Jess Whetsel is a poet, writer, editor, and public speaker based in Toledo, Ohio on Erie, Kickapoo, Seneca, and Odawa land. Her poetry has appeared in many literary journals, including Tulip Tree Review, Discretionary Love, and Sage Cigarettes. Her first collection of poetry, A SOFTER KIND OF AUDACITY, debuts on December 1, 2023. You can learn more about Whetsel and her work on her website, www.jesswhetsel.com, or by following her Instagram, @jesswhetselwrites.

A Softer Kind of Audacity
BOOK RELEASE:  Friday Dec. 1 

www.jesswhetsel.com

https://substack.com/@jesswhetsel

IG @jesswhetselwrites

BOOK DESCRIPTION 

A Softer Kind of Audacity is an unflinching self-examination. Author Jess Whetsel’s poetry debut is “a book is for the little girl with wild curls and a poem in her heart; the teenager who scribbled lyrics in her notebook like her life depended on it; the twenty-something who swallowed her voice and didn’t think she’d ever write again; and the woman who finally came home to her poetry, her voice, herself.” Exploring themes of queerness, mental health, and generational trauma, Whetsel opens the door wide and invites everyone in.

From identity falling in ineffable teenage love to mid-life polyamory, Whetsel does not turn away from the truth.

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Kate Mapother  is the author of two poetry collections, Tell Me You Hear the Riot and carved. She has been published in the lit mag kerning / a space for words, and the book Signs & Symbols of Our Ancestors. She lives in Tucson, in a little adobe at the bottom of a canyon with her dog Riggins.

Books

C A R V E D 

Tell Me You Hear the Riot 

IG/Threads: https://www.instagram.com/brightenuff/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KateMapother 

SubStack: https://katemapother.substack.com

Episode Mentions: Tricia Hersey The Nap Ministry and Rest is Resistance. 

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In 1988, an explosion killed six Kansas City firefighters. Closure Is Not Justice is a public art project drawing attention to the 1988 explosion, and the public campaign that generated false testimony among residents in the Marlborough neighborhood, turning neighbor against neighbor, all for the sake of closure.

Closure Is Not Justice Exhibition Opening - Friday, September 1
 Vulpes Bastille gallery in the Crossroads, KC.

Andrew Johnson is an author, essayist, and artist living in Kansas City, Missouri. His work has appeared in The Sun, Image, Commonweal, Crazyhorse, and elsewhere, and he is the author of two books: The Thread and On Earth As It Is. He is the recipient of a Charlotte Street Foundation residency, a Rocket Grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation, an ArtsKC Inspiration grant, a Vermont Studio Center residency, and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship.

Closure Is Not Justice https://www.closureisnotjustice.com/

Andrew’s Substack https://thethread.substack.com/p/closure-is-not-justice?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Andrew’s website https://www.andrewmichaeljohnson.com/

FB: andrewjohnsonkc / IG: andrew.johnson.kc


Seasoned and fresh-faced artists (of every genre) discuss how to make creativity work within the complexities and challenges of adult life. Confessing Animals podcast co-hosts Jen Harris + Vanessa Aricco, both working writers, unveil the secrets and struggles of creative living in a rapid fire capitalist society. One guest at a time, Jen + Vanessa ask, How Does Your Life Translate to Art?

Intro and music by Ashley Raines https://www.ashleyrainesmusic.com/

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On endings and new beginnings 

On disappearing 

On completely changing your personality, or learning to speak at a lower volume without the word f**k

7 of Cups from Rachel True's True Heart Intuitive Tarot deck

High Vibe, Choice, options, dream states, luxury, intuition, reflection, meditation

https://truehearttarot.com/

Ram Dass Here and Now Podcast 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ram-dass-here-and-now/id518366323

https://open.spotify.com/show/3Dz4DL2ZMvnNQUnDSXqSdm?si=f07d2ea84ab142dc

Intro and all music on previous episodes by Ashley Raines 

https://www.ashleyrainesmusic.com/


Find Jen Harris at the Writing Workshop KC, online and in person
https://www.writingworkshopkc.com/

Vanessa's hanging on Substack at Death Bore Beauty
https://deathborebeauty.substack.com/

Seasoned and fresh-faced artists (of every genre) discuss how to make creativity work within the complexities and challenges of adult life. Co-hosts Jen Harris + Vanessa Aricco, both working writers, unveil the secrets and struggles of creative living in a rapid fire Capitalist society. One guest at a time, Jen + Vanessa ask, How Does Your Life Translate to Art?


P.S. I, Vanessa, hate the word "creatives" and I didn't mean to use it so much. Art, artists, writers, people, "creatives" barf, it's a marketing term that doesn't apply to the kind of work we are exploring here. <3

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In light of the impending overturn of Roe v Wade, Vanessa & Jen attended the Planned Parenthood Rally: BANS OFF OUR BODIES on May 14, 2022 at Mill Creek Park in Kansas City, MO. 

– 

But before we did, we interviewed Justice Gatson

Justice Gatson is the Director at Reale Justice Network. An Intimate Partner Violence Advocate and Motivational Speaker. She works with Black Mama’s Bail Out with National Bailout.org to specifically address the needs of incarcerated black mothers. 

IG @reale_justice_network

https://realejusticenetwork.org/

SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective

https://sistersong.nationbuilder.com/donate

DONATE NOW!

https://abortionfunds.org/

VOTE NO IN KANSAS AUGUST 2

https://kansansforfreedom.com/

Emily Wales CEO Planned Parenthood Great Plains

Other organizations @ Bans off Our Bodies KC rally 

Sunrise Movement 

Our Revolution KC

Poor People’s Campaign

Barrier Babes KC

Green Party KC

Supreme Court Cases mentioned in Intro:

Dobbs v, Jackson Women’s Health

Roe v. Wade

Planned Parenthood v. Casey 

Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)

Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)

Lawrence v. Texas (2003)

Loving v. Virginia is the 1967

Dred Scott v. Sandford case of 1857

F**k These Bishes:

Marjorie Dannenfelser, President of the Susan B. Anthony List, an American political organization that seeks to advance anti-abortion women in politics

Rep. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, Missouri District 097 Republican 

Correction:

Sarah Huckabee Sanders was Trump Press Secretary (duh, Vanessa misspoke per the usual)

REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE NOW! SHOW UP, DO THE WORK! 

Seasoned and fresh-faced artists (of every genre) discuss how to make creativity work within the complexities and challenges of adult life. Confessing Animals podcast co-hosts Jen Harris + Vanessa Aricco, both working writers, unveil the secrets and struggles of creative living in a rapid fire capitalist society. One guest at a time, Jen + Vanessa ask, How Does Your Life Translate to Art?

Intro & music provided by Ashley Raines www.ashleyrainesmusic.com

Follow us on Instagram @confessinganimalspodcast

Listen, Love & Support Us!

Support the show

Live @ Charlotte Street Foundation w/Vanessa Aricco 

Reading 1: On the Cusp of Air & Water [Full length poetry manuscript, forthcoming]

Read 2: Self Saints of Becoming [WIP]

Vanessa Aricco is a multimedia poet exploring conflict and duality, the precarious nature of life and the anxiety that arises from it. She is the co-host of Confessing Animals podcast. Her work includes two poetry albums, The Midnight Rush and Human Animal, Tin Can Poetics and co-lyricist on the album Gutter Mansions with Ashley Raines & The New West Revue. She is a Charlotte Street Foundation 2019-22 Studio Resident in Kansas City, MO.

Website: vanessaaricco.com

Charlotte Street Foundation Open Studios
https://charlottestreet.org/

Intro & music provided by Ashley Raines www.ashleyrainesmusic.com

Follow us on Instagram @confessinganimalspodcast

Listen, Love & Support Us!

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Ashley Parsons (she/her) is a queer woman who tells true stories about love, mystery, and embodiment through writing, photography, mentoring, and speaking. She is an alumni of the 2019 Thread at Yale program through the Yale Journalism Initiative and the winner of The Moth / Snap Judgment Competition. Her award-winning work as a storyteller has been captured in photographs, films, and multimedia via We Are the Parsons, Huffington Post, American Photo Magazine, and Real Simple Weddings among countless others. In 2013 she was named one of the Best Wedding Photographers in the world. Since the turn of the century, she has taught at workshops, creative retreats, and been a vital part of creative collaborations across the globe.

Instagram @fromashparsons

https://www.ashleyparsons.com/


Intro & music provided by Ashley Raines www.ashleyrainesmusic.com

Follow us on Instagram @confessinganimalspodcast

Listen, Love & Support Us!

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Listen to Rev. Dr. Peter Tremain's full episode: Dirt, Water & Grace 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dirt-water-grace-rev-dr-peter-tremain/id1544861884?i=1000554058943

https://confessinganimalspodcast.buzzsprout.com/1518877/10250310

Listen, Love, Support Us! 
J+V

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Waleska Barroeta/Waleska Font
She/Her/Hers

Waleska (she/her) is a Venezuelan multidisciplinary artist. Waleska is a cultural promoter, copyeditor, teacher and poet, having performed in Mexico, Venezuela, and Kansas City. Her work explores the limitations of bilingualism, sexuality, culture, and identity. Waleska is currently a board member of No Divide Kansas City and a sponsored artist for Poetry for Personal Power.

Instagram @wlskafont

No Divide KC
https://www.nodividekc.org/

Queer Narratives Festival
https://www.nodividekc.org/queernarrativesfestival

“Home” by Warsan Shire

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Peter Tremain is a retired Lutheran Pastor, who served as Pastor of three congregations over a span of forty years. After retirement and the death of his wife he traveled solo outside the USA at least two months a year for the last ten years with only a backpack, staying in hostels, walking the 500 mile long Camino de Santiago in 2013. He is interested in Contemplative Spirituality as it transcends the arbitrary boundary between the sacred and secular nurturing a non-dualistic view of reality.

https://thecalltolive.wordpress.com/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/peter.tremain.5

IG: https://www.instagram.com/tremainpeter/

Show Notes:
End of life care
Stephen Hawking
Sam Harris
Simone Weil
Contemplative spirituality
Mark Rothko
Franz Kline



Intro & music provided by Ashley Raines www.ashleyrainesmusic.com

Follow us on Instagram @confessinganimalspodcast

Listen, Love & Support Us!

Support the show