Feel in the Room

In case you didn't know, Norah, Taqwa, and Yannina are Millennials and they've had the privileges' of growing up knowing a world before the internet. The nostalgia of less viral times brings many fun memories and insights to their relationships with social media. They are faced with the question of whether we can embrace social media and the internet while still maintaining since connections among community?

After channeling their spirit animal, Norah and Yannina unleash on the gatekeepers. Even after this 15 year shameful fiasco of protecting a male harasser in the community, more gatekeeping arises in other areas of community that are rooted in contradictions within the lifestyles and purposes of individuals as well as organizations.

RESOURCES:  inclusivetherapists.comfacetogether.org

2020 hit us hard and took us away from you, the listener. We are back, but also scratching our heads. Why do we minimize the tough moments? So much has happened in a year. Yannina, Taqwa, and Norah reflect on not only what has transpired, but our tendencies around coping through tough or traumatic events and how we come to understand them.

When people think of relationships they mainly focus on romantic or familial ones. In this episode Yannina and her friend Hai talk about the importance of building connections with others and ultimately, ourselves.

As the new decade is in full swing Norah and Yannina check-in and discuss what big steps they hope to take. Join them as they discuss New Year's resolutions, self reflections, and aspirations for the second half of season one.

Dana Saifan, founder of Woman While Muslim and PhD candidate in clinical psychology at UCLA, answers Norah's questions by guiding her through the culture surrounding new years resolutions. She also delves into the underlying tones of colonialism and oppression that frame well being while also exploring the importance of your own individual mental health to ensure communal well being.

Through much laughter and a few tears, Norah and Yannina look back at the people, moments, and places that helped shame them into the women they are today. They ask each other a series of questions and look back at their younger selves.

Finding a space that makes you feel safe is important, but it’s not enough. Taqwa and Yannina explore ways to find grounding and establish healthy boundaries for yourself to create a true safe room for yourself. Taking time for yourself to check-in should always be a priority and we discuss the various ways you can do that.

The crew starts to open doors and close others as they explore the meaning of a safe space for the intersectional identities they carry with them into different environments Description: Not everyone in society has the freedom that others toute to be themselves regardless of settings. Taqwa, Yannina, and Norah delve into the different spaces they find safe and explore what makes them friendly, while also examining those places they felt they were in the company of dangerous elephants. Finally they take on the phrase “room for growth” literally as they explore how safe spaces can be framed and collectively shared.

Noa and Yannina are cousins who have a candid conversation about the experiences of Native Youth. Noa is Mexican and Pima, he loves making music and making people happy. Although they're 12 years apart the conversation offers great insight on loving and respecting one another and most importantly his Native American roots.

Yvonne describes current resistance to illegal annexation in Hawai'i , which fascinates Norah as the motif of military occupation become strikingly similar across their communities. Yvonne goes deeper to expose how the treatment of Native Hawaiian women mirrors the conquest that drives Eurocentric patriarchy and emphasizes the importance of continuing to speak the language and traditions of her people in spite of the fetishizing that consumes her identity. About Yvonne: Yvonne Mahelona is a co-Coordinator of AF3IRM Hawai’i; a transnational, anti-imperialist feminist organization led by Native and Immigrant women. She was born and raised in Nanakuli Hawaiian homestead where struggle, addiction, violence and survival was all they knew. She’s organized around housing and the sex trade, all of which have impacted Native Hawaiians in the most negative ways on their own homeland. The Kingdom of Hawai’i having been overthrown just generations ago, her family and community are still healing and learning from that pain. She’s found names for their lived experiences through theory and ideology and her main goal is to heal herself, her family and community through education and community organizing.

Norah interviews Destiny, a professional Danza Azteca dancer, first-gen college student and daughter of immigrants. Destiny shares the history of this dance, its symbols, it being an act of resistance to ethnic cleansing, and its power as a language of the past and future. In an exploration of this cultural tradition, Destiny how she lives in duality as her authentic self as indigenous existing in the  heart of conquest on the eve of Thankstaking. About Destiny: "As an undergrad I attended Mount saint Mary’s university and am currently working within social services world, more specifically, the foster care system. This allows me the opportunity to connect with my surrounding community. In addition I am part of an Aztec dance group called Grupo Ajolote, which also works to share space for the community. I have been dancing since 2013, and although don’t know very much yet, I can say that it provides a wealth of knowledge that provides a lot of clarity for issues relevant today, and for that I am grateful."

Taqwa, Yannina, and Norah reflect on the different pressures, experiences, and influences that made them who they are in a discussion of identity formation and purpose. Taqwa, Yannina, and Norah describe some of the pressures that shaped their identity and the realization of what power they have to freely affirm who they are.

Norah takes a look at some theory surrounding the American consumer of media and how that has not only found itself in today’s social media, but also in how social media has dictated to us our behaviors when it comes to self affirmation, dialogue, and self humanization

We welcome you to our Room, the space in which we find safety and serenity to openly discuss the elephants in the room that have followed Taqwa, Yannina, and Norah in life. They share their aspirations for the space, its meaning, and emphasize that you too are a part of this room and conversation.   www.feelintheroom.com

Our lives are often faced with many challenges, but those experiences don't define you. Your story is multi-faceted. Yannina hopes to create space to honor our uniqueness and build community.

Unexpected life changes have always pushed Taqwa to find her purpose and passion in life. Taqwa firmly believes that everything she's gone through, positive or negative, has led her to where she is and what she's doing today.

Being abroad for seven years and totally removed from American society can really split a person's sense of lifestyle. Norah grapples through this in the variety of hats she wears and explains why.