When "Good Advice" is Bad for Black Folks | A Front Porch Talk
You Ain’t Imagining This!
What happens when “universal” wellness advice ignores or endangers Black people? Join Ama-Robin on the Front Porch to explore how well-intentioned advice from non-Black wellness coaches can overlook racism, privilege, and the unequal consequences of being visible and unapologetically ourselves. Let’s talk about listening critically, trusting our experience, and making room for Black wellness voices that recognize our whole lives. Which Black wellness creators empower you? Share your favorites in the comments. Announcement! The is now open! This is not simply a store,...
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From the Window | A YAIT Town Story
You Ain’t Imagining This!
YAIT Town Stories are gentle and comforting stories filled with belonging—and perhaps a little longing for a place like YAIT Town. They can help to quiet a busy mind, soften a difficult day, or give you somewhere gentle to rest for a while. In From the Window, Camille watches migrating birds, children riding bicycles, and neighbors who wave, nod, and remember her name. There are invitations to the Nommo Books book club and free Friday grits at Umoja Café—but no pressure to join before she is ready. These are not sleep stories, although their quiet rhythm may help you drift off. Listen...
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You Deserve to Feel Safe: A Comforting Moment
You Ain’t Imagining This!
You deserve to feel safe—and when you don’t, you deserve a place where you can acknowledge that feeling without shame. In this Comforting Moment, Ama-Robin gently explores how we can create a greater sense of safety within ourselves, through connection with others and by shaping the spaces around us. This is an invitation to breathe, reconnect with your body and remember that you are not alone. Want to continue the comforting experience? Spend a few minutes with our or if you want to bring this peace with you, you can download the with you. Announcement! The is now open! This is...
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Sounds of Safety: The Front Porch
You Ain’t Imagining This!
Sounds of Safety is a gentle audio offering rooted in the Black tradition of the front porch—a place of watching, listening, resting, and belonging. You’ll hear everyday porch sounds: distant voices, footsteps passing by, wind in the trees, birds, quiet movement, and moments of silence. Nothing demands your attention. Nothing needs fixing. This is an invitation to let your body remember what it feels like to be safe enough to simply be. You can listen while resting, after a difficult moment, or as part of winding down—allowing your nervous system to soften and your breath to settle....
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I Don't Feel Safe! Do You?
You Ain’t Imagining This!
What is making us feel less safe—and what happens when no one around us seems to notice? In this Believe Black People episode, Ama-Robin names five reasons that she feels less safe today: racial threats becoming more public and permissible; troubling disappearances and deaths being too quickly dismissed; institutions failing to protect us; violence against one Black person sending a warning to the wider community; and Black fear being debated, minimised or left unspoken. Believe Black People episodes center us as credible witnesses to our own lives. Here, our experiences are heard, our...
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How is your Map? A Front Porch Talk
You Ain’t Imagining This!
What if the map you’ve been using to understand the world—and yourself—is wrong? Come sit with Ama-Robin for a Front Porch Talk, a place to get comfortable, share honest thoughts, and enjoy a hibiscus tea. Beginning with the Mercator map drawn in 1569—which makes Greenland appear almost as large as Africa, although Africa is approximately 14 times larger—she considers the other distorted maps we have learned. There is a map of Black history that begins with enslavement, centers white people who supposedly freed us and diminishes Black resistance and achievement. There are survival...
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You Ain't Alone in a Black Bookstore: A YAIT Town Story
You Ain’t Imagining This!
This isn’t just about books. It’s about belonging! I'm Ama-Robin, your sistah-host on this storytelling journey. This week, I’m returning to a special episode--and community favorite!-- from the archives about that special feeling we experience in a Black bookstore: the reminder that we are never alone. In this story, we will step inside a Black-owned bookstore. Feel the warmth. Hear the conversations. Smell the books and the spice of chai in the air. This isn’t just a shop—it’s a sanctuary, a meeting place, a revolution in the making. In this story-driven episode, I take you...
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The Second Planting: A YAIT Town Village Story
You Ain’t Imagining This!
Discover what it feels like to walk through a virtual Black town where you are safe, seen, and know that you belong. A new season is beginning in YAIT Town. Come walk with me through the village as we ease into our second planting—a time to consider what we’re tending, what we’re releasing and what might still be ready to grow. Along the way, we’ll stop for three stories filled with memory, wisdom and possibility. YAIT Town remains what it has always been: a place of Black belonging, joy, rest and reflection. For those of us who are continually navigating predominantly white...
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Why I Left America--But Never Left Black America
You Ain’t Imagining This!
Short Answer: A New Fantastic Point of View Welcome to the Front Porch—a place to come as you are, sit for a while, and take what you need. In this Front Porch Talk, I’m Ama-Robin, and I’m returning from my summer break with a question I heard again and again: Why did you leave the United States? There are plenty of assumptions. But the truth is more complicated—and much more interesting. I wasn’t running away from America. I was reaching toward something: a new fantastic point of view. A wider world. Different cultures. New ways of seeing, questioning, learning, and imagining what...
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Being the Only Black One: A YAIT Story
You Ain’t Imagining This!
What happens when nothing happens... and yet everything changes? This is my story. A YAIT Story on Freedom and Belonging In this YAIT Story, sistah-host, Ama-Robin, shares a quiet but unforgettable experience from a resort in Sweden. Nothing dramatic happened. No one said anything unkind. And yet, something changed the moment I realized I was the only Black person in the room. Meet me in YAIT Town as we explore what it feels like to be watched, to question your belonging, and to discover that freedom is about more than simply being allowed to enter a space. We'll begin with my...
info_outlineWhat if the map you’ve been using to understand the world—and yourself—is wrong?
Come sit with Ama-Robin for a Front Porch Talk, a place to get comfortable, share honest thoughts, and enjoy a hibiscus tea. Beginning with the Mercator map drawn in 1569—which makes Greenland appear almost as large as Africa, although Africa is approximately 14 times larger—she considers the other distorted maps we have learned.
There is a map of Black history that begins with enslavement, centers white people who supposedly freed us and diminishes Black resistance and achievement.
There are survival maps passed down by Black parents who learned to navigate racism and wanted to keep their children safe.
There are deeply personal maps: unspoken rules about a woman's role in the family, expectations about where she should be and what she should do, and assumptions about what aging is supposed to look like.
Who drew your map—and is it empowering or diminishing you? Let's talk about it!