Podcasts about heavy an american memoir

The international bestselling author returns to the Walsh family in her latest novel My Favorite Mistake; Bridget Raymundo shares what books the internet was loving this year; the book that defines “genre-bending” to Matthew R. Morris, a Juno Award-winning jazz singer who loves to birdwatch; and remembering celebrated Canadian thriller author Andrew Pyper on this episode of The Next Chapter.Books discussed in this episode include:Collide by Bal KhabraI Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham JonesA Sweet Sting of Salt by Rose SutherlandHeavy: An American Memoir by Kiese LaymonThe Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan

In this episode, Kiese Laymon (author of Long Division, How to Slowly Kill Yourself in America, and Heavy: An American Memoir) joins Prudie (Jenée Desmond-Harris) to answer letters from readers about how to convince your strict religious parents to let you go to an out-of-state college, whether to report a coworker's insensitive gym behavior to HR, and how to deal with a mom who forgets to take her medication and immediately uses a racial slur. If you want more Dear Prudence, join Slate Plus, Slate's membership program. Jenée answers an extra question every week, just for members. Go to Slate.com/prudieplus to sign up. It's just $15 for your first three months. This podcast is produced by Se'era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, and Jenée Desmond-Harris, with help from Maura Currie. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Kiese Laymon (author of Long Division, How to Slowly Kill Yourself in America, and Heavy: An American Memoir) joins Prudie (Jenée Desmond-Harris) to answer letters from readers about how to convince your strict religious parents to let you go to an out-of-state college, whether to report a coworker's insensitive gym behavior to HR, and how to deal with a mom who forgets to take her medication and immediately uses a racial slur. If you want more Dear Prudence, join Slate Plus, Slate's membership program. Jenée answers an extra question every week, just for members. Go to Slate.com/prudieplus to sign up. It's just $15 for your first three months. This podcast is produced by Se'era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, and Jenée Desmond-Harris, with help from Maura Currie. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Kiese Laymon (author of Long Division, How to Slowly Kill Yourself in America, and Heavy: An American Memoir) joins Prudie (Jenée Desmond-Harris) to answer letters from readers about how to convince your strict religious parents to let you go to an out-of-state college, whether to report a coworker's insensitive gym behavior to HR, and how to deal with a mom who forgets to take her medication and immediately uses a racial slur. If you want more Dear Prudence, join Slate Plus, Slate's membership program. Jenée answers an extra question every week, just for members. Go to Slate.com/prudieplus to sign up. It's just $15 for your first three months. This podcast is produced by Se'era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, and Jenée Desmond-Harris, with help from Maura Currie. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Kiese Laymon (author of Long Division, How to Slowly Kill Yourself in America, and Heavy: An American Memoir) joins Prudie (Jenée Desmond-Harris) to answer letters from readers about how to convince your strict religious parents to let you go to an out-of-state college, whether to report a coworker's insensitive gym behavior to HR, and how to deal with a mom who forgets to take her medication and immediately uses a racial slur. If you want more Dear Prudence, join Slate Plus, Slate's membership program. Jenée answers an extra question every week, just for members. Go to Slate.com/prudieplus to sign up. It's just $15 for your first three months. This podcast is produced by Se'era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, and Jenée Desmond-Harris, with help from Maura Currie. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Kiese Laymon (author of Long Division, How to Slowly Kill Yourself in America, and Heavy: An American Memoir) joins Prudie (Jenée Desmond-Harris) to answer letters from readers about how to convince your strict religious parents to let you go to an out-of-state college, whether to report a coworker's insensitive gym behavior to HR, and how to deal with a mom who forgets to take her medication and immediately uses a racial slur. If you want more Dear Prudence, join Slate Plus, Slate's membership program. Jenée answers an extra question every week, just for members. Go to Slate.com/prudieplus to sign up. It's just $15 for your first three months. This podcast is produced by Se'era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, and Jenée Desmond-Harris, with help from Maura Currie. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

//SPOILERS FOR LONG DIVISION//Mississippi author Kiese Laymon joins us for our season finale. We discuss the revised version of his novel Long Division, explore themes of freedom, language, and timelessness, and talk about creating art separate from the white imagination.Kiese Laymon is a Black southern writer from Jackson, Mississippi. Laymon is the Libby Shearn Moody Professor of English and Creative Writing at Rice University. Laymon is the author of Long Division, which won the 2022 NAACP Image Award for fiction, and the essay collection, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, named a notable book of 2021 by the New York Times critics. Laymon's bestselling memoir, Heavy: An American Memoir, won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, the Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose, the Barnes and Noble Discovery Award, the Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media, and was named one of the 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years by The New York Times. The audiobook, read by the author, was named the Audible 2018 Audiobook of the Year. Laymon is the recipient of 2020-2021 Radcliffe Fellowship at Harvard. Laymon is at work on the books, Good God, and City Summer, Country Summer, and a number of other film and television projects. He is the founder of “The Catherine Coleman Literary Arts and Justice Initiative,” a program based out of the Margaret Walker Center at Jackson State University, aimed at aiding young people in Jackson get more comfortable reading, writing, revising and sharing on their on their own terms, in their own communities. Kiese Laymon was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2022.RESOURCES Long Division by Kiese Laymon "We Need to Reckon with the Rot at the Core of Publishing" by Elaine Castillo. LitHub.BOOKSHOPhttps://bookshop.org/shop/hoodooplantmamasBE A PATRON!https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamasSOCIAL MEDIATwitter: @hoodooplantsInstagram: @hoodooplantmamasDONATEPaypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamasCashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Ghrey, and our artwork was designed by Bianca.

In this episode of Docs Outside the Box Dr. Nii lays out his plan to read a new book a month in 2023, and discusses how he selected each of the twelve titles. Included in his selections are How to Win Friends and Influence People, Heavy: An American Memoir, Building a Second Brain and How to Be an Antiracist. Renée shares her own book choices, including Michelle Obama's, The Light We Carry, and the doctors respond to a Textiful question from two third-year KCU medical students. Things to expect in this episode:Dr. Renée scats to Nii's dismayThird-year medical students, Leah and Sam, inquire about couple matching for residencyThe doctors share their book list for 2023, and float the possibility of starting a DOTB book clubDr. Nii shares how he anticipates the book, So Good They Can't Ignore You, will relate to his own personal struggle balancing his passion for podcasting with his work as a surgeon.Dr. Chambers, The Period Doctor, freezes her eggs and Dr. Renée shares her own IVF experienceDrs. Nii and Renée's Book Reading List for 2023:So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You LoveThe Pathless Path: Imagining a New Story for Work and Life by Paul MillerdSomeday is Today: 22 Simple, Actionable Ways to Propel Your Creative Life by Matthew DicksThe Way of the Superior Man: A Spiritual Guide to Mastering the Challenges of Women, Work and Sexual Desire by David Deida$100M Offers: How To Make Offers So Good People Feel Stupid Saying No by Alex HormoziWhite Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin J. DiAngeloHow to be an Antiracist by Ibram X KendiHeavy: An American Memoir by Kiese LaymonHow to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale CarnegieBuilding a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential by Tiago ForteHomegoing: A Novel by Yaa GyasiThe Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8 AM) by Hal ElrodThe Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times by Michelle ObamaI, Too, Cry Purple Tears by Dr. Brooke M. MobleyWE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!!!! TELL US WHAT YOU WANT TO HEAR ON FUTURE EPISODES!!!!FILL OUT THE DOCS OUTSIDE THE BOX PODCAST SURVEY (in partnership w INCROWD)INCROWDMAKE EXTRA MONEY AS A RESIDENT OR ATTENDING - COMPLETE MEDICAL SURVEYS WITH INCROWDWATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE!Join our communityText word PODCAST to 833-230-2860Twitter: @drniidarkoInstagram: @drniidarkoEmail: team@drniidarko.comPodcasting Course: www.docswhopodcast.comMerch: https:

Jordan talks with Kiese Laymon about fear, loving an enemy, trying not to write wack-ass shit, and what it was like to buy back the rights to his first books in order to have them revised and republished. Mentioned: "How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others" at Gawker Playing in the Dark by Toni Morrison "Come and Get Me" -- Jay-Z Toni Morrison's Nobel Prize lecture Jesmyn Ward Kiese Laymon is a Black southern writer from Jackson, Mississippi. Laymon is the author of the genre-bending novel Long Division and the essay collection How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America. Laymon's bestselling memoir, Heavy: An American Memoir, won the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, the 2018 Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose, the Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media, and was named one of the 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years by The New York Times. The audiobook, read by the author, was named the Audible 2018 Audiobook of the Year. Laymon is the recipient of 2020-2021 Radcliffe Fellowship at Harvard. Laymon is at work on several new projects, including the long poem Good God, the horror comedy And So On, the children's book City Summer, Country Summer, and the film Heavy: An American Memoir. He is the founder of “The Catherine Coleman Literary Arts and Justice Initiative,” a program aimed at getting Mississippi kids and their parents more comfortable reading, writing, revising, and sharing. For more Thresholds, visit us at www.thisisthresholds.com Be sure to rate/review/subscribe! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kiese Laymon, a southern writer born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi, is one of the best writers in the country and someone I got to know during my time as Vassar College. Recently there have been towns across America banning books by some of the country's greatest writers. Books by Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, Kiese, and others have been removed from libraries and banned from schools. I'm re-airing this episode because his voice is powerful, inspiring, critical, authentic and vital for free-thinking people everywhere. Kiese Laymon is the author of Heavy: An American Memoir, the novel Long Division  and a collection of essays, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America. Heavy, winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal, the LA Times Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose and Audible's Audiobook of the Year, was named one of the Best Books of 2018 by the The Undefeated, New York Times, Publishers Weekly, NPR, Broadly, Library Journal , The Washington Post , Southern Living , Entertainment Weekly, San Francisco Chronicle and The New York Times Critics. Laymon is the recipient of the 2019 Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media. Laymon has written essays, stories and reviews for numerous publications including Esquire, McSweeneys, New York Times, ESPN the Magazine, NPR, The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, Vanity Fair, The Best American Series, Ebony, Paris Review, Guernica and more. Photo credit in the episode graphic to Tim Ivy. Follow Matt: Instagram - @rambling_runner Twitter - @rambling_runner YouTube - www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ83E0U8M4V7klqZB8BF3wA Rambling Runner Podcast Community Corner private Facebook group - www.facebook.com/groups/125544686229661 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alicia Garza welcomes award winning author Kiese Laymon. Garza asks Laymon about his bestselling book, Heavy: An American Memoir, his writing process, and how he would describe the story of the current state of the world. Plus, Garza brings all of the real with her weekly roundup of all that's good and awful from the past week.Kiese Laymon on Twitter & InstagramLady Don't Take No on Twitter, Instagram & FacebookAlicia Garza on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram & Facebook This pod is supported by the Black Futures LabProduction by Phil SurkisTheme music: "Lady Don't Tek No" by LatyrxAlicia Garza founded the Black Futures Lab to make Black communities powerful in politics. She is the co-creator of #BlackLivesMatter and the Black Lives Matter Global Network, an international organizing project to end state violence and oppression against Black people. Garza serves as the Strategy & Partnerships Director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance. She is the co-founder of Supermajority, a new home for women's activism. Alicia was recently named to TIME's Annual TIME100 List of the 100 Most Influential People in the World, alongside her BLM co-founders Opal Tometi and Patrisse Cullors. She is the author of the critically acclaimed book, The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart (Penguin Random House),  and she warns you -- hashtags don't start movements. People do. 

Vox's Jamil Smith speaks with novelist and author Kiese Laymon in a far-ranging conversation about Laymon's reacquiring the rights to his own books, the struggle of retelling our own stories, and the challenges of articulating American narratives that include all Americans accurately. Host: Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith), Senior Correspondent, Vox Guest: Kiese Laymon (@KieseLaymon), author References:  "What we owe and are owed" by Kiese Laymon (Vox; May 17) Long Division by Kiese Laymon (Scribner; 2021) How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America by Kiese Laymon (Scribner; 2020) Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon (Scribner; 2018) "Why I Paid Tenfold to Buy Back the Rights for Two of My Books" by Kiese Laymon (Literary Hub; Nov. 10, 2020) "'RS Interview: Special Edition' With Ta-Nehisi Coates" by Jamil Smith (Rolling Stone; Nov. 20, 2020) "The Roots of Structural Racism Project: Twenty-First Century Racial Residential Segregation in the United States" by Stephen Menendian, Arthur Gailes, and Samir Gambhir (Othering & Belonging Institute; 2021) "Black churches taught us to forgive white people. We learned to shame ourselves" by Kiese Laymon (The Guardian; June 23, 2015) "Now Here We Go Again, We See the Crystal Visions" by Kiese Laymon (Vanity Fair; Nov. 19, 2020) We are conducting an audience survey to better serve you. It takes about five minutes, and it really helps out the show. Please take our survey here: vox.com/survey Enjoyed this episode? Rate Vox Conversations ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear the next episode of Vox Conversations by subscribing in your favorite podcast app. Support Vox Conversations by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts This episode was made by:  Producer: Erikk Geannikis Editor: Amy Drozdowska Engineer: Paul Robert Mounsey VP, Vox Audio: Liz Kelly Nelson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode I got a chance to catch up with a fellow Jane-of-all-trades, Alana J. She is an actress, comedienne, writer amongst other things. She is co-creator, director and executive producer of the BET Digital Series, Two Grown. We sat down to catch up post the height of the pandemic and all that it brought. As creatives, we are thinking about how it affected our lives and the future of our work. Its always a good time catching up with like-minded folks and this was no exception! Recommendation of the Week Alana suggests - movie - Blindspotting - It stars Daveed Diggs, Rafael Casal and Janina Gavankar. It reflects on current events including police brutality and racial dynamics. Alexandria suggests - book - Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon. This book is a look back on the author's life and includes the struggles he came across and overcame. Support this podcast! Check out the NEW www.InterruptingRacismPodcast.com/support-this-podcast Please be sure to subscribe/follow this podcast on your streaming service so that you are always first to know when new episodes arrive! You can follow Interrupting Racism Podcast on Instagram with the handle @interruptingracismpodcast on Twitter @IntruptinRacism on the Facebook page Interrupting Racism Podcast, on Tik Tok @InterruptingRacismPod or email at interruptingracismpodcast@gmail.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/interruptingracismpodcast/support

Author Kiese Laymon recently got into a twitter dust up about the eternal question, Outkast v. The Beatles. He wrote, “Beatles stole southern Black and added it to British white. Outkast stole Mars and added it to southern urban Black. Outkast wins.” After reading more of what Kiese had to say about the appropriation of Black southern music, Adia knew she needed to bring him on the show. Their conversation unfolds over how Outkast created new space for southern hip hop, what Adia learned from watching the Derek Chauvin trial, and what hip hop itself can learn from the blues. For the playlist of songs curated for this week's episode, head over to http://bit.ly/cr-kiese./ Music In This Week's Playlist / Rich Boy, “Throw Some Ds”Goodie Mob, “Cell Therapy”Trina, “The Baddest Bitch”Lucille Bogan, “Shave ‘Em Dry”Nappy Roots, “Awnaw”Ludacris, Field Mob feat Jamie Foxx, “Georgia”Arthur Alexander, “Anna (Go To Him)”/ Show Notes /Kiese Laymon is the author of the genre-bending novel, Long Division and the essay collection, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America. Laymon's bestselling memoir, Heavy: An American Memoir, won the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction.Link to the tweet that launched this episode.Watch Outkast win best new artist at the 1995 Source Awards.Scholar Regina N. Bradley's book is Chronicling Stankonia, and you can read Kiese's essay about OutKast ‘Da Art of Storytelling (A Prequel) in Oxford American./ Credits / Call & Response is a Sonos show produced by work x work: Scott Newman, Jemma Rose Brown, Adia Victoria, Babette Thomas and Megan Lubin. Our engineers are Sam Bair and Josh Hahn of The Relic Room.

On this week’s episode of Currently Reading, Meredith and Kaytee are discussing: Bookish Moments: immersive reading and a bookish gift Current Reads: we are all over the playground of reading taste Deep Dive: we discuss which genres we shy away from Book Presses: a few memoirs for those of you who shy away (ahem, Meredith) As per usual, time-stamped show notes are below with references to every book and resource we mentioned in this episode. If you’d like to listen first and not spoil the surprise, don’t scroll down!  New: we are now including transcripts of the episode (this link only works on the main site). These are generated by AI, so they may not be perfectly accurate, but we want to increase accessibility for our fans! *Please note that all book titles linked below are Amazon affiliate links. Your cost is the same, but a small portion of your purchase will come back to us to help offset the costs of the show. Thanks for your support!*   . . . . Intro: 1:51 - Become a Patron  2:15 - A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas 2:34 - A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas Bookish Moments: 3:41 - Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant 3:54 - Let’s Make Art  7:03 - Yes Yes Cookies (seven layer magic bars here in the U.S) 7:47 - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S Lewis Current Reads: 8:34 - Do Better: Spiritual Activism for Fighting and Healing from White Supremacy by Rachel Ricketts (Kaytee) 11:02 - Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies by J.B. West (Meredith) 11:38 - Heather’s Bookstagram  15:24 - Pet by Akwaeke Emezi (Kaytee) 15:29 - The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker 17:57 - We Are Unprepared by Meg Little Reilly (Meredith) 21:42 - 10 Things to Tell You Episode w/Meredith and Kaytee 21:51 - Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko (Kaytee) 24:54 - We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker (Meredith) 25:03 - Fabled Bookshop Deep Dive - Genres Outside Our Playground 32:21 - Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow 34:28 - A Promise Land by Barack Obama 35:19 - Bad Blood by Jon Kerryrou 40:51 - Genre Convincer episode with Mary Heim Books We Want to Press Into Your Hands: 43:15 - Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon (Kaytee) 44:45 - Heartland by Sarah Smarsh (Meredith) 44:53 - Season One, Episode 14 46:12 - Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance Connect With Us: Meredith is @meredith.reads on Instagram Kaytee is @notesonbookmarks on Instagram Mindy is @gratefulforgrace on Instagram Mary is @maryreadsandsips on Instagram currentlyreadingpodcast.com @currentlyreadingpodcast on Instagram currentlyreadingpodcast@gmail.com Support us at patreon.com/currentlyreadingpodcast

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at dr.danamalone@gmail.com or cgessler@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear: reflections on the shutdown, the weight and tension involved in decision-making during this time, mental and soul exhaustion, centering the humanity in higher education work, and thoughts on what we’re taking out of this pandemic as a field. Our guest is: Dr. James (Jim) D. Breslin, PhD a higher education scholar, practitioner, and consultant who specializes in student success, academic support and advising, assessment, institutional effectiveness, and leadership and administration. He currently serves as the Assistant Provost for Assessment, Accreditation, and Institutional Effectiveness at Bellarmine University. Dr. Breslin has presented more than 70 conference sessions and published several peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on a variety of topics. He is engaged currently with research teams that range from developing new conceptual and practical frameworks for assessment to exploring the relationships between higher education professionals and peer educators. Dr. Breslin participates as an active citizen in the field of higher education and has consulted with institutions and organizations across the US and beyond. He has served on editorial boards for several peer-reviewed publications and in leadership roles in professional organizations, including his current roles as Director-elect of Professional Development on the ACPA Governing Board and Chair of the ACPA Assessment Oversight Task Force. Dr. Breslin has been recognized for his contributions to the field of higher education and most recently was named a Diamond Honoree by the American College Personnel Association Foundation. Your host is: Dr. Dana Malone, a higher education scholar and practitioner. Dana first met Jim in graduate school in their “Theories of College Student Development” course. Over the years, a kindred professional relationship – and friendship – developed, which includes working, presenting, and writing together as well as sharing drinks over Facetime. Listeners to this episode might be interested in: Code Switch podcast. Throughline podcast. ACPA’s A Bold Vision Forward.  If anyone is interested in Dr. Breslin’s thoughts on pressing issues in higher ed just prior to COVID, check out Emerging Trends in Higher Education.  A recent read that stands out: Heavy: An American Memoir. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/education

Join Felicia Rose Chavez and Kiese Laymon as they discuss The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop's call to consciously work against traditions of dominance in the classroom and how to achieve authentically inclusive writing communities. Get a copy of The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop here: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1552-the-anti-racist-writing-workshop ---------------------------------------------------- Speakers: Felicia Rose Chavez is an award-winning educator with an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of Iowa. She is the author of The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop: How to Decolonize the Creative Classroom and co-editor of The BreakBeat Poets Volume 4: LatiNEXT with Willie Perdomo and Jose Olivarez. Chavez served as Program Director to Young Chicago Authors and founded GirlSpeak, a literary webzine for young women. She went on to teach writing at the University of New Mexico, where she was distinguished as the Most Innovative Instructor of the Year, the University of Iowa, where she was distinguished as the Outstanding Instructor of the Year, and Colorado College, where she received the Theodore Roosevelt Collins Outstanding Faculty Award. Her creative scholarship earned her a Ronald E. McNair Fellowship, a University of Iowa Graduate Dean's Fellowship, a Riley Scholar Fellowship, and a Hadley Creatives Fellowship. Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Felicia currently serves as Scholar-in-Residence in Creativity and Innovation at Colorado College. Find her at www.antiracistworkshop.com. Kiese Laymon is a Black southern writer, born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. Laymon attended Millsaps College and Jackson State University before graduating from Oberlin College. He earned an MFA in Fiction from Indiana University. Laymon is currently the Ottilie Schillig Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Mississippi. He served as the Distinguished Visiting Professor of Nonfiction at the University of Iowa in Fall 201. Laymon is the author of the novel Long Division , the collection of essays How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, and Heavy: An American Memoir. Heavy, winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal, the LA Times Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose and Audible's Audiobook of the Year, was named one of the Best Books of 2018 by the The Undefeated, New York Times, Publishers Weekly, NPR, Broadly, Library Journal, The Washington Post, Southern Living, Entertainment Weekly, San Francisco Chronicle and The New York Times Critics. Laymon is the recipient of the 2019 Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media. Laymon has written essays, stories and reviews for numerous publications including Esquire, McSweeneys, New York Times, Virginia Quarterly Review, ESPN the Magazine, Granta, Colorlines, NPR, LitHub, The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, PEN Journal, Fader, Oxford American, Vanity Fair, The Best American Series, Ebony, Travel and Leisure, Paris Review, Guernica and more. Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/6B1_pIVzPRU Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

In light of the unwarranted firing of Garrett Felber from the University of Mississippi despite his scholarship and contributions to dismantling the carceral state, a panel of activist academics discuss the implications of the situation and the relationship between the university and social movements. ---------------------------------------------------- Speakers: Garrett Felber was recently fired by the University of Mississippi despite his incredible work in the study of the racist American carceral state and his activism with the Study and Struggle project that organizes against incarceration and criminalization in Mississippi. Ruth Wilson Gilmore is Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences, and American Studies, and Director of the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics at the City University of New York Graduate Center. Author of Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California, she has two books forthcoming in 2021: Change Everything: Racial Capitalism and the Case for Abolition and Abolition Geography. Elizabeth Hinton is Associate Professor of History and African American Studies at Yale University and Professor of Law at Yale Law School. Her research focuses on the persistence of poverty, racial inequality, and urban violence in the 20th century United States. Robin D.G. Kelley is the Distinguished Professor and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History at UCLA and author of numerous books on the history of social movements in the U.S., the African Diaspora, and Africa; Black intellectuals; music and visual culture. Kiese Laymon is the Hubert H. McAlexander Chair of English at the University of Mississippi and the author of the bestselling memoir, Heavy: An American Memoir, which won the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor writes and speaks on Black politics, social movements, and racial inequality in the United States. She is author of From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation and editor of How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective, Her most recent book, Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership , was a finalist for a National Book Award for nonfiction, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for History. The event will also feature solidarity statements from supporters including Dylan Rodríguez, President of American Studies Association, Sherie Randolph, and more. Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/olbnwpV4B38 Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Today’s On My Nightstand-read is from the chapter titled, Terrors from the New York Times best-selling memoir, Heavy, by Keise Laymon.  Kiese Laymon is a Black southern writer from Jackson, Mississippi. Laymon’s bestselling memoir, Heavy: An American Memoir, won the 2019, Andrew Carnegie Medal, for Excellence in Nonfiction, the 2018 Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose, the Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media, and was named one of the 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years by The New York Times. The audiobook, read by the author, was named the Audible 2018 Audiobook of the Year. Heavy was a finalist for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in Nonfiction and the Kirkus Prize in Nonfiction. It was named a best book of 2018 by the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, NPR, Broadly, Buzzfeed, The Washington Post and Entertainment Weekly.  You can listen to Kiese’s episode of The Only One In The Room here (once the link is live) and find more of Kiese’s work on his website here https://www.kieselaymon.com/  Be sure not to miss our weekly full episodes on Tuesdays, Scott Talks on Wednesdays & Sunday Edition every Sunday by subscribing to the show wherever you listen to podcasts.  We love hearing from you in the comments on iTunes and while you're there don't forget to rate us, subscribe and share the show! All of us at The Only One In The Room wish you safety and wellness during this challenging time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Best selling author of Heavy: An American Memoir and How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, Kiese Laymon (@kieselaymon) joins us for our Christmas episode, one of our all-time favorite conversations, to discuss his journey as a black author in America. Topics include: Publishing rights, family, loneliness, and the "Maya Angelou Accent". Follow us on instagram @waypodcast Hosts: Jennifer Pastiloff @jenpastiloff Alicia 'ACE' Easter @aceyogala Produced by: Aviv Rubinstien @rambocalrissian Music by: Alexandra Kalinowski @alexandrapaloma    

Guest host Eddie Glaude is joined by writer Kiese Laymon on episode 146 of The Quarantine Tapes. They connect over their shared background as writers from Mississippi and Eddie asks Kiese about his worries prior to the release of his recent memoir.Kiese talks about his relationship to the margins in his writing. They take a deep look at the craft of writing, discussing influences, revision, and what makes a Kiese Laymon sentence. Finally, Kiese talks movingly about the relationship he finds between writing and prayer.http://www.kieselaymon.com Kiese Laymon is a Black southern writer from Jackson, Mississippi. Laymon’s bestselling memoir, Heavy: An American Memoir, won the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, the 2018 Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose, the Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media, and was named one of the 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years by The New York Times. Laymon is a Contributing Editor at Vanity Fair and Oxford American. He has written for New York Times, Esquire, VSB, ESPN The Magazine, Paris Review, NPR, Colorlines, The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, Ebony, Guernica, Fader, Travel & Leisure, Lit Hub, and many others. A graduate of Oberlin College, he holds an MFA in creative writing from Indiana University.

If you’re interested in reading a book that explores racism, sexism, and identity through the lens of a Black boy coming of age in Mississippi then my review of "Heavy: An American Memoir" by Kiese Laymon might be for you.   Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/heavy-an-american-memoir-book-review.    

Adrienne Amador Oddi, Dean of Admissions & Financial Aid at Trinity College in Hartford, CT, shares her story, which may overlap with many other ALP alumni, but is very much her own. Learn how a swimmer's mindset is perfectly adaptable to leadership in admissions & financial aid. Also math.This quote from Adrienne Amador Oddi:"We take the steps to build community. And when we get tired, the beauty of community is that somebody else can keep us going, and then, when our energy is restored, we can pick up the slack again."Shout-outsJennifer DelahuntyDarryl UyJonathan BurdickMarie BighamHeath EinsteinAngel PerezRapid DescentWalkout song: Shut Up and Dance by Walk the Moon (and fellow Kenyon '09 classmate Nick Petricca)Best recent read: I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown.Eager to read next: America is Not the Heart by Elaine CastilloPodcast ... or audible book: Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese LaymonFavorite thing to make in the kitchen: "Working on my brunch game."What she uses to take and keep notes: Moleskine cahier, extra large with a Vision Elite Uniball (micro point). Also Trello.Memorable bit of advice: From Jim Steen, winningest swim coach in NCAA history: "You can live your life in two ways: under a threat, or for a challenge."Bucket list: "Finding ways to help women find their voices and succeed in leadership positions. Working and brining all my interests together in coaching women to find and create their space."

Hosts Kate and Medaya talk to Kelli Jo Ford, author of the new novel, Crooked Hallelujah, a multi-generational story about Justine — a mixed-blood Cherokee woman — and her daughter Reney. Kelli Jo Ford, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, discusses her love of landscape, her childhood, and how she has come to consider about faith, even in the most difficult of times. Also, Melissa Faliveno, author of the collection of essays Tomboyland, returns to recommend Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon.

Hosts Kate and Medaya talk to Kelli Jo Ford, author of the new novel, Crooked Hallelujah, a multi-generational story about Justine — a mixed-blood Cherokee woman — and her daughter Reney. Kelli Jo Ford, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, discusses her love of landscape, her childhood, and how she has come to consider about faith, even in the most difficult of times. Also, Melissa Faliveno, author of the collection of essays Tomboyland, returns to recommend Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon.

Carolyn Su is a native Texan, the daughter of Taiwanese-immigrant parents. She formerly practiced as a Registered Dietitian, and she and her family currently live in the Boston-area, where she is on staff as the Women's Ministry Coordinator at her church. Carolyn advocates for racial representation and equity in running, through writing weekly story features of BIPOC runners on the IG account she created, @DiverseWeRun. Carolyn says, "I view my life as a platform for advocacy, whether it's for people groups, women, or those who have historically been marginalized. We all have a responsibility to use our voice for the voiceless, and to leave the world a better place than when we entered it." Discussed in this episode: --Cultural context in understanding disorder discussions --The myth of colorblindness --Code-switching --Jumping into anti-racism work (sprint versus doing this work for the long-haul) --@DiverseWeRun Panel: Inclusion and Safety as a BIPOC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VazGz2PakKo&feature=youtu.be&autoplay=1&mute=0 --Cancel culture (canceling someones personhood versus holding hope that people can change) --Ali on the Run Show: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ali-on-the-run-show/id1204523870 --Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon (note: Carolyn's sound cut out when she was talking about this book, so she gave a longer, even more glowing description than what was caught on the recording): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29430746-heavy --Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52845775-minor-feelings Follow Carolyn: --Instagram: @diversewerun @irunforglory Follow Social Sport: --Instagram: @socialsportpod --Facebook: @socialsportpod --Twitter: @emmamzimm --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/socialsport/support

In recent weeks, we’ve returned to some of our favorite conversations with nonfiction authors including Ijeoma Oluo, Ibram X. Kendi and Verna Myers about race. But that isn’t the only type of written work that looks at and offers insight on the racial reckoning our nation is facing amid a pandemic. MPR News host Kerri Miller talked with two authors and the head of the National Book Foundation about what’s been on their reading list in terms of fiction, memoirs and poetry this year. Guests: Brit Bennett is one of the National Book Foundation’s 5 under 35 2016 honorees. Her first novel, “The Mothers,” was a bestseller and her latest novel is titled “The Vanishing Half.” Lisa Lucas is the executive director of the National Book Foundation. Kiese Laymon is the author of several works including his latest, “Heavy: An American Memoir.” Here’s what Bennett, Lucas and Laymon are reading: Novel: “The Glass Hotel” by Emily St. John Mandel Novel: “Actress” by Anne Enright Essay: “When the World Went Away, We Made a New One” by Leslie Jamison Poetry: The works of Wanda Coleman Nonfiction: “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents” by Isabel Wilkerson Poetry: “Homie” by Danez Smith Nonfiction: “Are Prisons Obsolete?” by Angela Y. Davis Fiction: “Parable of the Sower” by Octavia E. Butler Memoir: “Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir” by Natasha Trethewey Nonfiction: “Breathe: A Letter To My Sons” by Imani Perry Nonfiction: “Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own” by Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. Poetry: The works of June Jordan Poetry: The works of Eve. L. Ewing Poetry: The works of Jericho Brown Testimony: 1964 Testimony by Fannie Lou Hamer before the Credentials Committee, Democratic National Convention. Listen Author Brit Bennett explores colorism in ‘The Vanishing Half’ To listen to the full conversation, use the audio player above. Subscribe to the MPR News with Kerri Miller podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts , Spotify or RSS.

In episode 391, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn do the thing and Chris reviews Hamilton and Beats! Discussed: Reunited Apart, Doctor Sleep, Looney Tunes, Perry Mason, Lone Wolf & Cub: Sword of Vengeance, Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James, Heavy An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon, Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, Batman: Assault on... The post #391 – Nightmare Logic of Cartoon Dynamite appeared first on Cinema Crespodiso.

On the weight of being Black in America... Kiese Laymon has spent his whole life in conflict over eating and not eating. Over the course of his life, his weight has spiked and dipped. In his book, Heavy: An American Memoir, Kiese weaves together all these experiences. In doing so, disordered eating, anti-blackness, fat-phobia, and addiction all bubble together. "As artists, we got to be able to talk about all of it at once because it always happens at once," he says. "Food to me is a paradoxical way to get into all of the mess of what we are." Get 500+ more great Sporkful episodes from our catalog and lots of other Stitcher goodness when you sign up for Stitcher Premium: www.StitcherPremium.com/Sporkful (promo code: SPORKFUL). Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

On studentship, using your art to heal, and becoming heavy enough to hold it all. Kiese Laymon is the author of three books, most recently the NY Times bestselling memoir, Heavy: An American Memoir. He is a Professor of English born and raised in Jackson Mississippi. The places we stay [3:26] What inspired Kiese to write Heavy to his mother [5:05] The consequences of masking pain [7:18] How learning requires failure [11:31] Parenting and secrets [14:25] The importance of tender touch [18:25] What does it mean to repair damage done? [21:43] The overlapping problems with police [25:19] Gambling addiction and recovery [29:50] Kiese's Grandmother. Embodying love. Heavy enough [36:03] Resources Heavy by Kiese Laymon Kiese Laymon on Dani Shapiro's podcast Family Secrets

Imani Perry is the Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies and faculty associate in the Program in Law and Public Affairs and Gender and Sexuality Studies at Princeton. She is the author of six books, most recently the award-winning titles, Breathe: A Letter to My Sons and Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry. She was born in Birmingham, Alabama and currently lives outside Philadelphia with her two sons. Kiese Laymon is the Hubert McAlexander Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Mississippi. He is the author of the novel, Long Division, a collection of essays, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, and the award-winning Heavy: An American Memoir. Laymon was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. (recorded 6/9/2020)

This episode is an attempt to provide a way forward through conversations across race about the difficult topics of racism, white privilege, conscious and unconscious biases, how to identify them and how to address them. This episode is our effort to call in white people to increase their knowledge around racism in its historical and present contexts and engage in positive action to support Black Lives Matter. It also an attempt to extend an open hand in support of people of color. The Evolved Caveman is committed to anti-racism. This is an attempt to join with Black people and other people of color. Now is the time when we anti-racist white people need to commit to having intentional conversations with the people in our lives and on social media who might be conflicted about the protests because of the narratives of violence and looting outlined by those with other agendas. We need to start these uncomfortable, yet supremely important, conversations. Below are resources to begin your education… Articles to read: • Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement (Mentoring a New Generation of Activists • My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant' by Jose Antonio Vargas | NYT Mag (June 22, 2011) • The 1619 Project (all the articles) | The New York Times Magazine • The Combahee River Collective Statement • The Intersectionality Wars' by Jane Coaston | Vox (May 28, 2019) • White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack' by Knapsack Peggy McIntosh • Who Gets to Be Afraid in America?' by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi | Atlantic (May 12, 2020) Podcasts to check out: • 1619 (New York Times) • About Race • Code Switch (NPR) • Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast • Pod For The Cause (from The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights) • Pod Save the People (Crooked Media) • Seeing White Books to read: • Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Dr. Brittney Cooper • Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon • How To Be An Antiracist by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi • I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou • Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson • Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad • Raising Our Hands by Jenna Arnold • Redefining Realness by Janet Mock • Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde • So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo • The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin • The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander • The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century by Grace Lee Boggs • The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson • Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston • When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America by Ira Katznelson • White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo, PhD Films and TV series to watch: • 13th (Ava DuVernay) Netflix • American Son (Kenny Leon) Netflix • Black Power Mixtape: 1967-1975 Available to rent • Clemency (Chinonye Chukwu) Available to rent • Dear White People (Justin Simien) Netflix • Fruitvale Station (Ryan Coogler) Available to rent • If Beale Street Could Talk (Barry Jenkins) Hulu • Just Mercy (Destin Daniel Cretton) Available to rent • King In The Wilderness HBO • See You Yesterday (Stefon Bristol) Netflix • Selma (Ava DuVernay) Available to rent • The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution Available to rent • The Hate U Give (George Tillman Jr.) Hulu with Cinemax • When They See Us (Ava DuVernay) Netflix Organizations to follow on social media: • Antiracism Center: Twitter • Audre Lorde Project: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook • Black Women's Blueprint: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook • Color Of Change: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook • Colorlines: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook • The Conscious Kid: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook • Equal Justice Initiative (EJI): Twitter | Instagram | Facebook • Families Belong Together: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook • The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook • NAACP: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook • National Domestic Workers Alliance: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook • RAICES: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook • Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ): Twitter | Instagram | Facebook More anti-racism resources to check out: • 75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice • Anti-Racism Project • Jenna Arnold's resources (books and people to follow) • Rachel Ricketts' anti-racism resources • Resources for White People to Learn and Talk About Race and Racism • Showing Up For Racial Justice's educational toolkits • The [White] Shift on Instagram This is an edited version of document compiled by Sarah Sophie Flicker, Alyssa Klein in May 2020. A big thank you to Sarah and Alyssa. Check us out on Google Play and give us a Like and Subscribe! https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Imo4l6pgrbmeklxvec6pgwzxnz4 If you like what you've heard, support us by subscribing, leaving reviews on Apple podcasts. Every review helps to get the message out! Please share the podcast with friends and colleagues. Follow Dr. John Schinnerer on | Instagram | Instagram.com/@TheEvolvedCaveman | Facebook | Facebook.com/Anger.Management.Expert | Twitter | Twitter.com/@JohnSchin | LinkedIn | Linkedin.com/in/DrJohnSchinnerer Or join the email list by visiting: GuideToSelf.com Please visit our YouTube channel and remember to Like & Subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/user/jschinnerer Editing/Mixing/Mastering by: Brian Donat of B/Line Studios www.BLineStudios.com Music by: Zak Gay http://otonamimusic.com/

Black Lives Matter. Black Stories Matter. Share them. Say their names. Don’t let them be silenced. Resources - Advancement Project’s List of Organizations (https://advancementproject.org/how-you-can-act-now-to-address-police-violence/) - Bookshop’s Antiracist Reading Recs (https://bookshop.org/lists/antiracist-reading-recs) - Henry Louis Gates, Jr. spotlights the last 50 years of African-American history in “Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise” now streaming in full for free online (https://watch.weta.org/show/black-america-mlk-and-still-i-rise/) - Guide to Ally-ship: read the short guide here (https://guidetoallyship.com/) - 10 Steps to Non-Optical Allyship: on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/p/CA04VKDAyjb/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link) - An anti-racist reading list from Ibram X Kendi (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/29/books/review/antiracist-reading-list-ibram-x-kendi.html) - List of Black-Owned bookstores in the U.S. (https://aalbc.com/bookstores/list.php) - The Conscious Kid (https://www.theconsciouskid.org/about/) : A resource to help educate children on racial bias and promoting positive identity development - I have No Mouth, and I Must Scream: The Duty of the Black Writer During Times of American Unrest by Tochi Onyebuchi (https://www.tor.com/2020/06/01/i-have-no-mouth-and-i-must-scream-the-duty-of-the-black-writer-during-times-of-american-unrest/) - Ibram X Kendi on why not being racist is not enough (https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/14/ibram-x-kendi-on-why-not-being-racist-is-not-enough) Accounts to Follow on Social Media - The Conscious Kid on Instagram (https://instagram.com/theconsciouskid?igshid=9p7j4jyk7wn3) - Spinesvines on Instagram (https://instagram.com/spinesvines?igshid=1itc7byp0ob5l) - The Stacks Podcast on Instagram (https://instagram.com/thestackspod?igshid=1ocj4sd78c8ak) - Diverse Spines on Instagram (https://instagram.com/diversespines?igshid=9n2shtxu7gsv) - Bowties and Books on Instagram (https://instagram.com/bowtiesandbooks?igshid=t3167ozs7bbv) Where to Donate - Black Live Matter: donate here (https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ms_blm_homepage_2019) - Campaign Zero: donate here (https://www.joincampaignzero.org/#vision) - The Bail Project: donate here (https://bailproject.org/) Podcasts/Podcast Episodes - Code Switch Podcast (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/code-switch/id1112190608): hosted by journalists of color, the podcast tackles the subject of race head-on. - Deadline City Podcast (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deadline-citys-podcast/id1482022414): hosted by authors Dhonielle Clayton & Zoraida Cordova who talk about the publishing industry and their writing journeys. - First Draft Podcast’s (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/first-draft-with-sarah-enni/id896407410?i=1000452748799) interview with Jason Reynolds, discusses his book LOOK BOTH WAYS, his childhood growing up in DC, his writing career, and more. - The Stacks Podcast (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-112-r-eric-thomas-here-for-it/id1362164483?i=1000475188487) interview with R. Eric Thomas, author of HERE FOR IT, a collection of humorous and thoughtful essays centering around his identities of Black, Christian, Gay, and American. - The Reading Women’s (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/reading-women/id1118019442?i=1000465359770) interview with Kiley Reid, author of SUCH A FUN AGE. Black Stories on Youtube - Let’s Talk About Race: Nic Stone & Jodi Picoult (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQcUPRqbUuA) - Amber Ruffin’s Experience with Police on Late Night with Seth Meyers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8o6OEyfuJU8) - This is My Story - The FBE Cast (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FowNV-PvcyY) - Untold Story of Black Suffragettes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzpc6u2PJ5U) Tara’s Book Rec Sister Outsider - on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32951.Sister_Outsider) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/sister-outsider-essays-and-speeches-9780143134442/9781580911863) Audre Lourde is a legend. When I read Sister Outsider for the first time a few years ago I felt empowered, I felt rage, I felt sickened - I cried a number of times. Ultimately, it’s a plea for hope and change. Why I picked it? A stunning number of my friends on Goodreads have not read this book. It’s older, but I think it’s just as important now as when it was published. Meredith’s Book Rec Dear Martin on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24974996-dear-martin?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=JkaNZk39FR&rank=1) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/dear-martin/9781101939529) This book might be short, but its impact is huge as it tackles racial discrimination, police brutality, and the inequality in the American school system. Why I picked it? This is one of those books that sticks with you. I ugly cried during portions of it, but was still left with hope at the end. It’s also a great time to read it because Nic Stone is publishing a sequel called DEAR JUSTYCE in September 2020 that deals with the very real issues facing Black boys and other minorities in the American justice system. Jeannette’s Book Rec All American Boys on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25657130-all-american-boys) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/all-american-boys-reprint/9781481463348) Told from the two perspectives of Rashad and Quinn, this book explores the idea of police brutality and the trauma and impact it has on the victim and their community, but it also shows a white teen dealing with his privilege and what his responsibility is as someone who knows the truth behind the incident. Why I picked it? This book is so powerful in the way it handles real issues of discrimination and privilege. It made me think, it made me cry, and it has never really left me. Non-Fiction Book Recs - Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29780253-born-a-crime) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/born-a-crime-stories-from-a-south-african-childhood/9780399588198) - March on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29436571-march) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/march-book-one-9781603093002/9781603093002) - How to be An Antiracist on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40265832-how-to-be-an-antiracist?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=RcrqyFlOBY&rank=1) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/how-to-be-an-antiracist/9780525509288) - So You Want to Talk About Race on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35099718-so-you-want-to-talk-about-race?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=kHNRRrmlzG&rank=1) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/so-you-want-to-talk-about-race/9781580058827) - The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6792458-the-new-jim-crow?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=A9O5vRwRbM&rank=1) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/the-new-jim-crow-mass-incarceration-in-the-age-of-colorblindness-anniversary/9781620971932) - Heavy: An American Memoir on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29430746-heavy?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=drcUZW2fhg&rank=1) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/heavy-an-american-memoir/9781501125669) - White Fragility: Why it’s so Hard for White People to Talk About Racism on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43708708-white-fragility?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=qvf4zvOBvd&rank=1) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/white-fragility-why-it-s-so-hard-for-white-people-to-talk-about-racism/9780807047415) - Just Mercy:A Story of Justice and Redemption on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20342617-just-mercy?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=i5URE53cNm&rank=1) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/just-mercy-a-story-of-justice-and-redemption/9780812984965) - Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25898216-stamped-from-the-beginning?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=ySHfnhQvR5&rank=1) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/stamped-from-the-beginning-the-definitive-history-of-racist-ideas-in-america-9781568585987/9781568585987) - Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52220686-stamped?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=GzTXW6dN5T&rank=2) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/stamped-racism-antiracism-and-you-a-remix-of-the-national-book-award-winning-stamped-from-the-beginning/9780316453691) - Here For It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in America; Essays on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45915136-here-for-it?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=FFJht955IC&rank=1) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/here-for-it-or-how-to-save-your-soul-in-america-essays/9780525621034) - I Know Why the Caged Birds Sings on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13214.I_Know_Why_the_Caged_Bird_Sings?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=FVDgMjJy5I&rank=1) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/i-know-why-the-caged-bird-sings/9780345514400) - The Fire Next Time on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/464260.The_Fire_Next_Time?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=VjShxSnbiF&rank=1) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/the-fire-next-time/9780679744726) - Between the World and Me on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25489625-between-the-world-and-me?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=Fui0mGBH9g&rank=1) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/between-the-world-and-me/9780812993547) - Sister Outsider on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32951.Sister_Outsider?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=4DXMxZmpPV&rank=1) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/sister-outsider-essays-and-speeches-9780143134442/9781580911863) - Becoming on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38746485-becoming?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=sRwlA7QlrN&rank=1) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/becoming/9781524763138) - Brown Girl Dreaming on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20821284-brown-girl-dreaming?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=MqwNGFAQWX&rank=1) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/brown-girl-dreaming/9780147515827) Fiction Book Recs - The Hate U Give on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32075671-the-hate-u-give) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/the-hate-u-give/9780062498533) - The Fifth Season on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19161852-the-fifth-season?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=VFZbxrH0N1&rank=1) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/the-fifth-season/9780316229296) - Kindred on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60931.Kindred?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=qNDoKp897l&rank=1) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/kindred-9780807083697/9780807083697) - Homegoing on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27071490-homegoing?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=ACZZCRQs1w&rank=1) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/homegoing-9781101947135/9781101971062) - Invisible Man on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16981.Invisible_Man?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=JSTgSxWdMc&rank=1) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/invisible-man-9780679732761/9780679732761) - The Underground Railroad on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29584452-the-underground-railroad?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=Hq6NJPQMHK&rank=1) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/the-underground-railroad-9780385542364/9780345804327) - The Nickel Boys on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42270835-the-nickel-boys?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=kn9mpwcpny&rank=1) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/the-nickel-boys-winner-2020-pulitzer-prize-for-fiction/9780385537070) - Long Way Down on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22552026-long-way-down?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=G3pOQt7HjY&rank=1) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/long-way-down-9781481438254/9781481438261) - The Belles on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23197837-the-belles?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=HaoMmcEL2S&rank=1) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/the-belles/9781484732519) - A Phoenix First Must Burn on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49619831-a-phoenix-first-must-burn?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=QKOjX8e7i7&rank=2) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/a-phoenix-first-must-burn-sixteen-stories-of-black-girl-magic-resistance-and-hope/9781984835659) - All American Boys on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25657130-all-american-boys?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=Fsje5QTOC9&rank=1) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/all-american-boys-reprint/9781481463348) - Dear Martin on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24974996-dear-martin?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=26fM2HEZEH&rank=1) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/dear-martin/9781101939529) - American Street on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30256109-american-street?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=dIUmteTScP&rank=1) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/american-street/9780062473059) - Pride on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35068632-pride?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=NFFXEYoI9g&rank=7) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/pride-9780062564047/9780062564054) - Slay on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43723509-slay?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=sBxstr9aex&rank=9) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/slay/9781534445420) - You Should See Me in a Crown on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50160619-you-should-see-me-in-a-crown?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=TxhQ8aU6ux&rank=1) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/you-should-see-me-in-a-crown/9781338503265) - Felix Ever After on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51931067-felix-ever-after?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=q8ivmnHk9L&rank=1) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/felix-ever-after/9780062820259) - The Wedding Date on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33815781-the-wedding-date?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=qRYtpHHhy4&rank=1) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/the-wedding-date-9780399587665/9780399587665) - Riot Baby on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43719523-riot-baby?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=yQHOjE5X6D&rank=1) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/riot-baby/9781250214751) - The Bluest Eye on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11337.The_Bluest_Eye?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=BkFLYgPLrc&rank=1) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/the-bluest-eye/9780307278449) - Their Eyes Were Watching God on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37415.Their_Eyes_Were_Watching_God?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=fXHDz3soTy&rank=1) and Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/books/their-eyes-were-watching-god/9780061120060)

“For me, I believe that Black lives matter. That’s what I said. Anyone with a functioning brain understands that all lives matter. Anybody. But right now there is a portion of our community that is frustrated, and they are suffering, and they are hurting. So, as an empathetic Christian I’m gonna go and say I agree with the statement Black lives do matter. But I was glad some people disagreed with me, because I kept saying, do Black lives matter yes or no? yes but…I’m like there is no but. We disagree. Those are the same type of people that would have interrupted Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus would have been like, blessed are the poor…no Jesus blessed are all people. Since when does highlighting one issue disparage another? Are we not secure enough to be able to sit here and go issue by issue and talk about one without disparaging another? Of course all lives matter, but it’s okay to say Black lives matter. What’s wrong with you? This is not rocket science. All lives matter. No kidding. That’s why Black lives matter, because until all lives matter equally, we need to focus on this.” -Carl Lentz, 2016   This is the most important episode I will ever release. I hope you approach it with an open heart.   Just recently: George Floyd was murdered by a police officer while three other police officers stood by and did nothing. Breonna Taylor was in her home in the middle of the night when police broke in, unannounced, and shot her to death. Ahmaud Arbery was out for a run when two men chased him and shot him to death. Christian Cooper was bird watching in Central Park when a woman threatened to call the police and say that an African American man was threatening her life. He was not.   It doesn’t stop there. The following Black men and women have been murdered by police: Philando Castile Atatiana Jefferson Eric Reason Natasha McKenna Botham Jean Walter Scott Bettie Jones Tamir Rice Michael Brown Dominique Clayton Eric Garner Trayvon Martin  Tanisha Anderson Sandra Bland Freddie Gray   THESE ARE JUST THE NAMES WE KNOW. Do you know how hard it is to find a full list of Black people who have been murdered at the hands of police brutality?    Here’s a brief history of the Black lives lost in our country over the past few years along with the #Blacklivesmatter gaining momentum:   ·      2013: #Blacklivesmatter first appears on twitter ·      7/17/14: Eric Garner dies in NY after being arrested ·      8/9/14: Michael Brown is killed during an encounter with police officer in Ferguson, MO. ·      11/22/14: Tamir Rice is killed by police in Cleveland while playing with a toy gun ·      11/24/14: Announcement that there will be no indictment in Michael Brown case ·      4/19/15: Freddie Gray dies in Baltimore while in police custody ·      6/17/15: Charleston church shooting kills 9 people ·      7/13/15: Sandra Bland is found hung in Texas jail cell   STATS ·      99% of killings by police from 2013-2019 have not resulted in officers being charged with crime. ·      Unarmed Black people were killed by police at 5x the rate of unarmed white people in 2015. ·      Police killed at least 104 unarmed Black people in 2015— nearly 2x a week. ·      1 in 3 young Black men will be incarcerated in their life (compared to 1 in 17 white men). ·      13TH DOC: “The film’s premise is that while the 13th Amendment to the Constitution eliminated slavery and involuntary servitude, it in effect had an unintentional loophole that asserted “except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.”” ·      Black people make up 6.5% of the American population but make up 40.2% of the prison population. ·      Our prison population went from less than 200k in 1970 to 2.3m today. This is what we refer to when we talk about mass incarceration.   THERE ARE PROVEN STRATEGIES that significantly reduce police killings, but very few Police Departments have adopted them. These are: Requirements that officers use all means other than shooting (decreases death by 25%) Requires all use of force be reported (decreases death by 25%) Bans chokeholds + strangleholds (decreases death by 22%) Has use of force continuum (decreases death by 19%) Requires de-escalation (decreases death by 15%) Duty to intervene if another officer uses excessive force (decreases death by 9%) Restricts shooting at moving vehicles (decreases death by 8%) Requires warning before shooting (decreases death by 5%) *You can call your local representatives and demand these 8 things be instituted with your local law enforcement. Want to learn more? Click here: https://8cantwait.org   WHY DO BLACK LIVES MATTER? My Personal Reckoning: 2016 ·      I didn’t realize my own white privilege for a long time. I felt better than the other white people when it came to bias and racism because I grew up in a broken home filled with drugs, addiction, affairs, and even lived in a town where I was a minority. The reality is I have loved Black culture for most of my life, but I have done very little to be an advocate for justice for my Black brothers and sisters. I’m so sorry for this. ·      I received a DM from a Black woman who encouraged me to diversify who I was interviewing on The Refined Woman. Almost all of my collaborations and interviews for the first few years of The Refined Woman were with white women. I was a white girl blogger. ·      In 2016 I also wrote an All Lives Matter blog post that fortunately never went live. I didn’t understand what it meant that Black Lives Matter. As a Christian I assumed didn’t all lives matter? Thank God I have a team, and thank God I didn’t go live with that painful article. I was very, very wrong.    Black Lives Matter, and here’s why:   Jesus was a 1st Century Palestinian Jewish man. He had brown skin and was hated by the religious, and beaten and killed by law enforcement. If he was alive today in America, he’d be a minority immigrant who probably wouldn’t step foot inside white evangelical churches except to flip over tables. The Western Evangelical Church in America has become a religion for rich, advantaged, and privileged white people—which is the exact opposite of the roots of Christianity and the life of Jesus. Jesus hung out with the oppressed people of society, those ostracized, those who didn’t feel safe in the church—those who were judged and cast off. He fought for justice, restored dignity and humanity from the woman at the well, woman caught in adultery, to touching people with contagious diseases and engaging with people outside of the Jewish law which would have made him unclean in Jewish circles. But he didn’t care, because He was on a mission to do God’s work.   Friend, if you are a follower of Jesus and do not have a heart for justice, racial reconciliation and to see the systemic walls, pillars, and foundations of racism in our country to be dismantled, you are out of alignment with the heart of God.   Who does Jesus care about?   -       Prodigal Son returns: the jealous brother instead of the father rejoicing over the return + safety of his son. But don’t I matter—OF COURSE YOU MATTER, BUT YOUR BROTHER WAS LOST + NOW IS FOUND.    -       Luke 15: Jesus leaves the 99 to go after the one sheep. He cares about the individual.   It’s time to get back in touch with the heart of Jesus. Do all lives matter? YES. But until Black lives matter—we better go after that. Jesus went after the one.   What can you do?    #1: Acknowledge If we don’t heal our past, it will follow us. And ours is HAUNTING US. -Kat Harris   1.     Until we acknowledge the experience of what it means to be a Black person in America there is no chance at healing. 2.     When someone dies, you show up. 3.     “I don’t know the full story.” You don’t have to. 4.     “People are just reposting for attention…not for the right reasons.” You don’t know their hearts. And so what? Does that mean you get to stay silent? 5.     Here’s what’s true: in 1619 was when the first wave of Black people were kidnapped from Africa to become slaves in Jamestown. July 4th isn’t a celebration of independence for Black people. They weren’t free when those freedom bells rang. America was built on the backs of terrorism and genocide and slavery of Black people, people of color and indigenous people. 6.     If we don’t heal our past, it will follow us. And ours is HAUNTING US. 7.     We have to look back before we can move forward. 8.     One of the first things we can do is acknowledge our white privilege. What is white privilege and how do you know if you have it? Go through these statements.   #2: Get Curious I STARTED NOTICING + GETTING CURIOUS: ·      Why did I have so few Black friends? ·      Why were there some Black people and people of color at my church but none on staff or leadership or in the decision-making rooms? ·      I changed churches because I wanted to be a part of a community with women in leadership, then I noticed almost every week at church I could count on one hand the number of Black people at my church…why? ·      Why were influential Black Christian people like Lecrae + Andre Henry leaving the church? ·      How come at my favorite salad place every single person in line buying was white and all the people working in the buffet are Black? ·      How come the expensive gym I had a membership to had mostly white members, and yet almost every single one of the people working there from front desk to maintenance are Black? ·      This started making me very uncomfortable. I didn’t know what to do—so I’d talk with my friends about it…but really I didn’t do much about it. I deeply regret this. #3: PRAY + REPENT: ·      When have you been complicit, silent, and chosen ignorance out of comfort and convenience? Write it down, say it out loud, pray, and repent. ·      Psalm 13 is great to walk through lament. ·      Psalm 51 is great to walk through repentance. #4: ACTIVATE: ·      Sign petitions for racial justice. change.org is a great start for this! ·      Talk with friends and family. ·      When you see racism, call it out. ·      Post on your platforms. ·      Call your local representatives and demand justice. ·      Support Black-owned businesses. ·      Donate to Historically Black Colleges and Universities. ·      Go to https://www.grassrootslaw.org to find out how you can support policing and justice in America. ·      Read this: 75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice by Corinne Shutack    #5: ORGANIZATIONS TO SUPPORT: ·      Equal Justice Initiative (Bryan Stevenson) ·      Be the Bridge (Latasha Morrison) and her wonderful resource page, “Where Do I Start?” ·      WhereChangeStarted.com has a great anti-racism starter kit ·      The Innocence Project ·      To help pay bail for protestors in NYC, money can be Venmo’ed to @bailoutnycmay.  ·      City-specific bailouts. ·      ACLU ·      NAACP ·      UNCF   #6: READ: “Stop asking us to give you books. Stop asking us to do research. Listen y’all were able to do mathematic equations through some Black women and then your own stuff and to be able to go to the moon, and put a flag in it and dance around and do the west coast strut. How in the world can you go from the earth to the moon and you can’t do research on the racial history that we need to fight in this country. I don’t want to be traumatized by teaching you history. I want you to grow up in your spiritual maturity, and grow up in your faith, and go on the sanctifying journey of overriding the patriotic way that we’ve learned history in America.” - Pastor Eric Mason   1.     White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo 2.     So You Want to Take About Race by Ijeoma Oluo 3.     The Person You Mean to Be by Dolly Chugh 4.     We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates 5.     How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi 6.     I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown 7.     Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates 8.     Woke Church by Eric Mason 9.     The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander 10.  Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman 11.  Great Speeches by Frederick Douglass 12.  Waking up White and Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debby Irving 13.  Ghetto by Mitchell Duneier 14.  More than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City by William Julius Wilson 15.  Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi 16.  A Testament of Hope by Martin Luther King Jr. 17.  Prejudice and Racism by James M. Jones 18.  Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People by Mahzarin R. Banaji 19.  Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Dr. Michael Eric Dyson 20.  I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou 21.  All About Love by Bell Hooks 22.  Well-Read Black Girl by Glory Edim 23.  Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin 24.  Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon 25.  There Will Be No Miracles Here by Casey Gerald 26.  Paradise by Toni Morrison 27.  Healing Racial Trauma by Sheila Wise Rowe 28.  Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston 29.  The Lies that Bind: Rethinking Identity by Kwame Anthony Appiah 30.  The Very Good Gospel by Lisa Sharon Harper 31.  The Prophetic Imagination by Walter Brueggemann 32.  Prophetic Lament: A Call for Justice in Troubled Times by Dr. Soong-Chan Rah 33.  Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America by Michael O. Emerson and Christian Smith 34.  Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson 35.  The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein 36.  Human(Kind) by Ashlee Eiland 37.  A Day Late and a Dollar Short by Terry McMillan 38.  Kindred by Octavia E. Butler 39.  Beloved by Toni Morrison 40.  White Teeth by Zadie Smith 41.  Discerning the Voice of God by Priscilla Shirer 42.  Detours: The Unpredictable Path to Your Destiny by Tony Evans 43.  Unashamed by Lecrae 44.  Believe Bigger by Marshawn Evans Daniels   ARTICLE + WEBSITES 1.     Code Switch: Race in Your Face 2.     White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh 3.     NYTimes An Antiracist Reading List compiled by Ibram X. Kendi 4.     Goodgooodgood.co Anti-racism resources compiled by Sarah Sophie Flicker and Alyssa Klein 5.     Buzzfeed’s An Essential Reading Guide for Fighting Racism by Arianna Rebolini 6.     1619 Project (NY Times) – an article series on the history and legacy of slavery in America (also a podcast below). There is a book project in the works to expand on what they’ve started. 7.     The America We Need (NY Times) – a NYT Opinion series that touches on justice in the midst of the pandemic. 8.     “Walking While Black” by Garnette Cadogan   WATCH: 1.     Pastor Eric Mason: Don’t Lose Heart: Why It’s Worth It to Fight for Racial Harmony Even When We Don’t See Progress 2.     Pastor Carl Lentz: I said, “Black Lives Matter” 3.     Dr. Robin DiAngelo’s talk on White Fragility at the University of Washington 4.     How to Deconstruct Racism One Headline at a Time, TEDtalk, Baratunde Thurston  5.     How Racism Makes Us Sick, TEDtalk, David R. Williams  6.     Racial Reconciliation, Latasha Morrison’s sermon, National Community Church  7.     The Privilege Walk   8.     Jon Tyson and David Bailey, class, race, reconciliation, and the Kingdom of God   9.     Becoming Brave: Reconciliation Rooted in Prayer – “why do we need the church?” by Rev. Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil     Movies to watch on Netflix: 1.     13th 2.     American Son 3.     Dear White People 4.     See You Yesterday 5.     When They See Us   Movies to watch on Hulu: 1.     If Beale Street Could Talk 2.     The Hate U Give   Movies to rent: 1.     Black Power Mixtape: 1967-1975 2.     Clemency 3.     Fruitvale Station 4.     I am Not Your Negro 5.     Just Mercy 6.     Selma 7.     The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution 8.     BlacKkKlansman 9.     Burden 10.  The Color of Fear   Listen to these podcasts: 1.     NPR’s Code Switch 2.     Season 2 of In the Dark 3.     Hope & Hard Pills with Andre Henry 4.     Her with Amena Brown 5.     Truth’s Table Podcast 6.     Fights and Feelings with Joseph Solomon 7.     Anti-Racism with Andre Henry on The Liturgists 8.     Pod Save the People 9.     1619 Project Podcast 10.  Scene on Radio’s “Seeing White” 11.  Why Tho   The Refined Collective episodes on race: 1.     Anxiety, Race, and Healing Community with Nikia Phoenix 2.     I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness with Austin Channing Brown 3.     Why Being a ‘Good Person’ Prevents You From Being Better with Jeana Marinelli   People to follow: 1.     @austinchanning 2.     @theconsciouskid 3.     @blackcoffeewithwhitefriends 4.     @theandrehenry 5.     @colorofchange 6.     @rachel.cargle 7.     @ibramxk 8.     @mspackyetti 9.     @blklivesmatter 10.  @osopepatrisse 11.  @reformlajails 12.  @akilahh 13.  @showingupforracialjustice 14.  @tyalexander 15.  @tiffanybluhm 16.  @natashaannmiller 17.  @thefaithfeast 18.  @louisa.wells 19.  @abigaileernisse 20.  @jessicamalatyrivera 21.  @thegreatunlearn 22.  @laylafsaad 23.  @luvvie 24.  @pastorgabbycwilkes 25.  @elevateny 26.  @pastoremase 27.  @lecrae 28.  @whatisjoedoing 29.  @sarahjakesroberts 30.  @bishopjakes 31.  @devonfranklin 32.  @iammiketodd 33.  @amenabee 34.  @shaunking   You don’t have to read all 44 books in one day. You don’t have to start a non-profit. BUT YOU DO HAVE TO DO SOMETHING. I have not read every single one of these resources, but am making my way through them one by one. I am with you on the journey.   What are you committed to? How are you going to ensure that you are no longer silent? It’s time for white people to do something.   We are co-creators with God; it’s time to get to work.

On the Brave Educator post, author, poet, Hip Hop artist, and education advocate Tim'm West will share a story, converse with someone he loves and continues to learn from, and he will close with some poetry. All are encouraged to submit questions on topics covered on the podcast to braveeducator@gmail.com. When possible Tim'm will answer these questions on a future podcast.The conversation between Tim'm and his friend and author Kiese Laymon about Black Male(d) Bodies in America bravely continues the healing journey of our first season which set off with Marc Lamont Hill on May 4th, and N'dambi on May 11th. Talking about the perceptions of our bodies as both Black boys and men in America. This conversation contains some language which I preserve to honor the authenticity of our dialogue. The episode ends with Tim'm reading "why I love Black men" from his 4th collection "pre|dispositions".About Kiese Laymon:Kiese Laymon is a black southern writer, born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. Laymon attended Millsaps College and Jackson State University before graduating from Oberlin College. He earned an MFA in Fiction from Indiana University. Laymon is currently the Ottilie Schillig Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Mississippi. He served as the Distinguished Visiting Professor of Nonfiction at the University of Iowa in Fall 2017.  Laymon is the author of the novel, Long Division  and a collection of essays,  How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, and Heavy: An American Memoir. Heavy, winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal, the LA Times Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose and Audible's Audiobook of the Year, was named one of the Best Books of 2018 by the The Undefeated, New York Times, Publishers Weekly, NPR, Broadly, Library Journal , The Washington Post , Southern Living , Entertainment Weekly, San Francisco Chronicle and The New York Times Critics. Laymon is the recipient of the 2019 Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media. Laymon has written essays, stories and reviews for numerous publications including Esquire, McSweeneys, New York Times, Virginia Quarterly Review, ESPN the Magazine, Granta, Colorlines, NPR, LitHub, The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, PEN Journal, Fader, Oxford American, Vanity Fair, The Best American Series, Ebony, Travel and Leisure, Paris Review, Guernica and more. 

Kiese Laymon, a southern writer born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi, is one of the best writers in the country. He is the author of Heavy: An American Memoir, the novel Long Division and a collection of essays, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America. Heavy, winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal, the LA Times Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose and Audible’s Audiobook of the Year, was named one of the Best Books of 2018 by the The Undefeated, New York Times, Publishers Weekly, NPR, Broadly, Library Journal , The Washington Post , Southern Living , Entertainment Weekly, San Francisco Chronicle and The New York Times Critics. Laymon is the recipient of the 2019 Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media. Laymon has written essays, stories and reviews for numerous publications including Esquire, McSweeneys, New York Times, ESPN the Magazine, NPR, The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, Vanity Fair, The Best American Series, Ebony, Paris Review, Guernica and more. Photo credit in the episode graphic to Tim Ivy. Sponsors: Previnex is a supplement brand that I trust, use, and have greatly benefited from. They source the highest quality ingredients in the most clinically effective and beneficial forms. Previnex manufactures to the highest standards possible, testing every ingredient, every step of production and every finished product. Visit www.previnex.com and use coupon code Runner15 to save 15% on your first order. This episode is brought to you by Four Sigmatic, a wellness company that mixes mushrooms and adaptogens with coffee, cacao, latte, protein powder. They have a special offer for the Rambling Runner audience. Receive 15% off your Four Sigmatic order. Just go to www.foursigmatic.com/RAMBLINGRUNNER or enter code RAMBLINGRUNNER at checkout. Follow Matt: Instagram - @rambling_runner Twitter - @rambling_runner Rambling Runner Run Club on Strava Newsletter Patreon --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Listen to this week's episode to hear our host Tonya Mosley and Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy: An American Memoir, unpack the question: “How are black Americans expected to overcome and thrive in this country without the necessary mechanisms of healing?” This question comes from actor Boris Kodjoe, who you may have seen in shows … Continue reading Healing for Black America →

Our guests talk about fat liberation, black abundance, and all the ways they've flipped the script on what society thinks they should be based on how they look, sound and identify.  Guests: Kiese Laymon is the author of the novel Long Division; a collection of essays, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America; and Heavy: An American Memoir. Virgie Tovar is an author and activist who speaks often about weight-based discrimination and body image. She also started the hashtag #LoseHateNotWeight Learn more Find Bryce on Twitter Join our Facebook group Share your story with us Contribute to our podcast fund Support the show.

On this episode I discuss The Last Romantics, Heavy: An American Memoir and other great books. Subscribe to Books are my People using RSS, iTunes, or SpotifyBooks Discussed:Necessary People by Anna PitoniakThe Last Romantics by Tara ConklinHeavy: An American Memoir by Kiese LaymonHere Where the Sunbeams are Green by Helen PhillipsSmall Admissions by Amy Poeppel Other books mentioned:The House on Mango Street by Sandra CisnerosThe Witches by Roald DahlThe Odyssey by Gareth Hinds Anne of Green Gables by Mariah MarsdenSome Possible Solutions by Helen PhillipsThe Beautiful Buerocrat by Helen PhillipsHunger by Roxanne GayBetween the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Manager of the Amazon Literary Partnership Interview starts at 15:41 and ends at 52:45 “I feel strongly that everyone has a story, and everyone deserves to have the opportunity to tell their story. The rest of us don't have an obligation to buy that story, but if it's out in the world and there's a way for people to find it, that's doing good work.” News “What exactly is the point of Amazon's Treasure Truck?” by Kaitlyn Tiffany at Vox - May 28, 2019 “Amazon to Joe Biden: We pay all the taxes we owe” at by Lydia DePillis at CNN Business - June 13, 2019 Interview with Neal Thompson Amazon Literary Partnership 2019 “Amazon Literary Partnership Announces 2019 Grant Recipients” - press release May 20, 2019 Examples of organizations receiving support from Amazon Literary Partnership: Words Without Borders, Pen America World Voices Festival and Best Translated Book Awards, Asian American Writers' Workshop, Cave Canem, Kundiman, Black Mountain Institute (creator of the City of Asylum program), Young Writers Project, Transit Books, Hurston/Wright Foundation Amazon Literary Partnership web site Academy of American Poets (creator of the Poem-a-Day skill for Alexa) Hugo House Community of Literary Magazines and Presses National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Literature programs Books by Neal Thompson: Kickflip Boys: A Memoir of Freedom, Rebellion, and the Chaos of Fatherhood, A Curious Man: The Strange and Brilliant Life of Robert “Believe It or Not!” Ripley Light This Candle: The Life and Times of Alan Shephard, and Driving with the Devil: Southern Moonshine, Detroit Wheels, and the Birth of NASCAR Books recommended by Neal Thompson: Working by Robert A. Caro, The Library Book by Susan Orlean, The Nickel Boys: A Novel by Colson Whitehead (available for preorder with delivery July 16, 2019), and Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon Next Week's Guest Noah, a co-founder of N2Kindle Please check out my latest video review, “How to Choose a Kindle.” Music for my podcast is from an original Thelonius Monk composition named "Well, You Needn't." This version is "Ra-Monk" by Eval Manigat on the "Variations in Time: A Jazz Perspective" CD by Public Transit Recording" CD. Please Join the Kindle Chronicles group at Goodreads! Right-click here and then click "Save Link As..." to download the audio to your computer, phone, or MP3 player.

Kaytee and Meredith are back in your earbuds this week to bring you Episode 38, including a few literary confessions or demerits. We have a few important announcements right at the top of the show, one of which requires your help, listeners! Send us your Ask Us Anything questions via email, Direct Message, or as a comment on show notes, and we’ll feature them in a future episode! If we use your question, we’ll send you a coveted Currently Reading bookmark (and our everlasting thanks, of course). You’ll hear a “bookish moment of the week” from each of us: an indie bookstore day recap and a bookish “retirement” gift. Next, we discuss our current reads for the week. We both read quite a few books that we REALLY loved this week, so don’t hesitate to use those show notes below! For our deep dive this week, we have decided to give ourselves bookish “demerits” a la Gretchen Rubin’s Happier podcast. These are places in our reading lives where we think we could improve. Sometimes we commiserate with each other and sometimes we chide each other! As always, we finish up with A Book (yep, capitalized) that we’d like to press into every reader’s hands. This week we are talking about a fantastic mystery/police procedural, and a multi-generational family saga. As per usual, time-stamped show notes are below with references to every book and resource we mentioned in this episode. If you’d like to listen first and not spoil the surprise, don’t scroll down!  .  .  .  .  .  5:23 - Thriftbooks.com my favorite used book website! 6:02 - A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny 9:43 - Harry’s Trees by Jon Cohen 11:07 - A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman 11:24 - Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens 14:18 - Allegedly by Tiffany Jackson 15:22 - Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage 15:23 - The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas 15:25 - Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman 16:49 - My Name is Venus Black by Heather Lloyd 17:15 - The Overdue Life of Amy Byler by Kelly Harms 21:18 - A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer 21:42 - Beauty by Robin McKinley 25:16 -Uprooted by Naomi Novik 25:17 - Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik 26:48 - Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon 27:05 - Rabbit: The Autobiography of Ms. Pat by Patricia Williams 27:47 - The Elephant in the Room by Tommy Tomlinson 28:38 - The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray 30:45 - Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson 30:47 - The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson 31:01 - Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend 31:02 - Winterhouse by Ben Guterson 32:30 - Robert Galbraith series 32:45 - Three Pines series by Louise Penny 32:47 - HP Series by JK Rowling 33:02 - Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins 33:02 - Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer 33:34 - Scythe by Neal Shusterman 42:01 - A Place of Execution by Val McDermid 42:09 - Tana French books 43:25 - Distant Echo by Val McDermid 43:51 - Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi *Please note that all book titles linked above are Amazon affiliate links. Your cost is the same, but a small portion of your purchase will come back to us to help offset the costs of the show. Thanks for your support!* 

Podcasting from Mom 2.0 Conference with podcaster, journalist and author, Nicole Blades. She tells us about the pros and cons of skipping an agent, using rejection as fuel, and the joys of the writer community.Nicole Blades (https://www.nicoleblades.com/) is a Podcaster (Hey, Sis! Podcast), (https://www.heysispodcast.com/) Author of Have You Met Nora?, (https://www.nicoleblades.com/have-you-met-nora) The Thunder Beneath Us, & (https://www.nicoleblades.com/the-thunder-beneath-us) Earth's Waters (https://www.nicoleblades.com/earths-waters) --and this is a glorious episode, recorded live and in person at Mom 2.0, in which we really capture the joy of writing, of finding your novel, of getting to do what we do. We also get into Tall Poppies, (https://tallpoppies.org/) the writer's sharing group (I'm not sure what to call it) started by Ann Garvin (https://tallpoppies.org/team/ann-garvin/) , which also includes the Bloom   (https://tallpoppies.org/bloom/)website. I've been seeing this crew ALL OVER Insta this week, sharing each other's books like crazy, and I love it. It's a formalizing of the writer's community we all love and dream of and hopefully have (and we DO--it's called the #AmWriting Facebook group, and while we may not formalize the sharing of each other's work, we sure do do it). And I say, as I so often do, that one of my favorite things about being a writer is that it's so easy and wonderful to share and celebrate each other. Because for one thing, we're all in this because we love books and good writing. And for another, nobody who likes books ever just bought one book. Other links mentioned in the episode:Steven Pressfield (https://stevenpressfield.com/books/)BookPeople, Austin, TX (https://www.bookpeople.com/)#AmReadingDaisy Jones & The Six, Taylor Jenkins Reid (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781524798628)The Accidentals, Sarina Bowen (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781942444626)Heavy: An American Memoir, Kiese Laymon (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781501125652)My Father's Stack of Books, Kathryn Schulz (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/03/25/my-fathers-stack-of-books)Chase Darkness With Me: How One True-Crime Writer Started Solving Murders, Billy Jensen (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781492685852)The Other Americans, Laila Lalami (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781524747145)#FaveIndieBookstoreThis episode was sponsored by Author Accelerator, the book coaching program that helps you get your work DONE. Visit https://www.authoraccelerator.com/amwriting for details, special offers and Jennie Nash’s 2-tier outline template. Nicole's #FaveIndieBookstore is Books Are Magic, Brooklyn, NY  (https://www.booksaremagic.net/) "Even though I now live in Connecticut, I still feel like I can own this bookstore. Because ... Books Are Magic"Find out more about our guest, Nicole Blades, here (https://www.nicoleblades.com/) — and check out her latest book, Have You Met Nora? (https://www.nicoleblades.com/have-you-met-nora) here or at Libro.fm. (https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9781501968747-have-you-met-nora)Find more about Jess here (http://www.jessicalahey.com/) , and about KJ here (https://kjdellantonia.com/) .If you enjoyed this episode, we suggest you check out Marginally, a podcast about writing, work and friendship (https://www.marginallypodcast.com/) . This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at amwriting.substack.com/subscribe

Writers Damon Young and Kiese Laymon both are on book tour, promoting their acclaimed memoirs. And while they've been friends via social media for years, they'd never met face to face before recording a conversation for Death, Sex & Money. The two sat down together to talk about basketball and body image, money anxieties, and why being a "good dude" might be more about fear than anything else.  Damon Young is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Very Smart Brothas, and the author of "What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker". Kiese Laymon is a professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Mississippi, and the author of "Heavy: An American Memoir". Audio excerpts courtesy of Simon & Schuster Audio from HEAVY by Kiese Laymon, read by the author. Copyright © 2018 by Kiese Laymon. Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Kiese Laymon is the author of How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America and Heavy: An American Memoir.

I chat with the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Award winner for Non-Fiction, Kiese Laymon about his memoir, Heavy. Laymon talks about his formative years in Mississippi and how it influenced his writing. We also go back and forth about our experiences as young black opinion page editors for our respective Southern liberal arts colleges' (Millsaps and Hendrix)student newspapers. Heavy is a memoir that not only tells the story of its author, but serves as a writ large example of America. The weight of lies, abuse and the struggle for ideals is a massive and cumbersome burden for not only one man, but also the nation.

Kiese Laymon back to the program today. Kiese is a professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Mississippi. When last on the show we talked about his novel, Long Division, and his book of essays, How to Kill Yourself an Others in America. Today we'll be talking his latest, Heavy: An American Memoir, which was named to many major best books of the year lists for 2018, and he won the best Audiobook of the Year award from Audible.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in your favorite podcasting platform — and while you’re there, please leave us a like or a review.Our next read (in two weeks) will be Dark Desires After Dusk — the beginning of the Rage-Demonarchy duology, featuring Cadeon Woede, who is forced to choose between familial loyalty and his human (or is she?!) fated mate, brilliant mathematician, Holly.Get ready for the read along at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books or your local indie. Also, the Audible versions of IAD are on sale right now -- and WORTH EVERY PENNY! Listen on Audio!Show Notes- Ghosts are a human problem and preoccupation.- According to the Washington Post, "nearly half of the women who were murdered during the past decade were killed by a current or former intimate partner." Huge content warnings for everything in this article.- The Flame and the Flower, Shanna, and some of Sarah's thoughts about rape in romance.- We talk about Id a lot on Fated Mates, and we use it as a shorthand for our most primal, deep-rooted desires.- "All happy families resemble one another; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way" is the famous first line of Anna Karenina. This New York Times article about the many Tolstoy translations is fascinating.- Kresley Cole isn't the only one to use the menstrual cycle as a symbol; but others wonder why menstruation is almost always absent from fiction.- A crescent moon (or "sliver moon" as Neomi calls it) is never up at midnight. Literally never.- Jen rants a lot about first person narration a lot on Twitter, but it's super OTT, so just read this thread about first person narration that was started by Rebekah Weatherspoon.- Shortly after they recoreded this episode, Jonathan Franzen stanned for third person narration and Jen realized she's just a handmaiden to the patriarchy.- Jen strongly recommends Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon. She saw Kiese Laymon being interviewed by Lolly Bowean at the Chicago Humanities Festival, and it was amazing.- All people deserve birth control that's right for them.- Some romance readers love breaking in the ponies with a virgin hero.- Arguably, agency is the most important character trait.- There are 45 cemetaries in New Orleans, 31 are historic, and 5 are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.- If you're planning to write a sitcom, know the formula.- In IAD, it's Thrane's Key; it Harry Potter, it's a time turner.- Get yourself some IAD ringtones.- Holly Ashwin and Cadeon Woede are up next in Dark Desires After Dusk.Lost Limb CountLegs (2)- Lachlain tears off his own leg to reach Emma. He regenerates. (A Hunger Like No Other) -Mariketa's skull is fractured and her leg is torn from her body. She heals herself after Bowen lays on the ground. Ivy grows over her and heals her. (Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night)Arms (1) -Sebastian pulverizes most of his right arm during the Hie. He regenerates. (No Rest For the Wicked)Eyes (1)- Bowen loses an eye and most of his forehead during the Hie. Mariketa has cursed him and he can't heal until he returns to her. (Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night)Hands (1)- Conrad cuts off his own hand with a rusty axe so he escape the "witched" chains his brothers locked him in. (Dark Needs at Night's Edge)

Kiese Laymon’s Heavy: An American Memoir has been hailed as “a tapestry of heart and heartache” (Boston Globe), “raw, cathartic” (O Magazine), “staggering” (Elle.com), “stunningly honest” (The Atlantic) and “a refined, warm, generously poetic library work.” (Entertainment Weekly). Written as an elegy to his mother, with whom Kiese had a complicated and deep relationship, Kiese speaks about body shame, gambling, violence, blackness and so much more. It’s honest and real and deeply powerful. In this episode, we speak with author and professor Kiese Laymon when he was in San Francisco on his whirlwind book tour. When reading Heavy, you discover not only the power of words, memories, and love but also the consequences of generational trauma, leading to addiction and needing to hide-to disappear. Through this book and the exceptional work Kiese has done unpacking his trauma, he finds freedom, and, as readers, so do we. We love you, Kiese. Thank you.

Kiese Laymon is a Mississippi based writer, who’s just released a new book titled "Heavy: An American Memoir." In it, he writes about his struggles with eating disorders and addiction, abuse, and his relationship with his mother. TriPod’s Laine Kaplan-Levenson sat down with Laymon to talk about what his students at the University of Mississippi think about New Orleans, his memoir, and how his literary success fits into a growing trend of black writers from the south receiving national attention.

Kiese Laymon is a Mississippi based writer, who’s just released a new book titled "Heavy: An American Memoir." In it, he writes about his struggles with eating disorders and addiction, abuse, and his relationship with his mother.

CW: Addiction, Eating Disorders, and Suicide. If you are struggling with any of these issues, please click the link in the content warning. You are loved and there is help available. This week Kiese Laymon (@KieseLaymon) joined Ana Marie Cox (@anamariecox ) to have a meaningful and intimate conversation about his new book, Heavy: An American Memoir. They talked about what it’s like deal with other people’s difficult stories, as well as how they cope with their own. Afterwards, they connected the concept of the body to struggles that we face internally with our own issues and externally with political and social issues. They ended with the idea, that despite the heavy things we face, we have the ability to learn to love ourselves and others. Thanks the our sponsors! Ritual Essential for Women fills the gaps in a woman’s diet, all with a fresh minty flavor, and no fishy aftertaste. Whether you’re living life—or creating it—why not add some good looking science into your daily routine? Visit ritual.com/FRIENDS to start your ritual today. Framebridge makes it ridiculously easy and affordable to custom frame your favorite things, from art prints and posters to the photos on your phone. Here’s how it works: Just go to Framebridge.com and upload your photo. Or, they’ll send you packaging to safely mail in your physical pieces. Use promo code FRIENDS you’ll save an additional 15% off your first order. Brooklinen works directly with manufacturers and directly with customers, no middlemen – meaning they can give you 5-star hotel quality sheets that are affordable and easy to order. Get $20 off AND free shipping when you use promo code friends at Brooklinen.com. Stamps.com brings all the services of the U.S. Post Office right to your desktop. enjoy the Stamps.com service with a special offer that includes a 4-week trial PLUS postage AND a digital scale without long-term commitments. Go to Stamps.com, click on the Microphone at the TOP of the homepage and type in FRIENDS