Episode theme: community
“To be sane is to be together. Real friendships help us to accept and reframe our ugliest parts as beautiful. They extend to us the grace we need to extend to ourselves.” —Laura Joyce Davis
Episode 92: defiant
“The feeling of marching and being with other people and finally seeing, “Oh my God, New York is not dead!”
In the first of five episodes featuring FIERCE: ESSAYS BY AND ABOUT DAUNTLESS WOMEN, award-winning author Meera Nair shares how she's found hope even as she's been living in "the epicenter of the epicenter," the place that for a time, got hit hardest by COVID-19.
Read more about Meera and find links to her published work here.
Trigger warning: In Meera's discussion of the essay she wrote for FIERCE, she mentions self-harm.
Episode 81: the reformer
“I tend to get my best ideas in community and in dialogue with other people. And I miss that profoundly.”
The Enneagram type 1, with their strong sense of ethics, integrity, and balance, see that things can always be better. Jana Riess is an author, editor, and scholar who sees a lot about our world that needs reforming. But what she needs most are the small moments of human connection that keep her going in the day to day.
Episode 79: the investigator
“I come from a background of doing theater and performing music live. And if those sorts of things go away, then we'll lose the collective experience that comes from having a lot of bodies in a room.”
The Enneagram 5 is often described as "the investigator." Musician and audio editor Erica Huang was born and raised in New York, and during this time she's seen her city go from community to isolation to something different and in-between. As she grapples with what the challenges of a pandemic world, she envisions a future that keeps us safe without keeping us apart.
Episode transcript
Episode 71: more caught than taught
“All of this was recorded on our neighbors’ security camera, and recounted to me later.”
In parenting and in life, real change comes from a little less talk and a lot more action.
Episode transcript
Episode 58: type 2 fun
“For the sake of frugality and family togetherness, it was a job we were going to do ourselves.”
As we enter this pandemic summer, Laura recalls how sometimes our best memories aren't of the easy kind of fun, but the kind we had to work for.
Episode 40: may day
“Maybe even as we’re putting out distress signals through our radio and telephone and online communications, what we really need is a knock on our door, an unexpected gift, a reminder that we’re not alone.”
To celebrate this week's challenge of dreaming and gratitude, Laura brings you a very special episode with your stories of what this time has been like for you, and how you're dreaming, grieving, and finding hope in the midst of the struggles.
Episode transcript
Episode 67: circling back
“Our threshold for violence is so high that seeing someone die in front of you, that's what it takes for someone to take action or say something's wrong.”
Laura circles back with Muoki Musau, whose perspective began this week of amplifying and celebrating Black voices. In the first conversation they've ever had--a conversation that begins and ends with laughter--they agree together to talk about racism in America, and Muoki shares his vision for a better way forward.
Episode 53: a better way
“Communities that have been devastated by natural or man-made disasters almost never lapse into chaos and disorder; if anything, they become more just, more egalitarian, and more deliberately fair to individuals.”
As the world begins to open up at least in some places, Laura looks to the work of #1 New York Times best-selling author Sebastian Junger to examine the pitfalls of American individualism, and guide us toward a more connected, contented future.
Episode transcript
Episode 22: solidarity
“I learned from these women how to love myself not for the things I could accomplish or the way others saw me, but because of what I was capable of extending to others, that reflection of the divine.”
Laura gets a message from a friend in Manila talking about how COVID-19 has affected those in the Philippines, and reflects on the lessons her year in Manila taught her a decade ago.
Episode transcript
Episode 39: together
“We often joke that they’re our spiritual godparents. I can’t explain why, but whenever we’re with them, we suddenly feel called to be the best version of ourselves.”
On this final day of the week's Gratitude and Dreaming challenge, Laura considers how the challenge has helped her to dream not just for herself, but for what her future could look like for her and her family.
Episode transcript
Episode 19: the surprising power of kindness
“We often joke that they’re our spiritual godparents. I can’t explain why, but whenever we’re with them, we suddenly feel called to be the best version of ourselves.”
Laura shares some surprising and delightful research from social psychologist Nicholas Epley, and reflects on the kindnesses that have made a big difference in her own life during times of grief and loss.
Episode transcript
Episode 1: lockdown
“I’m about to flip my lid! I need you to walk back out the door, count to ten, and think about the kind of day I’ve had before you come back in.”
In the hours after the 3-week 24-7 Shelter in Place mandate to stop the spread of COVID-19, Bay Area author Laura Joyce Davis turns to her art to connect with others and make sense of the chaos in our world. In the first episode, she considers what it means to "shelter in place," and explores how we might see this strange time of isolation and containment time as purposeful.
Episode transcript
Episode 60: Trixi
“But at some point over the course of the next two years, the tide began to turn. It might have begun with my older siblings…”
How uniting around a common cause can help former adversaries become allies--even when those allies are your siblings, and the common cause is bringing someone else down.
Episode transcript
Episode 52: I do it
“The lone exception to this is our youngest, Mattea, who would rather help Daddy with the power saw than play with her babies.”
Laura comes to terms with the way the generosity of others is pushing her to recognize how much she needs her community, and also how much we miss out on in a culture of individualism.
Episode transcript
Episode 31: earth
“If after COVID-19 we just go back to business as usual, then I think we’re missing a great opportunity.”
COVID-19 has meant a drop in greenhouse gas emissions, but those effects won't last if we go back to our previous ways of living when this is all over. On this Earth Day, Laura steps away from the politics of climate change and dreams about how we can find our way to a cleaner, more sustainable world.
Episode transcript
Episode 18: seasons
“That remembering--and the practices of prayer, fasting, and generosity that often go along with these observations--force us to slow down and look honestly at our own lives.”
It's Holy Week, the final week of the season of Lent. Laura reflects on growing up in a place with extreme seasons, and how learning about the rhythms of Lent, Passover, and Ramadan have helped her during this season of shifting from our pre-COVID-19 lives.
Episode transcript
Episode 9: community
“Every Friday from 5-7, they would put a card table up in their front yard, with a few snacks and drinks.”
During this time when so many of us are isolated, Laura tells the story of her neighbors Sara and Mona, who took it upon themselves to take a neighborhood where no one said hello and make it a true community.
Episode transcript
Episode 3: burning bush
“No path from here
could ever be
ordinary again”
On day three of the Bay Area Shelter in Place mandate, Laura gets news that a family member might have been exposed to COVID-19. In the wake of this news, she reflects on what life is like for those in medicine right now, and what the rest of us can do to support them.
Episode transcript