3 episodes
This is Not Reality This is Not Reality
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- Arts
This is Not Reality is a podcast hosted by boston-based artist and podcaster Amber Torres.
Amber speaks to experts, artists and everyday people about finding success and happiness in an everchanging world.
The name of the podcast is Amber’s personal motto-- a play on words based on a painting that she learned about in highschool called “The Treachery of Images” by french artist Rene Magritte (1928) —a painting of a pipe with french text written underneath it that translates to, “this is not a pipe”.
Afterall, what we see is not a pipe, it is a painting of a pipe.
Amber has always cherished the painting as a reminder that People have all sorts of linguistic and social tools that we use as shorthand to communicate/ navigate our values. This is Not Reality is about comparing our different illusion(s) of success and happiness in order to live more fulfilled lives.
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Saving The City
In 2015, when I was a Junior at Hamilton College, I received the Emerson Collaborative Research Grant to research gentrification in Washington D.C.
I used those findings to develop my senior thesis and take a deeper dive into Urban Planning and migrations trends in the U.S. That research project, first titled Selling the City and later renamed to Saving the City, allowed me to better understand the origins of gentrification in order to combat it in Boston.
There was so much overlap between my research and the other grant projects and creative ventures I was pursuing at the time, curating art shows for emerging artists of color in Boston. Before I wrote Saving the City, I completed the Levitt Research Center's Social Innovation Fellowship at my college where I planned and pitched the creation of a local art gallery and studio to support black and brown artists competing in the creative economy. This research has been integral to my ongoing work in the arts and the city.
Saving the City challenges the prediction commonly made by early social theorists that globalization would eventually diminish the importance of place in society. I found that globalization has actually made place more valuable. My research led me to wonder how local government, entrepreneurs, and visionaries can leverage the value of place and placemaking in the 21st century to combat the gentrification and displacement of disenfranchised communities. -
Featuring The Boston Lesbigay Urban Foundation; Founders of Boston Urban Pride
Featuring Curtis Santos & Eilakeisha Spencer
Founders of the Boston Lesbigay Urban Foundation
Organizers of Boston Urban Pride
I spoke to Curtis Santos and Eilakeisha Spencer who are the founders of the Boston Lesbigay Urban Foundation, which provides, “programs and activities supporting mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health in urban communities helping them to improve a healthier lifestyle”. They are the organizers behind Boston Urban Pride and Boston LesbiGay Urban Events aka B.L.U.E. During our conversation, we reflect on the controversy surrounding the dissolution of Boston Pride, how Curtis & Eilakeisha are working with a coalition of queer organizers of color to reallocate resources, what it was like coming of age as queer in the city, Lil Nas X and homosexuality in hip hop and more.
For more information about their programs and events follow the Boston Lesbigay Foundation @boston_urban_pride or visit their website
https://www.lesbigayurbanfoundation.org/about
Timestamps Below:
4:20 - What the foundation does
6:20 - Socializing and Serving community
7:40 - The Sacred ritual of gathering
8:30 - Starting during the pandemic
9:15 - Boston Pride
10:10 - Boston Pride boycott
12:40 Lack of access to funding
13:30 Boston Pride dissolving
16:50 B.L.U.E (Social Engagement)
22: bisexual community
26 organizational mission and structure
“Social engagement is really of a huge priority when we talk about social determinates of health…when we talk about folks living a healthy lifestyle when we talk about what does health and wealth looks like in urban communities, social engagement is at the #1 spot”.
38 Lil nas X & LGBTQUIA representation in Hip Hop
Music by Blessin @blessinindisguise and Lubiggz @Bahnanabites
For updates on new episodes of This is Not Reality follow @ambersafro
www.ambersafro.com/thisisnotreality -
Ft. Zeisa's Hair Care
Ft. Zeisa, owner and creator of Zeisa’s Haircare
Amber spoke to Zeisa, owner and creator of Zeisa’s Haircare. The conversation touches on natural hair do’s and dont’s, curly hair in the cape verdean community, the impact of natural hair influencers and more. Visit zeisahaircare.com to purchase organic hair care and beard care products. If you’re in New York stop by House of Skillz Beauty, 2065 Fulton St in Brooklyn.
“It’s always been about the style and the style only…your not actually doing anything to take care of it before you do the style” 11:15
Timestamps below:
9 mins styling your hair vs. caring for your hair | 12 mins you’re gonna learn your hair | 16 mins keeping perm in her closet, just in case | 19 mins influencers | 21 mins hair types | 26 mins family hair care, creating new traditions | 29 mins nyc vs Boston | 30 mins cabo verde | 40 mins business owner and educator; turn over in charter schools | 43 mins Zeisa’s Hair Care now in stores, what’s next?
Music by Blessin @blessinindisguise and Lubiggz @Bahnanabites
For updates on new episodes of This is Not Reality follow @ambersafro
www.ambersafro.com/thisisnotreality