Come join the Ruby Writing Accountability Group! A warm and welcoming community to support each other on our projects!

​Looking for a supportive writing community without the hassle of applying for workshops and retreats? Join The Ruby’s Writing Accountability Group!

​All Rubies are welcome, whether you are journaling, just beginning to explore your writing, working on a poetry collection or zine, or grinding on the umpteenth revision of your manuscript – no matter where you are in your practice, you’ll find a friendly community here.

​The Writing Accountability Group is an accessible complement to the writing workshops, residencies, fellowships, and conferences that writers have traditionally relied upon to improve their craft and build community. Often these opportunities are pricey and time-consuming, and many have limited availability. For writers with limited time, applying for and attending these opportunities can even take time away from the writing itself! This group is our solution to these challenges.

​During the first 30-45 minutes, a Ruby member will lead a short craft or generative exercise, after which we will break and spend the remaining time working independently on our own writing (though you are always welcome to skip the exercise in favor of focusing on your writing the whole time). You can attend these sessions as often or as infrequently as you’d like; there’s no commitment to join every time.

​Our craft talks and generative exercises are wholly led by group members! In the past, we’ve had exercises around closely reading a short story, prompts to help us think about our writing from a different perspective, generative exercises using memes, and even discussions around writing goals and struggles. Leading a session is a great way to enrich our community with different craft approaches and activities that improve all of our writing – and you’ll have our support along the way! We’ll also be on hand to help you introduce the exercise once everyone gets settled in.

​Can’t join us in-person? There will be a virtual session the Last Monday of each month!

​Whenever you’re feeling discouraged with the writing or publishing process, we’re here to give you a boost!

​This is an intimate group of Ruby members**

​[This is a Virtual Ruby event, a 7-week discussion/accountability group that will meet virtually on Tuesdays.]

​Write for Life, published in 2023, is the latest book from author and artist Julia Cameron of The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. The book posits that within every person is a source of creativity waiting to be unleashed. This group is a continuation of the work done over the last 13 weeks in our yearly Artist's Way groups. This is an additional 7-week Artist's Way-style meetup using Julia Cameron's book, Write for Life to continue to cultivate creative momentum.

​Please note: since we are beginning a new book, all with an interest in writing are welcome to join! It is not a requirement to have read the previous book or to have been a part of a previous Artist Way group.

​As we usher in new spring energy, join us in a journey of spiritual and artistic renewal: a journey to reconnect with ourselves and overcome the mental blocks inhibiting our writing process. This group is for all writers, beginning to professional, looking to connect more deeply to your creative writing self and the art of beginning, pursuing, and finishing our writing projects and visions.

​In a small group over the course of 7 weeks, we will meet online every Tuesday for 1.5 hours to share, listen, and support one another in our writing journeys. The intention of this creative cluster is to create a safe space for us to embark on writing exploration together, where no one feels alone in these, often, isolating times.

​After our initial intro meeting, every week over the subsequent weeks, you will be asked to complete:

• ​Morning pages: a daily writing ritual of three pages of stream-of-conscious

• ​The Artist Date: a dedicated block of time to nurture your inner artist

• ​Weekly exercises and prompts

• ​Meet with your creative cluster to share and listen

​We invite Rubies and transfeminine, women, and non-binary extended community members join us.

​Materials Needed

​A copy of Write For Life.

Janis Cooke Newman, Rhea Joseph, Peggy Lee, David Roderick, Jesus Francisco Sierra, Kurt Wallace

Being a writer can be very isolating. You spend hours alone in a room with a bunch of imaginary people, and it’s next to impossible to explain to anybody who isn’t a writer, exactly what you’re doing there.

That’s why having a writing community is so important.

We’ve invited representatives from six Bay Area writing communities – the Writers Grotto, the Ruby, Left Margin Lit, Decentered Arts, SF Writers Workshop, and Page Street—to come and talk about their organizations, and explain how you can become a member.

We’ll also talk about how to create your own writing community, whether online or in-person. And of course, leave time for questions.

Co-presented by Two Lines Press, The Ruby, and On Waverly.

Get tickets here

About Mending Bodies

For readers of Ling Ma and Sayaka Murata, Hon Lai Chu’s dystopian exploration of body autonomy, relationships, and late capitalism defies and then reassembles dark realities.

In a failing city, a government program incentivizes couples to “conjoin”—surgically attach themselves to one another—promising a flourishing economy, ecological revitalization, and personal fulfillment. A student writing her dissertation on the program’s history begins to suffer from insomnia. As her world unravels and under the weight of expectations by both society and her close friends, she worries that maybe they are all right when they tell her it would be better—for the good of another person and for the good of the country—to sacrifice everything that she is and get conjoined. Mending Bodies blends body horror and political allegory to explore a world where even the motives of those you love most are shaped by larger forces.

Hon Lai Chu is one of Hong Kong's most prominent writers and the author of several novels, including Mending Bodies, Degravitation Zone, and A Dictionary of Two Cities, co-authored with Dorothy Tse, which won the Hong Kong Book Prize. Her most recent works are Half-Eclipse and Darkness under the Sun, two diaristic essay collections about Hong Kong. She has also received accolades from Taiwan's Unitas Literary Association, the Liang Shiu-chiu Literature Award, the Dream of the Red Chamber Award, and the Hong Kong Biennial Awards for Chinese Literature, among many others.

Jacqueline Leung is a writer and translator from Hong Kong. Her work has appeared in Wasafiri, Transtext(e)s Transcultures, Gulf Coast, Asymptote, Nashville Review, SAND Journal, the Asian Review of Books, Books From Taiwan, and elsewhere. She is a translator editor at The Offing. Her excerpt of Mending Bodies is a winner of PEN Presents by the English PEN. This is her first full-length translation.

Claire Light is a Bay Area writer, cultural worker, and activist. She has worked since 1997 in nonprofit administration, particularly in arts and social justice, and was the founding director of APAture, an annual APIA artists festival, and a co-founder of Hyphen magazine. Her activism has turned most recently to disability justice, and she is co-founder of the Disability Justice League-Bay Area. You can read her fiction in McSweeney's, Hyphen, and The Encyclopedia Project, among others. A short collection of her stories, Slightly Behind and to the Left, was published by Aqueduct Press in 2009. Her fantasy novel Monkey Around, written under the pen name Jadie Jang, was published by Solaris in 2021.

More information: https://www.catranslation.org/event/mending-bodies-author-tour-hon-lai-chu-and-jacqueline-leung/

​**Please note that these sessions are currently for Ruby members only**

​As everything speeds up and roars through 2025, it can be more challenging than usual to find moments of quiet and stillness. As a much needed antidote to busyness, it’s my pleasure to offer 12:30 pm yoga classes at The Ruby on Wednesdays.

​Regardless of whether you’re a seasoned practitioner or a brand new beginner, these classes will offer a space to combine breath, movement, stillness, and surrender. The classes will be an accessible, heartful flow with some music and some silence. There will be plenty of room to dial it up or dial it down, depending on what you need from the class. I find that writing as a practice and yoga as a practice have many synergies, and I hope these classes will mark the beginning of accessible and affordable community yoga at The Ruby!

​PLEASE NOTE: The classes are donation-based on a sliding scale from $10-$30 (Marissa's Venmo: @Marissa-Mika). No one will be turned away for lack of funds.

​Class will be held on the 2nd floor, classic Ruby space.

​About the Instructor

​Marissa Mika has been on the yoga mat since 2010 and teaching since 2019. She’s studied and practiced with Yoga Like Water in London, Point Reyes Yoga in the Bay Area, and Yin Yoga with Corina Benner in Philadelphia. You can read more about Marissa and her approach to practicing and facilitating yoga here.

​Class Notes:

• ​Doors close for each class 10 minutes after the start of the course to prevent disruptions to the class.

• ​The Ruby has yoga mats for you to borrow (held in our storage room next to the kitchen) though you are welcome to bring your own!

​[This is a Virtual Ruby event, a 7-week discussion/accountability group that will meet virtually on Tuesdays.]

​Write for Life, published in 2023, is the latest book from author and artist Julia Cameron of The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. The book posits that within every person is a source of creativity waiting to be unleashed. This group is a continuation of the work done over the last 13 weeks in our yearly Artist's Way groups. This is an additional 7-week Artist's Way-style meetup using Julia Cameron's book, Write for Life to continue to cultivate creative momentum.

​Please note: since we are beginning a new book, all with an interest in writing are welcome to join! It is not a requirement to have read the previous book or to have been a part of a previous Artist Way group.

​As we usher in new spring energy, join us in a journey of spiritual and artistic renewal: a journey to reconnect with ourselves and overcome the mental blocks inhibiting our writing process. This group is for all writers, beginning to professional, looking to connect more deeply to your creative writing self and the art of beginning, pursuing, and finishing our writing projects and visions.

​In a small group over the course of 7 weeks, we will meet online every Tuesday for 1.5 hours to share, listen, and support one another in our writing journeys. The intention of this creative cluster is to create a safe space for us to embark on writing exploration together, where no one feels alone in these, often, isolating times.

​After our initial intro meeting, every week over the subsequent weeks, you will be asked to complete:

• ​Morning pages: a daily writing ritual of three pages of stream-of-conscious

• ​The Artist Date: a dedicated block of time to nurture your inner artist

• ​Weekly exercises and prompts

• ​Meet with your creative cluster to share and listen

​We invite Rubies and transfeminine, women, and non-binary extended community members join us.

​Materials Needed

​A copy of Write For Life.

​This May, we are overjoyed to partner with @visforvoices by @vdayorg to bring the VOICES audioplay to Oakland!

​​VOICES is an audioplay directed by @ajamonet, celebrating the voices, values, and visions of Black women in the global movement to end violence against women and girls. We invite you to gather with us, awaken our capacity to listen, and envision a world where Black women—both on the continent and in the diaspora—are collaborating and loving each other across cultures, borders, and customs.

​​Join us for this transformative listening experience, as we come together in reflection, conversation, and solidarity to honor our stories and reimagine a more just and connected world.

​Presented by VOICES in partnership with The Ruby and Beloved, An Insistence

​Tickets: Donate $15-$20 to Black Women Revolt & bring proof for entry

​​Location: To be shared after registration is approved.

​​As a safe space for femmes and non-binary people, we do not share our address publicly. Please help us remain a sanctuary for our community by not sharing our address with others who are not members or not-RSVP-ed for a specific event.

​​Getting Here & Parking:

​​There is only street parking available. Public transportation is always encouraged.

RSVP

​Please join us for our once-a-month meeting for parent and caregiver Rubies. Matrescence, mental load, creative parenting, career/growth opportunities, the state of childcare in the U.S., lessons learned the hard way -- let's talk about it in a safe and supportive space.

​*This is an intimate gathering of Ruby members

We continue to settle into community lunch in our new space!

Join us in celebrating the book release of Mahjong by Nicole Wong! Nicole will be joined by Mimi Lok (Last of Her Name) for a conversation about her book writing process and her work with The Mahjong Project. Q&A and book signing to follow. Mahjong photographer Andria Lo and illustrator Helen Shewolfe Tseng will also be in attendance.

Pre-purchase a signed copy HERE

ABOUT THE BOOK

For many third-culture kids in the Asian diaspora, the sight and sound of clacking mahjong tiles conjures deep-seated memories. Some learned to play alongside elders, while others watched from afar. Maybe you only distantly know of the game through movies or articles about pop-up mahjong nights. Whether you are looking to reconnect with the game, pick up a new hobby, or introduce others to a favorite pastime, Mahjong is a step-by-step guide for new and seasoned players alike.With vibrant photography and detailed instructional diagrams, author Nicole Wong walks you through gameplay, just how her grandfather would have. In addition, Mahjong delves into the strategy, history, and design of the game and discusses various popular styles of play (American mah-jongg, Japanese riichi mahjong, and more).With Mahjong as your guide, learn the history and evolution of this beautiful game while you connect with friends, family, and culture. You may even write your own house rules—just don’t forget the snacks!

ABOUT NICOLE WONG

Nicole Wong is a writer and producer based in Oakland, California. She has over a decade of experience working with companies and community organizations that tell stories about the Asian American experience. She created The Mahjong Project to preserve a piece of her family history and bring more people into the joy of playing the game, while also encouraging others to contemplate unique family traditions in their own lives. The Mahjong Project hosts pop-up mahjong nights around San Francisco and Oakland and collects stories and anecdotes about the game through oral history and multimedia storytelling. Mahjong is her first book.

ABOUT MIMI LOK

Mimi Lok is an award-winning writer, nonprofit leader, narrative strategy coach and consultant. She works with social justice-centered organizations and leaders on building narrative power for their communities. She is the author of the story collection Last of Her Name, winner of a PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize and a California Book Award Silver Medal.

ABOUT THE RUBY

The Ruby is an arts & letters-focused collective and gathering space for women-identifying and nonbinary creatives. We call our members — who include writers, artists, scholars, photographers, filmmakers, podcasters, and other creatively-minded folks — "Rubies." Rubies are multifaceted, and share a common desire to expand their world views and communities, share their passions, and make meaningful connections. And Rubies are strong: as resilient as sapphires and only a little bit softer than diamonds. Almost all rubies have flaws, and that’s what makes them interesting: we wear ours proudly.

Learn more about us at our website.

ABOUT DOG EARED BOOKS

If you're looking for a pleasant place to peruse a lot of books, seek no further! Since 1992, Dog Eared Books has been supplying a book-hungry San Francisco with new, used, and remaindered books as well as cards, magazines, calendars, and notebooks.

https://www.dogearedbooks.com/

POSTER DESIGN by Angela Chu

www.angiechu.com

​Mail art, also known as postal art and correspondence art, is an artistic movement centered on sending small-scale works through the postal service.

​In this two hour workshop, I'll share ideas, inspiration, and history of mail art. Then we’ll spend the bulk of the time making mail art while sipping tea and snacking.

​Feel free to bring examples of unique letters and mail you’ve received! This time is perfect for those who wish to send more physical mail to loved ones and need dedicated time to sit down and work on it.

​Allie will supply a range of materials and envelopes so that your mail art is ready to send by the end of the workshop. Just bring your pen pals’ addresses! You are also welcome to bring materials to share.

​We'll be doing snack potluck! Everyone is welcome to bring food and drinks to share!

​Hey Rubies! This is a virtual session of the Non-Narrative Writing Group!

​We will use the pomodoro method to write for two 50-minute long sessions, with a 10 minute break in between. You are welcome to join to work on any writing project whatsoever, and we encourage anyone who needs it to come in with a specific goal and needs to be held accountable to that goal!

​**This is an intimate group of Ruby members

​**Please note that these sessions are currently for Ruby members only**

​As everything speeds up and roars through 2025, it can be more challenging than usual to find moments of quiet and stillness. As a much needed antidote to busyness, it’s my pleasure to offer 12:30 pm yoga classes at The Ruby on Wednesdays.

​Regardless of whether you’re a seasoned practitioner or a brand new beginner, these classes will offer a space to combine breath, movement, stillness, and surrender. The classes will be an accessible, heartful flow with some music and some silence. There will be plenty of room to dial it up or dial it down, depending on what you need from the class. I find that writing as a practice and yoga as a practice have many synergies, and I hope these classes will mark the beginning of accessible and affordable community yoga at The Ruby!

​PLEASE NOTE: The classes are donation-based on a sliding scale from $10-$30 (Marissa's Venmo: @Marissa-Mika). No one will be turned away for lack of funds.

​Class will be held on the 2nd floor, classic Ruby space.

​About the Instructor

​Marissa Mika has been on the yoga mat since 2010 and teaching since 2019. She’s studied and practiced with Yoga Like Water in London, Point Reyes Yoga in the Bay Area, and Yin Yoga with Corina Benner in Philadelphia. You can read more about Marissa and her approach to practicing and facilitating yoga here.

​Class Notes:

• ​Doors close for each class 10 minutes after the start of the course to prevent disruptions to the class.

• ​The Ruby has yoga mats for you to borrow (held in our storage room next to the kitchen) though you are welcome to bring your own!

Please join Ruby author and movement teacher Susie Hara for workshops in body-centered writing. The drop-in sessions will be in the large conference room from 4-5 pm on Tuesdays, January 14th, 21st, 28th, and Feb 4th. We will practice simple, energizing movements to wake up the mind-body connection; map the body as a source for generating writing; spark the writing process with hands-on prompts. An award-winning author, Susie’s lifelong study of movement includes dance, Qigong, Pilates, and yoga. She has taught this workshop at the Z Space and The Writing Salon, and is excited to offer it now at The Ruby. You don’t need any writing or movement experience to join; please bring yourself, something to write with, and a notebook.

​[This is a Virtual Ruby event, a 7-week discussion/accountability group that will meet virtually on Tuesdays.]

​Write for Life, published in 2023, is the latest book from author and artist Julia Cameron of The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. The book posits that within every person is a source of creativity waiting to be unleashed. This group is a continuation of the work done over the last 13 weeks in our yearly Artist's Way groups. This is an additional 7-week Artist's Way-style meetup using Julia Cameron's book, Write for Life to continue to cultivate creative momentum.

​Please note: since we are beginning a new book, all with an interest in writing are welcome to join! It is not a requirement to have read the previous book or to have been a part of a previous Artist Way group.

​As we usher in new spring energy, join us in a journey of spiritual and artistic renewal: a journey to reconnect with ourselves and overcome the mental blocks inhibiting our writing process. This group is for all writers, beginning to professional, looking to connect more deeply to your creative writing self and the art of beginning, pursuing, and finishing our writing projects and visions.

​In a small group over the course of 7 weeks, we will meet online every Tuesday for 1.5 hours to share, listen, and support one another in our writing journeys. The intention of this creative cluster is to create a safe space for us to embark on writing exploration together, where no one feels alone in these, often, isolating times.

​After our initial intro meeting, every week over the subsequent weeks, you will be asked to complete:

• ​Morning pages: a daily writing ritual of three pages of stream-of-conscious

• ​The Artist Date: a dedicated block of time to nurture your inner artist

• ​Weekly exercises and prompts

• ​Meet with your creative cluster to share and listen

​We invite Rubies and transfeminine, women, and non-binary extended community members join us.

​Materials Needed

​A copy of Write For Life.

​Let's close out the week together with conversation, libations (alcoholic & non-alcoholic), and refreshments!

​When the weather is nice, we sometimes host on our outdoor deck.

​Women-identifying and nonbinary friends of members welcome to join! For the next few months, we'll host Open Reading on the 2nd Happy Hour of each month! Come at 5:30 pm and readings start at 6 pm!

​The Ruby Open Reading event is a chill, supportive place to share your work-in-progress and hear from our amazing Ruby member writers. Channel your inner beatnik and enjoy the good vibes!

​We'll have a sign-up sheet for the reading when you arrive. If you're thinking about reading (which is not a requirement for attending), please plan for 5-8 minutes of time. Polished drafts and rough messes and everything in between are welcome! ​Non-readers are welcome!

​We'll mingle a bit with potluck-style snacks and get to know each other before opening the reading, and have time after to continue conversations.

Join us on Wednesday, May 14 at 7pm when we welcome Mia Ayumi Malhotra for the launch of her new collection, Mothersalt, at 9th Ave! Featuring fellow poets Jennifer S. Cheng, Shelley Wong, and a special introduction by Cathy Linh Che.
Presented in proud partnership by Green Apple Books on the Park and The Ruby.

The first 30 attendees who register for this event and pre-order Mothersalt from Green Apple Books will receive a limited-edition book bundle from the author, which will include a hand-bound journal, furoshiki wrapping cloth, and a surprise object (or two) from the book. Book bundles and preorders will be available for pickup at the event.

Free RSVP available! Books Available for Purchase at the Event
Mask Encouraged for In-Person Attendance
Or Watch on YouTube Live/Link Available Soon

Can't join us for the event? You can preorder a signed/personalized copy here!

Praise for Mothersalt
"Mia Ayumi Malhotra’s Mothersalt charts—astoundingly, wondrously—the vast territories of the unnarratable that constitute motherhood, revealing to us how maternal caretaking is a locus of astonishing collisions: between profound intimacies and estrangements, mergings and fracturings, awakenings and bewilderments, violences, and heady joys. Malhotra’s poems defy category, capturing motherhood with brilliance, rawness, and urgency. A wholly irreducible translation of what is ultimately outside of representation."
—Jenny Xie, author of The Rupture Tense

"In the wake of the wound that is birth, what does it mean to begin anew? Ardently, and with stunning precision, Mia Ayumi Malhotra mines the language of gestation and the collective wisdom of other mother-poets to (re)write the origin story. Part living archive of matrilineal inheritance; part daybook of pregnancy, birth, and the blurred beauty of early motherhood, Mothersalt enacts the ongoingness of a becoming rooted in the psyche-body. Born of the intertwined labors of making and mothering and imbued with a Winnicottian poetics of tenderness and tending, these lyrics are lifeworld.”
—Heidi Van Horn, author of Belated Poem

About Mothersalt
Drawing from the sticky, milk-drenched reality of childbirth and pregnancy, Mothersalt explores the intimacies and bewilderment of early motherhood, illuminating the myriad ways in which the self, reconstituted through birth, can emerge into powerful, lyrical new forms of existence.

With haunting precision, Mothersalt explores the ways in which the lyric self is split apart and stitched back together through the experience of pregnancy and early motherhood. Interspersed with tender addresses to a child in utero, Mothersalt recounts the fraught disorientation of giving birth in America, where birthing bodies are not always recognized as empowered agents of their own story. Through the failures and reversals of the self struggling to reclaim her experience of childbirth, Mothersalt asserts a powerful new narrative of what is possible, not only in the birthing room, but in all forms of human relation.

At its heart, this is a book about resilience, healing, and joy, and the sustaining life that emerges from practices of embodied care. Through fragmentary forms inspired by Sei Shōnagon’s pillow book and the miscellany prose diaries of medieval Japan, Mothersalt brings careful, devoted attention to the labor involved in bearing and caring for young children, transforming the dimensions of the everyday and revealing its ephemeral beauty.

About Mia Ayumi Malhotra
Mia Ayumi Malhotra is the author of Isako Isako, a California Book Award finalist, and winner of the Alice James Award, Nautilus Gold Award for Poetry, National Indie Excellence Award, and Maine Literary Award. She is also the author of the chapbook Notes from the Birth Year, winner of the Bateau Press BOOM Contest. Mia holds degrees in creative writing from Stanford University and the University of Washington, and her work has received the Hawker Prize for Southeast Asian Poetry and the Singapore Poetry Prize. She is a Kundiman Fellow and a founding member of The Ruby SF, a gathering space for women and nonbinary artists. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

About the Jennifer S. Cheng
Jennifer S. Cheng is the author of: MOON: Letters, Maps, Poems (2018), selected by Bhanu Kapil as winner of the Tarpaulin Sky Book Prize and named a Publishers Weekly “Best Book of 2018”; House A (2016), selected by Claudia Rankine as winner of the Omnidawn Poetry Book Prize; and Invocation: An Essay (2010), an image-text chapbook published by New Michigan Press. She is a National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, U.S. Fulbright scholar, and Kundiman fellow, among others. Having grown up in Texas, Hong Kong, and Connecticut, she lives in rapture of the coastal prairies of northern California.

About Shelley Wong
Shelley Wong is the author of As She Appears (YesYes Books, 2022), longlisted for the National Book Award for poetry and winner of the Lambda Literary Award for lesbian poetry and the Pamet River Prize. Her honors include a Pushcart Prize and fellowships, residencies, and support from Kundiman, MacDowell, Hedgebrook, Montalvo Arts Center, Headlands Center for the Arts, among others. She lives in San Francisco.

RSVP

​**Please note that these sessions are currently for Ruby members only**

​As everything speeds up and roars through 2025, it can be more challenging than usual to find moments of quiet and stillness. As a much needed antidote to busyness, it’s my pleasure to offer 12:30 pm yoga classes at The Ruby on Wednesdays.

​Regardless of whether you’re a seasoned practitioner or a brand new beginner, these classes will offer a space to combine breath, movement, stillness, and surrender. The classes will be an accessible, heartful flow with some music and some silence. There will be plenty of room to dial it up or dial it down, depending on what you need from the class. I find that writing as a practice and yoga as a practice have many synergies, and I hope these classes will mark the beginning of accessible and affordable community yoga at The Ruby!

​PLEASE NOTE: The classes are donation-based on a sliding scale from $10-$30 (Marissa's Venmo: @Marissa-Mika). No one will be turned away for lack of funds.

​Class will be held on the 2nd floor, classic Ruby space.

​About the Instructor

​Marissa Mika has been on the yoga mat since 2010 and teaching since 2019. She’s studied and practiced with Yoga Like Water in London, Point Reyes Yoga in the Bay Area, and Yin Yoga with Corina Benner in Philadelphia. You can read more about Marissa and her approach to practicing and facilitating yoga here.

​Class Notes:

• ​Doors close for each class 10 minutes after the start of the course to prevent disruptions to the class.

• ​The Ruby has yoga mats for you to borrow (held in our storage room next to the kitchen) though you are welcome to bring your own!

Hey Rubies! This is a virtual session of the Non-Narrative Writing Group!

​This writing group is geared towards research/non-narrative writing. It's modeled off the existing writing accountability group, but with discussion about crafting arguments, data gathering and methods, tools for knowledge management, and anything else that would be useful! This is open to anyone but I'm hoping to especially bring together some of the academics, journalists, non-fic writers, at the ruby.

​**This is an intimate group of Ruby members

​[This is a Virtual Ruby event, a 7-week discussion/accountability group that will meet virtually on Tuesdays.]

​Write for Life, published in 2023, is the latest book from author and artist Julia Cameron of The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. The book posits that within every person is a source of creativity waiting to be unleashed. This group is a continuation of the work done over the last 13 weeks in our yearly Artist's Way groups. This is an additional 7-week Artist's Way-style meetup using Julia Cameron's book, Write for Life to continue to cultivate creative momentum.

​Please note: since we are beginning a new book, all with an interest in writing are welcome to join! It is not a requirement to have read the previous book or to have been a part of a previous Artist Way group.

​As we usher in new spring energy, join us in a journey of spiritual and artistic renewal: a journey to reconnect with ourselves and overcome the mental blocks inhibiting our writing process. This group is for all writers, beginning to professional, looking to connect more deeply to your creative writing self and the art of beginning, pursuing, and finishing our writing projects and visions.

​In a small group over the course of 7 weeks, we will meet online every Tuesday for 1.5 hours to share, listen, and support one another in our writing journeys. The intention of this creative cluster is to create a safe space for us to embark on writing exploration together, where no one feels alone in these, often, isolating times.

​After our initial intro meeting, every week over the subsequent weeks, you will be asked to complete:

• ​Morning pages: a daily writing ritual of three pages of stream-of-conscious

• ​The Artist Date: a dedicated block of time to nurture your inner artist

• ​Weekly exercises and prompts

• ​Meet with your creative cluster to share and listen

​We invite Rubies and transfeminine, women, and non-binary extended community members join us.

​Materials Needed

​A copy of Write For Life.

Join us for a full moon evening of good vibes!

​In the spirit of Metta, the Buddhist practice of sending happiness wishes, we’ll pull oracle cards as a leaping off point to share and witness what’s on our individual and collective hearts and minds. 

​We’ll practice cultivating the skills of kindness, compassion, joy, and balance—for ourselves and others, through deep listening.

​We’ll complete our time together with a brief, guided meditation.

​Snack platters will be provided (so please rsvp)!

​You’ll leave feeling deeply connected, with a full heart, ready for a night of peaceful sleep (a benefit of Metta practice!).

​This special evening is a gift for Ruby members—come connect with new and familiar friends. ♥️

​About the Instructor

​Tracy Jones is a Buddhist poet, writer, and multidisciplinary artist, facilitating women’s circles for over a decade. As a Ruby Creative in Residence, she is delighted to offer this circle as a celebration for all the kindness that flows from member to member at the Ruby!

Come join the Ruby Writing Accountability Group! A warm and welcoming community to support each other on our projects!

​Looking for a supportive writing community without the hassle of applying for workshops and retreats? Join The Ruby’s Writing Accountability Group!

​All Rubies are welcome, whether you are journaling, just beginning to explore your writing, working on a poetry collection or zine, or grinding on the umpteenth revision of your manuscript – no matter where you are in your practice, you’ll find a friendly community here.

​The Writing Accountability Group is an accessible complement to the writing workshops, residencies, fellowships, and conferences that writers have traditionally relied upon to improve their craft and build community. Often these opportunities are pricey and time-consuming, and many have limited availability. For writers with limited time, applying for and attending these opportunities can even take time away from the writing itself! This group is our solution to these challenges.

​During the first 30-45 minutes, a Ruby member will lead a short craft or generative exercise, after which we will break and spend the remaining time working independently on our own writing (though you are always welcome to skip the exercise in favor of focusing on your writing the whole time). You can attend these sessions as often or as infrequently as you’d like; there’s no commitment to join every time.

​Our craft talks and generative exercises are wholly led by group members! In the past, we’ve had exercises around closely reading a short story, prompts to help us think about our writing from a different perspective, generative exercises using memes, and even discussions around writing goals and struggles. Leading a session is a great way to enrich our community with different craft approaches and activities that improve all of our writing – and you’ll have our support along the way! We’ll also be on hand to help you introduce the exercise once everyone gets settled in.

​Whenever you’re feeling discouraged with the writing or publishing process, we’re here to give you a boost!

​This is an intimate group of Ruby members**

Enjoy our first community lunch in the new space!

Come join the Ruby Writing Accountability Group! A warm and welcoming community to support each other on our projects!

​Looking for a supportive writing community without the hassle of applying for workshops and retreats? Join The Ruby’s Writing Accountability Group!

​All Rubies are welcome, whether you are journaling, just beginning to explore your writing, working on a poetry collection or zine, or grinding on the umpteenth revision of your manuscript – no matter where you are in your practice, you’ll find a friendly community here.

​The Writing Accountability Group is an accessible complement to the writing workshops, residencies, fellowships, and conferences that writers have traditionally relied upon to improve their craft and build community. Often these opportunities are pricey and time-consuming, and many have limited availability. For writers with limited time, applying for and attending these opportunities can even take time away from the writing itself! This group is our solution to these challenges.

​During the first 30-45 minutes, a Ruby member will lead a short craft or generative exercise, after which we will break and spend the remaining time working independently on our own writing (though you are always welcome to skip the exercise in favor of focusing on your writing the whole time). You can attend these sessions as often or as infrequently as you’d like; there’s no commitment to join every time.

​Our craft talks and generative exercises are wholly led by group members! In the past, we’ve had exercises around closely reading a short story, prompts to help us think about our writing from a different perspective, generative exercises using memes, and even discussions around writing goals and struggles. Leading a session is a great way to enrich our community with different craft approaches and activities that improve all of our writing – and you’ll have our support along the way! We’ll also be on hand to help you introduce the exercise once everyone gets settled in.

​Can’t join us in-person? There will be a virtual session the Last Monday of each month!

​Whenever you’re feeling discouraged with the writing or publishing process, we’re here to give you a boost!

​This is an intimate group of Ruby members**

The Ruby is honored to host historian Hardeep Dhillon, a foremost scholar on California and US immigration history. Much of immigration law as we know it originates from cases from San Francisco. Wong Kim Ark's case solidified birthright citizenship as a core principle of US law.

Professor Dhillon's current book project, tentatively titled America’s Modern Immigrant Family, studies the legal construction of the mixed-status family.

She will be joining us for a casual conversation alongside Ruby Daniela Blei, on her extensive work to provide valuable context to the current experience of immigrants in this country. There will be opportunities to ask questions as well.

This is an all-genders welcome event and kids over 10 are also welcome to join.

This event is free but RSVPs are required to attend.

​The Ruby is excited to host Graphic Lit Book Club! Whether you’re a graphic novel and graphic memoir enthusiast, you’ve always hoped to dive into the world of long-form graphic narratives, or you’re just looking for your next great read, we’re thrilled to have a space for discussing graphic literature in a cozy book club setting.

​Co-hosted by Rubies Zareen Choudhury and Rebecca Rubenstein, Graphic Lit Book Club will meet virtually from 6:00 - 7:30 pm.

​For our March gathering, we’ll be reading and chatting about You and a Bike and a Road by Eleanor Davis, "A two-wheeled journey across the landscape of America, and through the heart and mind of an artist."

​**Please note that these sessions are currently for Ruby members only**

​As everything speeds up and roars through 2024, it can be more challenging than usual to find moments of quiet and stillness. As a much needed antidote to busyness, it’s my pleasure to offer 12:30 pm yoga classes at The Ruby on Wednesdays.

​Regardless of whether you’re a seasoned practitioner or a brand new beginner, these classes will offer a space to combine breath, movement, stillness, and surrender. The classes will be an accessible, heartful flow with some music and some silence. There will be plenty of room to dial it up or dial it down, depending on what you need from the class. I find that writing as a practice and yoga as a practice have many synergies, and I hope these classes will mark the beginning of accessible and affordable community yoga at The Ruby!

​PLEASE NOTE: The classes are donation-based on a sliding scale from $10-$30 (Marissa's Venmo: @Marissa-Mika). No one will be turned away for lack of funds.

​Class will be held on the 2nd floor, classic Ruby space.

​About the Instructor

​Marissa Mika has been on the yoga mat since 2010 and teaching since 2019. She’s studied and practiced with Yoga Like Water in London, Point Reyes Yoga in the Bay Area, and Yin Yoga with Corina Benner in Philadelphia. You can read more about Marissa and her approach to practicing and facilitating yoga here.

​Class Notes:

• ​Doors close for each class 10 minutes after the start of the course to prevent disruptions to the class.

• ​The Ruby has yoga mats for you to borrow (held in our storage room next to the kitchen) though you are welcome to bring your own!