Community Guide
Speaking Truth, Practicing Repair
This month is rooted in Repair and centered on our full-month book club reading of Sister Outsider. Together, we are reflecting on truth-telling, anger, inner knowing, accountability, and what repair asks of us in relationship with ourselves and one another.
What to return to this month
What Does Repair Ask of Me?
Notice where silence, avoidance, or performance have shaped how you move through honesty, conflict, and accountability.
Sister Outsider
We are moving through selected essays across the month so the reading can feel steady, spacious, and connected to practice.
State of SBS Community Meeting
A community gathering to discuss the current state of the school and the work.
Let’s Play
A 90-minute Shine Class rooted in play, creativity, and aliveness as part of our practice of repair.
April calendar at a glance
Peer Session
Thursday, April 17, 2026 · Week 3
A community space to reflect on this month’s reading and explore what repair is asking of us in practice.
State of SBS Community Meeting
Tuesday, April 21, 2026 · 7:00–8:00 PM EST
A community gathering to discuss the current state of the school and the work.
Peer-Facilitated Book Club
Thursday, April 24, 2026 · Week 4
A peer-facilitated conversation centered on Sister Outsider and this month’s reading arc.
Shine Class: Let’s Play
Tuesday, April 28, 2026 · 7:30–9:00 PM EST
A 90-minute Shine Class rooted in play, creativity, and aliveness as part of this month’s practice.
Facilitation note
Peer-facilitated community space
The Peer Session and Peer-Facilitated Book Club are peer facilitated. They are community-led spaces for shared reflection and discussion. They are not hosted or taught by the Shine Bright School team.
You are invited to arrive with curiosity, care, and a willingness to participate in grounded community practice.
Monthly written reflection
What Does Repair Ask of Me?
As you move through Sister Outsider, notice where silence, avoidance, or performance have shaped how you relate to conflict, honesty, and accountability. Where are you being invited into repair?
- What I’m noticing
- What I’m releasing
- What I’m practicing instead
Weekly grounding prompts
What truth has felt difficult to say — even to yourself?
Reading focus: The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action
What have you been taught to do with anger?
Reading focus: The Uses of Anger
Where have you been taught to doubt your inner knowing?
Reading focus: Poetry Is Not a Luxury. Bring this prompt into the Peer Session on Thursday, April 17.
What kind of relationship are you ready to practice differently?
Reading focus: Age, Race, Class, and Sex. Use this prompt as preparation for the Book Club on Thursday, April 24.
This month’s reading arc
Sister Outsider reading arc
- Week 1: The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action
- Week 2: The Uses of Anger
- Week 3: Poetry Is Not a Luxury
- Week 4: Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference
A steady full-month book club
- It keeps the reading spacious and approachable.
- It supports reflection without rushing through the book.
- It builds a clear movement through truth, anger, inner knowing, and difference.
- It connects directly to the pillar of Repair.
State of SBS Community Meeting
State of SBS Community Meeting
Tuesday, April 21, 2026
Time: 7:00–8:00 PM EST
Community gathering to discuss the current state of the school and the work.
Register for the event
This is a space to come together, hear updates, and stay connected to where the school is headed and what the work is asking of us.
This month’s Shine Class
Let’s Play
A 90-Minute Shine Class | Pay What You Can
As we move through the work of repair this month, we are also making room for joy, creativity, imagination, and the kind of spaciousness that helps us return to ourselves.
Tuesday, April 28, 2026
Time: 7:30–9:00 PM EST
This class invites us to reconnect with play, aliveness, and creative practice as part of sustainable liberation.
Why this class belongs in April
Repair is not only about truth-telling and accountability. It also asks us to loosen the grip of performance, make room for imagination, and practice being with ourselves in ways that feel more spacious and alive.
Community Check-In
An invitation to participate
We’re building this month through small, honest participation. You do not need a polished response. One sentence is enough.
Prompt: What is one way repair is asking you to show up differently right now?
- Something I’m noticing
- Something I’m releasing
- Something I’m practicing
You’re welcome to respond to one line or all three.
After you share, reply to one reflection that stayed with you.
Peer Session
Thursday, April 17, 2026
This session focuses on reflecting together on what repair looks like in practice as we move through this month’s reading.
- Opening grounding: arrive in the body and name what is present
- Shared reflection: what has surfaced for you in the reading so far?
- Community discussion: where are silence, anger, and honesty shaping your practice?
- Closing reflection: “Repair in my life right now looks like…”
Peer-Facilitated Book Club
Thursday, April 24, 2026
This conversation centers on Sister Outsider and what truth-telling, anger, inner knowing, and difference open up about repair.
- What tension do you notice between being liked and being honest?
- What did The Uses of Anger open up for you?
- What does Poetry Is Not a Luxury reveal about inner knowing and practice?
- What does repair look like beyond apology?
How to move through April
- Begin with the monthly written reflection.
- Return to one grounding prompt each week.
- Read the selected essay for that week.
- Join the Peer Session, State of SBS, Peer-Facilitated Book Club, and Let’s Play when you can.
You do not need polished language to participate. You may move slowly, return later, or begin with one sentence. The practice this month is repair through honesty, not performance.
Recalibrating Relationships for Liberation
This month is rooted in Recalibration and anchored by the White Feminism Ain’t It replay inside the Shine Class Library. This class features American author and historian Blair Imani. Together, we are noticing how care, conflict, belonging, and accountability have been shaped by patterns that no longer align, and we are practicing more grounded ways of relating in community.
What to return to this month
What Needs Recalibration?
Notice where you have been taught to confuse comfort with care, image with integrity, or proximity with relationship.
The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action
Essay written by Audre Lorde.
White Feminism Ain’t It
This replay is located inside the Shine Class Library. Move through it at a steady pace and bring one insight, one tension, or one question into the community peer session.
March calendar at a glance
Peer Session
Thursday, March 19, 2026 · 7:30 p.m. EST
A community space to review the class replay, reflect on the month’s themes, and name what recalibration is asking of us in practice.
Peer-Led Book Club
Thursday, March 26, 2026 · 7:30 p.m. EST
A peer-led conversation centered on this month’s essay as a bridge into next month’s reading.
Please note: the Peer Session and Peer-Led Book Club are peer facilitated community spaces. They are not hosted by Monique or the Shine Bright School team.
Monthly written reflection
What Needs Recalibration?
As you move through the class replay and this month’s essay, notice where you have been taught to protect image, avoid discomfort, or confuse closeness with honesty. Where are you being invited into recalibration in your relationships, your participation, and your practice?
- What I’m noticing
- What I’m releasing
- What I’m practicing instead
Weekly grounding prompts
What have I been taught to protect in relationships?
Notice the beliefs, behaviors, roles, or identities that feel hardest to question right now.
Where have I learned to perform care instead of practicing care?
Stay close to what performance feels like in your body, and what helps you return to presence.
What becomes possible when accountability is not about image, punishment, or perfection?
Bring this prompt into the Peer Session on Thursday, March 19.
What kind of relationship am I ready to reclaim?
Use this prompt as preparation for the Peer-Led Book Club on Thursday, March 26.
This month’s book club reading
The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action
This is the short essay offers a meaningful doorway into voice, truth, fear, silence, and what it takes to speak from a grounded place.
It also serves as a strong builder for next month’s reading by introducing questions around honesty, participation, and relational clarity.
Quiet Quitting Friendships
Reclaimation Reflection Questions
- Where have I learned that silence keeps me safe?
- What truth feels more available to me now than it did before?
- How does this essay deepen what the class is asking me to notice?
- What shifts when I move from performance into language and action?
Where to find the class
White Feminism Ain’t It
This month’s class anchor is the White Feminism Ain’t It replay located inside the Shine Class Library. The replay features American author and historian Blair Imani.
Move through the replay at a pace that feels grounded. Bring one idea, one question, or one tension into your reflection or community participation each week.
Peer Session
Thursday, March 19, 2026 @ 7:30 P.M. EST
This session focuses on reviewing the class replay and reflecting on how recalibration shows up in community, conflict, care, and accountability.
- Opening grounding: arrive in the body and name what is present
- Review space: what stayed with you from the replay?
- Shared discussion: where do care and performance get confused?
- Closing reflection: “I am recalibrating…”
Peer-Led Book Club
Thursday, March 26, 2026 @ 7:30 P.M. EST
This conversation centers on The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action as a bridge into next month’s reading.
- What tension do you notice between being liked and being honest?
- What does this essay open up about care, conflict, and participation?
- Where do you feel invited into more truthful relationship?
- What part of your practice feels ready for recalibration now?
How to move through March
- Begin with the monthly written reflection.
- Return to one grounding prompt each week.
- Read the essay before the Week 4 book club.
- Join the Peer Session to review the replay and reflect in community.
You do not need polished language to participate. You may move slowly, return later, or begin with one sentence. The practice this month is honesty, not performance.
Community Check-In
An invitation to participate
To build more connection this month, we’re inviting everyone to share one small reflection in the comments. You do not need a polished response. One sentence is enough.
Prompt: What is one thing you are recalibrating in how you relate right now?
- Something I’m noticing
- Something I’m releasing
- Something I’m practicing
You’re welcome to respond to the full prompt or choose just one of the three lines above.