302 Words Matter: How Power, Position, Perspective, and Privilege Lead to More Conscious & Inclusive Writing (ENGLISH)

Every sentence makes a choice about who is centered, who is invisible, and who is stereotyped — and those choices can either build or dissolve reader trust. Misused, outdated, or careless language can quietly signal contempt or indifference, alienating exactly the audiences we hope to reach and shrinking the impact of our work, no matter how good our intentions or how urgent our message.In this interactive, 90-minute workshop based on Rozella Kennedy’s WORDS MATTER presentation, participants will explore how power, position, perspective, and privilege shape both their lived experience and their voice on the page. Using Kennedy’s 23‑VECTOR PRIVILEGE STAIRCASE — a visual framework that expands far beyond race and gender to include ableism, language privilege, accent bias, class, documentation status, and more — writers will privately map where they hold privilege and where they experience marginalization, and notice how those patterns influence who they imagine as their reader and whose stories they center.​Participants will also work with the “WORDS THAT BREAK TRUST” language model, a practical tool for spotting misused, outdated, and careless terms that quietly erode credibility and push readers away, especially disabled, multilingual, and Global Majority audiences. Through short craft lessons, hands‑on writing prompts, guided revision, and small‑group discussion, you will identify and rework ableist metaphors, accent‑shaming dialogue, and other common pitfalls in your own pages.​This is not a compliance‑oriented DEI lecture; it is a practical lab for fiction and nonfiction writers, poets, memoirists, teachers, and editors who want courageous but not corny conversations about language, so their stories and messages can reach — and keep — more of the people they’re meant for. You’ll leave with a personal “WORDS MATTER” checklist and a set of self‑reflection tools you can apply to any future project

Instructor

Rozella Kennedy