Black Girl's Guide to Surviving Menopause

"This body does not bare destruction well.

This body likes warm drops of rain and bare feet. Toes grounding in rich soil, and having my scalp greased. To move and to stretch just a little beyond reach, There is glory over there, a hallelujah in my feet.

This body likes hot sun on bare shoulders, summer rain and not running inside. This body likes first morning light in her arms, new day sun streaming through open windows.

This body likes warm fingers on the dip of my back. Lips brushing the hollow between collar and neck. This body clings to warm embraces, wishing and praying, praying and wishing that I never have to let go.

This body likes mango juice dripping down onto my flesh. This body likes letting the current guide my steps and the moment of release."

Collective Sun Reshape the Mo(u)rning, SpiritHouse, Inc.

Menopause, if anything, is an opportunity to listen to your body. It is a time when your body is recalibrating it's navigational system and will send you new messages around what it needs to be healthy, vibrant, safe and satisfied. It is also an invitation to more deeply understand who you are as you are evolving (again) and what that might mean for your relationship to your body and to the people in your life. In this first episode of SEASON 4 of the Black Girl's Guide to Surviving Menopause, we had the great fortune to interview Syd Yang and M'kali-Hashiki (see bios below). We were able to explore "what flows and what fits' in this menopausal journey which is deeply connected to who you are in all your intersectional identities. We unearthed the notions of menopause that were formed or informed by our race, ethnicity, gender identify, sexual expression and lived experiences. We also talked about the connective tissue between menopause and internalized agism. Such a rich conversation unfolded around wanting to genuinely love and know our bodies better that allowed us to explore...

• Sex, pleasure and the menopausal body
• Queerness and menopause
• Decolonizing menopause
• Embodiment

Enjoy this journeying together.

Episode Notes:

Syd Yang, IG: @bluejaguarlove

www.bluejaguarhealingarts.com

Syd Yang (they/them) is a mixed race/Taiwanese American queer trans/non-binary healer, intuitive counselor and writer who weaves together magic, possibility and intention as an energy healer and spiritual coach in the world through their practice, Blue Jaguar Healing Arts. Syd's work finds its resonance in the stories we each hold at the intersection of memory, body, sexuality and mental health. Syd works primarily with queer and trans BIPOC as well as regularly leads workshops, community healing circles and has been a group facilitator for over two decades, with a specific focus on grief, healing ancestral trauma, sexuality + spirituality, body liberation and eating disorder recovery

M'kali-Hashiki, IG: @fierce_passions

www.FiercePassions.com

M'kali-Hashiki is a Somatic Sacred Storyteller & Erotic Ritualist. Her Divine Purpose is helping folx heal their erotic wounds, deepen their erotic relationship with their body & The Divine, and move further along in their path to individual & collective erotic liberation. She offers group intensives, rituals, individual sessions, instructional videos, guided visualizations; as well as private events for companies & organizations. Her lived experiences as a fat, Black, queer, femme, trauma-survivor inform every aspect of her work.

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www.blackgirlsguidetosurvivingmenopause.com

https://www.patreon.com/blackgirlsguidetomenopause

Produced by Mariah M.

Hosted by Omisade Burney-Scott

Theme Music by Taj Cullen Scott

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

Last year, in the middle of the pandemic, I was perusing through social media when something caught my eye. It was a post of the Original Bad Girl of Comedy, Luenell, modeling Savage x Fenty lingerie. BE STILL MY BEATING HEART! When I tell you our big sis/auntie Luenell was giving us something we could feel, that is an understatement! Right then and there I knew I had to interview her for the podcast. I reposted her pictures on my feed and made a proclamation to the universe as well as folks checking out the post that I would, indeed, interview Luenell for Season 3 and here we are!

Thank you Universe!

We have a very special treat for our listeners with this episode. This conversation felt like a Saturday morning kitchen conversation with family. It is funny, candid, raw and authentic. Just like Luenell herself. Luenell is the self-proclaimed “Original Bad Girl of Comedy.” She may be small in stature, but she more than makes up for it with her big personality, booming voice and infectious laughter. Easily recognizable for her signature look – that is, her platinum blonde Caesar haircut, beautifully manicured long nails and a blinged-out pimp cup in hand – Luenell, has been thrilling audiences with her brand of comedy for more than 30 years. With the touch of a remote control, her body of work in television and film can be found on network and cable television as well as popular streaming services. Plus, fans can also tune into her popular YouTube show -- that is, Hey Luenell -- for comedic thoughts on her mind.

Luenell was raised in the Oakland area, and got her start in showbiz, hosting a local cable show, called “Soul Beat,” run by Chuck Johnson. The show ran from 1978 to 2003, and discovered all the major Oaktown artists like Digital Underground, MC Hammer and Too Short. She credits that experience and the connections she made to that show, back in the late 1990s, to making her a “hood star” before landing in Los Angeles.

For more about Luenell, visit www.HeyLuenell.com Check her out on Instagram at: @Luenell on Instagram

This episode of the Black Girl's Guide to Surviving Menopause is sponsored by WUNC North Carolina Public Radio. https://www.wunc.org/

If you want to make a donation to support the work of BGG2SM, consider becoming a patron via our Patreon. Link available via our website, www.blackgirlsguidetosurvivingmenopause.com.

You can also make a one time donation at:

Cashapp: $omitutu

Venmo: @omisade5

“There she is. . . the “too much” woman. The one who loves too hard, feels too deeply, asks too often, desires too much.

There she is taking up too much space, with her laughter, her curves, her honesty, her sexuality. Her presence is as tall as a tree, as wide as a mountain. Her energy occupies every crevice of the room. Too much space she takes.

There she is causing a ruckus with her persistent wanting, too much wanting. She desires a lot, wants everything—too much happiness, too much alone time, too much pleasure. She’ll go through brimstone, murky river, and hellfire to get it. She’ll risk all to quell the longings of her heart and body. This makes her dangerous.

She is dangerous.

And there she goes, that “too much” woman, making people think too much, feel too much, swoon too much. She with her authentic prose and a self-assuredness in the way she carries herself. She with her belly laughs and her insatiable appetite and her proneness to fiery passion. All eyes on her, thinking she’s hot shit.

Oh, that “too much” woman. . . too loud, too vibrant, too honest, too emotional, too smart, too intense, too pretty, too difficult, too sensitive, too wild, too intimidating, too successful, too fat, too strong, too political, too joyous, too needy—too much.

She should simmer down a bit, be taken down a couple notches. Someone should put her back in a more respectable place. Someone should tell her."

---Ev’Yan Whitney

Mainstream white culture does not like rule breakers. Specifically, mainstream culture mocks, invisibilizes and punishes people who consistently live their truths out loud and challenge notions of white supremacy, patriarchy and misogyny. This is especially so for Black women and as we age, the politics of gender, race and identity are amplified by ageism. In this episode, we explore what it takes to live a full and healthy life, out loud, with Nia Wilson.

Nia Wilson is a Sagittarius, child of the Orisa Oya, cultural organizer, healer and all around bad ass. She is also the Co-Director of SpiritHouse, a Black women-led Healing Justice organization that utilizes the framework of CPR (culture, practice and ritual) to work with communities impacted by systemic oppression to heal and identify community derived ways to keep each other safe. She is also learning (unlearning in some cases) what is means to be well, whole, happy, soft and cared for by her family and community.

For more information about SpiritHouse, click the link: https://www.spirithouse-nc.org/

Episode Notes:

Harlem, NY March 19th Tea and Toddies Event Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bgg2sm-and-bdac-presents-tea-and-toddies-tickets-95543191257

Ayanna Pressley video reference: https://theglowup.theroot.com/exclusive-rep-ayanna-pressley-reveals-beautiful-bald-1841039847

SpiritHouse Tribe Member Dr. Alexis Pauline Gumbs Black Feminist Breathing Meditation:

https://blackfeministbreathing.tumblr.com/post/172251240385/blackfeministbreathing-iexhale-collage-by

Nap Ministry: IG @Thenapministry Blog https://thenapministry.wordpress.com/

" Sister,

You've been on my mind

Sister, we're two of a kind

So sister,

I'm keepin' my eyes on you

I betcha think

I don't know nothin'

But singin' the blues

Oh sister, have I got news for you

I'm somethin'

I hope you think

That you're somethin' too..."

Miss Celie's Blues, The Color Purple

WHAT DO OUR COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS SOUND LIKE?

A laugh, greetings from old friends, sighs of understanding, tears of release and so much joy. Check out this clip from our very first intergenerational event in Washington, DC held at Calabash Tea and Tonics last fall. We co-hosted the event with DC native and community organizer/advocate Aja Taylor to a sold out room of Black women and femmes who were ready to talk to each other! 2020 will be the year we bring more intergenerational healing circle conversations to you where we talk about the same topics we explore on the podcast including change, pleasure, intimacy, vulnerability, love and life. We are kicking off 2020 with our first event in Harlem, NY on March 19th right in time for the vernal equinox!

Our co-host for this event is our movement and creative sister of the hear, Ebony Noelle Golden who is the founder of Betty's Daughter Arts Collaborative. Check the link! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bgg2sm-and-bdac-presents-tea-a...

This is a BIPOC Space Only! See you March 19th Uptown!