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.

This captivating conversation explores how the denial of pleasure contributes to our own oppression, how radical honesty and kindness can transform our relationships, the importance of pleasure beyond sex, and how our pain and sorrow is a measurement of our pleasure and joy.

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.

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.

Molly details the paths that created the Work That Reconnects, an inspiring, interactive group process for anyone who longs to serve the healing of our world in a more powerful and effective way.

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.

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.

Ayana and AbdouMaliq meditate on how the design of our environments shapes us. Considering how to make marginalized places and groups more visible but not more vulnerable, AbdouMaliq offers a nuanced perspective of the “global majority.”

Death is a process of decomposition, how can we come to embrace this reality? Katrina joins Ayana to discuss the possibilities of burial practices, ways to connect with death, and the value in thoughtful death plans. The way we design death rituals matters in how connected we feel to the process of death. 

Amy points out the thresholds of everyday life and the value in sitting with uncertainty calling to mind the importance of making space for contemplation. In this life, we need many therapeutic moments. How can we make space for self-care and self-regulation as we cope with the journeys of life and death? 

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.

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. 

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? 

Ismail’s approach to drug policy centers around finding spaciousness as an advocate, and making room for the growing body of knowledge around the uses, harms, and benefits of drugs. He invites listeners to dream of a conscious, compassionate, and safe world.

Indy and Báyò consider our modern crisis as one of the self – a particular version of the objective and singular self that creates space for violence and waste. If we perceive the world through dead and objective things, as Indy supposes, then that is what we become.

Rachel envisions a collective renaissance that centers on intergenerational conversation. Renaissance is not just for the future, it is for all of us together in this moment and beyond. Rooted in trust, how might we reimagine this world together?

Báyò and V dance and reveal portals of possibility that edge us towards deep change. Discussing the Congo as both place and portal, Báyò and V focus on V’s work with City of Joy, a transformational leadership community for women survivors of violence.