Dear Soft Black Woman

I might've mentioned I write songs. I will say this in the present tense although I haven't finished a song or revisited a draft in a long time. I know worship songs are not the jam for some of y'all, and that's okay. I won't be offended if you skip this one. I don't know yet where music goes in the world of things that I do, but I am making a margin for it here today. I have needed to lament and I feel kind of proud that I wrote this song to hold my grief ten years ago, somewhat inspired by this verse from Jeremiah. This is a recording I did in a friend's home studio some years back, pre-pandemic.Here are the lyrics:Let the beauty of my soulFind rest in your controlLet all I want to holdBe whole in letting goSaturate meLiberate meOverwhelm meWith your sustaining fire, LordAt times I'm caught upIn my complicated stressCan you teach meHow to worship in this messSaturate meLiberate meOverwhelm meWith your sustaining fire, LordSaturate meLiberate meOverwhelm meWith your sustaining fire, LordSaturate me, in the recesses of my soulLiberate me, to you I surrender my controlOverwhelm me, so that you are all I knowAnd let your fire burnTil I take my turn before your throneLet there be no shiver in my spiritThere's still a flame in my bones Get full access to A Gentle Landing at agentlelanding.substack.com/subscribe

Hello gentle-people, Some of you might know I led a book club on Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. I wanted to share a few songs I have been playing in my hobby time as a way of wrapping up the group. I may say more on this journey in the near future, but for now, I am sharing this here for those of you who have read Parable…or for those of you who love the following songs:“Toxicity” by System of a Down“Don't Panic” Coldplay“Fallen” Sarah McLachlan“Change” Tracy Chapman Get full access to A Gentle Landing at agentlelanding.substack.com/subscribe

Hello gentle-people, As I was organizing this series into a collection that could be accessed on my landing page, I realized I couldn't find part one. I racked my mind and my posts to see if maybe I accidently changed the name somehow or it ended up somewhere it wasn't meant to be. I gave up after my search rendered no results……it seems I have accidently deleted it.I will return later with a transcript to replace this piece—perhaps when I also get around to doing what I've resolved to do during my publishing break: move my drafts over to a safe place. I have *mumbles incoherently* drafts on here. My biggest fear has been confirmed—I have to be saving these posts somewhere else!Luckily, I had recorded part 1 before this mishap. Wishing you all a gentle landing, as I extend that same wish to my weary self today.Here is part 2 & 3:Hello, gentle people,I am always playing with phrases. Maybe you've noticed. Lately, I have been cracking myself up by dropping, “don't threaten me with a good time, into my conversations.” Today, I am playing with the phrase, I could care less, because it's true—I could give it my best try. water sign woman by Lucille Clifton the woman who feels everything sits in her new house waiting for someone to come who knows how to carry water without spilling, who knows why the desert is sprinkled with salt, why tomorrow is such a long and ominous word. they say to the feel things woman that little she dreams is possible, that there is only so much joy to go around, only so much water. there are no questions for this, no arguments. she has to forget to remember the edge of the sea, they say, to forget how to swim to the edge, she has to forget how to feel. the woman who feels everything sits in her new house retaining the secret the desert knew when it walked up from the ocean, the desert, so beautiful in her eyes; water will come again if you can wait for it. she feels what the desert feels. she waits.The troublesome work of defining careDepending on how you read my intro letter, You might be thinking, “I can't believe Rose J. Percy, writer of A Gentle Landing, is saying she wants to lean into heartlessness. I'm unsubscribing immediately!” And I blame the ambiguous nature of the word care and its many definitions. I could do a whole series on the definitions and probably write a post a week for the rest of the year. Just look at how many interpretations we could delve into. Now, here I have a screenshot of the definitions of care taken from a Google search, which you can delve into yourself and linger on these definitions, but it's interpreted as a noun and also a verb and comes with so many meanings I didn't even count. Luckily, I have already written on some definitions of care that I'm partial to. In one post, I talk about the word care through the word “tender” and how we can think about it as a way of a caring attention. One might call it tenderness, and the acceptance of ourselves as tenders. And that post is called Permission to Linger. I have also written on writing as a practice of care in my series delving into my writing praxis. And that post is called “A Place for Keeping, Writing as a Practice of Care.”Now, here are some definitions that I am fond of. And for the purposes of this post, I am understanding these four definitions of care and I added a fifth for just the ways I'm playing with the words “carrying” and “care” together. * Care as a tending (or attending), once again, with particular emphasis on attention. Since we have been here before, let's stick with “tending.”* Care as an attachment or interest. Let's stick with the word “attachment.” It often feels like the things we care of are a part of us..sometimes we are indeed connected.* Care as avoidance of danger or risk. I will “caution,” instead here, since I also love the phrase “throw caution to the wind.” We can do some fun poetic things with that.* Care as a troubling, a feeling stirred up by what we brood over. I will use the word “burden” here, since something of this definition reminds me to remember the weight.* I will also be playing with caring and carrying in order to drive home one central point: we all have a carrying capacity when it comes to care…even if we hate to admit it.“You have to turn it off. You have to learn to turn it off.” I am trying harder to care less every day.By that I mean, as a child, I used to be overwhelmed by something one might call “car(ry)ing too much. Some might also call it a sense of responsibility or conviction. And I read this book once in college, and it was treated like the pinnacle text for our general education curriculum. And it was assigned as the last text in our ethics class, the capstone text, and it was called Scandalous Obligation by Eric Severson. And I remember reading that book, which talks about Christian responsibility, and I thought, “this book is not for me.” Because I am the girl who, just upon seeing a commercial on food insecurity affecting children miles away, could not bring herself to enjoy a cookout. An auntie of mine gave me a speech which remains with me forever, and the essence was, “you can't help the children if you cry. You have to learn how to suck it up and feed yourself so you can grow big and strong. Then you can be of much better use to them." Through the years, I have either taken her advice or shaken it off. And her words led me to see my feelings as an inconvenience in a sphere of caring. And sometimes I can't help but feel she had a point when I find myself stirring in my worries for myself and others. I was a cautious child and I grew into a cautious adult.I can't help but feel her point when I seem to collect cares or grow a new interest in some injustice in the world beyond my capacity to respond or affect change. And I see her point when as a result of these new interests and attachments, I feel scattered and overwhelmed by all there is to care about.And I see her point when I feel like I'm failing, either emotionally or through physical challenges I'm still learning about in my attempt to “learn how to carry water,” as it leaks out of the sides of my eyes in this last ditch attempt to demonstrate how burdened I truly am. So as I consider her words, I felt like I had to learn how to turn something off. And back then I was just barely a teenager and I couldn't name it. So I tried hard when I was overwhelmed to shut off everything. I've included a picture of my monstera plant when I first got it a few months after I first got it in the spring of 2021. Something had to go. In the midst of what has been a hard couple of weeks, much of which was defined by embodied mental, emotional, and spiritual pain, I wanted to let something go. I had entertained many different ideas, but I was pretty certain I wanted to cut off my hair. In the past, going bald served as a foundation for embracing a new shift in focus. But I didn't want a new haircut.I wasn't ready to let go of my locs. I didn't want to get a new haircut. I wasn't ready to let go of my locks, but something had to go. I could feel it.So I chose to take some cuttings off of this beautiful monstera plant you see in these pictures. I kept the new cuttings and placed the large potted plant, which looked a bit too large to be on the bookshelf that it lived on, out to the curb to be received by some happy stranger.I first got my monstera in 2021 when I was nurturing a rather large houseplant collection. The room I was staying in had a beautiful big south-facing window. My monstera lived with me through three houses, and I had gifted cuttings from it and watched it grow to require two moss poles for support.I watched in surprise when it flourished at the last place I lived, a place where I struggled to flourish. My room, small and dark, had a tiny window taken up halfway by an AC unit that was screwed into the window. I used grow lights to try to keep a few plants alive on the bookshelf. My efforts failed. Somehow, though, new leaves kept coming up along the sides of my monstrous potted home. I wrote down my care instructions on an index card, complete with notes on the last time it was fertilized and how long ago it was repotted. I hoped the next person would not let her die, but I knew there was a chance I could have killed her myself. I worried about killing her constantly. Now she was someone else's burden. I now have one less thing to care about. I could care less. “Rose, run that song back one more time. The one where you're crying, ‘Help me, I'm dying.' I love the melody!”—me in a conversation about how my work feels sometimes. When I consider that burnout produces apathy, it makes sense that so many people experience a fatigue around their ability to care. It has been a while since I read Burnout: The Secret of Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily and Amelia Nagowski,but I hold onto one of my takeaways from the definition of burnout outlined in Three parts, the first being emotional exhaustion, the fatigue that comes from caring too much for too long. Many of us know this in a parallel term, compassion fatigue, which often applies to those who work in caring professions or hold domestic caregiving responsibilities.Our society is continually reinforcing individualism that harms us all, and this definitely impacts what we think caring ought to look like. This is a quote from Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha from Care Work Dreaming Disability Justice:“What does it mean to shift our ideas of access and care (whether it's disability, health care, economic access, or many more) from an individual chore an unfortunate cost of having an unfortunate body to a collective responsibility that's maybe even deeply joyful? What does it mean for our movements? Our communities/fam? Ourselves and our own lived experience of disability and chronic illness? What does it mean to wrestle with these ideas of softness and strength, vulnerability, pride, asking for help and not—all of which are deeply raced and classed and gendered?”These questions posed by Piepzna-Samarasinha serve as an inspiration for me as I write. An understanding that communal care makes a gentle landing possible undergirds all of this. Also true is the understanding that falling, failing, and flailing are often inevitable on this path.But what does that have to do with caring less? You tell me. How much can you actually hold? How much are you holding right now in this breath when you think of that question? So let's break it down further into questions that reflect the definitions I've mentioned:;* What are you tending to in this season, really? Not what you are saying you are tending to, but what is actually possible within the time you have allotted? * Are you committed to anything at present that requires more than your hands in order to be well taken care of? Have you stumbled into new interests and formed new attachments? Are these new extremities splintering your capacity? Is there anything you can cut off so that water can flow to what is flourishing? Are there ways these new attachments can be nurtured through a network of care versus your individual care? * Perhaps you are now much more aware of all there is to be afraid of, the dangers and the risks all around you. Has any of this fear contributed to loving yourself and others better? Where can you, “throw caution to the wind,” in recognition that your worrying has its limits with forecasting? I hope you're keeping track and notice that I left burden out of this list. We will return to it soon enough.But how about we take a break here? I also included a Lucille Clifton poem here. So you're free to take some time with it and we will come around to it again. because I am learning how to pace myself as an active care. I am taking time with my words, as you've seen in the “perching lines” series.I am trying to make these newsletters just a bit lighter. But trust, we will come back to the burden. I know because, well, the burden always finds its way back to me. I am learning how to carry water.I want to say this marvelous woman's poetry has changed my life. Since the day I first heard, won't you celebrate with me, recited by the dean of students in seminary. I knew it was for me somehow. In the way that I know many Black women, femmes, and men, such as my brothers Robert and Jan, find themselves in her poetry. June 27th is her birthday. Tomorrow, if you're reading this on pub day. I wanted to do something big. I wanted to have a conversation, read some poems, have folks listen. And as I planned it, the details that I wanted to line up only led me to more questions. But I kept searching for a way to honor her birthday and to recognize how becoming a Lucille Clifton scholar has shaped me. I want to honor her work like Alexis Pauline Gumbs honors the survival ethics of Audre Lorde or how adrienne maree brown devotes herself to the world building of Octavia Butler.I would be satisfied to honor her with just one twentieth of the archival devotion Professor Honorée Jeffers brought to the three-hour class she taught on the Sankofa Poetics of Lucille Clifton last month. I have been trying to find a way to study the poetics of Lucille Clifton in some official capacity other than this newsletter, but maybe this is it. And if that is the case, I am thankful to reflect on her poetry here. I am thankful for the people it has brought close to me. I am thankful for the light that came to Lucille Clifton and so glad it seems to have found its way to me.Or maybe this is my burden: to do as my faves above do in bringing the words they love into the worlds they love. Perhaps this is why it doesn't feel like enough to just do an event, read some poems, and call it a day. I need to write about the light that came to Rose J. Percy. I keep wondering if I am meant to carry it all by myself. As I sat in my sorrows about this event that never was, I realized I overlooked a very important Cliftonian idea:The event was her life.She says, won't you celebrate with me what I have shaped into a kind of life?So I sent some brave emails. I applied for a job I felt too afraid to hope I might get. I shared a burden with my closest friends. I am taking steps to learn to live and love better.21:05I am leaning into my dreams because I must do something with this quote kind of life and quote that I keep surviving. In her invitation is the audacity to believe there is something worth celebrating about being here. I will celebrate her life by living my own more deeply. If you are reading, then you are bearing witness and thus attending an event I could never plan out in my wildest dreams. So thank you for being here. Let's keep seeing where this goes. Get full access to A Gentle Landing at agentlelanding.substack.com/subscribe

Today I am joined by Iresha Picot, M.Ed, LBS. Iresha is a Licensed Behavior Specialist and Therapist. A Philly transplant by way of Virginia, Iresha is the co-editor of the book, "The Color of Hope: People of Color Mental Health Narratives", and has written articles in the Research in the Teaching of English, The Philadelphia Weekly, Elephant Journal, Aunt Chloe's Journal, Specter Magazine, and For Harriet. She has also been featured in NPR, NBC, WHYY, Bicycle Magazine and PBS American Portraits. Iresha recently directed her first short film with Love Now Media, called the “The Do-Over”, which centers a story on trauma and triumph. She has worked with the “Me Too” movement on their survivors healing series. Iresha hosted a digital show called “Sis, are you good?” series with Girltrek, INC that digitally centered Mental Health check-ins with Black Women. Social Media: @Ireshadahoodtherapist At the time of this recording, Iresha was reading: Becoming Abolitionists — Derecka Purnell Gathering Blossoms UNder Fire: The Journals of Alice Walker — Alice Walker Her go to books recommendations for healing work: bell hooks—All About Love, Salvation, Communion Today I Affirm -Alex Elle The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself — Michael Alan Singer My Grandmother's Hands —Resmaa Manakem The Body Keeps the Score —Bessel van der Kolk Thich Nhat Hanh —You Are Here Yesterday I Cried -Iyanla Vanzant Thank you for listening to Dear Soft Black Woman. You can support this podcast via agentlelanding.substack.com You can find Rose on IG / Twitter / rosejpercy.com

Hello! Dear Soft Black Woman is  back, and continuing to explore rest as vocation. Everyone is welcomed to subscribe to "A Gentle Landing," which has options for paid and free subscriptions. Black women+femmes are welcome to request to join our DearSBW Mighty Network, for private community conversations, events, and resources.How are you and who are you becoming? Join the conversation.About the host:Rose J. Percy (she/her) is a Haitian-American womanist theopoet.  She hosts a podcast called “Dear Soft Black Woman.” Rose also co-creates sacred spaces at Quni Community.  Her work engages theologies of imagination, critical pedagogy, and Black literature, to birth spaces for rest, belonging, and community care. Rose holds a Master of Divinity from Boston University School of Theology, where she is currently studying spiritual formation. Rose was born in Les Cayes, Ayïti, and raised in Pawtucket, RI. She resides in Boston, MA.Support the show

You can purchase the Truth's Table book here at the "Dear Soft Black Woman" Bookshop. ABOUT TRUTH'S TABLEOnce upon a time, an activist (Michelle), a theologian (Ekemini), and a psychologist (Christina) walked into a group chat. Everything was laid out on the table: Dating. Politics. The Black church. Pop culture. Soon, other Black women began pulling up chairs to gather round. And so, the Truth's Table podcast was born.In their literary debut, co-hosts Christina Edmondson, Michelle Higgins, and Ekemini Uwan offer stories by Black women and for Black women examining theology, politics, race, culture, and gender matters through a Christian lens. For anyone seeking to explore the spiritual dimensions of hot-button issues within the church, or anyone thirsty to deepen their faith, Truth's Table provides exactly the survival guide we need, including: • Michelle Higgins's unforgettable treatise revealing the way “racial reconciliation” is a spiritually bankrupt, empty promise that can often drain us of the ability to do real justice work• Ekemini Uwan's exploration of Blackness as the image of God in the past, present, and future• Christina Edmondson's reimagination of what a more just and liberating form of church discipline might look like—one that acknowledges and speaks to the trauma in the room These essays deliver a compelling theological re-education and pair the spiritual formation and political education necessary for Black women of faith.ABOUT THE AUTHORSDr. Christina Edmondson (@DrCEdmondson) is an educator. She holds a PhD in counseling psychology and an MS in family therapy. A certified cultural intelligence facilitator with experience in nonprofit, higher education, and corporate sectors, Dr. Edmondson often consults with organizations about diversity and equity, as well as mental health and faith issues. Her work and insights have been covered in The Atlantic, The Guardian, Essence, and CBS News.Ekemini Uwan (@sista_theology) is a public theologian who received her MDiv from Westminster Theological Seminary. Uwan is a contributing member of the Aspen Institute's Racial Justice and Religion Commission. She has appeared on MSNBC and NPR. Her writings have been published in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and HuffPost Black Voices, and her insights have been quoted by CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The New Yorker.Michelle Higgins (@Afrorising) is senior pastor of Saint John's Church (The Beloved Community) in St. Louis, where she co-founded Faith for Justice, a collective of Christian activists, and serves as board chair of Action St. Louis, a political home for Black communities in the St. Louis region.--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/support Get full access to A Gentle Landing at agentlelanding.substack.com/subscribeSupport the show

In this conversation we have:Khristi Lauren Adams is a speaker, author, youth advocate and ordained Baptist minister.  Khristi is the author of Parable of the Brown Girl which is published by Fortress Press and released February 2020. The book highlights the cultural and spiritual truths that emerge from the lives of young black girls. Parable of the Brown Girl has received awards for Best Young Adult Book from The African American Literary Awards and the New York Black Librarians Caucus. She is currently working on her next book, Unbossed: How Black Girls Are Leading the Way. (Spring, 2022) with Broadleaf Books and a middle grade version of the book with Beaming Books. She works as Dean of Spiritual Life & Equity at the Hill School. Khristi is also an instructor of Religious Studies at the Hill School. She is the Founder & Director of “The Becoming Conference”, an annual conference and leadership cohort designed to empower, educate & inspire girls between the ages of 13-18. Khristi is a graduate of Temple University with a degree in Advertising and a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary where she obtained a Master of Divinity degree. Khristi is an alum of the 2017 class of Lead New Jersey, a select group of fellows participating in a year-long program designed to educate, transform, and empower the next generation of leaders from the public, social, and private sectors. She also currently sits on the advisory board for Word Made Flesh, a non-profit organization existing to serve among the most vulnerable of the world's poor.You can learn more about Khristi through her website, https://khristilaurenadams.com. You can follow her on Twitter / Instagram---You can support this podcast through:  PatreonSubstack Newsletter: A Gentle Landing w/ Rose J. PercyFind Rose on the internet:  IG Twitter Website--- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/support Get full access to A Gentle Landing at agentlelanding.substack.com/subscribeSupport the show

Christena Cleveland Ph.D. is a social psychologist, public theologian, author, and activist. She is the founder and director of the  Center for Justice + Renewal as well as its sister organization, Sacred Folk, which creates resources to stimulate people's spiritual imaginations and support their journeys toward liberation.A weaver of Black liberation and the sacred feminine, Dr. Cleveland integrates psychology, theology, storytelling, and art to stimulate our spiritual imaginations. She recently completed her third full-length book, God is a Black Woman (HarperOne), which details her 400-mile walking pilgrimage across central France in search of ancient Black Madonna statues, and examines the relationship among race, gender, and cultural perceptions of the Divine. Click here to read more of Dr. Cleveland's bio & support her work. ---You can support this podcast through:  PatreonSubstack Newsletter: "A Gentle Landing w/ Rose J. PercyFind Rose on the internet:  IG Twitter Website--- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/support Get full access to A Gentle Landing at agentlelanding.substack.com/subscribeSupport the show

Ylisse is a soft Black woman who loves swimming, cycling, sleeping, and sunshine. Ylisse works as a chaplain supporting people through times of transition. In a prickly and harsh world, Ylisse loves collaborating with people committed to rest, joy, and cultivating gentle spaces for themselves and others.Do you need help figuring out what kind of rest you need? Here are some resources: On 7 Different Types of Rest. https://www.wellandgood.com/types-of-rest/ Take this rest quiz to determine what kind of rest you need. https://www.restquiz.com/quiz/rest-quiz-test/How to support:  PatreonFind Rose on the internet:  IG  FB Twitter WebsiteSubstack Newsletter: "A Gentle Landing w/ Rose J. Percy"--- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/support Get full access to A Gentle Landing at agentlelanding.substack.com/subscribeSupport the show

Cole Arthur Riley is the creator of Black Liturgies, a space for Black spiritual words of liberation, lament, rage, and rest; and a project of The Center for Dignity and Contemplation where she serves as Executive Curator. Born and for the most part raised in Pittsburgh, Cole studied Writing at the University of Pittsburgh. She once took a professor's advice very seriously to begin writing a little every day, and has followed it for nearly a decade.Read more on "This Here Flesh."Website: https://colearthurriley.com/Twitter/Instagram: @blackliturgies---Find Rose on the internet:  IG  FB Twitter WebsiteHow to support:  PatreonI just launched a newsletter called "A Gentle Landing w/ Rose J. Percy" (Subscription fee optional)--- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/support Get full access to A Gentle Landing at agentlelanding.substack.com/subscribeSupport the show

Thank y'all so much for your patience! We are back with another episode featuring my poet-friend and fellow Lucille Clifton fan, Kelsey Johnson! Kelsey Johnson is a poet, actor and educator committed to following Jesus, clinging to joy, tending to her community and telling stories through poetry, theatre and music. When she's not acting, writing or teaching she can be found reading, laughing, singing old spirituals in honor of her grandmother and getting lost in the woods. You can follow Kelsey on Instagram as @freedoms_daughter.Click here to read the poem "Today, God" by Starr Davis.Just wanna thank our patrons who make this work possible! You can click here to join this glorious group of people and see my Patreon offerings. To view more of my public work, please visit https://www.rosejpercy.com/links.--- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/support Get full access to A Gentle Landing at agentlelanding.substack.com/subscribeSupport the show

Special honor to bell hooks, who passed December 15, 2021. I am thankful to you for making my work possible, and I hope to live in gratitude for the ways your work has affirmed my breath and being. Thank you, bell hooks.______Questions: 1. bell hooks tenderly describes her relationship with Paulo Freire and his teachings in Teaching to Transgress. Similarly, how has Freire's work impacted you?2. Explain how you arrived at the understanding of "rest as vocation"?3. Praxis is an important part of critical pedagogy. Beyond conversations, what does praxis look like for DSBW?4. As this conversation grows and more voices join in, what are your hopes for the soft black woman listening? What do you want to see for us? ---------A question for you:What does a praxis (action and reflection) of softness look like for you? Please feel free to engage this question on Patreon, Spotify,  IG , FB , or Twitter ---------Sources Mentioned: Charlene A. Carruthers: Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements.  Lucille Clifton: How to Carry Water: Selected Poems. ed by Aracelis Grimay. You can read to "won't you celebrate me" here. Paulo Freire: Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Paulo Freire: Pedagogy of the City. bell hooks: Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom.  bell hooks: Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope. Patrick B. Reyes: Nobody Cries When We Die: God, Community and Surviving to Adulthood.  Chanequa Walker-Barnes: Too Heavy a Yoke: Black Women and the Burden of Strength. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/support Get full access to A Gentle Landing at agentlelanding.substack.com/subscribeSupport the show

Karla Mendoza dabbles in visual arts, writing, teaching, bookbinding, photography and recently she has taken up podcasting – El Cafecito with Karla (Spotify /Apple Podcast) – where she interviews her friends as they explore the themes of loving Jesus, choosing hope, and finding liberation together. She spends most of her life in the midst of intersectionality as a Jesus loving Afro-Indigenous Peruvian woman, undocumented immigrant and a fat woman. Antiracist discipleship is the heartbeat of her writing and speaking. She has spent the last few years healing and reclaiming her story as her own after spending the majority of her life in white evangelical spaces. You can follow her on IG: @DearKarla Andrea Price (pronounced ahn-DREE-uh) is an eclectic artist, facilitator, art administrator, and entrepreneur. She is passionate about social justice and making space for compassion, peace, and joy. Price is also the owner of Andrea & Her Art and co-owner of Healing Conversations, two businesses that mirror her passions. As a visual artist, Andrea Price is hopeful and fighting for a world of equity, through her art, that acknowledges and celebrates the vast amount of cultural diversity that God intentionally created.--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/support Get full access to A Gentle Landing at agentlelanding.substack.com/subscribeSupport the show

Frankie is a Los Angeles based visual artist whose practice includes photography, graphic design and film.  As someone who does creative work in media, she is passionate about the impact art has on culture and social awareness. When she's not working, Frankie loves to DJ for fun and review films from the Criterion Collection on her series called Movie Mama's. You can follow Frankie on IG @frankie.be__You can support this podcast through Patreon, where I am currently posting reflections on the poetry of Lucille Clifton. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/support Get full access to A Gentle Landing at agentlelanding.substack.com/subscribeSupport the show

Robert Monson is a writer, author, theologian, podcaster, seminarian and proud Black man who is committed to liberation and rest.So far on this podcast, I've talked to those who are claiming and reclaiming the identity of the Soft Black woman. I also hope to bring on guests who have inspired my journey, one way or another, to speak into this conversation. Robert Monson is one of those folks, who I met through Twitter, living the soft life as a black man.Robert co-hosts a podcast called 3 Black Men and recently started a new podcast Black Coffee and Theology. How to support:  PatreonFind Rose on the internet:  IG  FB Twitter Website --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/support Get full access to A Gentle Landing at agentlelanding.substack.com/subscribeSupport the show

Content Warning: We mention lynching in this episode, both in reference to history and as a recent analogy in one of the stories shared by M'Lynn. Please be gentle with yourselves as you listen!About our guest: M'Lynn is a 25 year old Bible scholar and youth pastor from sunny San Diego, CA. Most days you can catch her cuddled up in bed with her cat watching Netflix or splashing around in the pool on a hot day!  Her deepest passion is reading Scripture with the purpose of liberation for all peoples.You can follow M'Lynn on IG and TikTok.---------------Find Rose on the internet:  IG  FB Twitter WebsiteYou can support this podcast by joining our Patreon.--- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/support Get full access to A Gentle Landing at agentlelanding.substack.com/subscribeSupport the show

About our guest:Faitth Brooks is an anti-racism educator, speaker, writer, and co-host of the Melanated Faith podcast. Formed in the Christian tradition and Black liberation theology, Faitth uses her platform to enliven her following for collective liberation centering on the sisterhood of black women. Her work seeks to free Black women from the singular narrative placed upon them and release them into a life of living color where all are welcome and valued for their unique essence. Faitth is crafting communal space where rest, tenderness, and softness are commonplace for Black sisters to explore and take in the abundance of presence and purpose over hustle and performance.   Faitth earned her Master's degree in Social Work and earned her certificate in Women's Entrepreneurship from Cornell University. When Faitth is not working, she is hanging out with her family, traveling, or watching her favorite shows.You can follow Faitth on social media as @faitthb and support her work through Patreon. Find Rose on the internet:  IG  FB Twitter WebsiteYou can support this podcast by becoming a patron on Patreon.--- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/support Get full access to A Gentle Landing at agentlelanding.substack.com/subscribeSupport the show

My name is Rose J. Percy and I am a "Soft Black Woman." This podcast seeks to empower the soft black women as they:Set their boundaries in ways that maximize dignity and self-worthSeek rest and refuses to be identified as a workhorse by inviting others to do their own workResists identities and stereotypes that erase their humanityImagine new expansiveness for their self-understanding in the worldEtc. This is an open conversation and the objectives can and will change as we explore soft black womanhood together.Today's Affirmation:Dear Soft Black Woman, I am glad you are here. I am glad you continue “to be” in a world that refuses to acknowledge all that “you are.” Let your presence be a reminder to all, but especially you:  the deeply enfleshed and  beautiful humanity you carry. I welcome you in this space, to sit, stand or dance, To find hope and comfort, to laugh, to cry and get mad….to be as loud or as quiet as you want to be and to know that you are heard and that your voice matters here the most. I pray you find just what you need to fuel your work and your rest. Wishing you a gentle landing   -Rose J. PercyFind me on the internet:  IG   FB Twitter Website YoutubeSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/dearsoftblackwoman)--- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/support Get full access to A Gentle Landing at agentlelanding.substack.com/subscribeSupport the show