Loam Listen

Loam
Loam Listen

Loam Listen is an expression of our belief at Loam that creative community can be a catalyst for resilience and reimagination in the heart of climate chaos. As the systems surrounding us collapse, it feels especially vital to nurture new ways of being through creating spaces for radical artists, activists, educators, and entrepreneurs in our community to share their stories on their terms. How can we continue to grow our capacity to be in right relationship with the Earth and with each other? How can we alchemize our personal practices into the seeds for cultivating collective liberation? How can we subvert the status quo, sustain biodiversity, and honor grief and joy and everything in between during this turbulent era of political polarization and digital isolation? With Loam Listen, we want to explore these questions in conversation with our constellation of creatives who are responding to the climate crisis with a commitment to imagination, compassion, and care.

Episodes

  1. 10/27/2021

    Decomposition as a Compass: In Conversation With Jordan Alexander Williams

    How might we collapse a world rooted in extraction and nurture one built on reciprocity? What can decomposition teach us about seeding sustainable futures? Join us as queer Hoodoo, earth tender, and living ancestor Jordan Alexander Williams contemplates the liberation of land, ourselves, and our communities from “radical individualism” in this soul-stirring conversation with Amirio Freeman. From meditating on a week spent at the revolutionary Soul Fire Farm to exploring the beauty of mycelial networks, Williams walks us through possibilities for planting world(s) worth growing into. GUEST: Jordan Alexander Williams (they/them) is a queer Hoodoo, earth tender, and living ancestor. Jordan was born and raised in the so-called Chicagoland area of Illinois, lands stewarded by many peoples and lineages including: the Potawatomi, Miami, Ho-Chunk and at least a dozen more Indigenous Nations, and Hoodoos / Black African peoples of Turtle Island (so-called North America). In 2016, Jordan graduated from the University of Illinois (a land-grab university) with a degree in environmental science and a concentration in human dimensions of the environment. They have since collaborated with human and more-than-human beings across Turtle Island to: develop the collective visions and leadership of environmental changemakers; facilitate organizational culture shifts towards anti-racism and cooperative leadership; cultivate food, climate, and ecological justice; and build liberatory practices, relationships, and spaces with Two-Spirit, Queer, and Trans / Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (2SQT/BIPOC). Jordan trusts that the liberation and regeneration of people and planet will come by dancing in the moon and sunlight, getting our hands in the soil, caring for each other, and reclaiming and evolving the earth-sourced wisdom(s) of our ancestors. RESOURCES: Soul Fire Farm Soul Fire Farm BIPOC Farming Immersion Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land Hoodoo Mojo Workin’: The Old African American Hoodoo System by Katrina Hazzard-Donald Ep. 25 Mama Rue Breaks the Juju Down (A Little Juju Podcast) Nested Wholes & Fractals The Regenerative Life: Transform Any Organization, Our Society, and Your Destiny by Carol Sanford Regenerative Design for Change Makers by Abrah Dresdale Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by adrienne maree brown

    1h 24m
  2. 06/29/2021

    Earth In Color: In Conversation with Darel Scott

    With Earth in Color, sustainability scientist and designer Darel Scott is reclaiming the relationship between Blackness and Greeness through vibrant, community-oriented media. In the face of a mainstream environmental movement rooted in the erasure of the lived experiences of Black folx, Earth in Color is a call to reimagine, reclaim, and regenerate. Tune in as host Amirio Freeman connects with Darel to talk about creating spaces that center and celebrate Black connections to Earth, holding histories of harm, and activating meaningful allyship in Black-led spaces. Guest: Darel Scott is a designer, sustainability scientist, and the founder of Earth in Color, an emerging media platform and creative studio focused on Black culture, community healing, and the natural world. Through creative storytelling and nature experiences, Earth in Color celebrates Black culture connections to nature and helps us heal with the Earth. Darel is on a personal mission to cultivate collective healing, spark Earth curiosity, and nurture deep joy in the Black community. She is a tea fanatic and loves developing plant-forward recipes. You can check out those recipes and so much more @earthincolor.co! Resources: Radicle Magazine “Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry” by Camille Dungy “Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds” by adrienne maree brown “Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer

    49 min
  3. 05/18/2021

    Encountering Our Divine and Redefining Family: In Conversation With Twiggy Pucci Garçon

    As we explore (and expand) our understanding of matriarchy at Loam this year, this conversation with activist, healer, and creator extraordinaire Twiggy Pucci Garçon offers insight into how the Ballroom community redefines and reimagines nurturing relationship through creating unique spaces of care, support, and expression. From reflecting on queerness to excavating the link between spirituality and self, Loam Listen host Amirio Freeman and Twiggy dive deep in this world-building conversation. GUEST: Raised in a southern, religious, Black community, Twiggy is a proud non-binary member of the LGBTQ+ community. As an activist, producer, healer and creator, Twiggy attributes the balance of struggle and strength they witnessed and experienced, early in life, to their ability to maneuver through spaces of power and represent for people without. Praising literary greats like James Baldwin to the women in their family, Twiggy is quick to credit their ancestral warriors and pathmakers for the elevation of their own voice in a way that ultimately leads to progress. Since finding support in the Ballroom community at a very crucial moment in their life, Twiggy leverages every opportunity to generate conversations around equity for LGBTQ+ young people and create quality spaces for them to be centered in making decisions and solutions around the issue of homelessness. With over 15 years of experience, both personally and professionally, Twiggy has collaborated with artists, filmmakers, academics and policymakers to increase visibility of both creative and sociopolitical agendas.

    40 min
  4. 03/02/2021

    Shaping New Narratives On Sex, Climate, and Community: In Conversation With Melissa Pintor Carnagey

    How can shaping new narratives on sex, climate, and community rewire our worldview? Tune in as educator Melissa Pintor Carnagey of Sex Positive Families reflects on the role of pleasure-centric, narrative-weaving strategies to practice with our young people at home and elsewhere in conversation Loam Listen Host Amirio Freeman. Guest: Melissa Pintor Carnagey (she/they) is a Black and Latinx, Austin-based sexuality educator and licensed social worker who founded Sex Positive Families on the belief that all children deserve holistic, comprehensive, and shame-free sexuality education so they can live informed, empowered, and safer lives. Melissa provides puberty workshops for families and educational content for parents on topics of talking to kids across stages about pleasure, consent, and online porn. Melissa is a sex-positive parent to three young people ages 21, 11, and 7. They are the constant inspiration for the work. Resources: Pleasure Activism by adrienne maree brown Sex Positive Talks to Have With Kids by Melissa Pintor Carnagey, LBSW In Case You’re Curious: Questions about Sex from Young People with Answers from the Experts by Planned Parenthood Vaginas and Periods 101: A Popup Book by Christian Hoeger and Kristen Lilla These Are My Eyes, This is My Nose, This is My Vulva, These Are My Toes by Dr. Lexx Brown-James The Sex Ed of Blackfolk Podcast by Dr. Tracie Q. Gilbert Six Minute Sex Ed Podcast by Kim Cavill

  5. 10/20/2020

    (Re)envisioning Relationships Through Conspiracy: In Conversation With E.N. West

    What shapes can community organizing take as we navigate this era of pandemic and protest? Community organizer E.N. West shares reflections on relationship building in times of crisis in this expansive and engaging conversation with Loam Listen host Amirio Freeman. Brimming with heart and inspiring lessons, E offers us all a blueprint for how to take care of each other when the world surrounding us is shifting. Guest: E.N. West, affectionately known as "E" (they/E), proudly hails from the DC metropolitan area, by way of Alexandria, Virginia. They graduated from William & Mary with dual degrees in American Studies and Government. E deeply believes "we are uninhibited when we know our power" and is committed to co-creating a world where everyone intimately knows how powerful they are and directs that power toward collective liberation. They are many things, but at the heart of all of them, they are a community organizer based in Seattle, Washington. E feels called to community organizing as both a vocation and way of life. They are also deeply committed to lifelong leadership formation. To those ends, they’re currently: Building toward a Black queer feminist future at Surge Reproductive Justice. Learning nonprofit leadership as a Community Impact Fellow through RVC. Organizing around faith land and equitable development with The Church Council of Greater Seattle. Serving on the board of and organizing with Got Green, a BIPOC-led environmental justice organization rooted in South Seattle. In their moments of play and rest, E enjoys reading social justice literature, listening to podcasts of all kinds (especially those featuring QTPOC) & being the queer jock of their own dreams (boxing, capoeira, biking & training for a 10k). Recommended Resources: Emergent Strategy - adrienne maree brown Pedagogy of the Oppressed - Paolo Freire Jubilee (Leviticus 25 & Luke 4:18) Yes! Magazine Puget Sound Sage CREST Cohort - Seattle, Washington Leaven Community Land & Housing Organizing - Portland, Oregon Equitable Development Initiative, Office of Planning & Community Development - Seattle, Washington Hayoa Miyazaki // Studio Ghibli Animal Crossing Song: Saturn - Stevie Wonder Album: What’s Going On - Marvin Gaye, song: “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” & “What’s Going On”

    1h 26m
4.9
out of 5
39 Ratings

About

Loam Listen is an expression of our belief at Loam that creative community can be a catalyst for resilience and reimagination in the heart of climate chaos. As the systems surrounding us collapse, it feels especially vital to nurture new ways of being through creating spaces for radical artists, activists, educators, and entrepreneurs in our community to share their stories on their terms. How can we continue to grow our capacity to be in right relationship with the Earth and with each other? How can we alchemize our personal practices into the seeds for cultivating collective liberation? How can we subvert the status quo, sustain biodiversity, and honor grief and joy and everything in between during this turbulent era of political polarization and digital isolation? With Loam Listen, we want to explore these questions in conversation with our constellation of creatives who are responding to the climate crisis with a commitment to imagination, compassion, and care.

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