Art and Faith Unplugged

artandfaithunplugged.com](https://www.artandfaithunplugged.com/)

When it seems like too many things are falling apart and too many people are being too terrible, it’s easy to become too hopeless, too discouraged, and too angry. Instead of complaining and raging about the church's failures, the government's failures, and everyone else's failures, we can focus more on things like art and faith that help us navigate the joys and pains of everyday life.

Art matters because it helps us belong to ourselves, others, God, and the world. Art and Faith Unplugged and its host Charlotte Donlon make space for conversations and writing that explore how art deepens our belongings and the ways art intersects with faith, doubt, and mystery.

Welcome. We hope Art and Faith Unplugged helps you notice the ways art and faith help you flourish and belong.

Visit artandfaithunplugged.com for the show notes for this episode, essays, articles, and news about art, faith, and belonging.

Ashley M. Jones and Kaveh Akbar join Charlotte for a conversation about Ashley's newest book of poems, Reparations Now!, which is available now wherever books are sold. Ashley and Kaveh discuss a few of Ashley's poems from Reparations Now! and explore how poems and writing poetry help us belong to ourselves, others, God, and the world. Also, thunder makes several appearances, which is pretty cool.

Learn more about Ashley, her work, and her writing at https://ashleymjonespoetry.com/

Learn more about Kaveh, his work, and his writing at http://kavehakbar.com/

_More about Art and Faith Unplugged's host: Charlotte Donlon is a writer, a certified spiritual director for writers at Writing Life Spiritual Direction, and host of Art and Faith Unplugged. Charlotte’s writing and work are rooted in noticing how art helps us belong to ourselves, others, God, and the world. Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Curator, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Catapult, The Millions, Mockingbird, and elsewhere. Her first book is The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other. You can subscribe to her newsletter and connect with her on Twitter and Instagram.

artandfaithunplugged.com

When it seems like too many things are falling apart and too many people are being too terrible, it’s easy to become too hopeless, too discouraged, and too angry. Instead of complaining and raging about the church's failures, the government's failures, and everyone else's failures, we can focus more on things like art and faith that help us navigate the joys and pains of everyday life.

Art matters because it helps us belong to ourselves, others, God, and the world. Art and Faith Unplugged and its host Charlotte Donlon make space for conversations and writing that explore how art deepens our belongings and the ways art intersects with faith, doubt, and mystery.

Welcome. We hope Art and Faith Unplugged helps you notice the ways art and faith help you flourish and belong.

Visit artandfaithunplugged.com for the show notes, essays, articles, and news about art, faith, and belonging.

In this episode, Art and Faith Unplugged host Charlotte Donlon provides an update on the Art and Faith Unplugged podcast and website that includes the latest news and information about some new contemplative resources that have been added to artandfaithunplugged.com.

Links to websites and resources mentioned in this episode:

_More about Art and Faith Unplugged's host: Charlotte Donlon is a writer, a certified spiritual director for writers at Writing Life Spiritual Direction, and host of Art and Faith Unplugged. Charlotte’s writing and work are rooted in noticing how art helps us belong to ourselves, others, God, and the world. Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Curator, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Catapult, The Millions, Mockingbird, and elsewhere. Her first book is The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other. You can subscribe to her newsletter and connect with her on Twitter and Instagram.

artandfaithunplugged.com

When it seems like too many things are falling apart and too many people are being too terrible, it’s easy to become too hopeless, too discouraged, and too angry. Instead of complaining and raging about the church's failures, the government's failures, and everyone else's failures, we can focus more on things like art and faith that help us navigate the joys and pains of everyday life.

Art matters because it helps us belong to ourselves, others, God, and the world. Art and Faith Unplugged and its host Charlotte Donlon make space for conversations and writing that explore how art deepens our belongings and the ways art intersects with faith, doubt, and mystery.

Welcome. We hope Art and Faith Unplugged helps you notice the ways art and faith help you flourish and belong.

Visit artandfaithunplugged.com for the show notes for this episode, essays, articles, and news about art, faith, and belonging.

Kaveh Akbar and Ashley M. Jones joined Charlotte for a conversation about Kaveh’s newest book of poems, _Pilgrim Bell _which is available now wherever books are sold. Kaveh and Ashley discuss a few of Kaveh’s poems from Pilgrim Bell, explore how poems help us feel connected to our loved ones who have died, share what it’s like to write about their parents, and more. The three also discussed how writing and reading help us belong to ourselves, others, the world, and the divine.

Learn more about Kaveh, his work, and his writing at http://kavehakbar.com/

_More about Art and Faith Unplugged's host: Charlotte Donlon is a writer, a certified spiritual director for writers at Writing Life Spiritual Direction, and host of Art and Faith Unplugged. Charlotte’s writing and work are rooted in noticing how art helps us belong to ourselves, others, God, and the world. Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Curator, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Catapult, The Millions, Mockingbird, and elsewhere. Her first book is The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other. You can subscribe to her newsletter and connect with her on Twitter and Instagram.

artandfaithunplugged.com

When it seems like too many things are falling apart and too many people are being too terrible, it’s easy to become too hopeless, too discouraged, and too angry. Instead of complaining and raging about the church's failures, the government's failures, and everyone else's failures, we can focus more on things like art and faith that help us navigate the joys and pains of everyday life.

Art matters because it helps us belong to ourselves, others, God, and the world. Art and Faith Unplugged and its host Charlotte Donlon make space for conversations and writing that explore how art deepens our belongings and the ways art intersects with faith, doubt, and mystery.

Welcome. We hope Art and Faith Unplugged helps you notice the ways art and faith help you flourish and belong.

Visit artandfaithunplugged.com for the show notes for this episode, essays, articles, and news about art, faith, and belonging.

Kaveh Akbar and Ashley M. Jones joined Charlotte for a conversation about Kaveh’s newest book of poems, _Pilgrim Bell _which is available now wherever books are sold. Kaveh and Ashley discuss a few of Kaveh’s poems from Pilgrim Bell, explore how poems help us feel connected to our loved ones who have died, share what it’s like to write about their parents, and more. The three also discussed how writing and reading help us belong to ourselves, others, the world, and the divine.

Learn more about Kaveh, his work, and his writing at http://kavehakbar.com/

_More about Art and Faith Unplugged's host: Charlotte Donlon is a writer, a certified spiritual director for writers at Writing Life Spiritual Direction, and host of Art and Faith Unplugged. Charlotte’s writing and work are rooted in noticing how art helps us belong to ourselves, others, God, and the world. Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Curator, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Catapult, The Millions, Mockingbird, and elsewhere. Her first book is The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other. You can subscribe to her newsletter and connect with her on Twitter and Instagram.

artandfaithunplugged.com

When it seems like too many things are falling apart and too many people are being too terrible, it’s easy to become too hopeless, too discouraged, and too angry. Instead of complaining and raging about the church's failures, the government's failures, and everyone else's failures, we can focus more on things like art and faith that help us navigate the joys and pains of everyday life.

Art matters because it helps us belong to ourselves, others, God, and the world. Art and Faith Unplugged and its host Charlotte Donlon make space for conversations and writing that explore how art deepens our belongings and the ways art intersects with faith, doubt, and mystery.

Welcome. We hope Art and Faith Unplugged helps you notice the ways art and faith help you flourish and belong.

Visit artandfaithunplugged.com for essays, articles, and news about art, faith, and belonging.

In this third episode with Chandra White-Cummings, Charlotte Donlon and Chandra discuss ways films, TV shows, and actors help Chandra feel less alone and how those who make art should engage different forms of art. Chandra also talks about the healing power of laughter and joy that comes from watching shows like Queen Sugar and Black-ish. Charlotte also gives a shoutout to Blaire Erskine and her hilarious Instagram videos. Chandra also talks about the ways Black women are inspiring her in her creative work.

Chandra White-Cummings is a writer, editor, and founder of CWC Media Group and Transforming Justice™, a learning cohort on issues of racial justice. She is a certified trauma healing group facilitator and trainer with the American Bible Society’s Trauma Healing Institute, and covers adult trauma healing, healing for caregivers, sexual assault survivors, and generational trauma healing between Black and white America. She has two young adult sons and lives in Virginia. You can connect with her on Twitter at @ChandraWC.

CWC Media Group

A Few Articles by Chandra White-Cummings

Congressional Caucus On Black Women And Girls Must Include Work On Mental Health To Offer Real Hope

Black Stress Needs Black Action

_More about Art and Faith Unplugged's host: Charlotte Donlon is a writer, a certified spiritual director for writers at Writing Life Spiritual Direction, and host of Art and Faith Unplugged. Charlotte’s writing and work are rooted in noticing how art helps us belong to ourselves, others, God, and the world. Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Curator, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Catapult, The Millions, Mockingbird, and elsewhere. Her first book is The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other. You can subscribe to her newsletter and connect with her on Twitter and Instagram.

artandfaithunplugged.com

When it seems like too many things are falling apart and too many people are being too terrible, it’s easy to become too hopeless, too discouraged, and too angry. Instead of complaining and raging about the church's failures, the government's failures, and everyone else's failures, we can focus more on things like art and faith that help us navigate the joys and pains of everyday life.

Art matters because it helps us belong to ourselves, others, God, and the world. Art and Faith Unplugged and its host Charlotte Donlon make space for conversations and writing that explore how art deepens our belongings and the ways art intersects with faith, doubt, and mystery.

Welcome. We hope Art and Faith Unplugged helps you notice the ways art and faith help you flourish and belong.

Visit artandfaithunplugged.com for essays, articles, and news about art, faith, and belonging.

In this second episode of Art and Faith Unplugged with Chandra White-Cummings, Charlotte Donlon and Chandra discuss different ways art affects Chandra and her writing and her other work as a trauma healing facilitator and trainer. They also discuss some of the ways art and faith intersect in her trauma work with Black women.

Chandra White-Cummings is a writer, editor, and founder of CWC Media Group and Transforming Justice™, a learning cohort on issues of racial justice. She is a certified trauma healing group facilitator and trainer with the American Bible Society’s Trauma Healing Institute, and covers adult trauma healing, healing for caregivers, sexual assault survivors, and generational trauma healing between Black and white America. She has two young adult sons and lives in Virginia. You can connect with her on Twitter at @ChandraWC.

CWC Media Group

A Few Articles by Chandra White-Cummings

Congressional Caucus On Black Women And Girls Must Include Work On Mental Health To Offer Real Hope

Black Stress Needs Black Action

_More about Art and Faith Unplugged's host: Charlotte Donlon is a writer, a certified spiritual director for writers at Writing Life Spiritual Direction, and host of Art and Faith Unplugged. Charlotte’s writing and work are rooted in noticing how art helps us belong to ourselves, others, God, and the world. Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Curator, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Catapult, The Millions, Mockingbird, and elsewhere. Her first book is The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other. You can subscribe to her newsletter and connect with her on Twitter and Instagram.

artandfaithunplugged.com

When it seems like too many things are falling apart and too many people are being too terrible, it’s easy to become too hopeless, too discouraged, and too angry. Instead of complaining and raging about the church's failures, the government's failures, and everyone else's failures, we can focus more on things like art and faith that help us navigate the joys and pains of everyday life.

Art matters because it helps us belong to ourselves, others, God, and the world. Art and Faith Unplugged and its host Charlotte Donlon make space for conversations and writing that explore how art deepens our belongings and the ways art intersects with faith, doubt, and mystery.

Welcome. We hope Art and Faith Unplugged helps you notice the ways art and faith help you flourish and belong.

Visit artandfaithunplugged.com for essays, articles, and news about art, faith, and belonging.

In this first Art and Faith Unplugged episode with Chandra White-Cummings, host Charlotte Donlon and Chandra discuss racism in Christian publishing. Chandra asks several questions for those inside the Christian publishing spaces to consider, and for the rest of us to consider, too.

Chandra White-Cummings is a writer, editor, and founder of CWC Media Group and Transforming Justice™, a learning cohort on issues of racial justice. She is a certified trauma healing group facilitator and trainer with the American Bible Society’s Trauma Healing Institute, and covers adult trauma healing, healing for caregivers, sexual assault survivors, and generational trauma healing between Black and white America. She has two young adult sons and lives in Virginia. You can connect with her on Twitter at @ChandraWC.

CWC Media Group

A Few Articles by Chandra White-Cummings

Congressional Caucus On Black Women And Girls Must Include Work On Mental Health To Offer Real Hope

Black Stress Needs Black Action

_More about Art and Faith Unplugged's host: Charlotte Donlon is a writer, a certified spiritual director for writers at Writing Life Spiritual Direction, and host of Art and Faith Unplugged. Charlotte’s writing and work are rooted in noticing how art helps us belong to ourselves, others, God, and the world. Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Curator, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Catapult, The Millions, Mockingbird, and elsewhere. Her first book is The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other. You can subscribe to her newsletter and connect with her on Twitter and Instagram.

artandfaithunplugged.com

When it seems like too many things are falling apart and too many people are being too terrible, it’s easy to become too hopeless, too discouraged, and too angry. Instead of complaining and raging about the church's failures, the government's failures, and everyone else's failures, we can focus more on things like art and faith that help us navigate the joys and pains of everyday life.

Art matters because it helps us belong to ourselves, others, God, and the world. Art and Faith Unplugged and its host Charlotte Donlon make space for conversations and writing that explore how art deepens our belongings and the ways art intersects with faith, doubt, and mystery.

Welcome. We hope Art and Faith Unplugged helps you notice the ways art and faith help you flourish and belong.

Visit artandfaithunplugged.com for essays, articles, and news about art, faith, and belonging.

In this episode of Art and Faith Unplugged, Charlotte Donlon talks to Catherine Ricketts about mothering and making art and how each of those things affect the other. An essay Ricketts wrote for the Ploughshares website is one jumping off point for their conversation. That piece is "The Maternal Vision of Leslie Jamison and Marilynne Robinson." They also discuss the artwork of Alice Neel and Becky Suss, why mother artists inspire Cat's creative work, and more.

More links from this episode:

About Becky Suss

Suss has work in New Grit: Art & Philly Now, on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through August 22

About Alice Neel

Alice Neel: People Come First, on view at the Met through August 1

Cat's website, where you can subscribe to newsletter

Catherine Ricketts is an essayist and songwriter based in Philadelphia. Her literary nonfiction about the arts, grief and joy, and spirituality appears on the Ploughshares blog, in Image Journal, The Millions, Paste, and NPR-affiliate The Key, and is forthcoming in The Christian Century. Concurrent with her own writing, she has maintained a vibrant career in the arts and is passionate about nurturing the work of other artists, whether by writing about them, commissioning new work, or producing performances. She is currently at work on two books of nonfiction, one about grief and beauty, the other about motherhood and artistic practice. Find her on Instagram at @bycatherinericketts, where she hosts the semiweekly "IG Live Lullaby," or on the web at www.catherinedanaricketts.com.

_More about Art and Faith Unplugged's host: Charlotte Donlon is a writer, a certified spiritual director for writers at Writing Life Spiritual Direction, and host of Art and Faith Unplugged. Charlotte’s writing and work are rooted in noticing how art helps us belong to ourselves, others, God, and the world. Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Curator, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Catapult, The Millions, Mockingbird, and elsewhere. Her first book is The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other. You can subscribe to her newsletter and connect with her on Twitter and Instagram.

artandfaithunplugged.com

When it seems like too many things are falling apart and too many people are being too terrible, it’s easy to become too hopeless, too discouraged, and too angry. Instead of complaining and raging about the church's failures, the government's failures, and everyone else's failures, we can focus more on things like art and faith that help us navigate the joys and pains of everyday life.

Art matters because it helps us belong to ourselves, others, God, and the world. Art and Faith Unplugged and its host Charlotte Donlon make space for conversations and writing that explore how art deepens our belongings and the ways art intersects with faith, doubt, and mystery.

Welcome. We hope Art and Faith Unplugged helps you notice the ways art and faith help you flourish and belong.

Visit artandfaithunplugged.com for essays, articles, and news about art, faith, and belonging.

Charlotte Donlon talks to Delvyn Case about some of the ways Jesus shows up in popular music. They discuss rap, punk, and country music artists and how Jesus is acknowledged in their music. Delvyn wrote an article for Sojourner's magazine in October 2020 titled "JESUS SHOWS UP IN DISCOS, HONKY-TONKS, BLUES BARS, AND STRIP CLUBS." This article was the jumping off point for this podcast episode. If you subscribe to Sojourner's you can read it here, but it's not required reading for you to listen to this episode.

Black hip-hop scholars recommend by Delvyn: Ebony Utley, Anthony Pinn, Michael Eric Dyson, Tricia Rose

Links to Delvyn's writing are here: https://www.delvyncase.com/writing

More on Deus Ex Musica: https://www.deus-ex-musica.com/

Delvyn Case is a musician, writer, scholar, and educator based in Boston. He is a composer of classical concert music whose work often explores themes from the Christian tradition, as well as a scholar of popular music. He writes about the intersections of music and religion for both academic and general audiences, including on his Patheos blog “Alleluia: Music and the Christian Life.” He is the founder of Deus Ex Musica, an ecumenical organization that promotes sacred music as a resource for learning and faith formation. He teaches at Wheaton College in Massachusetts – which, ironically, is a secular institution unrelated to the Wheaton College in Illinois.

_More about Art and Faith Unplugged's host: Charlotte Donlon is a writer, a certified spiritual director for writers at Writing Life Spiritual Direction, and host of Art and Faith Unplugged. Charlotte’s writing and work are rooted in noticing how art helps us belong to ourselves, others, God, and the world. Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Curator, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Catapult, The Millions, Mockingbird, and elsewhere. Her first book is The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other. You can subscribe to her newsletter and connect with her on Twitter and Instagram.

artandfaithunplugged.com

When it seems like too many things are falling apart and too many people are being too terrible, it’s easy to become too hopeless, too discouraged, and too angry. Instead of complaining and raging about the church's failures, the government's failures, and everyone else's failures, we can focus more on things like art and faith that help us navigate the joys and pains of everyday life.

Art matters because it helps us belong to ourselves, others, God, and the world. Art and Faith Unplugged and its host Charlotte Donlon make space for conversations and writing that explore how art deepens our belongings and the ways art intersects with faith, doubt, and mystery.

Welcome. We hope Art and Faith Unplugged helps you notice the ways art and faith help you flourish and belong.

Visit artandfaithunplugged.com for essays, articles, and news about art, faith, and belonging.

In this episode, Charlotte Donlon talks to poet Ashley M. Jones about her writing life, her faith, and more.

Ashley M. Jones holds an MFA in Poetry from Florida International University, and she is the author of Magic City Gospel (Hub City Press 2017), dark / / thing (Pleiades Press 2019), and_ REPARATIONS NOW! (Hub City Press 2021). Her poetry has earned several awards, including the Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers Award, the Silver Medal in the Independent Publishers Book Awards, the Lena-Miles Wever Todd Prize for Poetry, a Literature Fellowship from the Alabama State Council on the Arts, the Lucille Clifton Poetry Prize, and the Lucille Clifton Legacy Award. She was a finalist for the Ruth Lily Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship in 2020. Her poems and essays appear in or are forthcoming at _CNN, POETRY, The Oxford American, Origins Journal, The Quarry by Split This Rock, Obsidian, and many others. She teaches at the Alabama School of Fine Arts, she co-directs PEN Birmingham, and she is the founding director of the Magic City Poetry Festival. She currently serves as the O’Neal Library’s Lift Every Voice Scholar and as a guest editor for Poetry Magazine.

Ashley's Website

A Few of Ashley's Upcoming Events and Readings

LIFT EVERY VOICE: THE POET IN YOU (Tuesday, February, 23, 2021)

University of Missouri Visiting Writers Series (Thursday, February 25, 2021)

Links to Ashley's Books

dark / / thing

Magic City Gospel

A Few of Ashley's Poems She Read During This Episode

My Grandfather Returns as Oil

Links to Some of Ashley's Essays:

When God Calls My Name

Magic City Poetry Festival

_More about Art and Faith Unplugged's host: Charlotte Donlon is a writer, a certified spiritual director for writers at Writing Life Spiritual Direction, and host of Art and Faith Unplugged. Charlotte’s writing and work are rooted in noticing how art helps us belong to ourselves, others, God, and the world. Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Curator, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Catapult, The Millions, Mockingbird, and elsewhere. Her first book is The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other. You can subscribe to her newsletter and connect with her on Twitter and Instagram.