mothertongue

For general information, to sign up to read at a show, and to add announcements to "word from the mothertongue" email info@mothertongue.org

mothertongue volunteers:

Natalie Illum Board President

Natalie is an activist, writer, poet, promoter, and federal employee. She believes in evolution and genetics, alchemical healing, breath and transformation. She loves Joni Mitchell, the color blue, Tori Amos, sweat lodges, jack daniels, max, chamber choirs, struggling singer songwriters, dogs, dogwoods, rock stars. Above all Natlie believes all people are creative beings. She is a founding board member of mothertongue.

Eryca Kasse Mothertongue*East Coordinator

Eryca Kasse is a 30 year old, Jewish, lesbian spoken word performance poet and writer. She has been writing since she was in the single digits, famous for her 3rd grade creative writing story, "If I Were an Ice Cream Sandwich." Eryca facilitates mothertongue*east, monthly women's writing group. Weekdays between 9 - 5 you can find her as the Program Coordinator at the George Mason University Multicultural Research and Resource Center, managing the budget and providing National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI) community workshops to heal from the wounds of prejudice and oppression. Eryca lives in Washington, DC with her two cats Nina and Fresca.

Michelle Sewell Poet Liason

Michelle is a poet because she is too lazy to do anything else. Not True. She loves poetry more than Christmas and diamond earrings. If it were left up to her she would live her life in front of a mic dazzling folks with her latest and greatest poetic creation. When she’s not busy trying to convince you of the latest issue (in three minutes or less), she teaches screenwriting and performance poetry workshops, volunteers for mothertongue and tries to figure out why cat keeps scooching her butt across her living room carpet (gross!)

Bonnie Morris Academic Advisor

Bonnie grew up with Jewish/surfer/hippie parents and went from the 60s peace movement to the feminist movement to lesbian culture and prose. A women's studies professor by day and a writer the rest of the time, she's the author of six books--two of them Lambda Literary Award finalists--and has also contributed essays, poems and articles to over forty anthologies of women's writing. When not lecturing on women's history or reading onstage at Mothertongue, Dr. Bon works at women's music festivals and travels around the world with her one-woman play, "Revenge of the Women's Studies Professor.