Taking a break!

This week Tashiena and Natalie talk about Love and Jesus and Love and more Jesus. What does it mean to live into love in action? How do we stretch ourselves to love even those who may be the hardest for us to love? And, then how do we see people through the worst things they may have done, into the roots of what caused the harms and into who they are today--transformed and worthy. All the while remembering to return to the well to fill ourselves up so we can get through the get through. We swear a little in this episode.

On this episode of Love and Life, we welcome two of our dear friends and comrades in the liberation struggle--Lawanda Hollister and Peter Martel. Both served way too much time in Michigan's prisons and they stay in the movement work for the freedom of the folks they left behind. Tashiena dives into Dr. King's Letter from Birmingham Jail as a guidepost for our conversation about standing steady, ready, and full even when people keep revisiting the worst days of our lives. Come on over and join us for a heart steadying conversation.

This week we bring a brilliant young woman onto Love and Life. Tanisha Williams, also know as Red, is a thinker and doer. She loves the women she is forced to live among and works to lift them up in creative ways. She also shares her difficult past and trauma with the world in order to work toward her own freedom and to also lift up the reality that so many woman who are imprisoned are so much more than their worst moment/s in life. You can read more about Red in Justine van der Leun's article No Choice but to Do It Tashiena and Natalie also reflect on the power of compassion and empathy and its abundance in such a place as prison. You can also check out Tashiena's recent Braiding Freedom conversation with Mothering Justice and Freedom Team Detroit! Peace and love.

In this episode, your hosts talk about distinct moments of personal politicization. Tashiena reflects on the infusion of her surroundings and experiences leading to radicalization from early on in her life, before she had the word politicization. And, Natalie echoes with her own growing up and geographical and personal identity laying the ground for this shared bone deep knowing and doing. It's funny, sad, and deep. Join us on the freeway for this journey down our heart paths.

Tashiena and Natalie talk about the importance of relationships as the solid foundation for building action towards liberation or liberation activism. They also reflect on the creative nature of their relationship and how tapping into connection is critical to a love centered bedrock--even when there are so many obstacles (i.e. 15 minute phone calls and metal edged miles between). They talk about a night out in Detroit to see Jessica Care Moore And, the special moments they work to create through the pen and into the free-world and back.

On this episode of Love and Life through the Pen, Tashiena and Natalie celebrate their one year wedding anniversary--October 12--by sharing stories from inside and out here. Their reflections center all of us around the importance of building relationships, family bonds, and villages to care for one another in order to get through the hardest of times. Tashiena gives a shout out to AFSC's Good Neighbor Project which is a way to build relationships with women incarcerated at the Valley. Email Adalia Kirby at akirby@afsc.org to get more involved working on building support relationships with incarcerated women and freedom for those same women.

This is our first episode of Love and Life through the Pen. It is a slice of the living and loving we engage in everyday through the obstacle of prison. Tashiena is a magnificent writer and Natalie is an artist. We dialogue on the regular about the deep stuff of life, and we are also funny. Tashiena is serving a life without parole sentence at the one women's prison in MI where she has been held hostage by the state for 24 years. Natalie met Tashiena many years ago through her work as a prison abolition activist. Our love and friendship blossomed into a marriage. A marriage we tend to with all the creative tools we can muster. This first episode gives a glimpse into how we communicate , the frustration and dehumanizing nature of the prison, the choice we make to love and build through razor wires and concrete. The episode also exemplifies the deliberate humanization of the women within the prison who most of society tends to ignore. The episode also demonstrates how we interact with one another's words and thoughts. Our hope is you will interact with us too. You can email us at loveandlifethroughthepen@gmail.com and visit Tashiena's Freedom Page for more information!