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Speaker 1: Pushkin. Hey friends, welcome to Bookmarks. You're exclusive one on

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Speaker 1: one with me Glory Adam, hosts of the Well Read

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Speaker 1: Black Girl podcast. You're getting this episode as a valued subscriber,

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Speaker 1: and we appreciate your support. Week after week, I'll be

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Speaker 1: dropping into the fee to check in and share some

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Speaker 1: tips on writing, how to get published, and how to

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Speaker 1: find your voice. I'll also be sharing conversations with independent

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Speaker 1: bookstore owners, community members, and literacy advocates on how they

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Speaker 1: keep the written word alive. Here a Well Read black Girl,

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Speaker 1: our homies means so much to us. This week I

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Speaker 1: get to share a conversation with you with one of

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Speaker 1: our dear friends, Patricia Bays and Larson in Harlem. And

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Speaker 1: every episode I'll share with you what I'm reading each week,

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Speaker 1: what I'm watching, what I'm totally obsessed with in how

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Speaker 1: I find inspiration. If you have a question, a recommendation,

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Speaker 1: or you just want to say what's up, hit me

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Speaker 1: at WRBG at Pushkin dot fm and stay tuned to

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Speaker 1: the feed for everything Well Read black Girl. When I

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Speaker 1: started Well Read Black Girl, I didn't know much about

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Speaker 1: book publishing or how to start a podcast. But after

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Speaker 1: writing two books and finishing up a third. I want

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Speaker 1: to offer some advice to listeners. In this episode, we'll

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Speaker 1: start with podcasting. Making a podcast was way more complicated

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Speaker 1: than I ever imagined, but my hope was to have

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Speaker 1: the authors all come together and talk about their journey

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Speaker 1: and what led them to become writers. I wanted something

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Speaker 1: to feel really unique, and part of it was I

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Speaker 1: wanted to challenge myself and to be able to share

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Speaker 1: stories with other people about reading and writing. And I

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Speaker 1: wanted to see the inner lives of authors like I

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Speaker 1: wanted to enter their homes and see like the messiness

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Speaker 1: of their desk and just like how they were able

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Speaker 1: to cultivate the characters and pull together the pros in

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Speaker 1: such an amazing way. So for me, it was kind

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Speaker 1: of like demystifying the process of what it means to

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Speaker 1: be a writer and an author, because you know, the

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Speaker 1: end product, the book that we hold in our hand,

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Speaker 1: is so beautiful and shiny, but I wanted to really

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Speaker 1: get into the messy parts of why it can be

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Speaker 1: a really complicated but rewarding endeavor. And that's what I

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Speaker 1: wanted to share with the community inspiring writers so they

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Speaker 1: wouldn't get discouraged or be deterred when things got hard,

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Speaker 1: they would know that it was simply part of the process.

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Speaker 1: So when it came to actually putting together the podcast,

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Speaker 1: I knew immediately that it wasn't something I could do

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Speaker 1: on my own, and I wanted to partner with just

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Speaker 1: a talented teen to help me like refine and put

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Speaker 1: together this really big vision and help me just understand

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Speaker 1: the world of podcasting, which is way more complicated than

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Speaker 1: I could have ever imagined. I realized that most people

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Speaker 1: think podcasting is just grabbing a mic and going into

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Speaker 1: a closet to record things, But it requires such precision

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Speaker 1: and an ear for understanding how sentences and stories down

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Speaker 1: like It's a curation that similar to putting together like

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Speaker 1: an anthology, like it required such a very delicate touch,

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Speaker 1: so you can hear the full story and you can

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Speaker 1: get like the right quotes and ask the right questions.

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Speaker 1: It is just like a puzzle that you put together.

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Speaker 1: It's a lot of work, and it's the end product

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Speaker 1: is totally worth it. But all these things are necessary

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Speaker 1: to make a beautiful final product. So you can hear

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Speaker 1: and just like fully understand the story that we're trying

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Speaker 1: to tell, and you're not distracted by anything else. The

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Speaker 1: most important piece of advice is to ask yourself why

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Speaker 1: why are you doing this? What do you want to accomplish?

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Speaker 1: And how will you feel when you're doing the task,

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Speaker 1: Because you want it to be something that feels encouraging.

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Speaker 1: It will make you want to keep going because you're

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Speaker 1: going to hit roadblocks. There'll be things that are challenging,

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Speaker 1: but you have to keep going and saying the course

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Speaker 1: so you can get to your why. I have been

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Speaker 1: trying to learn how to meditate, and I've done this

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Speaker 1: before the mask, and I have not been as successful,

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Speaker 1: But in twenty twenty two, I'm so determined to really

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Speaker 1: like lock in my meditation practice. So what I've been

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Speaker 1: doing is going for walks, like going for a walks

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Speaker 1: around my pluck, like you know, going to like the

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Speaker 1: local park and just like walking in a circle if necessary,

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Speaker 1: and allowing that to be my meditation because I write somewhere.

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Speaker 1: You know, most people will try to like sit with

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Speaker 1: their legs crossed and you know, sit in front of

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Speaker 1: the wall and stare into you know, just right and

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Speaker 1: be quiet, and that is not me. Like I need

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Speaker 1: to keep moving. So I think I'm going to do

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Speaker 1: like a walking meditation instead, so I ca'm like walk

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Speaker 1: and like really be one with nature, feel the wind

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Speaker 1: in my hair, and help that be part of me,

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Speaker 1: like kind of winding down and be more present. So

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Speaker 1: right now I'm reading The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

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Speaker 1: by Disha phill y'all, and it's her debut collection, and

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Speaker 1: it follows the generations of different Black women and they're

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Speaker 1: dealing with like sex and love and family and what

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Speaker 1: it means to have your own identity and find your voice.

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Speaker 1: And it is such a like engrossing collection. And sometimes

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Speaker 1: you'll be reading and you'll collect your pearls because it

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Speaker 1: feels a little uncomfortable, or you're like laughing at loud

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Speaker 1: because the character says something that is hilarious. But I

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Speaker 1: just love her risk taking in the book and her

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Speaker 1: just yearning to ask like really hard questions and be

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Speaker 1: messy into the complications of black women that are really

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Speaker 1: trying to love themselves even when things don't go as planned.

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Speaker 1: So it's just a really fun short story collection. And

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Speaker 1: I'm a huge fan of short stories. If you have

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Speaker 1: been following, well We're a Black Girl for a little bit,

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Speaker 1: you know that I stand in a short story. So

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Speaker 1: Disha is like in good company with the greats like

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Speaker 1: Dorothy West and z Z. Packer in Petrie. It just

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Speaker 1: falls in line. And I love love the title of

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Speaker 1: the book too, like the secret lives those church ladies,

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Speaker 1: and I consider myself, you know, a little bit of

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Speaker 1: a church lady and I have some secrets too. So yeah,

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Speaker 1: I encourage everyone to read it. I am so excited

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Speaker 1: to have Patricia Basin Larson with us today. She is

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Speaker 1: a woman of many talents. She's a member of the

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Speaker 1: well Red Black Girl community, a professor at City University

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Speaker 1: of New York, and a business coach. Most importantly, she

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Speaker 1: is the co founder of sugar Hill Creamery, one of

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Speaker 1: my favorite ice cream shops. Welcome to Patricia, Hi, Glory.

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Speaker 1: I'm so happy to be here. Thank you for having me.

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Speaker 1: Tell me about your experience in the Walward Black Girl

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Speaker 1: book Club and how is it different from other book

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Speaker 1: clubs you've been a part of in the past. Glory,

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Speaker 1: as a person who likes to read and who has

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Speaker 1: organized her own book clubs as well as been a

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Speaker 1: part of others, what has been so amazing about the

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Speaker 1: Walward Black Girl community has just been the representation the

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Speaker 1: quality of books and the conversations that happen as a result.

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Speaker 1: I am always here for a sister circle with people

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Speaker 1: that I know and don't know. And that is exactly

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Speaker 1: the vibe that I have always gotten when being amidst

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Speaker 1: other Walward Black Girl book Club members. What I think

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Speaker 1: distinguishes the Walwared Black Girl community from so many others

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Speaker 1: is that instant familiarity that one has when they're sitting

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Speaker 1: around the table talking about a text that was all read.

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Speaker 1: I love that. It makes me think of just the

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Speaker 1: Paul Marshall and this idea of sitting around the kitchen

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Speaker 1: table together. That is like the space and the energy

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Speaker 1: we're always trying to cultivate. We want to be in community,

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Speaker 1: but we also want to be in solidarity. But I

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Speaker 1: think of solidarity, I think of the community building that

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Speaker 1: you do at sugar Hill Creamery. Like being in the

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Speaker 1: ice cream shop is just so amazing. Not only are

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Speaker 1: we like having delicious ice cream, but we're talking to

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Speaker 1: one another and getting to know our neighbors. When you

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Speaker 1: opened up the shop in Harlem, you said that you

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Speaker 1: were deeply invested in community building, and I know that

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Speaker 1: is not just a statement, It is the way you

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Speaker 1: live your life. How has the book club helped you

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Speaker 1: with that mission? Yeah, so I always say, actually say

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Speaker 1: this in my coaching practice, but you have to be

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Speaker 1: a joiner in order to get the most out of life.

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Speaker 1: And you need to be surrounding yourself with the people

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Speaker 1: that are issuing the same values that you have, or

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Speaker 1: that are living in their purpose in the way that

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Speaker 1: you want to be living in your purpose. And so

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Speaker 1: being a part of the Welwad Black Girl community has

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Speaker 1: allowed me to feel more confident in, you know, in

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Speaker 1: my opinions, sharing them, connecting with others and they might

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Speaker 1: have like different opinions and like just basically exchanging ideas, right,

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Speaker 1: And so any community that I'm a part of is

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Speaker 1: contributing back to my greater whole, my greater sense of

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Speaker 1: self and how I want to show up in the world.

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Speaker 1: And so because Wealdwad Black Girl is one that is

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Speaker 1: for me about representation and honoring black voices, I've embodied

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Speaker 1: that sort of it's mission like in my own way

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Speaker 1: of living my life. You know, I love that. So

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Speaker 1: what is a good ice cream and book pairing? I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna give you a book. What about if we did

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Speaker 1: Snowy Day, the classic, Yes, snowy Day. What would be

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Speaker 1: a good scoop of ice cream to go with snowy Day?

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Speaker 1: I've got it. Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats would

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Speaker 1: go really well with our Astop Rocky Road. So we

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Speaker 1: have some really fun names for our flavors. And if

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Speaker 1: the pairing works really well, I think because when I

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Speaker 1: think of a snowy day, I think of coals, brisk winds.

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Speaker 1: I think of long days outside where it kind of

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Speaker 1: feels like you're at the beach, but like you're in

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Speaker 1: the snow and you come in and you feel all exhausted,

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Speaker 1: but like completely content and delighted by the day that

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Speaker 1: you spent outdoors. And so the ASoP Rocky Road incorporates hazelnut,

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Speaker 1: It incorporates fresh marshmallow fluff that we make rio crumble

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Speaker 1: like from the cookie and Graham cracker crumbs. Perfect perfect.

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Speaker 1: What was the last book meeting you hosted? And what

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Speaker 1: was it like? Red Pachinko by Min Jin Lee and

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Speaker 1: that story The way that we got to that book

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Speaker 1: is like so perfectly. I think sugar Hill Creamery and

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Speaker 1: Patrishika's commitment to engaging people in thoughtful and intentional ways.

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Speaker 1: And so when we decided to organize this book club series,

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Speaker 1: I was like, Katrenco is definitely gonna be one of

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Speaker 1: those books. And then I learned through you because I

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Speaker 1: was raving about this book. You're like, oh, I am

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Speaker 1: in She's lovely, like for real, not like on the

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Speaker 1: internect lovely, like actually lovely. You know, I'm gonna people

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Speaker 1: on the square too, But you know what I'm saying

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Speaker 1: in person connection, which is social the beauty of the

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Speaker 1: book club is and she's an Harlem resident, She's like

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Speaker 1: an exactly. So I didn't know. Well, actually I knew

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Speaker 1: that when we delivered the ice cream for this gift,

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Speaker 1: but like, oh my god, the multiple connecting point for me,

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Speaker 1: we just kind of mind bowing. So that's when I

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Speaker 1: started to fall in love in my head with men

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Speaker 1: jin Lee. But we are all in love with men.

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Speaker 1: It is a universal feeling to be in love with

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Speaker 1: her work, her writing, her personhood. I love men. It's

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Speaker 1: like none, yeah, because you are a mother and you

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Speaker 1: are such a wonderful community advocate. How do we get

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Speaker 1: more young people, more young women, more students, just how

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Speaker 1: do we get them interested in reading the way that

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Speaker 1: we teach is by doing. We don't teach by saying.

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Speaker 1: And so, how do we get more young people reading

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Speaker 1: well well Read black Girl right like having community around

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Speaker 1: the written word such that it's represented. So just continuing

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Speaker 1: to do what you do, glory and inspiring others to

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Speaker 1: do the same and there in their corners of the world.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much, Patrushka. We'll be sharing more chats with

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Speaker 1: bookshop owners, literacy advocates, and more community members in the

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Speaker 1: weeks ahead. That's all for now, Push Nicks. Thank you

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Speaker 1: for your support, and keep an eye on the feed

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Speaker 1: for more bookmarks, bonus content, and uninterrupted episodes of Well

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Speaker 1: Read Black Girl. Until next time,