Break The Boxes

World's greatest friend, full-time father, and son of New York Times best selling author and renowned astrologer Linda Goodman, Michael Goodman -- affectionately known as Uncle Moe --  reflects on his life growing up in New York City with Jewish heritage, the importance of cultivating one's memory, addressing childhood trauma, transforming fear into motivation, breaking cycles of poverty and the power of friendship. #breaktheboxes

2x Author, Master of Capoeira Angola with 30 years experience, and Founder of Bantu Cultural Institute, Mestre Roxinho, sits with Azmera to discuss his newest book "Ginga of Resilience". He offers a new narrative approach on the dialogue of the body, memory of the body and ways we overcome trauma and build resilience to empower young people through Capoeira Angola. For anyone curious about how Capoeira serves as an education tool for psycho-social-emotional development, you're in for a treat! Capoeira has always been a tool of social change, but decision makers in power don't always recognize its significance in Brazil and abroad. Mestre Roxhino breaks it down for us on this episode!

IG: @bantu.brasil / https://www.instagram.com/bantu.brasil/?hl=en

Show theme music by: Dennis Ojogho

This special episode is a collaboration between Brazil Culture Connections and Break The Boxes Stories. Jamie Lee Andreson, Ph.D. cohosts with Azmera Hammouri-Davis, MTS, who interviews her original Capoeira instructor, Cleber Sousa de Santos, Mestre Peti. Mestre Peti is a father, brother and an international master of Capoeira who's taken his craft from his home city of Salvador da Bahia to various parts of the world over the last three decades. Azmera began learning from Mestre Peti when she was seven years old in Pompano Beach, Florida, and has continued to learn from him ever since. Mestre Peti founded the Bantos Cultural Capoeira School in 2020, having trained over 6,000 students respectively. He describes the cultural importance of using Capoeira as a vehicle for social change in the community of Cosme de Farias, and the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual discipline Capoeira cultivates. Azmera reflects on the historical significance of this Afro-Brazilian martial art, and how Capoeira has provided her with “fruits of the spirit” through a powerful community around the world committed to social transformation.

#breaktheboxes 

Learn more about: Brasil Culture Connections

Award-winning author, poet, activist anthropologist, former president of Shaw University and leadership guru, Dr. Irma McClaurin, sits down with Azmera to discuss the significance of the Irma McClaurin Black Feminist Archive (BFA), unpack the gaps in archival representation that birthed this project, and highlight the importance of preserving Black women's cultural, political and intellectual contributions amid systemic erasure. #breaktheboxes |

Website: http://irmamcclaurin.com

Authors/books/articles/orgs mentioned:

• Zora Neale Hurston
• CiteBlackWomen Collective, Podcast Featuring Dr. Irma McClaurin
• "Curating History" by Janelle Hobson in Ms. Magazine
• James Baldwin "The Fire Next Time"
• FollowTheKEEPERS
• FreshBoldSoDef Initiative
• Hip Hop's Feminist Herstory & Future: How Women Break The Boxes of Gender Norms Globally by Azmera Hammouri-Davis

Healer (Okomfo), Mother, Human Rights + Racial Justice Advocate and Co-Director of Ohemma Ku (Queen’s Society), Nana Akomfo Akosua Reed, offers insight into the Akan tradition of the Akom Religion from Ghana, discusses how reconnecting with one's spirit through the practice of obedience supports mental health, and reflects on the gifts of wisdom granted in motherhood.

Quotables:

"God speaks to us in the language that we understand" - Nana Akosua

Song:

• I Am Light by India Arie

Books:

• "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa" by Walter Rodney
• "Wretched of The Earth" by Franz Fanon
• "For Brown Girls With Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts" by Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodriguez

Scholar, Kuumba Singer and PhD Candidate at Harvard University, Pamela Nwakanma, shares her motivation behind pursuing a professional career in academia as a first-generation grad student, her research on gender and political behavior in Nigeria, the value of theory when rooted in lived experiences, and what she’s discovered in the process of embracing all of who she is becoming.

Resources:

• Ronald McNair Scholars Program

Quotable's:

"How can I marry what I'm learning in the classroom with what I'm hearing in the streets?" - Pamela Nwakanma

"Theory gives language to an observed phenomenon" - Pamela Nwakanma

Music:

Voice of God by Maverick City Music ft. Chandler Moore

Writing:

• Whose Lives Really Matter? 

Contact Pamela:

[email protected]

Cambridge based Singer-Songwriter, Choreographer, Youth Educator and Founder of Soca Fusion LLC, Ms. Ella, discusses how her artistry has helped heal her inner child as an adoptee, the value of prioritizing joy in ones relationship with Self, naming ones needs in the practice of personal accountability, and the meaning behind her most recent music videos "They Wanna Know", "Tell Me How" and "Needing You". 

#breaktheboxes | breaktheboxes.org/btbstories | [email protected]

View Ms. Ella's visual work:

Tell Me How: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoJvPegBi6M

They Wanna Know: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txkhuw3LhRc

Needing You: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqodzXDlHBs

Mental Health Advocate + Author, Personal Finance Speaker, and Founder of Dear Athletes, Cristin Dent, shares the inspiration behind her new book Firehead: Poetry For Athletes. She reflects on the importance of rest, cultivating the courage to turn breakdowns into breakthroughs while a graduate student at USC, healing from generational trauma, and financial tips for saving and building wealth. Learn more about Dear Athletes here: The Dear Athletes Foundation and check out Cristin in Voyage LA. 

#breaktheboxes | breaktheboxes.org/btbstories @breaktheboxes

Books mentioned:

* bell hooks All About Love

* Paulo Freire Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Movement Artist, Entrepreneur and Founder of Only An Image virtual Yoga Studio, Katrina Sarah Miller, shares candidly about her journey with breaking the boxes of deficit thinking, allowing oneself to embrace the uncertainty of life as an artist, activating choice and finding faith in the process, learning to identify the takeaways for personal development, and standing in the truth of prioritizing one's mental health to enhance your creative and professional journey.

#breaktheboxes visit: breaktheboxes.org/btbstories to rate + share today!

Music: Hu man by Greentea Peng, Play by Alewya

Resources

* Katrina on def poetry

* Still I Rise by Maya Angelou

Organizer, Curator and Director of Institutional Advancement at The Shabazz Center in Harlem, New York, Najha-Zigbi Johnson shares deep insights into the importance of being in right relationship with self + the world, opening oneself up to ancestral calling, and healing practices that can help one #breaktheboxes of structural oppression to live into the fullness of our humanity. 

Learn more: breaktheboxes.org/btbstories, theshabazzcenter.org #breaktheboxes

books mentioned:

bell hooks "all above love"

Mariame Kaba "fumbling toward repair"

adrienne marie-brown "emergent strategy"