Poema Podcast James Prescott

A new Poema podcast special episode with myself and Douglas Humphries - recorded during the strike specifically for a post-strike release. 
In this episode we discuss Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer". We explore the various themes of the movie, how the movie impacted both of us, and the biggest lessons we can learn from the movie.
We also talk about the storytelling in the movie, and the creative/storytelling lessons we can learn from Chris Nolan. 

I'm honoured today to be joined by author and speaker Daniel Finklestein. Daniel tells us the story about his parents and grandparents, Jewish families caught up in the growing anti-semitism of the 1920's & 1930's, ultimately leading to their imprisonment in concentration camps by the Nazi's. 
But the story doesn't end there, they survived these camps and eventually moved to England where they raised a family. And of course there are shades of the shift to the hard right we've seen in the US & UK recently.
It's a story of struggle, grief, courage and hope, and Daniel shares it beautifully. 

This week my friend Jenna DeWitt returns to the podcast to discuss two songs - "You're Losing Me" by Taylor Swift and "Faith" by Selmer - and exploring them in detail, in relation to their respective messages about queer liberation and owning your gender and identity.
We breakdown the lyrics of each song and discuss them in depth, and Jenna gives great insight into the deeper meaning of these songs, how they've impacted her, and how they can speak to us too.
We also touch on how despite one piece of art being labelled 'secular' and one more overtly, 'Christian', both can impart equally powerful messages about these issues.

This week my guest is my friend and colleague Maria French, author, speaker and theological coach. In this episode we discuss her new book, "Reconfiguring " A Collection of Post-Christian Thoughts and Theologies", and in particular two essays from this book.
Firstly we explore the power of nostalgia, and how our yearning for some idealistic past which never existed can hinder our thriving and living now. We discuss this from both an individual and cultural perspective, looking at the impact of nostalgia on the political trajectory of both the US and UK in recent years.
We then naturally move into a conversation about grief, death, and loss, and how sitting in our grief and allowing it to work on us, and doing healing work, can actually lead us become more fully alive. We explore how when we embrace the reality of death and grief, it can move us to be more fully present, and create a thriving life of purpose.
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You can buy Maria's new book "Reconfiguring " A Collection of Post-Christian Thoughts and Theologies" on Amazon here and find more of her work on her website here.

Today I'm joined by my friend Ali Smith, who shares their story of how they slowly discovered they were autistic, and ultimately had ADHD.
They share common patterns of behaviour they experienced which they realised can be giveaways for these diagnoses, and the process of them obtaining a diagnosis. 
Ali also talks about the challenges of coming to terms with their diagnoses and how they learned to acknowledge and accept who they are and thrive in their autistic and ADHD identities - and how we can too.

This week I'm joined by my friend Amber Kay to discuss living with epilepsy, how they discovered they were autistic and how this changed their life.
They also share the story of discovering their bisexuality and embracing their true identity, and how this tied in with their autistic discovery. This episode is Amber sharing their journey of acknowledging and living fully into who they really are, and how we can do the same.