Kai Cheng Thom is an author, community worker, somatic healer, lasagna lover, and wicked witch based in Toronto. She has spoken and published widely on the topics of trauma, transformative justice, and mental health. A former clinical social worker, Kai Cheng has also spent over a decade working in public sector mental health with LGBT youth and their families, an experience that continues to inform her work today. She is also the author of four award-winning books, including the Stonewall Award-winning essay collection I HOPE WE CHOOSE LOVE. Her newest book, Falling Back in Love with Being Human, from Penguin Random House will be released on August 1st 2023. Kai Cheng’s links: website: <a href= "https://kaichengthom.com/">https://kaichengthom.com</a> Instagram: <a href= "https://www.instagram.com/kaichengthom/">https://www.instagram.com/kaichengthom/</a>

Akilah Richards on Unschooling from 'Schoolishness'

Welcome to Tending the Roots: Composting Conversations, an exploratory podcast with the co-dreamers and friends of the Rooted Global Village, in conversation with change-makers, scholar-activists and teachers, dedicated to culture change work and seeding future(s).  We evoke in these conversations the powerful metaphor of composting. Composting is a process of transformation, wherein organic materials, once alive, break down and decay, eventually becoming rich, nourishing soil. We seek to identify and grapple with aspects and elements of culture, and in our personal lives, that no longer serve us and the world(s) we wish to create, and begin the slow work of composting them. We traverse paradigm-shifting themes, exploring the transformational power of body-centered praxis, the vibrancy of creative arts, the joy of spontaneity and play, the depth of poetry, and the profound interconnections of earth-spirit and more-than-human encounters. This podcast reflects the work of personal and collective transformation that we do in Rooted.