaix, and our Vice President, Nephtalie Dujour.

For any questions, comments, or concerns regarding the meetup, please feel free to send an email to queenstalkinc@gmail.com.

Looking forward to seeing you then! ❤️✨"

Facebook event link - https://www.facebook.com/events/224552745156762/

Art featured in the portraits - Scarred Perceptions by Jacob Giberson
(for more information email elizabest.dicicco@massart.edu

Location: Mass Art's Kennedy Building 625 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115. 
February 9, 2019

Healthy Visions 2019

Theme: Mind, Body, Spirit, Community

Wellness Panel and Resource Tables

Wellness Topics and come learn Afrobeats

Individual and Community Vision Boards - all materials provided

Dinner Served

Free HIV/STI Testing

Giveaways

For more information or group registration

please contact Irvienne Goldson

Irvienne.goldson@bostonabcd.org

Thursday January 31st 2019

5:30-8:30pm

Thelma Burns Building - 575 Warren Street Roxbury

The Theater Offensive's OUT’hood Series will present Boston’s third annual Saint Sebastian Festival 2019 (Festival de San Sebastian 2019). Following the past two year’s major success, this year’s celebration will continue bringing the traditions of Puerto Rican culture and celebrations to Boston. The festival will feature Puerto Rican food, community parade, theater and live performances by: Jorge Arce & Bombazo Boricua, Fabiola Mendez & Herencia Criolla, Samantha Love, and Eric German & His Orchestra. All are welcome to celebrate this special day and learn about Puerto Rican cultural heritage traditions while honoring Saint Sebastian, one of the great icons of modern queer culture.

Location: La Fábrica Central Restaurant

January 19, 2019

"It is with great pleasure that we are moving forward with our two year anniversary banquet. We are celebrating two years of programming at Carson Place 180 Mt Vernon St, Dorchester, MA 02125 from 5:00PM-10:00PM on Sunday, December 16th, 2018. Our theme for the banquet is Embracing the Light Within.

Queens Talk is a monthly women’s empowerment meet-up for women of color. It is an inclusive space for all women-aligned, femme, trans, and gender non-conforming folk of all ages. This program provides a platform for community members to connect with each other through small group discussions, story-telling activities, presentations, and relationship-building exercises to promote growth, introspection, and personal development while bridging the generational gaps that we often witness as women enter into adulthood.

The mission of Queens Talk is to engage women in deep and thought-provoking conversations that will encourage growth and personal development while aiming to connect women to resources in the community that could best serve and benefit their self-growth as well as establishing self-care strategies that are highly effective towards making necessary progress along the way.

At this banquet, there will be very interactive discussion topics and questions, guest speakers Irvienne Goldson and Celeste the Therapist, performances by Oompa, Priscilla Azaglo, and Sol E. Soul, raffles/prizes, testimonials from past participants, buffet dinner, open cash bar, lots of amazing WOC local businesses and vendors, dance floor, photobooth by Ellie Nguyen of 3ary July, and many more!!! DJ WhySham will be setting the tone all night.

General admission tickets are $40 online and at the door. Use discount code ITSOURANNIVERSARY online or in person for 20% off your tickets ($32). This anniversary banquet is open to everyone.

Tickets are available on Eventbrite here:

www.queenstalkanniversary.eventbrite.com

If you would like to avoid Eventbrite fees, please email queenstalkinc@gmail.com for fixed price tickets or paypal queenstalkinc@gmail.com

A huge thank you to those who have contributed in anyway to make this monthly women’s empowerment meetup possible. The help has been received and is greatly appreciated. For those who would like to further contribute towards our efforts or are unable to attend but would still like to contribute to continue programming efforts for another successful year, you can chip in on the meetup app here:

https://secure.meetup.com/QueensTalk/contribute/https://www.meetup.com/QueensTalk/contribute/ Your contribution helps us cover our costs and make our meetups even better!

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, or would like to get involved in any way, please feel free to get in touch with us via email at queenstalkinc@gmail.com

Thank you so much for your continuous support."

"If I Die I'm A Legend: A Tale of Orisha, Hoodoo, and #BlackLivesMatter

A historical diagram of afro-futuristic existence, this immersive theater work provides a look into Street Deities and their relationships to the lineage of diasporic people. Audiences will witness the creation of a #blacklivesmatter #shrine after traveling through #blackpower portals. Portals that provide a space where marginalized voices can respond to corporate white supremacist efforts of gentrification, erasure and appropriation.

feat:

Darrell Kinsel

Anqwenique Wingfield

Corey J. Carrington

Julie Mallis

Shad Ali

Mario Quinn

Bekezela Mguni

If I Die I'm A Legend: A Tale of Orisha, Hoodoo, and #BlackLivesMatter was the winner of the 2016 Pittsburgh Fringe Festival "Best in Show Selke Award" and is supported by The Pittsburgh Foundation and The Heinz Endowments through the Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh Fund.

Follow BOOM Concepts for more."

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/287887521933645/?active_tab=discussion

Location: Community Forge, Pittsburgh, PA

Nov 17, 2018

AMERICAN GOTHIC!
Drawing on references from the famous Gordon Parks image, Billy Dean Thomas will reclaim what it means to be American Gothic in 2018. Using elements of a silent film, live music, and storytelling, Billy Dean will showcase unreleased music and videos highlighting important, but dark, time periods of their artistic journey as it relates to the darker parts of American History. We advise the audience to come dressed in all black and stay for a killer Dj set by Rilla Force!


All we ask is that the audience come dressed in all black everything! And when purchasing your ticket tag @billydeanthomas and hashtag #bdtamericangothic 

Part of the 2018/19 LIVE @ OBERON Fall Series that includes: STL GLD, Camino 84, Samora Pinderhughes, Billy Dean Thomas, and The Sweetback Sisters

Location: Oberon, Cambridge

November 2, 2018

"THE STORY

This show was inspired by a simple question: What does it look like when we as QTBIPOC are not just surviving, but thriving?

In August 2017, Simone John published her debut poetry collection, TESTIFY. TESTIFY uses documentary poetics to uplift stories of black people impacted by state- sanctioned violence. While Simone was glad to visibilize this struggle in this prolific work, she feels tired of having the only representation of blackness and queerness be through death.

In September 2017, Bashezo and Stokely first met to begin dreaming of an art space that centered QTBIPOC voices, in response to the violent whiteness of Boston's art scene. Eventually the two created Unbound Bodies Collective, a multidisciplinary arts lab that has already curated and hosted one gallery show, community workshops, and a Queer film festival, and has grown to include other collaborators and community partners.

Together, Simone and Unbound Bodies are celebrating their momentous one-year anniversaries by co-curating THRIVE, a show about reclaiming our own gaze and recentering QTBIPOC spirituality, playfulness, and joy. THRIVE is first and foremost about connectivity—between poetry and visual art, between artists and audiences, between creatives and their community.

"won't you celebrate with me

what i have shaped into

a kind of life?"—Lucille Clifton

THE SHOW

You're invited to the opening reception of Thrive: A Show and Celebration! Presented by Simone John and Unbound Bodies Collective, Thrive showcases visual art and an evening of poetry celebrating QTPOC survival, diasporic spirituality, and joy.

6PM Doors open, light reception

6:30PM Poetry salon begins

THE WORK

Visual art by:

ALISA SIKELIANOS-CARTER

ARIANA GHARIB LEE

ARIFA AWADALLAH

JULIVIC MARQUEZ

JAE RODRIGUEZ

LAYLE OM

ONA WANG

NATASHA MOUSTACHE

TYAHRA OF AFROCENTERED MEDIA

Poetry by:

KRYSTEN HILL

ANDRINE PIERRE-SAINT

ASHLEY DAVIS

SIMONE JOHN

FOOD

There will be light refreshments available. The reception is free, but donations are welcome!

THE SPACE

The United South End Settlements (USES) is located at 566 Columbus Avenue, Boston, MA, 02116. The space is fully wheelchair accessible. The reception and poetry will happen on the first floor. There will be art on the second floor and mezzanine, which both have wheelchair access. There are all-gender wheelchair accessible bathrooms on the first floor, and men's and women's bathroom on the mezzanine, which are not wheelchair accessible. For more info about USES, visit their website: https://www.uses.org/

The organizers respectfully acknowledge that this event will take place on land stolen from its original holders, the Massachuset and Wampanoag people. We wish to pay our respects to their people past, present, and future.

THANK YOUS

United South End Settlements

RESIST

Fenway Health

Boston Arts and Culture

*Poster for this event was created by Genevieve Diaz Y Rodriguez. Visual art work by Alisa Sikelianos-Carter.

facebook Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/259256598253057/

Location: Harriet Tubman Gallery, Boston, MA

September 28. 2018

"This event aims to gather all generations of people through engagement with interactive artwork and storytelling about Afro-Latin cultures. Come make something creative to add your voice to the artwork, enjoy free mangos, and join the discussion with Haitian and Dominican artists Chanel T Thervil​ and Iris Lapaix​.

This event is part of Hyde Square Task Force's Latinx Heritage Month event series. Visit hydesquare.org for more information about the other events in the series. For any questions, contact Sarah at sarah@hydesquare.org or (617) 524-8303"

Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/2208770889397320/

Location: Hyde Square Task Force, Jamaica Plain

October 13, 2018

"Queens Talk​ is relaunching for our fall series of meet-ups on September 29th at the Erick Jean Center for the Arts, also known as the Dorchester Arts Collaborative from 12:00PM - 4:00PM at 157 Washington Street, Dorchester, MA, 02121.

The theme that will be explored and discussed that afternoon is "Finding the Balance" manifesting your dreams/goals, productivity, as well as how periods of stagnancy could also be purposeful. This is with the understanding that the fall brings with it a sense of a new year and new beginnings, so we will be centering our conversations around how intentional this time can look for us regardless of what phase we are currently in in life.

Our feature presenters and facilitators will be our lovely board members! We are very happy to relaunch with a team of amazing women who are aligned with love for self, the community, and women empowerment. This will be a great opportunity to meet the board as we all process what this season in our lives means for us. I hope you can join us.

Delicious bites for lunch will be provided by local restaurants from the Boston area!

This is a QTPOC inclusive space, all women-aligned, femme, and gender non-conforming folks are welcome and is open to ALL ages.

Spots are limited! General admission is $15 + fees online on Eventbrite and Meetup. To avoid fees, please email [masked] or paypal [masked]

Thank you for those who have contributed in anyway to make this monthly program possible. The help has been received and is greatly appreciated. For those who would like to further contribute towards our efforts, please head to https://www.meetup.com/QueensTalk/contribute/ Your contributions help us cover our costs and make our Meetups even better!

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns or would like to get involved in any way, please feel free to get in touch with us via email at [masked]

We are looking forward to seeing you all then!"

www.queenstalkrelaunch.eventbrite.com

Location: Dorchester Arts Collaborative, Boston, MA

October 29, 2018