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Speaker 1: On this week's episode of Cultivating her Space.

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Speaker 2: That work of ignoring what other people wanted from me

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Speaker 2: and really knowing, like, no, I don't feel good when

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Speaker 2: I do XYZ. I feel good when I'm here or

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Speaker 2: when I'm doing that, but now I don't like that

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Speaker 2: over there. And so that checking with myself, I think,

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Speaker 2: has been the greatest gift of love I could give

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Speaker 2: myself acknowledging I can't be everything for everybody, and that

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Speaker 2: is perfectly okay, but I got to be as much

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Speaker 2: as I can for myself.

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Speaker 1: Today's episode is sure to provide you with motivation, inspiration,

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Speaker 1: or a fresh perspective. If you have any AHA moments

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Speaker 1: or appreciate anything from this episode, please leave us a

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Speaker 1: review to let us know we're on the right track. Also,

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Speaker 1: we release episodes every Friday, so be sure to subscribe

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Speaker 1: on iTunes and visit Cultivatingherspace dot com to access our

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Speaker 1: exclusive after show and other bonus content from the Patreon tabme.

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Speaker 3: To Cultivating her Space, a podcast dedicated to uplifting women

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Speaker 3: like you. We're your hosts doctor Dominique Broussard, a college

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Speaker 3: professor and psychologist.

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Speaker 1: And Terry Lomax, a techie and motivational speaker in a

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Speaker 1: world where black women are often misrepresented and misunderstood. Please

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Speaker 1: join us as we initiate authentic conversations on everything from

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Speaker 1: fibroids to fake friends and create a safe space where

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Speaker 1: black women can just be.

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Speaker 3: Hey, Lady, is doctor dom here from the Cultivating her

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Speaker 3: Space podcast. Are you currently a resident of the state

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Speaker 3: of California and contemplating starting your therapy journey? Well, if so,

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Speaker 3: please reach out to me at doctor Dominique Brusard dot com.

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Speaker 3: That's d R D O M I n I q

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Speaker 3: U E b r O u ssard dot com to

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Speaker 3: schedule a free fifteen minute consultation. I look forward to

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Speaker 3: hearing from you.

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Speaker 1: All right, lady, Today we have a very special guest

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Speaker 1: in Cultivating her Space. Elizabeth Acevedo is the New York

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Speaker 1: Times best selling author of The Poet X, which won

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Speaker 1: the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, the Michael L.

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Speaker 1: Prince Award, the Carnegie Medal, and a host of other awards.

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Speaker 1: She's also the author of With the Fire on High

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Speaker 1: and Clapwow Land. Elizabeth holds a Bachelor of Arts in

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Speaker 1: Performing Arts from the George Washington University and a Master

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Speaker 1: of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Maryland.

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Speaker 1: She is a national Poetry Slam champion and resides in Washington,

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Speaker 1: d C. With her love. There is so much more

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Speaker 1: that we could say about Elizabeth, but we want to

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Speaker 1: jump into this juicy conversation. So Elizabeth, welcome the cultavaiting

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Speaker 1: her space. Yes, thank you all so much for having me.

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Speaker 4: I'm delighted. I feel like I gotta get my radio voice.

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Speaker 2: All your voice is are so beautiful, Terry, I gotta

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Speaker 2: like step it up.

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Speaker 1: But like you today poetic voice.

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Speaker 4: Oh, I'm delighted. I'm delighted.

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Speaker 2: I got to listen to the episode on five Brooids

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Speaker 2: and on Midwives, and so I know y'all do some

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Speaker 2: good work.

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Speaker 4: So I'm super hypes to be here.

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Speaker 3: Oh well, we are just as excited to have you

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Speaker 3: here with us. And so we're going to dive into

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Speaker 3: our quote of the day, which will sound really familiar

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Speaker 3: to you because these are your words. You cannot fix

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Speaker 3: what was never broken. And I'm gonna say that one

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Speaker 3: more time for the people in the back so that

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Speaker 3: it hits your spirit. You can not fix what was

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Speaker 3: never broken. Now, Elizabeth, you're the poet So I know

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Speaker 3: when I watched some of your videos and you know,

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Speaker 3: and I've heard you say those words how I said it,

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Speaker 3: it didn't quite do it justice.

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Speaker 4: Firdau, you said it beautifully. I was like, oh, they church.

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Speaker 5: But Elizabeth, when you think about all of the prolific

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Speaker 5: things that you have written about and all of your experiences,

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Speaker 5: this quote in particular stands out to so many and resonates.

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Speaker 4: With so many of us.

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Speaker 3: Can you share for those who aren't familiar, although if

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Speaker 3: you're not, you should be what inspired this particular statement.

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Speaker 2: So this statement you cannot fix what was never broken

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Speaker 2: is the the ending kind of Stanza in my poem

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Speaker 2: about hair called Inheritance, and I was having a conversation

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Speaker 2: with a family member and we were talking about my

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Speaker 2: partner at the time, who was my boyfriend. We were

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Speaker 2: both twenty one. He's my husband now he's Black American.

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Speaker 2: My family is from the Dominican Republic, so a different diaspora.

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Speaker 4: And this family member was concerned.

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Speaker 2: That because I was choosing a darker skinned partner and

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Speaker 2: a black American partner, that what would happen to my

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Speaker 2: children's hair?

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Speaker 4: Right?

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Speaker 2: And I grew up kind of listening to you gotta

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Speaker 2: fix your hair On Fridays, you gotta go get your

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Speaker 2: hair done, right.

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Speaker 4: This whole idea of lightning the race or.

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Speaker 2: Attempting to move towards whiteness as a way of.

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Speaker 4: Attaining beauty or attaining.

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Speaker 2: You know, And I think this is not an unfamiliar story, right,

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Speaker 2: Like I'm not meek in this experience, but I think

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Speaker 2: I felt called to respond in a way of really

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Speaker 2: reclaiming ancestry, really reclaiming the diaspora, and in particular the

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Speaker 2: diaspora to the Dominican Republic, which was the first place

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Speaker 2: where you know, enslave folks were brought, and to just

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Speaker 2: kind of think through what it meant to love yourself

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Speaker 2: right and what it meant to say there's a reclamation

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Speaker 2: to be had here, and this idea that I had

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Speaker 2: to fix my hair, right. You cannot fix something unless

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Speaker 2: it is broken, right, There's no reason to alter it otherwise.

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Speaker 2: And so it was really kind of my responding to

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Speaker 2: there's nothing to fix. And to be clear, I got

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Speaker 2: no issues with people want to straighten their hair from

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Speaker 2: their hair whatever you want to do, that's on you, booth.

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Speaker 2: But I recognized that I believed my hair was more beautiful,

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Speaker 2: and I was more beautiful and more professional and more

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Speaker 2: elegant and more sophisticated when my hair was quote unquote dying, right,

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Speaker 2: And so there was this hierarchy of well, you know,

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Speaker 2: curly hair is five for every day, but when you

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Speaker 2: got to go show up, you show up with your

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Speaker 2: hair straight. And and I had internal life that belief.

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Speaker 2: It wasn't just like I want to be playful. It

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Speaker 2: was no, you know, there's there's better hair for better occasions.

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Speaker 4: So powerful.

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Speaker 1: And we've definitely talked about that on the podcast before,

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Speaker 1: like as far as our own experiences, but I know

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Speaker 1: when I heard that quote, and especially in the context

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Speaker 1: of self love, it definitely gave me goosebumps. It kind

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Speaker 1: of made me teary ey because I was like, oh

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Speaker 1: my god, thinking about just different parts of you know,

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Speaker 1: our individual journeys. My journey was it's like I wanted

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Speaker 1: to fix something and it's like the bool wasn't even

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Speaker 1: broken and it's like damn you know.

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Speaker 2: So theist would say that like, yes, okay, it's like

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Speaker 2: so simple but like just so powerful at the same time.

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Speaker 1: Right, So, Elizabeth, can you just share with us what

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Speaker 1: is your origin story? Like what was your journey to

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Speaker 1: becoming an award winning I mean multiple awards, okay, award

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Speaker 1: winning author and then a spoken word artist, Like what

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Speaker 1: was that?

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Speaker 4: Thanks for you?

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Speaker 2: You know, I was just a little shorty for New

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Speaker 2: York City who used to want to hang out with

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Speaker 2: the rappers on the block. To be honest with you, like,

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Speaker 2: you know, in nineteen ninety six, I was like jay

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Speaker 2: Z's gonna discover me, like I'm gonna be on somebody's album, nas,

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Speaker 2: I'm here for the feature.

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Speaker 4: I really wanted to be a rapper. You know. I

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Speaker 4: loved Eve growing up. I loved Missy Elliott.

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Speaker 2: Right, I loved Lawren Hill, Nas Tucac, and so to me,

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Speaker 2: that felt like the literature that was speaking to my community,

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Speaker 2: that was speaking so what I understood, you know. And

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Speaker 2: so initially I got into writing because I wanted to

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Speaker 2: write rap. And I remember going to high school and

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Speaker 2: there was a poetry club at school, and I'm like,

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Speaker 2: I don't know about poetry, like.

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Speaker 4: Y'all don't even whin right.

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Speaker 6: Like I had.

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Speaker 2: I was very bougie with my hierarchy of poetry, like no,

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Speaker 2: I'm a rapper, like y'all ain't all my tip, right,

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Speaker 2: and thankfully I joined the poetry club and realized there

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Speaker 2: are many ways to engage with with writing and with

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Speaker 2: texting with performance, and I was encouraged by that teacher

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Speaker 2: to begin attending poetry slams.

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Speaker 4: And to compete.

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Speaker 2: And when I first started competing, I didn't have quote

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Speaker 2: unquote poems. I would go on stage and just do

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Speaker 2: full songs and just pull the chorus right, and so

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Speaker 2: that was my poem. It was just an a cappella

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Speaker 2: rap song. And I got introduced to so many other

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Speaker 2: kinds of writing and so many other teenagers who were

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Speaker 2: also artists, and so that then expanded what I thought

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Speaker 2: I could do with language, and from there it became

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Speaker 2: kind of spoken word and slam culture and performing. And

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Speaker 2: I went to college and knew, like, this is what

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Speaker 2: I want to do for the rest of my life.

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Speaker 2: I want to do one woman shows of my work,

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Speaker 2: and I studied, I created my own major in performing arts.

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Speaker 2: I studied anthropology, sociology, creative writing, and theater because I

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Speaker 2: wanted to make sure that I could write about my

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Speaker 2: community in a way that was thoughtful, but also have

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Speaker 2: actual tools of like theatrical appearance and of the writing

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Speaker 2: tools to you know, really capture what I was trying

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Speaker 2: to say, and then we had a whole recession. It's

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Speaker 2: kind of hard to be a one woman show artist.

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Speaker 2: And I went into teaching right because I love literature,

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Speaker 2: I love writing, and I knew that if I could

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Speaker 2: instill that love in young people, that would mean a

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Speaker 2: lot to me. And so I taught eighth grade English

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Speaker 2: for a couple of years in Prince George's County, Maryland,

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Speaker 2: a school that was seventy eight percent Latin NEX, twenty

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Speaker 2: percent black, and they had never had a LATINX teacher

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Speaker 2: teaching a course subject. They had never had an Afro

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Speaker 2: Latina teacher teaching.

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Speaker 4: There at all.

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Speaker 2: And so it was one of the first times I

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Speaker 2: think these students could really connect with an educator on

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Speaker 2: another lefl.

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Speaker 4: I mean, I had people's moms calling me like, oh

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Speaker 4: so and so it's not gonna be a school today.

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Speaker 4: I'm like, you got to call the front desk like

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Speaker 4: I'm their English teacher.

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Speaker 2: But it was this relationship of you know, you get

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Speaker 2: us and you're warm and you're you're here right, And

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Speaker 2: my students, you know, were struggling. They were eighth graders,

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Speaker 2: but they were reading at fifth and sixth grade reading

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Speaker 2: level some of them, right, some of them, And I

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Speaker 2: just realized there was such a gap. And so my

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Speaker 2: whole life I had kind of been thinking about my

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Speaker 2: writing and my creativity and what I wanted to.

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Speaker 4: Put into the world. But I think teaching.

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Speaker 2: Really kind of reflected back, like what can I do

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Speaker 2: to give these young people something they could put in

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Speaker 2: it with that, something they could carry with them and

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Speaker 2: that they can turn to time and time again if

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Speaker 2: I'm not in the room, Like.

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Speaker 4: What can they hold on to?

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Speaker 2: And that was where the seed was really planted to

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Speaker 2: start writing young adult literature, and so it just kind of,

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Speaker 2: you know, spired from there.

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Speaker 4: I did end up going on tour.

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Speaker 2: I was doing one hundred performances a year, doing spoken

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Speaker 2: work shows all throughout the country, basically like how comedians

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Speaker 2: do it, Like you just pull up, do a forty

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Speaker 2: five minute set. You know, in my case, you don't

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Speaker 2: want people to laugh, but sometimes it happens.

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Speaker 4: It taught me so much, and so my.

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Speaker 2: Journey has been being very open to different pivots and

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Speaker 2: kinds of being open to where am I in this

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Speaker 2: moment and how do I gravitate so words? What my

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Speaker 2: journey can be leaning into my skills and my talents,

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Speaker 2: but also respond into what the universe has giving me

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Speaker 2: in this moment. And so I've just always kind of

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Speaker 2: followed my intuition of what do I need.

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Speaker 4: To do right? And that became ya, that became poetry.

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Speaker 2: It was just chasing writing and whatever capacity I could,

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Speaker 2: and you know, I happen to really find a nice

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Speaker 2: nook here. So my ordin story clearly has a lot

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Speaker 2: of you know, almost rivers, you know, confluence of rivers.

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Speaker 4: But I think it is hip hop.

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Speaker 2: It is my mom telling me fairy tales about the

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Speaker 2: Dominican Republic when she was growing up. It is my students.

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Speaker 2: It is just all of this kind of converging and

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Speaker 2: coming together.

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Speaker 3: That right is so beautiful And it does gonna sound cheesy,

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Speaker 3: but it sounds so poetic.

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Speaker 1: A lady, you know, this is a grown woman podcast, okay,

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Speaker 3: As I'm listening to you, you know you mentioned that

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Speaker 3: you're in a space now where you allow your career

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Speaker 3: and your life to go where the river flows, where

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Speaker 3: the universe guides you, right. And so we'll talk a

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Speaker 3: little later about some of the pivots that you're making,

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Speaker 3: but right now, what I want to ask about is,

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Speaker 3: so your books are guided for young adults, but people

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Speaker 3: like us that are over twenty five can still read

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Speaker 3: your books and thoroughly enjoy them. And so what do

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Speaker 3: you think it is about your books that resonates so

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Speaker 3: well with audiences over twenty five.

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Speaker 4: I appreciate that.

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Speaker 2: I think that's one of my favorite compliments, because so

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Speaker 2: often we think like children's books are just for children, right,

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Speaker 2: But I think that all literature is for everybody. I mean,

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Speaker 2: you might be surprised to know, but the forty five

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Speaker 2: percent of people who buy young adult novels are women

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Speaker 2: between the ages of thirty four and forty five, right,

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Speaker 2: So the actual demographic illustrates that there are a lot

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Speaker 2: of us who turn to teen stories in order to

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Speaker 2: find whatever we're looking for. But in my particular books,

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Speaker 2: I know I'm interested in into generational stories. You're never

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Speaker 2: going to come to one of my books and they

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Speaker 2: just ain't no mom, but there ain't no Auntie there's

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Speaker 2: no cousin, right, Like, I don't understand those books. My

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Speaker 2: mom is on my phone every day to this day,

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Speaker 2: and I'm just like, where's your mom.

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Speaker 4: We just went on a cross country trip and nobody's

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Speaker 4: checking on you. Like, this doesn't make sense to me.

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Speaker 2: So my stories have grandmothers, have aunties, have people involved

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Speaker 2: with folks' lives, right, And I think that readers can

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Speaker 2: find themselves in those figures. But they can also find

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Speaker 2: themselves in the younger characters in the in the child

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Speaker 2: that we or right, so many of us are working

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Speaker 2: on healing our inner child, on loving our inner child,

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Speaker 2: and I think that means reading to our inner child,

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Speaker 2: reading the stories we wish we had had access to

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Speaker 2: when we were young that affirm. Oh, I wasn't wilin

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Speaker 2: when I was fifteen and just wanted to be, you know,

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Speaker 2: out here exploring my sexuality.

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Speaker 4: I wasn't. Actually, there wasn't.

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Speaker 2: Anything abnormal about these urges that maybe I don't talk about,

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Speaker 2: or about that one thing I did I got in

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Speaker 2: trouble for that I'm still ashamed about. And I think

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Speaker 2: the stories really allow us to heal, right, And that

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Speaker 2: seems to be what a lot of folks tell me

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Speaker 2: when they respond like I didn't know I needed this book, right,

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Speaker 2: or I wish I had this book X y Z,

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Speaker 2: And it's like, well, you probably then still need it now,

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Speaker 2: Like if you needed it, then you probably need it

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Speaker 2: now to some extent because that version of you is

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Speaker 2: still in us. And so I think that that's a

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Speaker 2: lot of what folks are responding to. And I think

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Speaker 2: when you tell a good story, you tell a good story, right,

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Speaker 2: And so people still want the pitfall, they still want

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Speaker 2: the angst. They want to know what's going on when

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Speaker 2: things get you know, adapted to television and movies, you

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Speaker 2: want to be ahead of the curve.

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Speaker 4: So you want to be reading the book that's going

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Speaker 4: to become the thing.

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Speaker 2: And I think that all of that creates a joyous

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Speaker 2: kinds of connection. And you know, we want stories. We

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Speaker 2: all love to gossip, and that's what you know, these

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Speaker 2: stories are. It's an opportunity to gossip safely. Then you

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Speaker 2: could close the book and be like, ooh, that was messy,

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Speaker 2: and I'm glad I could walk away.

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Speaker 1: Amen to that right, leave that that's right over there.

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Speaker 1: But no, that's so true storytelling. Oh my goodness, when

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Speaker 1: you think about your latest book, Inheritance, a visual poem

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Speaker 1: you illustrate. It's like an illustrated version of your celebrated

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Speaker 1: poem here, which we listen to, and it's so powerful,

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Speaker 1: And can you talk to us a little bit about

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Speaker 1: why you decided to stop performing here?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I think that we all know that

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Speaker 2: black hair and aphrodisporic hare is political, especially in this country,

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Speaker 2: right to the point that this year we had to

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Speaker 2: pass the Crown Act because so often folks are discriminated

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Speaker 2: against for wearing their natural hair or their lots, or

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Speaker 2: their grades or whatever in workspaces. We've seen the videos

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Speaker 2: of young women in schools getting kicked out, getting expelled

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Speaker 2: because their hair is unruly or whatever the question is.

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Speaker 2: And so we have had so many iterations in the

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Speaker 2: United States of trying to reclaim the beauty of black

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Speaker 2: hair that we are still attempting to do. Right. My

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Speaker 2: particular story was one where I was responding to this

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Speaker 2: family member and it was coming from a place of anger.

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Speaker 2: And I'm proud of that poem. I love that poem.

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Speaker 2: I think it did a lot of really good work.

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Speaker 2: I know that there are so many young women who

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Speaker 2: have told me that they had a different relationship with

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Speaker 2: their hair and with their mother and with their children.

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Speaker 2: After listening to that poem, but it reached a point

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Speaker 2: where I realized that I had grown, you know, apart

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Speaker 2: from that that, I think the natural hair movement had

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Speaker 2: grown from when I first wrote that poem and where

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Speaker 2: we are now, where I didn't feel quite as necessary.

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Speaker 2: And then in the last few years I realized, maybe

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Speaker 2: the text can be edited to meet this moment right

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Speaker 2: to meet where we are now, to meet where I

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Speaker 2: am now, to meet where my relationship with my mother

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Speaker 2: is now, where my relationship with my hair is. So

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Speaker 2: that is less of this war cry against what someone

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Speaker 2: told me a decade ago, and is more of an

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Speaker 2: invitation now all these women who have grown with me

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Speaker 2: and have listened to this poem with me, who are

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Speaker 2: now having daughters and have nieces, like I want you

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Speaker 2: to have something you could read together that's less about,

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Speaker 2: you know, being angry at a parental figure and more

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Speaker 2: about like, the next time someone says XYZ to you,

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Speaker 2: this is what you respond, you know. And so it's

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Speaker 2: felt like I had to take a pause from it

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Speaker 2: and step back and just kind of see the landscape.

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Speaker 2: Where are we does this poem still serve? Is it

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Speaker 2: still something that stands up? And I think that pause

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Speaker 2: was good. I think it's always good to evaluate and

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Speaker 2: just be like, where am I? Is it working? And

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Speaker 2: I had other things I wanted to do. Sometimes when

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Speaker 2: you're only known for one thing, you know, you kind

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Speaker 2: of get pigeonholed, and it just became a.

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Speaker 4: Like do the hairpoem? Do the hair poem? Like, I'm

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Speaker 4: not a jukebox.

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Speaker 2: I got a lot of poems, right, and I want

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Speaker 2: to write books and I want to do this, and

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Speaker 2: I want to do that, And so I think I

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Speaker 2: also just needed to prove to myself that there was

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Speaker 2: other work that I.

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Speaker 4: Could be known for. You know, I know shade to

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Speaker 4: that poem.

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Speaker 2: I love that poem, right, It opened a lot of

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Speaker 2: different doors, but but it was just what I needed

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Speaker 2: was a pause.

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Speaker 6: I love that.

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Speaker 3: And I think, you know what I'm taking away from

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Speaker 3: that is that, like you said, like you are not

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Speaker 3: just one thing, one piece of work, right, one body

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Speaker 3: at work, that there is so much more to you.

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Speaker 3: And we're seeing that. You know, I just saw that

401
00:20:47,359 --> 00:20:52,800
Speaker 3: your book Clap When You Land is being adapted into television, right,

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00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:58,040
Speaker 3: that's amazing, and so now we can add we can

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Speaker 3: add screenwriter to your list of skills, right, right, and

404
00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:09,280
Speaker 3: so as you have been going on this journey right

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Speaker 3: The latest book, Inheritance, a visual poem, is about self

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Speaker 3: love and rejecting those colonized standards of beauty. Can you

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Speaker 3: tell us take us on your self love journey, you.

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Speaker 2: Know, doctor Domalds, is a good question, because I feel like,

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Speaker 2: for so long I had thought that I loved myself,

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Speaker 2: and I didn't know just how empty that love actually was.

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Speaker 2: I was raised such a people pleaser, in such a

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Speaker 2: you know, make yourself likable, and it got to the point,

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Speaker 2: honestly because of my career where I couldn't sustain that,

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Speaker 2: the number of yeses I had to give to make

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Speaker 2: people happy, the number of bending over backwards to get

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Speaker 2: from this city to that city in order to make

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Speaker 2: an appearance, in order to do this while writing a book,

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Speaker 2: while working on you know, being married a new bride,

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Speaker 2: while working with my family, like, it became so much

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Speaker 2: and my health really suffered, A mental health suffered.

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Speaker 4: I had a fiber that had.

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Speaker 2: Grown, you know, way too large, without my checking it,

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Speaker 2: without my going to the doctor to see why. I

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Speaker 2: had pain right, and by the time I went it's like, well,

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00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:26,040
Speaker 2: there's only these many options, right, And then that took

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Speaker 2: me out right. The surgery was really difficult, and I

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00:22:29,359 --> 00:22:32,320
Speaker 2: realized I can never go through this again if I

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Speaker 2: can help it, like I have to care for myself.

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Speaker 2: And so I'll say that I have learned to love myself,

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Speaker 2: probably when the pandemic sat me down, when.

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Speaker 4: I had to really check it with myself.

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Speaker 2: And a lot of it has started with just doing

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Speaker 2: breath work and just trying to remind my body that

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Speaker 2: it's safe, right, and doing ten minutes of breath work

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Speaker 2: every day when I can get to it, going on

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Speaker 2: nice long walks, and just reconnecting to nature.

437
00:22:57,720 --> 00:22:59,120
Speaker 4: And one of the things that I'll say is really

438
00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:01,800
Speaker 4: powerful has been in ancestor veneration, Like.

439
00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:05,439
Speaker 2: I created a altar accidentally in some ways, it started

440
00:23:05,480 --> 00:23:07,639
Speaker 2: with a candle and a little glass of water, and

441
00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:10,640
Speaker 2: then it became, you know, putting flowers out once a week.

442
00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:13,840
Speaker 2: It became you know, cutting up a mandarin and eating

443
00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:15,680
Speaker 2: some of it and putting some of it out, making

444
00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:17,760
Speaker 2: a cup of coffee, drinking some of it, putting some

445
00:23:17,800 --> 00:23:20,080
Speaker 2: of it out. But this idea of how are you

446
00:23:20,280 --> 00:23:24,520
Speaker 2: tender towards your dead, and how that forced me to

447
00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:28,800
Speaker 2: be tender towards myself right, And so this connection that

448
00:23:29,119 --> 00:23:31,320
Speaker 2: we living have when I sit there and I pray

449
00:23:31,480 --> 00:23:34,240
Speaker 2: and I ask for blessings and I ask for change,

450
00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:36,719
Speaker 2: and after two weeks, I'm like, I'm asking for the

451
00:23:36,760 --> 00:23:40,560
Speaker 2: same thing, Like what am I doing to create this change?

452
00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:42,639
Speaker 2: Like where am I checking in? Like why am I

453
00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:45,560
Speaker 2: asking for the same thing? And so this idea of

454
00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:50,240
Speaker 2: intuition of listening to myself, it became about me and

455
00:23:50,560 --> 00:23:53,480
Speaker 2: my history and how do I show up daily for

456
00:23:53,600 --> 00:23:57,119
Speaker 2: this very small practice of checking in? And so I

457
00:23:57,359 --> 00:24:00,600
Speaker 2: just that work of ignoring what other people wanted from

458
00:24:00,640 --> 00:24:02,920
Speaker 2: me and really knowing like, no, I don't feel good

459
00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:04,520
Speaker 2: when I do X y Z. I feel good when

460
00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:07,200
Speaker 2: I'm here or when I'm doing that, but now I don't.

461
00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:07,879
Speaker 4: Like that over there.

462
00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:10,600
Speaker 2: And so that checking with myself, I think has been

463
00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:13,920
Speaker 2: the greatest gift of love I could give myself acknowledging

464
00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:17,600
Speaker 2: I can't be everything for everybody, and that is perfectly okay,

465
00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:19,280
Speaker 2: but I got to be as much as I can

466
00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:20,440
Speaker 2: for myself.

467
00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:22,200
Speaker 4: You know. And also shout out to therapy. My therapist

468
00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:23,320
Speaker 4: is great and I think.

469
00:24:24,119 --> 00:24:26,199
Speaker 7: She has been lovely and taught me how to be

470
00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:29,960
Speaker 7: vulnerable and and being vulnerable with my partner and realizing

471
00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:32,840
Speaker 7: like he can love me and my ugliness just showed

472
00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:35,840
Speaker 7: me like, oh, I can love me in my ugliest

473
00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:38,720
Speaker 7: and I have to be able to do at least

474
00:24:38,760 --> 00:24:40,399
Speaker 7: as much as he does.

475
00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:42,000
Speaker 4: Wow.

476
00:24:42,119 --> 00:24:45,080
Speaker 1: Wow, Wow, that is so beautiful. And I have to say, Elizabeth,

477
00:24:45,119 --> 00:24:47,520
Speaker 1: I feel like we all need like wish we were closer,

478
00:24:47,560 --> 00:24:48,920
Speaker 1: We all need to go out the brunch because I

479
00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:51,439
Speaker 1: felt we all have so much in common and just

480
00:24:51,600 --> 00:24:53,600
Speaker 1: talking to you now for the short amount of time

481
00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:55,920
Speaker 1: that we've been talking to you want your dopest fuck that's.

482
00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:59,200
Speaker 4: Just like a given appreciate you. Yeah, like oh my gosh.

483
00:24:59,359 --> 00:25:03,160
Speaker 1: But you also appear to be like a spiritual, intentional, intuitive,

484
00:25:03,600 --> 00:25:06,360
Speaker 1: and a self reflective person. And as you were speaking

485
00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:09,200
Speaker 1: the entire time, what I notice is like the way

486
00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:11,760
Speaker 1: that you pivot in life like that is so powerful,

487
00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:13,919
Speaker 1: especially with the pandemic. And so I kind of just

488
00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:15,720
Speaker 1: wanted to ask you a random question. I want to

489
00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:18,679
Speaker 1: know what's something that you do on a regular now

490
00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:21,800
Speaker 1: that you didn't do before the pandemic And I just

491
00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:24,520
Speaker 1: want to share, like mine would be like a baby monitor.

492
00:25:24,560 --> 00:25:26,240
Speaker 1: I didn't look at this before because I didn't have

493
00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:27,959
Speaker 1: a child, but now like this is glue to me

494
00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:30,199
Speaker 1: and she's sleeping now, Like what is your thing? Like

495
00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:33,080
Speaker 1: what is your thing that you do now that you

496
00:25:33,119 --> 00:25:34,440
Speaker 1: didn't do before the pandemic?

497
00:25:35,240 --> 00:25:37,080
Speaker 4: Yo, I'm really cognizant of water.

498
00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:38,440
Speaker 3: What do you mean?

499
00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:45,240
Speaker 4: Like I'm over water? Oh? Thank you, it's really cute.

500
00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:47,920
Speaker 2: Well because like most persons, so I got a really

501
00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:50,240
Speaker 2: flat one because that is how serious.

502
00:25:49,840 --> 00:25:52,240
Speaker 4: I am about my water at this point in time,

503
00:25:52,359 --> 00:25:55,560
Speaker 4: Like I think it's so much of like my life.

504
00:25:55,600 --> 00:26:00,240
Speaker 4: I've been just dehydrated. Yeah, yeah, I was this. Yeah

505
00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:03,040
Speaker 4: I was that. Like I just didn't. I wasn't. It's

506
00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:06,399
Speaker 4: a little thing of self care. Did I have enough water?

507
00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:08,480
Speaker 2: Right? And not just because I went to brunch and

508
00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:10,320
Speaker 2: we had bottomless mimosas and it's the next day and

509
00:26:10,359 --> 00:26:13,080
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh, you know, like no, because I deserve

510
00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:16,040
Speaker 2: this small thing. You know, I grew up with the same.

511
00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:18,240
Speaker 2: My Momi always say, like, you don't deny anybody water.

512
00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:20,760
Speaker 2: I went on said, yeh, gay, right, So somebody asked

513
00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:22,240
Speaker 2: you for water, you got to give him a glass

514
00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:22,520
Speaker 2: of water.

515
00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:24,480
Speaker 4: At the very least, but like, I'm only.

516
00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:26,359
Speaker 2: Going to deny myself water all the time, and so

517
00:26:26,600 --> 00:26:29,760
Speaker 2: I think that just this idea of at all times

518
00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:34,040
Speaker 2: be ready to quench your own thirst has been my

519
00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:35,760
Speaker 2: one thing with the pandemic.

520
00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:37,200
Speaker 4: I've been very much on my water.

521
00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:39,400
Speaker 2: And I'm like, oh, I need one hundred ounces a day,

522
00:26:39,440 --> 00:26:41,080
Speaker 2: but just like I carry it with.

523
00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:45,000
Speaker 4: Me and if I'm ever thirsty, I got myself amazing.

524
00:26:45,280 --> 00:26:46,159
Speaker 6: That's beautiful.

525
00:26:46,280 --> 00:26:48,679
Speaker 4: Okay, but I said, what's yours?

526
00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:51,080
Speaker 6: Mine has been sleep?

527
00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:53,600
Speaker 4: Yes, there we go.

528
00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:54,919
Speaker 6: Okay.

529
00:26:55,200 --> 00:27:00,000
Speaker 3: When I reflect back pre pandemic about how my life

530
00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:02,960
Speaker 3: life was so hectic, and in a lot of ways

531
00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:09,320
Speaker 3: my life still is hectic, but I wasn't necessarily prioritizing sleep,

532
00:27:09,560 --> 00:27:11,359
Speaker 3: I was like, I know, I know I needed, but

533
00:27:11,440 --> 00:27:16,760
Speaker 3: you know whatever, Now I am adamant because I see

534
00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:22,479
Speaker 3: I have seen and truly felt what it really means

535
00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:26,600
Speaker 3: when I'm rested, Like when I have really gotten my

536
00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:31,520
Speaker 3: seven to eight hours of sleep, how I show up

537
00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:34,080
Speaker 3: is so different, and I want to show up that

538
00:27:34,160 --> 00:27:35,080
Speaker 3: way every day.

539
00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:39,280
Speaker 4: Yes, so I hear that. I love following.

540
00:27:39,600 --> 00:27:42,720
Speaker 2: Yeah, that ministry has been one of my favorite follows

541
00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:46,920
Speaker 2: on Instagram, like get your maps, get your rest fine, easise,

542
00:27:47,400 --> 00:27:49,000
Speaker 2: like it is our birth right.

543
00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:51,080
Speaker 4: And I'm just like, oh shit, I could take.

544
00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:56,920
Speaker 3: Naps, like let's do this, yes, yes.

545
00:27:57,400 --> 00:27:59,639
Speaker 4: Yes, Elizabeth.

546
00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:05,639
Speaker 3: And what is one thing that you wish all black

547
00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:08,400
Speaker 3: and brown women knew about themselves?

548
00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:09,879
Speaker 4: Oh?

549
00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:13,760
Speaker 2: My original answer was going to be like our ancestors.

550
00:28:13,800 --> 00:28:17,240
Speaker 2: I wish we all knew one great grandmother's name, right,

551
00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:20,960
Speaker 2: And I've talked a lot about ancestry, right, So that's

552
00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:23,359
Speaker 2: probably an answer most folks would expect from me. But

553
00:28:23,440 --> 00:28:26,560
Speaker 2: I think it's so powerful to be able to know

554
00:28:26,760 --> 00:28:30,000
Speaker 2: your lineage, and it's been robbed from so many of us.

555
00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:34,160
Speaker 2: But I guess the other one would be like where

556
00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:37,600
Speaker 2: your power comes from, like what your center is, right,

557
00:28:37,640 --> 00:28:40,440
Speaker 2: and if your censor is, if it is God, if

558
00:28:40,480 --> 00:28:43,640
Speaker 2: it is family, if it is your own talent. Like oh,

559
00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:45,880
Speaker 2: I'm mad, funny, like nobody be laughing at my jokes,

560
00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:47,160
Speaker 2: but I know I'm funny, Like.

561
00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:50,040
Speaker 4: I wish we all knew the core of us.

562
00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:53,680
Speaker 2: That is powerful, right, it is our most powerful self

563
00:28:53,880 --> 00:28:57,280
Speaker 2: and unshakably so. Right, because when I think of my

564
00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:00,840
Speaker 2: little self, like my little I'm thinking under like nine,

565
00:29:01,120 --> 00:29:01,760
Speaker 2: that little.

566
00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:03,760
Speaker 4: Kid was a killer, right, like she was out here.

567
00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:06,200
Speaker 4: You couldn't tell her nothing like she would read anyone

568
00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:08,880
Speaker 4: any day. And I lost that somewhere along the way.

569
00:29:08,920 --> 00:29:11,440
Speaker 2: I think I got too used to you know, hormone

570
00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:14,400
Speaker 2: statement and trying to be cute came in and all

571
00:29:14,400 --> 00:29:15,200
Speaker 2: this other stuff.

572
00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:18,120
Speaker 4: But that little kid didn't care. That little kid knew

573
00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:20,480
Speaker 4: who she was to some extent, like, Oh, I'm feisty

574
00:29:20,560 --> 00:29:23,440
Speaker 4: and I'm smart and I'm a reader, and can't nobody

575
00:29:23,480 --> 00:29:26,080
Speaker 4: tell me different? And I wish we all had.

576
00:29:25,920 --> 00:29:29,040
Speaker 2: That clear sense of self, if you could list every

577
00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:32,280
Speaker 2: single night, like ten things you're proud of that are

578
00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:33,280
Speaker 2: essential to you.

579
00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:36,640
Speaker 4: Not what you're going to become, not tomorrow.

580
00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:39,800
Speaker 2: But today, right, ten things that are essential, because so

581
00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:43,160
Speaker 2: often I think black and brown women are chasing the

582
00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:47,600
Speaker 2: potential of themselves versus you know, you are absolutely enough

583
00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:50,720
Speaker 2: right now. And how do you convince yourself on a

584
00:29:50,760 --> 00:29:54,440
Speaker 2: daily basis that what you are offering the world and

585
00:29:54,560 --> 00:29:58,440
Speaker 2: offering yourself right is a worthy offering. And I think

586
00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:01,960
Speaker 2: that in reminding our of that, we see that a

587
00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:04,680
Speaker 2: real transformation, at least personally, I've seen.

588
00:30:04,520 --> 00:30:05,440
Speaker 4: A real transformation.

589
00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:08,040
Speaker 2: And so I wish we all had a great grandmother's name,

590
00:30:08,040 --> 00:30:10,520
Speaker 2: if we don't already, And I wish that we really

591
00:30:10,600 --> 00:30:12,959
Speaker 2: knew the core of ourselves, like where our power is

592
00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:16,520
Speaker 2: our center and could move from that center.

593
00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:22,480
Speaker 1: I'm just going to snap for that one, Okay, So

594
00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:25,520
Speaker 1: can you tell us one question or topic that you

595
00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:27,560
Speaker 1: wish people asked you about more often?

596
00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:29,960
Speaker 2: You know, and I think that a lot of black

597
00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:32,440
Speaker 2: and briad writers would probably say this, but you're often

598
00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:34,760
Speaker 2: get questions on the content of your work, but not

599
00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:37,880
Speaker 2: as much on the craft of your work. And particularly

600
00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:40,800
Speaker 2: because so many of my books are written as poems,

601
00:30:41,080 --> 00:30:43,640
Speaker 2: there's so much I'm doing behind the scenes to try

602
00:30:43,680 --> 00:30:47,040
Speaker 2: to create feelings and readers along the lines of the

603
00:30:47,080 --> 00:30:51,400
Speaker 2: line breaks, the space, scene, the you know, particular metaphors

604
00:30:51,800 --> 00:30:53,880
Speaker 2: that the story is a big part of it. But

605
00:30:54,320 --> 00:30:56,840
Speaker 2: I really do think of myself as an artist and

606
00:30:56,880 --> 00:30:59,520
Speaker 2: as a crafts person, right Like I sit here with

607
00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:02,760
Speaker 2: one line for hours to make sure it's perfect. So

608
00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:06,880
Speaker 2: when people, you know, I think, just dismiss all of

609
00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:09,800
Speaker 2: the all of that work, but yet give that same

610
00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:12,280
Speaker 2: credence to white authors like.

611
00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:14,000
Speaker 4: Oh, but at the level of the line, they're just

612
00:31:14,440 --> 00:31:16,000
Speaker 4: this generation's X y Z.

613
00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:18,760
Speaker 2: And You're like, you know, there's so many of us

614
00:31:18,800 --> 00:31:22,920
Speaker 2: that are doing incredible craft work, but folks often don't.

615
00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:23,840
Speaker 4: That's not the topic.

616
00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:26,240
Speaker 2: That's that's interesting right now, you know, they want to

617
00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:29,920
Speaker 2: talk about the hardships of diversity and publishing versus.

618
00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:31,680
Speaker 4: Like, you know, I really put a bar in there.

619
00:31:31,720 --> 00:31:35,400
Speaker 4: Y'all didn't even give me my props, Like, can we

620
00:31:35,520 --> 00:31:36,680
Speaker 4: talk about just the bars?

621
00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:40,720
Speaker 2: So sometimes I wish that most black and black artists

622
00:31:40,720 --> 00:31:43,760
Speaker 2: got more questions about the artistry because I think that,

623
00:31:43,920 --> 00:31:46,320
Speaker 2: you know, there's so much innovative work happening.

624
00:31:47,080 --> 00:31:49,320
Speaker 1: Well, can you tell something about your process that we

625
00:31:49,360 --> 00:31:52,400
Speaker 1: wouldn't know? Yeah, to let us know, Like, let us

626
00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:54,160
Speaker 1: know behind the scenes, the thing that people just don't

627
00:31:54,160 --> 00:31:55,800
Speaker 1: ask about. Show us what does it look like.

628
00:31:56,600 --> 00:31:59,160
Speaker 2: Well, I'm currently working on my first adult novel, which

629
00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:01,920
Speaker 2: is so fun. I'm like, ooh, sex, I haven't you know,

630
00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:06,640
Speaker 2: I haven't written about this thing. Very exciting, but I

631
00:32:06,840 --> 00:32:09,280
Speaker 2: have never listened to music. I need silence when I write.

632
00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:11,280
Speaker 2: I'm like, there's too many characters. I'm in my head,

633
00:32:11,520 --> 00:32:14,640
Speaker 2: but for some reason I cannot lock in unless I

634
00:32:14,720 --> 00:32:17,560
Speaker 2: listen to music. And the two folks I've been listening

635
00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:21,520
Speaker 2: to Miles Davis live at the Philharmonic, which is like

636
00:32:21,560 --> 00:32:25,040
Speaker 2: a fifty eight minute album, six songs, but the fact

637
00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:29,080
Speaker 2: that this man performed ten minute songs right like, and

638
00:32:29,120 --> 00:32:31,200
Speaker 2: it's just wild, Like I just get lost in the

639
00:32:31,280 --> 00:32:33,000
Speaker 2: music and I feel like, all right, I can't stop

640
00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:35,080
Speaker 2: until you know, Miles stops.

641
00:32:35,400 --> 00:32:37,560
Speaker 4: You know, Mile's going for an hour. So it's it's

642
00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:38,680
Speaker 4: a good hour of writing.

643
00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:41,640
Speaker 2: And I've been listening a lot to Rabert Glasper and

644
00:32:41,760 --> 00:32:45,120
Speaker 2: like his music and his jazz infusion, and so it's

645
00:32:45,160 --> 00:32:49,320
Speaker 2: been curious to find in these jazz performers and then

646
00:32:49,320 --> 00:32:54,000
Speaker 2: these these live performances, this kind of pocket into writing.

647
00:32:54,320 --> 00:32:55,760
Speaker 2: And I don't know if that's going to happen again.

648
00:32:55,800 --> 00:32:57,360
Speaker 2: I don't know if another book is going to need

649
00:32:57,400 --> 00:33:00,320
Speaker 2: silence again. But the book I'm currently working on is

650
00:33:00,360 --> 00:33:04,360
Speaker 2: really driven by these sounds that are kinds of just

651
00:33:04,680 --> 00:33:09,280
Speaker 2: wild and free and unexpected, and and I you know,

652
00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:12,120
Speaker 2: I owe a lot to these two musicians, and it's

653
00:33:12,160 --> 00:33:12,680
Speaker 2: so dope.

654
00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:15,800
Speaker 6: Thank you for sharing. I love that.

655
00:33:16,360 --> 00:33:21,400
Speaker 3: I when I read, I don't like to listen to

656
00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:25,200
Speaker 3: music that has that has a lot of words, right

657
00:33:25,720 --> 00:33:29,200
Speaker 3: right like, I like to listen to jazz when I'm writing.

658
00:33:29,520 --> 00:33:32,800
Speaker 3: So yeah, that makes so much sense to me. I'm like, oh,

659
00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:34,640
Speaker 3: and I can't wait to read your book when it

660
00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:39,120
Speaker 3: comes out, right, I can't wait either, right, because.

661
00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:41,200
Speaker 2: I'm like, I wonder what the energy is gonna match.

662
00:33:41,280 --> 00:33:43,520
Speaker 2: Is it going to have that prenetic energy that Mileth

663
00:33:43,640 --> 00:33:46,400
Speaker 2: Is it going to have? I can't tell as of yet,

664
00:33:46,440 --> 00:33:49,640
Speaker 2: but I feel like I'm excited to talk about after

665
00:33:49,680 --> 00:33:52,680
Speaker 2: the book is done and publish, Like what this moment

666
00:33:52,720 --> 00:33:55,520
Speaker 2: and trying to just get lost in that particular music

667
00:33:56,080 --> 00:33:58,200
Speaker 2: to find words has meant to me.

668
00:33:58,320 --> 00:33:59,440
Speaker 4: So thank you.

669
00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:03,080
Speaker 3: Well, we have one more question before we shift up

670
00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:08,600
Speaker 3: the energy. So earlier you mentioned some of the things

671
00:34:08,600 --> 00:34:13,839
Speaker 3: that come along with being Afro Latina, right, and we

672
00:34:13,960 --> 00:34:19,800
Speaker 3: know that historically there has been like a divide between

673
00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:29,120
Speaker 3: particularly like Dominicans and Black Americans. And so for the

674
00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:33,520
Speaker 3: listener out there who is trying to get to a

675
00:34:33,680 --> 00:34:41,600
Speaker 3: space of self love and either they are Afro Latina

676
00:34:41,800 --> 00:34:46,520
Speaker 3: or they are Black American and they're connected in some way,

677
00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:52,440
Speaker 3: what would you tell them in helping them along this

678
00:34:52,600 --> 00:34:53,640
Speaker 3: self love journey.

679
00:34:54,360 --> 00:34:56,520
Speaker 2: This is a great question that I wish we had

680
00:34:56,600 --> 00:35:00,279
Speaker 2: an entire podcast to diggin right, because I think the

681
00:35:00,320 --> 00:35:03,480
Speaker 2: first thing I would say is it helps with self

682
00:35:03,560 --> 00:35:06,600
Speaker 2: love to be very clear where you are coming from

683
00:35:06,600 --> 00:35:10,200
Speaker 2: in terms of your position, and so often people confuse

684
00:35:10,280 --> 00:35:12,920
Speaker 2: race with nationality with ethnicity.

685
00:35:13,640 --> 00:35:16,279
Speaker 4: Right. Then when people say we're all black, and I'm like,

686
00:35:16,880 --> 00:35:17,440
Speaker 4: in this.

687
00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:22,920
Speaker 2: Country, black very often specifies African American, black American, right,

688
00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:24,880
Speaker 2: And so those of us who are coming from a

689
00:35:24,920 --> 00:35:29,080
Speaker 2: different diaspora often don't opt into that because we think, oh,

690
00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:32,320
Speaker 2: that's you know, it's not that I'm not Afro descendant, it's.

691
00:35:32,120 --> 00:35:33,520
Speaker 4: That this belongs there.

692
00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:36,120
Speaker 2: But that's a question of are we talking about race

693
00:35:36,719 --> 00:35:37,560
Speaker 2: where we are all black?

694
00:35:37,640 --> 00:35:38,560
Speaker 4: Are we talking about.

695
00:35:38,400 --> 00:35:41,279
Speaker 2: Ethnicity where it is okay to say, oh, yeah, culturally,

696
00:35:41,680 --> 00:35:44,360
Speaker 2: the way that I understand blackness on my island is

697
00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:47,160
Speaker 2: different than how we understand it in this country, right,

698
00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:49,240
Speaker 2: And so I think that there's been such a large

699
00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:53,560
Speaker 2: disconnect because we use a lot of words synonymously that

700
00:35:54,160 --> 00:35:57,360
Speaker 2: have very different meanings, and a lot of people opt

701
00:35:57,400 --> 00:36:01,040
Speaker 2: in to Black American culture and the benefits of what

702
00:36:01,120 --> 00:36:03,799
Speaker 2: black Americans have fought for in the United States, but

703
00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:08,000
Speaker 2: then out of the ramifications of what it can mean

704
00:36:08,040 --> 00:36:09,920
Speaker 2: to be a Black American in this country.

705
00:36:10,560 --> 00:36:10,759
Speaker 4: Right.

706
00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:13,960
Speaker 2: And so I know, for me, positioning myself very clearly

707
00:36:14,040 --> 00:36:16,640
Speaker 2: on there has been work that was done before my

708
00:36:16,719 --> 00:36:20,480
Speaker 2: people revived here. That is critical work, right that I

709
00:36:20,640 --> 00:36:23,640
Speaker 2: benefit from and that I am privileged to have access

710
00:36:23,640 --> 00:36:27,319
Speaker 2: to because of the ancestors of other folks. And that

711
00:36:27,400 --> 00:36:30,560
Speaker 2: does not deny that there are contributions made by Afro

712
00:36:30,640 --> 00:36:34,600
Speaker 2: Latints and Afro Dominicans and Dominicans in general that really

713
00:36:34,640 --> 00:36:38,160
Speaker 2: help create a vibrant United States, right, Like, it's not

714
00:36:38,239 --> 00:36:41,719
Speaker 2: an AT or or, Rather, it's an AT, not just

715
00:36:41,760 --> 00:36:45,399
Speaker 2: this or and so one, I think that self love

716
00:36:45,600 --> 00:36:46,280
Speaker 2: can be most.

717
00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:49,560
Speaker 4: Done when you're not resentful, when you're not trying to prove.

718
00:36:49,480 --> 00:36:52,360
Speaker 2: Yourself, when you're not angry at someone for the fact

719
00:36:52,360 --> 00:36:54,640
Speaker 2: that they may have their own feelings and their own

720
00:36:54,680 --> 00:36:56,000
Speaker 2: personal beliefs.

721
00:36:55,600 --> 00:36:58,120
Speaker 4: Of why they feel like. You know, these.

722
00:36:57,960 --> 00:37:00,920
Speaker 2: Situations are really complicated because we're all coming from the

723
00:37:00,960 --> 00:37:04,400
Speaker 2: same knowledge base. So one know where we are, know

724
00:37:04,440 --> 00:37:07,359
Speaker 2: where you are on your journey of blackness and self love,

725
00:37:07,719 --> 00:37:09,760
Speaker 2: and know that other people may be in a different

726
00:37:09,760 --> 00:37:12,719
Speaker 2: place on that journey, right, And then I really do

727
00:37:12,800 --> 00:37:16,480
Speaker 2: think that it's about knowing your specific history. When I

728
00:37:16,520 --> 00:37:18,719
Speaker 2: was growing up, what I understood about blackness was what

729
00:37:18,719 --> 00:37:21,200
Speaker 2: I learned in school, and it was Black American history.

730
00:37:21,440 --> 00:37:23,520
Speaker 2: So I was out here thinking that slavery in the

731
00:37:23,600 --> 00:37:26,279
Speaker 2: United States was how it was everywhere right, and that

732
00:37:26,320 --> 00:37:28,760
Speaker 2: the civil rights move in the United States also affected

733
00:37:28,800 --> 00:37:30,640
Speaker 2: Latin America. And that's not to say that it didn't,

734
00:37:30,920 --> 00:37:33,040
Speaker 2: but it is to say slavery was different as the

735
00:37:33,040 --> 00:37:35,520
Speaker 2: Benavory Republic than it was in Mexico. Then it was

736
00:37:35,560 --> 00:37:38,239
Speaker 2: in Brazil, and it was in Argentina. And to be

737
00:37:38,320 --> 00:37:42,120
Speaker 2: black in Argentina and be black and wherever is a

738
00:37:42,160 --> 00:37:45,879
Speaker 2: different understanding. So what was it in your country? How

739
00:37:45,920 --> 00:37:49,640
Speaker 2: did your people learn blackness? What was the style? What

740
00:37:49,880 --> 00:37:51,840
Speaker 2: was the hierarchies of caste?

741
00:37:52,400 --> 00:37:52,560
Speaker 4: Right?

742
00:37:52,960 --> 00:37:56,200
Speaker 2: You know, was it Spanish colonized? Because they had a

743
00:37:56,239 --> 00:37:58,080
Speaker 2: particular understanding of blackness.

744
00:37:58,080 --> 00:37:59,439
Speaker 4: They had been, you know.

745
00:37:59,400 --> 00:38:01,640
Speaker 2: With North Africa for hundreds of years, they had been

746
00:38:01,640 --> 00:38:05,280
Speaker 2: conquered by North Africa. Their relationship to blackness is different

747
00:38:05,320 --> 00:38:08,279
Speaker 2: than the French and the British relationship to blackness. And

748
00:38:08,360 --> 00:38:11,560
Speaker 2: so your understanding of your particular place is going. I

749
00:38:11,560 --> 00:38:13,360
Speaker 2: don't mean to give you a history lesson, but I

750
00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:16,480
Speaker 2: don't think I think that these are these are critical things.

751
00:38:16,840 --> 00:38:19,279
Speaker 2: When we try to approach it as this one blanket,

752
00:38:19,640 --> 00:38:21,799
Speaker 2: it is hard to love yourself because you have no

753
00:38:21,920 --> 00:38:25,040
Speaker 2: specificity to tie to, and we just have to be

754
00:38:25,120 --> 00:38:27,799
Speaker 2: more specific because that's how we respect each other and

755
00:38:27,840 --> 00:38:28,960
Speaker 2: each other's journeys on.

756
00:38:28,920 --> 00:38:29,960
Speaker 4: How we all got here.

757
00:38:30,320 --> 00:38:32,160
Speaker 2: So I'm not gonna I'm gonna jump off my soap box,

758
00:38:32,200 --> 00:38:35,080
Speaker 2: but I do think having done my own history just

759
00:38:35,120 --> 00:38:37,279
Speaker 2: made me be a little bit firmer on Like, now

760
00:38:37,360 --> 00:38:39,640
Speaker 2: I know what was going on where I was coming from,

761
00:38:39,719 --> 00:38:42,640
Speaker 2: and so I can respect everyone's story.

762
00:38:43,400 --> 00:38:45,960
Speaker 1: Okay, So basically we're going to have a second episode

763
00:38:45,920 --> 00:38:47,319
Speaker 1: and I'm going to dive into this deeper.

764
00:38:47,360 --> 00:38:48,479
Speaker 6: That's kind of what I hear you saying.

765
00:38:48,600 --> 00:38:50,960
Speaker 1: You nailed that, and I'm just like, I need to

766
00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:51,880
Speaker 1: get my notes out.

767
00:38:51,880 --> 00:38:52,680
Speaker 3: Take notes.

768
00:38:53,080 --> 00:38:57,120
Speaker 1: So I think about this a lot. Okay, so that's

769
00:38:57,200 --> 00:38:59,200
Speaker 1: what we'll be emailing. We'll be emailing you or reaching

770
00:38:59,200 --> 00:39:04,040
Speaker 1: out about parts. But at this point, Elizabeth, I want

771
00:39:04,040 --> 00:39:06,080
Speaker 1: to thank you seriously for that responsible. I think that

772
00:39:06,200 --> 00:39:07,879
Speaker 1: is so insightful and I think that'll be a great

773
00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:11,480
Speaker 1: jumping point for a future conversation. Seriously, but we do

774
00:39:11,520 --> 00:39:13,480
Speaker 1: want to shift up the energy for sure of our

775
00:39:13,520 --> 00:39:17,960
Speaker 1: conversation today and Elizabeth, because we recognize, appreciate, and celebrate

776
00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:20,319
Speaker 1: the multi faceted woman, and we believe that it's okay

777
00:39:20,320 --> 00:39:24,640
Speaker 1: to be bougie and classy and ratchet. Okay, okay, like

778
00:39:24,719 --> 00:39:26,799
Speaker 1: you can still be elegant and dance the strip club

779
00:39:26,880 --> 00:39:31,480
Speaker 1: music if every now and then, come on, now, come

780
00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:34,520
Speaker 1: off to work something. So listen, we want to invite

781
00:39:34,520 --> 00:39:38,319
Speaker 1: you to the ou blatschet segment. So do you take

782
00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:40,480
Speaker 1: on the challenge?

783
00:39:40,640 --> 00:39:42,480
Speaker 4: I have no idea what I'm signing up for, but

784
00:39:42,520 --> 00:39:43,719
Speaker 4: I take on the challenge.

785
00:39:44,440 --> 00:39:48,360
Speaker 1: We got it, we got her. So now that you've agreed,

786
00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:49,920
Speaker 1: we're going to tell you what to expect. So we

787
00:39:49,960 --> 00:39:52,320
Speaker 1: are going to ask you three questions. We're going to

788
00:39:52,360 --> 00:39:56,520
Speaker 1: share three sentence completions, and then we have three photos

789
00:39:56,560 --> 00:40:00,120
Speaker 1: pulled up a few now we're going to have you

790
00:40:00,160 --> 00:40:02,520
Speaker 1: choose a number between one and three, and then once

791
00:40:02,560 --> 00:40:05,440
Speaker 1: the photo is revealed, we want you to provide more content,

792
00:40:05,600 --> 00:40:07,719
Speaker 1: like tell us something that we wouldn't know just by

793
00:40:07,760 --> 00:40:08,680
Speaker 1: looking at photo.

794
00:40:08,800 --> 00:40:10,120
Speaker 4: Anyway, I think.

795
00:40:10,160 --> 00:40:12,280
Speaker 2: So, I feel like there was a lot of instructions,

796
00:40:12,280 --> 00:40:14,239
Speaker 2: but they're gonna guide me and I'm gonna figure it out.

797
00:40:16,080 --> 00:40:19,280
Speaker 1: So the first question is, what is the best piece

798
00:40:19,320 --> 00:40:21,000
Speaker 1: of advice you've ever received?

799
00:40:21,960 --> 00:40:24,799
Speaker 2: Nikki Giovanni once told me, at some point in time,

800
00:40:25,400 --> 00:40:27,560
Speaker 2: all singers become insane because they're.

801
00:40:27,360 --> 00:40:29,959
Speaker 4: Singing the same song. You gotta sing a different song.

802
00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:33,960
Speaker 2: And so it was about repetition and the stories we

803
00:40:34,040 --> 00:40:35,960
Speaker 2: tell ourselves, and you got to move forward and leave

804
00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:41,239
Speaker 2: some stories behind. Oh wow, it's NICKI, So you know,

805
00:40:41,480 --> 00:40:45,920
Speaker 2: I say, that's what more is there to say is Niki?

806
00:40:46,400 --> 00:40:48,359
Speaker 1: Is what you said about hair too, what you said

807
00:40:48,400 --> 00:40:49,080
Speaker 1: about your poem.

808
00:40:49,120 --> 00:40:53,000
Speaker 2: It's like exactly, yes, Yes, you got to leave something.

809
00:40:53,080 --> 00:40:54,920
Speaker 2: Sometimes you gotta be like, Okay, I can't keep your

810
00:40:54,920 --> 00:40:56,600
Speaker 2: feeing this on myself. I gotta move on.

811
00:40:58,400 --> 00:40:58,960
Speaker 4: Don I'm want to.

812
00:40:58,920 --> 00:41:00,560
Speaker 1: Pass this one to you, because this is gonna be

813
00:41:00,600 --> 00:41:03,120
Speaker 1: an interesting transition from Nikki Giavanni to this.

814
00:41:04,400 --> 00:41:05,120
Speaker 6: Yeah, it is.

815
00:41:05,320 --> 00:41:09,040
Speaker 3: But you know, Lisabee, you already answered this question, but

816
00:41:09,080 --> 00:41:11,680
Speaker 3: we're gonna put it out there anyway, just so that

817
00:41:11,719 --> 00:41:16,440
Speaker 3: we can get the official response. We have four.

818
00:41:16,160 --> 00:41:17,120
Speaker 4: Words for you.

819
00:41:17,400 --> 00:41:21,760
Speaker 6: Okay, work or two steps.

820
00:41:24,239 --> 00:41:26,680
Speaker 2: I mean, it depends on the occasion, but I think

821
00:41:26,719 --> 00:41:28,120
Speaker 2: they've all got occasions.

822
00:41:28,440 --> 00:41:30,080
Speaker 4: Since I'm at home most of the time, we're gonna

823
00:41:30,080 --> 00:41:30,600
Speaker 4: say to work.

824
00:41:31,360 --> 00:41:32,080
Speaker 6: There we go.

825
00:41:33,680 --> 00:41:38,560
Speaker 1: Okay, Okay, now, Elizabeth, what is the sexiest item you own.

826
00:41:39,239 --> 00:41:41,279
Speaker 2: Oh, I'm wearing this fency bra right now that I

827
00:41:41,360 --> 00:41:43,799
Speaker 2: love and it's not for nobody but just for me.

828
00:41:44,280 --> 00:41:46,920
Speaker 2: But it's so comfortable. But also this makes my chitties

829
00:41:46,920 --> 00:41:50,080
Speaker 2: look so cute. So I'm gonna go in my fancy collection.

830
00:41:52,360 --> 00:41:54,200
Speaker 2: This one is black with a little bit of copper.

831
00:41:54,800 --> 00:42:00,560
Speaker 2: Oh okay, go ahead, girl, shout out.

832
00:42:00,480 --> 00:42:09,640
Speaker 3: To all right, So now for our sentence completion. One

833
00:42:09,760 --> 00:42:13,680
Speaker 3: thing I wish people knew about me is.

834
00:42:14,719 --> 00:42:15,640
Speaker 4: I'm not funny, yo.

835
00:42:15,760 --> 00:42:17,880
Speaker 2: People really think I'm like super serious and she's a

836
00:42:17,920 --> 00:42:19,040
Speaker 2: poet and this sudden the.

837
00:42:18,920 --> 00:42:21,560
Speaker 4: Third, but I'm hilarious. I make myself laugh all the time.

838
00:42:22,960 --> 00:42:24,000
Speaker 6: I mean jokes.

839
00:42:24,120 --> 00:42:28,120
Speaker 4: But I think you could.

840
00:42:29,560 --> 00:42:29,600
Speaker 3: Know.

841
00:42:31,200 --> 00:42:33,239
Speaker 2: Some people hear a poet and a war wind and

842
00:42:33,280 --> 00:42:35,160
Speaker 2: they just think you're like, you know, up here, And

843
00:42:35,200 --> 00:42:39,360
Speaker 2: I'm like, not just like the talk ship, I feel you.

844
00:42:39,440 --> 00:42:43,000
Speaker 1: I feel you, girl, now, Elizabeth, the next question here

845
00:42:43,160 --> 00:42:47,040
Speaker 1: is what's the most embarrassing thing You've ever done? Or actually,

846
00:42:47,160 --> 00:42:49,839
Speaker 1: let me rephrase this because it's a sentence completion. So

847
00:42:50,040 --> 00:42:53,440
Speaker 1: the most embarrassing thing I've ever done to get a

848
00:42:53,480 --> 00:42:59,440
Speaker 1: cruscious attention is Oh lord, that'd mean she got a

849
00:42:59,440 --> 00:42:59,799
Speaker 1: good one.

850
00:43:00,320 --> 00:43:01,799
Speaker 4: No, I can't even think about it.

851
00:43:01,840 --> 00:43:04,320
Speaker 2: I know we used to have this little square at GW,

852
00:43:04,560 --> 00:43:06,040
Speaker 2: and it's just like, I don't know how many times

853
00:43:06,080 --> 00:43:08,000
Speaker 2: I will walk back and forth on that square, just

854
00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:08,959
Speaker 2: hoping to get this one.

855
00:43:08,880 --> 00:43:11,040
Speaker 4: Guy to look at me. But like that's I mean,

856
00:43:11,040 --> 00:43:12,479
Speaker 4: that's not embarrassing enough.

857
00:43:13,080 --> 00:43:15,080
Speaker 2: I don't know, man, I think I was just I'm

858
00:43:15,160 --> 00:43:17,000
Speaker 2: from New York, so I just thought it was too cool.

859
00:43:17,200 --> 00:43:19,000
Speaker 4: I'm not gonna do too much, you know what I'm saying.

860
00:43:19,080 --> 00:43:22,560
Speaker 4: I'm not gonna be too much. So the most I'm

861
00:43:22,560 --> 00:43:24,640
Speaker 4: gonna do is just walk back and forth a little bit.

862
00:43:24,680 --> 00:43:25,920
Speaker 4: If you ain't checking for me.

863
00:43:25,920 --> 00:43:28,560
Speaker 2: Then I I feel I feel you.

864
00:43:31,560 --> 00:43:33,360
Speaker 6: I love that. I love that response.

865
00:43:33,760 --> 00:43:35,919
Speaker 4: You just gotta go with your geography. I'm from New York.

866
00:43:35,960 --> 00:43:37,080
Speaker 4: I don't know, we don't do that.

867
00:43:38,360 --> 00:43:47,160
Speaker 3: Yes, okay, so Elizabeth. What I love most about myself.

868
00:43:46,920 --> 00:43:50,360
Speaker 4: Is I'm hard headed, but I'm open to growth.

869
00:43:51,520 --> 00:43:53,480
Speaker 2: And so I think I've doubled down when I gotta

870
00:43:53,520 --> 00:43:56,279
Speaker 2: double down, but when I recognize, like, oh I could

871
00:43:56,360 --> 00:43:59,520
Speaker 2: be doing X y Z different a better life. You know,

872
00:44:00,200 --> 00:44:03,400
Speaker 2: I'm always a student. I'll say that about myself.

873
00:44:03,560 --> 00:44:08,400
Speaker 1: Yeah, very powerful. I'm right, I'm right so now, Elizabeth,

874
00:44:08,440 --> 00:44:11,759
Speaker 1: we want you to choose a number between one and three.

875
00:44:12,320 --> 00:44:13,040
Speaker 4: You know, I'm three.

876
00:44:13,440 --> 00:44:15,760
Speaker 2: In terms of my line sisters, I was the third

877
00:44:15,880 --> 00:44:17,719
Speaker 2: and I was the anchor, So I'm going to go

878
00:44:17,800 --> 00:44:18,480
Speaker 2: with three.

879
00:44:18,840 --> 00:44:20,799
Speaker 1: Okay, cool, cool. So what we're gonna do is I'm

880
00:44:20,800 --> 00:44:22,920
Speaker 1: gonna show you the photo. But some people are not

881
00:44:23,080 --> 00:44:26,400
Speaker 1: listening or they're not watching us on page, So describe

882
00:44:26,440 --> 00:44:28,960
Speaker 1: the photos. Oh, give us some context.

883
00:44:28,560 --> 00:44:29,800
Speaker 6: About this photo.

884
00:44:29,840 --> 00:44:31,640
Speaker 4: It's a good one. Oh okay.

885
00:44:31,719 --> 00:44:33,719
Speaker 2: So in this photo, I'm standing in front of a

886
00:44:33,800 --> 00:44:36,120
Speaker 2: mic and I got my hands up and I'm wearing

887
00:44:36,160 --> 00:44:38,920
Speaker 2: a black T shirt that says Joe Alma mee by Home.

888
00:44:39,400 --> 00:44:43,800
Speaker 2: So this photo is interesting because I was on Listener stage,

889
00:44:43,800 --> 00:44:46,600
Speaker 2: which is a pretty cool auditorium here in Washington, DC,

890
00:44:46,719 --> 00:44:50,160
Speaker 2: where I live. And what is important to know about

891
00:44:50,200 --> 00:44:54,000
Speaker 2: this photo is that two years prior to this event,

892
00:44:54,080 --> 00:44:56,719
Speaker 2: I had got on that same stage in front of

893
00:44:56,960 --> 00:44:59,720
Speaker 2: fourteen hundred people and completely blank.

894
00:45:00,200 --> 00:45:02,520
Speaker 4: My whole poem. It was one of the most embarrassing

895
00:45:02,560 --> 00:45:04,480
Speaker 4: moments in my life. It's also been my.

896
00:45:04,480 --> 00:45:06,960
Speaker 2: Worst fear since I was a child, to forget a

897
00:45:07,040 --> 00:45:11,000
Speaker 2: poem in public, and I stopped performing for like two years.

898
00:45:11,200 --> 00:45:12,320
Speaker 4: So This was one of my.

899
00:45:12,239 --> 00:45:16,279
Speaker 2: First performances coming back and being like, all right, I'm

900
00:45:16,320 --> 00:45:19,120
Speaker 2: not I can't be afraid. I mean, my anxiety was

901
00:45:19,160 --> 00:45:21,279
Speaker 2: through the roof, but I still pulled up and so

902
00:45:21,400 --> 00:45:24,160
Speaker 2: I think to conquer the stage that had a one

903
00:45:24,200 --> 00:45:27,400
Speaker 2: point rendered me speechless to some extent, and be like,

904
00:45:27,640 --> 00:45:29,719
Speaker 2: you know, we all have bad days. You don't got

905
00:45:29,719 --> 00:45:30,880
Speaker 2: to be perfect at every event.

906
00:45:31,560 --> 00:45:33,960
Speaker 4: And to capture such beautiful photos right like I looked

907
00:45:34,000 --> 00:45:36,719
Speaker 4: powerful and I felt powerful, but I had to train

908
00:45:36,800 --> 00:45:39,239
Speaker 4: myself to get back.

909
00:45:39,480 --> 00:45:41,240
Speaker 1: When you look back on the moment when you forgot

910
00:45:41,280 --> 00:45:43,120
Speaker 1: you were, because that's happened to me before too, do

911
00:45:43,160 --> 00:45:45,840
Speaker 1: you remember like what caused it? Like you were you

912
00:45:45,840 --> 00:45:46,520
Speaker 1: going through a lot?

913
00:45:46,600 --> 00:45:47,600
Speaker 6: Like what cost?

914
00:45:47,640 --> 00:45:49,040
Speaker 1: Do you just blink at that moment?

915
00:45:49,480 --> 00:45:50,680
Speaker 6: You know, I'm not even sure.

916
00:45:50,719 --> 00:45:52,360
Speaker 4: I don't know if it was that I just didn't

917
00:45:52,440 --> 00:45:53,480
Speaker 4: rehearse enough.

918
00:45:53,600 --> 00:45:56,120
Speaker 2: And then I'm on there and the lights were massive,

919
00:45:56,400 --> 00:45:58,680
Speaker 2: the mike had a lot of reverbs, so I kept

920
00:45:58,760 --> 00:46:02,000
Speaker 2: hearing myself and at some point it's like I don't

921
00:46:02,040 --> 00:46:04,360
Speaker 2: know if I've already said this or if my like

922
00:46:04,400 --> 00:46:05,680
Speaker 2: if I'm supposed.

923
00:46:05,200 --> 00:46:06,839
Speaker 4: To say this, So the mic kind of you know,

924
00:46:06,960 --> 00:46:08,000
Speaker 4: f me up a little bit too.

925
00:46:08,080 --> 00:46:10,560
Speaker 2: But but honestly, I just think it was just one

926
00:46:10,560 --> 00:46:11,760
Speaker 2: of those brain stark moments.

927
00:46:11,800 --> 00:46:14,560
Speaker 4: But it just happened in public and I couldn't recover.

928
00:46:15,040 --> 00:46:16,759
Speaker 4: And I've like studied how.

929
00:46:16,640 --> 00:46:18,480
Speaker 2: To recover, like you always know you go to this

930
00:46:18,600 --> 00:46:20,760
Speaker 2: line or you just started on the poem or.

931
00:46:20,840 --> 00:46:23,239
Speaker 4: Whatever it is. But for whatever reason, like.

932
00:46:23,840 --> 00:46:25,920
Speaker 2: I just I think I was, I was dumb struck

933
00:46:26,200 --> 00:46:28,560
Speaker 2: that I had forgotten, Like I was kind of like, no,

934
00:46:28,680 --> 00:46:32,600
Speaker 2: this ain't really this, this ain't happening, and I just

935
00:46:32,719 --> 00:46:33,440
Speaker 2: couldn't recover.

936
00:46:33,560 --> 00:46:35,880
Speaker 4: And it was ugly and public and you.

937
00:46:35,880 --> 00:46:38,479
Speaker 2: Know when people start clapping like you got this shit,

938
00:46:40,000 --> 00:46:42,839
Speaker 2: don't acknowledge that, right right?

939
00:46:43,719 --> 00:46:47,319
Speaker 4: So it was just man, listen, it broke my heart.

940
00:46:47,440 --> 00:46:49,600
Speaker 4: I had to really do some internal work to.

941
00:46:49,560 --> 00:46:52,360
Speaker 2: Get back on stage because there was just my worst

942
00:46:52,400 --> 00:46:54,040
Speaker 2: fear come to life.

943
00:46:54,520 --> 00:46:56,719
Speaker 1: What a beautiful comeback though, for the photo that you

944
00:46:56,800 --> 00:46:57,560
Speaker 1: just shared with us.

945
00:46:57,600 --> 00:47:02,200
Speaker 4: So yeah, if I did, you know, yes, we're grateful

946
00:47:02,239 --> 00:47:02,799
Speaker 4: that you did.

947
00:47:03,239 --> 00:47:09,480
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, And so Elizabeth, we just want to thank you,

948
00:47:09,520 --> 00:47:15,479
Speaker 3: oh for sure, for joining us today and providing us

949
00:47:15,520 --> 00:47:20,839
Speaker 3: with such insight and such so many powerful words. And

950
00:47:20,880 --> 00:47:24,200
Speaker 3: I know that as our listeners are taking this episode

951
00:47:24,239 --> 00:47:28,000
Speaker 3: in they're going to be writing down all these gyms

952
00:47:28,000 --> 00:47:28,560
Speaker 3: that you draw.

953
00:47:29,960 --> 00:47:34,279
Speaker 8: And so for those that have that haven't gotten your

954
00:47:34,280 --> 00:47:38,320
Speaker 8: bookshit and they don't follow you on social media, tell

955
00:47:38,360 --> 00:47:40,440
Speaker 8: them where they need to get it to how they

956
00:47:40,520 --> 00:47:42,600
Speaker 8: need to get it together and find you and.

957
00:47:42,520 --> 00:47:43,480
Speaker 6: Get your books.

958
00:47:43,800 --> 00:47:44,000
Speaker 4: Well.

959
00:47:44,040 --> 00:47:46,359
Speaker 2: First of all, Terry doctor don thank you so much

960
00:47:46,360 --> 00:47:49,400
Speaker 2: for having me. As I mentioned, your podcast is so dope,

961
00:47:49,480 --> 00:47:52,160
Speaker 2: and I'm only doing a select amount of interviews, but

962
00:47:52,239 --> 00:47:54,640
Speaker 2: when I heard y'all knew I had to come on.

963
00:47:54,640 --> 00:47:56,840
Speaker 4: Here, so I appreciate the invitation.

964
00:47:57,400 --> 00:47:59,919
Speaker 2: You can find me everywhere on oscivator, writes, I only

965
00:48:00,000 --> 00:48:02,719
Speaker 2: a social media wives use Instagram. I kind of have

966
00:48:03,200 --> 00:48:05,640
Speaker 2: petered off of everything else because it's just too much

967
00:48:05,680 --> 00:48:07,720
Speaker 2: and I'm not going to give everybody access to everything.

968
00:48:07,760 --> 00:48:11,000
Speaker 2: But I'm on Instagram, oscivator rites and my website ace

969
00:48:11,320 --> 00:48:14,680
Speaker 2: z e d O wri yes has all the information

970
00:48:14,719 --> 00:48:17,640
Speaker 2: about my books, my events, how to contact me Xyz

971
00:48:17,800 --> 00:48:20,719
Speaker 2: and so those are probably the two places to find me.

972
00:48:20,840 --> 00:48:22,200
Speaker 4: And at a bookstore near you.

973
00:48:22,200 --> 00:48:24,600
Speaker 2: You know, my books are everywhere, so if you want

974
00:48:24,600 --> 00:48:26,440
Speaker 2: to come just to the words and just see what

975
00:48:26,480 --> 00:48:29,120
Speaker 2: I'm working on. Wherever you buy books, you can find me.

976
00:48:29,760 --> 00:48:31,960
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Elizabeth. We will make sure to

977
00:48:32,000 --> 00:48:34,279
Speaker 2: add those links in the show notes, and lady, you

978
00:48:34,320 --> 00:48:36,000
Speaker 2: already know what to do. Go click on those links.

979
00:48:36,000 --> 00:48:40,200
Speaker 2: Support Elizabeth tap in, wait for the adult novel and

980
00:48:40,320 --> 00:48:44,600
Speaker 2: the show and all that good stuff is coming soon. Okay, Elizabeth,

981
00:48:44,680 --> 00:48:47,560
Speaker 2: you are the best. We appreciate you. Appreciate y'all. Thank

982
00:48:47,560 --> 00:48:48,239
Speaker 2: you for having me.

983
00:48:49,719 --> 00:48:53,200
Speaker 1: Hey, lady, it's Terry here from the Cultivating her Space podcast.

984
00:48:53,560 --> 00:48:56,360
Speaker 1: I'm hosting a free podcasting masterclass where I'm going to

985
00:48:56,400 --> 00:49:00,080
Speaker 1: teach you how to create your impactful podcast and how

986
00:49:00,080 --> 00:49:03,120
Speaker 1: you can generate multiple streams of income. You can visit

987
00:49:03,200 --> 00:49:07,239
Speaker 1: podcastw Terry dot com to register for free. I hope

988
00:49:07,280 --> 00:49:07,920
Speaker 1: to see you there.

989
00:49:08,160 --> 00:49:14,120
Speaker 3: Thanks for joining us today. Please note that our show

990
00:49:14,160 --> 00:49:20,080
Speaker 3: may contain conversations about self help, advice, self empowerment, and

991
00:49:20,200 --> 00:49:23,319
Speaker 3: mental health, but is by no means meant to be

992
00:49:23,360 --> 00:49:27,680
Speaker 3: a substitute for an ongoing formal relationship with a trained

993
00:49:27,719 --> 00:49:31,759
Speaker 3: mental health provider. If you are someone you know is

994
00:49:31,760 --> 00:49:35,120
Speaker 3: in need of mental health care, please visit a Therapy

995
00:49:35,160 --> 00:49:41,520
Speaker 3: for Black Girls directory Psychology today or contact your insurance provider.

996
00:49:41,640 --> 00:49:43,480
Speaker 1: If you like what you heard and want to keep

997
00:49:43,480 --> 00:49:48,520
Speaker 1: the conversation going. Visit our website at cultivatinghirspace dot com

998
00:49:48,880 --> 00:49:51,160
Speaker 1: and be sure to click the Patreon tab to get

999
00:49:51,200 --> 00:49:56,240
Speaker 1: access to video content, bonuses, and our weekly after show

1000
00:49:57,160 --> 00:50:01,720
Speaker 1: and before we meet again, repeat after me, what's meant

1001
00:50:01,719 --> 00:50:05,239
Speaker 1: for me? Will never miss me. I don't have to

1002
00:50:05,320 --> 00:50:05,640
Speaker 1: chase