The Intersection: Diverse Folx Converse Shannon Wong Lerner, Ph.D.

The Intersection and this episode "Interview with Josh Paul" are meant for educational purposes. Josh Paul is the State Official whose resignation letter went viral as former Director of the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs.

Paul resigned in protest of the US sending additional arms to Israel during its siege on Gaza. He had been with the PM for 11 years and served the government through four Presidential administrations.

Since then, Paul has become the leading voice of informed dissent for the Peace in the Middle East movement.

Josh Paul has appeared on Democracy Now, Reid Report, Amanpour, PBS, Middle East Eye, and was a featured speaker at March on DC for Gaza, 1-13-2024. We were lucky to be the first non-news show and the only LGBTQ+ platform to interview him.

Josh and I collaborated to provide a thoughtful, historical, and accessible show about Gaza.

The show will be accessible to everyone, no matter if you have felt too overwhelmed to do the research on your own.

This important conversation includes queer people of color, gender non-conforming, and trans people’s domestic struggles for bodily autonomy and integrity and the intersection of the occupation and war on Gaza.

We address the problem of dehumanization domestically and in Gaza and the self-determination of an entire nation. We discuss some potential hopeful solutions for Palestine’s future integration and statehood. Season 3, Episode 1, “An Interview with Josh Paul” premieres February 3, 2024 at 6PM PST.

We hope you will join us!

BIO: Previously - and for the last decade - Josh Paul has served as Director of Congressional & Public Affairs, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, U.S. Department of State, with responsibility for shaping and implementing a holistic communications strategy in support of U.S. security assistance, arms transfers, and global defense partnerships.

The Intersection: Diverse Folx Converse is a podcast made by and for queer people of color, gender non-conforming people, and trans people. We often discuss topics already in the minds and hearts of our community. And we don't shy away from paths less traveled.

We encourage critical thinking and show relationships within the intersection of social justice and confronting systems of racism, homophobia, and transphobia, sexism, xenophobia, ableism.

Our intersection also exists between host and guest and between our social and political lives, our personal lives and lived experience. Interview taped December 21, 2023

***TRIGGER WARNING: There are a few moments where we mention someone who had been killed, violations of human rights, and risks people in the Middle East have experienced. None of the descriptions are inherently explicit but they do name violence, violations, or killings.

If you would like to learn more about Josh Paul's work, check out his LinkedIn page where he originally published his resignation letter: / josh-paul-655a25263

Credits: Intersection audio engineer: Ben Kramer Merchants Media http://www.merchantsmedia.com Ben.kramer@mac.com

Intro/Outro music: L’envol Du Papillon by Patchworker f.k.a. [friendzoned] | / patchworker Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...

Join us for this thought-provoking conversation with founder Beth Stephens to learn more about ecosexuality for EARTH DAY.

Ecosexuality is a person that finds nature romantic, sensual and sexy.

It is a new sexual identity, much like you might think of pansexual as a newer sexual identity.

An ecosexual is a person who imagines the earth as their lover, and it's a term used in dating that describes a person interested in environmentalism.

For Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle, they have used this term ecosexuality within performance art to blur the boundaries between life and art.

Their great love and relationship is something we discuss in this podcast and talking about a new way to queer the environmental movement. I hope you enjoy.

Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle founded the ecosexual art movement from their weddings to each other and the earth starting in 2008. Since, then they have written a book, Assuming the Ecosexual Position (University of Minnesota, 2022), and produced two films about their work, Goodbye Gauly Mountain and Water Makes Us Wet, with one on the way, Playing With Fire.

BIO
Elizabeth M. Stephens is a filmmaker, artist, and professor in the Art Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Stephens grew up in the heart of rural West Virginia’s coalfields where she forged deep bonds with the Appalachian Mountains, as well as with miners, labor activists, environmentalists, and other mountaineers.

Stephens earned a PhD in Performance Studies from UC Davis in 2015, systemic settler colonial practices, racism and poverty are deeply intertwined with environmental justice.

She developed and gained administrative approval for a new MFA in Environmental Art and Social Practice.

Her first film was Goodbye Gauley Mountain with Annie Sprinkle. The second was Water Makes Us Wet.

Stephens and Sprinkle have screened at Documenta 14 in Kassel, Germany and then went on to screen at MoMA, the British Film Institute and the Berlin Festspiele.

In 2021 Stephens was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship with Annie Sprinkle for their new film, Playing with Fire.

Their book is Assuming the Ecosexual Position: The Earth as Lover published by the University of Minnesota Press (2022).

See what the Ecosexuals are up to here:
https://sprinklestephens.ucsc.edu/

https://earthlab.ucsc.edu

***CORRECTION, Beth Stephens is from Earth Lab not Eco Lab

The Intersection: Diverse Folx Converse is a podcast made by and for queer people of color, gender nonconforming, and trans people. This is Season Two, Episode 11. Our title is, We're Not Gonna Take It: Queering Boxing For Self-Growth and Life Strategies. We have special guest, Pharrell Shaymar, boxing coach and LGBTQ speaker.

We are releasing this podcast in anticipation of the first World Gay Boxing Championship held in Sydney, Australia Feb 18–22 2023!

With growing violence and hate crimes directed at LGBTQ people in the US and elsewhere in the world, queering boxing has a positive effect on queer and trans folx's self-image, safe spaces, and community.

We talk about how queer people belong everywhere, including in sports. We confront stereotypes about boxing and toxic masculinity and describe how by queering boxing, trans and queer boxers are redefining the sport in and beyond the ring. Pharrell Shaymar: Keynote Speaker 🏳️‍🌈 Sports Advocate 🏳️‍🌈 Mental Health Advocate 🏳️‍🌈 Professional Boxing Coach 🏳️‍🌈 "I may never be a biological male, but I am a gentleman"

For more information on our
Special Guest Pharrell Shaymar, check out his social media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pharrell-shaymar/
Everywhere else @the_pad_technician


Dr. Shannon Wong Lerner (she/they) is a cross-continental scholar, thought leader, keynote speaker, and DEI & communication skills trainer whose work spans across the United States, Europe, and Asia. They are the host of The Intersection: Diverse Folx Converse, programming made by and for QPoC and GNC individuals and Communication for Diverse People.

https://drshannonwl.com
@dr_shannon_wl

The Intersection is a not-for-profit project made by and for queer people of color and gender non-conforming and trans people that relies on donations. Currently for this year, we have only reached $540 out of our $8,000 goal! If you like what you hear, please consider donating. Even $10 would be great to add to our production fees. See our GoFundMe here: https://gofund.me/9476c47f

Theme Music created by:
L’envol Du Papillon by Patchworker f.k.a. [friendzoned] | https://soundcloud.com/patchworker
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...

The Intersection: Diverse Folx Converse Season 2, Episode 10 with our special episode with Bennett Kaspar-Williams, "Making Trans Positive Media: Bringing Our Personal Lives to Work and the Screen."

About a year ago, Netflix, one of the leading streaming media companies, destroyed its employee-first work culture policy and produced transphobic content. Both of which caused a mass exodus of some top talent, the distrust of their audiences, and the company's stock to tank.

Media and tech companies had looked up to Netflix for its non-hierarchical business model, cutting-edge content, and commitment to an almost idyllic transparency with their employees.

What happened?

One glaring problem was producing transphobic content that could fuel an already volatile situation for trans people. The fact that Netflix decided to go back on its word to consider its employees' voices. And failed to include the Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) that have been assembled previously to maintain the integrity of their values and content. And to support and protect their communities.

Earlier this year, I met Bennett Kaspar-Williams, labor relations and inclusivity, and we started to work on "Making Trans Positive Media: Bringing Our Personal Lives to Work and the Screen."

Bennett was at the center of the Netflix walkouts over transphobic content, the most public being Dave Chappelle's The Closer. He also served as vice president of the Netflix trans ERG and Chair for the Trans* Content Review Pod. Bennett now works at Amazon Studios, where he is starting a new trans ERG among other projects.

Our intersection rests between trans positive media and labor relations, especially of trans employees. Especially when we are talking about a media company who needed to do better in both of these regards to better represent and support the trans community. At work and on the screen.

💙In this podcast, we talk about trans positive media. What is it? What are some examples now? And why is seeing ourselves in today's and historic narratives so important?

💗We talk about ways to keep encouraging and supporting this content.

🤍We discuss what happened precisely with Netflix to cause their radical shift in company culture. And the threats to trans people irl when transphobic content is produced.

💖And end with ways to do better for media companies to support trans-positive content and employees.

Bennett Kaspar-Williams serves as Corporate Counsel for Labor Relations at Amazon Studios. Previously worked as Counsel for Labor Relations at Netflix, where I also served as Vice President of the Trans Employee Resource Group and Chair for the Trans* Content Review Pod.

For more information on our
Special Guest Bennett-Kaspar Williams, check out his shop:
www.TransistShop.com

And Instagram account:
@bennettonpurpose


Dr. Shannon Wong Lerner (she/they) is a cross-continental scholar, thought leader, keynote speaker, and DEI & communication skills trainer whose work spans across the United States, Europe, and Asia. They are the host of The Intersection: Diverse Folx Converse, programming made by and for QPoC and GNC individuals and Communication for Diverse People.

https://drshannonwl.com
@dr_shannon_wl

The Intersection is a not-for-profit project made by and for queer people of color and gender non-conforming and trans people that relies on donations. Currently for this year, we have only reached $540 out of our $8,000 goal! If you like what you hear, please consider donating. Even $10 would be great to add to our production fees. See our GoFundMe here: https://gofund.me/9476c47f

Theme Music created by:
L’envol Du Papillon by Patchworker f.k.a. [friendzoned] | https://soundcloud.com/patchworker
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...

In this episode of The Intersection, I sat down with Founder of Black Remote She, Jasmine Jacobs to talk all about how to work to live and not live to work. Specifically focused on how Black professionals specifically can navigate corporate and other organizations for job searches without compromising their values. And while looking at remote work or hybrid at office/remote work.

We discuss the origin story of Black Remote She specifically from Jasmine's experience and how they created the organization from a real need for themselves, their YouTube followers, and eventually their clients to take back control of their careers, opportunities, wellness, and their image. We speak about Black representation and some about brown representation and how Black Remote She is putting queer Black folks, darker-skinned, gender non-conforming, trans Black folks, and those with disabilities in the forefront. Because we often don't see these representations within professional platforms.

This was such a delightful conversation about representation, how to find agency within the working world, and how to find wellness and life-work balance. Because career alignment isn't just about who you are when you're at the job. It's also about how one's treated, regarded as a Black employee or manager, and how one is able to be a whole person.

This episode is being released on Black Women's Equal Pay Day! Enjoy!

Jasmine Jacobs (they/she) is the Founder of Black Remote She and can be found at:
https://www.blackremoteshe.com
@blackremoteshe
Email: info@blackremoteshe.com
Support BRS: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/blackremoteshe

Check out Black Remote She's website for their email job preparation campaign to receive one email a day for a week to support your job search!

Dr. Shannon Wong Lerner (she/they) is a cross-continental scholar, thought leader, keynote speaker, and DEI & communication skills trainer whose work spans across the United States, Europe, and Asia. They are the host of The Intersection: Diverse Folx Converse, programming made by and for QPoC and GNC individuals and Communication for Diverse People.

https://drshannonwl.com
@dr_shannon_wl

The Intersection is a not-for-profit project made by and for queer people of color and gender non-conforming and trans people that relies on donations. Currently for this year, we have only reached $540 out of our $8,000 goal! If you like what you hear, please consider donating. Even $10 would be great to add to our production fees. See our GoFundMe here: https://gofund.me/9476c47f

Theme Music created by:
L’envol Du Papillon by Patchworker f.k.a. [friendzoned] | https://soundcloud.com/patchworker
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...

Have you ever felt intimidated in the therapist chair or classroom? Joshua Schwartz (they/them) therapist and Dr. Shannon Wong Lerner (she/they) who was a long-time professor break down any hint of authority or power from these positions. And instead, they share their own experiences of mental health, self-care, and getting through the most harrowing times within graduate school. We made this podcast for anyone interested in the intersections between neurodivergence and queerness AKA neuroqueer! And we hope it might be helpful for anyone else in a social service or education role to better serve their communities!


Joshua Schwartz (they/them) currently works as a therapist. They have a BA from San Francisco State University and MSW UC Berkeley, having received their baccalaureate in psychology and human sexuality studies with the highest distinction. Work experience in caregiving; Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA); case management; crisis assessment, intervention, and triage in clinical and community settings; and individual and group counseling and psychotherapy.

Joshua can be found at their blog: https://starvingautist.com


Dr. Shannon Wong Lerner (she/they) is a cross-continental scholar, thought leader, keynote speaker, and DEI & communication skills trainer whose work spans across the United States, Europe, and Asia. They are the host of The Intersection: Diverse Folx Converse, programming made by and for QPoC and GNC individuals and Communication for Diverse People.

https://drshannonwl.com
@dr_shannon_wl

The Intersection is a not-for-profit project made by and for queer people of color and gender non-conforming and trans people that relies on donations. Currently for this year, we have only reached $540 out of our $8,000 goal! If you like what you hear, please consider donating. Even $10 would be great to add to our production fees. See our GoFundMe here: https://gofund.me/9476c47f

Theme Music created by:
L’envol Du Papillon by Patchworker f.k.a. [friendzoned] | https://soundcloud.com/patchworker
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...