Sean Dorsey was the first openly trans man on the cover of Dance Magazine. He is a talented choreographer, dancer, educator, writer, and activist, and he is the artistic director of Sean Dorsey Dance and Fresh Meat Productions. In this episode, we take you back to Sean’s early childhood in a creative and loving family, full of leftists, and those passionate about social justice. Sean and I connect with our dance stories, and he talks about having parallel but separate lives; one in the arts and one in community organizing. He also describes the humble beginnings of Fresh Meat Productions, now celebrating 20 years! Towards the end of this conversation, I ask Sean why it’s so important for him to speak up as a white, trans man. He admits that his skin color gives him certain access in the dance industry and opens up about his commitment to getting that same access to Black and Brown artists. Sean is a great possibility model and I know you will learn so much from this episode. Be sure to check out www.FreshMeatProductions.org to learn more about Sean’s work. 

Guest Bio:  

Sean Dorsey is an award-winning choreographer and dancer and the founder and Artistic Director of Fresh Meat Productions. Recognized as the U.S.’ first acclaimed transgender modern dance choreographer, Dorsey has been named “San Francisco’s Best Dance Company” (SF Weekly) and was named one of the nation’s “Top 25 to Watch” by Dance Magazine. He has been awarded five Isadora Duncan Dance Awards and the Goldie Award for Performance. Dorsey has been awarded major support from the National Endowment for the Arts, National Dance Project, New England Foundation for the Arts, National Performance Network, Creative Work Fund, Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, San Francisco Arts Commission, Queer Cultural Center (San Francisco), Bates Dance Festival (Lewiston), Dance Place (Washington DC), The Theater Offensive (Boston), 7 Stages (Atlanta), Links Hall (Chicago), Maui Arts & Cultural Center (Maui), and Highways Performance Space (Los Angeles). Dorsey has collaborated with artists including Lana and Lilli Wachowski (Directors, The Matrix, Cloud Atlas), and Anohni (formerly Anthony and the Johnsons)

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Can you believe Season 3 is already here? It feels like just yesterday the pandemic broke out and I decided to start Marking The Path. I’m so grateful for everything I learned on this journey and I’m so excited to introduce our first guest of the season, Dana White. Dana is a speaker, facilitator, and program officer for True Colors United. We had an amazing conversation sharing stories about growing up and not quite fitting in. Through the feeling of being othered, we found our identities and the missing connection to the culture and homeland of our Puerto Rican ancestors. Dana shares how the instability of their early teen years led to homelessness and how those experiences inform their work. They share how being comfortable being disliked has helped them set healthy boundaries online and in real life. Tune in to the episode and enjoy learning more about the path of an influencer.

Guest Bio: 

Dana White is a speaker and facilitator, residing in Washington D.C. As a Program Officer in Technical Assistance at True Colors United, a national youth homelessness organization centering LGBTQ+ and youth of color, they work to ensure young people are involved in decision-making and planning to end youth homelessness in communities across the country. White is non-binary, Black Puerto Rican, and has lived experience of both homelessness and HIV. 

Submit your questions for #AskMark here!

Check out the moments that didn't make it into the episodes. From train noises to awkward pauses, these are some of the funniest moments from season 2 that didn't make the cut. Be sure to follow @MarkingThePath on Instagram.

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Season 2 was filled with rich conversations with some fierce people. In this final episode of season 2, I met with part of my podcast team to reflect on the journey we've been on and this past season in particular. Thank you for listening and thank you for supporting Marking The Path -- be sure to follow us on Instagram at @MarkingThePath.

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They often say you shouldn't meet people you admire because they may disappoint you. After over a decade of following slam poet, thespian, and organizer Mayda Del Valle's career and creative works, I have to say I was not disappointed. Despite being nervous to meet this Def Poetry Jam star, Mayda has a way of disarming you with her charm and contagious laughter. We spoke about her iconic poem, "To All The Boys I've Loved Before" which can be seen here, which is one of my favorite pieces from Mayda. We discussed her upbringing in Chicago, how hip-hop influenced her life, and the role that community organizing played in making her the storyteller that she is.

Guest Bio:

Poet and performer Mayda Del Valle has been described by the Chicago Sun Times  as having “a way with words. Sometimes they seem to flutter and roll off her lips. Other  times they burst forth like a comet streaking across a nighttime sky.” Born and raised  on the Southside of Chicago. She is the author of A South Side Girl’s Guide to Love  and Sex , The University of Hip Hop and was a winner of the 2016 Drinking Gourd  Chapbook Poetry Prize from Northwestern University Press. She appeared on six  episodes of the HBO series Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry, and was a  contributing writer and original cast member of the Tony Award winning Def Poetry  Jam on Broadway.  She began her artistic career at the Nuyorican Poets Café, where she was the  2001 Grand Slam Champion, and went on to become the National Poetry Slam  Champion in the same year. She was the youngest poet, and the first Latinx  person to do so. She has appeared in Urban Latino, Latina Magazine, Mass  Appeal, The Source, The New York Times and was named by Smithsonian  Magazine as one of America’s Young Innovators in the Arts and Sciences.  Oprah’s “O” Magazine selected her as one of 20 women for the first ever “O  Power List”, a group of visionary women making a mark in business, politics, and  the arts. She has performed at venues across the world, including the White  House in May of 2009, by invitation of President Obama and the First Lady. 

She has also served as a mentor and educator in the non-profit world, teaching  poetry and performance to incarcerated youth. She currently works in the tech  industry at Snap Inc. facilitating talking circles and developing curriculum to  support company wide DEI initiatives that scale empathy and understanding.

Mayda had also been a devoted student of various healing practices and African Traditional Religions. She is a third degree Reiki Master, and completed a two  year Indigenous African Spiritual Technologies program with respected Dagara  elder Malidoma Some. Soon after she was led into the ancient Yoruba spiritual  tradition of Ifa. She was initiated into the mysteries of the ocean deity, Olokun in  2017. Her initiated name is Olokuntumise, which means “Olokun has repaired  my life.”  You can learn more about her by visiting: https://www.maydadelvalle.com/

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In episode 22 of Marking The Path, I had the opportunity to speak to Zellie Imani, a fierce activist, community organizer, and leader.  While we never crossed paths during our time at William Paterson University of New Jersey, we would find ourselves connected through social media and grew up in the inner-city of Paterson, NJ. I have come to admire and respect Zellie's work as a community organizer but during this conversation, I got to see a different side of him that so many of his followers rarely get the chance to see, Zellie talked openly about his mental health journey and what some of his fears are about his organizing work.

Note: since the time of this recording, my view on certain things I said in this episode have shifted. For instance, I said, "your zip code doesn't determine your life code, it doesn't determine who you will become or where you will go." My view on that perspective has shifted -- our zip code does impact who we are and where we can go in life. White supremacy and capitalism are designed to keep people of color in underserved communities and in poverty. While my initial thinking of saying that quote stemmed from aspirational ideals, it ignored the harsh reality that many Black and Brown people face in cities and towns across the United States.

Guest Bio:

Zellie Imani is a community organizer and educator living in New Jersey. Zellie has served in diverse K-8 settings as an English/Math teacher and curriculum developer. Most recently, Zellie has been organizing against anti-Black state violence with St Louis based Millennial Activists United and Black Lives Matter Paterson. He is also a co-founder of the Black Liberation Collective, a collective consisting of Black students who are dedicated to transforming institutions of higher education through unity, coalition building, direct action and political education that has initiated the #StudentBlackOut movement across campuses in the United States.

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I am so excited about this conversation with the incredible organizer, writer, and healer, Yolo Akili Robinson. We had a great talk about everything from being an uncle, the healing journey, future books, the authentic self, to the intersection of male privilege, the patriarchy, race, and queerness. I particularly enjoyed how Yolo described his own healing journey and how he created what he needed and then shared it with the world through BEAM, as well as our discussion on what being gender non-conforming means to each of us. We ended with a fruitful talk about the scarcity mentality, and Yolo sharing what he is in the middle of reading! You can also check out Yolo's first book, Dear Universe wherever books are sold and read his essay in the new anthology, You Are Your Best Thing: Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and the Black Experience, edited by Tarana Burke and Brené Brown.

Guests Bio: 

Yolo Akili Robinson is an award winning writer, healing justice worker, yogi and the founder and executive director of BEAM (The Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective). BEAM is a national training, movement building and grant making organization dedicated to the healing, wellness and liberation of Black communities. Yolo has worked primarily in three areas: Batterers intervention/family counseling with Black men and boys, HIV/AIDS, and healing justice/wellness work.  In 2018, Yolo was awarded the prestigious Robert Wood Johnson Foundation "Health Equity Award" for his work. He was also featured at the 2020 BET Awards for an "Empowerful spotlight", highlighting his work facilitating the vision of BEAM.   His writings and work have appeared on Shondaland, GQ, Women's Health, USA Today,  Vice, B.E.T, Huffington Post, Cassius, Ebony, Everyday Feminisms and much more. He is the author of the social justice themed affirmation Book "Dear Universe: Letters of Affirmation & Empowerment for all of us" and a contributor to Tarana Burke and Dr. Brene Brown's anthology "You Are Your Best Thing."

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In this inspiring episode, I interview my friend, colleague and poet, Kristine Esser Slenz, who shares how being a survivor and being bisexual informs her work. Her new book “woman depose”, examines what its like to be in this world as a woman, dealing with themes surrounding sex, sexuality, and queerness. Kristine shares a huge artistic game changer with me— the routines of notebooks as a file of inspiration. After a fruitful conversation on making NYC feel like home, Kristine shares a poem live on the show! We end with Kristine sharing some great advice about how to grow as poet and describing her next book.

Guests Bio:

Originally, from northwest Indiana and the Chicagoland area, KRISTINE is a Purdue University alum who double majored in English Literature and Creative Writing. Recently, she earned her MFA in Creative Writing (poetry) from City College of New York where she currently is an English Department adjunct. Publications her work have appeared or are forthcoming in Glass Poetry, Pink Plastic House, The Shallow Ends, Moonchild Magazine, Yes Poetry, Crab Fat Magazine, Philosophical Idiot, Barren Magazine, The New Southern Fugitive, and Flying Island Journal where she received a 2017 Pushcart Prize nomination. KRISTINE has also been a finalist in the 2020-21 Glass Poetry Chapbook Contest, Spring 2020 Flash Fiction Contest finalist for F(r)iction, and will be completing a writing residency with Poets Afloat in a near future.

cw: CSA/ child molestation

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This season I did another installment of #AskMark! Taking a variety of questions from the team and community. While I have gotten more accustomed to doing solo episodes, I still prefer interviewing folks and being in conversation with guests. Tune in and let me know what you think! Be sure to follow @MarkingThePath on Instagram!

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I am so delighted to have interviewed the incredible guest, Hari Ziyad in a conversation discussing their new book, abolition, cycles of grief, and their partner, a fellow writer. Hari shares how their book, “Black Boy Out of Time”, is a way of continuing their lineage, building off of their mother’s work and exploring the way time is not linear in regards to healing. Next, we delve into Hari’s frustration with the kinds of conversations that were being had in the world in 2015, and how that led them to start RaceBaitr, a space to have conversations catering towards a world outside of the white gaze. We then embark on a fruitful discussion about abolition, where Hari shares their rejection of the punitive binary ideas surrounding good and bad, instead moving towards a focus on healing rather than punishment. I share my own feelings around abolition rooted in a very personal example, which leads us to a discussion about grief. Make sure to tune in to the end to hear Hari read an excerpt from their book!

Guests Bio:

Hari Ziyad is a screenwriter, the editor-in-chief of RaceBaitr, and the bestselling author of Black Boy Out of Time (Little A, March 1). They are an esteemed 2021 Lambda Literary Fellow, and their writing has been featured in Vanity Fair, Gawker, Out, The Guardian, Huffington Post, Ebony, Mic, Paste Magazine, and AFROPUNK, among other publications.

This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app