Alexis Pauline Gumbs Speaks on Her New Audre Lorde Biography
The ZAMI NOBLA Podcast
Alexis Pauline Gumbs’ Survival is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde Book Reading Information: https://www.charisbooksandmore.com/event/survival-promise-eternal-life-audre-lorde-homecoming-celebration-alexis-pauline-gumbs-and Book Reading Registration: A queer black troublemaker, a black feminist love evangelist and a prayer poet priestess, Dr. Alexis Pauline Gumbs was the first scholar to research the Audre Lorde Papers at Spelman College, the June Jordan Papers at Harvard University, and the Lucille Clifton Papers at Emory University during...
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Sharon Bridgforth with bull-jean & dem/dey Book Party
The ZAMI NOBLA Podcast
This book party was hosted on May 27, 2023, at Charis Books & More in Decatur, Georgia. It featured esteemed writer Sharon Bridgforth in conversation with ZAMI NOBLA creative director Angela Denise Davis in celebration of bull-jean & dem/dey back. You can view the YouTube video of this event at: The ZNP previous interview of Sharon Bridgforth: Bull-jean & dem/dey back is a collection that unites two performance/novels centered on the southern-Black-butch-heroine, bull-jean. The Lambda Literary Award-winning bull-jean stories was first published by RedBone...
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Together We Heal: COVID-19's Mental Health Effects on Older Black Same Gender Loving Women
The ZAMI NOBLA Podcast
Together We Heal: COVID-19's Mental Health Effects on Older Black Same Gender Loving Women Thursday, December 14, 2023 (ZOOM webinar) Findings from a COVID-19 Community Research Study led by Dr. Tonia Poteat, and the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, and Mary Anne Adams, MSW, and ZAMI NOBLA: National Organization of Black Lesbians on Aging The panelist discussed the mental health impacts of the pandemic, shared their insights, and provided strategies for healing and wellness. The panel was sponsored by BEAM Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective ...
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Sangodare Wallace Expands the Technology of Sermon and Song
The ZAMI NOBLA Podcast
This interview was recorded in February 2024. Sangodare (Julia Roxanne Wallace) is a sweet space for transformation. Sangodare comes from a thick legacy of Black Baptist preachers and church leaders and currently activates Black Feminist sermonics at a weekly Sunday Service held by Mobile Homecoming Trust. As co-founder of Black Feminist Film School (2012), Visiting Artist in Film at Lawrence University (2017-18) and Artist in Residence at UMN-Twin Cities in the Art Department (2017-19), Sangodare brings a creative, evolutionary and love filled approach to filmmaking, composing, interactive...
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Kendra Bryant Aya and Cyndi Ixchele Aya Share Stories About “US”
The ZAMI NOBLA Podcast
In February 2024, The ZAMI NOBLA Podcast sat down to talk with Kendra Bryant Aya and Cyndi Ixchele Aya about their internet creation, “This is US: Unscripted Sundays with Kindy.” The couple shared the joys and challenges of maintaining a digital presence and the sacredness of storytelling. Kendra N. Bryant (s/hers) is a Black lesbian womanist, a fraternal twin, who enjoys reading, writing, singing, dancing & shucking & jiving to & about all things Black. She spends too much time theorizing about white America’s hypocrisy; fangirls over Alice Walker; writes tankas...
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Lana Williams Puts Her Money Where Her Mind Is
The ZAMI NOBLA Podcast
Lana Williams is the Board Chair of ZAMI NOBLA (National Organization of Black Lesbians on Aging). She is a Financial Coach, with over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry. Her experience includes banking, mergers and acquisitions, investment advising, and bank industry consulting with some of the largest Fortune 500 companies. Positions she’s held include Regional Sales Manager, Senior Sales Consultant, and Project Manager. As a Financial Coach, Lana helps clients develop healthy money habits. She educates and works one-on-one with them to create a financial...
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Sabrina Francis-White and Lynnette White Speak on 34 Years of Love and One Unbreakable Bond
The ZAMI NOBLA Podcast
Lynnette White and Sabrina Francis-White sat down with Angela to share how a Blind date turned into a Fairy Tale Come True. And to discuss what it takes to sustain 32 years of love, understanding and marriage. As they continue to plan their next adventure in life.
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Mary Hooks Keeps Her Eyes on the Prize
The ZAMI NOBLA Podcast
Mary Hooks is a 42yr old, Black, lesbian, feminist, abolitionist, pan-Africanist, mother, wife and a member of Southerners On New Ground and part of the leadership of the Movement 4 Black Lives. Mary joined SONG as a member in 2009 and began organizing with SONG in 2010. Mary’s commitment to Black liberation, which encompasses the liberation of LGBTQ folks, is rooted in her experiences growing up under the impacts of the War on Drugs. Her people are migrants of the Great Migration, factory workers, church folks, Black women, hustlers and addicts, dykes, studs, femmes,...
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Marilyn McClain in North Carolina Reflects on Her Enduring Legacy of Love
The ZAMI NOBLA Podcast
The ZAMI NOBLA North Carolina State Chapter holds a monthly potluck. I took a road trip to Charlotte, North Carolina, to experience one of these gatherings and had the pleasure of interviewing one of their members, Marilyn McClain. Marilyn McClain’s Bio: I Am a body Alchemist. One who is patient, grounded, wise, modest and who enjoys learning and teaching. My mind and soul are open. Love is my greatest tool. I use my inner strength and spirit to transform the lives of others through movement and visioning. I am a licensed physical therapist in the state of North Carolina. I have been...
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Stephanie Anne Johnson Shines Her Light on Life, Work, and the Ancestors
The ZAMI NOBLA Podcast
Stephanie Anne Johnson is a second-generation theater practitioner. Her mother Virginia Johnson (Green) worked with The American Negro Theatre In N.Y. Johnson has been a lighting designer for over forty years. Nationally she has done designs for La Mama Theatre (N.Y.), Telluride Repertory Theatre (Colorado), The Arizona Repertory Theatre, The National Black Theater, and The Apollo (N.Y.). Locally, she has worked with Cultural Odyssey, Rhodessa Jones, Afro Solo, Ubuntu Theatre, African American Shakespeare Company, The Aurora Theater, Shotgun Players, The Marin Theatre Company, and many...
info_outlineThis interview was recorded by Angela Denise Davis on October 14, 2021, via video conference. Deidre McCalla sat down with Angela to talk about McCalla’s early life in New York, her start in music, the herstory of her place in the women’s music movement, and the way the COVID-19 pandemic changed her life.
The music heard in the interview was used courtesy of Deidre McCalla. You can enjoy the full tracks on YouTube at the following links:
Walk Me Down to the River
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZEY7idOCAc
I Do Not Walk This Path Alone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhNnJx6Cd58
Deidre’s website: https://deidremccalla.com/
Photo used in episode art: Irene Young
Playing For Keeps is an apt title for the latest cd from singer/songwriter Deidre McCalla. From the moment Deidre takes the stage, her engaging presence and irresistible blend of folk, country, rock, and pop seize the listeners by the heart and won't let go.
Deidre McCalla came of age in the fiery blaze of NYC's folk heyday - a time when Greenwich Village clubs were filled with the likes of Dylan, Baez, and Ochs; a time when Motown ruled the top of the charts and the streets of America screamed with anger and civil unrest. Her first album, Fur Coats and Blue Jeans, was released when Deidre was 19 and a student at Vassar College. With a theater degree tucked under her belt and an acoustic guitar tossed in the back of a battered Buick station wagon, Deidre McCalla hit the proverbial road and never looked back. Deidre later majored in jazz guitar at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music and released three albums with the pioneering women's music label Olivia Records.
The Miami Herald affectionately dubs her a "dreadlocked troubadour." From Maui to Maine, college coffeehouses to Carnegie Hall, Deidre McCalla is a much beloved performer in both folk and women's music circles and has shared the stage with a long list of notables that includes Suzanne Vega, Tracy Chapman, Holly Near, Odetta, Cris Williamson, and Sweet Honey in the Rock. With five critically acclaimed albums to her credit, Deidre McCalla remains the ever seeking road warrior, her words and music chronicling our strengths and weaknesses and celebrating the power and diversity of the human spirit.
A single parent residing in Georgia with her son, Deidre has taught Performance at Warren Wilson College's Swannanoa Gathering. Deidre's work has been published in Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology, The Original Coming Out Stories, and Chrysalis: A Feminist Quarterly, and she is featured in The Power of Words: A Transformative Language Arts Reader.
Deidre is a proud member of AFM Local 1000 and the North American Folk Alliance.