I-4C held its first Burning Ceremony on Friday, May 5, 2023.  Participants brought something (or multiple things) they are willing to let go of and/or part with that was thrown into the fire. The purpose was to release whatever energy is associated with that/those thing(s). Whether good, bad, ugly, or beautiful - the fire symbolizes destruction to rebuild and/or light that moves us in a direction beyond. 

Additionally, I4C had materials to write letters to those who felt compelled to write during the ceremony as a therapeutic outlet. 

In April 2023, I4C Community Members participated in a prison pen pal letter-writing gathering in Encanto Park in Phoenix.

For several years Associate Professor Loretta LeMaster has worked with Black and Pink, a queer, trans, and two-spirit (QT2S) centered prison abolition group founded by currently and previously incarcerated folks. Much of Black and Pink’s work is dedicated to building better relations and connections with incarcerated QT2S people through pen pal writing programs.

During the gathering, the group: 1) learned about prison abolition as it relates to queer, trans, and two-spirit experience; 2) discussed life and relationality while incarcerated at the intersections of embodied differences and in the context of settler coloniality; 3) wrote and colored letters and cards to our incarcerated queer, trans, and two-spirit kin and relatives; and 4) enjoyed good music and people together. 

Professor Bernadette Marie Calafell spoke on gender, Latinx identities, media representations, narrative, and loss during her presentation to the Hugh Downs School on March 31, 2022