A new Poema podcast special episode with myself and Douglas Humphries - recorded during the strike specifically for a post-strike release. In this episode we discuss Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer". We explore the various themes of the movie, how the movie impacted both of us, and the biggest lessons we can learn from the movie. We also talk about the storytelling in the movie, and the creative/storytelling lessons we can learn from Chris Nolan.
Nov 27, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 364
I'm honoured today to be joined by author and speaker Daniel Finklestein. Daniel tells us the story about his parents and grandparents, Jewish families caught up in the growing anti-semitism of the 1920's & 1930's, ultimately leading to their imprisonment in concentration camps by the Nazi's. But the story doesn't end there, they survived these camps and eventually moved to England where they raised a family. And of course there are shades of the shift to the hard right we've seen in the US ...
Sep 13, 2023•34 min•Ep. 363
This week my friend Jenna DeWitt returns to the podcast to discuss two songs - "You're Losing Me" by Taylor Swift and "Faith" by Selmer - and exploring them in detail, in relation to their respective messages about queer liberation and owning your gender and identity. We breakdown the lyrics of each song and discuss them in depth, and Jenna gives great insight into the deeper meaning of these songs, how they've impacted her, and how they can speak to us too. We also touch on how despite one piec...
Jul 03, 2023•50 min•Ep. 362
This week my guest is my friend and colleague Maria French, author, speaker and theological coach. In this episode we discuss her new book, "Reconfiguring " A Collection of Post-Christian Thoughts and Theologies", and in particular two essays from this book. Firstly we explore the power of nostalgia, and how our yearning for some idealistic past which never existed can hinder our thriving and living now. We discuss this from both an individual and cultural perspective, looking at the impact of n...
Jun 27, 2023•43 min•Ep. 361
Today I'm joined by my friend Ali Smith, who shares their story of how they slowly discovered they were autistic, and ultimately had ADHD. They share common patterns of behaviour they experienced which they realised can be giveaways for these diagnoses, and the process of them obtaining a diagnosis. Ali also talks about the challenges of coming to terms with their diagnoses and how they learned to acknowledge and accept who they are and thrive in their autistic and ADHD identities - and how we c...
Jun 19, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 360
This week I'm joined by my friend Amber Kay to discuss living with epilepsy, how they discovered they were autistic and how this changed their life. They also share the story of discovering their bisexuality and embracing their true identity, and how this tied in with their autistic discovery. This episode is Amber sharing their journey of acknowledging and living fully into who they really are, and how we can do the same.
Jun 12, 2023•44 min•Ep. 359
This week I'm joined by author Lyndsey Medford, who tells us the story of when an autoimmune condition opened her eyes fully to the limitation of being in our bodies within the systems we live in. Lyndsey talks about how learning to be comfortable in her body with its limitations impacted how she sees and interacts with the world. She also shares how it showed her how to heal and be free from the limitations of the systems we live in, and find a healthy, sustainable life for herself....
Jun 05, 2023•44 min•Ep. 358
In this episode, my friend, ace advocate and writer Elle Rose, joins me to hear me tell my story of how I discovered I'm demisexual and on the asexual spectrum. Firstly, I talk about how I discovered what demisexaulity is and began to resonate with this label. I then discuss how once I acknowledged my demisexuality, and looked back at my life and my relationship to my sexuality, how it explained a lot of my experiences, lack of sexual attraction and why I was so different from my peers - and how...
May 30, 2023•56 min•Ep. 357
I'm honoured to welcome back my friend, author Marla Taviano today. In this episode we talk about her recent book of poetry, 'Jaded'. We talk about the messiness of deconstruction, the parts of the journey where we need to get things of our chest, release the grief, anger and trauma we carry, and learn to speak truth to ourselves and of ourselves. Marla shares her own journey and how this is reflected in the poems and how writing the book helped that process. She talks about her experience of th...
May 22, 2023•44 min•Ep. 356
This week my friend Amanda Held Opelt returns, and we discuss grief rituals, why they were popular in the reign of Queen Victoria, and the impact of the first world war on our cultural grief rituals and how we process grief & loss. We also explore how the trauma and grief culturally felt and experienced in the first World War, had an impact on the allied nations initial response to Hitler's tyranny and how this could have inadvertently contributed to WWII. We then discuss how defeat and havi...
May 15, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 355
This week my friend Douglas Humphreys returns to the show, and we discuss the show 'Obi Wan Kenobi', and the dynamic of the relationship between him and Anakin Skywalker (AKA Darth Vader) in the context of their respective journeys of grief and trauma. We discuss their experiences of grief, including in their own relationship, and the circumstances which contributed to the stories and outcomes of their lives. We talk about how unresolved grief and anger can consume and control us, and harm both ...
May 10, 2023•47 min•Ep. 354
This week Amanda Held Opelt returns to continue our exploration of grief and transformation in pop culture. Today we talk about the contrasting experiences of Loki, brother of Thor and Wanda Maximoff, and how we see this ultimately play out in their respective MCU shows. We explore how Loki's confrontation with his own trauma, grief, and his actions, ultimately transforms and heals him. In contrast we discuss how Wanda's unhealthy response to trauma and grief causes harm to others, and herself. ...
May 03, 2023•55 min•Ep. 353
I'm honoured to be joined today on my podcast by anti-racist activist, educator and speaker Tori Williams Douglass. Tori runs 'White Homework', a resource educating people on anti-racism and whiteness. Today Tori tells us a bit of her story and journey into activism. She then discusses the concept of whiteness, where it originated, where we see it, and the harm it does, individually and societally. Tori also explores where we can see whiteness in ourselves and in the system we live in, and how w...
Apr 24, 2023•59 min•Ep. 352
TW: Stories of acephobia Today Marshall Blount ( @AceGentle on twitter) joins me today to share his story of discovering his identity as an asexaul (ace) and his journey into ace & LGBTQI activism. We talk about the challenges he faced in discovering going public about his ace-ness and how others reacted, how it impacted his mental health, as well as his experiences of acephobia. We also talk in depth about the activism he's been involved in, including how he obtained a proclamation for Ace ...
Apr 17, 2023•38 min•Ep. 351
This week, in our 350th episode, Amanda Held Opelt joins me again for the second part of our series on superheroes, grief and modern mythology. This week we explore the character and story of Superman, in particularly the one we see in the Christopher Reeve movies. He's a character who loses his adoptive father as a teenager, an event which drives him into a life trying to save people, never expressing his emotions, until another event finally unlocks his buried grief. We explore how Superman is...
Apr 03, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 350
This week I begin a new series with my friend Amanda Held Opelt to discuss how grief is explored in superhero stories, and how they have become our modern mythology. Today we focus mainly on Batman, exploring his story sand how his grief transforms and initially controls him, with Batman an expression of his raw grief. We discuss some of the stories in prominent Batman movies, as Bruce Wayne processes his grief and eventually Batman becomes a symbol of hope. This episode explores how grief can c...
Mar 27, 2023•56 min•Ep. 349
This week Jenna DeWitt returns to the show for a conversation about Taylor Swift's recent album "Midnights" and the enneagram. Jenna briefly introduces the enneagram and we talk a bit about Taylor's likely enneagram numbers 9 (3w4). Then we explore how this relates to the recent fallout with Ticketmaster regarding her tour. Then we talk about how the album is reflective of Taylor's own personal and creative journey, her lived experiences and how she's often been perceived and treated by the medi...
Mar 20, 2023•51 min•Ep. 348
TW: Spiritual abuse, evangelicalism, toxic religion Today I'm joined by Carissa ( @carissaexplainsnothing ) who courageously shares her story, including her deconstruction and experience of toxic religion. She talks about her upbringing with evangelicalism, and a path she began to see as already pre-determined and inevitable. Carissa shares some of the spiritual abuse she experienced, and the grief she experienced leaving evangelicalism behind, and at the end of her marriage. And then she tells ...
Mar 13, 2023•48 min•Ep. 347
This week I'm honoured to be joined by Candice Czubernat. She is a therapist (known as @lesbiantherapist on IG), and founder of The Christian Closet, an LGBTQ affirming counseling, coaching and spiritual direction organization. She is also the founder of Gloriously Queer a conference for LGBTQ people of faith developed by LGBTQ people of faith. Today Candice shares her own story, talks about her work and her experiences as a therapist, particuarly focussing on grief. We discuss our various exper...
Mar 06, 2023•47 min•Ep. 346
Today I'm joined by returning guests Trace Bell and Tina Olsen to discuss grief and the spirituality of dogs. Tina shares her experience of grief, and both her and Trace share their experiences with dogs, and learning and understanding their consciousness and building relationship with them, and how this can improve our mental health. They discuss how dogs can be extra intuitive and aware of our emotions and needs almost before we are, and what this can teach us about learning to listen to our o...
Feb 27, 2023•48 min•Ep. 345
In this week's episode author Amanda Held Opelt joins me to discuss the cultural and historical impact of the Black Death during the 1300's. We discuss the collective grief and trauma experienced by the countries impacted by the Black Death, and the longer term consequences for the church, culture and ultimately the history of western culture. We explore the consequences of collective cultural grief and trauma, and talk about what the potential long term impact of COVID has and potentially will ...
Feb 20, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 344
In today's episode we return to our irregular pop culture series, with author Marla Taviano joining me to discuss the popular show - and one of our favourites - Schitts Creek. We talk about the various character arcs, and how these explore personal deconstruction and transformation after a major life change. We also explore the culture of the show which normalised LGBTQ inclusion and was such an inspiration to the LGBTQ community. This was such a fun episode to record, any fan of the show will e...
Feb 06, 2023•57 min•Ep. 343
I'm honoured to be joined today by my friend, colleague Maria Francesca French today. Maria is a professor, theologian, author and coach, exploring all things Christian and post-Christian. Today she shares her personal journey, and talks about her first book, Safer than the Known Way, and we discuss together the root of the term deconstruction. We explore the concept of event, and how event begins an unravelling which takes us on a journey into what is called deconstruction, which goes way beyon...
Feb 01, 2023•48 min•Ep. 342
**Trigger warning: religious abuse, toxic religion** Today author and podcaster Nikki Pappas joins us to talk about her book "As Familiar As Family: Leaving Toxic Religion". Nikki tells us her powerful story of how she experienced abuse as love from a young age, being brought up in an evangelical family, being groomed for unhealthy relationships and toxic religion. She talks about she finally broke free of toxic religion, the challenges and the cost - and the freedom she discovered....
Jan 23, 2023•48 min•Ep. 341
Today author, YouTuber and public theologian Damon Garcia is my guest, as we explore the call of Jesus to social activism. Damon shares his own spiritual journey, and how he discovered a Jesus who takes sides with the marginalised and the oppressed and who fights for their liberation. Damon then explores how we need to follow this example, in the oppressive systems we currently find ourselves in, and take a stand for marginalised, oppressed peoples.
Jan 16, 2023•43 min•Ep. 340
Today my friend author, podcaster and tik tok star Rev Brandan Robertson joins me to talk about his new book 'Dry Bones and Holy Wars'. In this episode he and I explore how the teachings of Jesus can inspire us bring social and spiritual renewal in a world engulfed by toxic systems of oppression, and where there is so much grief, trauma, inequality, and marginalisation. Brandan talks about what a healthy, deconstructed Jesus spirituality can look like, and how the community of Jesus followers ne...
Jan 09, 2023•42 min•Ep. 339
**TW: Eating disorder** This week author, podcaster & speaker Jackie Gronlund (she/her) is my guest. Jackie shares her story, talking about her relationship with her body, and learning self acceptance. Jackie talks about the challenges of living with an eating disorder and other coping mechanisms and escapes, and how this impacted her life, spirituality, relationships with others. and her relationship with her body. Jackie shares her journey of discovering healing through a healthy relations...
Nov 14, 2022•47 min•Ep. 338
Today my friend, podcaster, coach, speaker and author Rev Sarah Heath returns to Poema! In this episode we catch up with what she's been up to, and she shares the story of how she chose to leave working in ordained ministry to create a life which was truly her own, and becoming fully embodied in her vocation and her life. Sarah talks about the challenges of moving out of ordained ministry, and the risks, the difficulties - and the rewards, of choosing to live fully in tune with ourselves. Sarah ...
Nov 09, 2022•51 min•Ep. 337
I'm honoured to be joined by Thomas Floyd LCMHC, a psychologist and therapist. He tells us a little of his story, and then we explore the connections between the process of deconstruction and issues of co-dependency and attachment types in relationships of all kinds We talk about how toxic religious systems can teach us co-dependency and unhealthy attachment models, and how we can unlearn these to have healthy relationships and communities.
Oct 31, 2022•53 min•Ep. 336
Honoured today to be joined by my friend Erin Green M.Div (she/they). Erin is a queer activist and scholar. Today their share their story of deconstruction, and discovery and exploration of their queer identity. They discuss how they reconciled the two, how this impacted their life, faith & relationships, in particular their relationship with Christianity & the church, and finding healthy community.
Oct 25, 2022•49 min•Ep. 335
