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Spoiler alert! These are two success stories! Our host Eri, dedicates this episode to fellow survivors. "Recently, Rachel & I realized we've both had similar experiences of navigating reproductive care as survivors of sexual assault. It can be powerfully healing to see yourself reflected in someone else's story. We knew, as survivors and community educators, that this is a conversation we wanted to share with others. Join us for a two part, vulnerable deep-dive into what it can look like to navigate reproductive care as a survivor. In part 1, Rachel speaks to her experience in somatic therapy, strategies utilized prior to her medical visit, and what an empowering experience can look like! MEET RACHEL Rachel Sementilli (she/her) is a queer full spectrum birthworker, holistic fertility & menstrual cycle healing guide and a reproductive health educator based in so-called Southeast Michigan. She also spends time doing work as an intuitive energy healer and yoga teacher. Rachel was brought to this work, like so many of us, by her personal experiences, healing journey and drive for political activism. She is passionate about this work and about devoting herself to a praxis that is self-healing, community healing and cultural healing all at once. Learn more about her work on social media @The_Rach_S and by visiting RevenirServices.com. Podcast production by Cat Petru of We Rise Production. Questions & feedback welcome! Contact cat@birthbruja.com | https://www.weriseproduction.com/
On this podcast we talk about words. How we use them. What they mean. And why they're so darn important. Learn a new word every week with host Cat Petru. Words that you can use every day, both big and small. Words that help define the world around you and even help make sense of, well, you!
On July 15, Cal Shakes hosted a community meal and civic dialogue about the role of joy in our movement building, our resistance, and our art. The conversation was inspired by our production of House of Joy by Madhuri Shekar. Special thank you to Cat Petru and Nicky Gervacio of We Rise production for recording, producing, and editing this episode of Asides. Guests: Madhuir Shekhar, Kimiya Shokri, CiCi Jevae, and Cal Shakes community partner RYSE Youth Center.
On July 9, Cal Shakes partnered with Causa Justa :: Just Cause to host a community meal and civic dialogue called "Is Capitalism Killing Us?" inspired by our production of The Good Person of Szechwan. Special thank you to Cat Petru and Nicky Gervacio of We Rise Production for recording, producing, and editing this episode of Asides. Hosts: SK Kerastas and Tierra Allen. Guests: Aimee Suzara, Ronald Flannery, Anjali Lynn Nath Upadhyay, and Cal Shakes community partner Causa Justa :: Just Cause.
With an invitation from First Voice Media producer Kendall Crakow, Birth Bruja creator & host Eri Guajardo Johnson and We Rise co-creator & co-host Cat Petru sat down to weave stories about their mothers and grandmothers. As the two state in their dialogue, there are so many stories left untold. The ones that surfaced reflect the personal & political, pain & revelation. They are prayers, memories, and offerings.What is your relationship with mothers & mothering? How has it been defined and by whom? What might reclaiming this relationship feel like? And who or what might be available for support on this journey?Hear more from Eri on her podcast Birth Bruja, available on iTunes & SoundCloud.LINKSMama's Day Show on KPFA's Full Circle https://kpfaapprent.wordpress.com/2019/05/10/full-circle-5-10-2019-honoring-mothers/Dr. Vandana Shiva in Yes! Magazine https://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/what-would-nature-do/vandana-shiva-seed-saving-forest-biodiversity-20190503Braiding Sweetgrass https://milkweed.org/book/braiding-sweetgrassCaliban and the Witch https://www.akpress.org/calibanandthewitch.html
“If women aren’t safe in their country, their family can protect them. And if they aren’t safe in their family their country can protect them. But what happens to women when they aren’t safe in their country or in their family?” - Lali Putri in Far, Far Better ThingsDirector Katja Rivera and actor Kimiya Shokri join host Cat Petru and guest cultural workers Eri Guajardo Johnson and Nadya Tannous to delve into this critical question and more on this episode of the T1 podcast inspired by Geetha Reddy's original work Far, Far Better Things. We name and explore the relationship between intimate and state violence against women - and discuss how we can show up for one another. Eri (creator of the Birth Bruja podcast) lends insight as a birthworker with over a decade of work at San Francisco Women Against Rape providing rape crisis support. Nadya, general coordinator of the Palestinian Youth Movement in the U.S., shares boldly and openly about both the violence endured and survival strategies enacted by Palestinian women and youth in their homeland and in diaspora.Many threads are woven together on this episode; our resilience and our pain. A reminder to take exquisite care of yourself as you listen.Connect with Eri on Instagram & Facebook @birthbrujaConnect with Nadya & PYM @palestinianyouthmovementFar, Far Better Things runs April 25 - May 19 at the Live Oak Theater in Berkeley, CA.Tickets at theatrefirst.comFar, Far Better Things is a TheatreFIRST & Shotgun Players co-productionMusic: 'Malo' by Spanish artist Bebe
One constellation of guiding lights for guest host Cat Petru's cultural production organization “We Rise” are Toni Cade Bambara's words: “The role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible.” Rhodessa Jones is this artist. On today's show we delve into her latest show When Did Your Hands Become a Weapon? and celebrate 40 years of Cultural Odyssey and 30 of The Medea Project. Guests include company members Fe Bongolan, Lisa Frias, Uzo Nwankpa and Chibueze Crouch…more Please note that we discuss rape culture and violence against women in this #metoo moment. The sharing is often intimate. Please take exquisite care of yourself as you listen. The post Womens Magazine – December 24, 2018: Women Saving Our Own Lives, The Legend of Rhodessa Jones appeared first on KPFA.
Rhodessa Jones of The Medea Project and Cultural Odyssey joins us again for this sweet & potent Winter Solstice edition of Women Saving Our Own Lives. Uzo Nwankpa and Lisa Frias, who both performed in The Medea Project's When Did Your Hands Become A Weapon? join host Cat Petru live in the KPFA studios as well. Please note that we discuss rape culture and violence against women in this #metoo moment. The sharing is often intimate. Please take exquisite care of yourself as you listen.GUESTSRhodessa Jones is Co-Artistic Director of the acclaimed San Francisco performance company Cultural Odyssey. She is an actress, teacher, director, and writer. Ms. Jones is also the Director of the award winning Medea Project: Theater for Incarcerated Women and HIV Circle, which is a performance workshop designed to achieve personal and social transformation with incarcerated women and women living with HIV. During fall 2017 and winter 2018 Rhodessa was a Frank H. T. Rhodes Visiting Professor at CORNELL UNIVERSITY and a MONTGOMERY FELLOW at DARTMOUTH COLLEGE conducting lectures and workshops at these prestigious institutions. In December 2016 Rhodessa received a THEATRE BAY AREA LEGACY AWARD presented to individuals that have made “extraordinary contributions to the Bay Area theatre community.” In 2014 she received The Sui Generis Foundation Achievement Award for “one of a kind contributions which benefit society in unique ways.” More at https://themedeaproject.weebly.com/.Lisa Frias started performing with The Medea Project in 1995. She’s a dancer, choreographer, actor, and singer, and teaches middle school dance in Daly City. She’s honored to be working with Medea for over 2 decades. Uzoamaka (Uzo) Nwankpa (performer) is a fourth- generation descendant of women healersfrom Enugu, Nigeria, West Africa. She is a first generation immigrant to the west and dedicated to the preservation and restoration of the Igbo culture. She is a performing artist, dance facilitator, choreographer, educator, researcher, registered nurse and an advocate for healing through the use of the arts. As an advocate for communities that use the arts to heal, Uzo is dedicated to creating and exploring diverse ways to combine ancient practices with innovation.LINKSwww.culturalodyssey.org/facebook & insta: @medeaprojectrhodessa@culturalodyssey.org415.292.1850 Cultural Odyssey office
With the rains just lifting the dense smoke in the SF Bay Area, some might be reminded of the nourishment of life in balance. The massive fires, in both Northern and Southern California, were devastating. Wildfires though they are, their intensity is a result of global warming brought on by uncontained, disproportionate & extractive economic growth. Our eco-logical and eco-nomic systems are not so disconnected.On this episode, a circle of guests from the Buen Vivir Fund join host Cat Petru to shed light on our economic status quo through a rather unusual and specific lens: impact investing. What is impact investing? For those unfamiliar, our guests break it down - and challenge it in the mainstream. For those familiar, and particularly those in radical movements, you might be wondering: "Why do a show about impact investing? Accumulated wealth has a fraught and super problematic legacy." The thing is, the Buen Vivir Fund knows this. And rather than perpetuate investment models that privilege investors, they're challenging the paradigm. The Buen Vivir Fund is comprised of a web of relationships & partnerships where "risk" cannot be defined in terms of individual capital gain or loss. Buen Vivir means right living. So, at a time when global crises are reaching tipping points, what is right living? What are our greatest risks? And how can we diligently & thoughtfully work together to meet them?LINKSBuen Vivir Fund https://thousandcurrents.org/buen-vivir-fund/AFEDES https://thousandcurrents.org/partners/afedes/ & https://www.facebook.com/mujeresafedes/Regenerative Finance http://regenerativefinance.com/First Voice https://kpfaapprentice.org
What are your earliest memories of magic? How did your ancestors pray? Where did whiteness come from? How can people racialized as white decimate white supremacy? What do you think of when you see or hear the word "witch"? Grace Diehl, Johanna Holden, and Kelsey Gustafson join host Cat Petru to dive into these questions and more in this episode called "The Witching Hour." Kelsey and Johanna sing (Kelsey in Gaelic!) and Grace reads from her novel entitled "Yuppie White Girl Treason." Please tune in and share feedback!Connect:Grace IG @_bearheart_Kelsey kelseygustafson.com, IG @queen.meaveJohanna thewaterwitch.com, IG @riverdykeWe Rise IG @weriseproductionBadass artwork by Mike Willcox! IG @mikewillcox
DJ Deep Space takes us through a galaxy of music to celebrate the turn of the Gregorian calendar - welcome 2018! We Rise co-producer Nicole Gervacio co-hosts with Cat Petru. Guests include the ineffable DJ Deep Space and doula and artist Megan Chadwick. Join us for jams that will get you up outta your seat and conversation about healing and helping those creative juices flow.PHOTO: The Butterfly Galaxy (it's real!)
Last episode, we spoke with therapist Shawneshia Hoover and cultural producer Cat Petru of We Rise for a foundational conversation around Loss & Grief. We covered topics such as coping mechanisms, harm reduction, the power of community, the role of professional help, and more. This episode, we listen to birthworker Maureen Buttner as she tells the tale of her mother giving birth to her and her twin, Sydney. Listeners, please take extra care around this episode as this story includes the death of a grandmother in addition to a 2nd trimester miscarriage. Following this heartfelt storytelling, we discuss the dual gates of life and death, the need and power of community, healing as a cyclical journey, and power of intuition- especially as a birthing person! Stay tuned for our next episode with birthworker and co-found of the Roots of Labor Birth Collective, Elena Aurora. We dive even deeper into ways loss and grief can manifest in the birth experience, what we as birthworkers can do to be of support, and how we as birthworkers can best support ourselves through such work when we are struggling with our lives. Join the conversation on instagram by following @birthbruja. More Show Notes
Episode 5 is part one of a series dedicated to exploring and holding space for loss & grief. As with all of our series, the first conversation aims to create a baseline understanding of the topic. We look at Loss & Grief in its entirety and dive into its impact outside of the birth room. We talk about coping mechanisms, intergenerational trauma, harm reduction, how to best provide support, and more. In today’s episode, we are joined by two steller humans- community worker, artist, and marriage family therapist, Shawneshia Hoover as well as artist, dancer, cultural producer, and producer of the Birth Bruja Podcast, Cat Petru. Follow Shawneisha @lapreebarber and Cat at @weriseproductions
Theresa Adams and Cat Petru of KPFA's First Voice Apprenticeship Program guest host a special edition of Women's Magazine in honor of Women's History Month. Cat speaks with doulas, Megan Chadwick and Eri Guarjardo Johnson, about birthwork as a site of healing, transformation, and justice. Theresa and Cat simultaneously celebrate this month by illuminating women's legacies and labor – from the newsroom to the birthroom – and challenge the pretense that women are centered merely one month out of the year. The post Birthwork as a site of healing and transformation and IWD and Labor appeared first on KPFA.