Shows
Threadings.when am I compelled to speak? (ft. Madleen flotilla, Booker, and necessary reorientation)full transcript at threadings.io2025-06-1130 min
Threadings.THE WAR IS NOT A METAPHOR: The Capitalist, the Defector, the Traitor, and the RevolutionariesThe global working class engages in active revolution as we speak (and here I am to pontificate about it). As I (ismatu, artist, the pen behind these essays) become more powerful in my world-making, where do I go? Will I defect out of the working class and join the rank of capitalists? Or will I stake my personal powers for collective gain?2025-05-191h 06
Threadings.Targeted Deportations and the Changing Face of FascismIn which writer and child of immigrants ismatu gwendolyn discusses the systematic deportations of academic immigrants. Beyond debating whether fascism has “taken hold” in the United States… what do you do when you are afraid for yourself? What happens now that plain-clothed “officers” hunt in broad daylight? All transcripts and sources available at threadings.iohttps://www.threadings.io/they-hunt-in-broad-daylight-2/2025-04-0622 min
Her Music AcademiaCowboy Carter by Beyoncé: Part Two (with Lee Thomas Richardson)In this episode, I chat with Lee Thomas Richardson about Beyoncé's eighth studio album, Cowboy Carter, including its reception by the Beyhive, our favorite (and least favorite) tracks, the nominations and awards the album received at the 2024 Grammys, and Beyoncé's new products that further expand her brand.Join us for our next book club meeting on Sunday, April 27th at 1:30 pm EST! Sign up for the Substack newsletter and join the HMA Discord for more information!My episode on Renaissance with ismatu gwendolynMy episode on TikTok mu...2025-03-311h 32Her Music AcademiaCowboy Carter by Beyoncé: Part One (with Lee Thomas Richardson)In this episode, I chat with Lee Thomas Richardson (Columbia University) about his musical upbringing as a saxophonist and a vocalist, his path to music theory, and the start of his research on Beyoncé and fandom. We also discuss Beyoncé's eighth studio album, Cowboy Carter. Stay tuned for part two of our conversation!Join us for our next book club meeting on Sunday, April 27th at 1:30 pm EST! Sign up for the Substack newsletter and join the HMA Discord for more information!My episode on Renaissance with ismatu gw...2025-03-2449 min
Threadings.Ismatu Gwendolyn: Class TraitorIn which Ismatu Gwendolyn, young revolutionary with a pen in hand, seeks to stake their power with and for The People, rather than utilizing the trust of their masses as a site of endless extraction. Link to essay: Link to video: https://youtu.be/jaEMTluGj5EShow Notes:Twenty Enemies by James Forman twenty enemies james forman.pdfyou've been traumatized into hating reading (and it's making you easier to oppress):Information Anarchy: The Case Against Sponsorships2025-02-2638 min
Threadings.Notes on the Moment [02.02.2025]Midnight musings on Bird Flu, Yahtzee, and the merits of taking a jumping break with your resident one year old. Pour some tea for this one. All essays (transcripts) available at threadings.io2025-02-0317 min
For The Worldbuilders068. I Sat Down To Script A Podcast And A Poem For The Fire Leaked OutMy intention behind this episode is not only to advocate for the practice of weekly dispatches but to encourage you and empower you with resources to advocate for your song — aka the work that is uniquely yours. Philadelphia-based prison abolitionist Stephanie Keene says people often ask her, “How can I get involved?” Her response is, “Do what it is you're good at”. Right? WE need you inside what you’re good at, which is to say YOU need you inside what you’re good at. What is your daily, weekly, seasonal practice for showing up inside the chorus of collective lib...2025-01-1333 min
Threadings.The Mythical Black Artist™Otherwise entitled, “Everybody wanna be Nina Simone; don’t nobody wanna sing Mississippi Goddam.” In which ismatu gwendolyn, writer and public scholar, unpacks our collective desire for artists that reflect the times (and holds up a persistent and unforgiving mirror).The full transcript can be viewed at threadings.io.2025-01-0828 min
Threadings.State of the Constituency 2024The purpose of the State of the Constituency is to reorient ourselves to who I am (the invisible pen behind all these essays, Ismatu Gwendolyn) what I do, why I do what I do, and how you all affect me. You are also invited to explore what you want from your participation in this ether community. I’m also sitting here with blueberry chamomile lemon tea. God, that's so good. With a little honey. Read the full transcript, and all other essays, at threadings.iohttps://www.threadings.io/state-of-the-constituency-2024/2024-12-3137 min
Threadings.On Fear.in which ismatu gwendolyn returns to their stage to talk about what’s keeping them up at night. Transcription available at threadings.io https://www.threadings.io/on-fear/ 2024-12-1726 min
Threadings.There are a great many springtimes: notes on Bethann Hardison’s Invisible BeautyThe strangest part about terminal illness is how often death comes for a peck on the lips and nothing more. A few weeks ago, I flew home to attend my mother's final affairs. Now we sit, smoothies and champagne glasses, watching a movie to spend time together. It's sunny this Tuesday. Here are reflections from Invisible Beauty on Bethann Hardison, from both me and my mother. Jazz of the Episode:Stepping Through The Shadow x Menahan Street BandTryin’ Times x Roberta FlackEstate x Leilo LuttazziSlow and Ea...2024-09-1317 min
Liberatory Imagination with TiffanyHolding nuance in a world of binariesIt’s too easy to simplify the things that asks us to see as multidimensional, and it’s too easy to over complicate the things that are pretty simple.How I define truth has been swirling around in my system for the past few weeks. Idealistically, truth is what lines up best with reality and facts…but I’ve been challenging myself to lean into nuance a little more.Tiffany’s Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Ismatu Gwe...2024-08-2815 min
Threadings.Harris, Palestine, and the Spectacle of Liberation.a series of musings nearly entitled, “I am frightened by the way people tire of the world.” I have had a negative amount of desire to write but Toni Morrison said it’s your job to write when evil wishes to distract you so. Here I am, I suppose. The thesis of today’s musings are that we want the fiction of a happy ending more than we want actual liberation. Looking for a transcript, sources and links? Read the full work at ismatu.substack.com. Selected Jazz of the Episode:Muziqa h...2024-08-0143 min
Threadings.The Question of Agency and CreationQuestions for your consideration: how do I appreciate you well for taking part in this space? And, how best can we a public good? Please whatever comment features you have available and let me know!ft. Afternoon of a Swan by Speedy West This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe2024-08-0115 min
Liberatory Imagination with TiffanyMy Responsibility as an ArtistSince 2013 I’ve been painting and making visual art alongside my writing. I haven’t picked up a paintbrush since last year besides for a few collaged pieces I made for a market. Recently, I’ve been exploring what’s in the way besides for being depressed and overwhelmed.It feels like the medium of painting seems to fall short of the impact I hope to invoke.Tiffany’s Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Why? What’s in a paint...2024-07-1513 min
The Untitled Bad Bitch ProjectSeason 2 Premiere- The Baddies Book ClubSeason 2 is here and we're back and bigger than ever! We're kicking things off with a Baddies Book Club episode that we can't wait for you to listen to this extra long episode. We're celebrating Pride & Juneteenth by diving into Greed & Community! Come listen in as we talk about all sorts of things from Elmo, to trad wives, to Marianne Williamson and so much more. Be sure to follow us on Instagram or hit up our gmail with your thoughts!
Gmail:untitledbadbtchproject@gmail.com
Instagram: @theuntitledbadbitchproject
2024-06-241h 57
Threadings.Girl go to SLEEP! ft. lessons from night life, grad school, and strangersSleep tips for those who struggle to sleep when they could. Essay (and transcript) available at ismatu.substack.com. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe2024-06-151h 00
Scrap Farm- Starting an agroecological farm from scratchEp.13-War and PeasHi All,Welcome to Scrap Kitchen. The newsletter/podcast where I document managing a farm in the US, while trying to find a future farm in the UK. Where I find joy in the privilege of getting paid to work outside while the planet burns around us. Sounds a bit dire, doesn’t it? And at times it feels a bit dire. With temperatures reaching over 50°C in India (reminiscent of the horrific opening chapter of Ministry for the Future), 14,000 acres of current wildfires in California and the ongoing genocide in both the Congo and Pal...2024-06-0508 min
Threadings.How To Go Mad Without Losing Your Mind pages 21-35Squeeee we finished!!!I have finally (!!!) finished my reading of the first chapter of How To Go Mad Without Losing Your Mind by Dr. La Marr Jurelle Bruce and let me tell you, reading it took a bite out of me. It was so difficult and so worth it. Cannot recommend the full text enough!! As per my agreement with Dr. Bruce, this audio reading is only available for 90 days (so that means they all have to come down by June 3rd). DO NOT PROCRASTINATE! Okay toodles!!!Warmest regards,Ismatu g. 2024-05-1246 min
Liberatory Imagination with TiffanyLiberatory ManiaWhen it’s so clear about what matters, everything comes into focus. Every emotion and interaction is heightened from that lens. Leaning into that clarity in my body has driven me to a place of Liberatory Mania, which is inspired by ismatu gwendolyn’s iconic essay There is No Revolution without Madness.This morning I was thinking about how I feel like I’ve been unmasking so much recently. I’ve always had the feedback as a younger person that I was chill and easy going…the older I get the feedback is far from that. I mostly get...2024-04-2410 min
Threadings.The Case for a Global StrikeA letter written for Bisan, circulated to my constituency: Peace. I write to you from the floor of my bedroom in Sierra Leone. Two days ago, Iran launched successful counter-attacks against the apartheid regime occupying the land of Palestine, currently known as Israel (which bombed their embassy in an open act of war on April 1). I can hear construction workers breaking rocks outside my window and the children of the house playing and running and the noise of Freetown traffic in an endless rise and fall. I always find it pertinent to name the moment...2024-04-1521 min
Threadings.the role of the artist is to load the gun.an essay nearly entitled, “the orange trees teach me art-making.” This essay is a continuation of my prolonged look at revolutionary healers in practice to become one— where healing also includes artistry. What is my role as an freedom-minded artist, this side of revolution? Check the link to donate to the universal basic income program for Ebola Survivors in Kenema, Sierra Leone below! https://msha.ke/ismatu Theses: A (art-making) = B(world-making) = C (truth-telling) (1) One of the greatest powers held in the human sovereign world is the power to create and destro...2024-04-1246 min
Threadings.How to Go Mad Without Losing Your Mind (pg. 11-22)Hold tight. The way to go mad without losing your mind is sometimes unruly.Author: La Marr Jurelle BruceHyperlinked above is their academia.edu page, which has a lovely biography and two more brilliant articles available to read. Remember that orienting oneself with the author (who wrote it? for what reason?) aids in understanding their arguments. There is no one viewpoint of objectivity.Presented in audio is a reading of pages 1-11 of How to Go Mad Without Losing Your Mind. The full chapter has been made available by Duke University Press...2024-03-2929 min
Scrap Farm- Starting an agroecological farm from scratchEp.7-Little ShootsHi all, Welcome back to Scrap Kitchen where I, Magda, take you through the process of my partner and I managing a farm while also trying to get a future farm sorted out. I’ll take you through the farming season; what we're getting up to and thinking about.This episode is the seventh (I'm pretty sure) and I'm calling it Little Shoots (because I am soppy and it's spring).I thought I'd start this episode with a bit of gratitude. One of my friends and I send a lot of voice notes ba...2024-03-1807 min
Liberatory Imagination with TiffanyWhat is Capacity?I use the term “capacity” all the time. Everyone in my trauma informed world does. But what does it mean to me when I say it? I’m not 100% sure - so let’s do another round of Virgo-ness!When I say it, I’m focusing in on listening to my body first: Where does the center of gravity settle in my body? Does it even exist in that moment? How fast or slow is my energy going? What needs are unmet that my body is signaling to? What needs are met? Is there tension? Is there flow?2024-03-1407 min
Liberatory Imagination with TiffanyWish we could Hop into a PortalI wish children didn’t die.
I wish they would be temporarily
elevated to the skies until the war ends.
Then they would return home safe,
and when their parents would ask them:
"where were you?", they would say:
"we were playing in the clouds."
Palestinian poet, Ghassan Kanafani (1936-1972)This morning, I sat down to do my weekly practice of creating art prompted by Liberatory Imagination and this poem came swirling to the surface. The first time I read it in October, it altered my brain chemistry. Since that day, it has been traveling in my sy...2024-03-0506 min
Threadings.How To Go Mad Without Losing Your Mind by Dr. La Marr Jurelle Bruce (pg. 1-11)Hold tight. The way to go mad without losing your mind is sometimes unruly. Author: La Marr Jurelle BruceHyperlinked above is their academia.edu page, which has a lovely biography and two more brilliant articles available to read. Remember that orienting oneself with the author (who wrote it? for what reason?) aids in understanding their arguments. There is no one viewpoint of objectivity.Presented in audio is a reading of pages 1-11 of How to Go Mad Without Losing Your Mind. The full chapter has been made available by Duke University Press...2024-03-0336 min
Liberatory Imagination with TiffanyFollowing the GlimmersCurrently, I feel that depressive cloud over me (very much heavy my eyes) and my neck and shoulders really hurt. I feel this guilt for not being at the downtown Palestine protest today - I couldn’t get myself there. It felt like a big no from my body and my head said we should go…because it would give me spiritual energy. The dissonance is real. I’m not going to go into all the rational ways I shouldn’t feel bad about it and intellectualize what’s here. I just feel sad and selfish.When I feel lik...2024-03-0203 min
Threadings.toni cade bambara: i start with the recognition that we are at warcaptioned live! we took one hour to read four paragraphs together. excerpt from: Conversations with Toni Cade Bambara, edited by Thabiti Lewis. I don’t usually save my lives because (1) that requires editing and I am already drowning in administrative work and (2) I enjoy existing in temporal space for only a moment in time, rather than being replayable and rewatchable and forwardable all the time. it’s a weird thing to watch happen to your personhood. but this one i found to be really lovely and helpful, so here it is. i hope you enjoyyy.correct video trans...2024-03-021h 14
Threadings.you’ve been traumatized into hating reading (and it makes you easier to oppress).In which we engage the following theses: (1) the ruling class benefits from illiteracy.(2) short-form video entertains more than it sticks.(3) reading is a discipline distinct from listening, watching, or other forms of literacy. It’s a skill that needs to be honed separately.(4) Absolutely no one comes to save us but us.Full and accurate transcript available at ismatu.substack.com. Thank you for listening 2024-02-1539 min
Threadings.I want my community to outlive me.internet friends, I am still burning alive. Today is February 10, 2024, which marks two years since my entrance into the social internet. This has been a terrifying, incredible, world-changing transition— maybe not (yet) for the world, but most certainly for my world. I did not have any social media previous to virality on my first TikTok video. Honestly? I viewed these spaces as nothing more than cannon fodder for the degradation of the mind and of any true, real, lasting community. I wanted no part. I made a video because I wanted to tell a silly story on th...2024-02-1110 min
Scrap Farm- Starting an agroecological farm from scratchEp.1-The Lay of the LandHello, welcome to Scrap Kitchen.This is my attempt at a podcast, or not really a podcast but voice notes.I have been sending voice notes to one of my friends as we live in separate countries. I thought it would be a good way of charting how we go from, we; my partner and I, go from having no land, to maybe having land, to maybe starting a farm. And maybe I should take those maybes out and make it a little bit more clear. Hi, I’m Magda. I wr...2024-02-0511 min
Threadings.everything is free! no more paywalls. have tea with me.Threadings. and quite literally everything I do is free! I only can do this because people voluntarily pay! Wow! Thank you!!!!Transcription below because someone asked for the still words.Long time no see. Hi there. If you're new here, which if you're here, I doubt you're new. I mean, but just in case. My name is Ismatu. E-S-M-A-TU. I like E, S like S, not like Z. Not Ismatu, not Ismatu, Ease, like Easter egg. Ease-matu. One day.I will be an Ismaltu that other people...2024-01-2221 min
For The Worldbuilders034. But…“I Don’t Have the Capacity”: Recovering from People PleasingThe number of things we have to unlearn is unquantifiable, but I know the one thing we must set fire to is continuing to allocate an ounce of our power and meaning making to systems that are only satiated by our death. When we slow down we understand the new year goal setting frenzy is connected to our longing to control the chaos and to carve out meaning in the spacetime of the abyss. The gift of acknowledging this craving with compassion, grace and the full awareness of our power is we get to direct this species-wide compulsion toward...2024-01-1144 min
Threadings.revolution, then, is a faith-based practice.a letter to my daughter on the religion of revolution.Please lend your support to A Little Juju Podcast in their return! Juju Grant is a writer, ethnographer, show host and spiritual tower actively practicing wisdom anarchy. She so brilliantly archives African and Black Diasporatic Spiritual Traditions for free, and for the good of the people.donate here! or via Cashapp, Venmo, or PayPal. All are available in her link tree.I do not take sponsorships so that I can shine lights on my kinfolk, who need support in the community work they...2023-12-1021 min
SaturnVoxI Am That Monster: On - Martial Mysticism and Revolutionary Politics | David DavisThis week, we welcome mystic, sorcerer, artist, and writer David Davis onto the pod to chat about meeting and making sense of the martial mystery. The future is still being dreamed up by all of us. Are you honoring the revolutionary spark of madness that inspires someone to go out and do something? David and I chat about Mars as the moment of radicalization, the initiatory moment of the surgeon's knife as it cuts out what is making the self and society sick. We speak on donning the cloak of the monster, and the sensuality of mysticism as we...2023-12-091h 25
Creative CapitalArt as a tool for activism and decolonisation with Van MeiThis month we’re taking with Van Mei who is an artist and writer currently based in Te Ika-a-Māui. They are the current Kaitohu (Director) of The Pantograph Punch, an online arts and culture platform that’s been nourishing writers and audiences for 13 years.
Prior to this they were the Director of Enjoy Contemporary Art Space for a stint and have worked, published and exhibited across performing arts, visual arts and publishing for a number of years. They believe in a future where we can see arts in Aotearoa thrive for the benefit of many, not just survive...2023-11-3044 min
Nine Keys: the art, business, activism, and mystery of death workAn Inspiring Conversation With Death Worker V WileyV Wiley is a death worker that we see often on social media with the handle @corpse_pose_yoga. V shares their wisdom and knowledge with us in this powerful, yet casual, chat about death work in 2023.They have shared some super amazing resources with us as well. Those are listed below. Piano Burning – Annea Lockwood, 1968https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_burning Ismatu Gwendolyn – Information Anarchy: The Case Against Sponsorships & There is No Revolution Without Madnesshttps://ismatu.subst...2023-11-211h 04
Threadings.From The Vault: Advice, Three Years or so After My First WeddingAn essay from The Vault on how miraculously pain steals language. CW: mentions of self-harm. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe2023-11-1022 min
Threadings.There Is No Revolution without Madness.The first essay of the Revolutionary Healers series. WHAT USE is "measured rationality" when to be Reasonable means to dying quietly, all the time? Notes from the text, “How to Go Mad Without Losing Your Mind.” Full transcript, with sources, at ismatu.substack.com. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe2023-11-0938 min
Threadings.a prelude: “blessed,” meaning washed with blood.in which ismatu delivers a free-styled, spoken essay where they realize Grief as a seed blooming their bones. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe2023-11-0518 min
Threadings.Information Anarchy: The Case Against SponsorshipsThe primary goal of this essay is to argue for a healthy skepticism of sponsorship-saturated media amidst a new age in information sharing, with secondary goals as following:* to commit myself to The People and my people publicly by way of refusing to sell my word online, and* to name explicitly the ways refusing traditional sponsorship places me in a decent amount of precarity.* I’ma spoil the ending for you: I don’t want to run from precarity. Being unsteady forces me to lean on the communities that I say I value. I co...2023-10-1347 min
Threadings.Mutual Aid is Mutual! Recap + ReadingsSince y’all stay asking me for resource lists. The here, damn! of it all. Full list and links associated at ismatu.substack.com. happy reading!! jazz of the episode:Tony x Larry Nozero, Dennis TiniSouvenir d’Italie x Lelio LuttazziHe Knows She’s Good For You x Cyril ChambersTwo For The Road x Eddie Daniels, Bucky PizzarelliI Cover the Waterfront x Joe PassZen x Philippe Sarde, Toots ThielemansMessage x Robohands City in the Sk...2023-10-1122 min
Threadings.Revolutionary Healers: A SyllabusIn which Ismatu Gwendolyn, new to the healing profession and rooting in revolutionary thought and action, provides structure for their studies in public. As my Auntie Dequi says, “Struggle is protracted.”What we are not about to do is sit up here and study five things for five seconds. And I’m guilty of this! I constantly fight the desire to be fresh and topical and marketable. I want to be widely received and widely appreciated. Of course I do. In the past, I have moved quickly though trending topics to provide bite-sized analysis good for a...2023-09-2712 min
Threadings.From The Vault: On Grief and Godsharing an old piece of creative writing because I, a mountain dweller, am stuck in the city and think of the sea.Originally written June of 2018 This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe2023-09-2607 min
Threadings.Surprise! I am just like my father.In which we: unpack the “is she mad?” mentality, contemplate informed consent for a podcast space, and be explicit about the care infrastructure and needs of Ismatu Gwendolyn. Thanks for listening 2023-09-2339 min
Other People's PocketsIsmatu Gwendolyn, Community Health WorkerIsmatu Gwendolyn is a mental health professional and life coach who is trying to rethink how we care for those in need. Ismatu has navigated sex work in order to afford life and graduate school, and they discovered that as a stripper, talking to men in a club was not so different than counseling a client as a therapist. Ismatu let us have a peek inside their personal finances to find out how this all comes together.Follow Ismatu:TikTok: @ismatu.gwendolyn Instagram: @ismatu.gwendolynFollow Maya Lau at:X: @mayalauI...2023-09-2037 minOther People's PocketsIsmatu Gwendolyn, Community Health WorkerIsmatu Gwendolyn is a mental health professional and life coach who is trying to rethink how we care for those in need. Ismatu has navigated sex work in order to afford life and graduate school, and they discovered that as a stripper, talking to men in a club was not so different than counseling a client as a therapist. Ismatu let us have a peek inside their personal finances to find out how this all comes together.Follow Ismatu:TikTok: @ismatu.gwendolyn Instagram: @ismatu.gwendolynFollow Maya Lau at:X: @mayalauI...2023-09-2037 min
Threadings.Revolutionary Love costs you something.notes on refusing to charge for client services.Cited: In Pursuit of Revolutionary Love by Joy James | Oshun’s FlightCliff notes: stop asking me to settle for manna when the opportunity for community arises. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe2023-07-3148 min
Threadings.first draft thoughts: on revolutionary love and existing outside of myself[The Preview]: Oh, then in regards to mutual aid, I keep faltering with this series because I can't, like… I think I need to find a balance between what I wanna talk about and what I feel like the public needs. Because I keep curriculum planning and then realizing we are way behind as a public where I thought we were when it comes to understanding the importance of mutual aid and what it does. I really wanted to jump into the how-to, which is the mutual aid by Dean Spade is just a book of how-to. An...2023-07-1923 min
Threadings.a former stripper, current workaholic finds balance.No stripping did not ruin my relationship with men but you should hear how many hours in a row I can work nonstop hahahahah 2023-06-3030 min
Threadings.Therapists Are Also the Police: Social Work, Sex Work, and the Politics of DeservingnessTherapists are part of the Soft Police (signed, an MSW). Read the full essay at Ismatu.Substack.com. Thank you for listening with an open mind!Sources:No Soft Police! Event Recording organized by Interrupting Criminalization"No Soft Police,” a chapter in No More Police! written by Andrea Ritchie and Mariame Kaba (please email me if you would like assistance accessing the text or if you would like to buy the book for someone else!)Playing the Whore: The Work of Sex Work by Melissa Gira Grant, journalist and former sex wo...2023-06-0636 min
Threadings.please say hello to me.I feel like i am in a zoo. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe2023-05-2514 min
Threadings.28 | i want a life that reverberates.Musings from my porch in Chicago that ask: am I good at hosting happiness? Am I the right shape to hold onto the life that I want? What noise do I make when I get knocked around? read this episode at ismatu.substack.com.Jazz of the episode:Why, Buzzardman, Why? x Alabaster PlumeThe Jordan River Song x Emahoy Tsege Mariam GebruLena’s Song x The Sweet EnoughsYou Go To My Head x Billie HolidayExit x Sebastian Mikael...2023-05-1529 min
Threadings.27 | the call and response of Collective Grief; to Jordan Neelyon what we owe to each other in the grief. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe2023-05-0816 min
Threadings.26 | Swapping Secrets with Courtnee Futch: what do you save for yourself when no one keeps you but The Stage?a conversation about survival, archival, and the intimacy found and lost when you grow up in the public eye. request the full transcript at ismatu.gwendolyn@gmail.com This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe2023-04-241h 23
Threadings.25 | archival as a declaration of lovethis is the next essay in the study of self series. listen to the previous episode here. Content warning for: mentions of suicidal thought and intent, allusions towards self-harm. Nothing graphic, but it is a recurrent theme of the piece. The first time I got recognized from TikTok, I was at a porn convention. [insert the really cute but compromising picture of me at said porn convention here. I most definitely cannot post this photo so just imagine xoxo 2023-04-1952 min
Threadings.24 | There is no safety in being Beautiful: reflections from a life spent On Display (™)A child model turned grad school stripper speaks openly about the reality of being shackled to Beauty (and the negotiations you make at the top of the hierarchy).Read the full essay at ismatu.substack.com. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe2023-04-101h 24
Threadings.23 | Love Studies + Black Feminism: my study of selfWelcoming in Season II of Threadings. Notes on my the orbit of my personhood. An essay once titled, “how do I love myself?” (but I didn’t know what I meant by “love,” so first i sound it out)Themes of the essay:love is the feeling that compels you to action and the action itself. Poetry is the thesis of my life and practicing it is an act of love. Black feminism and love studies are, in many ways, the same discipline. I am just as much of the earth as the mountains...2023-04-0322 min
Threadings.22 | dinner with a capitalist in amsterdam, $115k, and other things that changed my lifein which I tell you about where I've been, where I've ended up, and where I'm going from here. Jazz of the episode:Send In The Clowns x Pat MartinoOn the Sunny Side of the Street x Johnny HodgesFor All We Know x Ahmad Jamal Lilacs in the Rain x Junior ManceDat Dere (Theme) x Bobby Timmons TrioThe Summer Knows x Bucky PizzarelliDown and Out x Joel LyssaridesTangerine x George Van Eps Inflight...2023-03-2730 minHer Music AcademiaRenaissance by Beyoncé: Part Two (with @ismatu.gwendolyn)We are finishing off Black History Month with a conversation about Beyoncé! My sister Ismatu Gwendolyn Bangura and I chat all about our personal relationships to her music, the public perception of Beyoncé, and the aesthetics and politics in her latest album, Renaissance. I also feature the voices of some of the Black women and femmes in my community to get their thoughts on the album. In order of appearance, you heard the voices of Erykah Benson, Gaby Kubi, Dylan Keese-Forster, and Ijeoma Opara. A huge thanks to my sister and my friends for being on the show!
...2023-02-281h 23Her Music AcademiaRenaissance by Beyoncé: Part One (with @ismatu.gwendolyn)In this episode, we are wrapping up Black History Month with some familial history! My younger sister Ismatu Gwendolyn Bangura joins me on the show to discuss our shared musical upbringing, their experiences leading a gospel choir at Northwestern University, and how their relationship to music changed after they became a sex worker. We also chat about their blossoming Tik Tok career and the ways in which they are using art, writing, dance, and poetry in their activism. Finally, Ismatu shares about the fundraiser they've started for our tribe back in Sierra Leone! If you are able, drop a...2023-02-271h 15
Threadings.21| on loving my parents again and again (read: on learning to love myself)musings once entitled, “a therapist reflects on the whiplash of finally having relationships with my parents i am grateful for, despite it all.” In which I watch the love I have for my parents bloom and die and bloom again.Full transcription available at ismatu.substack.comJazz of the episode:Cicada Season x FuubutsushiManhattan x BLOSSOM DEARIEMelancholia x Wynton MarsalisThe Single Petal Of A Rose x Ben WebsterYou Go To My Head x Frank SinatraMichelle x Yusuf Late...2023-02-2724 min
Threadings.Bonus episode: have tea with me while i gush about my friend and update you on my life.This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit ismatu.substack.com. hellooooo internet friends! Please enjoy these before bed ramblings about myself and my life. I am so grateful fro this life. Thank you for listening.2023-02-2403 min
Threadings.20| a love letter to my seven year old self: reproductive justice is economic justiceWe owe the children of this world tangible and lasting justice— and economic justice touches every kind of oppression there is. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe2023-02-1948 min
Threadings.19| a manifesto: dear internet friends, I’m burning alive.an open letter to everyone fearful and exhausted, sent with love. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe2023-02-1114 min
Threadings.18| Poverty is an intentional genocide.Ismatu Gwendolyn, clinical social worker and former impoverished child, doubles down on the ugly (and obvious) truth of why poverty exists in the first place. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe2023-02-0830 min
Threadings.17| To High Chief Bombolai; with love, from your granddaughter.If you’re reading or listening this, that means I’ve decided to pull back one of the veils of my life and tell you a little bit about my family history. My name is Ismatu Bangura, I am a Sierra Leonean Black American, and I am also the granddaughter of Paramount Chief Alhaji Bombolai [may he rest in peace].Here is how my lineage affects my politic. Full transcription at substack.ismatu.com. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episod...2023-01-2219 min
Threadings.Poverty is a policy choice [taylor's version].This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit ismatu.substack.com2023-01-1001 min
Threadings.16| Poverty is a policy choice.Introductions to a month-long series about poverty eradication, labor rights, and reproductive justice. Partnered with a fundraiser to help agricultural production for indigenous folks in Sierra Leone!Link to donate: gogetfunding.com/ismatu-gwendolynRead the full essay: substack.ismatu.comSOURCES2022 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index, linked in articlePortela, J. (2021, January 15). 70% of the world lives on less than ten dollars a day. when do they get the vaccine? Stanford Politics. Retrieved January 9, 2023, from https://stanfordpolitics.org/2021/01/14/70-of-the-world-lives-on-less-than-ten-dollars-a-day-when-do-they-get-the-vaccine/World Bank Group. (2018, October 17). Nearly half the world lives on...2023-01-1029 min
Threadings.15| New Year's Reset: Germinating >>> Goals.I do not set goals in January and I never will. I love myself too much to rush myself out of my winter hibernation. Why do we impose so much on a year that we just met? How do I hope for the harvest when I have not even tilled the earth yet? The ground is frozen! What if we just... sat and rested instead? In which Ismatu Gwendolyn discusses treating January gently and changing the name of the podcast to Threadings.read the full essay at ismatu.substack.com.Jazz...2023-01-0823 min
Threadings.14| Fame is the least humanizing kind of love.Can true, full, and nuanced love truly exist across parasocial relationships? Ismatu Gwendolyn reflects on the dehumanizing nature of fame (no matter how small the audience) and reflects on their own conceptions of love (or lack thereof) as they accidentally became an influencer.read the full newsletter and join the bookclub: ismatu.substack.comJazz of the episode:Skylark x Wynton MarsalisFeeling Good x Elvin JonesIt's Too Late Now x Wynton MarsalisManhattan x BLOSSOM DEARIELove Song From "Apache' x Coleman Hawkins...2022-12-1629 min
Threadings.13| Reading my mother a bedtime story: the twin heroesin which I read from The Annotated African American Folktales and she occasionally gives a heartfelt "mmm." listen to the full story at Ismatu.substack.com.The Twin Heroes: An African Myth adapted by Alphonso O. Stafford | from the section “Folktales from The Brownies’ Book” out of The Annotated African American Folktales This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe2022-12-1313 min
Threadings.12| Self love literally can never save us.Da’Shaun L. Harrison has penned one of my favorite texts in the past five years. I have read it three times in nine months and I have become more and more delighted with the person that I become absorbing these words. In Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness, Harrison presents theoretical frameworks that compel us to meaningful action. I will tell you now and I will tell you for free: belief that compels me to meaningful action is exactly my shit. I am grateful, to my bones, for theory. Blessed are the workers who ma...2022-12-1324 min
Threadings.11| "Radical self-love" does not mean you lie to yourself.Instead of willing myself to love something that I simply do not, what if I was honest in my self-loathing? What might I be compelled to change if I did not feel morally bound to positivity?Read the full, pictured essay, sign up for the newsletter, and grab bonus materials at ismatu.substack.comJazz Songs of the episode:Love, I’ve Found You by Wynton KellyWarm Valley by Johnny HodgesNancy (With The Laughing Face) by John Coltrane QuartetIn the Wee Small Hours of th...2022-12-0722 min
Threadings.10| Dandelions: a Love Letter to Fearwhat kindness do I owe terror? Is there a better relationship I can have with my own fear than kill it, ignore it, eradicate it? Ismatu Gwendolyn makes some apologies and benedictions over fear itself.read the full essay and see very cute pictures of Ismatu as a child at ismatu.substack.com. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe2022-10-3017 min
Threadings.9| Loving myself means loving my mother.How is self love entangled with parental love? I am blooming into adulthood realizing that so much of myself is directly sourced from the people that raised me. For all her flaws and despite all her fumbles, how do I love do I love this mother of mine? In the same way I love myself.Enjoy the full essay and poem at ismatu.substack.com. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe2022-10-2623 min
Soul Salon with Ayandastood3: moving toward ugliness Ft. Mia MingusHello Sunshine! Welcome to another episode of Reimagining with Ayandastood. Today, we are joined by the one and only Mia Mingus. In this episode, we explore Beauty, Desirability, Ugliness and Magnificence. Full transcripts to all episodes are available here.
Mia Mingus is a writer, educator and trainer for transformative justice and disability justice. She is a queer, physically disabled, Korean-American transnational adoptee raised in the Caribbean. She works for community, interdependence and home for all of us, not just some of us, and longs for a world where disabled children can live free of violence, with dignity a...2022-10-241h 16
Threadings.8| The Love of a Kept PromiseWhat sort of love can we have for ourselves that we keep our own promises? Do I love myself in way that spurs me to act in my own best interest? In the way man loves man, divine loves humanity, and human reaches for the divine— can we too reach for ourselves with a love that compels us to action? What does the love of keeping my own promises look and feel like?subscribe to the newsletter and read the full essay: ismatu.substack.com. This is a public episode. If you’d like to d...2022-10-1537 min
Threadings.7| The Pleasure of Excellence: How can we “be great” under capitalism?Is it possible to pursue Excellence unabashedly without it being capitalism's fault? Do we have work spaces that are not defined by or centered around the work of money? How do we have a loving relationship with ourselves as working beings while living in a society with exploitative practices? Ismatu Gwendolyn discusses the work they do in public to shine a light on the relationship they have with their work in private. Join them as they sip some lavender chamomile tea.read the full essay at ismatu.substack.com. This...2022-10-0933 min
Threadings.Bonus Episode: Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and the flip-flop, flippy flip flop and ass bitches.Nobody knows how to critique anymore and it makes my ass itch. Beyoncé can be both in the oppressor class and one of the best artists alive; I promise I have the capacity to entertain both these thoughts. I am here to give libations to an artist that inspires me and to grieve when she is so utterly disappointing. How do you dawn Black radical tradition and be an open capitalist? What does that say about the love an artist has to offer their audience (if any at all)? Read the whole essay with sources c...2022-09-2822 min
Threadings.5| I kinda wanna f*ck Excellence.Is the pursuit of Excellence always... bad? Is it possible to have a relationship with Excellence that is not rooted in performing capitalism? Also... what in the world does it mean to have sexual feelings for a metaphysical idea? Not clickbait (promise). Ismatu Gwendolyn gives a one-take reading of their essay "I kinda wanna f*ck Excellence" where they ponder their tumultuous relationship with their work over a wonderful cup of tea. Pictured: Cornelius Johnson competing in high jump at the 1936 Olympics.read the full essay at ismatu.substack.com. This is...2022-09-2236 min
Hoodoo Plant MamasEp 30: No Sex Under CapitalismCONTENT WARNNING // SEXUAL ASSAULTHey y'all! For our Season 5 premiere, we tackle sex, relationships, and romance under capitalism. We get into how capitalism ruins everything, how romance should be fulfilled by communities instead of individuals., and how our friends are our lovers.References "Nine Ways That Capitalism Is Ruining Sex" by Breanne Fahs. Boston Review The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk Ismatu Gwendolyn "Friends are Lovers" TikTokBE A PATRON!Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamasSOCIAL MEDIATwitter: @hoodooplants2022-09-091h 02
Threadings.4| I am Papier-mâchéd pieces of people that love me.This episode serves as an introduction to Ismatu Gwendolyn, as a patron asked them to reflect on their personhood. They asked the following: Who are you exactly? What do you do? Are you in grad school? Employed? You talk a lot about your politic— how do you embody what you believe in real life? Sitting to define myself always results in a secondhand assessment. I can only approximate: where did I come from, what did I do. What am I, precisely? At the moment... quite amorphous. And quite alright with that. Stunning things rise up from the formlessness....2022-08-3123 min
Threadings.3| The Wisteria: a Love Letter to GriefHow does Grief show up in the Garden Space? What does she look like; where does she live? Most importantly, where do Grief and love coincide? Ismatu Gwendolyn performs a one-take reading of their essay, The Wisteria: a Love Letter to Grief, written about the passing of their Aunt Nadaline nine years ago. read the full essay at ismatu.substack.com. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe2022-08-2304 min
Threadings.2| ...do I have trash taste? and other musings on my love lifeThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit ismatu.substack.comMe and my friend + former roomie Lorren discuss my exes, male-related stress, and how perplexing it is that there are men who cannot differentiate between basic vegetables.2022-08-2103 min
Threadings.1| The Garden Space: an IntroductionWelcome to The Garden Space, a newsletter and podcast where we consider connection. What could it mean to be in community with oneself, one's intra and external space, as well as with one another? Where do I find myself? Ismatu Gwendolyn does a one-take reading of their essay, "The Garden Space: an Introduction."When I reached inside myself one day and pulled out something to put on a page, I found bright green raspberry leaves. Who was surprised? They were just like me, the way they hung to themselves until the good, thick ongoings of...2022-08-1709 min