The BIG We

In this episode we sit down with Natalie Baszile the writer of Queen Sugar and talk about her book and the release of her upcoming book. We discuss her upbringing and the inspiration behind her writings. The theme behind her writings are centered around Black Farmers and connecting to our agricultural roots in the South. Find out more at the thebigwe.com

On this episode Anasa shares what has been keeping her busy during the pandemic and what she has learned about herself during these time. Anasa talks about the election and of course shares her Pop 3 to start of the season! Anasa discusses the legacy and legend left behind by Cecily Tyson, how she has been enjoying Sundance Film Festival virtually, and the release of Judas and the Black Messiah. The last Pop 3 is the release of "You Are The Best Thing" by Tarana Burke and Dr. Brené Brown. Tell us what y'all think at @thebigwepodcast & check out the show notes at thebigwepodcast.com

We're coming back for Season 3! In our first episode of 2020 Anasa and Calvin WENT LIVE on Facebook to catch up and talk adjusting to life during a pandemic. We get into Bill Withers, discuss Cardi B's political musings and talk about what freedom really looks like. We're also are joined by a very special surprise guest! Tell us what y'all think at @thebigwepodcast & check out the show notes at thebigwepodcast.com

Anasa and Calvin are joined by activist, musician and preacher Rev. Sekou on this special episode of The Big We. The trio gets into America's acknowledgment of Juneteenth, share honest opinions on Beyonce's latest release and explore what abolition and protection really look like. They also talk Dave Chappelle's 8:46 and discuss the possibilities of the future under new suns. Tell us what y'all think at @thebigwepodcast & check us out at thebigwepodcast.com.

This is a bonus episode to start off Season 3. Anasa and Calvin attempt to make sense of what's happening in the world right now. They get into what defunding the police really means, tackling unique issues in the workplace and what to tell all those nice folks asking how they can help. They also talk John Boyega's fiery Hyde Park speech, Problem Areas with Wyatt Cenac, and the transformational Wellness of We. Tell us what y'all think at @thebigwepodcast & check us out at thebigwepodcast.com. Links: Join our private Weverse community: https://weverse.wethebigwe.com/ John Boyega at Hyde Park: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGXEB25WdyQ Wellness of We https://www.thewellnessofwe.com/ Check out our Patreon page https://www.patreon.com/thebigwe Wayne's World dissolve https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_76RK_5bBs

Anasa and Calvin dive into Harriet, the new Harriet Tubman biopic directed by Kasi Lemmons starring Cynthia Erivo. We explore Harriet as a freedom fighter, prophet, mystic, and military leader and what it's like to engage with her legacy during this Year of Return. Tell us what y'all think at @thebigwepodcast & check out the show notes at thebigwepodcast.com

We talk to our favorite comedian Kevin Avery about the new blaxploitation throwback film, Dolemite is My Name starring Eddie Murphy. Kevin Avery is a brilliant comedian, producer, and writer—he's written on shows like HBO's Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell, and Comedy Central's The New Negroes with Baron Vaughn & Open Mike Eagle. We talk to Kevin about the legacy of blaxploitation, gender, race, and how marginalized groups have always found creative ways to get their work seen by the world. Whether Kevin is roasting Anasa or waxing poetic about the role of a comic storyteller today, he had us giggling til our faces hurt. Tell us what y'all think at @thebigwepodcast & check out Kevin's full bio in the show notes at thebigwepodcast.com

What do our superpowers teach us about our longings? How do we create spaces for young people to fully step into their voices and power? In this special episode, we're THRILLED to be joined by our favorite sci fi & Afrofuturism visionaries, Autumn Brown and adrienne maree brown! Join our juicy conversation about love, parenthood, imagination, youth, magic, and longing as we explore the new scifi show “Raising Dion. Tell us what you think @thebigwepodcast and hello@thebigwepodcast.com and visit http://thebigwepodcast.com for full show notes. adrienne maree brown is author of Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good, Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds and the co-editor of Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction from Social Justice Movements. She is a writer, social justice facilitator, Octavia Butler scholar, pleasure activist, healer, singer/speaker (including wedding singer!), founder of the Emergent Strategy Institute, and a doula living in Detroit. Autumn Brown is a mother (of dragons!), organizer, theologian, sci-fi writer, artist, and facilitator. She is a Worker-Owner at the Anti-Oppression Resource & Training Alliance (AORTA), a worker-owned cooperative devoted to strengthening movements for social justice and a solidarity economy through political education, training, and planning. How to Survive the End of the World is adrienne maree & Autumn Brown's podcast where they "learn from the apocalypse with grace, rigor and curiosity."

In this special Indigenous People's Day edition of the Big We, we talk to our friends Kevin Killer and Sarah Eagle Heart who recently returned from a trip to Ghana as part of a truth and healing project to commemorate the 400 year anniversary since 1619, the year the first ship with enslaved Africans arrived in Virginia.They share their perspectives on what their travels from Oglala to Oguaa taught them about history, memory, culture, and home. Learn how what they witnessed was an answer to the ancestors' prayers - 400 years later. PLUS: have your sweet potato pie and eat it too! Inspired by Indigenous People's Day, Anasa reminds us that we can invent our own traditions based on our values. Start planning your own version of a “Family Fantasy Extravaganza” or the holiday Anasa invented to replace the colonizer holiday formerly known as “Thanksgiving."  As Anasa says...it is our sacred duty to CREATE! #YearofReturn #Ghana #1619 #400Years #Sankofa #IndigenousPeoplesDay #FamilyFantasyExtravaganza #Lakota #Oglala #Oguaa #Thankstaking #afrofuturism #indigenousfuturism  Find us @thebigwepodcast on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and hello@thebigwepodcast.com Visit http://thebigwepodcast.com for show notes and guest bios

Afrofuturism is everywhere! Allow Calvin and Anasa to be your guides to the Renaissance of Black storytellers who are accessing their imaginations to liberate the past, present and future… Nerd out with us on Beyonce's return to the Continent, Black identity and storytelling at the Emmy's, the nuanced magic of David Makes Man, Ta Nehisi Coates' brilliant new Afrosurrealist novel, and more! Don't miss this episode's Afrofuturist Afterparty playlist of our fave Afrobeats from across the continent and the Diaspora on Spotify. Send us more recommendations! @thebigwepodcast on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and hello@thebigwepodcast.com Visit http://thebigwepodcast.com for the episode's companion playlist and show notes!

Anasa and Calvin are feeling sad about Dave Chappelle...  What do we do when people we want to root for disappoint us? How do we hold courageous conversations on important issues that call people IN rather than cancel them, allow space for growth and learning, and still center the dignity and humanity of those who have been harmed? Tell us what you think! Plus: a new feminist hip hop album not to miss, Calvin's current futurist anime fave and more culture recs to give you hope in times of (r)evolution! Also don't miss this episode's Spotify playlist #LoveforAll Mixtape where we highlight some of our favorite Black womxn artists, particularly queer, trans, femme, masc, and nonbinary musicians. Send us more recommendations! @thebigwepodcast on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and hello@thebigwepodcast.com Visit thebigwepodcast.com for the episode's companion playlist and show notes! 

Anasa has been thinking a lot about money—specifically, how race impacts class and one's ability to "manifest abundance." What happens when "All you need is LOVE" is just not true? How do Black folks heal their personal relationships to abundance while asserting a need for repair from the structures that systematically kept them from it on a material level? Join the conversation and tell us what you think! Tweet/Facebook/Instagram us @thebigwepodcast or drop us a line at hello@thebigwepodcast.com.

“The most powerful thing we can do in this time is to be our most free selves. Imagine who you would be if you were FREE!” -Anasa Troutman The BIG We is back! In this episode Anasa and Calvin talk about the history and magic of #BlackAugust and why sustaining Black JOY is the most powerful, radical, healing, freeing thing they can do in this #YearofReturn. Plus: thoughts on #ToniMorrison #Ablackladysketchshow #Southside and more of our #Pop3 pop culture faves! Don't miss the new #hopespot segment where we share what's bringing us hope in times of apocalypse, and Anasa's pro-tips on how to manifest more JOY in your life! (Hint: it has to do with ice cream.) Check out the #SongsofSolomon Toni Morrison tribute playlist to accompany this episode at: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3dDgkMAcIEKKDMnIA60w8G What's bringing YOU joy and hope in these times? Give us a shout on twitter/instagram/fb at @thebigwepodcast or by email hello@thebigwepodcast.com. Read the full show notes at thebigwepodcast.com

This 4th of July, Calvin raises a red black and green cup in honor of Frederick Douglass. What does freedom really look like, sound like, taste like to you? What is a celebration of freedom that connects to a Bigger We? Tell us how you're reinventing this colonizer holiday @wethebigwe!

In our finale episode of this season, Calvin and Anasa share their thoughts, heartbreaks, and meaning making of the #GameofThrones Finale. Plus: ancestral storytelling through food, #afrosurrealist back to the future, and a surprise ancestry reveal from Calvin! Tweet us @wethebigwe - What's a food that tells the story of your ancestors? & Email us your alternate Game of Thrones endings askthebigwe@gmail.com Stay tuned for Season 2 - possibly in....Ghana!

Calvin makes a BIG Announcement and Anasa publicly apologizes to Beyoncé... Tune in and find out how you can practice transformative love in public in this era of Thanos and BBQ Beckies. Plus: lessons from the songbook of Stevie Wonder, #Moechella vs. Gentrification, transformative Black Queer #MetGala fashion, and exclusive #GameofThrones Pro-wrestling conspiracy theories - all brought to you with love & power by your fave culture nerds!

What does Avengers: Endgame have to teach us about humanity in this #YearofReturn??? Calvin and Anasa break it all the way down and nerd allllll the way out, guiding us through the superhero film's secret BIG We agenda... Plus: Homecoming, Guava island, Black power naps, and our can't-miss culture recommendations for your watchlists! If YOU had the infinity gauntlet, how you would you transform the world? Tweet us @wethebigwe PS. Be t-shirts twins with Calvin & support racial, gender & climate justice and 100% clean energy for the 100% by snagging these limited edition threads here —> https://represent.com/endgame

In this episode, Anasa gets schooled on love by her civil rights hero Dr. James Lawson & Calvin has a landmark birthday that teaches him about the magic of unexpected returns. Join them as they dish on everything from difficult love to the new Octavia Butler tv adaptations, Jordan Peele's Us, and Game of Thrones!

Calvin and Anasa take the Year of Return to Hawaii with special guests Zen Master Norma Wong and filmmaker Na'alehu Anthony, exploring the powerful Native Hawaiian movement that's reclaiming indigenous language as a pathway to the future—and sailing Polynesian canoes around the world! Norma Wong is a Zen teacher and strategy practitioner. In earlier years, Wong served as a Hawai‘i state legislator, on the policy and strategy team for Governor John Waihee with federal and Native Hawaiian portfolios, and community organizing and policy work in the Native Hawaiian (indigenous) community. She was active in electoral politics for over thirty years. Current and recent work include: strategic thinking and transformational development. Wong is a teacher at the Institute of Zen Studies and Daihonzan Chozen-ji, having trained in Zen for nearly 40 years. She serves practice communities in Hawai‘i, across the continental U.S., and in Toronto, Canada. Among her areas of teaching: the Zen perspective of strategy and The Art of War; leadership and strategy in the 7 generations context; and mind-body practice in secular and organizational settings. She received her inka shomei (Mind Stamp) as an 86th generation Zen Master of Chozen-ji. Nāʻālehu Anthony is a Native Hawaiian from Kaʻaʻawa, O'ahu and is the founder of Palikū Documentary Films - a production company that focuses on documentaries and oral histories with a special emphasis on Hawaiʻi and its people. Nāʻālehu's other great passion is being a part of the voyaging community. As a crew member since 1995 and more recently as a captain aboard Hōkūleʻa, his voyaging experiences have shaped and defined him as a person and has been a focal point for his films. Anthony is also the CEO for ʻŌiwi Television Network, the first and only Hawaiian owned and operated television network. Nāʻālehu's upbringing, education, and experience led him to pursue his most recent role in the community as Vice Chairman and Oʻahu Commissioner for the Native Hawaiian Roll Commission. His recent film, MOANANUIĀKEA: ONE OCEAN ONE PEOPLE ONE CANOE, a documentary celebrating Hōkūleʻa's historic Mālama Honua Voyage, premiered at the Hawai‘i International Film Festival November 2018. Theme music by Pacita Rudder Transition music by Kawika Kahiapo

Calvin and Anasa weren't expecting a visit to a former plantation in North Carolina to change their lives, but sometimes we need to go back to the past to heal the future. Hear their tales of return to Southern land, to joy beyond justice, to the songs of Lauryn Hill, to the trauma of R.Kelly. Find out how and why they're claiming 2019 as the Year of Return and join them in their journey!

Welcome to The BIG We! A new podcast that dives into the messiness, heartache, power, humor, love, and brilliance of people who are transforming a world gone wack into a world grounded in love and regeneration, leaving behind the nasty power relations we all deal with every day. In this pre-episode, Co-Host Anasa Troutman tells us how she turned "Thanksgiving" into a real-life Family Fantasy Extravaganza — a new ritual that lets us laugh and love our way into a visionary future. Theme music by Pacita Rudder: https://soundcloud.com/pacitarudder Produced by Movement Strategy Center and the Kudzukian Network.