ALYNDA MARIPOSA SEGARRA on Life on Earth /321
Photo by Akasha Leilani Rabut of Alynda Mariposa Segarra walking through shallow waves wearing top and bottom pieces constructed of hanging keys.
How do we sustain nourishing roots in a time of displacement? This week, guest Alynda Mariposa Segarra invites listeners to examine their relationship to place, comfort, and survival as they discuss their newest album LIFE ON EARTH with Ayana. Through the art form of music, Alynda holds together the complexities that come with wanting and needing to run away from oppressive systems while simultaneously needing to confront what is happening right in front of us. Tapping into these themes, Alynda discusses their work with Freedom for Immigrants, emphasizing the urgency of action and compassion as we work to end systems of detainment and punishment.
Winding through the intricacies of making art under capitalism, finding humility in our purposes, and fostering the safe havens of mutual aid, Alynda reminds us of the capacious ability we have to queer our culture, and the freedom that may come with it. Within this world, survival and rebirth are deep acts of resistance and rebellion. How might we tap into the healthy and transformative energy of sacred anger? Drawing anger and vulnerability together through love, Alynda leaves us with the resounding call to live deeply in this world and to love it hard.
“It takes people being together. It takes us listening to the plant life around us. It’s not going to be one person [that] comes and saves us all.”
Photo of Alynda Mariposa Segarra by Akasha Leilani Rabut
Alynda Mariposa Segarra is a songwriter/storyteller who performs under the name Hurray for the Riff Raff. They are a Nuyorican queer artist born and raised in the Bronx, who got much of their musical/political education from the anarcho squatter punk scene of NYC. Alynda spent years as a freight train rider and eventually learned to make music on the street in New Orleans. Alynda has used the craft of songwriting as a tool for communication and protest. They have released 8 albums of music, most recently the critically acclaimed LIFE ON EARTH in February 2022.
♫ The music featured in this episode is “KiN,” “LIFE ON EARTH” and “WOLVES” by Hurray for the Riff Raff with Nonesuch Records.
Episode References
Hurray for the Riff Raff on the Radical Mind Shift That Led to New Album Life on Earth | Pitchfork
LIFE ON EARTH | Hurray For The Riff Raff
Reading Recommendations
Read: Pa’lante! by the Young Lords and Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown.
Support Freedom for Immigrants’ work (you can become a pen pal or volunteer visitor with Freedom for Immigrants nationwide. You can also donate to their freedom fund or to border angels and detention watch.)
Support the work of Solitary Gardens.
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For The Wild Podcast is an anthology of the Anthropocene; focused on land-based protection, co-liberation and intersectional storytelling rooted in a paradigm shift away from human supremacy, endless growth and consumerism.