Thursdays on the Stoop is a series of free, virtual writing workshops led for and by our community members. With topics ranging from generative prompts to editing strategies, these informal workshops are sure to shake up your Thursday routine. RSVP below to get the link.

For better or for worse, myths have taught cultures across time what to value, what to aspire to, and what to avoid. In this free hour-long workshop, we'll use poetry to explore how myths continue to shape the modern world — from the personal to the social to the political. After unpacking myths' power to both oppress and liberate, we'll analyze Nikki Giovanni's poem, "Ego Tripping" and begin to write our own personal mythologies.

Michael J. Ivory, Jr. is a writer from Miami, FL raised by street-side sages, porch-front poets, and off-hand oracles. The queer son of two Pentecostal preachers, Michael began writing to find out who he was outside of the confines of harmful theology. Michael’s writing spans genres. He has performed as a featured poet at venues across the country. He has published narrative nonfiction work with O, Miami Press. He is also a fiction writer and is currently querying his debut novel. Thematically, Michael is always trying to reveal the magic in the mundane and the beauty in the everyday. In his poems, his loved ones become epic heroes. In his stories, conjure is as common as a cold. He holds an MFA from North Carolina State University and currently lives in Philadelphia, PA. When not writing, he is probably laughing way too loudly, napping, or being a nerd.