Larger, Freer, More Loving

It's good to be back with you all. It's been a minute since we've had an episode. In this episode, Matt LaVine and Dwight K. Lewis Jr discuss the impact of the first three weeks of the second Trump administration on marginalized communities. They emphasize the importance of community, resilience, and activism as a response to the administration's actions. Dwight shares his personal experiences of grief and anger, highlighting the need for collective healing and resistance. Matt leads a discussion on the concept of white [patriarchal, heteronormative, capitalist] supremacist settler colonialism and its implications, urging white allies to recognize their role in the system and to support themselves, marginalized folx, and the community at large. Furthermore, Dwight and Matt discuss these concepts and the ways that they exist as an “organizing principle” continuously shaping our world. They also recommend resources like "My Grandmother's Hands" by Resmaa Menakem and "Black Joy" by Tracey M. Lewis-Giggetts for personal and community healing.

It's good to be back with you all. It's been a minute since we've had an episode. But no matter what you listen to us for, we've got a feeling that this episode is for you! Because today, we've got with us multi-hyphenate, Hanif Fazal—an activist, a writer, a race equity facilitator and consultant, a business owner, awesome father, brother, and son. We're talking about his new book, "An Other World: The Fight For Freedom, Joy, and Belonging". Pre-order it now!https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/an-other-world-hanif-fazal/1142911253

Today, we were lucky enough to have a conversation with a scholar, public intellectual, and activist who happens to be one of our favorite human beings on the planet – Dr. Claudia Ford. We began by asking Claudia to explain the relation between Planetary Consciousness and Blackness. From there, she talked about the intersection of Black ecology and Afro-pessimism. This led to a discussion of her new book project and her term Black “Grandmother Epistemology”, which unfolded into conversations on balance, flexibility, life, individualism, fear, and rebirth. Dr. Claudia Ford has done wonderful work on all of this season's themes – the role of emotion in social justice work, ideas around transformation and revolution, and uplifting ways of being and knowing that are marginalized in our white supremacist, patriarchal, capitalist world. Named here: “Introduction to Environmental Studies: Interdisciplinary Readings”; “The Triple Pandemic: Revolt is the Only Option”; “Black to Nature: Pastoral Return and African American Culture by Stephanie K. Dunning”; “The Gift of Touch”; “Pain Pollen: The Twisted Ethnobotanical Roots of Cotton, Black Haw and Ground Hemlock”; and “Watering the Gardens of the Grandmother of Plants”.

Welcome back for our second episode of season 2 which, as we said last time, is going to forefront things like the role of emotion in racial justice and social justice work more broadly, concepts of transformation and revolution, and uplifting ways of being and knowing that are marginalized in our white supremacist, patriarchal, capitalist world. We were lucky enough to have a scholar, public intellectual, and activist who has done wonderful work that touches on all of these fronts–Dr. Myisha Cherry. We began by getting Myisha's thoughts on Nekima Levy Armstrong's response to Mayor Frey and Deputy Police Chief Huffman, who all spoke at the Amir Locke press conference in Minneapolis. Our hearts yearn for and with the family of Mr. Locke and the Minneapolis community. This was a murder, and the cops and mayor need to be held accountable. We continued by discussing her most recent book “The Case for Rage”. Please go pick up a copy! It is a fantastic book! We then asked her about teaching and advice for graduate and undergraduate students, especially those wanting to do radical work, and we concluded by asking, “What feeds your strength and resilience?”

Alright, welcome folks. We are back at it again with SEASON 2. We are extremely excited about this season and what we have in store for you all. In this episode, we talk about transitions we've both been going through since Season 1, what's been happening in the worlds around us, and how those things came together in our thinking about themes for Season 2. We talk about protest, loss, grief, emotions, and how they all come together when trying to fight for a more racially and socially just world. We conclude this episode by discussing some of the guests that we are attempting to bring on the podcast to talk about these themes. We may not be able to get them all, but we are going to try! We encourage you all to live “larger, freer, and more loving”!

In this episode, we began thinking through Trump's Executive Order Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping. It is a little raw.... which we took to be a good thing. We hope that this raises awareness!

Today, we had three scholars that do fantastic research on counter narratives and counter histories in philosophy, John Harfouch, Meena Krishnamurthy, and Peter K.J. Park. We begin by defining counter narratives or histories in philosophy; then engage the ways that western and white power limits counter narratives and the emotions that motivate them. Following that, we discuss a number of ways we can push back against white supremacy culture both from the inside and the outside. And lastly, we conclude by discussing the ways that job postings can present as anti-counter narratives.

Today, we're following up with our second quickcast—this time with artists and activists of the Talking Wings Collective, Blake Lavia and Tzimu Aguilar-Izzo, who are hosting the North Country Art, Land, and Environment Summit throughout the month of September and into October. We talked about the ways that art, land, and environment intersect, especially the role that art plays in activism for the land and our environments. Following that, we discussed the importance of understanding one's positionality when attempting to do justice work. And lastly, Blake and Tzima give some advice for young folk and the ways that young people can find themselves and aid in the justice struggle.

Today, we did something new for the show—a quickcast—an in-depth account of some one individual issue that grabs our attention off of the planned episodes. This brings us to our guest, Professor Emerita of Philosophy at Calvin College, Christina Van Dyke. Christina stepped down from your full professor position to protect a vulnerable junior faculty member. We wanted to highlight what it means to live out one's philosophical and moral theories. To let people know that standing up isn't easy but that there are scholars and people out there doing it. Scholars like Christina are actually making a difference, not just talking about making a difference. We are in her debt!!

Today, we're talking with Tommy Curry and John Youngblood about Black masculinities. We begin by talking about the Black male experience, particularly in academia, as a means of defining Tommy's man-not and the multiplicitousness of Black masculinities. Following that, we apply this knowledge as a critique of intersectionality with the hopes of propelling intersectionality towards new growth and understanding, and we conclude by discussing Black Boy Joy.

We're continuing a line of thought we've been working on for the past few episodes. Last time, we mentioned that we'd been talking about current racial dynamics and crises of structural, environmental racism like COVID-19 within too narrow of a Black/White binary. In this episode, we've got intersectional indigenous activists, Desiree Kane and Tewentenhawihtha Aldrich. We begin by asking, Can you both speak to us about US naivety in relation to the issues affecting native folks? How do you feel about land acknowledgment statements? And what can be done to make them more impactful?

Today, we're talking with Stephanie Rivera Berruz and Taina Figueroa about race and racism in the university and their particularly cities (i.e. Milwaukee and Atlanta). We focus on LatinX identities and their relation to the Black/White Binary, especially in the wake of the murders of George Floyd and Breanna Taylor. By asking, What are some ways y'all think current discussions concerning COVID-19 and/or institutional racism need to involve discussions of LatinX identities? Disability? Or other marginalized groups? Next, we zoom in on some particular examples of the pervasive problem of race and racism within the US through a discussion of Milwaukee's segregation and Mayor Keisha Bottoms' response to #blm in Atlanta.

Today, we're talking with Charles Mills, Linda Alcoff, and Shelley Tremain about a more specific issue than we have in our previous episodes. That said, it's an issue that we believe connects up with racism and ableism not only in the discipline of philosophy, but also racism and ableism as it is experienced globally. In particular, we want to talk about the news that came out several weeks ago about a seven year, $2.78 million grant that was awarded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for a project entitled “Extending New Narratives in the History of Philosophy”. While the goals of the project sound great, “to change the standards of practice in philosophy to enable the discipline to become inclusive and diverse by retrieving philosophical works of women and individuals from other marginalized groups across historical periods from 1400 through 1940 and sustaining the presence of these figures and their works in the history of philosophy” you all will immediately notice that the project is run almost exclusively by white women, with a few white men thrown in. Some might even say that it also seems to be primarily interested in uncovering the works of white women. There was a good deal of discussion about this at the DailyNous and the philosophy internet world.

In this episode, we talk about how James Baldwin influenced our podcast, and his connection to Juneteenth and Pride. Following that, we talk about whiteness, Trump, and the importance and history of Juneteenth and Pride, especially the way that the Trans community fought during the 1960s.

In this episode, we focused our conversation on what it takes to live-out being a committed anti-racist ally, particularly one needs to critically engage democracy, education, and one's community. Towards the end of this episode, we dialogue about the police protest over the last month, looting, policing, defunding the police, and other current topics.The ethos of this episode can be felt in this James Baldwin quote, "Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them. They must, they have no other models. That is exactly what our children are doing. They are imitating our immorality, our disrespect for the pain of others."