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Feminists Around the World: Shantasha Naomi Laing · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha Brook your stuff. I
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: never told your protection. I heard you.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: And welcome to another activist around the world. And I
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  Speaker 2: was informed this weekend by a good poet friend of mine. Yes,
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  Speaker 2: local Atlanta poet Nate. Shout out to Nate. That is
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  Speaker 2: National Poetry Appreciation Month, which I did not know. Y'all
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  Speaker 2: would try to keep up with all these things, but
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  Speaker 2: sometimes there's a lot of things at the same time.
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  Speaker 2: But because it is National Poetry Appreciation Month, we wanted
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  Speaker 2: to highlight a poet who came across my fip on TikTok.
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  Speaker 2: I thought she was based out of Atlanta. She's actually
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  Speaker 2: based out of Florida, and we wanted to take some
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  Speaker 2: time to celebrate her work and her amazing book, Shintasha
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: Naomi Lane. Here's a bit of information from her site
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  Speaker 2: Shintasha Lane dot com. Meet Shintasha Naomi Lane, author of
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  Speaker 2: Not a Monolith Poems and Musings of a Black Woman,
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  Speaker 2: her debut poetry book. Shintasha Naomi Lange was born in Brampton, Canada,
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  Speaker 2: but primarily raised in Orlando, Florida. Shintasha is the eldest
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  Speaker 2: of six children. Grew up in a Jamaican household surrounded
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  Speaker 2: by many matriarchs in her youth. She moved several times
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  Speaker 2: during her childhood, attending sixteen schools K through eighth grade,
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  Speaker 2: which attributed to her adaptability. Dang Shintasha takes pride in
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  Speaker 2: being a daughter, a granddaughter, niece, friend, confidante, and above all,
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  Speaker 2: the eldest sister and bonus mom. Shintasha graduated from the
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  Speaker 2: University of Florida, where she obtained a bachelor's degree in
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  Speaker 2: health science. While her Tipoma currently collects dust in the
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  Speaker 2: closet at her home in Tampa. I appreciate that I
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  Speaker 2: just found my degree just down about. That's like a
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  Speaker 2: problem with that somewhere. And yes, we actually purchased her book.
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  Speaker 2: Really loved what she was giving. She read some bits
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  Speaker 2: off of it on her TikTok page and I was like, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I must have this. She also signed copies. I got
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: the signed copy because you know, I wanted the special special.
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  Speaker 2: So this is a little bit from her book where
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  Speaker 2: she thanks the reader again. The book is called Not
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  Speaker 2: a Monolith Poones and Musings of a Black Woman. She writes,
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  Speaker 2: dear reader, thank you and welcome to Not a Monolith.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: This project revealed itself sometime in early twenty twenty, both
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  Speaker 2: in the quiet and the madness of that year. As
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  Speaker 2: the death soles steady climbed in the forefront of Lives
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  Speaker 2: while the Battle for Black Lives was being broadcast for
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  Speaker 2: all to see, I became enraged at the world around me.
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  Speaker 2: I returned to what I've always known writing, whether it
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  Speaker 2: be diary, intrigues, essays, stories, and eventually poems, the written
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  Speaker 2: word has always allowed me to center myself. Over the
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  Speaker 2: next three years, I would struggled with depression, anxiety, and
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: general dissatisfaction with the state of the world. Like millions
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  Speaker 2: of others, I took many hiatuses while creating this project
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  Speaker 2: and thought this idea might never materialize, But I knew
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  Speaker 2: I had to publish this works as it firmly planted
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: itself in my psyche. Not a day could pass without
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: me thinking about Not a Monolith. The intention behind it
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  Speaker 2: Not a Monolith is to express an authentic range of
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  Speaker 2: life experiences through the cultural lens of a black woman.
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  Speaker 2: Throughout these four sections, my hope is that you discover
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  Speaker 2: relatable stories I dreamed that Not a Monolith Poems and
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  Speaker 2: Musings of a Black Woman contributes to the greater phenomenon
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  Speaker 2: we found ourselves in again as a Black renaissance with
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  Speaker 2: love Shintasha Naomi Lane, And yes, I think she does
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  Speaker 2: a fantastic job in that. And with that, I thought
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  Speaker 2: we would take some time to read a couple because
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  Speaker 2: of obviously we need you to buy this book, We're
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  Speaker 2: just going to give you teasers of what poems really
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  Speaker 2: spoke to us. So any did you pick out one
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  Speaker 2: for us?
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  Speaker 1: I did, And just to explain a little bit more,
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  Speaker 1: it is split into sections that are kind of based
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  Speaker 1: on emotions or themes. It was a tough It was
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  Speaker 1: tough to pick out one. I had a couple of
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  Speaker 1: final contenders, but I did choose one that's a.
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  Speaker 2: Little sad.
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  Speaker 1: And also the length varies pretty widely, which I like.
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  Speaker 1: But this one is called make a safe space for us.
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  Speaker 1: You declare protection, Yet it is us who are left
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  Speaker 1: carrying in the streets, left to live with the PTSD
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  Speaker 1: of all the women before and all the women who
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  Speaker 1: will tragically befriend the wrong man, walk down a wrong path,
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  Speaker 1: drink the wrong drink, wear the wrong dress, say the
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  Speaker 1: wrong thing, And will it be you that makes it right?
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  Speaker 1: Will it be you? Who holds friends accountable? Or is
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  Speaker 1: it all pageantry?
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  Speaker 2: It is a little sad. That's deep questions, deep deep questions.
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  Speaker 2: One of the ones that I picked out is called
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  Speaker 2: the breaking Point, which she did feature on one of
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  Speaker 2: her videos on TikTok, which was like, yes, I need this,
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  Speaker 2: so I thought I would do it too. The breaking
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  Speaker 2: point be free. The alternative is lethal. There's so much
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  Speaker 2: more cultural philosophy. Curiosity is waiting on us. How much
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  Speaker 2: longer can we endure this continued imprisonment? Among the tortured
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  Speaker 2: who realized this is not living. We've been drowning for
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  Speaker 2: so long, been trapped for so long. Hear them whispering,
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  Speaker 2: please rest, And I thought, she also has these little
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  Speaker 2: musings on here, and this one really spoke to me
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  Speaker 2: because I understood it is as amusing? Is number sixteen
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  Speaker 2: this or that? And it's am I depressed? Or is
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  Speaker 2: it these birth control side effects?
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  Speaker 1: Yes, it's so real.
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  Speaker 2: It's so real. And I was like, no, really, what
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  Speaker 2: is wrong with me? Is it because of this? Or
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  Speaker 2: is it because of the pills I'm having to take?
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  Speaker 2: And then one other one is they shall appear. Sometimes
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  Speaker 2: we forget the power of our own tongue. How many
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  Speaker 2: times have we spoken life into the unknown for certainty
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  Speaker 2: from the uncertain? Our tongue a tool of unimaginable influence,
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  Speaker 2: a weapon to yield brilliantly. I thought that was very powerful,
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  Speaker 2: and obviously that's what she's doing with this book. Again,
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  Speaker 2: I think it's really worth investing in with like poets
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  Speaker 2: who are are trying to create their brand, who are
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  Speaker 2: writing things that are beautiful and needed in this time
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  Speaker 2: of darkness. As a person from the South, as a
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  Speaker 2: person from Florida, I understand the depth of pain. Like
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  Speaker 2: there's a whole different level of pain coming from arias
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  Speaker 2: like this which seem to really really really want to
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  Speaker 2: deepen the divide, especially when it comes to people of color,
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  Speaker 2: especially when it comes to Black women, especially when it
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  Speaker 2: comes to the marginalized community, and having these moments to
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  Speaker 2: being able to center yourself is difficult. So we wanted
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  Speaker 2: to celebrate Lane's work. So you can find her on
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  Speaker 2: her site Shintasha Lane dot com, which is s h
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  Speaker 2: A n t A s h A l i I
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  Speaker 2: n G dot com. We can find her book, her
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  Speaker 2: debut book, which is amazing. With all of her poetry,
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  Speaker 2: you can write stories from her own life, about her
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  Speaker 2: what her travels, how her how she came upon writing
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  Speaker 2: this book. The process again one of the post's origins,
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  Speaker 2: how my year in China resparked my poetry, which is
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  Speaker 2: a fantastic bit an insight about her poetry and about
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  Speaker 2: how she came about it. So I think it's really
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  Speaker 2: interesting and really important that we do have more and
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  Speaker 2: more voices out there, and that we are listening to
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  Speaker 2: these voices, and that we are uplifting these voices by
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: buying and purchasing and supporting them as well. As she's
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: saying to review, I haven't done that yet, so I
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: need to go find somewhere to review. I think since
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: I bought it through the TikTok shop, one of the
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: few purchases that I've ever done on TikTok, I've been
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: making fun of my partner, who buys a lot from TikTok,
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  Speaker 2: but this is one of the few purchases that I
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  Speaker 2: had found that I was like, yes, this is a
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: Christmas present for both Annie and I, so very excited,
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: but you should take time to go and check it out.
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  Speaker 2: The cover art is really really beautiful too, and that
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  Speaker 2: was actually done by Chelsea Simone and it's a beautiful artwork.
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  Speaker 2: So take some time, go check her out, Go buy
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  Speaker 2: this book and then let us know what your thinking
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: and as well as what your favorite whole miss.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: Yes, because you know we love poetry over here and
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  Speaker 1: so let us know. Recommendations also welcome. Yes, Well. You
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: can email us at Hello at Stuff onondevertoltre dot com,
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: or you can find us on Blue Sky at Master podcast,
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: or on Instagram and TikTok at Stuff I've Never Told You.
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  Speaker 1: We're also on YouTube. We have a tea public store,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: and we have a book you get wherever you get
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: new books. Thanks as always to our superdue Christina, Executive
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: pducer My and a contributor Joey.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: Thanks to you for listening Stuff I Never Told You
• 8:35
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• 8:37
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• 8:39
  Speaker 1: or where you listen to your favorite shows.