Author and poet Angela Aguirre connected with the all-female attendees with her female-experience focused poems on Tuesday, March 4. Notably, while reciting her poem, “To Daughters Who Will Lose Their Fathers Too Soon”, sniffles echoed throughout the room as the words hung deep.

In honor of March being Women’s History Month, Fullerton College is hosting a series of Women’s “Herstory” Month events, commencing the month with a writing workshop hosted by Aguirre in the Administration building.

The workshop included Aguirre sharing excerpts from her book, “Confessions of a Firework”, as well as reading additional poems surrounding the death of her father.

The theme of the workshop was grief. Aguirre used her personal experience of grief, sharing about her father Ernesto Aguirre’s death in 2011 from liver failure. In her poem, “Serenity Prayer”, she reflects on how she found her father unresponsive on her 23rd birthday. 

“I wanted to become a part of the floor that night,” said Aguirre, choking back tears.

Aguirre also worked with the LA Times to create a YouTube short on her poem “Pocahontas”.

The second hour of the workshop was a writing practice. Prompts were handed out to the audience to encourage them to write their own poems. Afterwards, an open mic was held. Multiple people were moved to tears while sharing their poems. An attendee mentioned losing their fiancé and others shared losing parts of themselves in abusive relationships.

Aguirre mentions fellow poet Gloria Anzaldúa as an example of feeling heard by writing.

“It felt like someone was talking to me,” said Aguirre. 

Aguirre shared that she turned to drugs and alcohol after her father’s death, and spent the better part of a decade in a fog. But according to Aguirre, it was through the power of writing and putting pen to paper that she made her way out.

“I wrote this book when I was learning how to be human,” said Aguirre, while speaking to the attendees.

The next event for “Women’s Herstory Month” will be a tabling activity in the Cadena Cultural Center from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m on March 12.