Dear Soft Black Woman: Recent Episodes
A Gentle Landing
"Dear Soft Black Woman" centers conversation and affirmations for the #SoftBlackWoman.
The mission is to empower black women, who are reclaiming softness as they: (1) set their boundaries in ways that maximize dignity and self-worth, (2) seek rest and refuses to be identified as a workhorse by inviting others to do their own work, (3) Resists identities and stereotypes that erase their humanity, (4) Imagine new expansiveness for their self-understanding in the world, and (5) Etc. This is an open conversation and the objectives can and will change as we explore soft black womanhood together.
agentlelanding.substack.com
Today I am joined by Iresha Picot, M.Ed, LBS.
Iresha is a Licensed Behavior Specialist and Therapist. A Philly transplant by way of Virginia, Iresha is the co-editor of the book, "The Color of Hope: People of Color Mental Health Narratives", and has written articles in the Research in the Teaching of English, The Philadelphia Weekly, Elephant Journal, Aunt Chloe’s Journal, Specter Magazine, and For Harriet. She has also been featured in NPR, NBC, WHYY, Bicycle Magazine and PBS American Portraits. Iresha recently directed her first short film with Love Now Media, called the “The Do-Over”, which centers a story on trauma and triumph. She has worked with the “Me Too” movement on their survivors healing series. Iresha hosted a digital show called “Sis, are you good?” series with Girltrek, INC that digitally centered Mental Health check-ins with Black Women.
Social Media: @Ireshadahoodtherapist
At the time of this recording, Iresha was reading:
- Becoming Abolitionists — Derecka Purnell
- Gathering Blossoms UNder Fire: The Journals of Alice Walker — Alice Walker
Her go to books recommendations for healing work:
- bell hooks—All About Love, Salvation, Communion
- Today I Affirm -Alex Elle
- The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself — Michael Alan Singer
- My Grandmother’s Hands —Resmaa Manakem
- The Body Keeps the Score —Bessel van der Kolk
- Thich Nhat Hanh —You Are Here
- Yesterday I Cried -Iyanla Vanzant
Thank you for listening to Dear Soft Black Woman. You can support this podcast via agentlelanding.substack.com
You can find Rose on IG / Twitter / rosejpercy.com
Hello! Dear Soft Black Woman is back, and continuing to explore rest as vocation.
Everyone is welcomed to subscribe to "A Gentle Landing," which has options for paid and free subscriptions.
Black women+femmes are welcome to request to join our DearSBW Mighty Network, for private community conversations, events, and resources.
How are you and who are you becoming? Join the conversation.
About the host:
Rose J. Percy (she/her) is a Haitian-American womanist theopoet. She hosts a podcast called “Dear Soft Black Woman.” Rose also co-creates sacred spaces at Quni Community. Her work engages theologies of imagination, critical pedagogy, and Black literature, to birth spaces for rest, belonging, and community care. Rose holds a Master of Divinity from Boston University School of Theology, where she is currently studying spiritual formation. Rose was born in Les Cayes, Ayïti, and raised in Pawtucket, RI. She resides in Boston, MA.
Support the show
You can purchase the Truth's Table book here at the "Dear Soft Black Woman" Bookshop.
ABOUT TRUTH’S TABLE
Once upon a time, an activist (Michelle), a theologian (Ekemini), and a psychologist (Christina) walked into a group chat. Everything was laid out on the table: Dating. Politics. The Black church. Pop culture. Soon, other Black women began pulling up chairs to gather round. And so, the Truth’s Table podcast was born.
In their literary debut, co-hosts Christina Edmondson, Michelle Higgins, and Ekemini Uwan offer stories by Black women and for Black women examining theology, politics, race, culture, and gender matters through a Christian lens. For anyone seeking to explore the spiritual dimensions of hot-button issues within the church, or anyone thirsty to deepen their faith, Truth’s Table provides exactly the survival guide we need, including:
• Michelle Higgins’s unforgettable treatise revealing the way “racial reconciliation” is a spiritually bankrupt, empty promise that can often drain us of the ability to do real justice work
• Ekemini Uwan’s exploration of Blackness as the image of God in the past, present, and future
• Christina Edmondson’s reimagination of what a more just and liberating form of church discipline might look like—one that acknowledges and speaks to the trauma in the room
These essays deliver a compelling theological re-education and pair the spiritual formation and political education necessary for Black women of faith.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Dr. Christina Edmondson (@DrCEdmondson) is an educator. She holds a PhD in counseling psychology and an MS in family therapy. A certified cultural intelligence facilitator with experience in nonprofit, higher education, and corporate sectors, Dr. Edmondson often consults with organizations about diversity and equity, as well as mental health and faith issues. Her work and insights have been covered in The Atlantic, The Guardian, Essence, and CBS News.
Ekemini Uwan (@sista_theology) is a public theologian who received her MDiv from Westminster Theological Seminary. Uwan is a contributing member of the Aspen Institute’s Racial Justice and Religion Commission. She has appeared on MSNBC and NPR. Her writings have been published in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and HuffPost Black Voices, and her insights have been quoted by CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The New Yorker.
Michelle Higgins (@Afrorising)is senior pastor of Saint John’s Church (The Beloved Community) in St. Louis, where she co-founded Faith for Justice, a collective of Christian activists, and serves as board chair of Action St. Louis, a political home for Black communities in the St. Louis region.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/message
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/support
Get full access to A Gentle Landing at agentlelanding.substack.com/subscribe
In this conversation we have:
Khristi Lauren Adams is a speaker, author, youth advocate and ordained Baptist minister. Khristi is the author of Parable of the Brown Girl which is published by Fortress Press and released February 2020. The book highlights the cultural and spiritual truths that emerge from the lives of young black girls. Parable of the Brown Girl has received awards for Best Young Adult Book from The African American Literary Awards and the New York Black Librarians Caucus. She is currently working on her next book, Unbossed: How Black Girls Are Leading the Way. (Spring, 2022) with Broadleaf Books and a middle grade version of the book with Beaming Books. She works as Dean of Spiritual Life & Equity at the Hill School. Khristi is also an instructor of Religious Studies at the Hill School. She is the Founder & Director of “The Becoming Conference”, an annual conference and leadership cohort designed to empower, educate & inspire girls between the ages of 13-18. Khristi is a graduate of Temple University with a degree in Advertising and a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary where she obtained a Master of Divinity degree. Khristi is an alum of the 2017 class of Lead New Jersey, a select group of fellows participating in a year-long program designed to educate, transform, and empower the next generation of leaders from the public, social, and private sectors. She also currently sits on the advisory board for Word Made Flesh, a non-profit organization existing to serve among the most vulnerable of the world’s poor.
You can learn more about Khristi through her website, https://khristilaurenadams.com. You can follow her on Twitter / Instagram
You can support this podcast through: Patreon
Substack Newsletter: A Gentle Landing w/ Rose J. Percy
Find Rose on the internet: IG \ Twitter \ Website
This episode is sponsored by
· Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/message
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/support
Get full access to A Gentle Landing at agentlelanding.substack.com/subscribe
Christena Cleveland Ph.D. is a social psychologist, public theologian, author, and activist. She is the founder and director of the Center for Justice + Renewal as well as its sister organization, Sacred Folk, which creates resources to stimulate people’s spiritual imaginations and support their journeys toward liberation.
A weaver of Black liberation and the sacred feminine, Dr. Cleveland integrates psychology, theology, storytelling, and art to stimulate our spiritual imaginations. She recently completed her third full-length book, God is a Black Woman (HarperOne), which details her 400-mile walking pilgrimage across central France in search of ancient Black Madonna statues, and examines the relationship among race, gender, and cultural perceptions of the Divine.
Click here to read more of Dr. Cleveland's bio & support her work.
You can support this podcast through: Patreon
Substack Newsletter: "A Gentle Landing w/ Rose J. Percy
Find Rose on the internet: IG \ Twitter \ Website
This episode is sponsored by
· Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/message
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/support
Get full access to A Gentle Landing at agentlelanding.substack.com/subscribe
Ylisse is a soft Black woman who loves swimming, cycling, sleeping, and sunshine. Ylisse works as a chaplain supporting people through times of transition. In a prickly and harsh world, Ylisse loves collaborating with people committed to rest, joy, and cultivating gentle spaces for themselves and others.
Do you need help figuring out what kind of rest you need? Here are some resources:
-
On 7 Different Types of Rest. https://www.wellandgood.com/types-of-rest/
-
Take this rest quiz to determine what kind of rest you need. https://www.restquiz.com/quiz/rest-quiz-test/
How to support: Patreon
Find Rose on the internet: IG \ FB \ Twitter \ Website
Substack Newsletter: "A Gentle Landing w/ Rose J. Percy"
This episode is sponsored by
· Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/message
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/support
Get full access to A Gentle Landing at agentlelanding.substack.com/subscribe
Cole Arthur Riley is the creator of Black Liturgies, a space for Black spiritual words of liberation, lament, rage, and rest; and a project of The Center for Dignity and Contemplation where she serves as Executive Curator. Born and for the most part raised in Pittsburgh, Cole studied Writing at the University of Pittsburgh. She once took a professor’s advice very seriously to begin writing a little every day, and has followed it for nearly a decade.
Read more on "This Here Flesh."
Website: https://colearthurriley.com/
Twitter/Instagram: @blackliturgies
Find Rose on the internet: IG \ FB \ Twitter \ Website
How to support: Patreon
I just launched a newsletter called "A Gentle Landing w/ Rose J. Percy" (Subscription fee optional)
This episode is sponsored by
· Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/message
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/support
Get full access to A Gentle Landing at agentlelanding.substack.com/subscribe
Thank y'all so much for your patience! We are back with another episode featuring my poet-friend and fellow Lucille Clifton fan, Kelsey Johnson!
Kelsey Johnson is a poet, actor and educator committed to following Jesus, clinging to joy, tending to her community and telling stories through poetry, theatre and music. When she's not acting, writing or teaching she can be found reading, laughing, singing old spirituals in honor of her grandmother and getting lost in the woods.
You can follow Kelsey on Instagram as @freedoms_daughter.
Click here to read the poem "Today, God" by Starr Davis.
Just wanna thank our patrons who make this work possible! You can click here to join this glorious group of people and see my Patreon offerings.
To view more of my public work, please visit https://www.rosejpercy.com/links.
This episode is sponsored by
· Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/message
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/support
Get full access to A Gentle Landing at agentlelanding.substack.com/subscribe
Special honor to bell hooks, who passed December 15, 2021. I am thankful to you for making my work possible, and I hope to live in gratitude for the ways your work has affirmed my breath and being. Thank you, bell hooks.
______
Questions:
-
bell hooks tenderly describes her relationship with Paulo Freire and his teachings in Teaching to Transgress. Similarly, how has Freire's work impacted you?
-
Explain how you arrived at the understanding of "rest as vocation"?
-
Praxis is an important part of critical pedagogy. Beyond conversations, what does praxis look like for DSBW?
-
As this conversation grows and more voices join in, what are your hopes for the soft black woman listening? What do you want to see for us?
A question for you:
What does a praxis (action and reflection) of softness look like for you?
Please feel free to engage this question on Patreon, Spotify, IG , FB , or Twitter
Sources Mentioned:
-
Charlene A. Carruthers: Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements.
-
Lucille Clifton: How to Carry Water: Selected Poems. ed by Aracelis Grimay. You can read to "won't you celebrate me" here.
-
Paulo Freire: Pedagogy of the Oppressed.
-
Paulo Freire: Pedagogy of the City.
-
bell hooks: Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom.
-
bell hooks: Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope.
-
Patrick B. Reyes: Nobody Cries When We Die: God, Community and Surviving to Adulthood.
-
Chanequa Walker-Barnes: Too Heavy a Yoke: Black Women and the Burden of Strength.
This episode is sponsored by
· Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/message
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/support
Get full access to A Gentle Landing at agentlelanding.substack.com/subscribe
Karla Mendoza dabbles in visual arts, writing, teaching, bookbinding, photography and recently she has taken up podcasting – El Cafecito with Karla (Spotify /Apple Podcast) – where she interviews her friends as they explore the themes of loving Jesus, choosing hope, and finding liberation together. She spends most of her life in the midst of intersectionality as a Jesus loving Afro-Indigenous Peruvian woman, undocumented immigrant and a fat woman. Antiracist discipleship is the heartbeat of her writing and speaking. She has spent the last few years healing and reclaiming her story as her own after spending the majority of her life in white evangelical spaces. You can follow her on IG: @DearKarla
Andrea Price (pronounced ahn-DREE-uh) is an eclectic artist, facilitator, art administrator, and entrepreneur. She is passionate about social justice and making space for compassion, peace, and joy. Price is also the owner of Andrea & Her Art and co-owner of Healing Conversations, two businesses that mirror her passions. As a visual artist, Andrea Price is hopeful and fighting for a world of equity, through her art, that acknowledges and celebrates the vast amount of cultural diversity that God intentionally created.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/message
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/support
Get full access to A Gentle Landing at agentlelanding.substack.com/subscribe
Frankie is a Los Angeles based visual artist whose practice includes photography, graphic design and film. As someone who does creative work in media, she is passionate about the impact art has on culture and social awareness. When she’s not working, Frankie loves to DJ for fun and review films from the Criterion Collection on her series called Movie Mama’s. You can follow Frankie on IG @frankie.be__
You can support this podcast through Patreon, where I am currently posting reflections on the poetry of Lucille Clifton.
This episode is sponsored by
· Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/message
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/support
Get full access to A Gentle Landing at agentlelanding.substack.com/subscribe
Robert Monson is a writer, author, theologian, podcaster, seminarian and proud Black man who is committed to liberation and rest.
So far on this podcast, I’ve talked to those who are claiming and reclaiming the identity of the Soft Black woman. I also hope to bring on guests who have inspired my journey, one way or another, to speak into this conversation. Robert Monson is one of those folks, who I met through Twitter, living the soft life as a black man.
Robert co-hosts a podcast called 3 Black Men and recently started a new podcast Black Coffee and Theology.
How to support: Patreon
Find Rose on the internet: IG \ FB \ Twitter \ Website
This episode is sponsored by
· Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/message
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/support
Get full access to A Gentle Landing at agentlelanding.substack.com/subscribe
Content Warning: We mention lynching in this episode, both in reference to history and as a recent analogy in one of the stories shared by M'Lynn. Please be gentle with yourselves as you listen!
About our guest:
M'Lynn is a 25 year old Bible scholar and youth pastor from sunny San Diego, CA. Most days you can catch her cuddled up in bed with her cat watching Netflix or splashing around in the pool on a hot day! Her deepest passion is reading Scripture with the purpose of liberation for all peoples.
You can follow M'Lynn on IG and TikTok.
Find Rose on the internet: IG ** FB * Twitter * Website
You can support this podcast by joining our Patreon.
This episode is sponsored by
· Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/message
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/support
Get full access to A Gentle Landing at agentlelanding.substack.com/subscribe
About our guest:
Faitth Brooks is an anti-racism educator, speaker, writer, and co-host of the Melanated Faith podcast. Formed in the Christian tradition and Black liberation theology, Faitth uses her platform to enliven her following for collective liberation centering on the sisterhood of black women. Her work seeks to free Black women from the singular narrative placed upon them and release them into a life of living color where all are welcome and valued for their unique essence. Faitth is crafting communal space where rest, tenderness, and softness are commonplace for Black sisters to explore and take in the abundance of presence and purpose over hustle and performance. Faitth earned her Master's degree in Social Work and earned her certificate in Women's Entrepreneurship from Cornell University. When Faitth is not working, she is hanging out with her family, traveling, or watching her favorite shows.
You can follow Faitth on social media as @faitthb and support her work through Patreon.
Find Rose on the internet: IG \ FB \ Twitter \ Website
You can support this podcast by becoming a patron on Patreon.
This episode is sponsored by
· Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/message
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/support
Get full access to A Gentle Landing at agentlelanding.substack.com/subscribe
My name is Rose J. Percy and I am a "Soft Black Woman." This podcast seeks to empower the soft black women as they:Set their boundaries in ways that maximize dignity and self-worthSeek rest and refuses to be identified as a workhorse by inviting others to do their own workResists identities and stereotypes that erase their humanityImagine new expansiveness for their self-understanding in the worldEtc. This is an open conversation and the objectives can and will change as we explore soft black womanhood together.Today's Affirmation:Dear Soft Black Woman, I am glad you are here. I am glad you continue “to be” in a world that refuses to acknowledge all that “you are.” Let your presence be a reminder to all, but especially you: the deeply enfleshed and beautiful humanity you carry. I welcome you in this space, to sit, stand or dance, To find hope and comfort, to laugh, to cry and get mad….to be as loud or as quiet as you want to be and to know that you are heard and that your voice matters here the most. I pray you find just what you need to fuel your work and your rest. Wishing you a gentle landing -Rose J. PercyFind me on the internet: IG \ FB \ Twitter \ Website \ YoutubeSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/dearsoftblackwoman)
This episode is sponsored by
· Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/message
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rose-percy5/support
Get full access to A Gentle Landing at agentlelanding.substack.com/subscribe