Episode theme: courage
“To be sane is to face the hard things, with family, friends, or society. It’s having the humility to admit our wrongs, and then choosing to repair them, personally and globally.” —Laura Joyce Davis
Episode 94: revelry
“Don't be willing to accept easy answers or easy resolutions, because if it's easy, it's probably not the whole story.”
Kara Lee Corthron is a playwright, a novelist, and a TV writer. Her forthcoming Young Adult novel DAUGHTERS OF JUBILATION is about a teenager in the Jim Crow era who discovers that she has magical abilities that make her powerful in a time when the world is telling her she is powerless. In this third installment of our episodes with the women who wrote FIERCE: ESSAYS BY AND ABOUT DAUNTLESS WOMEN, Kara tells us about her own journey as a writer, and why she chose to write about a woman who understood that sometimes to be fierce, you need to make some noise.
Episode 89: family history
“The United States of America celebrates its history. But a majority of our citizens celebrate in ignorance. As a nation, [we] do not share a common memory, and therefore struggle to have true community.”
As we approach this holiday weekend, Laura looks to Independent presidential candidate Mark Charles to help us celebrate without ignoring our country's complicated family history.
Episode 84: the capacity for courage
“It's not that you're not afraid. You're still afraid, but you act with your heart.”
Micheline Aharonian Marcom has been writing brave, beautiful, award-winning novels for over twenty years. Her latest book, The New American, comes out next month. One of the great gifts she has given to her students is to teach them to write with courage, too. On today's Story Saturday, Laura reflects on why the lessons Micheline taught her more than fourteen years ago are still with her today, and what she continues to learn from Micheline about our capacity for courage.
Episode 80: the loyal skeptic
“When we're forced to stop, we're forced to have an inventory, we're forced to be still with ourselves. That part of this has been very restorative for me.”
Enneagram sixes are more aware of how uncertain life is than most of us. In any given situation, they’ve probably thought through the worst case scenario--but that doesn’t mean that they’re never taken by surprise. In today's episode, Shea Gilbert talks about how this time of sheltering in place has reminded her of another time in her life when life felt uncertain, when she was diagnosed with cancer.
Episode 72: a common memory
“Now we're having a very different conversation [host and guests] instead of discussing victim versus oppressor.”
Presidential candidate Mark Charles shares why he thinks our country's struggles with racism have everything to do with our need to find a common memory of our history, and why eleven years of watching the sunrise on the Navaho Nation has given him hope for the future.
Episode transcript
Episode 83: the enthusiast
“There's also the challenge that no matter what I'm doing, it's going to be misinterpreted by somebody.”
Sevens are often referred to as "the fun number" on the Enneagram. But their continual search for contentment through the next great experience can also make them scattered and unreliable. Oakland pastor Marco Ambriz, who calls himself "a hard seven," has learned how to lean on others and slow down, turning his weaknesses into strengths.
Episode 67: circling back
“The irony that a ‘developed country’ has such a high threshold for injustice is really thick.”
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 transcript
Episode 47: tell the kids
“I’m concerned that each time one of these situations arises and I don’t address it with my kids, I’m teaching them it doesn’t matter. Or that I don’t care. Or that silence in the face of injustice is acceptable.”
In this second episode of lament over Ahmaud Arbery's death, Laura faces the hard reality that her kids may not have the view of equality that she thought they did. She looks to two leaders in the church who are crying out against injustice in a new way, one that includes sharing our grief with our kids.
Episode transcript
Episode 35: permission to dream
“I want to propose a challenge: each day this week, write down one dream you have for your life. Just for this week, don’t put limits on it. Let the dream be crazy. Then, find one way to express your gratitude to someone in your life.”
As Laura continues to process the losses of the past week, a good friend challenges her to see this time as an opportunity to dream. In this episode, Laura invites listeners to join her in dreaming big about our lives now and beyond the pandemic.
Episode transcript
Episode 29: the entrepreneur in all of us
“That's ultimately what occupational therapists do: we help people create the lives that they want, by looking at all of the different factors in their lives.”
Laura talks with business owner, occupational therapist, business coach, and podcaster Laura Park Figueroa, whose experiences pivoting her business and restructuring her life gave her the skills she needed to respond to the current crisis of COVID-19.
Episode transcript
Episode 82: the achiever
“Opportunities hopes, plans, relationships started shattering before me. And the pieces, the shards they're reflecting back on me like a mirror showing me all the ways that this time is crucial.”
In the age of Malala and Greta Thunberg, young people are leading the charge on changing our world. Sanjna Selvarajan, today's Enneagram 3, is a great example. She's lived and traveled all over the world as a documentary filmmaker, photographer, writer, and podcaster--and she's still in college! Sanjna shares what it's been like to return home to Malaysia during this pandemic and examine her role as an activist and artist from afar, and why she has hope that things in the future can change.
Episode 63: the show must be paused
“I have a deep love for Minneapolis. Until last week, I naïvely held onto the belief that it was a city without racism.”
Shelter in Place is joining with other arts organizations in observing “Black Out Tuesday” on June 2. This is a day to disconnect from work and reconnect with community in light of the deaths of African American citizens and the systemic racism, violence, and brutality they continue to endure.
Episode transcript
Episode 62: balance
“We are a country that likes to brag about pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps, but can’t seem to stop falling off the beam when it comes to the things that are harder to talk about, like economic equality and racism.”
What a failed gymnastics career and a Virginia realtor’s perspective can show us navigating this time with humility and presence.
Episode transcript
Episode 46: Ahmaud
“This is what running should be like. An opportunity to share a common experience with uncommon people. This is what sport should be. It should be understood regardless of race, culture, or language.”
Ahmaud Arbery was killed on February 23, 2020 while he was out for his daily run. Laura looks to fellow runners Alison Mariella Désir and Bayano Kamani for wisdom on where we go from here.
Episode transcript
Episode 16: my country
“I told him in no uncertain terms that if he wanted to use that glass, he needed to sit down at the table!”
COVID-19 comes at a time of intense political division, and the pandemic has only highlighted that divide. Is it even possible to come together as a country and find a way forward? Laura talks about how a hard day with her family gave her insight into her relationship with her country.
Episode transcript