RE-STORYING OUR FUTURE WORKSHOP #2:
RECIPES FOR LIBERATION, A Collective Songwriting Series for Altadena.
Collective Songwriting (CS) is a Cultural Convening Method that uses music composition to inspire generative dialogue, foster deep and democratic participation, and drive transformative action for communities facing systemic oppression. Facilitated by trained musicians, CS is a process-centered participatory practice that guides people to explore collective struggles, analyze their historical and present circumstances, and then experiment with inventing a new future together. Rooted in the values and knowledge systems of indigenous communities as well as the real time embodied knowledge of communities in struggle, CS holds people through four curated, scaffolded steps leading to the collective sung narrative (song).
On June 27th, 2026, 20 Altadena residents participated in creating a song inspired by 250 years of the USA. Facilitated by Maya Jupiter, Quetzal Flores and Sandino Gonzalez-Flores, twenty unique individuals ranging from 14 to 75 years of age. The purpose of these workshops was to hold this community in a creative process (Collective Songwriting) that could provoke new imaginations about what was experienced, what currently exists and what is possible.
When prompted with the opening question, “Who are this country’s founding Mothers?” participants responded with a long list of names, memories, emotions, values and experiences. Each offering, a profound affirmation to the matriarchal lineage of our country, city and the community of Altadena. In particular, the networks as cycles of healing that have re-connected entire communities to their own humanity and a dignified future. The following lyrics were born out of the collective intelligence and embodied knowledge of the participants of Restorying Our Future.
Subtle sophisticated
Patterns of love
Protecting sacred life
Forging a way
Interestingly, in thinking about the founding mothers, participants cited important protagonists in the legacy of freedom and democracy including Toypurina, a Kizh medicine woman who led rebellion against the Spanish colonial forces at the San Gabriel Mission in 1785 or Biddy Mason, an African American woman who had been born into slavery in Mississippi and emancipated herself in Los Angeles in 1856 only to become a midwife, nurse, founding member of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church, philanthropist and real estate entrepreneur, and finally, Mrs Blackstone, the mother of one of the participants who instilledand maintained African American traditional culture through her children and family in Altadena. When asked about a transformative experience, one participant said “When they actually used my mother's name in the song” and another said “when we read the lines with the women’s name collectively, I felt a surge of peaceful energy in my body.”
Maintaining legacy
From Toypurina
To Grandmother Biddy
Mrs. Blackstone and Selena
Have something to say
Throughout the process, participants moved from individual testimonials to interconnected experiences and vision for the future. Oftentimes, referencing the process of “finding voice”. Ultimately, we landed on the following chorus which maps out what is needed to secure our collective future.
WITH ONE VOICE!
Act with courage
Loving fiercely
WITH ONE VOICE
Revolution
Transformation
Dance of nature
Gift of life
WITH ONE VOICE
We sing