On July 19th, Joanna Macy, our beloved teacher and past guest, died peacefully at home in Berkeley, California. In honor of her incredible legacy and the significant impact her work continues to have, we are rebroadcasting her episode “The World as Lover and Self,” originally released in January of 2015.

These three visionary Black men, along with Victoria Santos and Omonblanks, invite us into a radical re/imagination of how we respond to our time. They sense into emergent possibilities, triangulating toward a synthesis of new forms, new magic, and new directions.

Weaving together the ephemeral worlds of emotion and Indigenous identity with the grounding power of shared values and reciprocity, Sky reminds us that art is meant to provoke, inspire, and make the space needed for feeling to emerge.

Speaking on the theme “Turning Towards Each Other, Not Against Each Other: Bridging in Times of Crisis” the panelists address what it means to build towards co-liberation in difficult times – especially in the context of the war on Gaza.

Sylvia and Ayana consider questions at the very foundation of our cultures. Winding through questions of patriarchy, religion, and violence, Ayana and Sylvia do not find singular answers, but rather a wisdom that arises from questioning the things that are deeply enmeshed in our culture.

Tyson contemplates how we may open ourselves up to being beckoned outside of the ego, and how we may resist the individualizing neoliberal urge—decolonization is not just about poetry, or word, or aesthetics, and how we must be materially and fiscally decolonial for the real work to be done.

Bayo, Cecile, and Sa’ed explore how honoring each other’s grief may allow us to reclaim each other’s humanity and perhaps shed light on a path forward to belonging in Israel-Palestine, for Muslims, Jews, and Christians, and for all people around the world.

Betty give listeners insight into what she calls “The Wheel of Consent,” and reminds us that access is a gift. No one is born with the knowledge of how to give and receive in the “perfect” way, rather we must learn and feel together.

Erin describes her understanding of modalities of being, explaining that neurotypicality is a system that undergirds our ways of knowing and our ways of being a body. There is no singular “neurotypical person” just as there is no singular “neurodiverse” person.

Detailing her ongoing connection to the earth and the wonder she feels about humanity's place within and as a part of nature, Jacqueline details the way our rhythms are drawn from those of the earth.

Envisioning other ways of creating democracy,  Báyò, Madhulika, and Minna describe festival democracy, democracies of contestations and dancing, and democracies of the more-than-human.

Ayana and Stephen contemplate vital questions about the value of tradition, the importance of strangerhood, the possibility of reckoning, and the meaning of ancestry. Stephen’s questions disrupt and unsettle the status quo, and perhaps lead us to the lessons we so deeply need.

Toko-pa considers the ways we may rehabilitate our imaginative capacities and encourages us to take time and pay attention to dreams. What is internally guiding us towards our potential? Connection to ourselves, to nature, and to each other are intertwined.

Speaking about climate grief and hope, Báyò, Naomi, and Yuria build together to consider the value in tapping into the depth of emotion as we feel it, not as we are told we should feel it.

Collins dives deeply into the world of wealth hoarding and staggering inequality. Recognizing the complexity of these issues, Ayana and Chuck engage deeply with questions of philanthrocapitalism, tax spending, the wealth defense industry, and power inequities across society.

Diana of Rewilding Argentina’s Patagonia Azul project brings expert insight as she talks listeners through the complexity of international biodiversity goals and declarations emphasizing the importance of creating truly protected local areas rather than just relying on regulations and declarations.

Ayana and Báyò dance together through questions of crisis, identity, and rupture. As we attempt to break from the monoculture that cements us as citizen subjects of empire, Báyò suggests that we need an ontological mutiny. 

Abena points out, farmers are the archivists of the land, and farmers and communities have continued to preserve local foodways—saving seeds for future generations. If we recognized the true value of local foods, what capitalistic practices might we be able to evade?

What if justice gets in the way? Báyò and Keeanga consider how our quest for justice shapes us and is simultaneously shaped by systems of power and control. They ask: how can we move justice out of the existing political paradigm and move beyond a normative sense of justice and reform?