329 The Politics of Language with Marielena Ferrer

Inspired by the thoughts and speakers in this Ted Radio Hour, Marielena Ferrer and I dig into the topic of language. Was the alphabet responsible for the demise of the Goddess? Are we resistant to language changes? Are language changes imposed upon us like Colonizers? Are they able to change culture? We meander through these questions and more today on the show!

And here’s the New Moon report for this month…

Today’s show was engineered by Ian Seda from Radiokingston.org.

Our show music is from Shana Falana!

Feel free to email me, say hello: she@iwantwhatshehas.org

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328 Margaret Bensfield Sullivan “Following the Sun” and Tami Lynn Kent “Wild Mothering”

In the first half of today’s show I am joined by Margaret Bensfield Sullivan, an author, illustrator, and family photo curator, whose work combines her personal passion for archiving with visual storytelling skills she honed over nearly two decades in brand marketing. Margaret was a partner at WPP’s marketing and branded content agency Group SJR, where she designed storytelling campaigns on behalf of clients like TED, Target, Disney, and USAID. She left corporate life to spend a year with her husband and two young children crisscrossing the globe, visiting 29 countries and six continents. She wrote about their adventures in Following the Sun: Tales (and Fails) From a Year Around the World With Our Kids (December 5, 2023).

Our conversation just skims the surface of the richness of her book where she details: what to consider when planning a trip like this, the pitfalls and pluses of traveling with kids, how to keep marital and family peace during a year of togetherness, and the transformative and lasting effects of time away from life’s daily routine. I love that Margaret concluded our conversation with the notion that you don’t actually have to travel the world to get the benefits from ditching the treadmill of the daily routine.

If you are interested in this type of experience for yourself and your family, in addition to getting Margaret’s book, she suggests finding a Worldschooler group on Facebook.

________________________________________________________________

In the second half of the show, I am joined by the one and only Tami Lynn Kent, a women’s health physical therapist and the founder of Holistic Pelvic CareTM where she utilizes her ability to read energetic patterns of the body to help women reconnect to their bodies and feminine. Tami maintains a private practice and an international training program in Portland, Oregon. She has authored three previous books. Her latest, Wild Mothering: Finding Power, Spirit, and Joy in Birth and a Creative Motherhood (Atria Books, May 7, 2024), is a newly updated edition of her classic, Mothering from Your Center.

I first learned of Tami’s work back in 2016 when my dear friend Neslihan lent me her book, Wild Feminine. It was a life changing read that helped me to understand some of my own conditioning and subconscious biases as well as take me down a road of deep healing and a reconnecting with my own feminine energy. Today, Tami shares about the importance of reconnecting both physically and energetically with the pelvic bowl. Beyond the healing that is possible for an individual, it’s an important collective act for reclaiming the energy of the feminine and re-establishing its value in an imbalanced patriarchal society. Tami’s idea of Wild Mothering is offering permission and possibility to do mothering and life differently, from a place not solely lead by the head, but supported and embraced by both an inner compassion as well as a greater connection to the creative resources that exist beyond ourselves. She believes that every woman at her center has a wealth of creative resources for mothering. These abundant resources can provide guidance, bring energy when it’s needed, and restore the mother-child connection. To tap into them, it’s essential for women to connect with the energy medicine in their female centers. Wild Mothering — allows women to move beyond stereotypes and create the type of mothering that both sustains their families and also feeds their mothering souls.

As a part of our conversation, she touches on the energetics of birth and the birth field, what the feminine means to her, what Wild Mothering means and how to embody it, and how all bodies have access to the healing medicine of the feminine.

“What Tami has created here is nothing short of a bible for us. Wild Mothering elevates mothering to its rightful place as the axis of culture, requiring proper due and respect and refusing to accept the invisibility and the unrecognized labor of mothers that is all too common.” Kimberly Ann Johnson

Today’s show was engineered by Ian Seda from Radiokingston.org.

Our show music is from Shana Falana!

Feel free to email me, say hello: she@iwantwhatshehas.org

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327 Christina Varga – Art/Garden/Life-ist

Christina Varga (b. 1971, Milwaukee, WI) is a self-taught visionary artist living in the Hudson Valley. Her work incorporates a variety of materials including up-cycled and discarded objects, appropriated day-to-day ephemera such as vintage maps and magazines, holographic mylar, tissue paper, and mixed media including paint pens, pastels, acrylic, and oil paints. Her subject matter references pop culture trends, interdimensional pattern, and a repetition of Pixelated squares. In 2003 Christina Varga founded VARGA Gallery in Woodstock, New York. For over a decade she showcased an eclectic variety of cutting edge artists and conceived, planned, publicized, and curated hundreds of exhibitions. She directed and produced the weekly cable access program “Apocalypse VARGA”, an Arts, Culture, and Media Variety Show – a showcase for artists represented by VARGA Gallery as well as musicians, speakers, and other creative industry professionals. Her work has been shown at The American Visionary Art Museum, The Cathedral Church of St. John The Divine, and at Kunsttiendaagse in Bergen, North Holland. Her work is in the collections of Uma Thurman, Grace Potter, Dweezil Zappa, Kate Pierson, and Dave Wakeling. She has been featured in The Sufi Journal, Resurgence Magazine, The New York Times, Chronogram as well as other regional, national, and international publications. 

Varga launched the Phoenicia Festival Of The Arts in August 2023 The festival is a town wide event happening every August and spans the entirety of Main Street and includes a Main Street Market for Artists and Artisans in the center of town and plenty of family friendly activities and happenings throughout town. The Phoenicia Festival of the Arts is a project 20 years in the making bringing musical, theatrical and visual events promoting diversity and unique cultural offerings. Christina lives and works in Phoenicia, NY where she fuses her love of gardening, creativity and motherhood. She is the proud mother of two children and a self-proclaimed Art/Garden/Life-ist. Email phoeniciafestivalofthearts@gmail.com

She is currently presenting MADE YOU LOOK at Queen of Rogues in Glenford, NY. This is Varga’s first solo exhibition since masking began and an eclectic collection of a variety of new works including collaged vessels, a “String Theory” series of works incorporating filament, thread and yarn and new mixed media collages, paintings, portraits and VARGA Girls. An outdoor display of Varga’s 16 foot mural featuring luminary and celebrity Daphne Guinness created during the Howl Festival in New York City is planned with 4 other Guinness inspired portraits included in the exhibit including an appropriated Lee Sanna painting “Liverpool” as background to Varga’s original portrait of the Guinness Brewery heiress and muse of the late Alexander McQueen.  

Closing party May 31st, 6-9pm. 2440 Route 28, Glenford, NY.

Today, Christina shares deeply and passionately about her life philosophies including how and why art is such a vital part of who and what she does. There are nuggets of wisdom sprinkled throughout our talk as well as moments intended to inspire. She is currently connecting with folks who want to be a part of this year’s Phoenicia Festival of the Arts, so be in touch if this is you!

You can find her on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/vargagallery/.

Today’s show was engineered by Ian Seda from Radiokingston.org.

Our show music is from Shana Falana!

Feel free to email me, say hello: she@iwantwhatshehas.org

** Please: SUBSCRIBE to the pod and leave a REVIEW wherever you are listening, it helps other users FIND IT

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326 Kaitlyn Murray “la vie apres l’amour” A Sustainable Fashion Brand

Kaitlyn Murray has been care-taking her brand, la vie apres l’amour, a sustainable fashion organization since 2017. Born and raised in Red Hook, NY, she graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology and went on to work at Hermes in customer service and merchandising. Her life long love affair with thrifting and her studies in sustainability led her to leave Hermes and open her own line of clothing and eventually a physical shop in the Rondout of Kingston which is many things including her studio, a retails space, an events space, and a community hang out where she’s hosted mending nights, community dinners, a vinyl dj event, artist talks, a clothing swap, a clay building workshop, and recently a floral arranging day.

In addition to tending to her store, she created Hudson Valley Sustainable Fashion Week in 2023. She hosted several events and produced and showed in the first ever HV Sustainable runway show on Rose Hill Farm in Red Hook. It was a collective show, showcasing 7 HV sustainable designers and 4 recent alumni from the Marist Fashion Program. It was a dream and the goal was to highlight designers doing this work in the area and make them known to the public.

Today Kaitlyn shares her journey into fashion and how it shifted over the years, making the leap into its current iteration. We learn about her brand, much of what her line consists of and her process. She educates us about the impact of the fashion industry on both the people charged with making it and the many ways the production of new clothes extracts from and damages our earth and even our own health. She has several upcoming events that she is hosting and otherwise supporting such as a clay handbuilding workshop, a community dinner, a film screening of Fashion Reimagined about doing fashion sustainably, and the big Hudson Valley Sustainable Fashion Week runway show in September.

We end with a little self care chat, and I left feeling inspired and hopeful!

Today’s show was engineered by Ian Seda from Radiokingston.org.

Our show music is from Shana Falana!

Feel free to email me, say hello: she@iwantwhatshehas.org

** Please: SUBSCRIBE to the pod and leave a REVIEW wherever you are listening, it helps other users FIND IT

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325 “Poison Ivy” with Marielena Ferrer

It’s another installment of Spirituality and Politics with Marielena Ferrer. Today we largely speak about her upcoming exhibit, “At Arm’s Length,” where she dives deep into the meaning of Poison Ivy. It’s the second time a friend has built artwork around the plant that so many fear. It conjures an interesting response from most humans and perhaps sheds light on how we can or should respond to a threat, whether real or perceived.

Her show is a part of the MFA thesis exhibitions at the Samuel Dorsky Museum and the opening reception is this Friday, May 17th from [7:30]-9:30pm with additional hours May 17 – 20, 11am-5pm; and May 21, 11am-4pm.

She will be receiving the Artivist award from Arts Mid-Hudson this June 11th for her work advocating for the rights and recognition of immigrants via her Broken Monarchs exhibit.

Marielena is also the new Managing Director at Unison where she will be expanding upon her desire to foster diverse communities through the arts. Stay tuned for exciting things coming from Unison!

Today’s show was engineered by Ian Seda from Radiokingston.org.

Our show music is from Shana Falana!

Feel free to email me, say hello: she@iwantwhatshehas.org

** Please: SUBSCRIBE to the pod and leave a REVIEW wherever you are listening, it helps other users FIND IT

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324 Remembering Sarah Bisceglie, Music of The Goddess Party, New Moon Vibes

Today I am severely under the weather so I postponed my original guest and instead have time to honor a dear friend, Sarah Bisceglie, who took her life last year. In the beginning of the show I share some memories of Sarah who was a beam of love and light with a brilliant mind. She and I worked together to bring gong and reiki healing to many in the Hudson Valley both at the local domestic violence shelter and at my former studio in Kingston. She was a guest on the show back in November of 2018, and it’s a timeless conversation worth revisiting even if you’ve already tuned in.

Her art is being shown this weekend, May 11 and 12 from 10-4pm at The Stable Gallery at 84 Sickler Road, Lake Hill, NY. The gallery is snuck back off the property passed a pond and an open field, but just follow the little signs that say parking and you’ll get there. It’s worth the journey.

For much of the remainder of the show I share music inspired by the recent The Goddess Party performance and finish up with a little New Moon Astrology from Tanaaz over at Forever Conscious.

Here’s the playlist for those who want to enjoy it further.

Love yourself and uplift one another!

Today’s show was engineered by Ian Seda from Radiokingston.org.

Our show music is from Shana Falana!

Feel free to email me, say hello: she@iwantwhatshehas.org

** Please: SUBSCRIBE to the pod and leave a REVIEW wherever you are listening, it helps other users FIND IT

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323 Laura V Ward “Moving the Body and Watching the Mind”

Today on the show I get to speak with Laura Victoria Ward, CMA, RSME, a dancer, choreographer, movement teacher, Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst, musician, painter, consciousness explorer, somanaut, and meditator.

She is the artistic director of Kingston Contemporary Dance Theatre (formerly Octavia Cup Dance Theatre), a multi-disciplinary, multi-generational company. She has been creating dance theater and performing in New York City, the Hudson Valley, and internationally for over 25 years.

She regularly creates and performs with Tonus Maximus and the Glam Rock Cabaret, The Goddess Party, and she is in your grandmother’s punk rock band–a.k.a. Dick Pinchers. Recently, she played Columbia in Rocky Horror Picture Show with R’Ville Stage Creations.

She holds a BA from SUNY Empire State in Dance, Theatre, and Movement Studies and has studied with Irene Dowd, Liz Koch, and Gil Hedley. She studied the Meisner technique with Michael Harney.  Her teaching experience includes Wagner College, Gina Gibney, Dance New Amsterdam, Equinox, Dutchess Community College, Manhattan School of Music, the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies, Cornell Creative Arts Center, and privately. She has received several KCACTF Awards for her choreography at Ramapo College in New Jersey, as have the ensembles she has worked with. Her Ramapo choreography credits include Spring Awakening, Twelfth Night, Urinetown, Church, Ride the Cyclone, and Church.

This year Laura received a Dance Force Choreographer’s Initiative grant (NYSCA) which she is just beginning to work on. She has 2 paintings in a show at the Berkeley Alembic.

She shares her early memories of movement and how her awareness of the body has developed and shaped who she is and the work she does. It’s quite an inspiring conversation as Laura is steeped in body wisdom while being playful and open about how that weaves into her life. We learn about her own practices in both movement and stillness and what she offers to others as their guide. She indulges my questions about toddler movement, the nervous system and truth and offers a short yet powerful practice towards the end of the show. Connect with her via Facebook or Instagram for updates on classes, Dick Pinchers and Tonus Maximus and the Glam Rock Caberet.

You can also check out her YOUTUBE Channel, Somatics with Laura V Ward here!

See you at The Goddess Party performance this Saturday. And here’s the info on costume designer Ramona who we gushed about!

Today’s show was engineered by Ian Seda from Radiokingston.org.

Our show music is from Shana Falana!

Feel free to email me, say hello: she@iwantwhatshehas.org

** Please: SUBSCRIBE to the pod and leave a REVIEW wherever you are listening, it helps other users FIND IT

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322 Preserving Land with Leonora Wiener and Nancy April

Today on the show I get to speak with Nancy April, a ceramicist and master gardener and Leonora Wiener, an executive and career coach. They are both officers of The Pacama, a Conservation Collaborative, Inc., which was established in an effort to preserve the rural character of the Olive, Marbletown, and Rochester communities in Ulster County, New York, by a group of concerned neighbors. The group came together in 2020 to strategize how to protect local wetlands, animal habitat, and native plant species in the face of growing development in the area and insufficient town oversight of that development. They created this non-profit conservation corporation, to hold land in trust, preserve its natural character, and educate the community about the beauty and unique attributes of the area.

​Pacama is the name the Esopus-Munsee band of Mohicans, the native people of this area, gave to the wetland/vly in our community.  For more information about the native people who lived in the area contact the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Tribal Historic Preservation Association. Their motto is “People of the waters are never still.”

Today they share how they were personally impacted by the proposed development in Olive, and what they did to limit the size of the development so that it was aligned with the needs and preservation of the natural environment, from letter writing, to attending planning board and town board meetings to filing an Article 78 Petition following the town’s negative declaration of an environmental impact. Through their combined expertise, dedication and successful fundraising, they eventually came to an agreement with the developers to purchase a portion of the land. They formed Pacama as a non-profit organization to hold this land as “forever wild” for the benefit of the larger community, and the environment, which so desperately needs protection.

Not only was this a timely conversation aligned with Earth Day and an ever increasing need for us to take better care of our earth, but it was also a story of a community coming together successfully to work on a solution to a collective problem. Something we could also use more of in my humble opinion.

I mentioned towards the end of the show an Art Exhibit honoring the art and life of Sarah Bisceglie, a dear friend and past guest who passed last year. Opening reception happening May 4th from 3-6pm at the Stable Gallery.

And here’s the info on The Goddess Party performance also happening on May 4th at 7:30 pm.

Finally, here’s the Full Moon Report.

Today’s show was engineered by Ian Seda from Radiokingston.org.

Our show music is from Shana Falana!

Feel free to email me, say hello: she@iwantwhatshehas.org

** Please: SUBSCRIBE to the pod and leave a REVIEW wherever you are listening, it helps other users FIND IT

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321 Amy Daughters “Connecting Through Handwritten Letters”

Today on the show I get to welcome, Amy Daughters, a lauded Award-Winning Author and dynamic Keynote Speaker, who
envisions unity in diversity, where our disparities intertwine as bonds rather than divisions. By revitalizing the age-old art of handwritten letters, she revives human connections in an increasingly digital age. Infused with wit and humor. Amy draws from her experience crafting 580 handwritten letters to all her Facebook friends, illuminating the path to profound connections
in the unlikeliest corners. With acclaimed works like “Dear Dana” and “You Cannot Mess This Up,” Amy inspires others to embrace vulnerability, proving that genuine kinship thrives even in unexpected spheres.

Today she shares the compelling story about reconnecting with a childhood camp friend through handwritten letters and how that changed the trajectory of her life from writing 580 of her Facebook “friends” letters to learning the art of connecting despite our perceived and even real differences. Her ability to convey the magic in her lived experience is truly contagious. She emphasizes how you do not need to be a writer to write letters, and encourages everyone to try it at least once to see how it may impact themselves or another.

Here’s the Tarot Card reading I shared from Nikki Fogerty.

I end today’s show with a little self care talk with my Mom!

Today’s show was engineered by Ian Seda from Radiokingston.org.

Our show music is from Shana Falana!

Feel free to email me, say hello: she@iwantwhatshehas.org

** Please: SUBSCRIBE to the pod and leave a REVIEW wherever you are listening, it helps other users FIND IT

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320 “The Eclipse Show” with Marielena Ferrer

Woo hoo, it’s a solar eclipse, a partial one at least, and we’re broadcasting live from outside the radio station having some fun talking about what the eclipse has meant to others, means to us, might mean to you, and how Marielena spent the last full solar eclipse.

New Moon Solar Eclipse Blessings to YOU!

Big thanks to the Radio Kingston Tech Team, Carrie, Eli, Bern and Daniel for making it happen!

Today’s show was engineered by Ian Seda from Radiokingston.org.

Our show music is from Shana Falana!

Feel free to email me, say hello: she@iwantwhatshehas.org

** Please: SUBSCRIBE to the pod and leave a REVIEW wherever you are listening, it helps other users FIND IT

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