This week’s text:
“Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence” by Adrienne Rich

This week’s guest:
Lindsay Johnson, aka The Radical Connector, is a sales & visibility coach for misfit entrepreneurs building their businesses to the beat of their own drums.

Discussed in this episode:

• What to do when important ideas come from problematic people
• Cancel culture, nuance, and evolving past rigid thinking
• The roots of compulsory heterosexuality in capitalism, colonialism, and white supremacy
• Lindsay’s journey to understanding their non-binary identity
• How proximity to power complicates identity and solidarity
• The dangers of the incel pipeline and raising feminist boys
• Queerness, gender, and neurodivergence as natural human expressions
• The power and politics of the “lesbian continuum”
• Choosing labels vs. living beyond them

Resources mentioned:

• “You and Your Gender Identity” by Dara Hoffman-Fox
• “The Invention of Heterosexuality” by Jonathan Ned Katz
• Adolescence on Netflix
• “Is Gossiping Feminist?” by Abbie Teal

This week’s text:
“Joy” by Zadie Smith

Guest bio:
Jordan Maney is the Radical Joy Coach helping Black, brown, and queer folks reclaim their joy and rest without guilt.

Discussed in this episode:

• Why Zadie Smith’s essay is “close but no cigar”
• The bittersweet intersection of joy and grief
• Is joy a struggle, a surrender, or a risk?
• What ecstasy (the drug and the feeling) says about manufactured joy
• The difference between pleasure, contentment, happiness, and JOY
• Black Southern church traditions as containers for joy
• The power of presence, noticing, and choosing joy in dark times
• Why resisting despair is a revolutionary act of self-love
• Concerts, croissants, and the art of letting yourself become joy

Resources mentioned:

• “Beloved” by Toni Morrison
• “White Teeth” by Zadie Smith

This week’s text:
“Abolition Can Mend Our Democracy” by Angela Y. Davis

This week’s guest:
Amelia Hruby is a feminist writer, podcaster, and producer. She’s the founder of Softer Sounds and host of Off the Grid.

Discussed in this episode:

• Why prisons exist—and what they really teach us about “freedom”
• Angela Davis’s vision of abolition beyond incarceration
• Carceral logic in our schools, healthcare, diet culture, and even how we treat ourselves
• Why spirituality, somatic healing, and forgiveness are necessary for abolition
• Amelia’s personal journey with abolition, including becoming a prison pen pal
• The myth of inherently “bad” people—and why we must believe in love after harm
• How a society built on punishment requires us to reimagine democracy
• What abolitionist practice can look like in our daily lives

Resources mentioned:

• “Are Prisons Obsolete?” by Angela Y. Davis
• “Women, Race, & Class” by Angela Y. Davis
• “Freedom Is a Constant Struggle” by Angela Y. Davis
• “My Grandmother’s Hands” by Resmaa Menakem
• “Democracy in America” by Alexis de Tocqueville
• Black and Pink (penpals program)