Black Girl's Guide to Surviving Menopause

Welcome to our 6th iteration of the ⁠Black Girl's Guide to Surviving Menopause⁠ podcast: the Season of Orisii. Building on our international diasporic tour from last year, this season's theme is Orisii, or 'pairs' in the Afric language of Yoruba. We've invited different types of pairs to explore the through-line between menarche and menopause. You will hear parent/child, partner/lovers and siblings to offer their reflections and observations about this journey as individuals and as Orisii. We, as people capable of menstruation, understand that each experience is unique and impacts both ourselves and the connections we have with our loved ones. For our final interview for this Season of Orisii, our producer and BGG2SM Creative Director, Mariah M., interviews our Lead Menopause Cartographer and Founder of BGG2SM, known to us as Omisade but known by their sister, Georgette, and close family as Wilhelmina aka Billie. Together, they are affectionately known as “The Burney Girls”.   Two fiery daughters were born to a Cancer mother and a Scorpio father who has passed away. They were raised by a Cancer stepfather who adopted them when he married their mother. They spent their time growing up between North Carolina and Maryland, and they spent summers in New York. Now, both mothers of boys and grandmother (Georgette) of boys, we discuss motherhood and auntieship and the tenderness of Scorpio Season. Autumn invites us to slow down and embrace letting go. Scorpio is the sign of transformation, death, and rebirth, and this season holds a special place for The Burney Girls as November holds both their mother’s day of ascension as well as their father’s birthday, now passed. Within this mourning of what was, a new relationship and way of connection to their parents was birthed. Wilhelmina and Georgette, each named after their late father, have used their grief as a path to deeper connection as sisters in adulthood.  Produced by Mariah M., Managing Editor of Hippolyta’s Journal by BGG2SM | hippolytasjournal.substack.com Interview conducted by Mariah M. Mixed by Kim Blocker of TDS Radio Theme by Taj Cullen Scott Season 6 Artwork by Assata Goff, in-house Iconographer of BGG2SM Season 6 of the BGG2SM podcast is sponsored by The Honey Pot Co.  More about the Black Girl’s Guide to Surviving Menopause at www.blackgirlsguidetosurvivingmenopause.com 

Welcome to our 6th iteration of the ⁠Black Girl's Guide to Surviving Menopause⁠ podcast: the Season of Orisii. Building on our international diasporic tour from last year, this season's theme is Orisii, or 'pairs' in the Afric language of Yoruba. We've invited different types of pairs to explore the through-line between menarche and menopause. You will hear parent/child, partner/lovers and siblings to offer their reflections and observations about this journey as individual and as Orisii. We, as people capable of menstruation, understand that each experience is unique and impacts both ourselves and the connections we have with our loved ones. For this fourth episode of our Season of Orisii, we have life partners, Jasiatic and Elsworth Usher. In this episode, we time-traveled, grounded in the here and now, dipping back to the past and stretching towards the future, where taking risks lands us in infinite possibilities and love grows. In numerology, the number 4 represents practicality, loyalty, knowledge, and dependability. It seems very fortunate for us to explore the journey from menarche to menopause through the lens of the intergenerational love partnership between Jasiatic and Elworth. Many astrologers agree that Virgo and Capricorn are one of the most auspicious pairings, platonically, romantically--creatively. Mercury and Saturn Pragmatism and Vigour Earth and Earth They seem to get each other... Jasiatic and Elsworth also share a love connection between the American South and the Global South, with Jasiatic heralding from Charlotte, North Carolina, and Elsworth a first-generation American from Belize. In this episode, we explore: Reflections of first periods (menarche) from the first person perspective and bearing witness to it Southern vs. Caribean mothers August Virgos Intergenerational love and care Unexpected death Grief Menstrual blood What it means to be sure and risk it all Meet Jasiatic and Elsworth: Jasiatic Anderson Usher, @jasiatic, resides at the cultural and philosophical crossroads of world travel, radical taste making, “artist as art”, and foodie meets chef. She is the creator of the Liberation Dinners and has hands in plant based pop ups, food history classes, transitional plant based coaching, along with food writing. Elswoth Usher, @iamelz, is a creative writer, digital content creator, sous chef, photographer, thinker, lover, partner, and Capricorn stelium. Together, they co-host "Su Casa," Charlotte’s longest-running dance party for the culturally starved, which Jasiatic manifested over 10 years ago. *No menstrual blood was used to coerce Brother Elsworth. This is a deep soul love. Pure and unabiding. To learn more, check out https://jasiatic.com/ Show Notes: Produced by Mariah M., Creative Director at BGG2SM Hosted by Omisade Burney-Scott, Founder & Chief Curatorial Officer at BGG2SM Edited by Kim Blocker of ⁠⁠TDS Radio⁠⁠ Theme music by Taj Scott Season 6 Artwork by Assata Goff, artist & in-house Iconographer of BGG2SM Season 6 of is sponsored by ⁠⁠The Honey Pot Company⁠⁠ Learn more about Black Girl's Guide to Surviving Menopause at ⁠www.blackgirlsguidetosurvivingmenopause.com⁠

Welcome to our 6th iteration of the ⁠Black Girl's Guide to Surviving Menopause⁠ podcast: the Season of Orisii. Building on our international diasporic tour from last year, this season's theme is Orisii, or 'pairs' in the Afric language of Yoruba. We've invited different types of pairs to explore the through-line between menarche and menopause. You will hear parent/child, partner/lovers and siblings to offer their reflections and observations about this journey as individual and as Orisii. We, as people capable of menstruation, understand that each experience is unique and impacts both ourselves and the connections we have with our loved ones. For this third episode of our Season of Orisii, we have sisters adrienne maree brown and Autumn Brown. Opening portals, multiverse traveling companions, and life beyond the end of the world: How can we stay grounded in the present moment, in this reality of constant change, decay, death, and rebirth, without feeling completely overwhelmed? And then what? Surviving the various challenges within ourselves and in the world while navigating the transition between our changing identities of past, present, and future selves, all while supporting each other and remembering our individual needs. What if we redefined "self-centered" to mean the preservation of all aspects of ourselves, young, older, fragile, strong for iterative healing? These are some of the themes and questions we explored with the Sisters Brown, adrienne, and Autumn on this episode and we can't think of a better way to kick off Black August during our Season of Orisii. Black August is a time of year to honor our Black freedom fighters, political prisoners, and resistance against oppression via study, fasting, training and fighting. It is the antithesis of “celebration” and empty “homage.” Black August commemoration and practice place our collective struggle and sacrifice on center stage. More on the why of Black August here, detailed by the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement.  Meet adrienne and Autumn: adrienne maree brown grows healing ideas in public through her multi-genre writing, her collaborations and her podcasts. Informed by 25 years of movement facilitation, somatics, Octavia E. Butler scholarship and her work as a doula, adrienne has nurtured Emergent Strategy, Pleasure Activism, Radical Imagination and Transformative Justice as ideas and practices for transformation. She is the author/editor of several published texts, co-generator of a tarot deck and a developing musical ritual. adrienne's forthcoming book ⁠Loving Corrections⁠ will be released on August 20 from AK Press. Autumn Brown is a musician, facilitator, and author of speculative fiction and creative non-fiction. As the front woman of the eponymous band, AUTUMN, she has created two EPs, ⁠The Animal in You and The Way Your Blood Beats⁠. Her writing has been featured in Revolutionary Mothering, Parenting 4 Social Justice, Octavia’s Brood, and Lightspeed Magazine. She co-hosts the podcast How to Survive the End of the World, and facilitates political education and movement strategy through the Anti-Oppression Resource and Training Alliance. To learn more about the Sisters Brown, check out the following links: ⁠adrienne maree brown⁠ ⁠Autumn Brown⁠ ⁠How to Survive the End of the World⁠ There she is—- neither Super hero nor villain Something in between Inside the between A life lived so many times Familiar echoes Between truth and dare Lies all of the answers still… YOU are your best thing Black August Haiku, Omisade Burney-Scott Show Notes: Produced by Mariah M., Creative Director at BGG2SM Hosted by Omisade Burney-Scott, Founder & Chief Curatorial Officer at BGG2SM Edited by Kim Blocker of ⁠TDS Radio⁠ Theme music by Taj Scott Season 6 Artwork by Assata Goff, artist & in-house Iconographer of BGG2SM Season 6 of is sponsored by ⁠The Honey Pot Company⁠ Learn more about Black Girl's Guide to Surviving Menopause at www.blackgirlsguidetosurvivingmenopause.com

Welcome to our 6th iteration of the ⁠Black Girl's Guide to Surviving Menopause⁠ podcast: the Season of Orisii. Building on our international diasporic tour from last year, this season's theme is Orisii, or 'pairs' in the Afric language of Yoruba. We've invited different types of pairs to explore the through-line between menarche and menopause. You will hear parent/child, partner/lovers, and siblings offer their reflections and observations about this journey as individuals and as Orisii. We, as people capable of menstruation, understand that each experience is unique and impacts both ourselves and the connections we have with our loved ones. For this second episode of our Season of Orisii, we have couple, Michelle Graham-Freeman and Sterling E. Freeman. MICHELLE GRAHAM-FREEMAN has taught Spanish at Durham Academy for 30 years. The first 17 years were in middle school with grades 6-8. The remaining years have been in pre and lower schools with grades preK-1. This 31st year is her last as she and her daughter, Joia, become franchisees of Season 2 Consign--RDU. Season 2 is dedicated to providing the highest quality, pre-owned designer brand and luxury handbags to clients around the world. STERLING E. FREEMAN, is a co-facilitator of UnLearning Sexism Accountability Circles, and co-host of a podcast in process, Beyond Being A Good One podcast. Sterling is a Co-Founder and Principal with CounterPart Consulting, Co-Founder of BREATHE: A Whole Black Experience, and the creator and host of The Wisdom & The Work podcast. All his efforts contribute to the work of dismantling oppressive systems, and imagining and building spaces that enable liberation and thriving for all. At this point in his journey, he is an aspiring womanist. Sterling lives in Durham, NC with his wife, Michelle. They have an adult daughter, Joia. Show Notes: Produced by Mariah M., Creative Director at BGG2SM Hosted by Omisade Burney-Scott, Founder & Chief Curatorial Officer at BGG2SM Edited by Kim Blocker of TDS Radio Theme music by Taj Cullen Scott Season 6 Artwork by Assata Goff, artist & in-house Iconographer of BGG2SM Season 6 of the podcast is sponsored by The Honey Pot Company Learn more about Black Girl's Guide to Surviving Menopause at www.blackgirlsguidetosurvivingmenopause.com

Welcome to our 6th iteration of the Black Girl's Guide to Surviving Menopause podcast: the Season of Orisii. Building on our international diasporic tour from last year, this season's theme is Orisii, or 'pairs' in the Afric language of Yoruba. We've invited different types of pairs to explore the through-line between menarche and menopause. You will hear parent/child, partner/lovers and siblings to offer their reflections and observations about this journey as individual and as orisii. We as people capable of menstruation understand that each experience is unique and impacts both our selves and connections we have to our loved ones. On this first episode, we have gina Breedlove and Ash-lee Woodard Henderson: partnered orisii gina Breedlove is a grief doula, sound healer, vocalist, mother, grandmother, author, and oracle of grace. (website | IG) Ash-lee Woodard Henderson is an organizer, strategist, soon-to-be author and the first Black woman co-Executive Director at the Highlander Center for Research and Education. (Ash-Lee's IG | Highland's IG) Produced by BGG2SM Creative Director, Mariah M. Hosted by BGG2SM Founder & Chief Curatorial Officer, Omisade Burney-Scott Edited by Kim Blocker of TDS Radio Theme music by Taj Cullen Scott Season 6 Artwork by Assata Goff, artist & in-house Iconographer of BGG2SM Season 6 of the podcast is sponsored by The Honey Pot Company Learn more about Black Girl's Guide to Surviving Menopause at www.blackgirlsguidetosurvivingmenopause.com