Everyone is living
their own story.
Come explore yours.
For the last several months, I have been busy supporting family and friends through their health journeys while also expanding my knowledge through a combination of lived experience, coursework, and connecting with other end-of-life professionals. I look forward to posting new offerings for the coming months beginning with the community event below.
Community Events
The Paramount Theatre to Screen Oscar-Nominated Documentary “Come See Me in the Good Light”
Rutland, VT, March 10, 2026: Celebrate National Poetry Month and kick-off the 6th year of Poetry Downtown Rutland with a FREE screening of the Oscar-nominated documentary Come See Me in the Good Light. With pre- show poetry and a post-show community conversation on grief's essential role to living and how poetry and art help us to move forward, we’ll speak with panelists Poet Jess Bouchard, Artist-Healer Kelli Prescott, and Death Doula Jackie Proulx.
Come See Me in the Good Light, directed by Ryan White, is a poignant and unexpectedly funny love story about queer poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley facing an incurable cancer diagnosis with joy, wit, and an unshakable partnership. Through laughter and unwavering love, they transform pain into purpose, and mortality into a moving celebration of resilience.
Co-presenters The Paper Poet, whose mission is to decrease hardship by increasing heartship through art and poetic medicine experiences, and Phoenix Books, your local independent bookstore, with additional support from Poetry Society of Vermont, will be in the lobby starting at 5:30 PM with a communal poem activity inviting the audience to express their grief and love.
Watch the film and join the poem at the Paramount Theatre in Rutland, VT, on Friday, April 3 at 6:30 PM. This is a free event, no ticket required; please RSVP on the Facebook event page.
Bianca Amira Zanella (she/they) is a queer poetic medicine healer, multidisciplinary artist, and advocate of taking accountability for one’s healing and harm. In 2020, Bianca founded The Paper Poet, offering healing poetic experiences to anyone experiencing suffering, including those healing from trauma, domestic and sexual violence, or addiction. She is the Poet-in-Residence at Phoenix Books, hosting an international monthly open mic. Her poems have most recently appeared in Love is for All of Us, PoemCity Anthology, Writing by Heart, The Artful Mind, The Mountain Troubadour, and The Reverie. Follow @thepoetbianca, thepaperpoet.com.
About Phoenix Books: Founded in 2007, Phoenix Books is a Vermont-owned independent bookstore with locations in Essex, Burlington, and Rutland, Vermont. Phoenix Books supports our communities by fostering a love of literature and a culture of reading. Follow us online at phoenixbooks.biz, on Instagram, and Facebook.
About the Paramount Theatre: The Paramount Theatre, formerly known as The Playhouse circa 1913, is a historic performance theatre with 800+ seats located at 30 Center St, Rutland, VT. More info: ParamountVT.org Event Link
Art Workshops
Exploring Our Changing World through Collage
Rutland Free Library Teen Programming
It seems like things are always changing whether we like it or not. Big or small, these changes can affect our lives at a personal, national, and global level. Our feelings about change can range from fear to excitement, sadness to joy, anger to acceptance. Sometimes those emotions are happening all at once which makes it even harder to express how we feel.
In this workshop, we will express our hopes, fears, and intentions about changes in our lives through collage. Participants will be invited to work on individual pieces as well as a community piece of art.
DATE TBD
Rutland Free Library
Small Meeting Room (second floor, elevator available)
10 Court St, Rutland, VT 05701
Book Discussions
Rutland Free Library Adult Programming
In The Wild of Edge of Sorrow, Francis Weller expands our understanding of grief by exploring five different types of individual and collective grief that we experience as humans. Weller moves beyond limiting grief to our emotional response to the death of a loved one to include other types of loss such as significant changes in our lives, the parts of ourselves that we have lost to trauma, unfulfilled dreams, changes in the world as we have known it, and inherited ancestral grief. Weller challenges us to explore our sorrows, recognize that they are shared, and understand how they can help us to transform our lives.
Discussion will focus on the book in sections. There will be opportunities for participants to break off into smaller groups to explore different themes and questions. Poetry and other art forms will be woven into the discussions to illustrate concepts.
SIX WEEK SERIES OF COMMUNITY DISCUSSIONS
DATES TBD
Rutland Free Library
Fox Room (2nd floor, elevator access)
10 Court St, Rutland, VT 05701
Grief Workshop
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.