Her Story Speaks

In this bonus podcast series we are paying tribute to Black motherhood during the month of February in honor of Black History Month. I hand over the mic to a group of  phenomenal Black women as they bring their voices and expertise to talk about all aspects of Black motherhood. In this episode I am joined by historian Lettie Gore, Marcie Alvis-Walker, Cha Barefield, Nya Abernathy, and Dr. Quantrilla Ard as they discuss the History of the Black Womb. Please note that the content of this episode may be triggering for some and the language may not be for young ears. As always the goal with sharing these stories and true history is not to create more trauma but rather to acknowledge the trauma done to Black bodies in this country thus to bring more Black women’s stories out of the darkness and into the light.

Dr. Christy Bauman, Ph.D., MDFT, & LMHC is committed to helping women come into their true voice. Christy is an author, teacher, psychotherapist, and a mother of 4. As a fierce dreamer who is passionate about advocating for women, her work focuses on the female body, sexuality, and theology.

Staci Frenes is a Christian author, singer/songwriter and speaker. Her new book Love Makes Room is about the process by which her heart and faith grew when her daughter came out as gay. As someone with a conservative Christian background, When Staci Frenes learned her teenage daughter was gay, she found her dreams for the future—along with her lifelong faith—collapsing around her. Coming to terms with a new reality was a challenge, and an invitation, to make room for many things along the way: the inevitability of uncertainty, hope in the midst of loss, awkward and tough conversations, an expanding faith, and a greater understanding of how people are more the same than different. Staci and her husband live in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Patricia Taylor is a wife, mom and California native turned Georgia peach. She believes in Jesus, loving all our neighbors, and having critical conversations around racial justice with grace and honesty. Her work is rooted in anti-racism education, and she currently  serves as the Director of Programs for Be The Bridge. Patricia is also a co-host for Upside Down Podcast, which is an ecumenical faith space that has unscripted conversations around justice, spirituality, and culture. Most recently she has done education-based course writing for Sesame Street in Communities at this link. In this conversation we talk about her most recent celebration of turning 40 and all that means to her. Patricia shares what she has learned about becoming fully who she was created to be as Black woman taking up space and owning her voice. We dive into topics like setting boundaries, being a “token” Black friend, and thoughts to her younger self.

Monica DiCristina is a Licensed Professional Counselor with over fifteen years of experience in mental health. She runs a private practice in Atlanta, GA serving individuals and couples in therapy. Monica walks with people as they process difficult experiences, helping to bring healing to their relationship with themselves and others. The intersection of her years of therapy experience, as well as her personal mental health journey, inform her perspective and work. Through her podcast, writing, speaking, and counseling work, Monica carries out her heartfelt mission to collaborate with others in their process of healing, hope, and becoming. In this episode Monica shares more about her story about her own walk with mental illness and what drives the work she does. We talk about "unbecoming" to become, being an HSP and setting boundaries.

Mariah Humphries is a Mvskoke Nation citizen, writer and educator. Through her experience navigating the tension between Native and White American culture, she brings Native awareness to non-Native spaces.  With over 20 years of vocational ministry service, she is focused on theology, racial literacy and reconciliation within the American Church. 

In our conversation Mariah shares her story of being raised by her Native American mother and her White father and learning to hold on to her Native American identity as she navigated a world of whiteness.  She shares about her own faith journey and how she embraces both her Christianity and identity as a Native American instead of either or. Finally we dive into the Native American historical stereotype of being a violent aggressor and take a look at the real history of Native Americans as peacemakers. We also talk about navigating thanksgiving and reclaiming the holiday with learning real history and the importance of land recognition.

Emmy Kegler is a pastor, author, and speaker called to ministry at the margins of the church, especially among LGBTQ+ Christians. Emmy has a Master’s in Divinity from Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minn., and is an ordained pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.   In this episode, Emmy shares herstory of walking with mental Illness for much of her life. We talk about her second book, All Who Are Weary: Easing the Burden on the Walk with Mental Illness,  which offers a pastoral and Scriptural accompaniment to those facing symptoms and diagnoses of mental illness along with those who walk alongside them. Find Emmy here: emmykegler.com Twitter: @emmykegler Instagram: emmykegler Facebook: facebook.com/emmy.kegler

In this episode Tasha Hunter and Andrea Miller talk about finding community in the wilderness. They discuss the invisible wilderness so many seem to be living in right now, and opening yourself up to relationships after experiencing hurt and loss. They share about their meeting one year ago on IG in Oct of 2020,  at a time when both felt to be living in an invisible wilderness with loss of community and an unraveling of their faith. Over the past year,  as their friendship has expanded, so has their desire to create a safe space for others to heal and find community.  They share their vision for the future to create a space where all can  be fully welcome to the table just as they are.

As a former journalist, Kayla Craig is adamant about paying attention and embracing curiosity in her work as a writer and podcast producer. She writes nuanced, nurturing prayers at Liturgies for Parents on Instagram and co-founded the Upside Down Podcast, a place for ecumenical conversations on faith and justice. Professionally, she writes, produces, and edits prayers and podcasts for Christian spiritual formation. 

In our conversation we talk about Kayla’s newest book, To Light Their Way, and what led her to write it after a chapter in her life where she doubted it prayer even “worked.” Kayla shares how her view of prayer has evolved thru the years and what it means to her now. She also shares her adoption journey and how transracial adoption has changed how she views the world and her place in it. 

Kayla and her pastor-husband, Jonny, live in Iowa, where they’re raising four young kids who joined their family via birth and adoption. When she’s not playing LEGOs with her sons or advocating for her daughter with disabilities, Kayla can be found sipping strong coffee. You can connect with Kayla at kaylacraig.com and on Instagram @kayla_craig and @liturgiesforparents.

Dr. Angela N. Parker is a Womanist New Testament scholar and an Assistant Professor of New Testament and Greek at Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology. With an  M.T.S. from Duke Divinity School and a Ph.D. in Bible, Culture, & Hermeneutics from Chicago Theological Seminary she is a notably educated and accomplished author, speaker and theologian. However Angela Parker wasn’t just trained to be a biblical scholar; she was trained to be a White male biblical scholar. Dr. Parker’s experience of being taught to forsake her embodied identity in order to contort herself into the stifling construct of Whiteness is common among American Christians, regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation. In her latest book,  If God Still Breathes, Why Can’t I: Black Lives Matter and Biblical Authority, Dr. Parker draws from her perspective as a Womanist New Testament scholar. She shares how she learned to deconstruct one of White Christianity’s most pernicious lies: the conflation of biblical authority with the doctrines of inerrancy and infallibility. In our conversation we talk about this and how historically, White males in positions of power have used Scripture to justify control over marginalized groups.