Speaker 1: So what exactly constitutes black storytelling in the first place.
Speaker 2: And that's one thing we don't have to figure out.
Speaker 2: I am Katie Mitchell. I am a bookseller, and I
Speaker 2: am a book writer. I'm writing a book about black
Speaker 2: bookstores in the United States. I am a reality TV watcher.
Speaker 2: I am a memoir reader. I am a player hater.
Speaker 2: I am a step counter like a pedometer.
Speaker 1: Girlie speaking of you, are an auntie and Auntie scout
Speaker 1: steps exactly. And I am basically all of the things
Speaker 1: that Katie did not say just now. I'm the opposite
Speaker 1: of everything. I am an aunty in real life and
Speaker 1: a proverbial aunty as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, don't try to be cute.
Speaker 1: I'm not. First of all, don't be all oppositional with
Speaker 1: me here. I'm just saying that Katie and I are
Speaker 1: often very unlike and somehow I'm still very implatonic love
Speaker 1: and have been for the last two decades. I am
Speaker 1: Eve's Jeffcoach. I am a writer. I'm a podcaster. I
Speaker 1: am a lover of black things. I'm a lover of
Speaker 1: consuming art in general, in all its forms.
Speaker 2: We created on Theme because we wanted to have a
Speaker 2: space where black stories and black storytelling was the default,
Speaker 2: and we didn't have to wait till a special time
Speaker 2: of the year or a tragedy to highlight the stories
Speaker 2: in the lies and lived experiences of black folks. On Theme,
Speaker 2: it's all about black storytelling in all its forms, books, songs, movies, plays, diary, entries,
Speaker 2: all of that.
Speaker 1: Okay. I like to think about On Theme as a compendium.
Speaker 1: I also like to think of On Theme as a
Speaker 1: place where we can celebrate black stories and we can
Speaker 1: add to the archive, so it can be this place
Speaker 1: that kind of holds the past, the present, in the
Speaker 1: future at the same time the past because we're talking
Speaker 1: about our history and all of these works that are
Speaker 1: from the past and people that are from the past.
Speaker 1: It's also in the present because we are in this
Speaker 1: moment talking about how these works reflect our lives, how
Speaker 1: they relate to us, and we're thinking in real time.
Speaker 1: A lot of the time, we are celebrating this current
Speaker 1: moment and honoring it. And we're also in the future
Speaker 1: because we're talking about works that will and have been
Speaker 1: affecting and inspiring works that come after them. On on Theme,
Speaker 1: we will be talking about magicians, we will be talking
Speaker 1: about the history of blackface and how that evolved over time.
Speaker 1: We will also be talking about advice columns that black
Speaker 1: people did, and the rest you'll have to find out
Speaker 1: about by listening to the show. A Teasa listen to
Speaker 1: on theme on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts.