In this podcast episode, Leigh, Lindsay, and Mette welcome guests Lauren and Jasmine, members of the Pensacola Abortion Rights Task Force (PART), to discuss Pensacola's history with abortion care and activism, as well as Florida's current Amendment 4 initiative. PART was founded in 2022 in response to the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and the closure of the local family planning clinic. The organization is actively involved in petitioning efforts for Yes on 4, a non-partisan, citize...
Oct 14, 2024•48 min
In this gripping episode, we delve into the heart of the battle for intellectual freedom with Angie Hayden, the visionary founder of Read Freely Alabama, and Elizabeth Williams, a passionate member of FemmSouth and organizer for Read Freely Alabama's Baldwin County chapter. Join us as Angie sheds light on the harrowing frontlines in Alabama, where the public library in Prattville stands as ground zero. Amidst the fallout from clashes with right-wing groups, Angie reveals the shocking dismissal o...
Apr 22, 2024•50 min
In this episode, Lindsay, Mette, and Leigh meet with two guests from the Alabama Campaign for Adolescent Sexual Health (ACASH) to hear how the the overturn of Roe continues to shape Sex Education policy in Alabama. Christina Clark Okarmus, the Executive Director of ACASH, and ShaKaya Darrington, member of the Youth Advocacy Group, explain how sex education is a critical component to Reproductive Justice as children and teens deserve age appropriate, medically accurate, comprehensive education ab...
Mar 06, 2024•1 hr 3 min
Episode 3.3 “Faith Leaders Speak Up for Choice” with Rev. Ginny Phillips Allen and Rev. Renee Adcock. In this session, you will hear our conversations with two local faith leaders talking about abortion rights in lower Alabama. If you attended a protest following the overturn of Roe v. Wade in either Mobile or Fairhope, you likely saw Rev. Ginny Phillips Allen in her clerical collar standing on the streets and even being asked to speak on the steps of the Courthouse in downtown Mobile. She share...
Nov 13, 2023•49 min
In this second segment we talk with Rev. Latishia James, an ordained minister in The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries, and the Co-Director of Spiritual Alliance of Communities for Reproductive Dignity (also known as SACReD) where they advance reproductive justice for marginalized communities through congregations and spiritual communities grounded in a progressive moral framework. Latishia is a Black queer femme, womanist, writer, and facilitator of healing spaces for BIPOC women, femmes, and ...
Nov 06, 2023•57 min
Across three segments—all guided by ordained faith leaders—we’ll shine a light on the patriarchal systems and colonialist histories that lead to trauma, abuse, and violations of the autonomy of pregnant people. We explore the supposed schism between spirituality and sexuality. And we discuss the role of clergy and share resources and advocacy tools for both clergy and members of faith communities. In our first segment, we talk with Rev. Katey Zeh about her call to reproductive justice in seminar...
Oct 19, 2023•1 hr 5 min
What happens when a pregnant person is denied an abortion? How does it impact their life trajectory, financial security, and the wellbeing of existing and future children? And how does it compare with those who are able to access a wanted abortion? In this episode of the “Reproductive Freedom in the Deep South” series, we address these and many other crucial questions related to the socio-economic fallout of Alabama’s abortion ban. We are joined by Dr. Diana Greene Foster, professor at UCSF and ...
May 31, 2023•59 min
This is the first episode in the "Reproductive Freedom in the Deep South" Series where we talk with representatives from reproductive justice organizations with boots on the ground in Alabama. Our special guests are Tish Gotell Faulks, Legal Director at the ACLU of Alabama; Robin Marty, the Director of Operations for the West Alabama Women's Center; and Kelsea McLain, Deputy Director of the Yellowhammer Fund. Each one of our guests talks about the impact of the overturn of Roe on their organizat...
Apr 25, 2023•1 hr 18 min
This is our kick-off episode introducing audiences to the six-part series where we will host conversations with a range of people and professionals who are experiencing first-hand the effects and the fallout of the Dobbs decision here in Alabama. In June of 2022, the constitutional right to access abortion care in the US was revoked when the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade, which had been the law of the land for 50 years. On that same day, this judgment—which we’ll refer to as “Dobbs”—trig...
Mar 08, 2023•1 hr 1 min
This episode is the first of a two-part series exploring financial feminism and impact investing in women. In this first episode, we consider several definitions for the term financial feminism. We explore the barriers women face with finances and investing in a post-pandemic world and examine whether we can actually know if our investments are closing the gender wage gap and securing women a seat at the table. Beyond economics, how do we know our investments are working towards the type of chan...
Apr 19, 2022•1 hr
For this kick off episode, I have asked two of my favorite FemmSouth bookclub members and podcast guests, Shannon Fountain and Kadine Christie, to discuss their successes, joys, and transitions over the last few months. Kadine, a published local author, has been birthing a new book and shares the ups and downs of transitioning into full-time writing. Shannon discusses balancing motherhood and a new relationship with the increasing demands of pharmaceutical work during a pandemic. What we all see...
Mar 25, 2022•39 min
Jolene @_thibodeaux_ is a local singer, songwriter, poet, and published author. Her writing and music draw from her experiences growing up in Alabama and time spent with her father in the Pacific Northwest. She is a rich and down-to-earth storyteller with imagery steeped in rural living and a passion for nature. In this episode, Jolene talks about growing up surrounded by poetry both in words and actions. A debilitating spinal injury she suffered as a child opened her to poetry and music as heal...
Jun 30, 2021•50 min
We have a new episode release and a very special musical guest, Haley Harkin! Haley is a singer/songwriter of folk medicine music from Austin, Texas. She joins us to continue our discussion of Women Healers, focusing specifically on writers, poets, and songwriters that use their craft for healing. In this episode, Haley shares her early struggles with insecurity and anxiety, and how her ability to write songs and perform in front of an audience came after working with plant medicines in ceremony...
Jun 10, 2021•49 min
In the final episode of our Women Healers series, we are circling back to birth work to talk with our special guest, Pamela Smith, one of the founding members of the Farm community in Summertown,Tennessee. Pamela tells the story of joining Steven, Ina May Gaskin and the 200+ caravan in 1970 that eventually becomes the Farm community in TN that develops one of the most influential midwifery centers for natural childbirth along with pre & post natal care for mothers, babies, and their families...
Mar 23, 2021•59 min
Ep 19 Part III of Women Healers with Firestar & Brightheart “Midwifing the soul into wellness” is Firestar’s poetic description of her practice of shamanic healing. Like our previous class of Women Healers, shamanism is a special calling and an undertaking with a long, rich tradition that spans many cultures across the globe. In Part III, our special guests are Firestar and Brightheart, two healers that use psychedelic mushrooms and other plant medicines for individual and group healing cere...
Mar 17, 2021•1 hr 1 min
Our special guest is Eri Guajardo Johnson (she/they), a queer, bi-racial birth worker, community educator, birth consultant for trauma survivors, and founder of Birth Bruja, which is an online educational platform devoted to intersectional, liberational & decolonial approaches to birthwork, healing, and life. Eri's experience working with sexual assault victims and her study of indigenous Mexican and Indian healing modalities informs her approach to birth work. She also has a master's degree...
Mar 04, 2021•1 hr 17 min
The first episode in our series on Women Healers is a lovely discussion with Nafeesah Roberts As-Salafeeya, a Community Labor and Postpartum Doula. Doulas play a critical role as healers because they provide physical and emotional support before, during, and after birth in ways that modern hospital providers cannot. They are birthing advocates that help women actualize their preferred birthing experiences whether at home or in the hospital. Nafeesah tells of her journey into becoming a birth wor...
Mar 01, 2021•59 min
In this introduction, I set up our discussion about women healers. What do we mean when we refer to women healers, and how does this language differ from the language of modern medicine? As Elisabeth Brooke says, "Medicine has always been political," and those with the authority to practice medicine exert a great power over those they deny. Women have always been healers, midwives, doulas, herbalists, witches, medicine carriers, conjurers, invokers, shamans, spiritual leaders, and the many itera...
Mar 01, 2021•31 min
For this episode, I couldn’t be more excited to speak candidly with Jillian and Shannon about all of our personal struggles dealing with 2020 and to acknowledge the accomplishments we did make in our community. As we say in this episode, women are conditioned to find the silver lining in all situations, but sometimes “shitty things can be shitty” and that’s okay. Among the many opportunities for reflection, 2020 has taught us to surrender to what is, which may mean honoring our darker emotions l...
Dec 13, 2020•57 min
In Sep, our book club read Rachael Louise Snyder’s No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us for our focus on intimate partner violence, which often remains hidden despite the fact that it affects 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. In this episode, Leigh talks with the executive director of the Lighthouse, Rhyon Ervin, about these alarming stats and what their agency does to help victims. The Lighthouse is a...
Nov 10, 2020•1 hr 4 min
In this episode, Leigh interviews Kadine Christie, a mother in her eighth year of homeschooling her three children. Kadine has her BA in sociology from Kean University and her Masters in Counseling from Capella University. She’s also a writer, has published work in several magazines, and is currently working on her upcoming memoir, I am Home. Kadine shares her own education background growing up in Jamaica and then moving to the United States. Her story traces her tumultuous path through a faili...
Aug 03, 2020•58 min
In our commitment to amplify black female voices, this episode is an intimate conversation with Valencia, Clarice, and Wenter, three southern, black women in our FemmSouth book club, about their perspectives on racism and the BLM movement. Join us as we hear their thoughts on police brutality, speaking out against racial injustice, allyship, corporate integrity, white supremacy, education, and the impact Hollywood representation of black beauty has had on their personal journeys towards self-act...
Jul 15, 2020•1 hr 40 min
In this episode Leigh and Amaya interview Anna Swisher, a facilitator for Joanna Macy’s The Work That Reconnects. Anna explains the evolution of Macy’s approach over the last half of the century, the foundational basis of Macy’s work in Deep Ecology and Systems Theory, and walks us through the stages of the spiral through which the workshops are organized. Amaya shares her transformative experiences working with Anna following her own burn out, and how Macy’s work provides a necessary support ne...
May 19, 2020•57 min
In this episode, Shannon and Leigh discuss Octavia Butler’s dystopian, afrofuturistic novel, The Parable of the Sower and the current coronavirus pandemic. Butler has imagined an all-too-real version of the United States if things like climate change and corporate greed are left unchecked. Much like Butler's imagined crisis, this pandemic has amplified the stark social, financial, and political inequalities that define life for so many of us. It is also shining the necessary light on the people ...
Apr 30, 2020•54 min
In this episode, Leigh interviews Reverend Ellen Sims from Open Table United Church of Christ in Mobile and Elizabeth Denham, LGBTQ+ advocate and owner of The Franchise Woman magazine. Both are connected to the advocacy & family support groups, Rainbow Mobile and Prism United. If you've lived in the South for long, you know that churches can have a huge impact on the violence, fear, discrimination and rejection experienced by many LGBTQ+ persons. Despite the fact that many churches espouse a...
Mar 23, 2020•56 min
In this episode, we go out into the community to see how Christian Feminism is being discussed and practiced in the local area. Leigh interviews Judith Comer, an ordained Episcopal Minister, and Jessica Deese, a mother of four children who is active in her local church community and school. In this episode, we discuss the value of Feminist Theology from seminary to the pulpit. Although Feminism and Christianity have often been cast as incompatible, and they certainly have a history of opposition...
Mar 06, 2020•1 hr
In this episode, Leigh and Shannon discuss restoring the equality of the Divine Feminine in Christianity by centering on biblical women and feminine expressions of the Divine in scripture. We look at Christian supremacy and its legacy of oppression. We learn the historical roots of feminism in Christianity, investigate where feminism has already shaped the Church, and identify where feminist theology has failed to reach local congregations. We ask whether women can continue to advocate for chang...
Feb 17, 2020•53 min
Bonus episode featuring singer, songwriter and musician, Brenda Bledsoe. For over 17 years, Brenda has been writing songs inspired by the people and places that have impacted her life. She's been playing the flute and guitar for even longer. In this episode, Brenda shares her new song, Let Your Truth Out, inspired by the recent violations against women's reproductive rights in Alabama. Brenda also discusses her own journey into speaking and living her truth after years of working in a male-domin...
Nov 22, 2019•8 min
For the second part of our episode on Trans Feminism, Sarah and Leigh interview transgender friends in the community to talk about coming out in the south. We hear transwomen’s perspectives on living with gender dysphoria, what coming out to their families has been like, how the church has influenced their transitioning, and what they think about passing within the socially constructed gender spectrum. We hear from a mother who is having to advocate for her child in the face of unsupportive fami...
Nov 21, 2019•58 min
Join us as we explore Sarah McBride's book, "Tomorrow Will Be Different," a touching, personal memoir that covers her transition story, her journey into transgender activism, and the tragic loss of her husband to cancer. Sarah's book is also a primer on the many complex issues facing the transgender community through the lens of her life as a transgender woman and LGBTQ+ activist. It's a great way for people who are not already personally connected to the trans world to engage with empathy and u...
Nov 04, 2019•58 min
