OwnYourStories: Recent Episodes
OwnYourStories
Siona here and I just wanna say, I've missed you all. As some of you may know, I took a bit of a break but I'm so happy to be back!
So for old and new listeners alike, welcome to OwnYourStories: a bi-monthly podcast about the intersection of the political and the personal, and this season is all about understanding home. For the next few weeks, we're going to be exploring stories of migration, diaspora, and movement.
To kick things off, this week I'm speaking to Saadia Khan about what home and ideas of diaspora mean to her. Saadia is the host and founder of "Immigrantly." A weekly, independent podcast that aims to deconstruct stereotypical narratives of immigrants, their second-generation kids, people of color, and change-makers with cross-cultural, nuanced conversations.
You can find Immigrantly on all podcast platforms and on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/immigrantlypod/
While you're at it, make sure to follow OwnYourStories on Instagram too: https://www.instagram.com/ownyourstories/
Plus, hit me up on Twitter! https://twitter.com/sionapeterous
It's Siona here and some of you may have noticed that OwnYourStories has been on an unofficial hiatus and the reason is, well, mental health. For the past few months, I've noticed that my depression and all the other things that come with it have changed significantly. The practices I had in place to cope with it weren't working anymore. So I decided to talk about it with Michael and with some other people about how their relationship with Depression has changed over the years.
I appreciate the time you take to listen to this episode Tell a friend to tell a friend. OwnYourStories on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google podcasts.
In our last episode, we got into all the nitty-gritty of what intentional housing is and what it looks like in America. In our newest episode, we're talking to someone who has actually spent the better part of a decade actively choosing, again and again, to live in intentional communities. Chynna McFadden's story starts in Tampa and currently, it ends in D.C. It's a hell of a story! LINK IN BIO.
You may be familiar with words like "cohousing" or even more loaded terms like "communes." But many folks living in those setups call them intentional communities and we wanted to know all about it. And if you scroll on social media enough, It seems like a lot of people are interested in this idea too — people are sick of not knowing their neighbors, their neighborhoods, and even their own roommates
In this episode we speak to Crystal Byrd Farmer, Board Member for the Foundation for Intentional Community and the author of "The Token: Common Sense Ideas for Increasing Diversity in Your Organization" She breaks down what exactly are intentional communities are, explains the politics of the spaces, shares how she is helping others combat the overwhelming whiteness of these communities and tells us what her ideal intentional community would look like.
FIC:(https://www.ic.org/)
Crystal's book: (https://newsociety.com/products/9780865719514?aff=28
What's up fam, we're back for our second season! A few weeks ago we asked folks to send us voice memos about what home meant to them. Why do you ask? Because the theme of our second season is home. We hope to interrogate our conventions around the home and explore how something so personal is also so incredibly political. We'll update the feed every other week with topics about home. Thanks for listening and remember, tell a friend to tell a friend.
Our final episode of season one and of 2020 is up in this episode, we sit back and reminisce on the past year and give you a glimpse of what's to come with #OwnYourStories 👀 Thank you for talking with us, listening to us and growing with us. See you in 2021!
In the last episode of OwnYourStories, MIchael talked to people about what self-care looks like for them. This week Siona talked to Martha Tesema (@martesema) from The Shine (@TheShineApp)about what has informed her current self-care practice. Martha shares some self-care strategies tells us how she started working in wellness and why it's the source of survival and necessity for Black people.
A conversation with Anah and Lauren about the work being done by the Richmond Indigenous Society and a reminder of why Indigenous communities have historically been the best stewards of the land.
One thing we learned in recent years is that finding the joy and finding the humor in things when everything else is chaotic is a powerful muscle. That's what Siona and Michael talked about the day after the election while the results were still being counted. There is so much work to do nd we, like others, plan to stay just as committed to pushing for change in our communities ond in our lanes. But it doesn't mean we can't enjoy sh*t in the meantime.
The election is on Tuesday and progressive voices across the country told us what they are feeling. You should listen.
Aspen Spellman a.k.a Aspen Cristi is a plus-sized model & marketing manager based in L.A. who is steadily building an audience all over the country & beyond. Aspen tells us about her career, why she is pushing back on the body positivity movement, and tells Siona a story that reminds us that you should always wear that bikini sitting in your closet.
Speaking of bikinis, the creator fo the one Aspen is wearing in the cover was made by @flawsofcouture.
You can follow Aspen on Instagram and twitter @aspencristi
Fat shouldn't be a word with such loaded meaning but it is. It's a word and description that has been used to demonize and play morality games with the lives of people and too often, even the most social justice focused non-fat person promotes fatphobia.
This episode features writer and activist Sydney Sky Griffin who wrote an article on how that stereotype plays out for Black women in pop culture and to Toesha YingLing, a professor of fat studies (among other things) who says that the hypersexualization and obsession with fat bodies ties back to colonialism.
We also hear from three women who live across the country who tell us how being fat has impacted them.
Sydney's twitter: @blackfatqueer Sydney's article: https://wearyourvoicemag.com/kim-parker-moesha-fatphobia/
Diana: @DOTellMedia Courtney: @shes_cwise Jade: @jadeabdulmalik
The latest episode focuses on Portland as it approaches 100 days of protests.
The city caught the world's attention when federal agents appeared in July but for many on the ground, there is a lot more at play. We talk to activists Mac Smiff and Ragina Gray, as well as journalist Kerry Harwin, about why Portland's history and its current status as one of America's whitest cities make it's movement unique and how each them are experiencing a historic moment through their own lens.
Instagram: Mac Smiff: (@macsmiff) Ragina Gray: (@ragina__rage) Kerry Harwin:( @flashhardcor)
A look into how various D.C. organizations are pushing back on state entities co-opting Black Lives Matter. We here from Makia Green, a long time organizer and one of the core members of Black Lives Matter D.C. chapter and Bethlehem Yigra, a co-founder of the Palm Collective which is made up of more than 60 Black led organizations in the district. Plus, the voice of many community members who tell us what reclamation of space means to them.
Revisiting a conversation with Najee Wilson, the muse behind Kehinde Wileys "Rumors of War."
It’s a new era for OwnYourStories. For those who are new here 👋 hello! My name is Siona Peterous and I'm the creator and host of OwnYourStories, a show that explores the unexpected intersections of the political, the culture–and of course the personal. You can now hear OwnYourStories every Friday on WRIR 97.3 Richmond. But don't' worry we'll keep updating the podcast so you can hear after the fact. Enjoy!
For almost three weeks Black Lives Matter chants have filled the streets throughout the world - a chant of reckoning
A reckoning sparked by the death of George Floyd but rooted in centuries of imperialistic violence pushed onto Black and Brown bodies by powers in Global North.In the U.S. the most obvious example is historical police misconduct and police brutality - but this violence is seen everywhere. So, people everywhere are pushing back on the anti-blackness and anti-otherness.
"Reckoning in the (Former) Confederacy" features different voices of people in Richmond who are showing up to in different ways -whether in protests or moments of reflection. People who are pushing against the same thing while many people figure out what exactly is their lane in long term resistance and interrogation of systems and how do we make sure that Black Lives Matter INCLUDES ALL Black life.
Putting together this episode was hard in so many ways, First, because every technological malfunction that could happen DID happen. Plus, mentally - I've been burnout and distressed since the top of May when I saw the video of Ahmaud Arbery. I was cussed out several times and told to go back where I come from as I gathered audio for this. And working in news doesn't help. Which is why I'm even more proud of this episode
So please do listen and do share. Because when so many spaces don't tell the range of Black & Brown stories properly and when so many media spaces try to limit the voices of Black storytellers like me, we gotta say 'nah fuck that shit' and push back.
Next episode we really gonna dive headfirst into intersectionality! Today we reflect on that and so many other experiences.
Welcome to the first episode of the OwnYourStories podcast!
A few weeks ago we asked, "What song takes you back to moments in your childhood?" - and y'all truly delivered.
People's memories of childhood music are sentimental, unexpected and have an impact on people today even if they don't listen to those songs often anymore.
Take a listen, enjoy and stay tuned for next week's episode!
OwnYourStories on SoundCloud AND on Instagram for updates for weekly question prompts.
Also - share, share and share some more.