Kaio-kensi is a trained neuroscientist who also happens to jam for Montreal Roller Derby’s charter squad New Skids. And while the competitive season is kaput. Her interest and passion for brain safety is a boon for us all, and we should always listen whenever she feels like speaking about the dome from the dome. Especially all y’all newbies who be on your TikToks and your instas sans protective gear! 

When she agreed to come on to talk brain safety accessibility in our sport, I had no idea that I’d be meeting an athlete who would travel about five hours back and forth to derby--even to a practice that started at 7:45AM, 11 out of 12 months a year--y’all, that’s love--and whose backstory illustrates that she’s always been the drummer and marcher of her own beat. Enjoy! 

EPISODE LINKS
Kaio-kensi’s Tiktok on Helmet Use
“Fresh Avo ca do” vine (RIP Vine!)

Show Credits:
Music: ROFEU, "Midnight Lover"

Cover photo: James Corbett www.epiclifeimages.com and Instagram @epiclifeimages (https://www.instagram.com/epiclifeimages/)

Holding Space with Magical Wheelism is available on all your favorite podcast outlets. Help support the pod grow by subscribing and sharing it with friends! Rating and reviewing on Apple Podcasts also helps others find us.

Follow the pod @holdingspacewithmagicpod on IG.

Lío es un patinador de Monterrey, México. Platicamos todo sobre su experiencia en el derby y las rampas. También hablamos sobre el lenguaje y los términos con el cual una persona LGBTQIA + se autoidentifica y como el significado toma diferente sentido en México a la comparación que los Estados etc. Disfrute mucho mi charla con Lío y espero que también les guste.

Show Credits:
Music: ROFEU, "Midnight Lover"

Cover photo: James Corbett www.epiclifeimages.com and Instagram @epiclifeimages (https://www.instagram.com/epiclifeimages/)

Holding Space with Magical Wheelism is available on all your favorite podcast outlets. Help support the pod grow by subscribing and sharing it with friends! Rating and reviewing on Apple Podcasts also helps others find us.

Follow the pod @holdingspacewithmagicpod on IG.

TJ “Scarbie Doll” Edwards is the rare example of a skater whose retirement accomplishments might eclipse her skating career. In 2011, Scarbie founded the Black Roller Derby Network, which today comprises nearly 1200 members. She is also the (literal) face of Team Side Eye, one half of BRDN’s annual Rollercon showcase bout. In non-derby life, TJ is a mom, an advocate for autism acceptance, and a published author. 

Today, Scarbie inaugurates The First Lineup, a new periodic feature on Holding Space that highlights retired trailblazing derby skaters of color. She is also the first participant in a new brand-new segment called “Show ‘N’ Tell.” Wanna know more? Guess you’ll just have to listen. Enjoy! 

EPISODE LINKS
The Graveyards on Sunset: Outrageous Hotel Stories from the Third Shift [E-book] by TJ Edwards

EPISODE MVP: Black Diaspora Roller Derby [IG] [Facebook]

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Show Credits:
Music: ROFEU, "Midnight Lover"

Cover photo: James Corbett www.epiclifeimages.com and Instagram @epiclifeimages (https://www.instagram.com/epiclifeimages/)

Holding Space with Magical Wheelism is available on all your favorite podcast outlets. Help support the pod grow by subscribing and sharing it with friends! Rating and reviewing on Apple Podcasts also helps others find us.

Follow the pod @holdingspacewithmagicpod on IG.

Today’s guest, fitness coach and writer Octopus Prime announced earlier this year the winding down of Iron Octopus Fitness, her online fitness and coaching business for roller derby skaters. For the uninitiated, Prime’s work is anti-racist and rooted in body acceptance. I was an admirer and follower of hers for some time before becoming a client, and when I started this podcast she was the first person I told.

Being such a supportive, anti-racist, all-bodies-accepting ally in the roller derby universe, from the jump I knew I wanted to invite Prime on the pod. We kicked around some ideas. Then it occurred to me: it’d be really interesting to conduct a quasi-exit interview with Prime. So ya girl pulled up the article “10 Most Important Interview Questions You Should Ask Employees Who Are Leaving (And Why!)” from Zenefits dot com and “The 37 Best Tarot Questions” according to Reddit like some new-age HR director and got to work. Enjoy!

Minnesota Roller Derby's Hurtrude Stein reflects on the road back to gameplay post-pregnancy and also shares what she holds as her post-pandemic derby visions for herself and the collective. The 10-year vet also translates some of her namesake Gertrude Stein’s sage words into derby wisdom. 

But before we begin, I just want to wish all the mothers--in every sense of the word--in skating, derby, and the world a wonderful day. You keep the world on its axis. You are the trucks to our wheels. You are awesome.   

Last Wednesday, @BIPOCWhoSkate and @HoldingSpacewithMagicPod hosted a discussion about the film UNITED SKATES on Instagram Live. The 2018 documentary, which is currently viewable for free on HBO dot com & Hulu, chronicles the place of rollerskating rinks in African-American culture. Here's a slightly edited version of that discussion. (NOW with 50% less cat meows and zero buffering internet connections!) Enjoy!

Today’s guest Amz Collado, the one-woman powerhouse behind Butter Roll, a New York City-based POC-centered rollerskating social enterprise. As a creative endeavor, Butter Roll is one part memory and one part imagination. The name alone feels quintessentially NYC and evocative of the sleekest rink skating. Incorporating skater-curated playlists, women of color filmmaking opportunities, bygone skate images and education, as well as skate events, Butter Roll approaches rollerskating and jam skate culture as multi-disciplinary and, above all, for the people. 

This episode is dedicated to language and vision. I can’t think of a better time to converse with humans who relish in creating and speaking through visual language.

Sam Barks is a full-time artist based in Austin, Texas. A former roller derby player who retired in 2016, the Detroit-native now street and ramp skates. Momo Fett currently skates for Darkside Roller Derby and the Casi Muertas skate crew of Costa Rica. They were also part of Team Costa Rica at the 2018 World Cup. 

Our world could use some new ideas and images to take root, and I can’t wait for y’all to hear Momo and Sam speak for themselves on what and who their art speaks to. We had dope conversations that rolled through power, privilege, life, death, and representation.

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Holding Space with Magical Wheelism is now available on Apple, Spotify, Google Play, and Youtube. Help support the pod grow by subscribing and sharing it with friends! Rating and reviewing on Apple Podcasts also helps others find us.

Follow us on @HoldingSpacewithMagicPod on Instagram.

Music: Sunsearcher, "Latin Rhythm"
Song interlude: “Costa Rica” by Slynk

Cover photo: James Corbett www.epiclifeimages.com and Instagram @epiclifeimages (https://www.instagram.com/epiclifeimages/)

CoCo Butther of San Fernando Valley Roller Derby needs no introduction partly because she’s such a mainstay in skaterly environs online and IRL, and also because I just want y’all to listen to CoCo herself, who is passionate about BIPOC visibility and inclusion. 

I’m confident everyone will find a piece of CoCo’s experience resonant though--be it skating her way through small, medium, and large leagues in search of a space that fits best, or coming out, or dealing with the bitterness and sweetness of being a Black skater in roller derby. Enjoy!

It’s time for TV Club! On this very first edition of TV Club, pod guests Queen Loseyateefa and Purple Reina have returned to discuss the Netflix sensation “Cheer.” The regal ones and I unpacked why watching a documentary about an insular, misunderstood sport practiced predominantly by women and queer-identified athletes in search of structure and community felt a little like looking in the mirror to the online roller derby community. Warning: This is a spoiler-full special, so if you haven’t watched it, come back in six hours after you’ve finished your homework!