On Purity Culture—a debrief (from James)
Note: This post is a follow-up to the Fundamental Shift podcast series on Purity Culture. If you haven’t heard them, you can listen at the following links and in your favorite podcast app: WTF is “Better?” ; When Purity Culture Kills: The Atlanta Spa Shootings; A Mormon, A Couple Catholics, and A Couple Exvangelicals Walk Into A...Discussion About Purity Culture)
When Grace and I first talked about doing a series on Purity Culture, I thought I knew what we were in for. I knew some of the subject matter would be triggering, fascinating, and maybe shocking depending on the listener, but I wasn’t quite prepared for how it would hit me.
As we spoke with many of our listeners, heard and read your stories, and as I looked around me, I was struck with how multifaceted and far reaching Purity Culture actually is. In addition to the religious horror stories, I also see sex fixations manifesting in similar ways within secular culture, as misconceptions about the relationship between trafficking, sex work, and the justice system continue to spread, making the world less safe for victims and consensual sex workers alike.
Toward the end of our series, I was forced to examine how the culture in which I grew up shaped so much of how I have acted and reacted with relationship partners and potential relationship partners over the years. I was reminded of how strong religious programming is and how much continual effort is required to peel away at those layers, unlearn, retrain.
And of course, we heard from a number of women who reminded us how patriarchy, heteronormativity, and double standards often place the greatest share of the burden on them. Women and girls are seen as failures when they give in to their sexual desires, and when men give into theirs, it’s still a woman’s fault for being too desirable.
Grace shared her experience as a protege of missionary Elisabeth Elliot. I was never a follower of the Elliots, but listening to the clips from our last episode, I could sense in Elliot’s voice a strength that I think drew a lot of women like Grace toward her. Elliot was so influential in part because she projected a sense of authority and freedom that so many women and girls desired for themselves, but as Grace pointed out regarding Elliot and authority figures like her, “They get their freedom by telling us to give ours up.”
Reflecting on this after the episode was published, it occurred to me what else I felt when listening to Elliot speak: Security. Safety. Here is a strong woman telling us there’s a better way, appealing to a higher authority than herself, and doing it with such confidence that, for me at least, it was hard not to relapse, if only momentarily, into a false sense of relief and rest at the idea that I’m not my own, that ultimately nothing is up to me, and that a higher power is in charge. Honestly, that’s a large part of what I used to find appealing in my churched years: God’s got this; the world is a mess but we aren’t the solution—the Gospel is.
It occurred to me that so many people allow themselves to be subjugated because there’s a sense of security in believing everything is above your pay grade. It feeds the sort of circular thinking that entices good, well-meaning people into a collection of moral presets that function as shortcuts to “doing the right thing.” Ancient texts are distilled down into one person’s interpretation, then that interpretation gets distilled again, and before you know it there’s a huge chunk of impressionable, kind, well-meaning people who decide to kiss dating goodbye and think their sexual ethic is the only right one. Once a person has bought into that reasoning, the real effects of these teachings and practices on people’s lives becomes subordinate to the belief that this is the “right way” handed down from on high. How dare we think we know more about ourselves than the one who literally made us?
It takes a lot of critical thinking, introspection, and honest examination for an indoctrinated person to get to a point where they understand the path down which they have been led (1) may have been based in something that isn’t as literally true as they were taught, and (2) may have caused profound harm to countless people. It takes even more effort to allow these things to matter more than a belief that this set of values came from God.
There’s a lot to sort through here. I sincerely hope those of you who followed this series found value in the stories that were told and were challenged in ways you haven’t been before. Please let us know how these episodes spoke to you. The series may be over, but the conversation continues.
Perfect Is An Illusion
Fundamental Shift Podcast Presents: The Quieted Mind
Illusion: An imaginary concept based on a hypothetical ideal.
It’s a new year, and the world is much the same and yet very different than it was this time last year. A summary of what has happened over the past 12 months seems unnecessary at this point. We all know what we’ve been through. What we’re still going through. And we know that we still have a long way to go to return to what we might call normal, let alone perfect.
The world has changed, and it continues to change.
Heraclitus is quoted as saying, “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”
In this human existence, our mind wants to trick us into believing in permanence. We look for something, anything solid and unchanging that we can lean on or grasp to feel secure. The truth is this: the only guarantees we have are that things have changed, things are changing, and things will change.
We can view this as bad news and good news. “Bad” and “good,” of course, are concepts that we devise relative to our own desires or expectations of what SHOULD be. To view things simply as they are, free from notions, concepts, desires, or expectations, is a step toward liberation.
To view things as they are is to know that the nature of all things is to change––to manifest when conditions are sufficient and to withdraw when conditions are not sufficient.
To label things as “good” or “bad” or “perfect” or “imperfect” is to be attached to an arbitrary ideal that may or may not ever manifest. This isn’t to say that we should overlook suffering or try to enjoy it. It is possible, however, to suffer less if we can find liberation from our dualistic notions of good, bad, perfect, imperfect, defiled, pure, and so on. Perfect is an illusion; an imaginary concept based on a hypothetical ideal. If we can retrain our thought patterns and habit energy in a way that frees us from these hypothetical ideals based on imagined realities, we will suffer less. This does not mean that we don’t plan for the future or try to improve things in the here and now––it simply means that in order to liberate ourselves, we must start off with facing reality as it really is. Part of this is a realization that whatever is happening now, whatever conditions are present at this moment, will change. You cannot step into the same river twice.
The things we have been through, the changes we endure, the losses we grieve––they are all passing over us like clouds in the sky. Everything is fleeting. Just as I manifested when conditions were sufficient and will withdraw when conditions are not, so will we all, and so will this.
So be here. Be now. And know that this, too, is already changing. NAMASTE.
How Long?
How Long?
State Capitol Montgomery, AL - March 25, 1965
Today we celebrate the life & legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and those he inspired, by honoring civil rights pioneers and great societal leaders we lost this past year, and by remembering the names of those who lost their lives in acts of systemic racial violence.
REST IN POWER
Rev. Joseph Lowry - UMC Minister & Founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Rev. C.T. Vivian - Minister & Field General for Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Dr. King.
Bruce Boynton - Civil Rights leader who inspired the Freedom Riders Movement. He challenged racial segregation laws with his then attorney, who would one day become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall.
John Lewis - Statesman from the great state of Georgia for 23 years & Civil rights hero who served shoulder to shoulder with Dr. King.
David Dinkins - 106th Mayor of NYC and the first African American to hold that position.
Katherine Johnson - NASA mathematician crucial in the success of the first and subsequent US crewed spaceflights. She inspired the film Hidden Figures.
Joe Clark - Principal of Eastside High in Paterson, NJ. He inspired the film Lean on Me.
B. Smith - Restauranteur, model, author, businesswoman, and tv host.
Lou Brock - Minister & Professional baseball player & coach. He was inducted in to the Hall of Fame in 1985.
John Thompson - First African American to coach and win an American collegiate championship in 1984 for basketball.
Kobe Bryant - Professional basketball player & patron of the After school Allstars & the Kobe Bryant China Fund.
Jas Waters - Hip Hop Journalist & Screenwriter - writer on the staff of This is Us.
Chadwick Boseman - Actor & playwright. He was a patron of St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.
Ja’net DuBois - Actress, famous for her role as Willona on Good Times.
Andre Harrell - Rapper, music executive, and producer. He gave Sean P. Diddy Combs his start.
Charley Pride - 1 of only 3 African American members of the Grand Ol’ Opry. He served in the Army & played professional baseball.
Betty Wright - Grammy award winning R&B / Soul Singer. Her works have been sampled by hip hop, rock, & r&b musicians.
Little Richard - Grammy award winning singer / songwriter influencing gospel, blues, r&b, rock&roll, and hip hop.
Bill Withers - Singer / songwriter and publisher. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2015.
Pop Smoke - Brooklyn based rapper noted for his ability to integrate various beat styles. His songs have been widely used in Black Lives Matter protests.
MF Doom - Rapper noted for his intricate word play and even integrating stream of consciousness into his lyrics.
Shabba Doo - Actor, dancer, choreographer. He was one of innovators of the dance style known as locking. He choreographed the dance that won the Oscar for by 3 / 6 Mafia in 2006.
SAY THEIR NAMES
Miciah Lee - 18 / Sparks, NV
Darius Tarver - 23 / Denton, TX
William Green - 43 / Temple Hills, MD
Jaquyn Light - 20 / Graham, NC
Lionel Morris - 39 / Conway. AR
Ahmaud Arbery - 25 / Satilla Shores, GA
Manuel Ellis - 33 / Tacoma, WA
Barry Gedeus - 27 / Ft. Lauderdale FL
Breonna Taylor - 26 / Louisville, KY
Daniel Prude - 30 / Rochester, NY
Steven Taylor - 33 / San Leandro, CA
Cornelius Fredericks - 16 / Kalmazoo, MI
Maurice Gordon - 28 / Bass River, NJ
George Floyd - 46 / Minneapolis, MN
Dion Johnson - 28 / Phoenix, AZ
Tony McDade - 38 / Tallahassee, FL
Calvin Horton Jr. - 43 / Minneapolis, MN
James Scurlock - 22 / Omaha, NB
David McAtee - 53 / Louisville, KY
James Floyd - 35 / New York, NY
Kamal Flowers - 24 / New Rochelle, NY
Robert Forbes - 56 / Bakersfield, CA
Priscilla Slater - 38 / Harper Woods, MI
Rachard Brooks - 27 / Atlanta, GA
Maurice Wagner - 30 / Maui, HI
Julian Lewis - 60 / Sylvania, GA
Anthony McClain - 32 / Pasadena, CA
Damian Daniels - 30 / San Antonio, TX
Dijon Kizze - 29 / Los Angeles, CA
Jonathan Price - 31 / Wolfe City, TX
Walter Wallace Jr. - 27 / Philadelphia, PA
Quawan Charles - 15 / Iberia Parish, LA
Aiden Ellison - 19 / Ashland, OR
Casey Goodson Jr. - 23 / Columbus, OH
Patrick Warren - 52 / Killen, TX
KEEP MOVING!
To learn more about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and how his family his carrying on with his work:
To learn about and support Black Lives Matter:
To honor those fallen and take action against racism:
If you’re a person of privilege and you’d like resources on ally-ship:
Remember folx, it’s up to us to make Dr. King’s dream a reality!
“It’s been so long since I’ve seen the ocean…”
2020 Year in Review
James’s 2020 Year-End Review & Recommendations
BY JAMES
Another year over, a new one just begun. But this hasn’t been just any year. 2020 has become a byword synonymous with dumpster fires and shit shows, and it has earned that title honestly. A global pandemic; lockdown orders; furloughs; job losses; negative bank balances; illness; death; and an overall feeling that the world is as unsafe as it has ever been and is unlikely to turn the corner anytime soon.
In the US, the 2020 election outcome and the development of several promising coronavirus vaccines has offered most of us a glimmer of hope, but it still seems that we have a long way to go before we can crawl out of the hole we’re in and hopefully begin to move forward together toward that new and better normal.
It was a hard year for us all. In my case, my immediate family lost our beloved toy poodle Pookie in March; a good friend of ours died from cancer in April; and in August, one of my uncles (a brother-in-law to my father who was like a true brother to him) died from COVID-19. The inability to travel or go pretty much anywhere stunted our emotional processes and made it impossible for us to properly grieve these losses.
With that said, the year hasn’t been a complete disaster on every front. Many of us whose lives were uprooted and upended in 2020 found solace in things like music, books, TV shows, and movies. I know I have.
So to that end, I’m hitting you with my favorites of 2020 from the world of arts and entertainment, specifically music and books. These are things that hit me just right this year and I hope will hit right with you too. So check them out and let me know what you liked, as well as what you picked up in 2020 and would recommend.
Favorite Albums of 2020
This is not an exhaustive list and is in no particular order. As with most years, I will still be discovering music from 2020 this year and beyond, and there are a couple recent albums from personal favs Nada Surf and Sigur Rós that I am just now getting to and still require some digestion. I’ll also include my 2020 playlist from Amazon Music for those who want to get a fuller taste of what tickled my ears this past year (apologies to the non-Amazon people; I was planning to reproduce the playlist on Spotify, but some of the songs weren’t available).
Pearl Jam: Gigaton
As someone who has been listening to Pearl Jam since the early ‘90s, I didn’t think they could put out their best album 30 years into their career, but they have done it. Some of their contemporaries released albums this year to lesser effect (see Alanis Morrisette and The Smashing Pumpkins, whose albums sadly just didn’t hit the mark for me this time around). This one held my attention from beginning to end on a regular basis in 2020, and the companion visual album was a moving and meditative experience.
Ondara: Folk n’ Roll Vol 1: Tales of Isolation
Tracy Chapman hasn’t released an album in over 12 years. If that makes you as sad as it should, I’ve got something that might help ease your suffering a bit. This album from Ondara (formerly J.S. Ondara) weaves guitar and vocals through timely tales of life in 2020 (hence the title “Tales of Isolation”) and does it with such effectiveness that I was reminded of the legendary Chapman at several points.
My fingers are crossed that we’ll see another release from Ondara in 2021 and one from Tracy too.
The Lone Bellow: Half Moon Light
The Lone Bellow first blew me away in 2011 when I saw them open for The Civil Wars under the moniker Zach Williams and the Bellow. If I’m being completely honest, they stole the show that night. This is an act whose albums I have to listen to on release day, and this for me was another quality release. There is noticeable influence from producer Aaron Dessner of The National on this record, and Williams vocally at times sounds a lot to me like Bruce Hornsby in his prime.
D Smoke: Black Habits
This one blindsided me. I didn’t catch the Netflix show Rhythm + Flow, but I love conscious hip-hop and Rhythm + Flow winner D Smoke’s full length album debut is packed with tracks that tell stories from an autobiographical standpoint and also tackle societal ills such as gentrification and disadvantaged kids that get caught in the system. His storytelling abilities shine on “Like My Daddy,” about Smoke’s relationship with his father, and “Free,” which recounts the loss of a friend from cancer.
Childish Gambino: 3.15.20
Donald Glover is without a doubt one of the most talented artists of my generation, and he continues to prove it. 2020 was a year of surprise albums, and when this one dropped at donaldgloverpresents.com and vanished 24 hours later, I thought I had missed the album of the year, until it came back up again on the streaming platforms. In this follow-up to his tour-de-force 2016 album “Awaken, My Love!,” Glover (as Childish Gambino) further cements his place as one of the great artists of our time, channeling influences like Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and Michael Jackson to create a hip-hop infused R&B tapestry that keeps me listening on repeat.
Taylor Swift: “Folklore” and “Evermore”
Taylor Swift outdid herself this year—twice—dropping two stellar surprise albums in one year. Producer Aaron Dessner and his brother Bryce Dessner joined forces with Swift on both records, which feature collaborations with the likes of The National, Bon Iver, and Haim to great effect. Swift’s outings this year show what can happen when a truly talented artist is able to get free from the record contracts and predatory record producers and show what they are truly capable of. Swift was always great. Now we know just how great.
Chris Cornell: No One Sings Like You Anymore
2020 was a crap year, but let’s not forget it was a continuation of a pretty crappy timeline that included, in 2017, the tragic death of former Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell. This year brought us one more solo album from Cornell, and it’s a brilliant collection of cover songs. Sporting a title lifted from the lyrics of Soundgarden’s hit “Black Hole Sun,” its double meaning is pretty thinly veiled, as it reminds us all that nobody else sings like Cornell could. His cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2U” (also famously covered by Sinead O’Connor) drips with new meaning when we realize that, like Prince, Cornell is no longer with us. It’s hard not to recall the memory of Cornell’s untimely departure when he sings lines like, “All the flowers that you planted in the back yard/ All died when you went away...”
The Midnight: Horror Show
This one wins for most apropos album title of 2020 if nothing else. I’m a big fan of Retrowave/Synthwave/Synthpop music soaked in ‘80s nostalgia, and The Midnight are among the best in the genre. This is another “surprise” album on my list, and it’s an Amazon exclusive. The highlight on this one for me was their cover of 10,000 Maniacs’ “Because the Night.”
Honorable Mention: Coheed & Cambria (feat. Rick Springfield): Jessie’s Girl 2
Another surprise in 2020, Coheed & Cambria entered the fray with this sequel to Rick Springfield’s ‘80s classic “Jessie’s Girl,” with an appearance in the song and accompanying music video by Springfield himself.
My 2020 Playlist
Songs from the above albums and more are in my 2020 Playlist. Check it out and let me know what I should add!
Favorite Books of 2020
I’m a slow reader, so I wasn’t able to get through nearly as many books this year as I would have liked, but here are a few that I found worth sharing. Feel free to hit me with your recommendations!
Happiness Becomes You: A Guide to Changing Your Life for Good by Tina Turner
Tina Turner is a true warrior of worldwide renown whose experience of overcoming abuse to become one of humanity's most famous solo performers is well known and documented, but not everyone knows about her deeply personal spiritual journey. In this book, Tina gives us an intimate glimpse into the practices that have grounded her for nearly half a century, helped her turn poison to medicine, and guided her toward becoming her truest and best self.
Turner’s Buddhism has been a central part of her survival story, and being a quasi-Buddhist myself, I loved reading her insights and how her practice of chanting, which she learned alongside legends like Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock, helped to transform her life and carry her through so many challenges.
Behold the Dreamers: A Novel by Imbolo Mbue
Originally published in 2017, this gem is one I picked up at the recommendation of my brilliant librarian wife, and I was not disappointed.
A story of hope, suspense, and hardship, Behold the Dreamers traces the journey of a Cameroonian family trying to make it in New York City with the Great Recession looming.
This Is What America Looks Like: My Journey from Refugee to Congresswoman by Ilhan Omar
This book was my companion read to Behold the Dreamers. I chose it because I specifically wanted to follow up a fictional novel about the difficulties faced by immigrants with a true story of a refugee who not only became a citizen but successfully ran for national public office.
Omar is an inspiration to so many, and after I read about her life as an immigrant, a mother, and a congresswoman, she had become a personal hero to me as well.
Tell It to the World: an indigenous memoir by Stan Grant
Published in late 2019, Tell It To The World chronicles the lived experiences of international journalist Stan Grant, who was born into adversity and disadvantage as an Indigenous Aboriginal Australian, faced racism and discrimination throughout his life, and managed to become one of the nation’s leading journalists, traveling the globe for CNN.
This isn’t a book in which the author suggests people “pull themselves up by their bootstraps” just because he made it. Grant is very clear that he was fortunate to be given the right opportunities at the right time, and regularly cites James Baldwin as one of his chief inspirations.
Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell, Faith Erin Hicks
Another one from late 2019, This one is the first graphic novel from celebrated Y.A. author Rainbow Rowell. If you love fall, pumpkin patches, hay rides, corn mazes, and seasonal treats, you’ll “fall” for this tale of two high school seniors working their final shift on the last night of the pumpkin patch before they graduate high school and head off to college.
It’s a story of youth, of having big changes ahead, and the things, people, and places we leave behind.
Thanks for sticking with me through this super long post. I hope you enjoy the recommendations and feel free to add some of your own as well. I leave you with a song from 1996 that for me completely captured the mood of this New Year.
#FSPnot-so-in-focus
Man Plans, God Laughs AKA Folx Plan, The Universe Chuckles
“Mann Tracht, Un Gott Lacht”
BY GRACE
“Mann Tracht, Un Gott Lacht” - Yiddish Proverb roughly translated: “Man Plans, and God Laughs”. In my own universal spirituality I tend to think of it as folx plan, and the universe chuckles. Any way you might think of it through your own lens, the saying holds true. I made plans for #FSPFocus this holiday season. As with Thanksgiving I planned to continue decolonizing the table. I planned to talk about food poverty and provide ways for us all to give back. I planned. The universe chuckled.
My wife’s family planned, and Covid-19 took a good long evil laugh. One of our nieces got coronavirus. Another was exposed to a positive testing person. We had a well planned, well thought out plan for distancing and visiting. It was blown to shreds literally the day before. Thankfully, our one niece is on the mend. The other did not end up showing any signs and she and her family have tested negative.
Talk about making a big shift. We had already made the shift to try and stay as safe as possible whilst still visiting. Now, we had to shift yet again to a very scaled back celebration. My great food focus plans became a blur. It was now about shifting to make this rubbish year’s holiday the best it could be.
If you listened to the holiday show, you know that this time year is a mixed bag for me - as I imagine it is for many, if not most. In addition to the Coronavirus bwahahaha-ing our plans, there’s the hard truth that hits me in the face every year that I no longer have a “side” of the family to drag my wife to, roll my eyes at an uncle’s terrible jokes, and make jokes under my breath to that cousin that has just as snarky a sense a humor as I do - you know all the things that make us love hate our family gatherings. My immediate family has passed and my extended family can’t handle having a queer gal at their holiday table. My family was a bunch of ‘characters’ as we say in the south, but they were mine, and I do miss them - both the dead and the living.
To top it all off the thing that made all of that ok has been taken from me this year with Covid-19. I have no option to be with my chosen family, doing the things that we have made our own traditions. Having left fundamentalism and the holidays no longer holding such a strong religious significance for us, we worked a while to find that way with a good bit of trial and error. When we landed upon it and began celebrating our way year after year, I’ve not had such joy since I was a young child unaware of all the dysfunction going on around me, because my grandmothers who raised me shielded me, made sure I had a good Christmas, and excellent fudge.
Just as I think the holidays are done with their fits of laughter, the new year looks at them as says, hey hold my laughing gas cocktail! A beloved animal I have adored, who has made my traveling adventures and my life so much the better, passed away. I learned on the eve of the new year that my godfather had passed of Covid-19. We haven’t been close for many years. My first thought was a memory of putting my hair bows in his hair. Unfortunately, it was quickly followed by the memory of his judgment. When I came out he was head of the posse informing me I would be going straight to hell. Another event to add to the mixed bag.
Knowing that the universe will belly laugh at a new year’s resolution plan, I’m tearing that list up in favor of a practice of intention. I look back belly laughing myself at the many plans I made before I was truly aware of myself, and comfortable in my own skin. Now, I tend to think of positive options rather than resolutions based on negative messages of not being good enough. I list my options that do include goals, and I use them depending on my life in this moment, prioritizing them for the present. This is a way of life, not a thing I fail and then have to wait a whole year to attempt once again, after beating myself up for not having achieved it yet.
If we’ve learned anything at all from 2020, it’s that we can’t predict the future and we can’t truly plan for it. We can make provisions, be wise, and hold our hopes loosely. We can take the options set before us in the moment and practice living with our full senses engaged in the now. We can set our intentions for love, for peace, and for goodwill toward our fellow human being in 2021 and every year.
#FSPFocus: Decolonizing the Table
Decolonizing Our Thanksgiving Tables
#FSPFocus Grace’s Three Sisters Succotash on a bed of Quinoa
If you haven’t listened to episode 7 of the podcast, please do! We had the honor of learning about Decolonization with AnaYelsi Velasco Sanchez. In light of that discussion we’re offering a few ways to decolonize your table for Thanksgiving, and we encourage you to take this into the Christmas season as well. We invite you to post pictures of your dish using #FSPFocus.
The best way to decolonize your table is to get to know the land you live on and honor it by sharing true history and positive representation of native peoples. When it comes to the table, use the three sisters. The three sisters are the three main agricultural crops of various indigenous groups of North America: winter squash, maize (corn), and climbing beans (typically tepary or common brown beans). According to Navajo food writer and podcaster Andi Murphy they are planted in the symbolic triad. Beans are planted at the base of corn stalks that then offer climbing bean vines support as they reach for the sun. The beans in turn pump nitrogen back into the soil fertilizing the corn and squash, while the sprawling vines and leaves of the squash protect the beans from predators. The three sisters also offer spiritual connection and appear in the mythology across tribes from southwest to midwest and into the northeast. We’ll link the full article from Andi Murphy on all of our social media platforms.
Don’t forget to post your dish using #FSPFocus. We can’t wait to see what you’re cooking up and how your meal has shifted this year!
#FSPFocus
#FSPFocus
We’re launching a new segment this week: FSP Focus. Each month we’ll be focusing in on how we can make shifts for the better in our everyday lives, and interact with the world around us with more knowledge and compassion. Each week there will be information on our social media sites as well as new blogs from yours truly.
As always our very favorite thing is to hear from YOU! We’ll highlight your responses, ideas, and questions. We invite you to join the discussion using the hashtag #FSPFocus.
During the holiday season we’ll be focusing on food. Food inequality and poverty, the way food effects us physically and mentally, the communal and cultural significance of food. In light of our recent episode on decolonization with AnaYelsi Velasco Sanchez we’re offering a few ways to decolonize your table for Thanksgiving, and we encourage you to take this into the Christmas season as well. We invite you to post pictures of your dish using #FSPFocus. We can’t wait to see what you’re cooking up and how your meal has shifted this year!
You’re in for a real Shift Show…
Let’s Get Our SHIFT Together!
Let’s Get Our SHIFT Together!
BY Fundamental Shift
Grace and James are former high school classmates who met again for the first time 20 years after they graduated and discovered they had both become very different people than they were before. The conversations that followed birthed the concept for Fundamental Shift: a podcast about the major shake-ups in our lives ––leaving home, losing faith, finding love, death–– the fault lines and the aftershocks.
We believe there is value in sharing our stories, building community, and opening ourselves to the inevitability of change. It’s about discovering how the through lines in our stories bring us together, and how we can learn from one another’s magnificent differences.
We thank you for listening and reading about our journeys, and most of all we look forward to hearing from you about your own journey! Join us in this adventure looking back on the paths that got us here, and forging new paths ahead. Let’s get our SHIFT together!
–– Grace & James