Haiti Cherie is one of the first melodies I grew up with, sprinkled in the handful songs my dad would string for us on his guitar. Looking back I think he was trying to teach us how to love Haiti through his own memories, music as the medium. Now, I hear  it is a diasporic love song to Haiti. “The most beautiful land in the world” that continues to exist as such in our collective memories across the oceans. It is a longing for a country that we always meant to return to, that most of us can’t. Through this song, I was  taught how to miss home. 

As I continue to grow up this song now holds my own memories: of sitting in the living room watching my dad strum and my sister sing; of singing over my uncle at his funeral reminding him that the country he chose loves him too; of humming the melody under my breath as the plane touches down in port-au-prince; of my grandmothers kitchen; of my uncles jokes; of  winds that carry the taste of sea and sound of laughter. 

As I mature into my own self this longing for Haiti has begun to find its own meaning in my body. Next to my queerness, my americannes, the web of feelings this work is a process of untangling, the echoes of [memory] [imagination] this work is my practice of listening [with] [for].

by Zami

In this episode, Diovanna and L’au chat about the role of dance in Diovanna’s gender realization journey, the impact of her spiritual practice and Dominican cultural heritage in her art, and the power held by matriarchs both in the ballroom scene and Orisha traditions. 

Diovanna (she/her) is a New York-based, Afro-latinx artist, poet, choreographer, filmmaker, and Orisha Priestess, You can find her on Instagram and twitter @ladiovanna, her botanica @ labotimunequita.com , and her short film, When We Arrive as Flowers, on vimeo at vimeo.com/840442584.

Music by: Jesediah

Host & Production by: L'au

Twitter & Instagram: @secondgenders 

Email: [email protected]

In this episode, Thokozani walks Laurie through his many homes, the importance of his ancestral memory to his gender, and the way that his un-gendering has brought him closer to the pieces of Malawi that he carries forward. 

Thokozani(he/him) is a nosey researcher by day and an ancestor-summoning poet/writer by night. His creative work explores existing and becoming in the murky confusion that lies between. When not writing, Thokozani can be found frolicking in sunflower fields, hula-hooping, or eating copious amounts of pizza. Find him on twitter @writtenbyflora and more through his website www.floratry.com

Learn more about SomewhereGood and how you can get the app at www.somewheregood.com

Music by: Jesediah

Host & Production by: Laurie

Twitter & Instagram: @secondgenders 

Email: [email protected]

Venmo & Cashapp: @afroqueeribbean

In this episode, Laurie and zion talk through the journey of diverging and coming back to cultural understandings of self, the archetypes and genders of The Mother, the languages we find recognition through, and the languages that welcome us home.

zion (they/them) is a lover, crier, cook, wannabe gardener, and 100% trans fatty located in Baltimore, md. Find them on twitter @mt_mmzion or on IG @zioncooks.we_eat or @onyx_marketbaltimore 

Music by: Jesediah @jezmakesmusic

Host & Production by: Laurie

Twitter & Instagram: @secondgenders 

Email: [email protected]

Support the Show! Venmo & Cashapp: @afroqueeribbean

Join Laurie and J’oseph as they chat about the possibility of self as an offering to family, friendships as portals to love, and what a return to ancestral land feels like in the wake of generational displacement. 

Liberian by way of Minneapolis, J’oseph Capehart is a poet and educator committed to pushing the needle where they can and flipping the table where they must. Black, queer, and concerned with freedom, they teach 7th-grade students in Brooklyn and nurture The Garden Abolitionist Bookstore & Community Well with their neighbors. IG: @okjsph & @abolitionisagarden
 

Music by: Jesediah @jezmakesmusic  

Interviewer & Production: Laurie

Twitter & Instagram: @secondgenders

Email: [email protected]