THE ROSEWOOD SESSIONS: Witnessing with Monika Son & Ryan Kautz

Join us for dialogue, practice, and storytelling on the theme of "Witnessing." Human-rights documentarian Ryan Kautz joins Zen Chaplain, psychologist, and embodied justice facilitator, Monika Son, for an exploration of how we can show up, turn towards one another, and discern "truth" in these times of increasing chaos and polarization.

The conversation will begin at 6pm; doors at 5:50pm. The dialogue will be recorded for our podcast series. Following the conversation, we will support the community to weave further connections over wine and hors d'oeuvres.

Monika L. Son, Ph.D. (she/her), is a consultant, certified Embodied Leadership Coach and trauma informed facilitator. As a trained psychologist and expert facilitator with a twenty-year career in teaching on issues of access, opportunity and justice, she is skilled at supporting and building containers that examine issues around identity, oppression, power and privilege. In that time, Dr. Son has found that embodied, contemplative based skills and practices are what seed and ground sustainable transformative change. Her deep passion is to support change leaders who choose to bring fierce loving radical love and compassion to the spaces they impact. Ultimately, her joy is to cultivate healing and facilitate the increasing presence of light in humanity.

Monika is a student in the Buddhist Soto Zen lineage and graduate of the Upaya Chaplaincy program. She holds a practice of meditation, yoga and somatic practices for more than a decade. She is daughter of Dominican immigrants, a parent of two mixed raced boys, and enjoys planting, gardens and dancing bachata and travel adventures with her husband John.

Ryan Kautz, (he/him), is a documentary filmmaker in charge of directing and editing video productions at WITNESS. Ryan’s experience teaching participatory media and video advocacy internationally includes training activists across Africa, Asia, and the Balkans, supporting them in telling their own stories in the fight for human rights. Ryan’s continued work with NGOs and communities runs a spectrum of thematic areas including gender-based violence, forced evictions, extraordinary renditions and torture. His photography has been published and appeared in major publications including the New York Times and Forbes Magazine.

Ryan studied filmmaking at the School of Visual Arts in New York City where he graduated with the school’s top honor in documentary film. He has worked on multiple documentary projects throughout the Himalayas on contemporary Tibetan culture and religion, in addition to working for the online magazine Flo and various websites documenting Hip Hop and Punk culture in NYC.

Relational disconnection is threatening our collective social fabric: worldwide we are witnessing trends of greater inequality, polarization, authoritarianism, and othering.

Even movements and organizations working for justice, equity, and liberation are not immune to this fracturing. Relational ruptures not only often mimic and reproduce structures of harm and oppression that many of us seek to dismantle, they also undermine opportunities for meaningful solidarity within and across movement spaces, and can shake our confidence in the work itself.

Our sessions are designed to pair organizers, activists, artists, healers, and community leaders for an evening of exchange through storytelling, reflection, and practice, in service of fostering meaningful and mutual connection.

Our hope is that these intimate sessions and community dinners will help us build relationships with other local, NYC-based kin, and inspire us to seek out and build bridges in our own backyards.

The Wyckoff is a community house, urban garden, and event space in Ridgewood, Queens. Follow us on IG: https://www.instagram.com/the_wyckoff/

The exact address will be shared with attendees upon registration. The Wyckoff is accessible via the L train at Halsey, and also the B26 bus. Free street parking is available around the house.

The Wyckoff is a private home in Queens that offers space for groups to gather. We will gather out in the garden during the summer months, and during the colder months we will host The Rosewood Sessions indoors. Please be in touch if you have specific access needs.

Host or Publisher Courage of Care Coalition