Sunday Stories - articles, books, podcasts - what stories I am intrigued by and how they relate to me.
For quite a while, after I stopped commuting long-ish distances for work, I stopped regularly listening to audio-versions of books and to podcasts. In my downtime, I found, often, I preferred instrumental music, silence, or the hum of the TV that I wasn’t really watching. Some days, I think I use up my listening quota, so I turn on monastic chanting, instrumentals, or nature sounds to calm my energy. (Side note: my friend, Luz, recently introduced me to Beautiful Chorus and their harmonies have been on repeat….if you need calming energy influences, check out this group of melodic women.)
I am not entirely sure of the spark, but in the last few months, podcasts have entered my listening sphere again. I find myself listening occasionally on my morning walks or, more often, when I am cooking or doing household chores. You may also have observed, if you’ve read past posts, that I also subscribe to the NY Times. NY Times subscription meet Spotify subscription and I found myself wanting to share a new-to-me podcast.
Needing to read headlines that aren’t Washington politics or directly related to COVID & the global condition, on my For You feed on NY Times, I came to an article about Saidu Tejan-Thomas Jr., who through his work as a journalist and editor at the production company Gimlet, realized there are so many more stories of black and latinx people to share in order to challenge the social inequities groups face. Insert Resistance, a podcast that is “refusing to accept things as they are,” and amplifying the movement for black lives.
Mr. Tejan-Thomas’ background, as an immigrant, as a survivor, as a poet, as a journalist, and as a creative, is best described by the NY Times article (thank you to Reggie Ugwu for his reporting). In this creation, Resistance, there are stories of the unexpected - how a little investigation led to an understanding that main streets in Brookyln were named for wealthy slave owners, yet the neighborhood is filled with black and brown faces - and another feature of The Guardians, a non-violent activism group and one of their members whose perspective shifted as he was victim of harassment and brutality.
I am a white woman living in a suburban town in New England. Thank you to the storytellers, the creators, those willing to tell their story. I am listening.
Images are from the websites for Resistance and the NY Times.
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