The ZAMI NOBLA Podcast

The ZAMI NOBLA North Carolina State Chapter holds a monthly potluck. I took a road trip to Charlotte, North Carolina, to experience one of these gatherings and had the pleasure of interviewing one of their members, Marilyn McClain. Marilyn McClain’s Bio: I Am a body Alchemist. One who is patient, grounded, wise, modest and who enjoys learning and teaching. My mind and soul are open. Love is my greatest tool. I use my inner strength and spirit to transform the lives of others through movement and visioning. I am a licensed physical therapist in the state of North Carolina. I have been practicing for 20 years.  I am certified as an instructor for Tai Chi for Immunity and Tai Chi for Arthritis and Fall Prevention. There are many forms of exercise and I assist clients in discovering what resonates with their whole being. ZAMI NOBLA North Carolina Chapter info: https://www.zaminobla.org/chapters ZAMI NOBLA North Carolina Chapter Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1157415168054367 Janyce Jackson Jones (President- ZAMI NOBLA North Carolina State Chapter)  interview: https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/show/zaminobla/id/17779127

Stephanie Anne Johnson is a second-generation theater practitioner. Her mother Virginia Johnson (Green) worked with The American Negro Theatre In N.Y. ​Johnson has been a lighting designer for over forty years. Nationally she has done designs for La Mama Theatre (N.Y.), Telluride Repertory Theatre (Colorado), The Arizona Repertory Theatre, The National Black Theater, and The Apollo (N.Y.). Locally, she has worked with Cultural Odyssey, Rhodessa Jones, Afro Solo, Ubuntu Theatre, African American Shakespeare Company, The Aurora Theater, Shotgun Players, The Marin Theatre Company, and many other groups. Her design work has also been seen in India, The Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Canada and France. She was awarded a Gerbode Design Fellowship in partnership with Cultural Odyssey of San Francisco in 1998. Photographs of Ms. Johnson's designs were included in the show Onstage: A Century of African American Stage Design which was presented at The N.Y. Public Library For The Performing Arts in 1995. Stephanie also has written, directed and performed in theater presentations.   Stephanie’s One-Woman Show: "Every 21 Days Cancer & Yoga & Me " July 21, 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTEprQN0sRE Stephanie’s Website: Light Essence Design https://www.lightessencedesign.com/?fbclid=IwAR1PRWIoov_uuprv1a3L-zGK7xARGG_yAGb3QbNs43-G1ay16pJoOjmLOxA

M Shelly Conner, Ph.D.,  is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Central Arkansas. Her multi-genre writings examine culture through a dapperqueer womanist lens and include publications in Crisis Magazine, the A.V. Club, NBC News, and the Grio. Her debut novel "everyman", is currently available in hard cover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook.  Shelly is repped by Beth Marshea at Ladderbird Agency. Her website: http://mshellyconner.com/m Buy the book: https://www.blackstonepublishing.com/everyman-dat0.html#541=94

The ZAMI NOBLA Podcast celebrated four years of serving as a sound source for Black lesbian herstory in August 2022. This episodes celebrates that achievement with excerpts from various episodes. Links to each episode can be found below. Kamilah Aisha Moon Talks about the Human Business of Poetry https://zaminobla.libsyn.com/kamilah-aisha-moon-talks-about-the-human-business-of-poetry   Cynthia Mckinney Takes on Heart Atttack Hill & Loses 52 Pounds https://zaminobla.libsyn.com/cynthia-mckinney-takes-on-heart-atttack-hill-loses-52-pounds Cheryl Clarke Takes us to School https://zaminobla.libsyn.com/cheryl-clarke-takes-us-to-school Deidre McCalla is no 9 to 5 Singer Songwriter https://zaminobla.libsyn.com/deidre-mccalla-is-no-9-to-5-singer-songwriter Jillian Ford Talks Shop on Education, Innovation, and DeColonized Classrooms https://zaminobla.libsyn.com/jillian-ford-talks-shop-on-education-innovation-and-decolonized-classrooms Joi and Jane Mitchell Talk about Work and Residency Abroad https://zaminobla.libsyn.com/joi-and-jane-mitchell-talk-about-work-and-residency-abroad Jowanna Tillman and Edonna Koon Talk about Living the RV Life https://zaminobla.libsyn.com/jowanna-tillman-and-edonna-koon-talk-about-living-the-rv-life Rev. Maressa Pendermon Speaks on Normalizing Grief and Creating a Toolbox for Emotional Well-being https://zaminobla.libsyn.com/rev-maressa-pendermon-speaks-on-normalizing-grief-and-creating-a-toolbox-for-emotional-well-being Black Lesbian Comic Karen Williams Gets Serious About the Business of Being Funny https://zaminobla.libsyn.com/black-lesbian-comic-karen-williams-gets-serious-about-the-business-of-being-funny Ericka Huggins on Mothers, Mindfulness, and Meditation https://zaminobla.libsyn.com/ericka-huggins-on-mothers-mindfulness-and-meditation Trey Anthony Shines her Limelight on Love, Living Out Loud, and Vulnerability https://zaminobla.libsyn.com/ep-002-trey-anthony-shines-her-limelight-on-love-living-out-loud-and-vulnerability Dr. Tonia Poteat on, "Deserving Research that Reflects Your Real Life Lived Experience https://zaminobla.libsyn.com/dr-tonia-poteat-on-deserving-research-that-reflects-your-real-life-lived-experience Michelle Elizabeth Brown Talks about Podcasting, Poetry, and Pride https://zaminobla.libsyn.com/michelle-elizabeth-brown-talks-about-podcasting-poetry-and-pride Dr. Lourdes Dolores Follins On Black LGBT Health, Yoruba Spirituality, and Therapy https://zaminobla.libsyn.com/dr-lourdes-dolores-follins-on-black-lbgbt-health-yoruba-spirituality-and-therapy

Dr. Moya Bailey is an Associate Professor in the School of Communication at Northwestern University. Her work focuses on marginalized groups' use of digital media to promote social justice and she is interested in how race, gender, and sexuality are represented in media and medicine. She is the digital alchemist for the Octavia E. Butler Legacy Network and the Board President of Allied Media Projects, a Detroit-based movement media organization that supports an ever growing network of activists and organizers. She is a co-author of #HashtagActivism: Networks of Race and Gender Justice (MIT Press, 2020) and is the author of Misogynoir Transformed: Black Women’s Digital Resistance (New York University Press, 2021). Visit her website: https://www.moyabailey.com/  

This interview was recorded via video conference on  October 29, 2021 by Angela Denise Davis. Gaye Adegbalola talked about her early years in Virginia, college life in Boston, and her career as a Blues musician, griot, and activist. Gaye Adegbalola’s website: https://adegbalola.com/ Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/GayeAdegbalolaMusician/ Gaye Todd Adegbalola, a Blues Music Award winner, is best known musically as a founding member of Saffire – The Uppity Blues Women (1984 – 2009). The group recorded exclusively with Alligator Records. Additionally, she has 6 recordings on her own label, Hot Toddy Music (Todd is her family name). Gaye was born and raised in Fredericksburg, Virginia where she sat-in, picketed and protested its racism. She graduated as valedictorian of the then-segregated Walker-Grant High School, went “ up North” to Boston University to finish with a major in biology and a minor in chemistry. Prior to becoming a teacher, she worked as a technical writer for TRW Systems, a biochemical researcher at Rockefeller University, and a bacteriologist at Harlem Hospital. She has a Master’s degree in Educational Media (with a concentration in photography) from Virginia State University.

Angela interviewed Dr. Emilie M. Townes on October 12, 2021, via video conference. Townes talked about growing up in Durham, North Carolina, her formative years in theological education and parachurch work, and the necessity of having a robust hope. Emilie M. Townes, an American Baptist clergywoman, is a native of Durham, NC.  She holds a DMin from the University of Chicago Divinity School and a PhD in Religion in Society and Personality from Northwestern University. Townes is the Dean and Distinguished Professor of Womanist Ethics and Society at Vanderbilt University Divinity School, becoming the first African American to serve as its dean in 2013.  She is the former Mellon Professor of African American Religion and Theology at Yale University Divinity School where she was the first African American and first woman to serve as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.  In 2008, she was the first African American woman to serve as president of the American Academy of Religion and recently served as President of the Society for the Study of Black Religion from 2012-2016.  She taught on the faculties of Union Theological Seminary, NY and Saint Paul School of Theology. She is the editor of two collection of essays, author of four books including her groundbreaking book, Womanist Ethics and the Cultural Production of Evil.  She is a co-editor of two books. Townes was elected a Fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2009. 

Angela sat down with Sharon Bridgforth on October 8, 2021, to record this interview via video conference. Bridgforth talked about her formative years, her pathway to healing, intergenerational mentoring, and her life as a touring artist in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sharon Bridgforth's website https://www.sharonbridgforth.com/ Twin Cities PBS did a special on Pillsbury House Theatre - who GRACIOUSLY chose to feature "dat Black Mermaid Man Lady/The Show!!!" The special premiered on 7/10/21. https://www.datblackmermaidmanlady.com/the-show A Doris Duke Performing Artist, Sharon Bridgforth is a writer that creates ritual/jazz theatre. A 2020-2023 Playwrights’ Center Core Member, Sharon has received support from Creative Capital, MAP Fund, the National Performance Network and is a New Dramatists alumnae. Sharon served as a dramaturg for the Urban Bush Women Choreographic Center Initiative’s Choreographic Fellowship program and has been in residence with: Brown University’s MFA Playwriting Program; University of Iowa’s MFA Playwrights Program; The Theatre School at DePaul University; allgo, A Texas Statewide QPOC Organization; and The Department of Performance Studies at Northwestern University. Widely published, Sharon author of the Lambda Literary award winning, the bull-jean stories, and her performance piece, delta dandi, is published in solo/black/woman: scripts, interviews and essays. Sharon is grateful to say that she has been supported by the Zami community since 1998 - when she and RedBone Press Founder and Editor, Lisa C. Moore were first out on the road with the bull-jean stories.  

This interview was recorded by Angela Denise Davis on October 14, 2021, via video conference. Deidre McCalla sat down with Angela to talk about McCalla’s early life in New York, her start in music, the herstory of her place in the women’s music movement, and the way the COVID-19 pandemic changed her life. The music heard in the interview was used courtesy of Deidre McCalla. You can enjoy the full tracks on YouTube at the following links: Walk Me Down to the River https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZEY7idOCAc I Do Not Walk This Path Alone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhNnJx6Cd58 Deidre’s website: https://deidremccalla.com/ Photo used in episode art: Irene Young   Playing For Keeps is an apt title for the latest cd from singer/songwriter Deidre McCalla. From the moment Deidre takes the stage, her engaging presence and irresistible blend of folk, country, rock, and pop seize the listeners by the heart and won't let go. Deidre McCalla came of age in the fiery blaze of NYC's folk heyday - a time when Greenwich Village clubs were filled with the likes of Dylan, Baez, and Ochs; a time when Motown ruled the top of the charts and the streets of America screamed with anger and civil unrest. Her first album, Fur Coats and Blue Jeans, was released when Deidre was 19 and a student at Vassar College. With a theater degree tucked under her belt and an acoustic guitar tossed in the back of a battered Buick station wagon, Deidre McCalla hit the proverbial road and never looked back. Deidre later majored in jazz guitar at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music and released three albums with the pioneering women's music label Olivia Records. The Miami Herald affectionately dubs her a "dreadlocked troubadour." From Maui to Maine, college coffeehouses to Carnegie Hall, Deidre McCalla is a much beloved performer in both folk and women's music circles and has shared the stage with a long list of notables that includes Suzanne Vega, Tracy Chapman, Holly Near, Odetta, Cris Williamson, and Sweet Honey in the Rock. With five critically acclaimed albums to her credit, Deidre McCalla remains the ever seeking road warrior, her words and music chronicling our strengths and weaknesses and celebrating the power and diversity of the human spirit. A single parent residing in Georgia with her son, Deidre has taught Performance at Warren Wilson College's Swannanoa Gathering. Deidre's work has been published in Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology, The Original Coming Out Stories, and Chrysalis: A Feminist Quarterly, and she is featured in The Power of Words: A Transformative Language Arts Reader. Deidre is a proud member of AFM Local 1000 and the North American Folk Alliance.

On August 19, 2021, Angela sat down with Sherri Jackson to record her story about living in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic as a healthcare professional. Jackson is a healthcare provider,minister and activist. She has a wide range of LBGTQ.and AIDS organizational involvement. She has been a volunteer with the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Club-Health Committee,and the Chicago Department of Public Health.She has been a board member of Horizon Community Services (1996-2000) was a Human Rights Campaign Congressional Action Coordinator (1997-1998) was with Chicago Black Lesbian and Gays(1996-2000} as Corresponding Secretary and program chair. Was on the board of the Lesbian Community Cancer Project, among many group involvements. Jackson also volunteered as a Chaplain for the Night Ministry in Chicago. As well help organize various events at places of worship centered around women and LBGTQ individuals.