Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Resistance Is the Story</h3>



When we tell the history of slavery, too often we tell it as a story of suffering relieved by benevolent reformers. But what if resistance — not submission — was the central thread all along?


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This week on Writer’s Voice, we begin with historian <a href="https://www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/dr-sudhir-hazareesingh" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/dr-sudhir-hazareesingh">Sudhir Hazareesingh</a>, whose groundbreaking book <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374611088/daringtobefree/" data-type="link" data-id="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374611088/daringtobefree/">Daring to Be Free</a> reframes the history of Atlantic slavery as a history of rebellion: from African defense militias and shipboard revolts to maroon communities and the Haitian Revolution. He restores enslaved women and men to the center of their own liberation struggles — not as passive victims, but as strategists, spiritual leaders, and revolutionaries.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“From the very moment slave raiding parties are sent out… people begin to resist.” — Sudhir Hazareesingh
</blockquote>



Then we <a href="https://www.writersvoice.net/2012/12/sojourner-truth-ma-humanities/">revisit my 2012 conversation</a> with novelist Jacqueline Sheehan about The Comet’s Tale, her powerful work of historical fiction about Sojourner Truth. Through Truth’s childhood in bondage, her spiritual awakening, and her emergence as a fearless abolitionist and women’s rights advocate, we explore resilience, moral courage, and the making of a revolutionary life.



Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and <a href="https://writersvoice.substack.com/">subscribe to our Substack</a>. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast.



Tags: Sudhir Hazareesingh, Daring to Be Free, Atlantic slavery, slave resistance, Haitian Revolution, Solitude of Guadeloupe, maroon communities, Sojourner Truth, Jacqueline Sheehan, The Comet’s Tale, Abolition movement, Black history, Writers Voice podcast,



You May Also Like: <a href="https://www.writersvoice.net/2025/02/black-history-month-aaron-robertson-the-black-utopians-also-cory-doctorow-picks-and-shovels/">Aaron Robertson, THE BLACK UTOPIANS</a>, <a href="https://www.writersvoice.net/2025/11/ben-passmore-on-black-resistance-david-baron-on-the-martian-craze/">Ben Passmore on Black Resistance</a>



Read The Transcript







<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Segment One: Sudhir Hazareesingh</h3>



There are many histories of the Atlantic slave trade. Few center the enslaved as agents of their own freedom.



In Daring to Be Free, Sudhir Hazareesingh challenges the myth that resistance was rare or exceptional. Instead, he shows that resistance was woven into the fabric of slavery from the very beginning.



Solitude and the Erased Women of Resistance



Hazareesingh opens with the story of Solitude of Guadeloupe — a freedom fighter who resisted Napoleon’s 1802 attempt to reinstate slavery and was executed while remaining defiant . Her story, erased for generations, symbolizes what he calls a “hidden history” of resistance.



For too long, he argues, histories focused on male leaders and major revolutions, especially Haiti. But enslaved resistance was constant — and women were central actors: strategists, healers, organizers, spiritual leaders .



Resistance Began in Africa



Hazareesingh emphasizes that rebellion did not begin in the Americas. It began in Africa itself.



From the moment slave raiders entered African villages, communities organized militias, fought capture, resisted transport, and even planned revolts while confined on the coast .



Shipboard insurrections were often planned before captives even boarded the ships. Resistance was integral to the system — not an exception to it.



Spiritual Traditions as Sources of Power



African religious traditions — including Obeah and Islam — fortified resistance movements . These spiritual systems preserved identity, offered psychological protection, and helped organize rebellion.



Under conditions of near-total domination, enslaved people carved out autonomous interior worlds — sustaining languages, faiths, and networks of solidarity .



Women as Network Builders



Women, often working inside plantation households, gathered intelligence and helped coordinate revolts . They maintained kinship networks that countered what one historian called slavery’s “social death.”



Hazareesingh discovered instead a story of social persistence: communities forming bonds across plantations, across ethnic lines, and even across racial boundaries.



Palmares and Cross-Boundary Alliances



One astonishing example: Palmares in 17th-century Brazil — a vast maroon society of thousands that developed political systems, agriculture, trade, and military defenses .



Palmares blended African and Indigenous military traditions and even attracted poor whites seeking more humane community .



Resistance was multiracial, transnational, and sustained.



Haiti: Rank-and-File Revolution



While Hazareesingh has written on Toussaint L’Ouverture, in this book he emphasizes rank-and-file insurgents .



The Haitian Revolution became a beacon of Black sovereignty — and a terror to slaveholding powers . News of the uprising spread rapidly via sailors and refugee networks .



Yet Haiti paid a devastating price: punitive indemnities imposed by France in 1825, U.S. intervention under Woodrow Wilson, and ongoing destabilization .



The Enslaved as the True Abolitionists



Hazareesingh challenges the narrative that white reformers abolished slavery. Most abolitionists advocated gradualism. The enslaved demanded — and fought for — immediate freedom .



Their revolts and persistent pressure forced political change.



Honoring Our Debts



In concluding, Hazareesingh calls for a “debt of memory” — telling the story truthfully — and for serious engagement with material reparations .



And he offers a lesson for today: unity, resilience, and moral courage in the face of authoritarianism .



<a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374611088/daringtobefree/">Read An Excerpt</a>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Segment Two: Jacqueline Sheehan</h3>



The Comet’s Tale — A Novel of Sojourner Truth



In our encore conversation from 2012, novelist Jacqueline Sheehan explores the inner life of Sojourner Truth.



Isabella’s Childhood in Bondage



Born Isabella Baumfree in Dutch New York, Sojourner Truth’s first language was Dutch .



Sheehan spent five years researching Truth’s early life, drawing from the dictated narrative recorded by Olive Gilbert in Massachusetts .



Her novel focuses intensely on childhood — the psychological resilience required to survive being treated as property and sold away from family .



The Power of Story



The title The Comet’s Tale comes from a fictionalized birth story told by Isabella’s mother — illustrating how oral tradition helped enslaved parents maintain connection with children sold away .



Storytelling becomes an act of survival.



Spiritual Seeking and Dangerous Faith



After gaining freedom, Isabella moved to New York City during a period of religious ferment .



She became involved in the cult of Matthias — a charismatic religious leader who manipulated followers and dictated their lives .



Later, after a profound spiritual epiphany, she renamed herself Sojourner Truth — believing God had called her to preach .



Though illiterate, she became a mesmerizing orator; newspaper accounts described the hair standing on listeners’ necks .



Florence, Massachusetts: Political Awakening



Truth eventually found community at the Northampton Association for Education and Industry — a utopian, abolitionist community based on equality of labor and one person, one vote .



There she interacted with Frederick Douglass and David Ruggles, and blended her spirituality with abolitionism and women’s rights activism .



She later supported Black soldiers during the Civil War and met Abraham Lincoln .



Resilience as Choice



Sheehan emphasizes Truth’s moral agency: despite enduring profound injustice, she chose not to live in hatred .



Her life illustrates that even under brutal conditions, individuals retain the capacity for courageous choice.






<div class="wp-block-jetpack-ai-assistant"></div>

<description>Slavery was never passively endured. Sudhir Hazareesingh on the vast, global resistance of the enslaved — from Africa to Haiti.
Plus: Jacqueline Sheehan on Sojourner Truth’s extraordinary moral courage.</description>

Slavery was never passively endured. Sudhir Hazareesingh on the vast, global resistance of the enslaved — from Africa to Haiti. Plus: Jacqueline Sheehan on Sojourner Truth’s extraordinary moral courage.

Daring To Be Free: Sudhir Hazareesingh on Slave Rebellion & Resistance

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Episode Summary</h3>



Something feels wrong with our attention — and with reality itself.



In Attensity! A Manifesto of the Attention Liberation Movement, editors D. Graham Burnett, Alyssa Loh, and Peter Schmidt argue that this crisis is not about individual willpower. It’s about a multi-trillion-dollar industry built to monetize human attention.



They call it “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/jan/18/how-can-we-defend-ourselves-from-the-new-plague-of-human-fracking">human fracking</a>.”


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<figure class="alignleft size-full"><img decoding="async" width="291" height="450" src="https://www.writersvoice.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/9798217086153.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-60566" srcset="https://www.writersvoice.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/9798217086153.jpg 291w, https://www.writersvoice.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/9798217086153-250x387.jpg 250w" sizes="(max-width: 291px) 100vw, 291px" /></figure>
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<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“These phones are the final node in a… $7 to $14 trillion industry that&#8217;s all about maximizing the amount of time that we engage with these devices… capturing our attention and turning it into money. And we call that ‘human fracking.’” &#8212; Peter Schmidt
</blockquote>



In this conversation, we explore how the commodification of attention reshapes nearly every aspect of our lives. 



We talk about attention as relational and ethical — not just measurable. And we examine why reclaiming attention must be a collective political movement, not a private detox.



Then, we listen to an excerpt from our 2025 <a href="https://www.writersvoice.net/2025/11/cory-doctorow-on-big-techs-enshittification-bill-mckibben-on-solar-hope-for-the-planet/" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.writersvoice.net/2025/11/cory-doctorow-on-big-techs-enshittification-bill-mckibben-on-solar-hope-for-the-planet/">conversation with Cory Doctorow about his book Enshittifcation</a>.



Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and&nbsp;<a href="https://writersvoice.substack.com/">subscribe to our Substack</a>. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast.



Tags:&nbsp;Attention Liberation Movement, Attensity book, D. Graham Burnett, Peter Schmidt, Alyssa Loh, human fracking, attention economy, digital capitalism, social media harm, attention activism, Cory Doctorow enshittification, attention sanctuaries, Writers Voice podcast



You may also like: <a href="https://www.writersvoice.net/2025/11/cory-doctorow-on-big-techs-enshittification-bill-mckibben-on-solar-hope-for-the-planet/">Cory Doctorow, Enshittification</a>,<a href="https://www.writersvoice.net/2025/02/black-history-month-aaron-robertson-the-black-utopians-also-cory-doctorow-picks-and-shovels/"> Cory Doctorow, Picks and Shovels</a>



<a href="https://writersvoice.substack.com/p/writers-voice-human-fracking-and?r=183be" data-type="link" data-id="https://writersvoice.substack.com/p/writers-voice-human-fracking-and?r=183be">Read The Transcript</a>







<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Segment Summary</h2>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">The Crisis of Attention</h3>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Why attention is “the key question of our moment”</li>



<li>The metaphor of “human fracking”</li>



<li>The internal environmental crisis of the mind</li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Attention as World-Making</h3>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Attention as relational and ethical</li>



<li>Simone Weil and the spiritual dimensions of attention</li>



<li>How degraded attention makes reality feel unreal</li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Movement, Not Detox</h3>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Converting private shame into collective anger</li>



<li>Why willpower isn’t enough</li>



<li>Parallels to environmental and civil rights movements</li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Sanctuaries of Attention</h3>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Study, organizing, sanctuary</li>



<li>Libraries, classrooms, coffee shops, Sabbath</li>



<li>Reimagining civic institutions as attention infrastructure</li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">A Positive Vision</h3>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Designing technologies for human flourishing</li>



<li>What a liberated attentional world might feel like for the next generation</li>
</ul>



<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/782387/attensity-by-the-friends-of-attention">Listen to or Read a Sample from the book</a>



<h5 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-center">Read the <a href="https://anthonywilsonpoetry.com/2013/02/05/lifesaving-poems-galway-kinnells-saint-francis-and-the-sow/ Saint Francis and the Sow">Poem: St. Francis and the Sow</a></h5>

<description>In this episode of Writer’s Voice, Francesca speaks with D. Graham Burnett, Alyssa Loh, and Peter Schmidt about Attensity!, a manifesto for what they call the Attention Liberation Movement.</description>

In this episode of Writer’s Voice, Francesca speaks with D. Graham Burnett, Alyssa Loh, and Peter Schmidt about Attensity!, a manifesto for what they call the Attention Liberation Movement.

Human Fracking? The Attention Liberation Movement vs. Big Tech

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Episode Summary:</h3>



Historian Andrew Burstein joins us to talk about his biography, Being Thomas Jefferson. It’s an intimate portrait that looks beyond the marble statue and into the emotional life of one of America’s most influential founders.



Burstein explores Jefferson as a political moralist, a lyrical writer, and as someone who imagined democracy while profiting from slavery, who preached equality while exercising enormous power over others, and as someone who believed passionately in the nation’s destiny while fearing the forces of centralized power that could tear it apart.


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<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“The Jefferson that I write about in this book is a political moralist who converts knowledge into feeling.” &#8212; Andrew Burstein 
</blockquote>



We’ll talk about Jefferson’s psychological world, his relationship with Sally Hemings, his battles with Federalism, and how his inner life helped shape our nation and the ideals we’re struggling to protect today.



Then, we listen to an excerpt from <a href="https://www.writersvoice.net/2014/10/danielle-allen-declaration-katy-simpson-smith-story-land-sea/">our 2014 conversation with </a>Danielle Allen about her book <a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/9780871406903">Our Declaration, A Reading Of The Declaration of Independence In Defense of Equality</a>.



Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and&nbsp;<a href="https://writersvoice.substack.com/">subscribe to our Substack</a>. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast.



Tags: Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Burstein, Being Thomas Jefferson, Sally Hemings, slavery, Founding Fathers, Federalism, Jeffersonian democracy, American Revolution, Writer’s Voice, Danielle Allen, Declaration of Independence,



You Might Also Like: <a href="https://www.writersvoice.net/2014/10/danielle-allen-declaration-katy-simpson-smith-story-land-sea/">Danielle Allen, OUR DECLARATION</a>, <a href="https://www.writersvoice.net/2012/12/sojourner-truth-ma-humanities/">Sojourner Truth, Her Story &amp; Meaning</a>,



<a href="https://writersvoice.substack.com/p/being-thomas-jefferson-power-democracy">Read the Transcript</a>







<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Andrew Burstein</h3>



Francesca Rheannon speaks with historian Andrew Burstein about Being Thomas Jefferson, a biography that examines Jefferson not just as a political figure, but as an emotional and psychological one.



Burstein describes Jefferson as “a political moralist who converts knowledge into feeling,” explaining how Jefferson’s seductive, lyrical writing helped forge America’s moral identity while masking deep personal fears and contradictions



The conversation explores Jefferson’s inner life, his need for control, his relationship with Sally Hemings, his rationalizations around slavery, and his enduring influence on American democracy. Burstein also traces Jefferson’s conflict with Federalism, his vision of an agrarian republic, and his belief that “the whole art of government is the art of being honest.”



It&#8217;s a candid discussion about legacy, race, power, self-deception, and what Jefferson’s emotional world still reveals about the United States today.



Andrew Burstein recently retired as Professor of History at Louisiana State University. In addition to Being Thomas Jefferson, He is the author of The Passions of Andrew Jackson, Jefferson&#8217;s Secrets, and several other books on early American politics and culture.

<description>Historian Andrew Burstein joins us to talk about his biography, Being Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History. </description>

Historian Andrew Burstein joins us to talk about his biography, Being Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History.

Andrew Burstein on Thomas Jefferson: Slavery, Democracy, & The Idea of America

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Episode Summary:</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="265" height="400" src="https://www.writersvoice.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/coyote-9781501195730_lg.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-60311" srcset="https://www.writersvoice.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/coyote-9781501195730_lg.jpg 265w, https://www.writersvoice.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/coyote-9781501195730_lg-250x377.jpg 250w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 265px) 100vw, 265px" /></figure>
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In this episode of Writer’s Voice, Francesca Rheannon speaks with biographer Robert M. Dowling about his biography, Coyote: The Dramatic Lives of Sam Shepard. 



Dowling explores Shepard’s groundbreaking theatrical innovations, his jazz-inspired rhythms, and his shamanistic approach to performance — along with the deep fear that powered his work. 



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“He feared the estrangement — our estrangement from the earth, from ourselves, from reality even.” &#8212; Robert Dowling
</blockquote>



Another writer who loved the deserts of California, as Sam Shepard did, was the poet Forrest Gander. <a href="https://www.writersvoice.net/2025/04/poetry-of-place-and-freedom-with-forrest-gander-and-damaris-hill/">We re-air a conversation with him from April of 2025</a> about his book-length poem, Mojave Ghost. 



And finally, Francesca reads a powerful ode written by former US Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman to Renee Nicole Good, <a href="https://x.com/TheAmandaGorman/status/2009432288661000193?lang=en" data-type="link" data-id="https://x.com/TheAmandaGorman/status/2009432288661000193?lang=en">&#8220;For Renee Nicole Good Killed by I.C.E. on January 7, 2026.&#8221;</a>



Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and <a style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(36, 88, 161); font-family: &quot;Open Sans&quot;, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; white-space: normal;" href="https://writersvoice.substack.com/">subscribe to our Substack</a>. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast<span style="caret-color: rgb(18, 18, 19); color: rgb(18, 18, 19); font-family: &quot;Open Sans&quot;, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 229);">.



Tags: Sam Shepard biography, Robert M. Dowling, Coyote, American playwrights, Forrest Gander, Renée Nicole Good, Amanda Gorman, Writer’s Voice podcast



<a href="https://open.substack.com/pub/writersvoice/p/coyote-robert-m-dowling-on-sam-shepard?r=183be&amp;utm_campaign=post&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;showWelcomeOnShare=true" data-type="link" data-id="https://open.substack.com/pub/writersvoice/p/coyote-robert-m-dowling-on-sam-shepard?r=183be&amp;utm_campaign=post&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;showWelcomeOnShare=true">Read the Transcript</a>







<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Robert M. Dowling</h3>



In our conversation about Coyote, Robert M. Dowling traces Sam Shepard’s evolution from “punk rock cowboy playwright” to cultural visionary, explaining how Shepard rejected realism to project inner turmoil directly onto the stage. 



Dowling discusses Shepard’s use of humor as a survival mechanism, his musical sense of theater rooted in jazz and percussion, and his lifelong struggle with fear — shaped by a violent father and mirrored in what Shepard saw as America’s own self-loathing. 



The episode also examines Shepard’s ideas about masculinity, political polarization, and alienation, before closing with a moving account of his final months and relentless devotion to writing.



Robert M. Dowling is s professor of English at Central Connecticut State University. In addition to Coyote, He is the author of the biography, Eugene O’Neill: A Life in Four Acts.



<a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Coyote/Robert-M-Dowling/9781501195730" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Coyote/Robert-M-Dowling/9781501195730">Listen to or Read a Sample from Coyote</a>

<description>In this episode of Writer’s Voice, Francesca Rheannon speaks with biographer Robert M. Dowling about his biography, Coyote: The Dramatic Lives of Sam Shepard.</description>

In this episode of Writer’s Voice, Francesca Rheannon speaks with biographer Robert M. Dowling about his biography, Coyote: The Dramatic Lives of Sam Shepard.

Coyote: Robert M. Dowling on Sam Shepard and the American Psyche

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="525" height="295" src="https://www.writersvoice.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/90-525x295.png" alt="" class="wp-image-60130" style="aspect-ratio:1.7797013633412682;width:356px;height:auto" srcset="https://www.writersvoice.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/90-525x295.png 525w, https://www.writersvoice.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/90-250x141.png 250w, https://www.writersvoice.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/90-768x432.png 768w, https://www.writersvoice.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/90.png 880w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 525px) 100vw, 525px" /></figure>
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In this episode of Writer’s Voice, journalist <a href="http://www.nellbernstein.com" data-type="link" data-id="http://www.nellbernstein.com">Nell Bernstein</a> examines the decades-long movement to end youth incarceration in the United States, drawing on her book <a href="https://thenewpress.org/books/9781620979921/">In Our Future We Are Free.</a> Bernstein traces how incarcerated young people, their parents, lawyers, and organizers pierced the invisibility of youth prisons and achieved a historic 75% reduction in youth incarceration nationwide.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“Youth prisons are inherently abusive by design.” &#8212; Nell Bernstein
</blockquote>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="518" height="794" src="https://www.writersvoice.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/CleanShot-2026-01-24-at-14.43.24@2x.png" alt="" class="wp-image-60131" style="aspect-ratio:0.652405852215708;width:194px;height:auto" srcset="https://www.writersvoice.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/CleanShot-2026-01-24-at-14.43.24@2x.png 518w, https://www.writersvoice.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/CleanShot-2026-01-24-at-14.43.24@2x-250x383.png 250w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 518px) 100vw, 518px" /></figure>
</div>


In the second segment, chef and writer <a href="https://www.tamareadler.com/about-tamar">Tamar Adler </a>discusses <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Feast-on-Your-Life/Tamar-Adler/9781668078020" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Feast-on-Your-Life/Tamar-Adler/9781668078020">Feast On Your Life,</a> a deeply personal calendar-based book that explores how cooking, leftovers, sobriety, ritual, and attention can transform the ordinary into something sustaining—even during periods of despair.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“The bean broth wouldn’t let me be.” &#8212; Tamar Adler
</blockquote>



Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and&nbsp;<a href="https://writersvoice.substack.com/">subscribe to our Substack</a>. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast.



Key Words: youth incarceration, prison abolition, juvenile justice reform, Nell Bernstein, In Our Future We Are Free, Tamar Adler, Feast On Your Life, sustainability, leftovers, 



You Might Also Like: <a href="https://www.writersvoice.net/2014/08/nell-bernstein-burning-down-the-house-poet-kathy-engel/" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.writersvoice.net/2014/08/nell-bernstein-burning-down-the-house-poet-kathy-engel/">Nell Bernstein, BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE</a>, <a href="https://www.writersvoice.net/2016/11/katherine-harvey-marge-bruchac-food-philosophe/">Katherine Harvey, The Bare Bones Broth Cookbook</a>



<a href="https://writersvoice.substack.com/p/nell-bernstein-on-ending-youth-prison" data-type="link" data-id="https://writersvoice.substack.com/p/nell-bernstein-on-ending-youth-prison">Read the Transcript on Substack</a>







<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Segment One: Nell Bernstein</h2>



Bernstein reflects on the evolution of her reporting from Burning Down the House to In Our Future We Are Free, documenting how youth prisons—institutions she describes as abusive by design—have been challenged and dismantled through organizing led by incarcerated young people and their families.



She explains why youth incarceration is not rehabilitative but criminogenic, how racialized fear narratives like the “super predator” myth enabled abuse, and why abolition—not cosmetic reform—is necessary. Bernstein also draws connections to present-day immigration detention and reflects on what this movement teaches us about sustained social change under authoritarian conditions.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Segment Two: Tamar Adler</h2>



Segment Two Summary: Tamar Adler



Adler describes writing Feast On Your Life during a period of depression, using daily attention to food and cooking as a way to heal. Organized month-by-month, the book reflects on sobriety, leftovers, seasonal abundance, restraint, imagination, ritual, and gratitude.



She discusses cooking “as if people mattered,” the ethical and ecological connections embedded in everyday meals, and how small rituals—packing lunches, saving bean broth, sharing fruit—create meaning and resilience. Drawing on Ursula K. Le Guin’s carrier bag theory, Adler frames her work as a quiet, gathering-oriented alternative to spectacle-driven narratives.



<a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Feast-on-Your-Life/Tamar-Adler/9781668078020">Read An Excerpt</a>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Key Topics</h2>







<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Youth prison abolition and organizing</li>



<li>Racialized incarceration and the “super predator” myth</li>



<li>Solitary confinement and institutional invisibility</li>



<li>Trauma, criminogenic systems, and community care</li>



<li>Cooking as attention, connection, and ethics</li>



<li>Ritual, seasonality, and everyday meaning</li>



<li>Sobriety, restraint, and renewal</li>
</ul>

<description>Nell Bernstein tells us about her book In Our Future We Are Free. It traces the grassroots movement that helped dismantle youth prisons across the United States. Then, Tamar Adler talks about her book Feast On Your Life, a month-by-month meditation on cooking, gratitude, and finding meaning in the everyday.</description>

Nell Bernstein tells us about her book In Our Future We Are Free. It traces the grassroots movement that helped dismantle youth prisons across the United States. Then, Tamar Adler talks about her book Feast On Your Life, a month-by-month meditation on cooking, gratitude, and finding meaning in the everyday.

Nell Bernstein on Ending Youth Prison & Tamar Adler on Cooking As If People Matter

Francesca Rheannon talks to writers of all genres about matters that move us and make us think.

Writer's Voice with Francesca Rheannon

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