Aida Manduley

Executive Board Member | The Women of Color Sexual Health Network

Aida Manduley, MSW is an award-winning boriqueer activist, therapist, and sexuality educator known for big earrings and building bridges. To make the world a more equitable and healing place, Mx. Manduley puts their 10+ years of organizing and training experience in service of both macro and micro interventions through WOCSHN, The CSPH, The Effing Foundation, and various independent initiatives centering LGBTQ and POC communities. As a Boston-based clinician, they primarily serve communities marginalized due to gender, sexuality, and race—shaking up the landscapes of sexuality and mental health with specialties in trauma, pleasure, alternative relationship paradigms, and anti-oppression.

Presentations from Facing Race 2018

Mourning In Puerto Rican: On Grief, Hurricane Preparedness, & Solidarity

It will be the end of Hurricane season for people in the Caribbean and US Gulf Coast; over one year since Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico. What are the messages and reporting we still hear about Puerto Rico? What narratives have been reintroduced (i.e. refugee status, FEMA nonsense, police and military states)? What do Puerto Ricans of the Diaspora need from those who claim solidarity? What do Puerto Ricans on the isla need? In this interactive and sensory workshop participants will learn about a Puerto Rico that is not being reported, a history often erased, and the violence of colonization that Puerto Ricans carry with them as they survive numerous traumas. With so much discussion of "decolonizing" practices, this workshop will center a space deeply impacted by centuries of colonialism and share with participants some of the ways that grief, mourning, and radical self care are essential parts to Puerto Ricans being “born anew at each a.m.” as Piri Thomas wrote. Additionally, we will address hurricane preparedness issues, emergency safety kit creation, and the possibilities of interactive community altars to imagine what is next for Puerto Rico and other lands in similar situations: a possibility of healing—of a lush, free tierra —for all those who have tapped out of the dream and are now experiencing darkness and nightmares. Though this workshop is focused on Puerto Rico, as natural disasters continue to ravage the planet, many skills and resources will be transferrable to other locales.

Speakers: Bianca I Laureano, Aida Manduley