Queer & A

In this episode I speak with Naledi Sunstrum of OKNaledi. We heard about their songs that Naledi wrote during the Queer & A artist residency program , and the musical they are working on now.

Check out more of OKNaledi’s music here: https://oknaledi.com/

or follow along with Naledi here: https://www.instagram.com/oknaledi/

This is the final episode of series two, which explores themes that came up in the artist residency. I truly have loved doing these artist residencies and the podcasts that ensued from them. Thank you again to Naledi and Charley for trusting me to create a space where the two of you could explore art on the theme of spiritually and queerness!

The instrumental soundtrack of the song “Bones” by OKNaledi is used in the intro and outro with permission

In this episode, we heard from playwrite Charley Bouchard about what it was like to write their play Transgendent, and where they are with it now.

Permissions: The instrumental of the song “Bones” by OKNaledi is used with permission in the Intro and Outro of this podcast. Check out the full version here. Learn more about OkNaledi’s music by checking out their instagram.

In this episode, we heard from artists Naledi Sunstrum and Charley Bouchard during their participation in Queer & A’s virtual artist residency, in which both artists were given the prompt to create art on the topic of queerness and spirituality -- whatever that meant to them and however they wanted to explore it. Naledi ended up writing two songs, one on Ruth and Naomi and one on David and Jonathan, and Charley focused on a play called Transgendent. We also heard a summary with Kaitlin Carlson about research on the topic of how to know when a work is finished. And speaking of work being finished, this series is almost up! We have one final episode left and in that episode we are going to hear retrospectives from the two artists about what it was like to create art throughout this residency, and you’ll also hear more of the artist projects themselves. Permissions: The instrumental of the song “Bones” by OKNaledi is used with permission in the Intro and Outro of this podcast. Check out the full version here. Learn more about OkNaledi’s music by checking out their instagram.

This episode’s podcast is all about sharing unfinished work. Kaitlin Carlson (she/her) and I start with a conversation about the research before hearing excerpts from the virtual artist residency in which Naledi Sunstrum (they/them), Charley Bouchard (they/them), and I chat through their two respective creative projects.

Ok Naledi’s instrumental song track of the sound “Bones” is used with permission by Naledi — hear it in the intro and outro of this podcast.

If you want to read more of the research covered in this episode, here are some great starting points!

Read More

* Diehl, M., & Stroebe, W. (1987). Productivity loss in group ideation—incl. evaluation apprehension. (homepages.se.edu)

* Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams (Admin. Sci. Q.). (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

* Nicol, D., & Macfarlane-Dick, D. (2006). Formative assessment & seven principles of good feedback practice. (psy.gla.ac.uk)

* Double, K. S., et al. (2020). Meta-analysis: peer assessment improves performance (g≈.31). (SpringerLink)

* Zhan, Y., et al. (2023). Meta-analysis: online peer assessment → higher-order thinking. (bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com)

* Wei, Y., et al. (2024). Peer feedback in academic writing—benefits & challenges (review). (PMC)

* Project Zero (Harvard): See/Think/Wonder routine (low-threat critique). (pz.harvard.edu)

* Lerman, L. Critical Response Process (CRP) steps. (lizlerman.com)

* Catmull, E. (2008). How Pixar Fosters Collective Creativity (Braintrust). (Harvard Business Review)

* Frost, D. (2023). Minority Stress Theory: application & critique (comprehensive review). (UCL Discovery)

* Neff, K. (2012/2017). Self-compassion → less fear of failure; stronger re-engagement. (Self-Compassion)

* Forbes explainer on imposter syndrome prevalence (accessibly written pop source). (Forbes)

This episode’s podcast is all about collaborating with others. Kaitlin Carlson (she/her) and I start with a conversation about the research on collaborating with others. We then hear excerpts from the virtual artist residency in which Naledi Sunstrum (they/them), Charley Bouchard (they/them), and I chat through their two respective creative projects.

Ok Naledi’s instrumental song track of the sound “Bones” is used with permission by Naledi — hear it in the intro and outro of this podcast.

If you want to read more of the research covered in this episode, here are some great starting points!

References

* Amabile, T. (2012). Componential Theory of Creativity (HBS Working Paper). (Harvard Business School)

* Amabile, T. (1988). A Model of Creativity and Innovation in Organizations. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

* Diehl, M., & Stroebe, W. (1987/1991). Production blocking & group idea loss (reviewed in). (PMC)

* Nunamaker et al. (1991). Unblocking brainstorms (electronic brainstorming). (PubMed)

* Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological Safety and Learning in Teams. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

* Google re:Work (Project Aristotle summary). (Rework)

* Pizarro et al. (2022). Collective Effervescence (meta-analysis). (PMC)

* Rimé et al. (2023). Why We Gather. (SAGE Journals)

* Page, S. (2017). The Diversity Bonus (course/overviews). (online.umich.edu)

* Yang et al. (2022). Gender-diverse teams produce more novel, higher-impact work (PNAS). (PNAS)

* Wu et al. (2019). Small teams disrupt; large teams develop (Science). (Europe PMC)

* Argote & Ren (2012). Transactive Memory Systems and Performance. (Carlson School of Management)

* Catmull, E. (2008). How Pixar Fosters Collective Creativity (HBR). (Harvard Business Review)

* Warhol’s Factory (Guggenheim + Time photo essay). (The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation)

* Blacklips Performance Cult (Pitchfork retrospective). (Pitchfork)

* Frost, D. (2023). Minority Stress Theory review. (PMC)

* Kim et al. (2021). Chosen Family (LGBTQ+) (open-access). (PMC)

We’re back with to explore another theme that came up during Queer & A’s virtual artist residency, during which Charley and Naledi took 10 weeks to develop their respective art projects on the topic of queerness and spirituality. One of the themes that emerged in our meetings was the challenge of choices — how hard it is to choose a project at the beginning when you have many options to take.Listen to this podcast to hear some research about the challenge of choices, and then listen in to excerpts of Charley, Naledi, and I talk in one of our earlier meetings about their projects.Permissions:The instrumental song track of Bones by OK Naledi is used with permission.

In this series, we’re diving deep into themes that emerged during our virtual artist residency — a beautiful, experimental 8-10 weeks where two incredible artists, Charley and Naledi, joined me as they each developed their own creative projects.

If you’re just tuning in and wondering what this residency was all about, I highly recommend starting with Episode 1. There, I explain the structure of the residency and introduce you to both Charley — who was working on a play titled Transgendent — and Naledi, who was composing two songs inspired by the stories of Ruth & Naomi, and David & Jonathan.

Each episode of this series takes a theme that surfaced during the residency and explores it more deeply. You'll hear some light research insights, plus reflections and audio excerpts from Naledi and Charley that really bring these themes to life.

This week’s theme: Creative Block — or, as many of us know it, writer’s block. I’ll be joined by my friend Karis to share a high-level look at what the research says about what gets in the way of creativity — and what gets it flowing again. Then, we’ll jump into the studio with Charley and Naledi, who talk candidly about how they navigate blocks in their own work.

And here’s what I love, listening back to those conversations: You can hear that both artists were leaning into this dance — balancing free experimentation with structure. They were actively removing expectations while also setting up enough form and discipline to guide their early process. It’s a powerful mix: permission and push.

Now, just a quick note — the excerpts you're about to hear are mostly from the second week of the residency. So even though they sound energized and full of ideas, remember: they had already done some internal prep through the application process. These are still early days in their projects, but not quite day one.

And hey — before we dive in — a few real-world updates from our featured artists:If you're in Ottawa, you can actually catch Charley on stage in Frankenstein AI, a play written by a local artist and presented by 9th Hour Theatre, opening June 25th.And big congratulations to OK Naledi — not only did Naledi let us use the instrumental of their song Bones as the theme music for this series, but OK Naledi was just nominated for Group of the Year at the Capital Music Awards! You can find their music on Spotify and follow them on Instagram at @oknaledi.

I also want to give a heartfelt thank you to this podcast’s behind-the-scenes community — to Kaitlin, for helping me break through my own creative block while shaping this series, and to Karis for your thought partnership and presence in today’s conversation.

Alright — let’s get into it. Here’s Creative Block — what holds us back, what pushes us forward, and how Charley and Naledi make their way through the stuck places.

Citations from Research

1. Ahmed & Güss. The Four Causes of Writer’s Block. Retrieved from [Suwca Substack](https://suwca.substack.com/p/the-four-causes-of-writers-block).

2. Everyday Psych. Psychology of Writer's Block. Retrieved from [Everyday Psych](https://everydaypsych.com/psychology-of-writers-block/).

3. Wikipedia. Writer's Block. Retrieved from [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writer's_block).

4. Mental Floss. 10 Cases of Extreme Writer's Block. Retrieved from [Mental Floss](https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/65031/10-cases-extreme-writers-block).

5. Final Draft Blog. 25 Famous Quotes on Writer's Block. Retrieved from [Final Draft Blog](https://blog.finaldraft.com/25-famous-quotes-on-writers-block).

6. Literary Hub. Is It Real? Famous Writers on Writer's Block. Retrieved from [Literary Hub](https://lithub.com/is-it-real-25-famous-writers-on-writers-block/).

7. The Conversation. The History of Writer’s Block. Retrieved from [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/the-5-000-year-history-of-writers-block-190037).

Excited to launch the second series of Queer & A podcast. Queer & A podcast is a community-oriented educational project aimed at bringing awareness about, and sharing resources to combat, religiously-motivated queerphobia and transphobia.

In Series 1 I interviewed a combination of academics, activists, therapists, and individuals with personal experiences to share from, and we conversed widely about the history and present day experiences of homophobia and the role that religion plays in it.

I loved those conversations. And yet, somewhere in the midst of talking about religion and queerness, I realized something: I didn't only want Queer & A to talk about this topic, I wanted Queer &A's engagement to not only be intellectual but to be creative.

Slowly but surely, the concept of Queer & A sponsoring artists in a virtual artist residency program took shape. Through financially supporting artists in a virtual residency atmosphere, artists spent 8 weeks creating art on the topic of Queerness and Spirituality—broadly defined

In this round of the virtual artist residency, Queer & A was joined by two artists: Naledi Sunstrum and Charley Bouchard. Charley and Naledi joined me in weekly virtual meetings as they worked on their individual artistic projects. Each week, the artists shared updates on their respective projects as they advanced in them. Charley was working on a play and Naledi was working on two songs.In this episode, you’ll meet the artists, hear a little bit about their respective artistic projects, and you’ll also get introduced to the broader themes that the remainder of this Series 2 podcast is going to explore. I’m a qualitative researcher at heart, and I couldn’t help but notice that, in each week we met, I was not only hearing chronological updates about the artists’ projects. Rather, we were also talking broadly about themes related to artistic creation. We talked about writer’s block. What it’s like to collaborate with others. The feeling of sharing your work in progress and the vulnerability that comes with that. How to know when a project is finished — and much moreI began to realize these themes didn’t only apply to the process of creating art—they’re themes that all of us experience throughout our personal lives, work tasks, etc. So in this series, we’re going to explore those themes broadly AND follow along with the artists’ journeys.I cannot wait to share more! Please subscribe to get notified as new episodes release—I’ll aim for 1X a month. And share this podcast with a friend who you think may find the content intriguing.

Permissions:The instrumental of the song “Bones” by OKNaledi is used with permission in the Intro and Outro of this podcast. Check out the full version here. Learn more about OkNaledi’s music by checking out their instagram.

Clips from “Reggae is the Answer (Instrumental)” and “Never be the same again (instrumental)” were freely sourced through my paid membership to Descript platform. They are used throughout the show when Charley and Naledi speak about their work.

There are a few points that became more clear or more profound for me throughout my time on this series, and I wanted to start by recapping them here, and then we'll return to some takeaways from our guests.This episode reviews 5 key points I’ve learned throughout this series, and then gives the mic back to our series one guests. We hear from each of our guests, hearing about what messages they would give to people who weaponize religious against queer individuals, and also to queer folx who have felt religion being weaponized against them.

Here’s the guests we (re)hear from to wrap up this series:

* Introduction to Queer & A podcast project, with Nadya Pohran

* "Spiritual Community for Queer Christians?", with Mike Maeshiro

* "Purity Culture, Religious Trauma, and LGBTQ+ Healing", with Sandra Noble

* "LGBTQ+ Activism: Drag Queen and Eastern Orthodox Christian Theologian", with Nik Jovčić-Sas.

* "LGBTQ+ Asylum Seekers", with Stéfanie Lacroix

* "LGBTQIA+ Healing from the Church?", with Charley Bouchard

* "LGBTQIA+ Youth in Schools", with Mackenzie Kolton

* "Psychedelic therapies, religion, and LGBTQ+ wisdom", with Amy Bartlett

* T"he Queer Interfaith Coalition: Faith-based love and acceptance of 2SLGBTQIA+ folx", with Rabbi Naj and Pam Rocker

* "Queerness in Ancient Christianity: exploring concepts of gender transgression, sexuality vs purity, and heteronormativity", with Lydia Schriemer and Phoebe Hancock

Next, we share exciting news about two expect for Series 2 — Queer & A is launching its virtual artist residency, and we get to hear from artists who are creating art on the topic of queerness and spirituality. So excited for this!

Permissions:The instrumental of the song “Bones” by OKNaledi is used with permission. Check out the full version here.

Summary:

A lot of the Queer & A podcast episodes have looked at queerness in the present day, sometimes looking closely at theological interpretations of biblical passages but still focusing on how these play out and affect people today.

Here I'm excited to look back in time, trying to understand not the various strands of present day Christianity but looking back to early christianity, speaking with Lydia Schriemer and Phoebe Hancock.

In our conversation we talk about gender transgression and how queerness was conceptualized differently in the ancient world than it is today. We also hear about ancient worldviews of sexuality, ideas of procreation as being a way to be holy, and how that influenced and amplified a heteronormative worldview. I love how this conversation helps situate current understandings of sexuality and gender through informing us about ancient Christian understandings of these topics.

Our guests:

1 - Lydia Schriemer is a neurodivergent, lesbian woman, PhD candidate, and part-time professor at the University of Ottawa, researching the origins of modern “Christian” morality as it relates to women, agency, and sexuality. Her graduate research seeks to answer the question, “Why did we, and why do we, treat women the way we do in western society?” Her MA research focused on the early effects of Christianity on women’s roles, rights, and responsibilities, and her current PhD research hones in on women’s legal agency in the Mediterranean world during the period when first Christianity and then Islam became significant socio-political forces. While her research does not focus specifically on queerness, she deals with gender, religion, marginalization, and law, all of which intersect frequently with queer histories.

            Lydia was raised in a fringe Calvinistic church, which some might call a cult. She left at the age of 18 and has been working on deconstructing and rebuilding her worldview, including tackling some serious compulsive heterosexuality. While she’s always known that she was queer, it wasn’t until about 2018 that she realized that she didn’t have to date men. So, she started dating women and, two years later, married Lex, who has since come out as nonbinary (they/them) and is in the process of transitioning. Together they have two cats, Clementine and Cassandra.

            In her spare time (i.e. 9 to 5, Monday to Friday), Lydia works as an archivist at Library and Archives Canada (LAC), where she is also a member of LAC’s LGBTQIA+ Committee.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lydia-schriemer/?originalSubdomain=ca

2 - Phoebe Hancock: My preferred name and pronouns are Phoebe and she/her. I’m a lesbian and a researcher of the history of queer AFAB people and Early Christianity, particularly looking at differences between how Christian men, Pagan man, and queer people saw AFAB queerness in the first 500 years of the Common Era. 

The bulk of my thesis is this: that the idea that a queer woman is a woman who has sex with other women is an invention of Christianity. Prior to Christianity, the idea of a queer woman* (which I define in this period as an AFAB person with non-normative sexual behaviour and gender identity), was based on the actual mechanics of how one has sex. This thinking led to some truly wild writings--the sources I share are often humorous and erotic, written by men who are not totally sure just how sex without a penis functions. 

*The use of ‘woman’ in this context is also something I confront in my research. I tend to use ‘woman’ because that is how the sources refer to them, but the ideas of being lesbian/bisexual/trans/enby in this period are incredibly intertwined.

Permissions:The instrumental of the song “Bones” by OKNaledi is used with permission. Check out the full version here.