Spending time with the women at Rose Manor
Thanks to Lynn Norton at the Tampa Arts Council, I ended up ended doing three Write to Connect workshops at the Rose Manor , one of Tampa Crossroad's residential treatment facilities for women who have lost their children and run out of options due to addiction. (I will be returning for a one-time class at the Manor, with a different group, at the end of June.) In the past, W2C classes have focused on people with disabilites, so this was a new, but not unfamilair group for me. Addiction is an issue I have been close to, with fmaily and friends, in my life, so I felt an immeidate kinship with these women, and in the three Friday sessions, I am not sure who received more in terms of poetic healing, them or me! With my recent move back to Florida and the struggles that that now involves--to radically start over, I felt very aligned with the women. They have given up a great deal to "hit a bottom" as they say in the langauge of recovery, and now, they work kard to have