Welcome to Season 2 of Talkin' Story. In this first episode, "Writing in Place", Oceana sits down with author/poet Lisbeth White in a conversational ramble through writing grounded in relationship to the Earth, and what impact that can have on our individual and collective liberation.

Lisbeth White is an enchantivist writer based in the Pacific Northwest. She is the author of American Sycamore (Perugia Press, 2022), and co-editor of Poetry as Spellcasting: Poems, Essays, and Prompts for Manifesting Liberation and Reclaiming Power (North Atlantic Books, 2023).

Her nonfiction chapbook, A Most Natural Thing: An Elemental Memoir (Red Mare Press, 2025), won The Master’s Review Open Chapbook contest.

Lisbeth has received support for her work from Artist Trust, VONA, Callaloo, Tin House, Roots.Wounds.Words., The Watering Hole, and Bread Loaf Environmental Writers Conference.

She is a 2025 Periplus fellow and is at work on her first novel.

Lisbeth's website:

http://www.lisbethwrites.com

Lisbeth's socials:

IG: @earthmaven,

Bluesky:@earthmaven.bsky.social

Dr. Daneil Black HBCU Commencement Address

https://youtu.be/F25OAzSzhfM?si=wm_zMrbKirbsxerK

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Music Credits, Episode 1:

Aguas de Cordillera, Paramúcura y Chirigüe

Effort, Katori Walker

höstlöv, bomull

månskensvals, bomull

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Talkin Story is a project of Well Organized: Collaborative Community Driven Organizing, in Port Townsend, WA.

https://well-organized.org/

Season Two is sponsored by the Jefferson Community Foundation via a Donor Advised Fund.

If you'd like to support us, please go to well-organized.org to make a donation to the Talkin' Story podcast.

Music is provided with permission by Paramúcura y Chirigüe and selected artists from Epidemic Sound.

Thank you for joining us for the first season of Talkin Story podcast.

Over the course of the past six months of recordings, and the past 9 weeks of episodes, we have traveled through the complex terrain of racialized challenges, profound insights, far more laughs than tears, and many, many moments of delight.

What emerged and grew was a sense that our collective capacity and vision can, and in fact is, generating unique and resilient ways of living and creating in these shifting times.

We extend our deep thanks and appreciation to the many contributors to this podcast, for sharing their insight, perspective, wisdom, struggles and hope.

As we turn our attention towards season two, please consider supporting us on this journey. Sponsorship inquiries can be addressed here: [email protected]

This episode concludes with the playing in full of our theme song, "Melanin" by Ben Wilson, in collaboration with Ave Avelino, and Morgan Tigerman, which has been a wonderful contribution. You can also find it on Spotify here:

Melanin by Ben Wilson

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Talkin Story is a project of Well Organized: Collaborative Community Driven Organizing in Port Townsend, WA.

https://well-organized.org/

We appreciate the support of the Port Townsend Arts Commission, Jefferson Community Foundation, Finnriver Farm and Cidery, Addieun Foundation, the Community Equity Initiative, as well as private in-kind and monetary donations. Thank you!

In our search for the right music for the Landback/Reparations episode, we had the pleasure of crossing paths with renowned flutist, Chiyokten. He spent a bit of time sharing with us how the life he has lived and is living is informed by ancestors, elders, and more-than-human beings.

We hope you enjoy this special bonus episode.

Paul Chiyokten Wagner is the founder of Protectors of the Salish Sea, an indigenous-led organization dedicated to protecting and restoring our Salish Sea through direct actions.

Chiyokten is also a cultural educator, bringing forward the words given by his Coast Salish ancestors which have allowed the First Peoples here to co-create paradise for many thousands of years.

Chiyokten and Protectors have stood on the front lines of many places of indigenous led resistance such as Standing Rock, Line 3, Sabal Trail Pipeline, Lelu Island, Mauna Kea, Thacker Pass and Fairy Creek, Olympia State Capitol Climate Change Occupations, Chase Bank divestment campaigns and Salish Sea Prayer Walks.

Chiyokten is an award winning Coast Salish Native flutist and storyteller and has performed with a few greats such as Kitaro of Japan and Seattle Symphony Orchestra.

You can support his work via Venmo @PaulWagner13.

Talkin Story is a project of Well Organized: Collaborative Community Driven Organizing in Port Townsend, WA.

https://well-organized.org/

We appreciate the support of the Port Townsend Arts Commission, Jefferson Community Foundation, Finnriver Farm and Cidery, Addieun Foundation, the Community Equity Initiative, as well as private in-kind and monetary donations. Thank you!

This is a very special episode in which local indigenous people and an African-descended community member talk about their efforts and viewpoints on reparations and landback. It gets personal as well as hopeful.

The original flute music in this episode was generously provided by Paul Chiyokten Wagner, a member of the Saanich tribe of Vancouver Island.

Chiyokten is a knowledge keeper of Coast Salish ways of educating and governing pertaining to co-creating Paradise from the time of the animal people to before Settler colonial contact. He is also a Frontline warrior and has spent much time at many indigenous lead occupations, most recently Fairy Creek.

Most importantly, he is the founder of Protectors of the Salish Sea an Indigenous led group who has occupied the Washington State Capitol three times to help create a future for our wild salmon, our whales, the circle of life and all children.

Jessaca Lee is a Łingít two-spirit femme with two lineages indigenous to Turtle Island, as well as European ancestry. She was raised on Łingít aaní and Dena’ina territory, born into the Tongass rainforest of Southeast Alaska where a piece of her heart will always remain. She now resides in Qatáy (Port Townsend), with gratitude to the traditional people of this land, the Chemakum, S’Klallam, Twana, Makah and more. She is growing roots and weaving dreams of a permanent home.

While bed-bound from chronic illness in early 2019, she imagined the Jefferson County Anti-Racist Fund into being. JCARF is a grassroots community project, providing white folks with an opportunity to enact reparations and mutual aid.

Naiome Dawn Krienke is a mixed tribal woman working on rematriating the lands of their ancestors and bringing back traditional ways.

Chasity Sade is a mother, naturalist, earth-tender and mentor to youth. Connecting with her ancestral roots, supporting indigenous empowerment, and upholding social justice are all dear to her heart. She has lived in Chimacum, Washington for twelve years, intent on cultivating right relationship with the land and the people of the land.

Talkin Story is a project of Well Organized: Collaborative Community Driven Organizing in Port Townsend, WA.

https://well-organized.org/

We appreciate the support of the Port Townsend Arts Commission, Jefferson Community Foundation, Finnriver Farm and Cidery, Addieun Foundation, the Community Equity Initiative, as well as private in-kind and monetary donations. Thank you!

In this episode with Velda Thomas, we sink into a relational field that includes ancestors, more-than-human-kin, and each other.

Velda also reads a beautiful original poem inspired by her recent exploration of communal healing called "For the Benefit of All" which you can find on her Patreon.

Velda was born in England, with family ancestry sourced from Africa, the Caribbean and the Americas.

Love of creative expression has been a constant thread running through Velda’s life. Whether visual, written or performance she has dabbled in it all: blending genres to expose distinct hybrid forms of personal expression.

Current practices and interests include sound, somatic movement, clay, printmaking, poetry and personal narrative.

www.veldathomas.com

www.patreon/veldathomas.com

Book - Blended - Perspectives on Belonging

Art Deck - Bless the Horses - An Equine Wisdom Deck

IG - veldathomas11

FB - Velda Thomas and Stardust Press

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Talkin Story is a project of Well Organized: Collaborative Community Driven Organizing in Port Townsend, WA.

https://well-organized.org/

We appreciate the support of the Port Townsend Arts Commission, Jefferson Community Foundation, Finnriver Farm and Cidery, Addieun Foundation, the Community Equity Initiative, as well as private in-kind and monetary donations. Thank you!In this episode with Velda Thomas sink into a relational field that includes ancestors, more-than-human-kin, and each other. She also reads a beautiful original poem inspired by her recent exploration of communal healing.

Velda was born in England, UK with family ancestry sourced from Africa, the Caribbean and the America's.

Love of creative expression has been a constant thread running through Velda’s life. Wether visual , written or performance she has dabbled in it all. Blending genres to expose distinct hybrid forms of personal expression.

Current practices and interests include sound, somatic movement, clay, printmaking, poetry and personal narrative.

This episode with Ave Avelino, together with co-hosts, Ezra and Lorenzo, uncovers what it is like to grow up in a small, white, progressive town. Finding your way and maintaining a sense of self is not easy but entirely possible, as they describe.

Ave Avelino is a second-generation Filipino/mixed-European American. They were born and raised in Port Townsend and have the interesting perspective of being a BIPOC person who has grown up in a primarily white town.

They see their destiny as one that continues to uphold the People's Power Revolution of the Philippines through protesting Imperialist Practices that still ravish colonized/formerly colonized countries, and plan to do this in part through art and music about the diasporic Filipino experience.

They are also passionate about keeping their culture alive through incorporating Arnis (Filipino Martial Arts) into performance, self defense, and daily movement.

Ave's website: www.suaveavemusic.com

Kickstarter

YouTube

Soundcloud

Instagram

TikTok

Email: [email protected]

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Talkin Story is a project of Well Organized: Collaborative Community Driven Organizing in Port Townsend, WA.

https://well-organized.org/

We appreciate the support of the Port Townsend Arts Commission, Jefferson Community Foundation, Finnriver Farm and Cidery, Addieun Foundation, the Community Equity Initiative, as well as private in-kind and monetary donations. Thank you!

In this episode we spend a bit of time with local musician and audio engineer, Camelia Jade, on a journey of the senses as we wind our way through culture and the arts on our way to community.

Since 2006, Camelia Jade has worked in audio production for music, live sound, radio, podcasts, analog and digital preservation, independent film, on-location recordings as well as youth audio workshops, gallery installations and more.

As a musician composing on guitar, charango, rhythm and voice, Camelia weaves tradition and innovation into songs that are lush and percussive, joyous or bittersweet. Camelia (pronounced kah-MEL-ee-ah) creates instrumental explorations that become a living soundtrack and sings with a voice that is both soothing and strong.

• https://cameliajade.com/

Talkin Story is a project of Well Organized: Collaborative Community Driven Organizing in Port Townsend, WA.

https://well-organized.org/

We appreciate the support of the Port Townsend Arts Commission, Jefferson Community Foundation, Finnriver Farm and Cidery, Addieun Foundation, the Community Equity Initiative, as well as private in-kind and monetary donations. Thank you!

Tomoki Sage wanders with us through experiences in the theater that mirror life as a person of the global majority in Jefferson county. Together we deconstruct the persona that wants to fit in the the dominant culture but never quite does and the what that makes possible.

Tomoki was a child of the forest. He spent many long hours as a boy running through the woods of Port Townsend without any shoes on. His family wasn't completely poor, they were just hippies living in the glories of mother nature.

Tomoki's parents are Aikido masters, so naturally, Tomoki was born to be a badass. From the tender age of three, he was doing backflips off the one piece of furniture in his house. As the land his family lived on got more developed, so did Tomoki's masterful ninja skills. With electricity came Jackie Chan movies. With hot water came showers. And before long Tomoki was wearing shoes.

Talkin Story is a project of Well Organized: Collaborative Community Driven Organizing in Port Townsend, WA.

https://well-organized.org/

We appreciate the support of the Port Townsend Arts Commission, Jefferson Community Foundation, Finnriver Farm and Cidery, Addieun Foundation, the Community Equity Initiative, as well as private in-kind and monetary donations. Thank you!

In this episode with JooRi Jun, we wind up our conversation about PGM in schools with an in-depth exploration about the need for radical new models that allow our children to unfurl into their truest selves.

Several resources are mentioned in this episode, should you wish to go further down the rabbit hole:

Sky Bear ALC - www.skybearalc.org

Alliance for Self Directed Education: https://www.self-directed.org/

Agile Learning Center Network: https://agilelearningcenters.org/

Akilah Richards' work: https://raisingfreepeople.com/

A Brief History of Education: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-learn/200808/brief-history-education

Carol Black's Schooling the World Documentary: https://carolblack.org/schooling-the-world

Leticia Neito's work: https://beyondinclusionbeyondempowerment.com/

JooRi is the vision steward for Sky Bear Agile Learning Community and a parent of a self-directed child. A naturopathic physician and ancestral healing practitioner, she has always been drawn to healing. Her personal journey of decolonization, healing from internalized oppression, and cultural reclamation as well as inspiration from her child led her to create a radical, liberated alternative to school for PGM children in her community.

She envisions a community of children growing up fully honoring themselves, remaining liberated, and staying connected with their own specific and unique gift and purpose to offer to the world. She sees this work as her deepest ancestor and earth-honoring work yet.

To learn more about her work and offerings:

www.ancestralkorea.com

www.ancestralreconnection.com

Talkin Story is a project of Well Organized: Collaborative Community Driven Organizing in Port Townsend, WA.

https://well-organized.org/

We appreciate the support of the Port Townsend Arts Commission, Jefferson Community Foundation, Finnriver Farm and Cidery, Addieun Foundation, the Community Equity Initiative, as well as private in-kind and monetary donations. Thank you!

Cherry Geelan and Aaron Hall take us on a deep dive into the challenges for our PGM students and teachers inside public school systems, where systemic racism continues to reign, despite decades of reform.

An independent documentary called, The Right to Read, is specifically mentioned as a beacon of hope and a powerful depiction of effective advocacy for literacy among PGM children.

We are pleased to offer the film for your streaming pleasure for a limited time (October 13-15, 2023). Our hope is that it ignites a substantive conversation in our communities about effective strategies for ensuring the literacy of our people.

You can access the film here. Invitation Code (case-sensitive and contains a single dash): TRT-WBLM

Also mentioned in this episode is a podcast called, "Sold A Story": https://features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/ .

Aaron Hall Is an Indigenous (Séliš/Qlispé/Ktunaxa) Educator and currently works at Salish Coast Elementary School in Port Townsend, Washington. Aaron works with colleagues to create a sustainable PGM/BIPOC community for youth and family from our locale.

Cherry Geelan has lived in Port Townsend for twelve years with her partner and two children. She was born in Los Angeles, California to immigrant parents from Thailand. She has a bachelor's in Ethnic and Women's Studies, an M.Ed in Reading Instruction and Curriculum, a National Board certification in Literacy, and recently became a certified Dyslexia Therapist.

As a reading interventionist in the area, her goal is to spread the word that literacy is a social justice issue. This is her twentieth year in teaching.

Talkin Story is a project of Well Organized: Collaborative Community Driven Organizing in Port Townsend, WA.

https://well-organized.org/

We appreciate the support of the Port Townsend Arts Commission, Jefferson Community Foundation, Finnriver Farm and Cidery, Addieun Foundation, the Community Equity Initiative, as well as private in-kind and monetary donations. Thank you!